The Business & Pleasure of Flowers
The Business & Pleasure of Flowers
Not just for the Holidays, but 3 Areas to Direct Your Energy in Business
Episode 051: So many business owners are getting run down, almost exhausted, between running the business and worrying about what's next. Join Vonda and Lori as they share 3 areas that you should save some energy to be able to jump right into the New Year. They're easy, practical and will give you permission to take some rest!
Also, a link to Ellie's Gift Guide, as promised.
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My reputation is on the line. So if I want this to look pretty, I'm going to have to put more flowers in it, which means I'm losing money just to make my reputation, what it should be.
Lori:Vonda. I have a serious question for you.
Vonda:Yes, Lori.
Lori:I want you to be honest because there are no wrong answers here. I just, I want you to be super transparent. Have you done any Christmas shopping yet?
Vonda:Yesterday, I went on Amazon and ordered something to be sent to my son. And that is the first gift that I've purchased.
Lori:The first gift of Christmas.
Vonda:It was, and I've sent it to Iowa because I'm going there the day after Christmas and so that I don't have to box it and wrap it. Erika, bless her heart does wrap my gifts before I get there.
Lori:Erika being the spouse of the son, right? So you have one down.
Vonda:How about you?
Lori:Let me though remind you. You also have another son and a daughter and their spouses and their children. So, and four grandchildren. The reason I ask is because I too am in the same boat as you, and I've never been one of those people that is shops super early and like, those are that's my dream. Those are my fantasy. If I could bring that soul into my body for a season, that'd be great. But I can't one thing that has saved me though, this is where I'm going. There is a method to why I'm asking you your daughter, Ellie LaFever. Ellie Jo, as she used to be called, but now Ellie LaFever, Ellie Jo, she every year, at least for the past three years. And I know creates just out of the goodness of her heart, a gift guide, right? Yes she does. She just finished it. We have been lovingly pressuring her to finish that gift guide because that is my buying tool. And she has saved me. I have already ordered because of her, a handful of things. And I like it because it's all different price points. And she'll say like one page is a splurge and this is more in budget. And anyway, but what I did with it, I literally sent the link to everyone in my family, all three of my children, even my husband. And I was like, tell me what you want. Because I don't know really what to get anybody. Its weird this year, right. Cause usually I get my husband new clothes for work and he's like, well, I could probably use some new sweat pants because Ellie puts them on her gift guide. Anyway, you know what I'll do? I'll share her link when we post the podcast. So anybody else that wants to look through it, it's really fun. My suggestion is use it on your computer because you can see it a lot better.
Vonda:It brings it up on issue. So flip through and to see that and there's links. So it makes it really easy if you want to buy something.
Lori:Yes, you click on the item to the link
Vonda:I have to tell you, I was talking to Kami yesterday, Kami Martin. And he said she was showing it with, to the girls and they were looking through and they said, this is Ellie's gift guide. And the girls said, Ellie wants, all those things for Christmas? Isn't that hilarious? No, no, no.
Lori:It's the eyes of the child. Right, I just wanted to just share an easy way to shop.
Vonda:It's very diverse too. That's what I loved about it.
Lori:A little bit of everything. Um, and it's for those of us that are working full time and not going out and shopping in big box stores, especially. So it's a good thing. And if people need ideas, even if you don't order off of it.
Vonda:take a look, have fun. Now that we have the gift guide out of the way. And we can rest tonight again and go through and pick out a few more things. Let's talk about, you just kind of touched on it. When you said people aren't going out shopping. They're not in the same routine. They have been in the past because it's been a tough year. You know, everyone is tired. I would say people who are normally really action takers and movers and positive people are just getting worn down.
