Mornings with Mayesh: Gearing up for 2024 with Ryan O'Neil

Yesterday, Ryan O'Neil, the CEO and founder of Curate, joined me in a live session aimed at equipping florists with the knowledge and strategies we need to thrive in the upcoming year of 2024. With his wealth of expertise and innovative mindset, Ryan delved into a plethora of pivotal topics that lie at the heart of business success. Among the crucial subjects that we explored were: pricing strategies, a vital component in any business's growth and profitability, automation to elevate efficiency, goal setting, evaluating cash flow needs - the lifeblood of any business, and finally technology. 

I truly hope that this engaging conversation with Ryan leaves you feeling empowered and equipped with invaluable knowledge and strategies to conquer the challenges and seize the opportunities that lie ahead in 2024.

Below are the podcast, video replay, and show notes:

SHOW NOTES

• We have 5 areas of focus that we are going to chat about today to help our floral community gear up for 2024. Are you ready to go?
• First up is pricing. How should we be thinking about pricing in preparation for the new year? 
  • Updated pricing. Have you updated the pricing in your software for your florals?
  • How to set your pricing so that you only have to update once or twice a year.
• Ryan, you know that I’m all about getting the most out of our resources. What do you recommend florists exploring?
  • If you aren’t already using automation, now is the time to get started … 
  • Automation. Check out your workflow templates and make sure they're set up. I'll mention a company who sends out a floral guide pdf with all new inquiries to start educating clients.
• A new year typically means setting your goal or intentions. What are some way florists can examine their goals for 2024?
  • Goals. Look at your year this year. How are you feeling? Do you need more work? Less work? are there dates you need to book out next year? Are there any trainings or sessions?
• Without cash flow there isn’t a business. What can floral businesses think about cash flow for next year?
  • Cash flow. Did you make a hire and now have to ensure you have enough cash flow throughout the year to cover them? Are your retainer amounts the right amount?
• Last, but not least, let’s talk about technology and systems.
  • Are you confident in what is going out? Is your pricing right?
• Ryan, what’s new at Curate?
  • New color picker tool
  • can have multiple contracts for 1 event

Audience Questions

• comment: @flowerallie - I do 4x because I don't have time to do it any other way. I so agree with your theory on time 
• flor_soul - what tools can we use to automate?
  • Curate - lots of automation built in to automate email responses
  • Plugin for Google Forms, Squarespace, etc
  • if you are using Excel and do 10 or more events, you need to look into automation for stem counting and pricing, 
  • Zapier 
  • Chat.ai
  • Claude
  •