Episode 047: Vonda chats with J. Schwanke, a true floral celebrity, about his journey from life in a flower shop to TV Host and Producer. His love and expertise of flowers, coupled with his passion to share education and his warm personality, make him the perfect TV host!
You can learn more about J. at uBloom
The special offer for 50% off any membership
With Discount Code: FLOWERCLIQUE
uBloom/join
The book Combo available here
To email J: j@uBloom.com
Looking to watch on PBS Station, check here
Watch the show on uBloom at this link
www.uBloom.com/LifeinBloom
And our weekly sponsors
Flower Clique
Flower Prep School
Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist
Episode 047: Vonda chats with J. Schwanke, a true floral celebrity, about his journey from life in a flower shop to TV Host and Producer. His love and expertise of flowers, coupled with his passion to share education and his warm personality, make him the perfect TV host!
You can learn more about J. at uBloom
The special offer for 50% off any membership
With Discount Code: FLOWERCLIQUE
uBloom/join
The book Combo available here
To email J: j@uBloom.com
Looking to watch on PBS Station, check here
Watch the show on uBloom at this link
www.uBloom.com/LifeinBloom
And our weekly sponsors
Flower Clique
Flower Prep School
Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist
[inaudible]
Speaker 2:I'm joined here today with Jay. Shwanky a true flower celebrity, you know, Jay, I pulled up on your website, J shwanky.com and the very first bullet point is entertaining communicator. And I think that's so you, and it goes on to say comprehensive consultant, engaging educator and author, and of course, flower expert. That's the Jay I've known from our Midwest connections for years. Yep.
Speaker 1:Very sweet. And thank you. I'm just very fortunate that I love what I do. And I think when we love what we do it comes through. And so I looked to, you know, experts to help me write my bio because that's the hardest thing in the world to do is write your own bio. Right. And so I give that, given them, you know, lots of information, lots of videos and lots of stuff that I've done. And then they were like, Oh, this is what it needs to be. So let's put it right on, you know? Well, good, good, good, good.
Speaker 2:How do you go from that fourth generation florist? Like your mother was my very first commentator and you were from Fremont, Nebraska. How do you go from there to be a TV host and producer
Speaker 1:A really fast run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run. Um, you know, I think it's interesting. Uh, I know that, Hey, I love that my mom was your first commentator. My mom is going to be 90 in January. I talked to her and she tells me about, you know, well, I'm a professional fluoro communicator. I love that she still embodies that. And that she does it, you know, on a day-to-day basis from her home in Fremont, Nebraska, however that works. And I'm sure she does it when she goes to church. And I'm sure she does that when she goes to see her friends at the, at the senior center and all that kind of stuff too. So, but, um, I think I was really fortunate that I was landed dead center in the middle of a very active flower industry family and my dad. Um, although my dad was a really tough man, my dad was a Marine and he was the president of the society of American florists. And he, he would design, my mother would commentate and they were a team like that. And he was very much about hard work and he liked people to work hard. I made him really nervous because I don't think that I'm for my aspect. I don't feel like I'm, I'm a hard worker. I know people would tell you differently, but I, but I love what I do. So I really don't feel like I work every day. Okay. Cause I, cause I love what I'm doing so much. So that's a good thing. But you know, he always had the flower industry best interest at heart in all he did. And that somehow was communicated to me. And I feel very fortunate that whenever I would give a show, whenever I would do a presentation, whenever I would do product development, whenever I would design in somebody's store, whatever it was, I had the good of the industry and my heart and I wanted to make it better. Now I will tell you that in high school, my psychology professor, uh, mr. McMullan had a day when he said, you know, we're going to look through your class, your has 463 kids in it. And you know, by the time your 10th reunion rolls around, eight of you will be dead. 26 of you will have gone into the military. You know, there were all these little statistics, you know, some of you are going to be come doctor. Some of you are going to be lawyers. And he said, one of you is going to have a television show. And I was just like, Oh, okay, here, let me write that down because that's me, I'm going to be the one with the television show. And so when we started you bloomed.com, I always felt like, well, this is my television show. You know, this is my television show. It's on the web and that's as close as it might come. But then I was fortunate I guess, to start on piano and Smith's garden style show about over a dozen times. And um, one day Alan said to me, is there something I can do to help you? Is there something that you dream of doing? Because when you come here to the farm, you bring flowers, you, you bring energy, you give us great shows. Can I help you in any way, shape or form? And I said, you know, I really want my own television show. I really truly do. I mean, that was a desire of mine to have a television show about cut flowers. And I said, so I don't want to step on your toes, Alan, because I know that you're the garden guy. Right. But I'm the cut flower guy. And so he connected me with a few people. We had some people at Michigan state university that were, were also enthralled with us and then American public television. When they saw our pilot, they were just like, wow, this is different. This isn't a garden show. This is a flower show. And they were like, how much information is there? How long, how long do you think you can do this? And I was like, Oh, you know, maybe 2030. And they interrupted me. And they said, you know, like shows. And I said, no, maybe seasons. I said, cause there's plenty of flowers, you know? And there's plenty of stories to be told. And I think that storytelling nature. So then I will tell you one other side note, cause I think this is so comprehensive. It's just, it's, it's a crazy question that you would ask it by then. I think that that's interesting, but my parents were so busy that they sent me to a place called military preschool. Um, it was called military preschool cause it was on military street. And so, but I think that that's why my dad bought into it was that it was like, Oh, we're going to send him to military preschool. Of course I'll pay for that because this guy needs some military experience and that would be good for him. And so my parents were so busy and I don't mean this to be a sad story. This is a wonderful story because of the way that it worked out, my parents were so busy and they said, so they sent me to military preschool. I fell in love with the lady who ran it and after about a month or so my mom said, you know, this, picking him up, taking him in the morning and picking him up at the end of the day, it's kind of a lot for us. Can we just drop him off on Monday and pick him up on Friday? And she was like, sure. And so she set up a room for me in her home and I lived with her. And then, um, after that a couple months went by and they said, you know, we're so busy with weddings and stuff on the weekends. Can we just pick him up in the summer when we take him to the SAF conventions and stuff like that. And she was like, sure. And so basically Dorothy was my nanny and she was my inspiration