Real-Life Retail Florist: Floristry Education for Today's Professionals

Episode 152:  A one-year collaboration in the making between the Flower Clique girls (Vonda, Lori & Ellie) and Abby Chick,  floral educator and retail shop owner, is FINALLY REVEALED on today's episode. 

This retail floristry curriculum took on a life of its own, and we're so happy to share it with the world! 

An all-encompassing educational course developed by four experts, tailored specifically for all of our retail florist dreamers, has finally arrived.

The details: 14 modules packed with content covering everything from start-up to sales, design to delivery, buying wholesale to business operations, profitability to professional relationships, and more. In addition to over 100 videos, we've created templates and interactive spreadsheets with built-in formulas to get more done, operate profitably, and build the business of your dreams.

On top of our stunning curriculum filled with the wisdom, training & tools to succeed, RLRF gives you the intimate community you crave. Network with your peers on a real and intimate level. No fluff, no judgement. Instead, a real, tangible place filled with people just like you – alongside industry experts, where you can celebrate wins, get answers, and grow together. You'll also have access to us four instructors, ensuring you get the answers you need, when you need them.

Listen to the girls chat about how it came to life & all the juicy details.

This is: The Real-Life Retail Florist.

For more information and to join the VIP list: Real Life Retail Florist
Questions? Email lori@flowerclique.com

Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

This hasn't been taught before. This is new information, new guidance that is not available. I've been to floristry school.

SPEAKER_03 0:17

Welcome to the business and pleasure of flowers. We're your hosts, Vonda LaFever.

SPEAKER_04 0:22

And Lori Wilson. And we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Vonda.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

Lori, here we are, the week of Thanksgiving, and we have so much to be thankful for. We do. Can I can I go first?

SPEAKER_05 0:40

Can I tell you what I'm excited for? Yes, please. Um I'm gonna, I'm gonna, as we are speaking, there will be about one hour today. I'm thinking between four and five o'clock p.m. That my all three of my children will be in my house together. Wow. And that has not happened in, I don't know, at least two years. We've never we've always had four of the five. We've never had all five of us. And so I'm so excited. Like I'm so excited, and I'm so fearful that my son's flight will be delayed, and we it won't happen, but it's gonna happen heavy. Hey, I get one hour. One hour. They're only gonna be together for one hour. Yes, my daughter has to go back because she's in the healthcare field, she has to work all of Thanksgiving. So she's here now and can but has to leave on Tuesday. And my son in Ohio can't get here until Tuesday. So they're gonna do like two shifts. So take some pictures, take some quick family picks. But they're already in the family group test or like seriously, mom, it's not a big deal. It is a big deal! I love it.

SPEAKER_03 2:04

I love it.

SPEAKER_05 2:05

So that's what I'm thankful for, and I'm thankful that we have guests today.

SPEAKER_03 2:09

I know, isn't it great? That's what I was gonna say. Another, you know, source of gratitude is that project we've been working on, Lori, yes, is finally ready to share, and that's why we have our special guests today.

SPEAKER_05 2:21

Yes, well, and our special guests are pretty big players in that project. I I would venture to say they're the biggest players in this project.

SPEAKER_03 2:30

So and they're great friends, and we've had them on the podcast before. So Ellie LaFever and Abby Chick, welcome. Hi. Hello, hello.

SPEAKER_05 2:40

Hello, yes. I saw you giggle, Ellie, when you are a good friend of Von Features.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

I'm glad I'm a good friend of yours, Mom. Well, I love it.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

It's both, right? She not only loves you, she likes you.

SPEAKER_05 2:56

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 2:57

That's big, you know. That's big. You know, more you and I've dropped a few nuggets about what's happening and what project we've been working on, but I think let's ask Ellie to share with us, you know, what is it that we're introducing today?

SPEAKER_05 3:17

Yeah. So my question to Ellie is so what you been doing, Ellie? What have we been doing?