Lori:I totally agree. I was on the Twitter this morning. My husband calls it the tweeter, but Twitter and just kind of scrolling through. I wasn't really looking too much. I was drinking my coffee. And I think I've said before, the thing about Twitter that I like is you can pick exactly who you want to follow. And I choose to follow mostly inspirational people, I don't follow like political. I don't follow Hollywood. I don't, you know, I just kind of need that morning inspiration. So I was noticing lately and maybe it's because of Christmas coming a combination of everything this year, there have been some people posting that I really to for encouragement, maybe they're authors, a lot of the Bible studies I've done. I followed the authors of them and they're, they're very honest. And they'll say I'm feeling really depressed right now and really sad. I'm okay. But I just want to share with you it's okay. To feel sad and depressed sometimes. You know what I mean? And I was like, I like that. I like, it's not, it's not clinical. Right. We've talked about that before. The difference between seasonal and clinical. Um, but I think you're right. I think we're just kinda exhausted.
Vonda:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we've seen firsthand with our flower clique members and in the floral world that people all year have been trying to rethink their business. They've been pivoting. And then if that pivot didn't work, they move to another direction. They keep going. What's next? What's next? Which kind of just wears you down.
Lori:Oh, Oh for sure. For sure. But even, you know, you think about in one normal, normal calendar year, maybe you try two or three new strategies for your business, this year you've tried at least a dozen and it's not even been a full year. So again, going back to decision fatigue, all of those things, we all have it. So
Vonda:One thing that I think has really saved our flower clique members and also so many in the industry is connecting. Um, at flower clique, we have a really great community and you've connected those people. You inspire them. I mean, we're here for the members, but then they support one another. And, and I know you've talked about that before Lori, how great it is to see everyone supporting one another.
Lori:Yeah. It always amazes me. Um, I get so inspired going on our member's Facebook group. I know when we first started it, we, you know, when we first started flower clique even, um, and even our business and pleasure of flowers podcast group, you know, I'm like, Oh, what I got to post, I got to do stuff. I have to put stuff on there and something shifted before the pandemic. But certainly even more during this pandemic, our members page people, post stuff all the time. And I don't feel responsible to even answer them. I don't even know the answer, to be honest, it's really specific to what's going on in their shop right then, like quick, what's a good thing to change out for the certain flower. I don't have it. And I need, you know, and you just start saying, boom, boom, boom, boom, it's community, it's community. And I have yet to meet or have a conversation with in this industry that hasn't been willing to help another person out in this industry. I'm sure they're out there. I'm sure. I'm sure they are, but they don't darken our door,
Vonda:No, for sure. Well, I do know one thing in the 40 plus years that I've been in the floral industry, there's not a more caring group of people. I mean, from floral designers to the flower shop owners, to our vendors, you know, I just think we're a really caring, loving, sensitive group of people who normally are full of energy full of life. And it's really hard to get us worn down, but normally that's after Christmas and after mother's day, it's that ebb and flow that we see. But this year I think it's even like more so it's like, whew man.
Lori:Right, right. And so what we want to talk about today are really three little words for them to kind of keep in their mind moving forward, right? For December on through 2021
Vonda:2021, Let's get there. Right.
Lori:Its going to be here before we know it.
Vonda:Yeah. So right now everyone's focused on getting through the holidays, but we also know what's next and that's the big Valentine's day. And Valentine's day with that word comes uncertainty for a couple reasons, right. Because of what we're going through. But also Valentine's day, this year is on a Sunday, which normally we'd be going, Oh, it's on a Sunday. What are we going to do? We're doing that. But it's so different because people aren't going into offices now, anyway, they're not with coworkers. So flowers are going to be sent to the homes more than likely. I don't think it's going to be a drop as it was before because people can't go out and do shopping for the holiday. So I think we're going to see a strong one. All the projections I've heard are strong for Valentine's day, but let's go back to, what should we be concentrating on now through the holidays? I think one phrase that works here is one day at a time, you know, take that one day at a time we're taking care of the customers and you have to have great customer service because you want them to call you next time. And so it couldn't be more important than now. We just have to keep taking a deep breath each time that phone rings or that person comes in because our energy level might not be what it was supposed to be. So let's look at the things we're supposed to concentrate on. Number one is finances. I know Lori.
