Overcoming Business Challenges with Positive Perspective

Episode 260:  Vonda and Lori discuss how common negative narratives surrounding sales projections and the economy can drain our motivation and energy. They provide insights and strategies on maintaining a positive mindset to navigate challenges and strive for success despite the discouraging external factors. Tune in to gain valuable perspectives on overcoming setbacks and staying focused on your goals.

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

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

What we have to realize as an industry is that we can get out there and sell flowers, but if we don't let others know what we have, it's over. Welcome to the business and pleasure of flowers. We're your hosts, Vonda LaFever and Lori Wilson.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

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

SPEAKER_00 0:29

How are you doing on your shopping, Lori? Christmas shopping or my personal shopping? Christmas shopping.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Christmas shopping. Well, here's the deal on my Christmas shopping. I'm doing okay. One of my goals in the last few years is to try to do as much online shopping as possible so I don't have to go to a mall. Oh, yeah. We gotcha. So malls are terrifying to me now in my old age. They're just crazy. But I do like boutique shopping also. So I go around to some of our local boutiques and I love it. I love it. Because the local boutiques have the cute Christmas ornaments, and you know my obsession with Christmas ornaments. But yesterday I made piles of each person that I have gifts for that have come in the mail. And I realized that I'm very lopsided.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Yes, I got that.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

So I'm I'm in a bit of a pickle. So I'm gonna have to regroup.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

However, you still have time to get it.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

That's the good thing. Still have time. I do. I'll figure it out. I'll figure it out. You know what? When in doubt, gift cards. Just throw in the gift cards last minute, especially for boys. For sure. So my daughter's the easiest one. I think we've talked about this because she's like one of your granddaughters. She will send me a list with links, and she divides that list into high price ticket, medium ticket items, and low slash stocking stuffer. I like it's perfect. It's so easy. Oh, I love that. I love that. And then my boys, I get a lot of, I don't know, I don't know. What do you want? I don't know. What do you want? I don't know. So, how's yours?

SPEAKER_00 2:19

Well, it's more fun when you have grandchildren because then you get to shop for them. And my children get gift cards mostly. Yeah. But the little ones who aren't necessarily really small, but as you mentioned, Campbell, who is my second oldest granddaughter, and she sent me a list that was just for Ellie and I and had links for everything, and said at the bottom, don't worry about asking mom. This is your own list. So she made him hilarious. But the reason I ask is yesterday I had to go for just a checkup and I had to go across the bridge. If anybody's familiar, I would go over to the destinary and I'm like, oh, well, I'm out. So I'm just gonna go and pick up a few things. And I went to Target, my local Target. Lori, if anybody tells you people aren't buying things this year, I know they are not telling the truth. I agree. This whole area, and I took a picture of it because I'm gonna show you, is bare. There is nothing on the shelf. Wow. Nothing. I was like, crazy. What? Like Christmas cards. There were like five boxes left of Christmas cards. Wow. And the few Christmas warnings left. I stood there kind of dumbfounded for a while. I'm like, what date is this? Is like the this was the ninth. This was the 9th of December, and there were so many things just empty. Wow. That's crazy. It was crazy. It was just really crazy. So I think people are out, they're spending money. And that kind of goes to this week. We had a webinar for our members only. And we talked about marketing and how you got to get out there and you have to give share your story and sell, right? It's like get out there and sell. So that's what it kind of reminded me of. And I was like, oh my gosh, people, people are out there. They're buying. Which is so in our webinar, I started with an ad that was in a newspaper in 1991 in the Sayer, Oklahoma Journal. Ooh, it's kind of funny. So 1991. Okay. And it's called The Hot Dog Vender, Lori.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

And I'm gonna read an interrupt and tell you when you were talking about this in the webinar. All I could do was think, I want to eat a hot dog. I want to so bad right now. And I feel like I probably wasn't the only one, but I'm probably not.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

And you probably don't want one right now because it's in the morning, maybe later. Okay, but well, that's good. So take it easy. No, listen. There was a man who lived by the side of the road and he sold hot dogs. He sold very good hot dogs. He put up signs along the highway and advertised in the newspaper, telling how good they were. He stood by the side of the road and called, buy a hot dog, mister, and people bought. He increased his meat and bun orders. He bought a bigger stove to take care of his trade. He finally got his son home from college to help him out. But then something happened. His son said, Father, haven't you been listening to the radio and watching TV? There's a big depression. The foreign situation is terrible. The domestic situation is worse. Whereas the father thought, hmm, well, my son's been to college. He listens to the radio and watches TV and he ought to know. So the father cut down on his meat and bun orders. He took down his signs and canceled the newspaper ads and no longer bothered to stand by the side of the road and sell his hot dogs. And his hot dog sales fell almost overnight. You're right, son, the father said to the boy. We certainly are in the middle of a Great Depression. And we kind of went over this and was like, we are what we project. He was like, Well, that's what's supposed to be happening. So let's just let it happen. Right? Yep. Yep. That's so so I rewrote this, Lori, just because you had nothing else to do. It was on my mind. And I'm like, what we have to realize as an industry is that we can get out there and sell flowers, but if we don't let others know what we have, it it's over. You know, it's just like the hot dog guy. It's got to might as well shut down your store. Okay. So, and I don't know whether you read this or not because I'm not sure it's even correct. Well, read it. Read it to me. Okay. There was a flower shop in our town that sold flowers. The owners loved making beautiful flower arrangements and took pride in making people happy with flowers. They mastered mood swings very well as they celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, new babies, and brought joy and hope at the time of the death of a loved one. They shared their love with flowers with everyone, and they tried everything they could think of to get the word out. They were involved in their community. They enjoyed collaborating with other businesses, sponsoring school events, they held virtual and physical open houses and even used social platforms to show off their flowers. One day they became discouraged with the pessimistic retail forecast, the news, the slumping sales, their energy was zapped and they couldn't seem to get themselves excited about the flowers they love so much. They weren't taking the time to smell and experience the flowers that they bragged about for years. They dropped out of the community involvement. They were no longer collaborating with other business owners and couldn't muster up enough energy to add posts to their social platforms. And then it was like they were invisible. The website still brought in a few orders. However, the phone hardly rang. The people in the community seemed to gravitate to another location to purchase their flowers. Just as forecasted, sales were down with no break in sight. That's perfect.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