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Yeah, and when we were talking before, it was it's like, oh my gosh, how do we sum this up in a paragraph? You know, we only have 30 minutes on this podcast, but I'm gonna try the best I can. So we have the real life retail florist. It is a digital course, but it is so much more than a digital course. It encompasses everything you need to build a successful retail floristry business. We are peeling back the curtain so that you get a real inside look at how to build a floral business that works for you. We have developed a program that includes over a hundred videos. I think there's, you know, we're at about 110, 115 now. We have a comprehensive resource guide that is just filled with incredible pieces of advice and guidance. We have templates, like a business plan template. I mean, those still exist and you still need it. We have spreadsheets with built-in formulas that help you make good business decisions and ensure profitability through every step of your business. And the incredible thing is that we have collaborated together, all four of us, right? So Abby and I were talking about this previously. It's incredible that you get four unique experiences rather than, you know, just from one instructor. You get four perspectives that have kind of been compiled into this incredible course, right? And it's not just like you have one person telling you exactly what to do. You have four perspectives that guide you every step of the way. Whether you have a business already that you need advice in to build and level up, or if you are brand new to this industry, I think the great thing now is that we have seen so many more people interested in floristry, but they don't really have this like one-stop shop for how do I build this successful business? And Vonda and Abby, you guys have had to figure it out yourselves, right? And so the beautiful thing about this course is that you are teaching them all of the the years of experience, decades of experience, and the mistakes you've made and the problems you've overcome, and compiling that so that they can learn more efficiently and build a successful retail floristry business.

SPEAKER_05 5:53

As you were saying that, all I'm thinking of is after every sentence, and even after that whole big spiel, I'm like, but wait, there's more. Like you know, those infomercials, but wait, there's more, and then there's more. That's how this whole thing is. Don't you agree, Abby?

SPEAKER_00 6:11

Oh my gosh. I mean, well, it's interesting. I was looking on my phone, you know how the memories come up. It was about a year ago exactly that all of this started really happening. And when I look at it, I'm like, there's nothing left to cover. But I'm like, we could probably go for another year. We could maybe just continue adding to it, you know, but if you know.

SPEAKER_05 6:33

Oh please, please, please, let's not.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Let's really think about there's just there's so much, there's so much to know. That I think like when we started, it it seemed like pretty straightforward. And as we continued to discuss, you know, we developed this like high-level think tank where we just realized, I know, even for me, I learned so much while making this course just because I was getting Bonda's perspective and you know, Ellie, who lives in LA, I mean, we're all coming from totally different markets as well, different walks of life. And you guys have actually seen hundreds upon hundreds of floral businesses is in your career helping them at Flower Click.

SPEAKER_03 7:25

Right, right. So let's talk about why this course is so important. Abby, I want you to look back and tell me what you think.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

I mean, you're saying, okay, we look back and it's been a year and we could add more, but so for me, where this really started becoming apparent that there was this great need is I mean, we gotta talk about the last couple of years in floristry and our entire industry got turned on its head, you know. Um, and for a lot of florists, a lot of events and wedding-only florists, the bottom dropped out. And uh for those friends of mine, those colleagues, you know, you know, in some of the groups that I'm in where I'm like the resident retail guy, you know, they needed to find a way to generate some income. You know, they were kind of desperate. And so doing daily work for them seemed like, okay, I've I've got to survive. I'm gonna start seeing what I can do in my community to sell, to sell my skills. You know, this is the one thing I'm good at. And so they would ask me questions, and you know, it started off kind of like small, and then more and more I just started realizing, like, oh my gosh, like I don't know where I can send these guys for help. I I was I was thinking, I and honestly, Vonda, I think even early on in the pandemic, I I asked you, I was like, Do you guys only help retail florists? Or is there, you know, something you can do for these event florists? Because like there is a ton that they don't know, and they're going to get in over their heads. And quite honestly, I saw that happen. I saw florists who, you know, were event only, and then they tried to make that pivot, and they ended up leaving really quickly because they were like, oh, everyday, you know, you can't make money, customers are too picky, you know, I I can't get the big budgets, you know, and they just kind of they just they gave up, right? Because they didn't have the knowledge. There wasn't a place that they could turn to for help. And sadly, a lot of those florists ended up leaving our industry altogether. Yeah. I mean, they're they're out of it, they're out of the game. And, you know, what we all saw on the retail side of things, we know like none of that was true. Like we ended up having a renaissance. We flourished. Retail florists came out of that pandemic being stronger than ever. It's just that those florists didn't know what they didn't know, and you you can't approach it in the same way.

