You just don’t close the doors. Just because you own a flower shop doesn’t mean that every other florist can’t be your best friend. And we truly believe that there’s plenty of work for everyone.

It’s summertime in the floral industry, which means plenty of opportunities to grow your business. Our goal throughout this miniseries is to not only help you get through the season, but also gain valuable insights from professionals in the industry, the floral community and our Lovingily team.

Steph 0:00
You just don’t close the doors. Just because you own a flower shop doesn’t mean that every other florist can’t be your best friend. And we truly believe that there’s plenty of work for everyone.

Joe Vega 0:12
It’s summertime in the floral industry, which means plenty of opportunities to grow your business. Our goal throughout this miniseries is to not only help you get through the season, but also gain valuable insights from professionals in the industry, the floral community and our Lovingly team.

Welcome to Flower Shop Secrets: Summer Survival. 

If you came across this video, you might be considering a career in the floral industry. The world of florist is full of all sorts of creative people, artists who play with vibrant colors and exciting shapes to help celebrate life’s special moments. In today’s episode, florists from lovingly shared their experiences of what it’s like to be a florist, let’s go,

Selena 0:57
I literally worked myself up from the from answering the phones and sweeping the floors and helping to take out the trash and cutting down boxes to learning all the names of flowers and flower care to delivering to eventually making my first arrangement, which I still remember, I didn’t work in a ton of shops, but the ones that I did, were very, very, very worth it.

Unknown Speaker 1:20
Those previous bosses that I had, he taught me so much over those years. And they allowed me to explore and be able to learn the industry without jumping in and not knowing what I was doing.

Jeanne 1:34
Having a clear vision of what you’re wanting to achieve is helpful

Poppy 1:39
to everybody you can in the industry and be open to new ideas and trying new things.

Unknown Speaker 1:45
ask all the questions that you can think of. So that when you do go into the industry on your own, you go in and you’re ready and you’re solid, and you’re committed, being really flexible is really important. And always learning that’s kind of my mantra is I never stop learning and never stop growing, you have to change, you have to be nimble, just absorb everything you can from whoever you can. And as often as you can just make sure that you’re staying on top of what’s trending and the colors and the flowers that are most popular right now. And the look in the field that everybody’s trending towards, because that’s going to help you stay relevant and up to date versus getting stuck in a rut that you’re continually doing the same thing day in and day out,

Unknown Speaker 2:36
learn new trends, learn new ways, be quick in production, and efficient. That’s the name of the game. And you have to continuously train yourself and improve yourself.

Poppy 2:48
Don’t just stick yourself in a box and think that this is what your community only wants is triangle arrangements in a basket. Put it out there, try something new, learn a new technique, learn a new design and put it out in the cooler.

Steph 3:04
I’ve shadowed under dozens of florists and they all do different things summer event for summer, daily delivery for us, the more people you can learn from the better

Unknown Speaker 3:12
if you have the opportunity to learn anything, take that opportunity, be it from another designer. If it’s, you know, reading, if it’s taking a class, whatever it might be,

Unknown Speaker 3:27
not only is pretty design, you have to educate yourself in marketing, you have to educate yourself with technology and how social media works, your book work,

Poppy 3:37
to cleaning, to designing, to dealing with a customer, try something new every day and learn and be open.

Unknown Speaker 3:45
I feel sorry sometimes when I hear that our florists out there from the old school that are behind in technology, and they cannot keep up with the trends. Because if you’re not willing or able to be up to speed on what’s going on in today’s market, you won’t be able to stay in business with technology and hard work and passion and we are able to do it.

Poppy 4:10
success comes from sharing and gathering from other people. So building mentorships outside of my area, I give away my knowledge that I’ve learned I share that with my staff involve them in decision making, learn what they like to work with. And I bring that in and we mix it up when you change it up based on what we all like to use and design with. Sometimes they end up with skills that I don’t have, maybe I get frustrated with something, and maybe they do it well and so we play off of each other and grow together. I’ve had so many wonderful people that have stepped in and showed me how to do it, whether it be business wise or floral designing. I have a great staff and that’s something that’s really important. Invest in your people.

