I first met my student Ashley when she was thinking about starting a floral design business. Before she had even opened her doors for business, she knew she wanted to build a strong business foundation.

She took my signature course The Business Behind the Blooms and then jumped into Know Your Numbers: Annual Planning for Your Best Year.

Ashley values clarity and wanted help finding direction for her dreams before she jumped in full-force.

Ashley describes how she felt about life before KYN.

“Before Know Your Numbers, I felt overwhelmed with commitments for the upcoming year. I had a lot on my to-do list, so life was feeling very task driven.”

It’s easy to get lost, wander father and farther away from dreams and goals when life feels like an unending to-do list.

When it comes to starting her business Ashley, “didn’t have a sales goal based on anything, other than how many weddings [she] wanted to do.”

Ashley is married to a CPA, but that doesn’t mean she knew everything she needed to know about her business finances. Accountants’ brains work very differently than creative brains!

Ashley explains it like this:

“I’m married to a CPA so I wasn’t totally clueless about my numbers before KYN, but these worksheets gave me a tool that fit my mindset better than the ones he had created for me... having a worksheet that was from someone more like-minded and business minded has been helpful for me to actually look at my numbers and understand them better.”

When I asked Ashley what her favorite part of the course was, this is what she had to say:

“I love and appreciate that [the course] starts with intentionally setting goals based on my vision for my life and THEN, after getting personal goals and finances in order, it helped me think through how I want my business to fit into my life and how it can help me reach those personal dreams and goals. The personal and business finances are eye-opening and there has been a lot of freedom in discovering what my sales goal should be (and that I should even have a sales goal!).”

Christin decides where she wants to spend her money and her time.

Before Know Your Numbers, Christin had no system for planning her year. While taking the course, Christin realized that she had no real plan for setting goals and achieving them, running a profitable business, or supporting the lifestyle that she wanted for herself.

It’s hard to live the life you want when you haven’t defined what that life is, or the steps you need to take to get there!

Instead, Christin was spending hard-earned money on coffee, skipping from client to client in an attempt to make ends meet, and living life in an endless work hamster wheel.

Christin realized that she would never achieve the things she really wanted unless she made a plan.

Know Your Numbers gave Christin that plan.

She used the KYN system to create a vision board that visually mapped what she wanted to focus on in the coming year. One of those was owning a wedding venue. This is what Christin said about her vision board and goal-setting:

“I clarified my goals: short and long term. I set my non-negotiables for clients and continued the path towards venue ownership… I felt more freedom in decision making. I now know what exactly I want and the steps to get there.”

As far as finances, Christin knows how much her money either prevents or empowers her to make her dreams a reality. “Seeing how I can check expenses and track goals to achieve my vision for the year makes everything come full circle. Seeing my coffee purchases was embarrassing, BUT the spreadsheet is GOLD. I was able to eliminate a few things that I don’t need to spend money in order to focus on saving.”

Now, Christin can put that saved money towards her dream venue. She has a plan to prioritize what she wants most over what she wants now.

For the first time, Christin set a sales goal and met that goal.

My Know Your Numbers student Rachel is a multi-passionate entrepreneur. I first met her when she took my course, The Business Behind the Blooms, and we reconnected when she took Know Your Numbers in the Fall of 2018.

Rachel has a floral design business, but has always thought of herself as a writer. She even studied writing in college! But in the years after she graduated, she got married, had children, and started her floral design business. She started to wonder if she’d ever become a writer, and didn’t even know how to set that dream in motion.

Here’s what Rachel says about her experience with Know Your Numbers:

“I took Know Your Numbers and I realized that while I loved my floral design business, I also wanted to pursue my dream of writing. My husband and I sat down and looked at our finances and wrote down what I'd need to make each month from flowers in order to have the freedom to pursue writing in some capacity. On January 1st, I created a 2019 vision board and a goals list for the year. Both included writing professionally in some capacity.”

Know Your Numbers gave Rachel the tools she needed to mesh big time dreaming with practical action. She got to follow her heart by using her head and taking a practical look at her family’s finances.

Here’s what happened next…

“A week later, on January 7, 2019, I was offered a position as a copywriter. I spent 2019 doing a few amazing weddings with my favorite clients yet, and writing from home with my newborn son on my chest. Since I was ten years old, I've wanted to be a writer. Now, I am. And I help feed my family with that money. I made a life-long dream a reality this year because of Know Your Numbers. Now, truly nothing seems impossible.”

Rachel got to make a decades-long dream a reality while spending her days exactly how she wanted-- home with her new baby.

The secret to living your dreams is in Knowing Your Numbers!

It’s funny that as people my husband and I are minimalist. We dislike clutter and embellishments. Yet our business was all over the place and we couldn’t breathe. During the course, we were given the tools to grow our business and naturally went down the path of scaling up. But we discovered that we didn’t want to grow our business in the same way as everyone else. Through introspection and financial planning, we were able to make a plan that works for us. We exceeded our sales goals far beyond our expectations. We launched a new product with success. We had our most successful crop production ever. While we didn’t get published on the Martha Stewart Weddings Blog, we did receive two print features in Modern Luxury and The Knot. We redesigned and upgraded our studio, cut our debt in half and feel ready to grow our family. We didn’t take that Caribbean vacation, nor did I meet my fitness goals but we realized why and will do more or rearrange in order to meet those goals next year.”

—Courtney Pino
Loblolly Farm
Maryland

She goes through all the things I needed to know about running my business like a business (and sheds light on some of the things I didn’t think about or even knew I needed to know!). The layout is practical, and each module builds on the one before it. I love and appreciate that it starts with intentionally setting goals based on my vision for my life and THEN, after getting personal goals and finances in order, it helped me think through how I want my business to fit into my life and how it can help me reach those personal dreams and goals. The personal and business finances are eye-opening and there has been a lot of freedom in discovering what my sales goal should be (and that I should even have a sales goal!). As someone intrinsically motivated and also practical in my approach to goal setting and checking things off of my list - this course was extremely helpful. Each of the modules is SO helpful! I believe this course will truly help me live my life with intention and achieve my definition of success! Thank you Jessica for creating and sharing a course that I believe can be life changing!”

—Ashley Krupp
Ashley Eileen Floral Design
Colorado

In the fall of 2018, I took Know Your Numbers and I realized that while I loved my floral design business, I also wanted to pursue my dream of writing. My husband and I sat down and looked at our finances and wrote down what I'd need to make each month from flowers in order to have the freedom to pursue writing in come capacity. I created a 2019 vision board and a goals list for the year. Both included writing professionally in some capacity. A week later, January 7, 2019, I was offered a position as a copywriter. I spent 2019 doing a few amazing weddings with my favorite clients yet, and writing from home with my newborn son on my chest. Since I was ten years old, I've wanted to be a writer. Now, I am. And I help feed my family with that money. I made a life-long dream a reality this year because of Know Your Numbers. Now, truly nothing seems impossible.“

—Rachel Fletcher
Carbon & Salt
Virginia