SPEAKER_05 10:10

Yeah, that's yeah. You know what was going through my head as you were saying that, Ellie and Abby. Do you remember? Well, our first introduction to what was that app during the pandemic? Clubhouse. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:25

Treehouse. Clubhouse. What was it? Clubhouse.

SPEAKER_05 10:29

Do you remember that? Like as you were talking, this is where it first sparked in my head. Oh my gosh, there's a lack of knowledge in some of this stuff. So we Ellie, you and I were on a clubhouse because we're like, oh, Abby's in there. So we were listening, and all of a sudden, Abby pulls me up into some sort of speech. Do you remember that? Yes. It was a whole group. Anyway, it was a bunch of event florists, and they were kind of trying to process what do we do now? Everything's canceled. And you were we were talking about every day, and no one really had any knowledge of how to go about it.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

Yeah, it was honestly like this meeting place, you know, like West Side story where the two different sides were in the same place. At I don't know why I went to that reference, but like, you know, these these two worlds that you know oftentimes don't interact, you know, in a really collaborative way. That is that is totally where kind of that spark first came from.

SPEAKER_05 11:37

Yeah, that's exactly where that seed was planted, at least for me. But I didn't know it was gonna evolve into real life lores. But I remember Vonda, I remember talking to you the next day. And first of all, I'm like, what the heck? I don't know what that was. And I was talking, and that's the first time I met Amy Balsters. Yes, yeah, event-based, right? And she was trying to help and navigate through these conversations. Um, but it's crazy because that was a long time ago, and that's when that seeds, those seeds were first being planted on, you know, we need to get some curriculum out there.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

Speaking of Amy, she actually was. That's how I met her through Clubhouse, and I just I thought she had so much great knowledge, and so I reached out to her and I was like, I'd like to pay you for some coaching. And it was through that, you know, she has always done, you know, high-end events and stuff, and that's kind of her wheelhouse. But she said, you know, you really you really know what you're talking about with this retail stuff, and she said, you know, there's not a lot of education out there for that. And I'm like, there's not. I mean, that's why I use Flower Click for everything, is because they're like the only people that are out there, you know, helping making courses for retail florists.

SPEAKER_03 12:53

There's not enough time of the day to reach everyone, and I think that's kind of when the past comes forward, and I go, how can we really, like you're saying, Abby, reach out and and help those who have all these questions? Because you're operating a business, I'm operating a business, and there's so many people we want to help to be successful, and I think that's a part of it. That's the past and why it happened. So we all have put so much into this, and Ellie has put her heart and soul into this in the last five months for sure. She's given us a little bit of an insight of what is included in this course, but I think there's a lot more to it, isn't there, Lori?

SPEAKER_05 13:32

Yes, there is, you know, um looking at it as a whole, the the course, the online course, and also living present day with a child that's going to college, local community college, and online courses, um, doing a hybrid, I'm like, this is as big, if not bigger, than a semester college course. But we give you the answers too to a lot of it, right? So we have just the workbook alone. I know when we were launting sales prep, do you remember Abby? And we had you beta test it. And I remember the one of the first things before you even told me little edits I needed to make. You said the workbook alone, with all of the curriculum we put in it, was worth the entire price of the course, even without the videos. And I feel like this course, it first of all, it's probably three times as big as far as content, and the workbook alone is going to be very much like a Bible for a business owner, something to refer back to daily for those first five years of business.