Jeanne 4:51
I work really hard to maintain relationships, not only with my clients, but also with my vendors. I’ll do that extra work to find you that special product if have that relationship with them,

Unknown Speaker 5:01
don’t ever hesitate to reach out to any other lovingly, florist, or any florist. In general, those awesome, make your best mentors, grab their cell phone numbers, send them a quick text message or whatever it takes. But always know that they’re there for you

Unknown Speaker 5:17
engage an employee, people that will do it for you. But before you employ people, you got to know the deal, you got to know how it works in order for you to give direction and create leadership for your team of workers. And that that’s what we do. Education is the key to it. As an educator, I get such a charge out of seeing people experience love through the beauty of flowers. And that’s such a glorious thing. So when I get to teach people and show them that this is a wonderful art form that needs to be respected. And remember that those flowers are going to be used for someone to celebrate love, or life somewhere along the line. And that’s a pretty big deal.

Steph 5:57
I love that we make a real difference in someone’s day and in their life in such a positive way through something from nature,

Unknown Speaker 6:04
we don’t realize how much power they have. And I think through the last few months in particular, we’ve seen how much power this little bow cake and have. And I think at the 1000s and 1000s and 1000s, countless 1000s of people that have been helped through this because of the power of flowers. And because of what florists in our world have done for them. I am forever grateful. And I truly am truly have all the efforts. There’s so many florists and so many people in our floral industry have done to to help better other people’s lives, it’s pretty big deal,

Jeanne 6:37
we all need to remember that we’re in the business of people. And if we remember that, we’ll make it through this season just fine, if not even stronger. And I’m really hopeful that this will really bring back even more. So the importance of that Cornerstone flower shop in the community, because we’re needed and we’re essential to keeping people connected, especially right now. I think if we remember that, I think that will be just fine commitment and consistency.

Selena 7:04
Those are the two key factors that I can say, you have to have to have, you’re going to go into this industry. Yes, it is fun. And we do get to create, but just know that you’re going to be in this not always just to play. This is the hardest, you’re going to work ever, not just physically but mentally, and emotionally do your homework, really research it. Also know that what you put in is what you’re going to get back. Your heart and soul is going to go into this. But what you give is what will come back to you.

Joe Vega 7:44
lovingly, we value the importance of collaboration for success. After all, we’re all in this together. So let’s hear from our florist about the significance of our partnership,

Jeanne 7:54
I felt so wonderful about having lovingly as a partner, because I really feel like you guys are my partner. If you’re succeeding and succeeding, and vice versa, my entire goal is to stay as independent as possible. But

Unknown Speaker 8:06
we can’t financially create this gorgeous website on our own. And I appreciated loving Lee’s stance their need to and their desire to help the local florist and I thought, Okay, I think this is a good fit

Steph 8:22
our online presence especially because we have a such a strong website with lovingly has really kept us going. Our website is clean, and it’s easy to understand. And people really feel more comfortable purchasing from a company that has a very upfront and transparent website.

Unknown Speaker 8:41
Joe asked me about a year ago if I would give this interview and actually set out because I want to make sure that I’m ready. And then I told him I said when I’m ready to give this interview, I’m going to stand behind this with pure Alright, I got it with a solid feeling that lovingly really was solid. And that I knew that that company was not going to fail me.

Jeanne 9:05
It took me a while to find you guys. And I’m glad I did. Because it’s been a huge game changer for me huge

Jai 9:11
when I was introduced to lovingly things just started changing. And it’s not just because of leveling the I know that. But it’s a big part in the floral division of my company. It’s been the best decision we’ve ever made

Steph 9:23
lovingly has filled in that gap for me, the SEO and the wonderful platform that lovingly provides which makes it so easy for people to shop really attracts people. We’re such an online world now. It’s another version of you basically it’s another version of your store

Ruben 9:39
with the technological capability that you have and that the platform that you have provided us has given us the opportunity to create while we are doing today definitely technology makes it easy.

