84: Building A Thriving Flower Farm Without Owning Land With Nikki From Cross Street Flowers
Six Figure Flower FarmingShow Notes
Nikki Bartley didn't wait for perfect land access, a perfect setup, or perfect timing. She started selling mason jar arrangements out of her front yard and built Cross Street Flower Farm into a thriving New England cut flower business by leasing seven acres on town owned farmland, then designing a business model that keeps customers coming back all season long. In this episode, we dig into how Nikki built a retail barn shop that runs like a boutique flower destination, why her CSA evolved as her grab and go sales grew, and how she uses events like tulip and dahlia cut your own to turn the farm into a place families plan their weekends around.
If you're trying to grow a sustainable flower farm business without owning land, you'll love Nikki’s practical takeaways on diversifying sales channels, building community based marketing that actually works, and setting up inventory in a way that reduces waste and increases profit.
Find Nikki Online Website: www.crossstreetflowerfarm.com Instagram: @crossstreetflowerfarm
Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a review on Apple or Spotify.
Follow Jenny on Instagram: @trademarkfarmer
Find free flower business resources: www.trademarkfarmer.com
More from Six Figure Flower Farming
You know how to grow beautiful flowers, but do you know how to build a flower farm business that actually makes you money? Today I'm pulling back the curtain on my Six Figure Flower Farming program, why I created it, who it's for, and what it really takes to build a profitable, sustainable flower farm. We're talking about the business skills that so many flower farmers struggle with, from pricing and profit margins to marketing, sales, and creating efficient farm systems that give you your time back.
You can grow gorgeous flowers, know exactly when to pinch your dahlias, and have your succession planting dialed in...and still feel completely lost when someone asks about your margins, pricing, marketing, or profit. That doesn’t mean you’re “not a business person.” Running a profitable flower farm is simply a different skill set than growing flowers, and those skills can be learned.
What changes when you stop guessing at your flower farm numbers and start running your farm like a real business? In this episode, I’m talking with Six Figure Flower Farming Alumni Lydia Watson of Hen Hill Cut Flowers about how understanding her costs, profitability, and pricing gave her the confidence to raise her flower prices by 30% with zero customer pushback. After a season of overwhelm and barely keeping her head above water, Lydia is now profitable, tracking her numbers, and making decisions based on data instead of gut feelings.
Feeling overwhelmed on your flower farm doesn’t always mean you need more hours in the day. Sometimes the real problem is that everything feels important. When you’re juggling harvesting, marketing, crop planning, sales, and a never-ending list of new ideas, it’s easy to stay incredibly busy without knowing if you’re actually moving your flower farm business forward.
What if growing fewer flowers could actually help you build a better flower farm business? In this episode, I sit down with past Six-Figure Flower Farming student Amanda Keene of Flowers on Phoenix to talk about how she has simplified her farm, become more intentional about profitability, and built a business that fits around her family and the life she actually wants to live.