and she was my other mom. Okay. And um, and she was a professional storyteller. She was a professional clown. She was mrs. Storybook tree. She was mrs. Cottontail. She was mrs. Santa Claus. And she traveled to libraries and told stories and that influence she's in the front of all my books. She's the inspiration for all these things. And the state says you're not dedicating any books to me. And I was like, well, no, cause you sold me off to Dorothy. You know, I was so fortunate because my parents' job was to be famous people in the flower industry that inspired and, and created and helped. You know, my dad took me when they signed the Andy and trade agreement. You know, we met presidents, we met Raymond Burr. I met Elizabeth Taylor. I met Dionne Warwick through my parents' connection in the flower industry. So those connections were, are valuable and it was just, that's a different level. So, so connecting on different levels. So being inspired to want to television show and being raised by a storyteller and sticking to my guns when people told me what they wanted me to do instead. So when you get told by somebody to do something a certain way and you don't agree with it, and your gut is telling you this, isn't going to work, listen to your gut because nine times out of 10, you are in control of yourself and you will make yourself work harder and better and do a better job. And so this is entertaining to me because that's just one of my favorite things. You know? Um, I was quite involved in AISD for a long time. I was in leadership for 13 years and um, I left AIFA and I came home because I had tried to run for president and I didn't get it. And I was honestly, I was upset. I was depressed. I was, you know, and I walked home and I walked into my house from that convention. And Kelly said to me, okay, now that we're not going to do this anymore, I want you to take every bit of energy that you had for AIF and pour it into something for us. And a week later we started filming JTV and you bloom and started you bloom. And Tom Shaner called me and he said, this is great. This thing you're doing is great. He was executive director of AFD at that time. And, and Tom said, this is so great. Why didn't you do this with us? Why didn't you do it with AISD? And I said, Tom, you realize that we would still be trying to decide pink color for this app, you know, let alone who was going to perform and what the subject in this case, I was completely in control and I could make shows the way I wanted to make them in the way that I wanted them to be. And that allowed me to be more successful because I wasn't trying to do something for somebody else, the way they wanted it done.
Speaker 2:You were able to do it the J way, which is true to yourself. I mean, when we're true to our self that's when the success. Right,
Speaker 1:Right, right, right, right, right. I think, you know, you have to love it. You know, there are certain things that people say you should, you know, well, you, you should be, you know, if you hate your job, you know, then stop doing it, do it your way, or figure out a way to reinvent it. And I was always that way in my family store too. I mean, I ran my family store for 18 years and it was in Fremont, Nebraska at town of 25,000 people. There were nine other flower shops in town besides us, including grocery stores. And we did a million, six a year in flowers, in the middle of the country. I mean, dead set in the middle of the country and a little town that was supported by the Hormel factory. You know, that was what the people in town did, was they worked at the Hormel factory and that's where they made spam. At that point in time, I've loved spam.
Speaker 2:You brought joy and a whole new dimension to the greenhouse that allowed people to know it's okay to buy flowers and they wanted to prove hours.
Speaker 1:Correct? Correct. And that is yet again, my job today, we are bringing the joy of flowers to the American public and making them want to buy flowers and not necessarily buy flowers. I think that that's an unfair term. I want them to enjoy flowers in their life every single day from every single Avenue that is possible. So if that means growing them in your garden, if that means painting pictures of them, if that means making employed, re with them, if that means buying them at the farmer's market, if that means going to the professional florist, if that means there are so many options and so many ways for us to include flowers in our life.
Speaker 2:Interesting that you were saying that because I was just reading a book about triggers and whenever you would see a picture of, of a flower that would trigger you to think of flowers. If you see flowers in your garden, you're thinking of flowers and then thinking maybe somebody else could enjoy the beauty of flowers and you would give flowers as a gift because of the triggers that you're seeing all around you, the different areas, which I think has pretty dang cool. And the more we surround ourselves with those type of things, the more we're triggered to bring flowers into other people's lives.
Speaker 1:Think that that's why my show is because I know that a lot of people ask me, what's the benefit of your show to the professional florist. It's a trigger for flowers. And there's a lot of different opportunities that go along with that because not only is our show underwritten by some great people in the flower industry and underwritten by grocery stores and people like that, that important. But at the same time, the local PBS station is very affordable advertising. If your ad for your flower shop was on before my show, we talk about CPSI research. CPSI research is the research that people who watch public television are more apt to support the people that they see when they are watching 85% more than commercial television. So that little 32nd blip about, you know, Susan's flowers, when that show's going on in Wichita, Kansas is extremely beneficial to that station because there are probably anywhere from 11,000 to 22,000 people watching that show on a Saturday afternoon.
Speaker 3:Wow. That's crazy. I love
Speaker 1:The term trigger cause and I'm going to use it now, Vonda. Cause I think that that's true, is it, this is a show that triggers people's actions. The other cool thing about that is dr. Hamlin Jones. When I, I dug deeper into her research because our second season of life and bloom is all based on the health and wellness benefits that we have dentists and industry about flowers. And not only do those health and wellness benefits result from flowers, they result from a throw that has a flower on them, a picture of flowers on the wall, a blouse that has flowers, a picture on our phone that we took of flowers when we were somewhere else. Those things instill those same feelings of calm, less depression, happiness, less arguments, all of those super beneficial things come from the trigger of flowers. So, yeah. Yeah. And it was interesting when I had my store, everything I carried in my store led back to flowers. I wouldn't carry a candle unless it was flower centered or flower named. I wouldn't carry, you know, towels, dish towels. If they didn't have flowers on them, it had to have flowers. And thus is the Jay shwanky life. And bloom is about a flower lifestyle leading a flower lifestyle and including flowers in every aspect. I was just editing a segment this morning for season three, where we talk about a soaps that have flower sense and how those botanicals used in those soaps can influence our health and wellness benefits. So it's like, okay. So because eh, we all wash our hands every time
Speaker 3:We're doing around right now. So, you know, let's talk about it
Speaker 1:Or soap and let's make sure that we're using a soap. That's going to help balance our lives with flowers.
