A CONVERSATION WITH KARA DUFFY

A CONVERSATION WITH KARA DUFFY

BUSINESS COACH & CONSULTANT

Get to know Kara Duffy, entrepreneur, business coach, consultant, speaker, and adviser. She is answering some of your questions on starting your own business - and how to make sense of it all! This easy-to-understand Q&A with Kara is only the starting point of kicking off (or even re-inspiring) your floral business. Let’s get started!!!

ANSWERS YOUR TOP QUESTIONS

TELL ME WHO YOU ARE/WHAT YOU DO? WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO BE A COACH?

I’m Kara Duffy an entrepreneur, business coach, consultant, speaker and advisor. I help businesss and business owners focus on what matters and build systems to have more revenue, freedom, purpose and impact. It is possible to have it all and to have a dream business. Having a coach and a community of fellow business owners accelerates that process.

I became a coach because I saw and interacted with a lot of smart, hard working people with great business ideas who were struggling to make it work. They were struggling to make enough money, find the right people, find enough time and definitely struggling to scale. From my experience both as an entrepreneur and in my corporate life, I knew that running a business doesn’t have to be that hard and in fact it can be fun and rewarding. I started business coaching & consulting to show creative, heart-lead entrepreneurs the systems, mindset and methodologies to make it work beyond their wildest expectations.

I’D LIKE SOME TOP TIPS AS I’M STARTING TO START MY OWN BUSINESS? WHERE SHOULD I START?

As soon as you’re thinking about starting a business, you have to start assembling your support team. Who do you know that is currently running a business? Who do you know that has business expertise or knowledge such as finance, accounting, marketing or operations? We often think that business teams are all paid employees, and that it’s true. A healthy business has a mix of unpaid mentors, interns, volunteers as well as paid consultants, experts, employees, and advisors. Reach out to the business experts in your life and invite them to coffee to run your ideas by them. Ask a LOT of questions.

Then I recommend using my Kara’s Quick Start Business Plan. This quick start guide can help you create Business Plans as short as one page.

What’s most important is that you’re writing your ideas down and asking yourself basic questions. Plus, studies show that writing goals down gives you a 40% increased chance of completing them!

Next, I’d recommend finding an entrepreneur community that fits your style. My Thrive Community is a global network of entrepreneurs and membership includes group business coaching, workshops, tools, guest speakers and more. It’s a great place for business owners from start up to decades of business.

Lastly, I also recommend looking for a business coach as soon as possible in your business journey. Most of my clients regret not starting with me sooner. A great business coach is worth the investment because they can help you go from zero to minimum monthly sales goal much quicker than you will on your own. Look for a business

coach who has worked with start ups before, has worked with businesses like yours, who gets your vision and who is confident in where your opportunities are.

I DO FLORALS AS A SIDE HUSTLE, ON TOP OF MY CURRENT FULL TIME JOB. WHAT ARE SOME POINTERS TO GET ME STARTED IN MAKING MY SIDE-HUSTLE A FULL TIME, PROFITABLE BUSINESS?

Moving from side hustle to full time is all about money. You need to have a plan on how you’ll generate enough monthly revenue to pay for both your business expenses and your minimum personal expenses.

1. Get clear on how much money you need each month personally.

2. Get clear on how much money you need for the business each month. It’s 100% ok for this number to be your best guess.

3. Your Personal + Business spending needs = your Break Even Monthly Sales Goal. This is the minimum amount of money you need to generate each month to stay afloat.

4. Determine how much Runway you have. Your runway is how much cash or access to credit cards you have right now and how many months that money could support you and the business if no sales come in. My rule is usually a 3 month runway before you make the leap. If you’re more risk averse, focus on saving everything you can to create a longer runway before you leap.

5. Make the leap & start selling! Focus everything on generating sales. Once you’ve proven you can hit your sales goal, working with experts to increase your margin, implement best practices, etc is much easier.

HOW MUCH MONEY DO I NEED TO GET STARTED? WHAT ARE SOME BEST PRACTICES FOR MANAGING CASH FLOW?

How much money you need to start a business varies tremendously. I encourage anyone looking to start a new business to think about it as a project first. Host one event. Land one customer. Make a first sample. Thinking about it as a project first will give yourself space to test and experiment, as well as to look at it more objectively. We put so much pressure on things we call a business.