Lori:No one wants to be thinking of finances in the month of December.
Vonda:Nobody does. I mean, you really don't want to worry about that till April, but it's important right now to think about things such as your cost of goods sold, you're in the throws of the holiday and it's easy to, it's like, okay, just throw these flowers in here. Make sure that you're giving the customers their value. Lori, they're in this for business, not a charity. So I'm sure you're keeping track of your cost of goods sold. And the other number that's important is payroll. Payroll, At this point, I don't think we've seen many who have over in payroll because it's hard to find anybody to work.
Lori:Oh yeah. Yeah. Very true.
Vonda:Not knowing your numbers is the number one reason the flower shops fail because they're putting too many flowers in or they have too much staff. So keep track of your numbers. And the other big finance that we talked about, Lori is the PPP. Yeah.
Lori:You asked for reviews on that. Cause you're constantly researching that and getting updated. And you've been, you meet with Bill LaFever from Bill Doren, right. And he's always up on the latest, what's that news.
Vonda:There's a lot of news on that. But I think the one that you really need to know is that 10 months from the time that you received the funds is when you need to have the, the forgiveness application in to the SBA. There'll be more coming on that. But just keep in mind that you don't have to worry a lot about it until after the first of the year.
Lori:Okay. Okay. So if they got it in April,
Vonda:If they got it in April, they would have to have it back by the end of January, you have 10 months from the time you receive the funds till application is due. So most of you, sometime in January, you need to make sure that you're working on that and we'll have more on that.
Lori:Yeah. And I know a lot of our equip members they're on top of that. They have either someone at their bank that has been super helpful, um, or their accountant, if they have one, or their bookkeeper, somebody is monitoring all of that. But I think you have mentioned that you and bill are gonna probably do another podcast about that when it gets closer.
Vonda:Yeah. I think that's what we're planning on doing. It just know that it's important. There's some things that haven't even been decided that the government will decide by the end of the year. So they have, til the end of the year to make a few of these other decisions, one of them had to do with the way that the funds are accounted for. Like, you don't have to pay taxes on that as income, but you're not able to do some of the deductions that you would normally do at the end of the year. So it gets really complicated, right. Complicated and uncertain.
Lori:Right. Right. I do want to go back to what you were saying about watching your cogs, giving customers their value. Um, but knowing you're in business for profit, not charity, here's one thing that frustrates me, people that are not flower click members that call and want to know what flower clique is about, or you know what we're doing. I always ask them about their shop. This is something that I don't ever know exactly how to explain to them when I'm talking to them. And I talk about our recipes. They really, really focus on whatever they send out. Of course it has to be beautiful, but they think counting stems, what if it needs more, it just needs more. It just more, and you know, this personality type that I'm referring to. How do you come back to those people and make them understand? Just because you count cogs and count your stems doesn't mean it's going to be ugly and cheap. Why do they think that?
Vonda:I'm not sure. I would just challenge them and say, as a good designer, you should be able to take whatever that recipe is. That number of stems and make it beautiful and not have to put one more stem in. If you are a good designer, you can take that recipe and say, okay, this is what it needs to be to be profitable. There are some deceptive recipes out there that there is no way you can make it look like that picture for that stem count. Yes. So if you look at that picture and you say, Hey, this is a beautiful arrangement, but there is no way there's only three stems of Alstroemeria in here. You need to reprice that on your website or in your store to make it profitable and to have a good look to it. Does that makes sense?
Lori:It does. It does. And usually when I'm talking to this person, they are the owner and designer. So it is a little bit harder for me to convince them of what you just said, the shots where I'm talking to someone that is the business owner and they have designers, they tend to understand a little bit more. Right. Get it a little bit more. So I find that interesting because they equate counting stems with a cheaper product.
Vonda:Yeah. It doesn't mean that doesn't make sense, no.
Lori:Something to think about, right?