Speaker 3:So what channel actually carries life in blue,
Speaker 1:We are on public television. So that would be PBS and also the create television networks. So in your city you have a PBS and you possibly also have a create TV station too. The interesting thing about this, cause I know the next question is going to be, what time is it on and where can we watch it? Okay. So when we're talking about PBS, you completely have to put out of your mind, you know, um, the other three networks where you would watch big bang theory at seven o'clock on Thursday night. It's okay. He can't do that. All right. So each station programs their own schedule so they can put it wherever they'd like. And so easiest way for you to find out when it's on, on your PBS station is to go to my website, which is U bloom.com. The letter U B L O M. And up in the top, up at the top, there's a green box that says, click here to find Jay's show on TV. So you click on that box and it's going to take you to a widget that's provided to us by American public television. You put in your zip code and then you choose your carrier, your cable carrier, and you even have the choice to choose a dish, or you even have your choice to choose no carrier. And then it will tell you what time it's on. That's awesome. And what if it's not on? So if you go to that result and it says, Oh, it's not here. You can click on the life in bloom logo on you bloom. And you can watch all of season one and all of season two there for free. We also broadcast it there. And the reason that we do that and the reason that we broadcast it, there is so that people from out of the us, people outside the U S can not watch public television it's geographically located. So if you are trying to watch my television show on the PBS app, which you can watch it there too. Okay. But if you're trying to watch it on the PBS app on pbs.org and you live in Spain, it's going to tell you it's not available. So you go to you bloom and it is available. We do not have it geographically located in our, in our area.
Speaker 2:So our listeners out there, if it's not in their area, yes, they can watch it from your, from your Illumina com what if we want our neighborhood or our area to be able to carry that? Is there a way we can go to the station and go, Hey, you know, this is a great program. Is there a way we can get this so that everyone here can see it?
Speaker 1:Absolutely. So one of the things that PBS relies on is customer feedback and viewer feedback. So the fact that one person would call one person, they consider represents 250 people. Wow. Because they feel that one person who's vocal represents 250 people who aren't and our friend Katie Miller called her station and got it on simply by calling them and saying, Hey, I want to see this show. And I think it's great. They were like, Oh, well, yeah, we know about it. The other thing that's interesting about our show is so our underwriters support us and our underwriters are for season two, are Albertsons grocery stores and in all their brands. So Albertsons Safeway, Tom thumb, uh, Vaughn's all of those different brands. They have 26 different brands and then Cal flowers, formerly narco, but at the California floral association, um, the shipping organization in California is one of our underwriters, uh, design master color tool, Smithers racists, sunshine. Okay. So those people are our underwriters for, for season two. So they help us fund the show, but also help us with distribution. Our show is shared through the apt exchange, which means that no PBS station has to pay money to show our show it's free for them to show. And that was something we wanted to be dedicated to because, um, okay. So for like antiques roadshow, masterpiece theater, things like that, stations have to pay to air those, depending on how many times they want to broadcast it, our show, we wanted to make sure that because we're a little under the radar, it's a flower show, right? I mean, you know, we're not, we're not antiques roadshow, but we're a fireworks show. And so making it free to them gives them airtime. What we love is that I'm on the create TV network. It is programmed out of Boston. And so it has a common time all across the country on create TV, but on your local PBS station, whatever that might be, you know, ours is WGU here. It's on Saturdays at noon, um, on create TV right now, it's on at 6:00 AM. They move us around. So we're on at 6:00 AM and then they might move us to Friday afternoon. They ran season one, five times in a year. They were always running it at a different time in a different area. So that's, that's sometimes why that widget comes in, in help. But calling in requesting you want to talk to the programmer if possible. And the thing that I would remember is the best way to talk about it is to be kind, don't call and say, why the heck isn't there shallow on my television, you know, call up and say, Hey, we've heard about this wonderful show. That's about flowers. And we would love to see it on our station. And do you think there's a possibility you could look at it and program it, and that can happen because they're always looking for programming and they're always looking for feedback. Those stations are dependent on their viewers to please them and also for their support. So supporting public education is extremely
Speaker 3:That's awesome. Yeah. I love that because now we can all just pick up the phone and make knife class, correct?
Speaker 1:Maybe a station. And if you have a flower shop, you might want to inquire about what it costs to advertise in front of it, because it's usually very affordable advertising on public television and it's a 10 or 15 or 15, second or a 32nd. You know, it doesn't have to be something big. You know, it's a great reminder. It's a great trigger. The flowers that you're seeing today on this show, this is the place that you could buy them because I want flower shops to be a resource. If someone wants to come in and buy a block of foam, I always wanted to do that. I always wanted to sell them a block of foam and sell them a vase and sell them flower food and sell them flowers and let them create projects. Because I think that number one, there's a huge sense of achievement when you make something for sure. But also then that person becomes your partner in your hobby. That's where I go for my flower stuff. And they're also at that point in time going to realize that it's not always so easy to create something. I always caught a lot of fire for teaching people how to make a okay. It's one of my number one videos on YouTube. It's coming up on a million views. Wow. What is funny about it is I want you to look at the comments. If you go look at it, go look at the comments. Cause in the comments, people are like, Oh my God, I'm never going to try this. I'm going to call a professional florist. And I talk about that through the entire video is, you know, this is not easy and this is not something you want to be doing the morning of your way. You know, you want to be enjoying and in doing this fun stuff, you certainly do not want to be doing this. But if you think you want to please watch this show. And then I have people who are like, what am I going to do with it? Once it's done? Well, you gotta put it in a refrigerator. You can't just leave it sitting in the living room, you know? And you get the people who I made my bouquet. I laid it in the living room. And then my dog tore it apart. Exactly. That is why you have a professional florist.
Speaker 2:Jay is the everyday person right at DIY. And just anybody who wants to have fun.
