080 | Christina Stembel, Farmgirl Flowers on how she has built a $23M business with $49k of her personal savings.

Christina Stemble is the founder of Farmgirl Flowers, which she started 7 years ago from her living room table. She invested $49,000 of her personal savings to start the business and Farm Girl Flowers is projected to hit $23M in revenue for 2018.     Christina disrupted the floral industry with new options for consumers, less waste and higher quality products. Farmgirl Flower arrangements are designed by hand, in-house in San Francisco California.   On today’s episode, Christina is sharing why it is so important to know your numbers, the struggles of scaling and how she’s pivoted more times that she can count. We also talked about how she’s been proactive about business education and why she focuses on caring about people, but not what they think about her. ON TODAY’S EPISODE: Her career background prior to starting Farmgirl Flowers The research that lead her to an e-commerce floral boutique How her business model has changed over the years The importance of knowing your numbers as an entrepreneur How she predicted numbers at the beginning of her business The advantages of pivoting often in your business Her attitude towards copycats The very first position Christina hired for & how adding team members impacted her business Farmgirl Flower’s marketing strategy What success looked like for Christina in the early days & what it looks like now How she learned business concepts Lessons Christina has learned as an entrepreneur The importance of focusing on team culture to avoid burn out Her advice for someone just starting out as an entrepreuneur What’s next for Farmgirl Flowers   KEY TAKE-AWAYS: “Younger consumers, it's not rocket science what they want. They want something that's beautiful, they want to feel like they weren't ripped off or robbed in the process. They want a good value for the money.” - Christina Stembel “There's 27 million new box companies or socks companies or toothbrush companies, but there's nobody that's reinvented this space yet, so let me see if I can be the one to do it.” - Christina Stembel “My goal from day one was to build a billion dollar company, and I have no qualms saying that.” - Christina Stembel “Everybody always asks if we're profitable. We have to be profitable.” - Christina Stembel “As an entrepreneur, you have to know your numbers. You have to know your forecast. You have to know your projections, and you have to go back and check them often.” - Christina Stembel “Our consumers are telling us what they like and don't like, and so listening to them, seeing what's selling, not selling, and then pivoting.” - Christina Stembel “Every two weeks, our company looks different than it did two weeks ago.” - Christina Stembel “I think the fact that we can change so quickly without any red tape allows us to ensure that we are a very healthy, financially healthy company.” - Christina Stembel “If everybody's making things that look strikingly similar to us and creating businesses that look strikingly similar to us, that means we're the best.” - Christina Stembel “I think part of the thing that makes us different and more special than our competitors, in my opinion, is that we have a heart.” - Christina Stembel “The number one thing that to me means that I'm being successful is that I don't run out of money.” - Christina Stembel “I think if we focus on building a business that we believe in, that has the core values that really mirror our own personal core values, then that'll breed success.” - Katie Hunt “You can learn anything you want just on the internet now.” - Christina Stembel “The number one thing that I've learned from it is that it doesn't matter if you make mistakes. The only thing that matters is that you get back up.” - Christina Stembel “Just because they say it doesn't make it true.” - Christina Stembel   CONNECT WITH CHRISTINA STEMBEL Website: http://www.farmgirlflowers.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FarmgirlFlowers Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farmgirlflowers/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/farmgirlflowers/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/farmgirlflowers   SPECIAL OFFER: Proof to Product listeners get 3 free months of Gusto when they run their first payroll.  Go to www.gusto.com/proof for more information   What if you could sit in a room with 30 other product makers who are doing exactly what you’re doing -- building a business they love!  You could share resources, leverage each other’s experiences and learn from those who are where you want to be. Imagine the growth potential!   Join us March 14-15th in Los Angeles for our Paper Camp Conference.   Over 800 brands have attended Paper Camp.  Brands that sell to stores like Target, Paper Source, Container Store, Anthropologie and independent boutiques internationally.   This program is for you if you’re a stationery or gift company interested in selling wholesale, exhibiting at trade shows or looking to expand your outreach to wholesale customers.     We believe in the power of community, collaboration and sharing everything we know.  Get all the details and register at  www.tradeshowcamp.com/papercamp SUBSCRIBE To subscribe on iOS, go to the iTunes page and subscribe to Proof to Product. On Android, you can listen using your favorite podcast app. WRITE A REVIEW Writing a review on iTunes will help other product based business owners find Proof to Product as they are working to up level, scale, and build profitable and sustainable companies. FOLLOW PROOF TO PRODUCT Follow Proof to Product on Instagram for the latest updates. JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST If you'd like to receive more information about our upcoming episodes of Proof to Product including show notes and information about our guests, head over to www.prooftoproduct.com and sign up for our email list.   SHARE Be sure to share Proof to Product with all of the product based business owners that you know! ABOUT PROOF TO PRODUCT: Proof to Product is brought to you by Tradeshow Bootcamp and hosted by Katie Hunt. Since 2011, TSBC has worked with hundreds of product based businesses to help them up level, scale, and build profitable sustainable companies. You can find our show notes and additional resources at ProofToProduct.com. If you like what you heard today, please head over to Apple Podcast to leave a five star review and subscribe. Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back next week with a new episode!