Cheers to Four Years! Celebrate Our Birthday With Us

Episode 210: 
Join us in this special podcast episode as Flower Clique marks four years of blooming success since its inception in January 2020. Lori and Vonda, are joined with Kami and Ellie to reflect on their incredible journey.

In this celebratory episode, the Flower Clique team delves into their professional growth over the past four years.

Listen in as Lori, Vonda, Kami, and Ellie answer thought-provoking questions about their experiences with Flower Clique. Discover what valuable lessons they've gained, the remarkable accomplishments that have defined their path, and the exciting goals they have set for the future.

As they navigate through these reflections, the team also expresses their gratitude for the unwavering support from their community, customers, and each other. Tune in to this inspiring episode filled with wisdom, laughter, and heartfelt moments as Flower Clique celebrates four years of growth, resilience, and floral beauty.

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

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Mine is a little abstract. I learned that the things we resist the most are probably the most important.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

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

SPEAKER_03 0:23

And we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Vonda. Speaking of things I have, do you know what I found in a drawer? Which I promise is going to be the perfect segue into what we're talking about here, ladies.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Well, first we got to say hello, right?

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Don't we want to say hello? Hi. Hello, everyone. Hi, everybody. If you don't know us by now, go back and listen to some other episodes.

SPEAKER_03 0:55

Amy, Ellie, Vonda, myself, Lori, we're all here. Do you know what I found in a drawer over the weekend? I have no idea. Well, I'm gonna I'm here to tell you, Vonda. Okay. So don't you worry, your pretty little head, because I'm gonna tell you. I was cleaning or I was looking for something actually. And I looked in one of my drawers here, and in the very back of this drawer where my printer is underneath, I said, What are all these packages? And they're packages of like glitter or confetti. L-E-O, do you know where I'm going with this? And these things, I was like, what the heck is this? Vonda's on here, so I didn't say heck. You should be very careful. Very careful. And then I remembered, oh my gosh, this is from our launch. Our launch.

SPEAKER_04 1:56

Yeah, which is still one of my favorite pictures.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

That's so cute. When we threw it up in the air, and this is the little stuff. I have like four packages. That's so symbolic. Yes, isn't that? And I giggled.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

And you have four packages. Yes. And guess what? Flower click turns four.

SPEAKER_03 2:15

So my question to you birthday out on my back porch. Throw people up by myself. Do it. And that's what was the thing called? They were kind of a big deal. Yeah. Uh boomerangs. Boomerangs. Boomerangs. Yes. I thought they were a big deal. They were. Oh, Ellie. I made you teach me how to do them.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

Well, you could get Bailey and Mark and Reese out there with you, and I can superimpose our heads onto you. Good! You could I want you to get that Mark dress up in a sweater? Yeah. Yeah. Mark needs to dress in a sweater and some boots, some women's boots. Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:59

We have pictures that we took by your tree too. Don't you guys remember?

SPEAKER_03 3:03

Yes. So I feel like Ellie could do some sort of photoshopping. Yeah. So we can redo all that. But anyway, I found all that. And that's what we are here talking about today. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_04 3:14

It's been four years. Feels like it's been 37. Feels like one year and 37 at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

I think it's all and nothing at the same time. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

Yes. That's what it's a blink, but it's also it's like, wow, I don't remember not being here. Right. That's what I mean by the 37.

SPEAKER_03 3:37

Like I don't remember life before I was click at all.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

At all. And it's it's crazy. That was 2019 that our lives were so different. That feels like yesterday, but yeah. It wasn't. It wasn't, unfortunately. We all aged a few years. Gotten some gray hairs. A few. A few.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

You're just learning. Now you're gonna have to learn to just cover them up. It's okay. Oh, I know.

SPEAKER_03 4:09

Ellie, you don't have gray hair. You are at my age. Admit or deny. Only you see it. I remember being your age and thinking I had gray hairs too, but only you see it. Okay. Whatever you say, Lori. But your hair's beautiful. And gray hair's beautiful. Don't we all think that? I think there are people out there with gray hair that's beautiful. Beautiful. Okay, that's that's let's redirect another podcast.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

So here we are, four years into Flower Click. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 4:43

Vonda, you sent us four questions that you wanted each of us to bring an answer to, right? To the pod.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

Yes. Kind of categories.

SPEAKER_03 4:57

Four categories. Yeah. It was what we accomplished, what our goal, what we're grateful for, and what we learned.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

What we've learned. So as we celebrate four years at Flower Click, so happy birthday or happy anniversary, whichever you want to say, let's go through the four questions or comments that I ask you guys all to contribute. Okay. So Cammy, I'm gonna start with you. What is something you've learned?

SPEAKER_04 5:26

Okay, so you know, this year in particular, I have learned a lot more about the floral industry as a whole. Uh, you since being at Flower Click, I've had the privilege of attending a few conferences and expos and those kinds of things. But this year in particular, I really settled in and what I wasn't as nervous and I was able to learn and just talk to growers, wholesalers, uh retailers, of course, but also other just other industry partners, and industry people, and I've just totally it was a great year of learning for me that way, broadened my perspective this year in particular. That's great. Did was it just one industry event this year? You you guys are kind to me and knowing I'm a mama, you let me you pretty much say one. Uh, but then you know, uh not saying the big one, yeah, which I really like.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

Yeah, also now that you have a broader grasp or and you've really been able to sink your teeth, even like when we went to Bogota and did our debrief, I feel like you really understood every part of that, you know, because you've had this deep knowledge from going to events and everything like that in the past few years. It's the flywheel effect, really momentum.

SPEAKER_04 6:59

It really is. That's cool.

SPEAKER_03 7:00

I think it's interesting. Wasn't this your second year at conven SAF convention?

SPEAKER_04 7:05

It was, yes.

SPEAKER_03 7:06

It was so fun to see just your second year, how different you were from your first. You didn't waste a moment. Like you absorbed every single moment you were outside of the room, yeah, of the hotel. Your hotel room. The confidence, the confidence was there, the friendships were there, the connections were there, desire to make new connections were there. Like, you know, you and I just sitting in the lobby listening to music, waiting for random people to walk by and like, hi, I actually wanted to listen to music, but then I couldn't help myself to start, you know, talking about it was like nine o'clock at night. Yeah, because you you loved those moments, yet you were so ready to go home.

SPEAKER_04 8:04

Yeah, oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 8:07

But it was cool, it was cool. Really good year of learning. You did learn. So I'll go next since I'm talking. Good. All right. Okay. What I learned, and I want to preface this. This is what I learned as a flower click employee. Okay. Okay. What I learned. So I am speaking as an employee, not as a flower shop. Here's what I'm learning. In 2023, I came to the realization there is no longer a slow season for this industry. Cammy is shaking her head. Listeners, you cannot see her, but she is shaking her head. We used to back in the day, there used to be like a month or a week.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

Even a week or two.

SPEAKER_03 9:05

Yeah, where there were like, gosh, I think I would, I would even text you on and go, hey, I'm gonna run to Target this afternoon. Like, I'm gonna just do a quick little practice and out, you know, just a little something. That just the minute you get in the car, it's like there's a tracker on you and your phone blows up or something happens. Yep. Everyone here knows it happens to every single one of us. It's crazy how busy this year was.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

It really was. Totally agree.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

Not that busy. You mentioned when we were talking offline that we have Honda to keep us moving, even when it's slow, it's not slow. So we understand florists have slow seasons. Yes, but not us. We don't.

SPEAKER_03 10:01

We don't have it.

SPEAKER_04 10:02

That's one thing I learned. So true.

SPEAKER_03 10:05

It doesn't happen anymore.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

What about you, Ellie? Mine is a little abstract, but I learned that the things we resist the most are probably the most important.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Do you want to elaborate on that a little?

SPEAKER_00 10:24

Just like that big project that you're putting off because you're afraid to fail or you're fearful of the outcome or how you're gonna pull it off. Those are those big ideas. And and even if it's not a big idea, even if it's something small, but it's it's you're pull you're you find yourself resisting it a lot, that usually means that you need to do it and it's important. And there's a reason that you're fearful of failure because the things we want the most are the things we fear that we're gonna fail at. So yeah, just to lean into those things, to recognize when you're resisting, why you're resisting, and analyzing, like, okay, is this taking the fear out of it? Is this an important thing to do? And if the answer is yes, then you just have to lean into the resistance. Uh, there's a good book. It's called The War of Art. So, not the art of war. That's another one. This is The War of Art. Great book.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

Oh no, Lori, you're gonna have to get it. I was just very short.

SPEAKER_03 11:31

So I feel like she's talking about very short now. Yep. No, I 100% agree. I have a project right now that I keep putting off. Um, and I'm sitting here going through my head, and you just kind of convicted me. Why? Why am I putting that off? And last week I got an email from SAF wanting a meeting deadline, like to go over what is my agenda for that presentation, you know, type of thing. And I'm like, and I we used to get so frustrated, why do they need to know? And I'm like, this is why for people like me, and I'm like, what is the fear I have in why am I not diving into because it's something I'm excited about, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Because you're a team player and this is an individual project for you, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:20

Individual speaker on this, too. I'm an individual, right? And the deeper seated meaning is what if I fail?

SPEAKER_00 12:28

Like, what if because this topic is something you love, right? Right. What if I do a disservice to the topic? Yeah. And we position you as an expert on this topic, but that's almost like the more pressure for you. Right.

SPEAKER_03 12:44

Because we do like it's too much. It's too much pressure. You can do it. We can do our things. It's fine. It's fine. But no, everything you're saying, I'm writing down. I'm like, just do it.

SPEAKER_04 12:54

I felt like she was staring at me, like convicting me through this, too. See? Oh, Ellie's going into our soul.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

Yes. Stop. No, that's good. Well, I'm gonna wrap this one up because I'll tell you what I've learned is that that you're employing for crazy. No, that you can never get everything done. That's the thing.

SPEAKER_04 13:17

Vonda, I felt like you do always get everything done.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

Yeah, I know. It's kind of surprising to hear from you.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

You do you can't. There's just always those things on the list, and you keep working on it, and the more you take off, the more goes back on. And it just never it's an end list.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

I think you asked me about a couple of those things this morning that have been on the list. They're on the list. Trust me. I know they're on the list.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

Yeah, okay. They're always on the list. Because there are certain things that I can't do, and that you know, each one of you have to do. So it's not on my list, but it's on my list to check it off. To ask if it's to ask, it's still on our list. Exactly. Yeah. Okay. So let's move on to things we've accomplished. Lori, I'm gonna have you start on this one.

SPEAKER_03 14:04

Well, we have accomplished three full years of a podcast. I think that's a pretty big deal. Going into four. I think when you came to me with this idea, well, we started talking, you and Ellie and I, I think we were sitting in your living room actually talking about this. Not quite sure. We didn't even know what we were gonna name it. We were going through different names. I just remember sort of talking, and I was like, okay, you know, I'll hang in there. We'll see how it goes for a year or two, maybe, you know, maybe. And you were like, give me a year. Anyway, I mean, that's a pretty big accomplishment. I think back then I will admit, and I'm gonna throw Ellie in there with me, and she can say that's not true, but we were a little more skeptical. We were like, every other week, let's see how it goes, let's kind of, you know, we didn't know, but you kept us on track. You were so adamant about no, it needed to be weekly. You went to all of the master classes with your imaginary boyfriend slash leader guy, and who we still don't know his last name, or my boyfriend Pat. Your boyfriend Pat, um, whoever he is, but that taught how to do all of this stuff, you know, and you've learned so much. And so I think this is a pretty big accomplishment in doing something for three years that was never really on my radar to ever even do.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

I know, but you love it.

SPEAKER_03 15:36

You are you are just most you well, and the thing uh that I the the reason I think it sounds like I'm a natural is because you set me up to just be able to walk on. So, you know, that's I could never just do this. So you you do all of the behind the scenes, you do all of the hard stuff to where I can just show up with my cup of coffee or my goofy stories or my article that I just read. So that's a huge accomplishment. On TikTok. Yeah. What'd you say? On TikTok. On TikTok with my TikTok, yeah, with my article I read on TikTok, right? Exactly, exactly. That Cammy probably sent me. That's true. So so we verify it, right?

SPEAKER_02 16:22

Right. My my racing scientist is Cammy.

SPEAKER_03 16:25

She founded, yeah. My cited, my other accomplishments, uh, you know, our email marketing program. So I'm gonna align that with Ellie. Like, we we work our asses off on email marketing to try, especially you well, you too, Ellie. I mean, we work, we work really hard to try to be set apart from any other just basic. And we've we've got a great response. And so that is a program we started because one member actually kept pushing and pushing and pushing, like you guys need to do this, you need to do this. Kind of a build it, they will come type thing, don't you guys think? Like, yeah, I think we were we said if we can get five people to commit, yeah, we'll do it. We'll do it. And which is the totally the opposite of how you're supposed to do a product, right? You're supposed to have a whole bunch of people anyway, and it's taken on a life of its own.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

It really has. I thought it'd be a little cute pet project for a year.

SPEAKER_03 17:37

It is, yeah, it's it's not a fine thing now, but it's but it's a cool thing, it's it's a cool thing, but it's a lot of work, and yeah, it takes all four of us on here right now. Like I I work even more with Cammy now because we gotta know what's going on in web.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

And uh that's quite an accomplishment for sure.

SPEAKER_03 17:58

Yeah, for sure has so all right, Cammy.

SPEAKER_04 18:02

So I would say I love that we have a good reputation in the industry. I think that that's an accomplishment and it didn't happen. It doesn't happen overnight. And I've just noticed this year in particular, more of course, florists' recommendations are huge. We get a lot of florists referring florists, but I've had multiple web host platforms referring florists to us. That is a huge compliment and an accomplishment in my eyes. Even industry partners like the wholesalers and that that we work with and the just yeah, it's been it's been humbling, but also I'm when I look back at the year, I'm super proud of what we've accomplished that way. The the going back to the conference, even the uh response of people that would come to our booth and just I I was really proud of that. I'm really proud of that accomplishment.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

I'm gonna just kind of piggyback on that one because I think what it is is that the visibility that we've had, that re reputation comes with more people being aware of who we are. I mean, I used to go and say, Yeah, I'm with Flower Click, and people would say, What's Flower Click? But this year they would say, Oh, I've heard of Flower Click. Tell me more. So it's kind of what you're saying, Cammy, is they're like, Oh, we're here to stay. You know, for a few years it was like, oh, you guys are brand new, you know, I don't know if I trust this. Right. What what is this product? What is this program? What are you guys doing? And now with the visibility and the reputation, it's really about trust, right? It's like they trust us and they know we're here to stay. How about you, Allie?

SPEAKER_00 19:56

So mine is a work in progress still, but I am proud of accomplishing somewhat being able to delegate a little bit, not to the extent, of course, you know, as we grow, as we expand, would love to have somebody that can help just me. I think just being able to release some of the control and perfectionism that I tend to have is a step in the right direction.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

Yeah. Yeah. No, that's huge.

SPEAKER_03 20:29

That's huge, Ellie.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

Well, because when it comes down to it, it's it's our baby, right? And all that branding and that everything without releasing, that is that is you, right? And so to be able to release a little bit of that is pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

For sure. While I'm talking, I'm gonna just go into our 2024 goals. And mine actually was the same as yours for accomplishing, which is visibility, even though, like you said, people recognize the name. I think we have a lot of room to grow in that area as well with brand awareness and visibility. So I'm excited. We've got some plans in place already, which is great. So we'll we'll get there. But yeah, definitely just making more people aware of Flower Click and how we can help.

SPEAKER_03 21:26

I'll jump in because mine kind of aligns with that. You know, I talk to our members all the time, as as does Cami. And when we go to places, it's so fun to meet old friends. But my goal is to meet new florists. I want to meet new people in this industry and and just get to know them and their story and just be more intentional that way. I always tend to lean into the oldies but goodies, which nothing's wrong with those people. They're great, but I want to be more intentional. About going up to the stranger and at the convention or the Prophet Blast or the event or whatever and introducing myself and getting to know them and their story.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

That's great. That's a great goal.

SPEAKER_04 22:13

Yeah, Kimmy, what about you? So my goal is kind of in line with yours as we grow. One of my goals is always to grow as a company, but as the director of membership, I want to maintain the level of customer service and quality that we've had. So I want to grow and continue to that's my goal.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

Yeah. Yeah. And mine is to increase membership. So we're kind of all between the visibility, meeting new people and all that. It's really increasing membership because in the last four years, we've seen how happy members are with our services and what we do to help them grow and change their business. And it just to see that joy that we've helped others with, I just want to pass that along to others too.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

But back to Cammy's point, I do think it is important because we're such a hands-on service to be able to scale and keep that wow effect with our members, I think is something that we're always going to have as our number one priority.

SPEAKER_04 23:19

And we're talking about work. While we were at the conference, we also had a meeting of the minds. You know, we we definitely took a lot of time to for the four of us to meet. And I love that you shared how the company was doing and really got down to the nitty-gritty of of how we're doing and answered some great questions that I had kind of in the back of my mind that I hadn't asked, almost was afraid to ask. So, but you told me how successful FlowerClick is, you know, doing great. So the success of Flower Click is something I'm super grateful for. It gives me peace of mind personally, but it gives me peace of mind just knowing we're secure as a business. And that I'm just so grateful for that. It well, it's it's scary starting a business, you know, and taking that leap of faith. And so looking at finishing year four. That's something I'm grateful for.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

Mine is very simple. I'll just go quickly. I'm very grateful to not work with idiots. Well, plain and simple. And you know, some really intelligent people are idiots. So I'm not saying like you you never know. And I'm just happy that we are all not idiots and we don't have to work with any idiots. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

I get what you mean. I I would just say that I'm really grateful to work with this amazing team. It started with us, the four of us, but then wow, we've really grown and we have just truly an amazing team who cares about one another and and our members and want to do whatever they can to help others. So I'm super grateful for that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:06

I was writing down words yesterday um when I was thinking about what I was grateful for when I think of our team and our members, just everything around Flower Click. And this is what I came up with. I am grateful for conversations and connections, fighting and forgiveness, laughter and learning, encouragement and enlightenment. And I think all of those things I have done in 2023 with either an flower click co-worker or a member.

SPEAKER_01 25:46

So right. That's beautiful. That's beautiful. It's a great way to close it out. Perfect way to close it out. So we'll be back here next year with five of everything. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 26:04

See you next year. 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_01 26:28

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.