Speaker 1:Now it is JTV my series JTD. We had 26 seasons of that 13 episodes, 200 and some odd shows about that. Those were basically for professional florists, then I'm with flowers and Jay, the second series we did for 30 seasons. And so that's 30 seasons of 13. And so those episodes were for both, there was professional information, there was resources for professionals in it, but then there was also some stuff where we started to scoot over towards that public realm. I was really fortunate. Um, we started fun with flowers and J because of Oprah Winfrey's creative director who called me and said, Oprah saw your California grown experience, which is our 40 show series about the California flower farmer. And she saw one of them where she gets some of her flowers from, and she said, this was just amazing. And then I watched your shear show online JTV and I thought, what the heck is that it's like PeeWee's Playhouse or something. And it was right. That was truly what I modeled it. After I modeled it after Peewee Herman's Playhouse, I was like, okay. So she said, I think you should do it in a mudroom and it should be more California style. And so then that's when we changed the style of the show and went to fun with flowers and Jay, our newest series that is up right now is called at home with flowers. And it is dedicated to the millions of people that are watching Jayshawn kids' life and bloom every week. And it's what you can do with flowers at home. And it encourages people to pick up flowers, whether they're you pick them out of the garden, whether you go to a farmer's market, whether you go to professional florist, whether you go to a grocery store, once you have those flowers in your hands, what can you do with them to make it more special and make herself feel better about it? We haven't concluded funnel flowers today. We're still doing that, but now we're have at home with flowers too, and the TV show on public television. So those are all my shows that are on the website. You bloomed.com is to the consumer. We have, I printed it off for you this morning. We presently have this month, we will be an 85 million homes. Wow. The show will be telecast 218 times on 313 channels in 152 markets covering 83% of the United States. I know, right. I mean, it's crazy. Crazy. Thank you. I mean, and, and I have to be completely honest. It is not me. It is not just me. I play a part in this. I'm the host. I play a part in inspiration. Um, Kelly, uh, my husband is a graphic designer and as the writer of the show and the executive producer, and he always makes sure that everything is right, absolutely positively. Right. Um, my editor and my director and camera one is, is my friend, Chris Randall, who I have been with the entire time and his buddy, Keith Galinsky. I have been with the entire time those two guys, I have watched them grow up. They have families, they shoot our show, edit our show and they coordinate their production company. And then there's a host of 19 other people, a makeup stylist and a personal assistant and you know, all that kind of stuff that goes with it. We produce it in two weeks. So it takes us two weeks to shoot a season. That's 13 shows. Um, that was a challenge this year because we had our normal production dates were not available to us. And we had to use specific ones that were issued to us by the state due to COVID and how we performed with that. And so we had to use all the film industry protocol and we, uh, completely implement that. We keep everybody safe. Um, the thing I always say is I'm the only one, uh, during the production, when we're filming that doesn't have a mask on. When I look at those guys, I see their wives and their kids and their babies. And we want to make sure that everybody's safe those guys this year. That was the first job that they had for the year. We were providing income for them. We were providing livelihood for them. We were providing craftsmanship for them, and that's super important. It's all those people coming together, doing their very, very, very best to make an incredible television show. And when we first took it to Michigan state university who presented our first season, they showed it to American public television and American public television said no way. This is not a local television show. This is a national television show and we need to push it out immediately. So we have an order for five seasons. Um, what that means is they would like us to create five seasons. They don't pay us to do that. We have to go out and find underwriters. So it's important for me to find underwriter. So anybody out there who's listening right now, who happens to know of someone who wants to get involved in a national television show about flowers, please call me, or email me@jubloom.com because it's all about connections. It's about somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody who wants to get involved and once their name in front of the public television audience, 89 million homes this month. And when you break that down, it's pretty incredible. The cost, our frequency. Um, so if anybody who knows anything, they talk about frequency of advertiser. Our frequency for advertisers is 104. Um, typically it's two, four people on commercial television. The shows get played over and over and over again on public television. And they get seen a lot. Um, that means that our shows on all 52 weeks of the year, which it is, and the goal with five seasons is that there will be over 52 shows that are different, so they can give us a slot that will always be dedicated to flowers. And that's my goal is that I want to make it a permanent residence for flowers. I know that you see me on the show, but I think that if, when you watch it, the one thing that I noticed and the one thing that people tell me, and, and I, I still sit down and watch it. I mean, I sit down in front of my television set. I grabbed my coffee cup. I grabbed my dog and I watch it it's over quickly. It goes fast because my guys have done such a great job of producing an enchanting calming, relaxing show. And we have literally hundreds of emails from people who said that this is their, their, their quiet spot, their calm place for the week where they just look at pretty flowers. Uh, American public television is, this is a huge compliment. I was shocked. They represented Bob Ross for many years and painting with Bob Ross. You know, we just watched painting with Bob Ross because it's fun. You know, you're not, you're not painting along with him. It's just great to watch it. And he's calming in his happy little trees and all that. And she said, you know, Bob Ross is unique because we've never had anyone who had that attribute that calm people down and got people so involved until you came along with Jason monkey's life in bloom. And they said, you are the Bob Ross of flowers. And probably this podcast is a good example, too, is that the Jay you see on life in bloom is different from the J you would see at a show, uh, the J that you would see on JTV or on fun with flowers and Jay, or even on my little life broadcast. I'm doing now on YouTube. I'm obviously more gregarious. I'm more in the show. I'm more calm. I just try and keep it more calm for people, because I don't want it to be abrupt. We just want them to relax, look at flowers and relax and appreciate the kindness that goes with it. We need that more than ever right now, right? Absolutely. We were in a perfect spot with this whole season being about health and wellness. We did not anticipate the pandemic and it was the perfect place for us to be. So season three is coming in April of 2021, and it is also dedicated to the health and wellness benefits of flowers. We would still tie that in because I think that that's become an important part. We cook with flowers, we make cocktails with flowers. We do flower crafts. We do flower projects. We arrange flowers. Obviously every week, there is a featured flower. We go and visit maybe where that flowers grown, or we visit with an expert. Who's really good at growing. It. Certainly they call me the flower expert. Well, when it comes to gardening, I try stuff in the garden that may or may not work. And so that's the other thing. It's simply about empowerment. It's about telling people it's okay to give this a try, because I think that people, when they pick up a bouquet of flowers, sometimes that's why they need the professional florist they're intimidated. And when they pick it up, I want them to feel a little bit more comfortable with it. I want them to be, feel comfortable about bringing flowers to somebody else's house and saying, Hey, you know what, here's some flowers. I brought them with me and that person, when they look at you and go, what do I do? You're like, Hey, I could arrange those interface for you. And so you, them in a basement, and there's a feeling of accomplishment and there's a feeling of community, and there's a feeling of empowerment that all comes together with that. And that empowerment is purchasable and activated at the local professional florist.
