GUEST BLOG: DON'T WISH FOR WHAT YOU AREN'T PREPARED FOR
About Jessica Zimmerman
Voted Top Wedding Planner by Southern Living Magazine, Jessica Zimmerman has mastered the art of designing and producing unforgettable weddings. She’s worked with celebrity clients and her designs have been featured in major media publications including People magazine, Martha Stewart Weddings, Brides, Country Living, and more.
In an industry full of beauty and flowers, Jessica has been described by both colleagues and students as the "missing component" with her business expertise. As she often says, "It's one thing to make a pretty floral arrangement, it's a whole other thing to make money doing it."
In a field that is often tight-lipped, Jessica's tell-all, tough-love approach has made her a sought-after speaker for the industry's top events.
Born and raised in Arkansas, she’s a proud wife and mama to a 5-year-old daughter and 3-year-old twin boys. Her greatest passion is designing a life she loves to live while encouraging other businesswomen to do the same.
Don't Wish For What You Aren't Prepared For
Four years ago, I attended my floral idol’s workshop. I remember sitting in the front row soaking in every single word she said, writing down notes like a crazy woman, asking questions like my life depended on it, and seeing images of her beautiful work as they displayed on the screen in front of me.
I remember thinking, “I wish I could be like her. I wish I could do events like she does. I wish could have big budget clients like she has.”
I’ve always been one to seize an opportunity, so when the attendees of the workshop all piled on a bus to go to another location and my idol also walked onto the bus, I made sure to sit next to her. I remember saying to her “I wish I was further along like you. I wish I was more successful like you.”
And she said something to me I will never forget. She looked me right in the eye and said, “YOU ABSOLUTELY CAN’T COMPARE YOUR THREE YEAR JOURNEY TO MY TEN YEAR JOURNEY.”
Those words have always stayed with me, but it wasn’t until 2016 when I produced my first six-figure event, that I realized something even more.
I had hoped and wished for a wedding like that for five years. I realized after executing that wedding, had that opportunity come along any sooner, I wouldn’t have been prepared for it. I would have probably failed. The referrals would not have been good. In order to produce a wedding of that magnitude I needed experience to teach me how to handle specific situations. I needed a team I trusted because I certainly couldn’t pull it off on my own. It wasn’t until 2016, after five years of producing smaller-scaled weddings that I was finally prepared for a wedding of this size.
Success happens when preparation meets opportunity. Only after those five years of hustle, failure, lessons learned and experiences gained was I prepared.
Because I was prepared, the wedding was successful. That client has referred us to more dream clients. In 2018, my team and I are only producing four weddings because we will exceed our annual sales goal with just those four.
Even today, when I want something to happen now, I have to take a step back and remember, maybe I’m not yet prepared for that. Maybe if I received that opportunity today, I wouldn’t do well. Maybe I have some more learning, some more preparing to do before that opportunity arrives. When it does, I’ll be prepared and I’ll succeed.
So if you’re reading this and you are one of those who is hoping and wishing you were further along in this floral career than you currently are, I just want to remind you, don’t wish for what you’re not prepared for. Work hard, prepare yourself, and when you’re ready, the opportunities WILL come and when they do, you’ll be ready for them.
Want to hear more from Jessica? You can join her newsletter list here: https://www.zimmermanevents.com/newsletter-optin
Interested in learning more from Jessica? Her highly sought-after course, The Business Behind the Blooms, opens enrollment just once a year. You can learn more and get on the wait list here: https://www.zimmermanevents.com/bbb-waitlist-landing
Thanks for stopping by! Read up on some of our recent weddings, lessons learned, and favorite floral trends.