Vonda:Yeah, definitely. And that's a hard hurdle to get over. It really is because it's like, but my reputation, I think that's where it comes down to my reputation is on the line. So if I want this to look pretty, I'm going to have to put more flowers in it, which means I'm losing money just to make my reputation what it should be. And it shouldn't be
Lori:Like what you said, if you can't as the certified designer, if you can't make it look beautiful with the recipe, given maybe you need to go back to square one or reprice, reprices. So those would give you two good options. I like, I like that because at the end of the day, you're going to put so many things in there. You're going to make yourself go out of business. Okay. So that's our tip. Number one, financials. Just kind of keep them in the back of your mind right now. Number two, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing. It is such a loaded word Vonda.
Vonda:Oh my gosh. Lori marketing is so tough. Its a tough one.
Lori:It is. It is a tough one. Depending on what side of the brain you use the most. It can be really fun and high energy and creative. But when you're in the thick of crazy busy season, it's not so fun and creative because again, you have to pivot, right. And we're having to market things differently. So number one, it's more important than ever to remain in front of your customers. Now I know a lot of us can't do that physically. Right. But you're going to have to do it virtually whether you're doing your Instagram, Facebook, whatever you are wanting to do. So I know we've talked about this a million times, but make sure you have a plan, a plan consistency in your social media is so important. Especially once you get the following, people expect it. If you stop, like if you forget to do it, let's say you do it every Tuesday and Thursday. And you forget that Tuesday. And they're like, Oh, I wonder where they are. They're going to start for getting too. Yeah. So consistency is the key. A few things that I think are really amazing that I've noticed our members have been doing is this personal shopping experience, you know, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, all of the higher end stores have been doing this for years. They have a personal shopper. It is somebody that is already in store. And this person it's their full-time job. They're paid by the company to do this. They'll show you around the store. They'll show you outfits. I'll even try things on for you. So that's taking it to a different level. A lot of our shops are actually doing that. So they're offering FaceTime to shop around the store.
Vonda:I love that.
Lori:Yeah. And they said, it's become kind of a thing. Like they use signup genius, which is a free signup service. And our church always uses it. Um, any nonprofit group uses it or you can just call the store and say, Hey, can we do this? And well, yeah. You know what, why don't we do it at 1:30? I'll FaceTime you and just offer this. It kind of makes the customer feel like they're a VIP, you know, I'm never able to afford that at Nordstrom's or Neiman's or any of those places, but doing it in your store. And it shows your customer everything you have, like if they're looking for gifts for their mother-in-law, you know, think about what would they love. And when you start that facetime, go directly to that area. And have a couple of things in mind, you're going to show them right. Suggestions and it works and they're loving it. And they're also getting rave reviews.
Vonda:That's great. I love that. That's a really fun idea. You know, I was talking to somebody at the wholesale house at the wholesale company in Dallas, Texas, yesterday, this sales person, lovely person Miranda. And she was talking about on their level, putting things on Instagram. She said, I've been posting on Instagram twice a week. And she said, I post a special. And she said, my texts blows up. She said it just as blowing up because of that. It's that personal service it's like, did you see this? And that's what you're talking about. A personal shopper, but it's being in front of your customers, you know, don't let them forget about you. Show them what you have.
Lori:The hardest, hardest hands down. Hardest part of all of this is intentionality being intentional about doing this because for many people, this hasn't become a habit. And you know, that was one of the first podcasts, you know, it takes at least what thirty, they always said 30 days to create one small habit. So to be consistent is been the hardest thing because you're busy.
Vonda:So Lori, should they set a timer on their phone or a reminder on their phone? That's like, beep beep okay. Oh my gosh. I need to go do that. Right now.
Lori:So yeah. I think you could do that. If it were me, I would put one employee in charge. Like this is your job who wants it. If you know somebody who is the more outgoing, and I don't know if in our company you would say, okay, Lori, this is your job and make it your own. Just do it. You have to do it every Tuesday and Thursday. And once on Friday, this is what I need. Whatever you do is fine, but it has to be consistent. So I would give that job to somebody quite honestly, unless you want to do it.