SPEAKER_03 14:55

Yeah, I agree, Lori. Yeah, it's it's the Bible, and then of course, some of it's online because those interactive worksheets, spreadsheets that um they're gonna be using. I mean, I would use that every day or once a week, right, in business for those checkpoints that we're looking at.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

Right. Yeah, I mean, I've shared like some of the videos, some of the spreadsheets with my staff as we've been building this out. And they were like, Where did you learn this? Where did who taught you this? And I said, This hasn't been taught before. This is new information, new guidance that is not available. I've I've been to floristry school, and what we've created in here is guidance that I've never seen anywhere. And I'm kind of like a floral course junkie. I mean, I've tried it all out. So, you know, what we've come up with here is the culmination of, you know, years and years and years of experience of doing the job. And basically those those same questions that my staff asks me, that's kind of what we thought about. Like, well, how would we teach them to think like a boss, to really know how to run a business? I mean, some, you know, floral shop owners are gonna have babies and they'll have to leave and try to figure out, well, who's gonna run my business while I'm gone? Well, this course, I could easily hand this over to my to an employee that I felt like could step into a manager role. I could hand this course to them and be like, you know, see you in a month, come back and you're ready to run my shop completely.

SPEAKER_03 16:41

Yeah, I love that. Love that.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

So true.

SPEAKER_03 16:44

So then the future. Who do you see benefiting most from this course? Of course, new mothers who are having babies, right? And you want to have somebody run your shop.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

But well, for me, it goes right back to those event and wedding florists, you know. They are experienced professionals, but they focus their careers on events and weddings, you know. So they've already built these incredible businesses. Uh, they just maybe want to expand their offerings, you know, expand their reach and ultimately earn some more consistent income day in, day out. They want to be able to retain their staff so they don't have to rely on always scrambling to find freelancers. So, you know, they want that, but they also don't want to have to start at the bottom. They don't want to have to start at the bottom and put the years into figuring it all out, you know. They know the value, what we have here, is easily recognizable because this is, you know, kind of the equivalent of starting at the bottom and learning all of those mistakes themselves. So I really feel like they'll gravitate towards this course because it teaches the fundamentals of retail floristry, which they don't know about because it's a whole different ball game. But what I think is so great is it's really filtered through a modern lens, you know. So these florists who have built a very strong brand, they're going to be able to use this to seamlessly build an extension of that brand, something that fits with what they are already putting out there.

SPEAKER_03 18:28

I love that. Yeah. That's so true. Lori, same question.

SPEAKER_05 18:33

So I knew you were gonna ask me this. I looked at it yesterday and I started thinking through, you know, why did I want it? I don't know. And what hit me is the based on the conversations I have with people in this industry, not just flower click members, but people, you know, that are even not that want to talk through what we do and what they're thinking. To me, this course is for anyone that has a passion or a dream for this industry, but they don't know where to start to make that dream come true. Um, as far as opening a flower shop. I think like Abby and Vonda, I look at you two as far as shop owners and again a lot of people I speak with. And I know without a doubt, as hard as it can be, it's their calling. But I also think when something is your calling, it can feel lonely because, you know, as the quote is, it's your calling, it's not a conference call. Like you don't have all these other people around going, yay, you go, you can do it. You can do it. You might have one, but the reality is you also have a lot of people in place with good intention that are fear-based, right? Going, oh, that's a risk, you know. The first five years of every business, they'll probably lose, you know, and then you start throwing out all the statistics and all the stuff. So we are for those people that have a calling and have a dream, but don't know where home plate is to get from home to first. Like that's what we do. We literally and virtually hold your hand through the process. And and I don't, I I don't know that. Um, well, I know there is nothing out there like this to help you if you want to open up a flower shop or a flower truck or a flower. Subscription only a flower van, a flower kiosk, you know what I mean. That you have a dream and a passion that you want to turn into a reality. That's why we're here.

