Everything about my success is because of my "Petal Tribe"

Hi! My name is Medjoy and I’m a paper flower artist. I specialize in creating book flowers for weddings and selling them in my Etsy shop, With Love & Petals. I never expected to fall into the wedding business. I was planning to get a degree in science and build a career in that field, so starting up WL&P was a complete surprise.

With Love & Petals came into fruition because I was looking for a fresh alternative to flower arrangements for my wedding. So, I did some research online and fell in love with the idea of paper flowers. We had your traditional large Filipino wedding with 10 bridesmaids,10 groomsmen, and a long list of sponsors. I made all the flowers for our wedding and if I had the choice to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing. After the wedding, I kept on making flowers in a little office of mine and then something started to happen. My little hobby took on a new life and I found myself unexpectedly making business decisions that were masked as fun things to me. Now, I’ve been designing paper flowers for book lovers across the US and have worked with the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal best selling authors. 

When the discussion about making WL&P a full-time business came up, there was some doubt and it was definitely scary. I had no management experience or any business experience. I only had a strong desire to create. Was I ready for this? Am I capable of taking on this new role? Is WL&P going to be successful? What if it fails? Is this a real opportunity? These were just a few of the questions I had. For months my husband and I studied WL&P’s growth. We weighed out the pros and cons and then made the switch because it was the best decision for my family. 

One of the things I love about having my own business is the free range of creativity. Having this freedom gives me the option to add sentimental touches to my items. I’ve honored a bride's grandmother by adding her handkerchief to her bouquet, made a bridal set using the bride and groom’s love letters and made a bouquet using a book published by the husband-to-be. I am proud that all of my items are handmade and quietly speak volumes.

I’m proud that I have been able to make it this far. This was something I never thought I’d end up doing and I’m blessed that I have been given this opportunity. It feels amazing to know that what I’ve created has value to someone else and validates everything I have worked for. When I get to see clients’ wedding photos and read reviews letting me know how happy they are with what I made for them, it makes me feel better than great. Getting noticed has also been a huge accomplishment. I’ve made flowers for authors and have been recognized in the community. This was the point where I said, “I did it.” Getting recognized and having people of that caliber choose you is definitely a confidence booster and gave me extra motivation to do better.

Starting in the Wedding Industry

There is nothing small about a small business. Running WL&P taught me how ready I was to be a business woman and how much I needed to grow. It taught me to know myself and know what I was capable of doing. I didn’t have a business background so I read books about small startups and used a lot of online sources to help me develop the necessary skills. I learned how to run lean, take better photos and how to cater to my audience among other things.

When I first started WL&P, I was newly married and had a full-time job. Being a small business owner has not just been an adjustment for me, but also for my family. I was the only employee and I learned fast that balancing my time was important. Although the hours may be flexible, time is limited and there was the harsh reality of always being “on.” With owning a business I didn’t have the luxury of “turning it off and leaving it at work” because I was always at work, so I had to develop a system (that I am still trying to perfect) where I could run my shop and keep a healthy lifestyle. 

In the beginning, juggling my time between my full-time job, my life and my business wasn’t too much of a challenge. Soon after, I became the mother of two beautiful children and hit another growth curve and that’s when things got difficult. There were times when I wanted to call it quits, but one thing that kept me going was something my husband would always tell me, “This is a good problem to have. There's a solution for everything.” There isn’t a lot of time when you have to balance running a business, raise two kids, and maintain a marriage, social life and a healthy self. I am a business woman, but I am a wife and mother first and I have to be in the right mindset to carry on this new role and lifestyle. To make it work, I needed to better organize my work schedule. I identified the areas that needed extra attention and started working on fixing those gaps. To stay focused, I set goals for the week and studied my shop's behavior, noting which months were the busiest and which items were popular. This was important so I could plan ahead based on the needs and demands of my shop. When wedding season was coming up, I knew I could anticipate an influx of work and physically and mentally prepare for it. I also had to be true to myself and know what I was capable of doing, something I’m still trying to master. Sometimes to move forward, you have to take a step back and reevaluate the projects you are currently running. 

The Petal Tribe

As my talents grew, there was a growth in my social media following and that was the start of the Petal Tribe. I wanted to create a relationship with my customers where individuals shared ideas and celebrated the items that made them happy. I came up with the idea of calling my followers “Petals” and collectively we were the #PetalTribe. The Petal Tribe is an exclusive group where my followers are celebrated. Everything about my success is because of them and without them I wouldn’t be able to live off my passion. I celebrate them by featuring them on our social media platforms, featuring their photos in my Etsy shop, offering exclusive coupon codes and occasionally running giveaways and posting tutorials for them. I want to show them that they are important and they are actually the reason why With Love & Petals exists.

With social media being one of my main sources of marketing, the impact of creating my Petal Tribe has been tremendous. On a personal level, it’s been emotionally overwhelming to find out that not only did people want my art, but they wanted to follow my business growth and be a part of it. Their interest helped me inspire other future entrepreneurs and reached potential buyers I wouldn’t have been able to connect with.

Here’s my advice for you

Listen to your customers. Tune in to what they’re telling you. Listen to the reviews, feedback, and purchases. Read between the lines to see what the customer is really asking you. When you do this, you can zero in on your target market and on the traits that will make your shop stand out from the rest. For example, focusing on the most popular items and phasing out the items that are the quietest may get more traction to your shop. Keeping it simple and having your shop full of items that will sell rather than with items that will sell and may not sell (but there’s a chance they will) would be more beneficial to your shop.

Ask for help when you need it. I cannot stress this enough. Coming from a small business of one, what you really need is a village. You cannot go anywhere if you don’t take care of yourself and ask for help when you need it. There is nothing small about having a small business and nothing is greater than your health and well-being. And lastly, have fun!

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