Behind the Stems

This episode started as a conversation about mindset — and turned into one of the most grounding, clarifying, and honestly relieving conversations I’ve had in a long time. I’m joined by Giorgio, a mindset coach who works with high-performers, creatives, business owners, and people who feel like they should be doing better… but keep feeling stuck anyway This isn’t an inspirational pep talk. It’s a practical, honest conversation about how humans actually work — and how much lighter business becomes when you stop believing every story your brain hands you. If you’re a wedding florist, creative, or business owner who feels capable but stuck — this episode is for you. You can find Giorgio on Instagram here: 👉 https://www.instagram.com/giorgiogenius (Highly recommend a scroll — his perspective is as grounded as it is clarifying.) Want help applying this to your own floristry business? Wildflower Academy is where we do this work properly, blending mindset, strategy, and real-world systems so wedding florists can grow without burnout or constant comparison. Inside the Academy, you’ll learn how to: clarify your niche and position yourself with confidence communicate your value without defending your prices build demand without relying on chaos or constant content grow a business that actually supports your life If you’re ready to stop spiralling and start building with intention, you’ll feel right at home in Wildflower Academy. Click here to join!

In this episode, I’m sitting down with Yen from Sonder Studio. We talk about what actually happens when you move from freelancing into business ownership, why “just vibing it” works… until it really doesn’t, and how Sonder Studio grew quickly without having a plan, then had to slow down, reassess, and rebuild in a way that didn’t destroy their nervous systems. Yen shares her journey from corporate finance to floristry, the mental health reckoning that pushed her to change paths, and how freelancing during the post-lockdown wedding boom shaped her skills, confidence, and boundaries. We get into what it’s really like running a partnership, the growing pains, the constant communication, and why clearly defined roles matter more than talent. We talk studios, systems, SOPs, bump-in chaos, allocation, and the unsexy backend work that actually makes creative businesses sustainable. There’s a very honest conversation about freelancing resentment, ownership of creative work, and the moment you realise that being “on the tools” isn’t the same as leading a team. We also dive into Yen’s overseas wedding in Vietnam, from six-hour market runs up a mountain to flying her team in so she didn’t have to flower on her own wedding day and what planning a wedding taught her about logistics, delegation, and letting go.Check out Sonder Studio on Instagram   00:00 – New Year check-in + last-minute wedding chaos Talking holiday boundaries, surprise bookings, and saying yes when the vibe is right. 03:00 – Weather, wind, and why florists fear it more than rain Real talk on outdoor ceremonies, risk, and on-the-fly engineering. 05:00 – Yen’s origin story: from corporate finance to floristry Mental health, fulfilment, and realising creativity can be a viable career. 09:00 – Learning through freelancing (and surviving post-lockdown weddings) Building skills fast, putting your hand up for everything, and discerning who you work for. 12:00 – Meeting Jules & why Sonder Studio became a partnership Strengths-based roles, shared values, and deciding to build something together. 15:00 – Defining roles (after learning the hard way) Why “just vibing it” leads to 10pm studio nights — and how they fixed it. 18:00 – Partnership communication & mindset growing pains Weekly check-ins, capacity conversations, and unpacking internal limits. 21:00 – Client consults, confidence, and breaking tasks into learnable steps How to grow into roles you don’t feel ready for yet. 24:00 – Using AI + systems to reduce mental load Meeting recordings, memory support, and tools that actually help neurospicy brains. 27:00 – Moving fast as a business (and what it cost) Overbooking, exhaustion, and the moment they knew something had to change. 30:00 – Getting featured in Vogue (and what actually changed) Validation, client shifts, and being “new” but not inexperienced. 34:00 – Freelancing vs business ownership: the mindset shift Why running the job is the work — even if you’re not making every arrangement. 38:00 – Creative ownership, resentment & where the line actually is A very honest conversation about credit, labour, and leadership. 42:00 – Systems that changed everything (allocation, bump-outs, SOPs) Why clear plans = calmer teams + less stress for everyone. 46:00 – Studios, space planning & Sydney logistics realities Pre-making, bump-in restrictions, and why space fills faster than you expect. 50:00 – Yen’s overseas wedding in Vietnam Markets, mountains, flying in her team, and planning without infrastructure. 56:00 – Doing flowers for your own wedding (or not) Pressure, delegation, and letting others create for you. 58:00 – Final reflections: sustainability, slowing down, and building properly What they’re prioritising now — and what they’d do differently next time.     Want help applying this to your own floristry business? Wildflower Academy is where we do this work properly, blending mindset, strategy, and real-world systems so wedding florists can grow without burnout or constant comparison. Inside the Academy, you’ll learn how to: clarify your niche and position yourself with confidence communicate your value without defending your prices build demand without relying on chaos or constant content grow a business that actually supports your life If you’re ready to stop spiralling and start building with intention, you’ll feel right at home in Wildflower Academy. Click here to join!