Speaker 2:The local professional florist is always going to meet needed for those special times in your lives. Like, especially a celebration of life. I mean, people aren't going to go the store and pick up flowers and take them to a funeral home, or, you know,
Speaker 1:They, you know, one of the, one of the things my dad always said, and I think this was somebody whose tagline. I'm not really sure, but my daddy used to say that we turn people's feelings in the flowers. And that's exactly what happens. We have stepped out on the edge with season three, we have a show about tributes to life. And, um, apt was like, you're going to talk about funerals. And we're like, yeah, we are because flowers an important part of that. And we make tributes, we're going to interview a guy, Eddie Von bargain, you know, Eddie van bargain. Does that name ring a bell to
Speaker 2:You, but I'm not sure.
Speaker 1:Okay. So Eddie Von bargain and Lil Lindgren[inaudible]. Okay. So when I was a little kid, little Lynn Gran was a P FCI member pressure pro commentator and Eddie van bargain was a designer and they traveled the country and they were the hottest ticket in like, you know, the sixties and the seventies. And that was who you would go see. And Eddie Von bargain would take a sheet of styrofoam and carve Sante and nine reindeer out of it. And it looked like Rankin bass stuff. I mean, it was, I remember, you know, being a, being a kid and being like seven or eight or 11 or something. And he was like, when I say six, so I was probably 11 or 12. And I was just like, Oh my God, this is the coolest thing I've ever seen. Eddie works for Entenmann's flowers in New Jersey. And he makes the most incredible tributes to life. I have ever seen in my life. He makes the cookie monster out of flowers. He makes a cheeseburger out of flowers. He makes McDonald's French fries out of flowers. He makes every emblem, every symbol, every low, he makes the grateful dead rainbow bears. You know, I mean, it's why he's 86 years old. And so what's interesting. And so, so, you know, when your group here, when we talk about, can we make money with tribute stuff that it got that thing, Oh, that got taken away from us, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I asked Eddie one time. I said, how much, how much are these tributes? You know? And he's like, Oh, this is a$750 to$1,800. And they'll do five or six for a funeral or sometimes 10. And because people don't mind paying for something that when people walk into that celebration of life, they're like, Oh yeah, that this made this entire event for everyone that they're looking at it.
Speaker 2:I have a flower click member. His name is Steve Regana and he's up in the Northeast too. And he does that. I mean, he does like piano keyboard. He did, he did all, so the same kind of thing. And you're just like, Oh my gosh. I mean, what, it's an art in itself, but it really celebrates the life of that.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Steve, I want to meet you if you're listening, I want to meet you because I want to see what you do. I just want to see what you do. I mean, that's the whole thing, you know, and they share it on social media. And I just, you know, we are artisans. And I think that sometimes we get caught up because I mean, Eddie, Eddie, when we were talking about it, he's like, it's a lot of styrofoam, Jay. It's a lot of styrofoam. It's a lot of paint. It's a lot of flowers, a lot of toothpicks. It's a lot of Chanel stamps and I'm just like, I get it. But what you do with that, that's the self-deprecating thing. I don't understand because we are magicians. We take flowers and we turn them into something that people remember for their lifetime. You know, their, their wedding bouquet, the, the flower they wore to prom, the sympathy arrangement. We created the casket spray that we made for their grandmother. You know, the dozen roses they got for their, for their birthday here, when their kid was born, we create those things. And those become tangible memories that are there forever. And because of our lifestyle and the way our businesses set up, we move on to the next thing. And we forget how much that last thing meant. I watched a video the other day about this Bobcat that killed a rattlesnake. And then the Bobcat rolled around on the dead rattlesnake and rolled all around like a cat would at home, you know, and catnip and just rolled around on it and everything. And there was a scientist that was talking about saying they're relishing the fact that they were triumphant and that they had that thing. And I just think we don't roll around and cover ourselves. And wipes are wipe our foreheads in our ears with all the wonderfulness that happens with what we created. We move on to the next thing. And as a former employer, all of the beauty and magic and incredible creativeness that my staff created, I didn't give them enough credit because you know, sometimes when you're the boss and you go to the wedding and you, you get to hear some of those accolades and stuff. But if you're the other that worked on it all week long, you come in on Monday morning and you pick up your knife and you start all over again and you don't get to hear about how great you were or how beautiful it was, that thing you made. And so I really try and take that forward with my staff now is when somebody tells me how great a show is or how a show affected them, or how a show made them feel, think about their grandmother and her gardens. And they got out their pictures and they looked through them and they just want to tell me that story in an email, I send that to my staff because they need to know that Keith filmed what Chris edited, what Kelly wrote, moved them. And because my shirt wasn't untucked and that my makeup wasn't running down my face. And you know, that that person was important to, you know, I mean, everybody who, who had a part in it, the guy who was holding the light, the other guy who was running the overhead camera, the guy who was running the sound, all of those pieces and parts come together to make that magical thing. And it's the same with floristry. It's exactly the same with floristry.
Speaker 2:And I think in a flower shop, the most successful flower shops are the ones who do include those employees. Because when you get those accolades and you share those, they're driven even harder to go, Oh my gosh, what is important? Oh my gosh, that person loved this. And you know, all of those little emails or little messages that are coming on social media after they've received some flowers, those are what drive every single one of the employees, not just us.
