Jade is the unequivocal heart and soul of JMFS – creative, forward-thinking, and hopelessly addicted to chai!
She’s taken some time this holiday season to reflect on the wedding industry experience and generously shared these musings below. The most impactful lesson she’s learned in her 20+ years as small business owner? The beauty of community over competition.
On her proudest accomplishment thus far
I’ve built a really quality team. Every member is very valuable and I genuinely love working with them. We all have different strengths too, which helps the business grow where it needs to. I’m yet to set a new milestone as a huge one has just been ticked off – I bought a wedding venue! Most likely, my next goal will be quite simple and see me focusing on reinforcing/tweaking the streamlining processes we’ve created in recent years.
On the common challenges faced by florists
Burnout is a big one in our industry, particularly during wedding season. For me, recovering from it or avoiding it altogether means delegating and having solid systems in place that encourage and enforce boundaries. I’m lucky to have an admin team that takes care of a lot of the scheduling stuff, so I’m not staring at a screen every day, paying bills and doing other bits that aren’t my passion or forte.
On how the industry has evolved
When I first started, people were often so secretive and rarely socialised with their competitor around the corner. Today, though, we’re relying on freelancers during peak periods and outsourcing other tasks to help run our business more efficiently, which means everyone gets a BTS look and shares ideas. I’ve also learned to be a lot more relaxed when planning and executing weddings. I think this has primarily come with age and experiencing what feels like every possible scenario involved in working closely with couples, families, venues and suppliers. Not much stresses me out now and I back my team to pull through.