Vonda:Keep it on a consistent, I love that.
Lori:Yeah. Because if you start getting that following now, boom, what's coming up. Valentine's day. You're going to still have that following. So, I feel like I've said this a million times, but I cannot say it enough. It is your best friend. It is your best marketing tool right now.
Vonda:And I think you and I talked about this a little while ago is remind the customers that FedEx might not be able to get to your mama or your sister in time for the holidays, but you can get there. You know, you are the best at last minute delivery.
Lori:Exactly. One of the main things, flower shops have hand over fist over every other type of company right now. They know how to deliver and they know how to deliver last minute personal delivery. I was actually thinking about that last night because I was online again, trying to shop. I got a notification that if I did not order by last night, it's not guaranteed, before Christmas. And I started thinking, man, flower shops need to use it. That is a benefit. Remember we've talked about features, feature what you have, but remind them what the benefit is. That is a huge benefit for the floral industry.
Vonda:Yeah, absolutely.
Lori:So the final thing, so we've talked about finances. We talked about marketing. I know thing which might not sound like it belongs, but it is probably one of the most important things is you got to rest, you've got to rest. You have to rest. Your employees have to rest. Your whole team has to rest. You have been under so much pressure and stress and uncertainty. You know, every word that we've been hearing, every time you turn on the TV, that is you do so much. So you don't even know it. I think, I think if you were to ask a lot of people, Oh, are you stressed? Like, I don't think so. But you probably are, we have to do that. You have to take time and Vonda because you owned a flower shop for most of your life. How does that come across? When someone comes to you and says, listen, you need to take a day off, do you get mad, and you go, you don't need to tell me what to do.
Vonda:Well, we actually closed the week between Christmas and new year's a lot of times. Yeah. And because we knew we needed it, not just us, but our staff. And we actually paid for that because everybody ran Christmas sales the day after Christmas, 50% off or whatever to get rid of their inventory. And we didn't do that. We didn't run the sale until after the first of the year. So, because we felt that more important than anything was rest for us and for our staff who had been working their tails off for that whole month. So when somebody tells me, I need time off, I know I know what my body would need. You know, even back then for all those years.
Lori:See, I hear that. And I think that is such a good idea for two reasons. Number one, because yes, your whole staff needs a rest and reprieve, right. To refresh themselves. Number two, you aren't competing with all of those other stores the day after Christmas, your 50% off, you're doing it a week later, you're going to have a whole nother group of people coming to that.
Vonda:We would always give the funeral directors, our numbers direct number. So you're not losing out on any of that. And also a hospital. We had a big hospital account. So anybody who really, we wanted to continue to service, we're not going to shut down and not do that business, but we didn't need to be open for the public. And that when you only needed one person or two people to be there rather than the whole staff, I just so totally agree that you have to have rest after that, to be able to refuel yourself for 2021.
Lori:And Valentine's day I do know shops, many shops closed down a t least the day after Valentine's day on sometimes the week,
Vonda:Not Valentine's day, you mean Christmas?
Lori:No. I mean, I'm talking about even Valentine's day. A lot of people stay closed the day after. I remember last year, some people and that's when a lot of owners will go on vacation
Vonda:In the past. Sometimes in January they would go to market or they would go after Valentine's day. But I don't know what that's going to look like this year.
Lori:So anyway, our suggestion is plan some time off. Maybe it's just a day also plan for your staff, make sure they each have a time off. And I love your idea of shutting down a bit as a whole to where, okay guys, at least none of us, you know, unless it's a funeral and stuff. And then, then you, as the owner can decide, do I want to just go in and do it or delegate, but you're not worrying really about the everyday customer
Vonda:And a lot of shops didn't close down. But since it's a slower time, it's like, no, Sue, you have off the next two days and so-and-so is covering for you. And so you stagger the days off. So everybody does have that time off if you're going to stay home. So there's really great work arounds, but just allow yourself and your staff time to rest.