SPEAKER_03 20:54

I love that. That is so true, Lori. Wow. I knew you would get into the deep into the deep part of it.

SPEAKER_05 21:02

Well, I and truly my thought about it is 100% based on the amazing conversations I've had the privilege to have in the last 12 years.

SPEAKER_06 21:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 21:16

And and the fear and the insecurity in the voice of these people going, can I do this? And I want this is this is what they need. I just got chills, Lori. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:31

How about you, Ellie?

SPEAKER_01 21:32

So for me, I think I'm coming to it with a different perspective. I grew up in a flower shop, as a lot of you know. And during the development of this course, it became more apparent that if I were to take over a family business, even though I grew up in that business, I mean, there are so many things that I I didn't know that I didn't know. And so as much confidence as us millennials or Gen Z can have about feeling good about all the stuff we can learn on TikTok, um, that's not the reality of running a successful and profitable retail floristry business. This course really showed me that to run a successful retail floristry business, you not only have to be good at business, be good at managing people, be good at knowing how to make business decisions like what e-commerce platform I should have and how to plan my flower shop, there are so many little parts that you really don't think about when you're just in it, like a like me, like a generational um family legacy. So to me, the this course is perfect for the second, the third, the fourth generation who wants to continue their family legacy, but they don't want to run it in the ground. So if you're having any of those fears in the back of your mind, this course really covers everything you need to make sure that you are not going to run it into the ground.

SPEAKER_03 23:13

Well said. It's interesting because usually the second and third generations sometimes do make the business unsuccessful because they are resting on the laurels of the business rather than jumping in to know exactly how it needs to run and what you can do better. Maybe you're doing what was done, but it needs to be changed. And I think that's the difference here. We have what I did right years ago, and so much of that is still successful. But then we have Abby, who is like doing it now, and there's a lot of things that have changed. And the collaboration between she and I, and then Ellie and Lori, we put all that together, and it's like, wow, you know, what we know is amazing. I still go, wow, this is so powerful. You know, the old and the new bringing it together to make what is going to be a super successful shop.

SPEAKER_00 24:04

I've never understood that saying more with don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, but it's like there are some things that you cannot change to be successful, you know, and having the help to navigate, like, you know, even if you did know how to do absolutely everything in the shop, that still doesn't help you figure out what you can leave behind to make it grow and change. And what are those systems that you have to keep but maybe adapt with new technology?

SPEAKER_03 24:39

Right now we see an influx of flower shops that are selling, right? So there's people who are like retiring, or they're like, oh, this is a perfect opportunity for me to do a changing of the guards. They're selling to either an employee, or what I've seen so much is like these outside people are coming in and buying a flower shop, and they have really very little knowledge of what it takes. Oh my gosh, it'll be fun to be working in a flower shop. Or, you know, it's like I have a good business mind and I know how to run a business. But we know a flower shop is totally different than any other business. This is a person I think would really benefit from this course, is somebody who is like going, okay, I'm maybe in over my head, and just to have this and all the tools in here, you can be there is a big sigh of relief, like, whoo man, this is what I needed to be able to run my business successfully, because now I have an idea what I need to do and the steps to make it successful.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

I think what's so great about what we've done here with this course is by approaching all of these different angles, we've made it so that you could start this course at the very beginning if you were just starting out. But for me as a business owner who's been in it for, you know, I've been a florist for 17 years now, there are really important pieces of information in those very first modules that like I know I skipped over because nobody helped me write a business plan. Nobody helped me come up with what you know my brand identity or my mission statement was, you know. So even 10 years into owning my business, I'm going right back to that very first module and kind of filling in those really important gaps that I kind of just, you know, cobbled together my business. So I think that no matter where you are, every single piece of information is valuable to anyone who would watch it.