I’ve been a wedding florist for over 15 years, booking $20–40K+ weddings… and I don’t have a van, a cool room, or a fancy logo. I'm talking through the things I don’t think you need to invest in when you’re growing your floristry business (even though everyone tells you that you do), and the things I genuinely believe are worth your money early on. This is very much based on my own experience, what worked, what didn’t, and what I wish I’d known sooner. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, behind, or spiralling about where to spend your money right now, this episode is your permission to simplify, focus, and stop pouring cash into things that don’t actually move the needle.   Want help applying this to your own floristry business? Wildflower Academy is where we do this work properly, blending mindset, strategy, and real-world systems so wedding florists can grow without burnout or constant comparison. Inside the Academy, you’ll learn how to: clarify your niche and position yourself with confidence communicate your value without defending your prices build demand without relying on chaos or constant content grow a business that actually supports your life If you’re ready to stop spiralling and start building with intention, you’ll feel right at home in Wildflower Academy. Click here to join!

For years, I told myself I didn’t want high-budget weddings. I said they were boring. Too basic. Too polished. Too “not me.” But the reality was they scared me and I was avoiding doing the hard workSo I criticised them instead of chasing them. In this episode, I unpack the stories that kept me stuck under $10K weddings and the mindset shifts that helped me move into higher-spend work, work less, and enjoy my business again. If this hits close to home, I’ve left a free resource for you with 3 simple caption tweaks to help your marketing start attracting higher-budget clientsClick here to grab it! Want help applying this to your own floristry business? Wildflower Academy is where we do this work properly, blending mindset, strategy, and real-world systems so wedding florists can grow without burnout or constant comparison. Inside the Academy, you’ll learn how to: clarify your niche and position yourself with confidence communicate your value without defending your prices build demand without relying on chaos or constant content grow a business that actually supports your life If you’re ready to stop spiralling and start building with intention, you’ll feel right at home in Wildflower Academy. Click here to join!

In this episode, I’m talking about how I survive insanely hot wedding days as a florist who is, admittedly, a delicate little flower who wilts the second the temperature hits 30. I share why I blocked out December and January from my calendar, what it took to design my business so I could afford to do that, and how I still end up at sweltering weddings anyway. I walk you through everything I did for a recent 40-degree setup at Redleaf – from hiring a last-minute cool room, bringing on extra freelancers, reworking the ceremony design to get every flower into deep water, and creating shade with umbrellas, to packing snacks, electrolytes, trolleys, and misters so none of us died in the process. I also chat about client expectations, timing strategies, choosing hardy ingredients, and little hacks like sneaking bouquets into drink cool rooms. Mostly, it’s a very sweaty reminder that you’re allowed to protect your health, build systems that support you, and design a business that doesn’t require you to suffer through heatwaves to prove anything to anyone. Tune in, stay cool, and know you’re not alone if you’d rather be at the beach than in a paddock with crispy flowers.   Want help applying this to your own floristry business? Wildflower Academy is where we do this work properly, blending mindset, strategy, and real-world systems so wedding florists can grow without burnout or constant comparison. Inside the Academy, you’ll learn how to: clarify your niche and position yourself with confidence communicate your value without defending your prices build demand without relying on chaos or constant content grow a business that actually supports your life If you’re ready to stop spiralling and start building with intention, you’ll feel right at home in Wildflower Academy. Click here to join!