Speaker 1:Yes. I want to feel that again. That's what they're saying. I want to feel that again, because you know, when someone compliments you, how great you feel, and that is, that's the dopamine, and we want it more. We want that drug some more. We want you, you and I know that when you give a really good show and your audience is in tune and they come up afterwards and they talk to you and you talk to them and there's that interaction and exchange of ideas, or you're looking out and you're making a point with an arrangement and you can see the light go on in those people's eyes. You know, you made a connection and we can't wait to do it again. We want to do it again.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So that kind of segues me into my next question. I'll let you have done. Is there anything that you wish you could have done? I mean, you, obviously, from high school, you have the TV show you made. Is there something else or just to continue to produce things that are really engaging with them?
Speaker 1:Okay. So this is a really weird thing. And Kelly, Kelly laughs about it all the time, but when we go to PBS stations a lot, right? And so when we're going to a PBS station, we're giving a live event for them, or we're visiting with them, or we're talking with them about, you know, premiering our show or something like that. There'll be a case of MAs. And I always go and pick them up and have him take my picture because I want an Emmy. I think our show is good enough. I think that there are, there are pieces and parts. And, and so there's something about, I find it interesting. Cause in the book industry, I wanted to write a book and I did, and I, my, my books are good and I, and I enjoy those fun with flowers and bloom three 65, both won awards, which is really nice. And, um, there's a special on them right now on our website. If you go to you bloom.com/book combo, there's a book combo for the books. You can get both of them, but there's something about being told that what you do is good. I got the living legend award in the flower industry. Um, I got the Tommy bride award, which is, which was a huge deal. My mom and I both got that. So we got him 10 years apart. Um, but that's cool, but here's another weird thing. I want to make a CD of music to arrange flowers by.
Speaker 3:And the guy
Speaker 1:That used to cut my hair, he's responsible for the little point on top of my head. Um, he is also a music composer and he has composed all the original score for our television show. And we get so many comments about the music on the show that I really want to produce an album for him. That's music to arrange flowers by that you would come down and do that. So, you know, I think there's, there's not a lot of stuff that, cause the other thing I will tell you Vonda is if I dropped dead this afternoon, I am well with that. I am completely well with that because I have been extremely fortunate. I have had an amazing life. I have traveled to different countries. I have met, I have seen flowers, grown all over the world and I've captured that so that when I'm gone, there will be a legacy of some sort. And yeah, I mean, you know, I mean, we watched Bob Ross on the airplanes today and Bob hasn't been with us for a long time, but that's a legacy that he's left for us. So I think that I really want to make biscuits that turn out
Speaker 3:Like sour dough rolls,
Speaker 1:Pull apart. You know, I want to make the I've, I've tried the whole pandemic and I just they're, they're usually hard. They don't, you know, I don't know. I wanna, I wanna make
Speaker 3:Perfect recipe actually. I want it. I will give it a try. Another question. Your favorite flower. Do you have a favorite flower,
Speaker 1:Favorite flower? Um, I've asked collate though. I will preface it with this red carnations mean a lot to me because my, my grandfather was Carnation Joe Green, who wore red Carnation all the time. Um, people send me red carnations. I have, I have a red Carnation collection. I love red carnations. I would like a flower named after myself. I think that that would be cool because there are people who get that. Now I think that would be fun. I think it should be a Carnation. I don't know why, but I think it should be a Carnation that's named after me, but that might not necessarily my favorite power. I love Dahlia season. I love gladiolas when they're around. I love zinnias when they're around. But if you are going to pin me down and say, you could have one flower, I love the STEM gardenias too, from Katie on my brothers and crazy about those. But if you were going to pin me down and say, this is the only flower you could have for the rest of your life, it would be a yellow freesia Ooh, because they smell like fruit loops. So my friend Ben Adobe at Holland America gross, gross freesia and I got to see them growing. And it's really interesting because when they cut them, they're not blooming, you know, because they let them blow them out. And Curtis Godwin. Okay. How about that for a name? Let's go back. Right? Curtis shared a trick with me about freesia and he said, Jay, whatever you do, don't cut HSA. So you know how, when you get your bunch of Phreesia in and you cut it and you put it in the bucket and it's got a couple of balloons that are already opened and they look really good. And then you cut it and put it in the bucket. And those first blooms die. Cause they always do right. Don't don't cut it. So you take it out of the box and you put it in your face, a flower nutrient water with no cut, no cut. It's all calloused on the end. It doesn't matter if it's all Brown and black callused on the end, put it in in there. And every single bloom will open all the way to the end, every single bloom. And it's because it has the strongest vascular system of any flower. And so when you cut it, what happens is at surge of ethylene brushes up the STEM and because it's so strong, it goes right to that open bloom and it kills it. Okay. So the question everybody has then is what happens then when I cut it and put it in a vase, you're still going to have that surge of ethylene. And so what's interesting is if you, if you cut it with a scissors, rather than a knife, you pinch the bottom of the STEM a little bit. So it decreases the ethylene surge at the STEM, or if you put it in flower foam, it will reduce the rush up the STEM. And so you'll still get it to open all the way. You know, we used to grow Phreesia in the greenhouse when I was a little kid and you'd walk into the greenhouse and the whole greenhouse smelled like Phreesia smelled like fruit loops. And, and I'm specific about this. I mean, it's yellow. Um, the pink ones are good too. The pink ones or the Brown ones, the ones that are rust colored usually are very fragrant. Lavender is not as fragrant. Um, white smells like cinnamon rather than fruit loops. It smells like cinnamon toast crunch. And so I shouldn't, I see, I live in Michigan. I live way too close to Kellogg's. Um, but you know, you know, I mean, that would that's, that's the one, so yeah.
Speaker 3:And that flower, uh, favorite flower as Julie polar or our mutual friend when I interviewed her, she is my favorite and she shared a little bit of the freesia tip, but nothing like you went into little dog.
Speaker 1:I love the little bug, Julie. She's just so cute. She, I have a picture in my house that says friends and it has little hearts on it and in it, she gave me a picture and it's her me hug. And she's like hugging you to like right around my waist because she's little and you know, she's just so wonderful. She, her and I worked on so many projects and, and teams together and stuff. She's just, she's a great person. She's a really great person. Well, I w I L I a region she's
Speaker 3:Iowa.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So that's yeah, just right across the gray cross,
Speaker 3:The river, the Missouri river. So yeah. Well, is there anything else you wanted to add or share with our friends and you do actually have some kind of a special offer you do.
Speaker 1:So, yeah. So I think the interesting thing that the pandemic taught me was that we have created over 1800 videos on our website. Um, we have, uh, the JTV, we have fun with flowers and Jay, we have at home with flowers, we have our flower documentaries about California, three series of those. We have one about the Florida foliage farms and flower farms in Florida. We have a Columbia one about going to, we went to Columbia and filmed flower a documentary for them about the flowers of Columbia and the sustainable practices that they use. And then we also have like our flowers, one Oh one, which has little simple videos that are like how to soak flower foam, how to make a bow, how to weave a Palm leaf, how to, you know, all sorts of stuff. So there's sort of 1800 videos there. And on you bloom.com, we have, those are many of those, not all of them, but many of them reside, especially the professional ones are the resources for professionals reside in our membership only. And so our membership is three 99 a month or 38, 40 a year. That way you get, you get two to two free months or something, if you do a year. But so for your flower click group, if they go to you blue.com backslash join, then they can pick whether they want to do a monthly or if they want to do an annual. And when it brings up the form, there's a place for a discount code. Okay. And so the discount code for your group is flower click. Okay. With F L O w E R C L I Q U E. Right. Okay. All one word. All caps, no spaces. Okay. So flower click all mushed together one. Okay. That will give them 50% off our memberships. Wow. And they have the opportunity to sign up for auto renewal. So if they sign up for auto renewal, they can keep that 50% rate forever. Wow. What a great deal my present. Cause because sometimes, you know, it's just like, and, and I know sometimes people will call me and say, ah, I got to teach somebody how to make a casket spray. You know what? We have a video about that. Do they want to learn how to glucoside pages or do they want to learn how to use, how to color shift colors with, with design master paint, we have all kinds of videos. And so, um, you know, on the website too, there's also a search box. So if you don't see what you're looking for, use the search box and say, Hey, I'm looking for gluing. I'm looking for casket spray. I'm for, you know, a cremation reef, that type of thing.
Speaker 2:You're telling me that it's normally 38, 40 a year. So if they sign up for a year right now, it's less than 20 bucks,
Speaker 1:1970, I think. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And if they watched it one video a year, it's definitely worth it. Right, right. Right. I mean,
Speaker 1:So the one thing I think that, uh, you know, visual learning is extremely important and it's something that you and I did for so long. And the reason that we created you bloom was you. And I both know that we would go to shows, I am sure that you did Rob tabata's Mount Eden show one time or another and 1200 people. Right. Or, you know, we'd go to, we'd go to a wholesale house in Iowa and have 700 people at a show. Well, suddenly in 2006, that stopped because there were more things for people to do. And we would have, you know, 14 people or 17 people. And it just didn't make any sense to do those shows anymore. And we decided we were going to help with visual learning and create visual learning for people. And so with that, what we were able to do was we just started making those projects that you and I would show on stage and it allowed people to watch on their own timeframe. It's interesting still to this day, 2006 to today, 14 years later, the biggest time on new bloom in each time zone all around the world is 10 o'clock to 11 o'clock at night. Interesting.
Speaker 2:Everybody's laying in there in their
Speaker 1:Pajamas, watching JTV or fun with flowers and Jay and I, and I just think that that's so interesting because it's their time. And I think that was the problem with the shows was, you know, when, when I was a kid, there were three TV channels. We didn't have ballet or soccer or all these things that kids can do now. And the big event for us was to go to the flower show with mom and dad on the weekend, you know? And so we would do that, but it's not that way anymore. And there's so many lost crafts and lost techniques. And okay, so here we go. Um, I feel like there's a lot of bad behavior being peripheral stud on the internet because people don't have professional educators telling them the process to use, you know, that you and I spent weeks probably in our life months, learning about Oasis, floral products, learning about design, master, floral products, learning about Crisal professional flower foods. We were taught what to tell people and utilized that and did it on, or did it in our stores. So we knew that it functioned and it worked. One of the things that people they do call me the most trusted voice in the flower industry. And I, I feel very honored by that is that I have had a lot of people come to me and say, I want you to promote this product. And I, and I asked for the product first so that I can try it. If it doesn't work, I will not promote it. And it's really simple and it hurts, hurt some people's feelings, but I want to make sure that, that the people who view it are going to be successful. And so when I have people, you know, when I see people say, Oh, I don't use finer food. Cause I'm just a, I'm just a wedding and event planner. Well, what if I was to tell you that if you're a wedding and event planner and you used flower food, you'd, you'd be able to order 30% less product and you'd be able to make 30% more profit. And they're like, w w w w yeah. Yeah. Because if you get it and you put it in the flower food, the flowers is going to get bigger, fuller, better color. You're going to, you're going to need less product to make those things and you get more profit. And that's the basic stuff that I see, Oh, I don't do that. Or, or, you know, or I watch, I still, still, still this year watched Martha Stewart hammer, the end of a lilac Bush, uh, you know, put it, you know, and it's just like, why are we doing that? You know? And w we, and I'll tell you, she did it because it gave Steven Kobe air and her an opportunity to smash something with a hammer on a table. That's the reason that they did it. They didn't do it because it was better for the flowers. They just did it because it was, it was, it was shock, Oh, they're going to beat a flower with a hammer. I got to watch this, you know? And so reality television has done us, no favors. So, and, and I think that there's people out there, you know, that I see, I see spraying design, master paint right next to the flower, you know? Yeah. It's going to freeze it. Yeah. It's going to turn black, you know, and, and people, people write me and say, I ordered hydrangeas online and they're, and they all have black dots. Yeah. Cause you were looking for the cheapest hydrangea you could buy. And when you buy cheap, you get what you pay for. So, you know, I just, I think that being able to give people proper information and educate them and offer something and my offer is open. The one thing that you will notice on my website is my email address is right there. If you have a question, if you have a comment, I will answer you personally. We have, I have a YouTube channel. Now we have 80, 83,000 people that are subscribed to it. The one thing that I tell everybody is I will answer your question personally, and I will answer your comment. So also be ready if you're going to call me if you're going to, because I have people who are like, well, I think this is the ugliest arrangement I've ever seen. And I'm like, all right, let's talk about it. Cause we're going to talk about it. Cause I'm, you're just not going to post that on my page and not have me talk to you about it. I think that that's important is that we, we give and share feedback. And the open invitation that I've always had is for those thousands of shows I gave in the United States, we tried to count them up one time and it was really difficult, but it was, we was over, it was over 2000. So thousands of shows in every state, in the entire us. And at the end of those shows, I would give out my business card that had my email address and my phone number on it. And my invitation was, if you have a question, if you need help, call me, email me, write me. And people would tell me I was crazy. And people to this day will send me pictures of my card in their booth, at their flower shop. And they'll say, today, I needed this card. I needed to know how do I do this? And I can't believe you answered me.