Steph 9:52
We have people who have shopped us for a year now on our lovingly platform and they come into our shop and they are absolutely overwhelmed with how Beautiful our shop is in person, but they’ve been shopping with us for a year, and getting deliveries to their home or to their friends or to someone that they love. And trusting our abilities based on the consistent platform and how well it’s laid out.

Jeanne 10:15
We’ve had so many people that have responded back and been like, your website was so easy to use, and it was so friendly. It was like talking to you. But I had one guy Tell me, he was like, it was like talking to you. It was so great, so easy. And he’s like, Is it possible to have a website care about me,

Steph 10:29
I think the focus really has to stay on our website and on our social media, because you know whether or not people walk in the door and have the convenience and the time to do that, they’re still going to find us online.

Selena 10:41
I would say in the beginning, having florist choice on our site was probably the best thing ever, because you just really don’t know what may or may not happen, I pretty much locked our website down to designers choice, I was finding that a lot of different varieties of flowers were difficult to get. So having to call everybody and let them know I’m sorry, I don’t have hot pink Gerber’s in today or delphinium wasn’t available, but I can replace it with this and then have them turned around and be told, oh, it’s okay, just do what you want. I only pick the picture because it looked pretty. So being told that I was like, Oh, well, hey, maybe I can work a little bit more off of designers choice,

Steph 11:20
we leave availability on our lovingly website based on what our standing orders are for every single week. And we change that seasonally. So I know, every week that I have three varieties, roses, I have an assorted amount of stock and assorted amount of spray roses and other filler flowers. That’s going to come every single week. So I can base my availability and keep my profit margin very high. Because I’m not going to be ordering a large variety of products that may or may not sell. My customers are coming to us because they are looking for like a consistent value and a consistent overall aesthetic that they expect when they come to shop with us. So we’re able to consistently provide that quality and that aesthetic time after time by using a mixture of the lovingly products that are within our color palette, as well as our own custom designs and recipes, which also mimic that lovingly product

Unknown Speaker 12:17
designers choice florist choice, the marketplace orders, those are the best because they really let you let you do what you do best, which is create,

Jeanne 12:27
I try really hard to maintain good relationships with the florist in town. Because we’re all in it together. And you know, we have different ways of doing business. And I think we all have a niche that we can fill. And what my shop does may not be necessarily what the other shop does. And that’s okay. I think there’s plenty of business for everybody.

Jai 12:44
If I’m going to work with our community, I’m going to start by reaching out to the florist and letting them know that we’re all in this together. And we’re not each other’s competitor. We’re each other’s partner.

Selena 12:54
I’ve got a couple shops that are they’re close enough that that you even though Yes, you’re in competition, their demographic might be totally different. But but they were able to take 250 irises and I took 250 irises, so the bulk cost, you know, here locally, versus having to bring everything in because you know that you’re not having to push 600 stems of one thing, I can divide that floral and send it out to the other shop and and share it you know, you really have to have all the great partners in place, and that you’re all working together and that you succeed together or fail together. It’s not just about building our floral industry up. It’s about building our community up and having the best darn downtown vibrant business that we could possibly have. We went

Steph 13:41
out last night with another lovingly florist and she said that like our relationship and her business has grown exponentially because we work together and we can share little camaraderie stories about what’s going on that weekend. Hey, do you have an extra 100 roses for this? Or, you know, are you getting anything in this color, I would like to add something to supplement a wedding or event I have, you just don’t close the doors. Just because you own a flower shop doesn’t mean that every other florist can’t be your best friend. And we truly believe that there’s plenty of work for everyone. We’re stronger together to

Jai 14:16
beat down the order gatherers or the grocery store flowers that die in a day like we need to take control of our industry and I want to be a part of that.

Joe Vega 14:32
We want to help your business blow out for more episodes of barbershop secrets streaming now on Spotify, Apple podcasts, Google and more.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai