Business and Life Lessons from a Successful and Experienced Florist Battling Cancer

Episode 187: In this episode, we'll hear the inspiring story of Faye the Florist, a shop owner who is fighting a fierce battle with cancer. Despite the odds, Faye's cancer diagnosis has not hindered her passion for her business.

Faye shares with us the growth of her business over the years and the invaluable lessons she has learned along the way. Her determination and positive attitude will inspire listeners to tackle any challenge that comes their way. 

Tune into this extraordinary conversation with Faye the Florist, where her experiences and insights will surely leave an indelible mark on your heart.

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

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:03

I had a fear that if I wasn't there, things would just fall apart. And they didn't fall apart.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Welcome to the Business and Pleasure of Flowers. We're your hosts, Vonda LaFever and Lori Wilson.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

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

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Hey Lori.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Hey Vonda, how are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:35

I'm good. I am really looking forward to this interview we have today.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

I am too. Very much so. We have um a friend of ours. We're gonna call her Fay the Florist, right?

SPEAKER_00 0:50

Right, because she has so much experience, she has so much to share, and she doesn't want to sound like an arrogant person, right? Somebody who knows everything. And sometimes when you know that person's name, it becomes like, oh yeah, they just don't want to promote themselves. And this is not about the person at all. It's about the experience and the life journey.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

I also think even if we did use her name, everyone that knows her and loves her, there is not one person out there that would think this is a selfish motive.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

No.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Right. So yeah. So we've been wanting to do this for a while with Miss Faye. And today, I got a text from her saying today is a good day. So Faye, thank you.

SPEAKER_04 1:39

Thank you guys. I'm so excited to be here and share my story and hopefully share some tips with everyone.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Um, I can't wait. Let's get started. All right, I just think we dive in. And um typically we have a little bit of notes. At least Vonda always has an outline, and then I sort of cheat off the outline, go from there, but I'm going to be very transparent. I got nothing because I just want to hear your journey and uh your story. So I say we just jump in. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:15

So, you know, what's funny is I saw on the members' Facebook group um someone when we were talking about um Valentine's Day, someone was like, you know, when was your first Valentine's Day? What year was your first Valentine's Day? And I was I wanted to share this, and then I was like, no, I'm gonna save this for the podcast. But my first Valentine's Day was actually in my mom's belly. So yeah, I was born, I was born February 19th, and yes, and my mother, bless her heart, was like, wow, she knew that she could not take time off work before Valentine's Day. Oh my gosh. She was on bed rest um for her doctor, and so she said, look, I can't be on my feet, but I can sit. And these were the days in the um in the early 80s where they had um basically just one FTD terminal to send orders out of town, right? There wasn't like computers at every workstation, you know. So that was her job was to sit at the the FTD Mercury terminal and and wire flowers out. And I was in her belly, and she said her belly was so big that she could barely reach the keyboard, but that's what that's what she is. So I feel like that was my first Valentine's Day. I like that. My first memory is of being like on the design floor crawling and feeling the leaves and the stems and everything. I mean, it's just it's in my blood. Um, obviously, I'm second-generation florist, and my mom taught me everything I know, and uh that's kind of where I got my start. Even looking back at my first job and second job, like I probably can't even say what years those were because technically I was not legal to work. But I remember things like straightening up plush in the flower shop and you know, boxing the deliveries. It's funny, you always remember the first arrangement that you made. So I remember the first basket arrangement that I made. It was probably just with scraps, you know. They just were like, Oh, give her something to do, you know, here's all the scraps, make a little basket. Um, so that was the first one I made, and I've worked ever since.

unknown 5:00

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

So, did you ever have a moment where you were like, eh, I don't want to do this industry, I want to go do something else.

SPEAKER_04 5:07

Yes, actually, I'm glad that you brought that up. Um, I have a degree in something completely different. So I went to college. My mom was the one that was like, you know, you're good at this, but you should strive for more and you can do, you know, better. I kind of hate using that term because I think that there is some real success stories in the floral industry. For sure. And um, I I could have done that other thing. I think I probably would have been okay at it, but I really I mean, flowers just I mean, who doesn't want to work with flowers? I mean, even being home and being sick, like I miss it so much. And and I I just want to get in there and get my hands on it. Um, so I I'm really glad that I took the direction that I that I did. Um, and yeah, my parents weren't too happy.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

But because you come back to your mom and say, hey, I want to buy the shop, or how did the I should have.

SPEAKER_04 6:19

That would have been a smart thing to do. No, actually, my mom's flower shop um closed in the 2008.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

Um during the bad times, yeah. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 6:33

And I remember her approaching me and saying, you know, I'm done. I can't do this anymore. Do you want to take this over? And um, and I think I think this was my good first lesson actually as a business owner, was because I looked at her numbers and I looked at her reports, and her rent was just really high. And I was just like, I don't think I can do this here in this location. And I had known other shops that have like moot gone through a big move that have never quite gotten back up on their feet. So, I mean, this was before I mean there was Google, but not everyone was Googling a flower shop. It was like, oh, that flower shop over there on that street, you know, I'm gonna go there, you know. So the move just didn't make me feel confident. I did go back to work for my mom right away. One, I needed the money, and two, two, I did miss it. Um, and I and I just kind of never ended up going into that other thing. So um, so yeah, I I probably should have, but I didn't. But I'm glad that I didn't because I really needed my you know 20s to grow and kind of get all the things that you experience in your 20s out of the way.

SPEAKER_02 7:59

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 8:00

And then and then um I went to work for someone else um who was another great mentor. I've had so many great mentors, not just my mom. I mean, almost every boss that worked for. I've worked for some that aren't that great, but so most of my bosses have been wonderful, and I learn and grow from every single one. I worked for a company who he was really expanding and growing, and um, I had been his manager at his number one shop, and he wanted me to transition into a new shop that he had purchased, which is kind of was becoming a pattern, is like he would buy a new shop, send me in, I would grow it, and then he would buy another shop, send me in, and then I would grow it. And I was like, I just keep getting moved around, and I was in that place in my life where I really wanted to settle somewhere, and um, I did a few things that um really trying to figure out what my passion was and what I really wanted, and then I said to him, because he wanted me to manage another new store that he purchased, and I said, There's something special about this location and about this shop that I loved, and I just was like, How about I buy it instead? So that's how I bought the shop that I have now, and he was like, Okay, and he's like, okay, was the first of his shops to sell. Now he's got only one or two left, so um, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

And he knew how capable you were, so it wasn't a risk. He knew that was gonna be fine, and he felt like you know, you were the right person for that. That's great. Yeah, exactly. He believed in you, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 9:55

I had no idea that I was gonna be up against the challenges that I have been since then. Um, is the is the incredible part. Um, because I always I sometimes I tell people that are struggling in flower shops or businesses, and I I kind of give them the play by play. I say, okay, year one, our cooler broke down. Um year two, I got cancer, and then year three, we got COVID. So if anyone knows about challenges, it's owning a business, it is me.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

That's why it's good that we can't see our own future because you would have never dove in if you knew all of these things were gonna come. Yes, yeah, and I probably wouldn't be here today, so exactly, right? Exactly. So let's fast forward. You're a thriving, thriving. I'm using quotations because of COVID, as thriving as you can be, right? COVID was pretty good to a lot of flower shops, and so I'm assuming it was it was pretty good um for you too. And you mentioned that you got cancer before COVID, and then it went into remission. Is that correct? Right, yes, yeah, and now we're out of COVID.

SPEAKER_04 11:19

Well, sort still around, but and I thought I was hitting my stride again, and you know, getting back to the way things were supposed to be, and then bam. Um, my melanoma is what was the cancer that I had came came back. Um, the first time it was um stage three, um, and then this time it's stage four. So it had spread to my lungs and my brain, along with the lots of other places. So I'm feeling okay. I always tell my doctors, I don't think those scans are right, because those are somebody else's. Well, my yeah, because it would be like, you know, oh, the cancer is growing and you've got more tumors and things like that. And I'm like, that doesn't make any sense. I feel great, I feel good, you know. But um, I've been doing a lot of things kind of just really taking care of myself, and it's it's been really hard not to go into the shop because I I love it and I miss it so much, but really trying very hard to stay at home and you know, treat myself and do the things that I need to do, and hopefully I'll get get through this and it'll be a good thing. You know, they they say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I I'm a big believer in that.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

So when you received the most recent news, um, it was shortly after that that I woke up to an email from you. A long email that I kept reading and reading, then tears before I realized it because it was tragically beautiful the way you wrote it. I don't know any other way to describe it. Like I was having this roller coaster, but you were like, I want to tell my story. Yeah, I've got a lot to say to people in this industry, and I don't know what my future holds, so let's get it done. And so that's why we're here today, right?

SPEAKER_04 13:31

Yep, absolutely. I I do have a lot to say, and I, you know, I thought to myself, this could be not only for flower shops that are just starting, or people have been in the business and industry for a long time, like such as myself, you can always learn and you can always grow. And I kind of like the idea of this will be the way that I give back because this is gonna be a little side note, but I'll try to make it quick. Um, years and years ago, when I was a manager um working for my old boss, um, we were a part of the business chamber of commerce, and you get you kind of get an opportunity to stand up and talk, and they were trying to get the ball rolling. It was a really small group that day for some reason or another, maybe there was snow or something, but it was a small group that day, and they said, Everyone stand up and talk about what you're passionate about. And I stood up and I thought to myself, I know what they're thinking I'm gonna say, because half of them really aren't paying attention. If anyone's been to a chamber meeting, it's like paying attention to the people talking, but I knew that they're expecting me to say, My passion is flowers, and I said, but something inside me was like, but that's not really my passion. And this was after, you know, my my mom just lost her shop because of the 2008 crash. And I said, My passion is florists, it was the people, not the flowers, because so many people in the industry kept telling me, like, oh, it's a dyeing industry, and you know, there's all these things that we just can't compete with. And I'm like, no, we absolutely can compete. Um, because florists are passionate people about helping people. It's like people helping people, so it's like, yeah, we work with flowers, that's great, and it's and it's beautiful, but the best part of about my job is when I'm sitting down with a family who's ordering funeral flowers, or I'm sitting down with a bride who's like just so in love. I mean, it's like it's the people helping people part that I really loved. And and I was saying about these people, these florists are great and incredible, and we we need them. That's why I think Floral Click is so great too, because it really is, you know, people helping florists, and florists helping florists, and that's that's that's what I want to be all about too.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Yeah, and you are for sure. So why don't you start with your story about the size of your shop, what it was when you purchased the shop, and how you've grown that, just oh my gosh, you've put a lot into it and you have a lot of great tips on things that people can do to help grow their business.

SPEAKER_04 16:43

Yeah, you might have to share it because I don't have that email up in front of me, but I had to do a lot of thinking and and calculating and retrieve retrieving to remember all of that.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

But so say when you purchased your shop, you had three and a half employees, it says, and around $350,000 in sales, and now you have eight plus employees, part-time and um full-time, and you have a million two in sales. I mean, that's incredible, I will have to say. That is a lot of growth, and I know you've put your heart and soul into it, but there's gotta be things that you could share with our clickers on you know what, this really worked for us, or this is what I feel was our our strength in growing the business so well.

SPEAKER_04 17:35

Yeah. Well, first I'll talk about my five tips that really aren't flower shop tips at all, if that's okay. Sure. Yes, absolutely. So the first one is a book by Mel Robbins, The Five Second Rule. I do recommend the book. There she also has a has a YouTube video, um, but just to explain it real quickly, it's just waking up in the morning and 54321, saying it out loud, and it just gets you kind of off your feet and start start going. Um, and I I used to procrastinate so much, and that has really helped me with that. And then the second thing is this wonderful app you can get on the app store called the Fabulous App. Have you guys heard of that? No, what it is such a great tool for forming habits. Um, and so that is key, especially with my journey, my cancer journey. Like, you know, I had all my habits and I had all my routines and stuff, and then boom, I got um, I not only got cancer, but I had a seizure in last summer um that put me in the hospital in the ICU for about five days. Two of those days I don't remember at all. So this seizure actually just completely shut down my brain. And I woke up in the hospital not knowing what was going on, and and I lost two days of my life. I I you know, it's just they're just gone. And so, you know, I got home from the hospital and was like, what do I do now? And I was like, so and I took my fabulous app because there is like a restart where you can completely restart everything from scratch. So I restarted everything from scratch, starting off with drinking a glass of water in the morning, you know, and it was like sometimes it's so great to have things that are obvious, and we all know what we need to do to take care of ourselves. But I mean, an app on your phone. I mean, you're looking at your phone every day. I mean, it's great, it's right in your face, and it just pushes you to do what you need to do. Um, so that's number two, and then number three was uh The Miracle Morning. It's a book and a movie by Hal Elrod. Um, and it's really great, kind of along the lines of the um the fabulous app, um, but it's only about you know six things that you do every morning, and that was the book that really gave me the confidence uh to buy the flower shop in the in the first place. Um yeah, it was great. Um, so that and then um the bullet journal system.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

Uh if anyone's heard of that, is that the bullet points, how you journal?

SPEAKER_04 20:47

I've heard about it. Everything I do is I I write it down, and it's just it's a really great system for keeping notes all together. And I have one journal that I use for personal and work, it's all in one. It's really great. Carol Writer is the trying to give credit to all these people, so that's been really great. And then the GTD um system. So getting things done. That is very extensive book that goes into getting things done. I've always called myself a procrastinating perfectionist because I wake the last minute and then I and then it has to be perfect, and I will stay up as long as it takes to get the get it that way. So that's been helpful for me. And just a real quick snippet of it is one of the great things I've learned from it is the two minute roll rule, not to be confused with the five minute rule, the two minute rule. And that is if it takes less than two minutes, just do it. You know, don't write it in my bullet journal, don't put it in my calendar. That's ridiculous. You know, that's just too much time wasted. Just do it right away.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

So you've used several of these five bullet points that you're telling us to achieve success in your business.

SPEAKER_04 22:11

Is there anything else? Right. So that's all non-floral related stuff. When I was sitting down working in my bullet journal, okay, what do I want to do? And I said, you know, I want to double my sales. Okay, what's a smaller task than that? I want to double these particular sales. And when it came down into smaller and smaller and smaller chunks, I knew that the number one thing is the website. The number one thing is the website. If you double your website sales, you're gonna double your sales. Like it was that simple of an idea. And I had a teleflora website, um, and I I have a love-hate relationship with teleflora because their technology is great. Yes, um, but if you just leave a teleflora website the standard out of the box, it's a nightmare. So I used to go on there and customize as much as I could and really tried to get those average value orders up because otherwise everything is gonna be a $35, $45, $55 item unless you really customize it to make it and I was digging deep. I remember Cammy, the first conversation I had with Cammy, she's like, I looked at your website and man, you must have dug deep to find these teleflora items. And I said, I have, I have put so much time and energy into finding these 100, 200, 300 products that aren't sympathy, that are, you know, just fake, you know, base arrangements and things like that. And I said, I I have spent so much time on it, and and I'm and I'm like, what, Cammy? You're telling me that you can do this for me? Of course. Yes, yes, please. I gladly I will sign up. This is just this is great. And it and it gave me back so much of my time. It is, and you can easily go down this black hole. Yes, that was kind of the first like aha moment that I had where I'm like, oh my gosh, I could spend hours and hours and hours and hours to do this myself. Yeah. Um, or I could pay a professional to do it for me. That is along the lines. I mean, that was another great thing, is I looked at Vonda's arrangements and was like, these look like my arrangements. This is this is my this is my right, this is my designing. This is these are beautiful. This is what I have in my cooler. This is what I put, you know, send out the door every morning. So this is an easy this is an easy, this is a really easy decision. Um, and then I've translated that to more than just um flower click. I've delegated out my social media and you know, um, a lot of other things that I just like, you know, I could spend hours and hours trying to figure this out, or I could just pay a professional to to do it. And then I can spend the time that I would have spent on that on building my team. And it was really funny, is even before Vhonda, you have the driver to designer delivery. Yeah, even before you were doing that, I was doing that in my shop. I where I said, Hey, I'm looking for someone who wants to, you know, is maybe an artist or likes art and color and design and doesn't mind driving while I teach you, you know, it's uh called an entry-level floral design position. That's a good description. And I had so much response. I mean, it was crazy. This the amount of response that I had. Um, speaking of delegating to the professionals, I use Indeed. Indeed, is great for people. And I just got so much response from that ad. I mean, a lot of people out there want to do something that where they can use their creativity, and especially the the millennials and the zoomers, they don't have the nostalgia that we do of being in a flower shop when we were a kid and remembering how great it was. A lot of them have never even bought flowers in their life, or if they have, it's just been at the grocery store. So it's kind of like aha moments for them, too. That's like, oh, this is great. I don't have to, you know, wait on tables my whole life. I can do this, and someone is willing to teach me. We've had a really great response with that, and so that's what that gave me the ability to do is to is to work on a team and um teach them, because I am a perfectionist, exactly the way that I want it done.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

Well, and we know people work best with expectations, so you were setting them up for success because you were showing them exactly what they needed to do, so that's great, right?

SPEAKER_01 27:36

Yes, and I but I want to go back to um just real quick, because when you were talking about um trying to do your own website or trying to do your own, and and then you hired that out. What I think a lot of business owners get tripped up on is maybe they enjoy doing this particular thing. The problem is it is consuming so much of your time that other things that only you can do to grow your business are are falling, right? So sometimes we have to relinquish control of things that we even kind of like. Um, so that because only your body and brain can do the other parts of your business. Um, so anyway, I just wanted to remind people that because I hear it all the time. Oh, I don't mind doing it, I like it. Well, you know, I had that conversation with Vonda and Ellie today about our email marketing. I don't mind doing it. And they're like, Yes, but we mind you doing it forever, and we need you for these other things, and it's a really valid point. We have to remember that when you're trying to grow a business.

SPEAKER_04 28:56

And you still have the last look, right? So, like exactly we're we're talking about the website, so I'll use the website for example. Is um, I'm glad Cammy does love me because I feel bad sometimes. Category, and I'm like, this is great. Can you change this and this and this and this and this? And but that's that's it. I mean, I she I just tell her the feedback and then she does it, and then it's done. It's like so much easier than me going on and editing doing those edits myself. So the flower subscriptions, it was something that I always wanted to do. Again, I didn't have a lot of time to do because I was micromanaging a teleflora or something, but the flower subscriptions were great. The the second that Cammie, of course, put them up, they started flooding in. And it was also right around the time of COVID, so it just worked out perfect. It was the perfect storm, um, where people were like, Oh, I'm not gonna be visiting my mom for three months or six months or 12 months. I'm gonna send her this, okay? And it was incredible. I had already had something kind of similar in the store, but as a lot of other owners can probably relate, the the hard thing wasn't getting the buyer to be interested in it. The hard thing was trying to get the salesperson to offer it to the buyer. Exactly. Because yeah, I know you're you're you're suggesting a $1,000 sale. I mean, I can understand why that would be kind of an intimidating, you know. So, um, but sure enough, you put it on the website, the website asks every single person, and the website doesn't care what you think of it.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

So do you have like three month, six-month year, or I mean you had all options?

SPEAKER_04 30:58

Oh, in the store, um, in the store, I had um I had you can do it as long as you wanted. Okay. I think it was a certain amount of commitment that meant maybe the three-month commitment was the start. I can't remember. And then they had options of standard deluxe and premium. So they had three different options price point options, and it could go on as long as you it you wanted to. I have a teleflora dov POS system, so anyone else who does under knows that you can do that standing order program really easily in the POS. Um, just setting it up for as long. And I would just do it as long as the credit card kept going through, you know. And then when it wouldn't, then we'd call them and they'd go, Oh yeah, I'm sorry, I I forgot, I I canceled that one. Let me give you a new one. And it was it's just great that you can just because they're designer's choice arrangements, and of course, you want to use really fresh product, you want to use fresh product so that they keep it going, you know. I come with these catchy phrases that my staff just loves, you know, because they're like, oh so I I work in catchy phrases, so one of my catchy phrases is first say no, then say yes. So a lot of times you get those callers that are like they want something that's almost near impossible, but you know it's it's possible. So I say, first say no, then say yes. So you say no, and then they go, Oh, but please, please, please, and they tell the big story and everything, and then you say, Okay, you know what? I think I think we can work something out, and then then you're their hero, and and that's like that's really how I've made really good customers for life because I help them out when in a bind, and um, and they'll never forget it, they'll never forget it, and they're gonna be drilled to you for for for life. Um, so yeah, first say no, then say yes. It seems kind of evil, but it's not. It's not, it's like, well, what time do I want to come home tonight? Well, you know what? I'll for you, I'll work a little bit late and they appreciate it so much. Here, here's another tip. I had a hard time, um, well, especially with COVID, I had a hard time growing too fast and trying to trying to keep up, you know, because I had just gotten the shop, I had just got over my first round of cancer, and then here we are in COVID times, and we were um we had laid off a a couple people, and like most people, you know, we started with just us, and then we went down to me and my husband owned the shop together. So we went down to just us two when we didn't quite know what the rules were or how to stay safe, and we were like, Well, we're it's great, great thing about husband-wife team. Like, right, we could I was in the shop doing as much as I could, he was out on the road delivering, and so the two of us really kind of did everything for for a month or so. So, one of the things I was gonna mention that's a good tip is only try one thing at a time. So, a lot of times I made the decision, the wrong decision, to oh, I'm gonna put this ad up here, and I'm gonna do this email marketing here, and I'm gonna do this here, and then and then you can't even tell, like, you're like, oh, business is up, but I couldn't tell what the business was up from. So almost like doing it in in incremental pieces, like this year you're gonna focus on this, and then year two, you're gonna focus on this, and you don't need to do everything all at once. I thought I was superwoman, clearly I'm not, so I was like, let's do it all, and especially when you get when you're a uh longtime floral shop manager that now is has the freedom to do whatever you want to do, it gets overwhelming very fast. So I knew the money was coming in, but I couldn't quite tell where it was coming from. So making baby steps in terms of you know, it's like marketing and advertising and that kind of thing, but you know, um other stuff too. I think I think customer service is the number one place where if you if you get your your customer service down, like that creates repeat. Yes, it does.

SPEAKER_00 35:56

Um absolutely well, and that makes sense because you want to look and see what your return on investment is actually on this advertising purpose, this one, you know, whatever you're doing. And then you know that your return on investment in investing in your employees, like you said, train your employees. You know that's gonna work because customer service is number one, so yeah, keeping on that.

SPEAKER_04 36:19

Oh, the customer is always right until they are repeatedly wrong. I love that one.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

And amen, I 100%.

SPEAKER_04 36:33

I was, you know, I've worked in retail for almost my whole life, so I was always like the customer is always right, the customer is always right, and I would be like, I would struggle with it because I'm like, but I know they're lying to me on the phone, and I can't do anything about it. And so you're like, nope. So you just have to let it go and just kind of like, oh, absolutely, we'll we'll replace that for you, or I'll credit your delivery. I'm so sorry, you know. You just but one of the great things, and if you're not using your POS system for this, you should, but you can make little customer notes. I'm a big fan of the customer notes on the POS system. So if you're repeatedly having the same problem with a customer over and over and over again, you put in those customer notes, and then I have only had to do it once, but I have actually had to fire a customer before because they were just taking advantage of my aim to please, and you know, my my my policies, and and I told her, you know, I'm sorry, I I I'm sure there's another florist out there for you, isn't it? But it's not me. And I'm sorry that this just didn't work out. It's kind of like breaking up with someone.

SPEAKER_00 38:01

Yeah, yeah. I remember years ago, Faye, that we had to do that with a recipient. I mean, people would send flowers to this one person all the time, and every time it was a complaint, a complaint, complaint. And so we just would say when they would call, and it was Lois was her name, Lois. God, I can still remember that. You always remember the Don't we remember those? Yes. And I was like, I'm just really sorry we cannot deliver anything to Lois. And they're like, Well, why? And I said, Well, I just she's put on our list that we can't send to her. You might call the other floor. Good luck. Yeah. Anyway, so yep, you're smart. You can do break up with the customer.

SPEAKER_01 38:41

Vonda, the first year we started doing a podcast, we did a podcast about that. And I did some research. And if I was Googling right now to confirm that started in like 1890 by the man that started the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, and it was whatever his language was, the customer is never wrong, which turned into customer is always right. Now, if I'm staying at a high-end Ritz-Carlton, yeah, I'm probably not never wrong, right? But for us normal people running a normal business, um, I think it's okay to fire people. And I think we saw such um an elevation in just being grateful to get what you get during COVID when people were buying flowers. They're like, yeah, that's great, whatever. And now it's kind of on the other side. Now people are kind of coming back out with the I'm not satisfied, or I didn't want this, or I didn't want that. And we're seeing that again. So I at some point it's completely fine to just say maybe we are not the best flower shop for you. Yeah, that's right. To do business, go next, go next door.

SPEAKER_04 40:03

Another big thing that really helped my business is having that wake-up call. And I'm sure I hopefully most of your members have had this wake-up call yet, but I'm gonna address the new people out there as well. The I want to be a whistleblower, I guess you want to say, uh, on wire services, order gatherers, and fake flower shops. So my boss that sold me my shop, he had multiple locations, and he um sold another one to this other gal that's younger than I am, and she was kind of, you know, I was just texting her, like, how are you doing and how are things going? And she's like, Okay. And she's like, I was really, she was really nervous about her first holiday. I said, uh, rule number one, suspend your wire service a week out. And she was like, What? I was like, I was like, trust me. I I said, It's great for the rest of the year when you're like, you know, I've got staff and I've got flowers and I need to move them out, so let's keep this thing going. Let's keep, you know, accepting these orders, you know, as long as they meet your minimum and you're there in your delivery area, whatever. Um, but I was like, but during a holiday, you're guaranteed success. You don't need these 70% orders to get through. In fact, you need sleep. Sleep is so important. So I remember my first holiday kind of staying up till like two, two or three, or I can't even remember. It was like an ungodly hour. Almost night, all night. Because my we had bought the shop in January, so it was um February 14th, and it was, I think it was like a Tuesday um holiday, which is busy, um, and and for as far as far uh Valentine's Days go. And I just learned real quick, you don't have to take their orders. You don't have to take their orders. You have the power, and I I know a lot of people will sit there and they'll refuse some and they'll price change some. And it's just again, it's so much work, it's so much administrative work. I just suspend the week before. I've always wanted to do this, but I never gotten around to um pre pre-calling some of your wire outs a week in advance so that the wire out of towns you've already got like a week ahead, um, so that you're not gonna run into the same problem that other people are, you know. Um, so doing something like that. Um, and then those order gatherers, oh my gosh, there's always problems. Trust me, there's always gonna be a problem with it. There's nothing you can do. It's always gonna be this isn't what the picture looks like. This, you know, they give you a bad address, or they don't give you a phone number, or someone doesn't live there anymore. It's like it's always gonna be a problem. And we in my shop, we only work with real florists because that's what it takes to kind of understand and get the team together. I mean, florists are great. Florists are like, oh, I'm so sorry that they they we left it on the porch. I don't know what happened to it. We'll send a replacement. You know, they they do what we do, and it's all understood that that your policy is our policy, obviously, you know, and the ordered gathers don't, and that's not worth doing business with them. Um, and again, kind of like the wire services, you can choose not to. So we just Ignore them. We stopped answering their phone calls. It did take probably several months for them to finally get the idea, but they do stop calling you eventually.

SPEAKER_00 44:12

So let me ask you a question because this is what is on the mind of a lot of people hearing you say, I shut my wire service off a week before the holiday, I don't do this, I don't do that. There's a lot of fear involved in, oh my gosh, if I shut that off, I'm gonna be turning down 25, 50 orders. And even though they're discounted orders, they're orders, and I feel like I need those for my business. Tell me or tell our clickers how you get over that fear. I mean, my gosh, what if no orders come in? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:50

You prepare. So, like when you do your flower ordering, you know this year we're gonna do a suspend holiday. Um, so I'm gonna cut my order back so you're not, you know, so you're ordering less, uh, but you're making more profit on the flowers that you are selling, right? So um you you have to just, you know, look at the numbers and kind of say, well, what were my wire services? My wire services were this much. Hopefully, they weren't a lot. Um, I think when we bought uh our shop, the wire services was maybe like 30 or 40 percent. I was like, that's way too much. I uh my first year I was aiming for like 10 to 20 percent, you know. Um exactly, and and that will also help too, is just cutting off during the holiday when you don't need them, but that doesn't mean you have to put them all together. What I found is when you do it, it is scary, but then you'll get those phone calls that are like, you know, the day of or the day before, maybe, that are like, please, you have to help me. I ordered from a different company, blah blah blah.com, yes, and they just notified me that my flowers aren't gonna get there tomorrow, and then you're their big hero that comes in and swoops, and they'll never shop at those other dot com companies again.

SPEAKER_00 46:22

You're right, that's a great point. And I think what you're saying is if you suspend that allows you to take local full-priced orders in and walk-in orders too.

SPEAKER_04 46:33

Yeah, we're in a pretty good location, um, but we get an amazing amount of carry-out orders still, still with the internet, even with the internet today, we get an incredible amount of walk-in orders. So, and a lot of them, same story. I bought flowers at this other company and they didn't come in, and you know, it's Valentine's Day. I got I gotta bring home something, you know. And they'll walk out with 100, 150, 200 arrangements. I mean, it's it it it is scary, but you gotta trust me. I mean, I've got over 25 years and experience doing this. I mean, it's the it's the best decision that I ever made.

SPEAKER_01 47:21

And it's scarier to have to fill those 50 orders that aren't worth anything, and then 25 of them we get complaints on. Absolutely scary. And out of our 25, you get 20 negative.

SPEAKER_04 47:33

And actually, we don't even suspend just for the week of, we suspend a few days after, too, because otherwise we just get what we call the apology tour. So it's like yeah, so please include a card message saying we're so sorry these flowers are late, blah blah blah, dot com management or whatever, and we're like, nope, we're not right. No, thanks.

SPEAKER_00 48:02

No, thank you. I like that the apology tour.

SPEAKER_04 48:05

Yes, so we suspend for the apology tour too. Fake flower shops. So this is something I'm sure most people are aware of, but maybe some people are not. But like if you um Google florist in your area, there's like a ton of shops that just don't exist. Like they're just not there, and that's what's great about the Google local is getting a lot better at kind of verifying and confirming these locations. Um, it wasn't as bad as it was. I would constantly have to be clicking on those, telling Google this place doesn't exist, this place doesn't exist, this place doesn't exist. Um, and you call them and you find out where they go. Guess where they go? They're those same order gatherers that are trying to send you orders that you're not taking anymore.

SPEAKER_00 49:05

Yeah, good point for sure.

SPEAKER_04 49:08

I I'm kind of crazy because I love holidays. I know some people they don't like Valentine's Day or they don't like Mother's Day or they don't like Christmas. I love them. I uh if I could be a holiday-only florist, I would do it. I'm I I love the the energy and the excitement, and it's some you get to do something new, you know, it's not the same smiley mug every day. It's something different and something new and it's exciting, and you come out with a different collection, and and it's just it's it's a lot of fun, and I I just assembly line those things, um, get them all done. I mean all 12. Like I'll line up all 12 if I can. I'm really short on space, really short on space. Um, if I can, I'll try to do all 12 at once, and I and I just love it. Uh I like the funerals and the weddings and the events too. Um, but one of my mom's old bosses told her, like, I'm just gonna let everyone else fight over those weddings and do those big conventions and those wedding shows. He's like, they can have Adam. I'm gonna focus on the anniversaries and the men in love. So that's that's what I focus on the men in love, anniversaries, the birthdays, the get wells. I mean, there's so much other business out there. Some shops spend a lot of money on some of those wedding things, and I just I don't I don't.

SPEAKER_01 50:49

I don't well, and you have to have the employees to do a lot of the labor when you're going to set things up for those weddings, and then you gotta get it. Yeah, yeah, evenings and yep, we have quite a few flower clip members that have opted unless it's like a lower $2,000. When we make it, they pick up what they'll just focus on sympathy in every day.

SPEAKER_00 51:17

What is your favorite holiday? Uh pick one.

SPEAKER_04 51:24

I can only have one. Uh probably Valentine's Day. I like Valentine's Day probably the most. There's just incredible rose varieties that there wasn't 10, 15, 20 years ago. Every year I get excited about some new rose variety that I'm just like, oh, this is beautiful. And you know, we'll get it in and we'll talk to customers about it. And, you know, they're like, okay, sure.

SPEAKER_00 51:54

Well, I could see that you would love Valentine's Day because you're you like to be very organized. You like to be you shared with us, you like to be very last minute, but you have to be precise, you know. So I could see that Valentine's Day, it's like, okay, I'm gonna do a prep and I'm gonna do it to perfection, and then we're done.

SPEAKER_04 52:11

You know me better than I do, Fonda. No, I'm just listening. It's hard because Mother's Day, I mean, I do love the incredible flower variety that you get in late spring, early summer. I mean, it's incredible. Um, Christmas, I love the smell of Christmas greens. That first bunch of Christmas greens I get in, I just get so excited, you know. Something about the smell, you know, it's it just gets me really excited.

SPEAKER_00 52:40

Even the sap on your hands isn't bad at that point.

SPEAKER_04 52:43

Oh, and use gloves too. I used to hate using gloves um until one year for on Valentine's Day, it was awful, I got a thorn stuck in my finger. And um, and you know, I'm a florist, it doesn't matter. I kept going, I kept going, I kept going, and it just slowly dug in and dug in and dug in. And eventually I looked down at my arm and I saw this big red line up to my thing, and I was like, and then I felt my arm kind of go limp, like I could feel it. It wasn't like I lost feeling in it, but it just was like, you know, and I was like, wait, this is my designing arm, this isn't gonna work, you know. And one of our um holiday helpers um was a nurse, and she was like, You gotta go to the ER right away. She says, I know exactly what that is, you gotta go to the ER. And I was like, and then it was like, I remember it was the worst call I feel like I had to make in my career was to my boss two, you know, it was like two days before Valentine's Day, and I was like, I'm so sorry, but I gotta go to the ER. And he was just like, What? And and so what I had was tendinitis poisoning. So this thorn got had poison my tendon that runs from your fingers that quickly, yeah, that quickly. They they stitched me up and everything worked out just fine. But ever since that moment, I started using gloves. Well, even a lot of people did, and I didn't. I'm like, you know, it's dirty hands, this is how it works. That's one thing I always think of my mom, you know, thinking of my mom is I remember her hands, and I always remember thinking, Oh mom, you must work so hard. Because I would look at her hands, you must work so hard. Because you use gloves, yeah, because I use gloves and I haven't really been working. So true.

SPEAKER_00 54:54

There's so many things as a florist we don't do, and the the biggest one I would have to say is self-care because we think of others before we think of ourselves, because we're out there to make others happy with our beautiful creations, but I think maybe you have something to share with on you know, you gotta take care of yourself.

SPEAKER_04 55:13

Yeah, absolutely. And I'm angry at myself a little bit because I'm like, I had not beaten cancer. What it's called is the first time you get I got cancer, I went into NED, which is no evidence of disease. So um, I was there and I was asking the my oncologist, okay, how do I know if I'm cancer free or not? And she's like, Well, if it doesn't return in 10 years, then you're cancer free. Um, but mine returned in three three years. Um, so it was that quick. And a lot of my friends are like, this doesn't make any sense. You're such a healthy person. I don't understand why you would be getting cancer at 42. And a lot of it was just stress. I I just think so much of it was stress, and I didn't take enough time for myself, among other things. Um, time for yourself is just so critical, and not just time for yourself, but you know, time for your relationships and your family and stuff too. And a lot of the things that I've focused on for the last 10 years, you know, now I'm at home in a chair. I mean, it's crazy to think this. I mean, I I would have never been at this spot if I hadn't gotten that physical diagnosis that's like, whoa, you are going way too fast, you're doing too much, and your body and yourself comes first, and your family and your loved ones come second. And um, and being able to be given that that second opportunity. I mean, I I could look at it as, oh my gosh, I got cancer again, you know, this isn't fair, this isn't fun. It's not fair, it's not fun, but it is really an opportunity to realize the things that are most important. I mean, yeah, I'm not superwoman. I'm not superwoman, and I pushed myself way too much to the brink of of cancer. Um, but I think that it's just a real eye-opener. Um, and it's really it's really made me understand. I was always um I always knew the things that I needed to do to take care of myself, but I never prioritized them the way that I should have. The only thing I thought of was having a successful business and a successful career and proving to everyone that um a floral designer can make money. And then at the end of the day, I'm like, now I have a bunch of money and I possibly only have a few more months to live. It's kind of tragic, but this is why I wanted to do this is I wanted to warn anyone else who's like, oh yeah, this girl, this is like me, you know, this is what I do. At the end of your life, you're not gonna wish that you had taken that one wedding quote, you know, um, or got that one job. At the end of life, you're going to wish that you had spent more time on yourself and more time with your family and friends. And um, and that's what I'm trying to do now. It's tragic that I've been forced to do it, but I also, you know, earlier when I said I I kept I kept looking at these scans thinking this isn't me, because I feel great. This can't, this can't be right. I mean, 12 tumors in my brain, it just doesn't seem right, you know. And and I think it's because I've found this, I don't even know if I want to call it spirituality almost, but I've I've been given this gift of seeing this window and knowing that this is what life is is all about, is um is taking the opportunities to um do things like this, making time with friends and making time with family. And um I mean it's just been so great. And sometimes when I'm feeling not that great, like even this morning, I was like, oh, I have to do this podcast, I don't really feel that great. But then it's like I got that message from Lori, and it's like 54321. Yes, you know, it's just yeah, five second rule. Five-second rule, yes, absolutely I will. And then look at it's like once you get going, it just really energizes me to do the things that I really love. Um, not that I don't love the floral industry. I mean, I I do, um, but I know I can't take it with me. I can take with me the memories and and the and this and trying to make an impact on on other people too. And um, I don't have children, so this is this is like my only legacy, you know, um, is to be able to share what I can and and yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:52

So your suggestion to all those hardworking women and men out there who have a flower shop that they want to be so successful and driven, what would be those suggestions just to take time for yourself? And and in in when you're saying you didn't take time for yourself, you didn't do things that you should have been doing. What would that be? If you you look back and you go, I should have time off.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:19

Okay, well, that's time off.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:21

I mean, there were there was many, many days that I would work seven days a week. I would work um, you know, I'm not proud of it, so I hate saying it um now because it just is so silly that I used to be working, you know, 50, 60, 70 hours a week and holidays easily, 80 hours a week. I mean, it wasn't worth it because I should have been taking better care of myself and better care of my husband has been so great. And I look back and I think I I could have been doing those things, but I I wasn't. And it's you know, part of it is just trying to be like a people pleaser. I kept thinking like my customers are my friends, which sometimes they can be, but your customers are not your friends, your customers are not your family. Um, you have to remember what's really important, and your customers aren't gonna show up at your deathbed, it's gonna be your family and your friends that are gonna show up and be there for you. Um, yeah. Although I did have one customer that sent me a little care package that was really, really sweet, but she's the only one.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:41

So, Fay, um I would love to know because you are such a relational person, um, and I'm assuming you like me, you are a feeler. Um, you're probably a thinker too, but you're a feeler, and I would assume that your employees adore you. How how are those relationships um now that you have this most latest diagnosis?

SPEAKER_04 1:03:10

I'm glad you brought that up because that was on my list too. Um, I have been working from home, but I have really been trying to like all the things that I just mentioned to you. I've been telling my staff about those things too. Take care of yourself and your number one, and you know, try the fabulous app and try the bullet journal.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:36

Drink water and do everything.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:41

Right, you know, so I'm like inviting them over and you just trying to share with them. At first, I felt weird doing it because I was like, you know, no one wants to hang out with a cancer patient. I mean, we're kind of like big bummers, you know. Yeah. But realizing actually, no, they want to spend, like you said, they want to spend time with me. I've developed relationships with them, and um, and so sometimes I'm just sending them little inspirational quotes. Um, we have like a group text thing, and so it's like I I really try to avoid doing a group text that's like, you know, hey, make sure you sell those Easterly, you know. Um, instead, I'm like, you know, do your best today, and your best is good enough. A lot of them I get from the fabulous app, and I just just copyright infringement.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:38

Sure, staff, you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:41

Right. Um, but some of them are from the heart, and it is pretty incredible. I mean, um, you know, the cards on my refrigerator, half of them are from my family, but the other half are just from my staff. I mean, it's been it's been pretty, pretty great. Um, I have I have a good team. I think the hard part is I'm at home. I I I'm not able to be there to constantly be giving them the confidence and the reassurance that they need. So that's been the the struggle with being at home the the most. But it's also been like helping me like, okay, I if I beat this thing, what's gonna be number one? And I'm like, what's number one is really focusing more on on them, on that team. And what do you need to be more successful in your job? Um and try to accommodate them, um, but still trying to accommodate myself too. Like it's hard when it's like, you know, when you're a boss, um, you have to think of yourself as an employee too. I would never make my staff Feel guilty for calling in sick, but yet I was really hard on myself for calling in sick, which is ridiculous. But it is true, and it it's what happened. So these are the lessons that I'm learning um as a as a cancer patient that that I think is gonna be, you know, if I beat this, this is gonna be good. This is gonna be really hard.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:28

Yeah, yeah. And I I think you will, at least that's my prayer. I know, I mean, I know Cammy, Audrey, Vonda, Ellie, myself, since the day you sent me that email, we have been praying for you and we will daily keep praying for you. Um and you know, I believe in miracles, and I believe um the positive attitude that you have plays a huge part. Yes, yeah, yeah, absolutely it does. Mental health and physical health.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:04

Absolutely. And having a support, you know, having the support and the network is really important too.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:11

Have you found any um cancer groups, uh support groups, or have you needed that yet?

SPEAKER_04 1:07:19

Well, the first time I had melanoma, um, I joined one. It was just a little Facebook group, um, which is kind of cool because you know, no one really knows like what you do or what you, you know. And I kind of got out of that a little bit. I haven't been quite as involved in that this time as I was the first time. Most of it is just because of the extent of my disease. Um, that was kind of like I felt like I didn't want to scare people, you know, for some, you know, because sometimes for melanoma, it can be very minor, you know, and I just like I, you know, if I keep posting all these things that I'm going through and all these things that I'm I'm just gonna scare these people that have just had one mole, you know, excision done. Yeah. That you know, and I don't know, maybe scaring them is good because it is it is it it's quite extensive um how much it can uh affect your your whole body. Um and my my melanoma was actually on my scalp. You know, I mean I've got this dark hair that's really thick. Um, it used to be a lot longer, but but it was like, you know, you couldn't really see it. So by the time I actually had it cut out, it was quite extensive.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:50

Um how did you even know it was there? I mean, I wouldn't even know I had it.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:54

My hairdresser who does my hair, you know, I used to see her quite often, maybe like six to eight weeks, um, when I had my hair short. And she was like, you know, I remember you always having this mole, but I don't remember it being this size or this color. And she was like, and I want to tell you, get this checked out right away. I lost my grandfather to melanoma. Wow, and so that really scared me. Um, and so I did go in and get it checked right away. And I do tell everyone, if you don't get if you're not getting regular skin checks, please do. Um, because what you think is maybe nothing is deep inside you growing into lots of little things that can take over um major organs and things like that.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:48

So great advice for sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:51

So, do you have any last words of wisdom for this industry um moving forwards? Well, I I still feel like we're like right at the beginning of 2023 because I still keep thinking I'm in 2022, but I guess we're not at the beginning.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:09

Actually, that's another great thing about being sick, is I feel like I've been given this gift of time where I can actually plan and prepare um where I wasn't before. Um, so that's another thing that I'm gonna hold on to as long as I can. Um, because it is important to have the to have the planning and and preparedness. And then holidays aren't that bad as long as you're you're prepared and you've planned for them.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:37

So and as long as you've empowered those employees, you know, you've done a fabulous job. The fact that you can stay home and focus on your health, and your uh employees have rallied, that is the sign that you are an amazing leader, um not just a manager.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:59

And my and my husband, I have to give him credit, he's stepped up a lot too. I mean, he's just he's he's amazing. I I always tell people I'm I'm jealous of him because when we first bought the business, he didn't know one thing about floral design, and then I've taught him along the way, and now he's better than I am. I guess that shows what I am, but you know, he brings me home arrangements from the flower shop, he knows I miss the flowers, and uh and so he's been really great, and my team's been really great, and uh um I had a fear that if I wasn't there, things would just fall apart, and they didn't fall apart. Um, they're still operating, they're still doing great. I mean, we've kind of slowed just like everyone else has kind of slowed. Yeah, seems to be normal, but the way that I feel about it now is I'm like, great, here's an opportunity. Let's, you know, take some time off, let's get some rest, let's have some fun and uh take advantage of it. Well, we can because you know it's not gonna last for long. It never does. I mean, I've been in this industry long enough to, you know, just because you've had a few slow days doesn't mean anything. Work ahead, work ahead, prepare, green up extra things in the cooler. Um, and uh it it won't be long, don't worry. I love that. Don't worry.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:39

No, especially me. Well, thank you so much for sharing that. I mean, it's just it's been a it's a great story. It's um it really your life has added so much to so many people. I mean, from teaching others, you know, your passion, your love, and your trade really in the business, but also the lessons that you are learning now that you wouldn't have learned otherwise that you couldn't pass along to others. I mean, like you said, you know, it's divine sometimes that we have to sit back and go, Whew, this was a tough lesson. This is one that I didn't, I didn't want this lesson, you know, right? But that you can take away from that what you've learned and share it with others is just just unbelievable. I mean, and so thank you. I I know a lot of people will take a lot from this.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:36

And and I'm still learning all the time. I I will never know everything, no one can. Just learning from other people and teaching other people. I mean, it's a circle. It's it's a it's a circle of life.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:51

It is a circle, and it's you know, I think where we get tripped up as business owners or when we think we have can't learn anything else. Right. And as long as you have that open mindset, which Vonda and I talk about a lot, there's always room to grow.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:11

And also just not getting burnt out. I actually remember my old boss said, you know, Faye, I'm worried you're gonna get burnt out. Don't get burnt out because he saw how much I was working and stuff, and um, and I was like, Oh shoot, I should have listened to him.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:29

Well, you will now. You will now. Well, you are welcome back anytime. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:35

So you just this is a lot of fun. Good. I'd love to come back.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:41

Bring your uh bullet journal and you will read pages of your bullet journal and learn from it. So thank you very much.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:51

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:54

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 flat briefing on Alexa. We look forward to seeing you next week.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:15

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.