Lori:Right. I agree. I'm going to go back to my very, my favorite quote. I've probably mentioned it five times, but I'm mentioning it again. Remember almost everything will work again. If you unplug it for a while, It's so true because whether it's my wifi or my brain, if I unplugged for awhile, take a walk around the block with my dog and maybe sit and play with him a while. I can work again.
Vonda:love that. It is so true. So true. And just to, to wrap up this, you know, never forget you've got this, you've got this from the finances to the marketing, to the rest. Just trying to be aware. And that's where you've got it.
Lori:Yup. You can do it. All right. V what's given you life right now.
Vonda:Well, Lori, I'm super excited because my perfect bar, the perfect bar is a protein bar that you look at you have one too. This is called a seasonal batch and it's candy cane. Oh, it's so good.
Lori:Well, Hmm. I'm jealous. I'm very jealous. My trader Joe's does not have that. I went last night because you and your daughter were taunting me for lack of a better word with your peppermint ones. And we all have this love of anything, chocolate mint right now. And they don't have them. So I am mad.
Vonda:I'm sorry.
Lori:It's okay. But you still like to t aunt me with it a nd whatever. So anyway, I did find some of these frozen chocolate mint bon bons in the freezer section and they're made with, and you're not going to like it c ause you don't like coconut, but they're made with coconut milk instead. So they're d airy free cause my daughter can't really do dairy well, so we got those and I haven't tried t hem y et, but I'm so excited.
Vonda:So is that what's giving you life or is there something else?
Lori:Of course, anything chocolate is going to give me life, but here's, what's giving me life. So I've talked about this before, you know, a while back I was telling the podcast about my, or my little neighborhood. We have our own Facebook group and we did the one about rocks. You remember the painted rock? So we went on walks and we saw that. That was the beginning of COVID. So now, and let me preface this. I don't get on Facebook a ton anymore just because I just, my anxiety gets high. And I'm like, I just want to see puppies and babies and funny stuff. So the day after Thanksgiving, someone posted this random picture, it was of a chair, like a wooden child's chair that you see at a desk and it was sitting in front of one of the neighborhoods in our little, we call it a village. We live in Alden bridge village, and there's all little neighborhoods within it pockets. So it was sitting in front of one of the little neighborhoods and it had a Tupperware of Turkey inside, just sitting on it. And so someone took a picture of it and posted it and was like, um, if somebody's missing in a chair and some Turkey, like, why is this here? Well, fast forward until today, this chair has taken on a life of its own. Someone keeps moving it randomly around the town and it's showing up like in people's front yards, it showed up in someone's front yard with a can of Hormel chili. And the next morning the owners of the house came out and they're like, it's gone. And it showed up somewhere else. It now has its own Facebook page. The chair, it is hysterical. And it is bringing everyone in this community, regardless of your belief system, everyone is cracking up. Last night it was found in one of the neighbors yards. They have this big light up nativity scene and the chair is sitting right between Mary and Joseph. And it's got a Santa who's hovering over the manger.
Vonda:Oh my God.
Lori:Its just funny. It's so funny. And it's just giving me life because it's silly. And yeah, love that whoever's doing this is cracking themselves up. Like how random, you know, anyway, that's, what's giving me life right now, me and a whole bunch of other people.
Vonda:That's great I love it.
Lori:So anyway, that's it. We have certainly enjoyed our time together today. And we look forward to being with you guys again, if you have any questions, concerns, comments, anything we would love to hear from you. You can always email lori@flowerclique.com. Also, if you enjoy our little podcast, go ahead and click that subscribe button. That's very helpful for us. And you can even leave a review and we hope you join us next week.
Vonda:Yes. So please come back and join us and discover how a bit of knowledge and one small change in your mindset.
Speaker 1:I can take you to new levels in your life in business.[inaudible].