How can you spend the least amount of money while you’re in “project” or “test” phase? Smart business owners are always hesitant to spend money until they know how that investment - even $10, will lead to making more money in the short, mid or long term.

Managing cash flow is all about tracking your money. Keep a spreadsheet where you track all of your spending and income. You need cash to keep a business running and you have to invest the time to track and review both your revenue and expenses. Can you run your business before paying yourself on 50% of sales?

I AM CONFIDENT THAT I AM CREATIVE AND CAN DO GREAT FLORALS, BUT NERVOUS ABOUT GETTING (AND KEEPING CUSTOMERS), ANY ADVICE?

Focus on creating great relationships. People buy from people they like, people their friends or trusted associates recommend, and people who make their life easier, more beautiful, more rewarding. Focus on landing one customer at a time and dazzling them. Referrals are the start of every business and the majority of sales for many businesses.

In the floral business you’re not selling flowers, your selling beauty, love and happiness. You’re at an advantage in that everyone wants beauty, love and happiness - so go sell that!

I’M WORRIED ABOUT MY SECURITY AND WORK/LIFE BALANCE IF I START MY OWN BUSINESS. I’VE HEARD HORROR STORIES ABOUT PEOPLE WORKING EXTENSIVE HOURS ONCE THEY START THEIR OWN BUSINESS.

You can start a new business working 1 hour a day or working 20 hours a day, it’s truly a personal choice. Most people who are working too many hours a day or week are those who are trying to do it all by themselves and those who are focusing in all the wrong areas. This is where having a business advisor or coach can radically change everything. Don’t try to do it all. Only do what is absolutely necessary to have happy customers and make the business function. Many businesses don’t need social media, or a logo, or a website or a business card to start and yet that’s where so many new business owners focus. You just need a customer saying YES to start. The difference between a business and a hobby is that one costs you money and one makes you money. Focus on making the money :)

I'VE BEEN IN THE BUSINESS A LONG TIME, AND i'M IN A BIT OF A RUT - IS THERE ANYTHING YOU'D RECOMMEND TO GET THAT EXCITEMENT BACK?

When you’re in a rut it usually is a sign that you’re not doing activities within the business that fill up your soul or bring you joy. I’ve had many clients come to me saying, “My business is successful, but I hate my job.” It’s super common to focus on making the business work and not think about how can the business work for me. Here are three tips to try now:

1. Come back to why you started the business and the original vision you had

2. Get out of the office and invite potential clients, vendors or other business contacts to lunch. Getting outside and engaged with others in your industry can change everything.

3. Schedule a vacation or long weekend. Leave the computer at home and allow yourself to be present and enjoy wherever you decide to go.

WHAT ARE SOME USEFUL RESOURCES, BOOKS, BLOGS, PODCASTS YOU'D RECOMMEND?

Podcasts: How I Built This, Powerful Ladies Podcast

Books: I am always recommending books and you can get free access to my full library on my website. Business Made Simple and Storybrand by Donald Miller are two I always recommend.

WHAT'S NEXT? DO YOU HAVE ANY UPCOMING PROJECTS YOU'RE EXCITED ABOUT?

Always! Each month I host a business skill workshop as well as host guest experts in my Thrive Community which I love. Sharing best practices and brainstorming with business owners is both fun and inspiring. July’s topic is Mid-Year Check-In and August is Becoming a Thoughtleader.

I’ll also be having free business workshops throughout the summer. Then, in September I’m launching for the first time my Business Accelerator program. It combines both my foundational business structures and methodologies to scale into an mixed online and live course.

All events, courses and programs are listed at karaduffy.com

HOW CAN I CONNECT WITH YOU? WHAT ARE SOME OTHER RESOURCES YOU'D RECOMMEND?

The best way to connect with me is to visit karaduffy.com and book an introductory call. I’d love to hear about your business, your challenges and opportunities, as well as brainstorm with you.

You can also follow me on instagram @kara_duffy where I share news, events, business tips and more.

FOCUS ON CREATING GREAT RELATIONSHIPS. PEOPLE BUY FROM PEOPLE THEY LIKE, PEOPLE THEIR FRIENDS OR TRUSTED ASSOCIATES RECOMMEND, AND PEOPLE WHO MAKE THEIR LIFE EASIER, MORE BEAUTIFUL, MORE REWARDING.