SPEAKER_03 26:45

I know that anyone who would purchase the real life florist course would breathe a sigh of relief because they know what they're doing and how to do it and how to be successful. I think bottom line, you want to be able to succeed at what you're doing, and the unknown is what holds us back and makes us fearful so that we are not successful. And knowledge is power, and this gives you the knowledge to succeed in the floral industry.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

And the confidence.

SPEAKER_05 27:20

Confidence and the community. I mean, that's what the big you know, going back to it being like a college course. When you go to college and you have a class, you've got classmates, you have a professor, the professor has a few office hours. Sometimes you can reach out to them when needed. Like that's how you get through the really hard courses, right? Some of the courses you don't ever need any of that. You can just kind of phone it in and get a B and you're fine with it. But when you truly are going into a class that is your major and you love, you guys know what I'm talking about. When you the ones that actually, hey, this one's gonna help me get the job I want, you pay more attention, you ask more questions, you show up at those office hours. That's what this course is. It's like a grad level course, right? Because you're going to want to be way more engaged than just basically English 101, which I did love English 101, but you know what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00 28:23

You know, Lori and I really can't get over alliteration. So I have to just jump in here and say you get the courses, the confidence, the community, and the coaching. It's like having a specific business coach.

SPEAKER_02 28:40

All of it. The four Course. I love that. That's what we're about.

SPEAKER_01 28:47

So I do have to mention, as you guys were talking about office hours and mentorship and community when we launch this course in nine days or eight days, and it's open for purchase. Not only are you getting, of course, the course, the resource guide, the spreadsheets, the templates, you're getting four coaching sessions, one with each of us.

SPEAKER_03 29:13

So if you, for instance, would call and want to talk to me, it could be about business financials. That would probably be my expertise. Anything that has to do with profitability and financials.

SPEAKER_05 29:25

Yeah. And for me, if you needed to talk about anything employee related, including how to hire someone, how to fire someone, how to train train someone, or even, you know, I do honestly get a lot of coaching calls where they're just crying. Encouragement. To me, it goes back to that community. It can feel very lonely to start a business. And then Abby, my gosh, you are living their dream. So your coaching calls would be invaluable.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

Yeah, ask me anything. I'm an open book, you know. What's what's my favorite white variety of rose for retail? I'll tell you, and then I'll tell you why you can't get it, and then the four best substitutions for it.

SPEAKER_05 30:09

Love it, love it. So if you're listening, I'm sure at the forefront of your mind you're wondering, how do I sign up for this? How do I get a piece of this? We have a VIP list, right? We're going, ours is better than Taylor Swift's VIP list. So we have a VIP list that they can sign up for. Um, Ellie, you are the one that knows the details because you created that whole thing. So what is it?

SPEAKER_01 30:34

Yes, so you can go to real liferetailflorist.com. We'll also have something on Instagram. But basically go to that site, type in your email where it says join the list, and you are on the list. So we will make sure that you get priority access with those mentor sessions included and all the good stuff when the course launches on December 1st.

SPEAKER_05 31:01

I just want to throw out if anyone has questions and they're like, I don't know if I want to sign up for that list. I don't, I still don't quite understand. Reach out to me. Reach out to any of us, GloriaflowerClick.com. You can go to our FlowerClick website and click and schedule a meeting and say, I don't get it.

SPEAKER_03 31:20

I'll call you. It's exciting. And we'll leave the link in the show notes and we'll look forward to talking to you next week. Yay!

SPEAKER_01 31:28

Go team.

SPEAKER_05 31:32

So exciting! Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoyed spending time with us because we enjoy spending time with you. If you did, make sure you hit that subscribe button or add the business and pleasure of flowers to your Google morning routine or your flash briefing on Alexa. We look forward to seeing you next week.

SPEAKER_03 31:55

So please come back and join us and discover how a bit of knowledge and one small change in your mindset can take you to new levels in your life and business.