Speaker 2:I think also J that card signifies somebody who cared about absolutely ever call you. It's like, I got this card from J shwanky and I know he cares about what I'm doing right now. And, and they would just say, I learned this from Jay. And so it's one of those things that you are really accelerating their self-worth by just giving them a card. Like, he feels like I really can use this and I can call him. I've got that friend, even if they never do correct.
Speaker 1:Correct. And I always say, I always have one rule. I have one rule about you bloom. I have one rule about my YouTube channel. I have one rule rule about my Facebook pages. I have one rule about Instagram and that's behind. If you can't be kind, I will show you the door. I just think that we're lacking in kindness and compassion right now. And if we can share that with people, if we can be kind, if we can be compassionate, if we can be helpful, that's going to be so important going forward. And that's what we try and do. I need to be that person. I need to be the person that's kind and approachable. And
Speaker 2:It goes back to my mother. Always said, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't write, write, write, write, just, don't say it. If you don't, if it's not nice, don't say it.
Speaker 1:I love the comments that start off with, I don't want to be mean, but
Speaker 4:My response is always,
Speaker 1:You were going to go ahead and be me. So, you know, you really didn't mean it when you said, I don't want to be me. I love your mom. That would be guy. Your mom's great. Yeah. Moms have good advice.
Speaker 4:They have good advice.
Speaker 2:Our very last question. What is giving you life right now? Life-giving
Speaker 1:Life giving the people that I reach that reach out to me and tell me about what they have flowers affected them, or that the show made them think of their grandma and her garden that they had or that, you know, and, and, and I get, I get really, really deep, dark revealing communications from people there. They will say, I was watching your show today. And my daughter's favorite color is red. And you are making a red arrangement on the show and she died six years ago. And I felt like she was coming around to say something back to me, that type of stuff makes me feel valuable. And that's the best part about this. I think that just being able to, to let someone tell you their stories and to, and to know that what you did made them feel calm, comfortable at ease for a little bit of time. I want to point that self-deprecating finger at myself because sometimes I don't feel worthwhile. Sometimes I don't feel good enough or that what I'm doing is a good thing or that it's hard. Sometimes it's hard, it's just hard to do stuff. And then I think about those things and it makes me feel good about myself. And I think that that's the hardest find that thing that makes you feel good about yourself. Find, find that thing that makes you live for today. I mean, the reason I get up out of bed is I've, I've got more scripts to write. I've got more shows to produce. I've got a live broadcast to do. I mean, today, I was so excited when I got, I got up early so that I could, so I could get all ready and everything. Cause I was going to get to see Vonda and we were going to get to do this. That gives me strength. That gives me something to live for on a day-to-day basis. And the flowers are a huge part of that. I admit when things are tight and things are tough. I get emails every single day from people who say, I still make sure that the first thing I pick up when I'm at the grocery store is a bunch of flowers. And I think that we have that ability right now with those things that we create as florists, that we're, that those things give us, give people hope. They give them calm. They give them the respite. They give them a reason to go on a thing that makes them happy today. When they look at those flowers, when they look at those images, when they look at that stuff and it's the stuff we create. And so I have always said there was, there's nothing else I would do besides this. I'm I'm extremely fortunate in that the path has led to this. And sometimes, sometimes you can't see where the path is going. Cause you're going to have to turn a corner or there's pretty leaves or flowers or something hanging over the path. And you're going to have to go around. I mean, you're gonna have to see what's on the other side, you know, and nine times out of 10, it's not a tiger, you know, nine times out of 10 it's, it's something better and something, something easier or something that gives you more joy and look for those things. Because I think those things are there, especially when it's like this right now, it's just, it's a hard time for people. I understand that everybody's challenged. We are one of the lucky people we're not making widgets. We're, we're making beautiful stuff. And sometimes it's just looking down inside that one flower that you're holding in your hand for a minute and you get lost inside it for 10 or 15 or 20 seconds. That was a good trip. That's a nice little trip to take. And that's what we have to do. We have to take the time to do that because so many just like stop. Yeah, smell the flowers, but really stop and take a deep look inside. And we need to be the Kings of that rather than the people that don't do that. We don't need to be the shoemaker's kids that don't have shoes. We need to be the people that stop and take the time to smell the flowers. Yeah. Well, Jay, thanks for sharing your story with me and spending my pleasure. It's you know what? It's long, my friend, JD from Delhi, flora always says, Oh, if you're going to have Jay on, he's going to talk a lot so long. It's just, yeah, you as well. It's really, really good to see your face. And I can't wait for the time that we can hug and see each other. And I'm afraid that I'm going to hold people's hands and stuff. When I see people again, just because I just want to know that they're there, social distancing is hard. That was something that they didn't teach us about this in school. So it's really hard. Right, right, right, right, right. Yeah. I have dreams at night that people hugged me. So I that's good. So I like that. Okay. Well I'm sending a virtual hug, so I will, I will, I will. Thanks. Fonda. Ice has been a treat. I really appreciate it. And I wish you the best of luck and everyone else out there. If I can help you in any way, shape or form, I'm here. That's what I'm here for. So
Speaker 3:Thanks Jay. 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 Laurie at flower, click.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. Yes. So please come back and join us and discover how did have knowledge and one small change in your mindset to take you to a new level in your life and business.[inaudible]
Speaker 5:[inaudible].