In this episode, I’m talking about something I never thought I’d have to learn: how to be a leader. Not a corporate manager, not a clipboard-wielding supervisor… just a wedding florist who suddenly had people relying on her and absolutely no idea how to direct them. For a long time, I felt like I was doing it all wrong. I hated the idea of telling people what to do, so I over-explained everything. I didn’t want to come across as bossy, so I softened all my instructions. And then I wondered why people didn’t know what I meant. Every drive home was a spiral: was I too much? Not enough? Did I make someone uncomfortable? Did I make sense at all? It took one uncomfortable moment for me to realise the truth I’d been avoiding: I was the bottleneck. My team wasn’t confused because they were incapable. They were confused because I was trying to lead in a way that kept everyone comfortable… except myself. So I started asking better questions. What would actually help my team do their best work? And what do I love or hate when I’m freelancing on someone else's wedding? From there, everything started to shift. I stopped trying to be liked and started trying to be clear. I stopped filling the silence with explanations and just said what needed to be said. And for the first time, leading a team didn’t feel heavy, it felt supportive, collaborative, and surprisingly simple. This episode is the behind-the-scenes of that turning point: what changed, how I changed, and how it made every wedding week run smoother than ever. If leadership has ever felt awkward, overwhelming, or just not your thing, I think you’ll feel really seen in this one.   Want help applying this to your own floristry business? Wildflower Academy is where we do this work properly, blending mindset, strategy, and real-world systems so wedding florists can grow without burnout or constant comparison. Inside the Academy, you’ll learn how to: clarify your niche and position yourself with confidence communicate your value without defending your prices build demand without relying on chaos or constant content grow a business that actually supports your life If you’re ready to stop spiralling and start building with intention, you’ll feel right at home in Wildflower Academy. Click here to join!

I want to dedicate this episode to one of the most painful things we experience as florists, comparison. That gross, icky feeling that creeps in when you open Instagram “just to post something” and suddenly find yourself spiralling down a rabbit hole of envy, doubt and mental gymnastics over who booked what and why it wasn’t you. In this chat, I’m breaking down what’s actually happening when comparison hits and how to shift it from something that drains you to something that drives you. We’ll talk about why that jealousy might actually be clarity in disguise, how to stop designing from imitation instead of intuition and why your competitors are secretly doing you a favour. If you’ve ever felt triggered by another florist’s success, stared too long at someone else’s bouquet, or muted half your feed just to breathe again… this episode’s for you. By the end, you’ll walk away with a calmer mind, a clearer sense of direction, and a reminder that someone else’s win doesn’t take anything away from you, it just proves what’s possible.   Want help applying this to your own floristry business? Wildflower Academy is where we do this work properly, blending mindset, strategy, and real-world systems so wedding florists can grow without burnout or constant comparison. Inside the Academy, you’ll learn how to: clarify your niche and position yourself with confidence communicate your value without defending your prices build demand without relying on chaos or constant content grow a business that actually supports your life If you’re ready to stop spiralling and start building with intention, you’ll feel right at home in Wildflower Academy. Click here to join!  

Are you tired of couples handing you a shopping list of specific flowers and expecting you to magically source every single one, even when it’s out of season or unavailable? You’re not alone. So many florists feel stuck working with clients who micromanage their designs, but it doesn’t have to be this way. In this episode, I’m breaking down why this keeps happening and, more importantly, how you can change it. We’ll talk about how your marketing might accidentally be inviting picky, controlling clients (without you even realising it), and how to shift into authority-driven marketing that shows people you’re the expert from day one. I’ll walk you through how to lead your consultations in a way that stops couples from dictating flower varieties, and how to build real trust so clients feel confident letting you take creative control. If you’re dreaming of couples who say, “I trust you, do your thing!” and who get excited about your artistry rather than the exact flower list, this episode will help you get there.   Want help applying this to your own floristry business? Wildflower Academy is where we do this work properly, blending mindset, strategy, and real-world systems so wedding florists can grow without burnout or constant comparison. Inside the Academy, you’ll learn how to: clarify your niche and position yourself with confidence communicate your value without defending your prices build demand without relying on chaos or constant content grow a business that actually supports your life If you’re ready to stop spiralling and start building with intention, you’ll feel right at home in Wildflower Academy. Click here to join!