You know, it's so interesting to me. We've talked about it a couple of times, how when I look on social media from my point of view, I see flower shop owners. Some are flower click members, some are not, but they're all people that we know in our industry. Some are just thriving. They're so busy right now. Like they're just super busy with weddings, with events, with every day, with sympathy. Like they're really busy and they're you know, they just finished up decorating houses and doing open houses, all this stuff. And then others are just crickets and they're really scared, truly fearful of am I gonna have to close my doors? I so slow. And what I know is these shops are basically the same size, mid-size flower shops that they have between three to five employees, two full-time designers, maybe a part-time here and there, a couple delivery drivers, seasonal employees here. So they're about the same size, you know. So I I know that because I've had conversations with these people. They might be in different states, but I know this what your story kind of hit home for me is its mindset to its perspective. We talked about this during the C word, COVID, during the pandemic so much. They kind of tune out the noise, you know, the fear-mongering, the whole what, what ifs, what if, what if scenarios are like, yeah, but but what if this, you know? It it reminds me of the story where the mother and daughter were talking, and you know, the mother is like, you can do anything you want to do, you can uh have the world, and the daughter's like, Yeah, but what if I fail? And she's like, Yeah, but what if you fly? It's the same thing. It's like, you know, right. I don't want to sound Pollyanna because I'm right. That's what I was gonna say. I was gonna say, we don't want to sound that at all. At all. I think you go in with a very realistic point of view that yeah, maybe I am gonna fail, but there's surely there's gonna be a few times that I get up off the ground and fly a little bit before, you know, yeah, to to encourage you.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

And I think that's the thing. You and I are realists. We understand there are true challenges out there. It's not like, oh, everything's gonna be. But what I think we really want to encourage people to do is don't lose hope, right? Don't lose the perspective. And you say it all the time. Why did you get in this business? Because you love flowers, you love to design, you love to share what you do with others and make others happy with flowers. When we lose that energy, when we lose that drive, yeah, and we we're knocked back on our heels and go, oh, wow, this is really hard. That's when you have to dig in and say, you know what? I can do this. I I can make some changes in my business. The pivot word, which we use all the time. Yeah, I can pivot and do something a little different. Maybe I maybe I do have to not have all the employees I have right now because that's causing me not to make money at this point. But really reevaluate that. And is it just that my energy's gone? I've been knocked down, I've been discouraged, I hear too much negativity. Turn the TV off, turn the news off, maybe even turn off some social media.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Well, right. And that's what I was gonna say. You know, let's go back to the art of comparison, too. If you're scrolling on Instagram and you're seeing all these other flower shops who are posting and quote unquote thriving based on their posts, keep in mind you only are seeing pictures. You don't know if they're paying their bills, you don't know if they're behind. I mean, we just had a budget meeting the other day. We know shops that aren't, and they post, so you don't know, so don't compare yourself to them.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

But it's good that you don't know because one, you could be more discouraged. Two, no customer wants to buy from somebody they think is not making oh, a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

But I'm talking about another florist that's looking at this going, oh, I will never be able to do that. I can't, you know. So stop comparing yourself to them. True. Yes. My other piece of advice, and I don't want to make people mad, but here's what drives me nuts. I'm just gonna say it. Say it to whoever wants to listen. And if nobody wants to listen, just ignore me. I don't understand. Maybe you can explain to me going back to a flower shop owner, or let's say you don't own a brick and mortar and you are just a florist and you're doing something out of your home, which is fine, you're you know, up and coming. And there's something new. Let's let's go back to when we first started creating the totes for our members, which um I have always loved and many of our members love, but a lot of people, a lot of members were like, wait, what? What is that? What is that bag of flowers? Get it off my website. Yeah, you know, like they didn't understand it. And it took a while. It took a while, it took you having to do a video to show how to do it, even though our mind we're like, oh, even Lori can make this. This is such an easy and beautiful and fun way, and especially at the price point. But what I don't understand is a florist who in my mind is one of the most creative people on the planet not being open to putting something new and fun on a website.

unknown 14:37

Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

And I'm seeing that more and more because they don't want to do it, even though I'm like, but maybe your customer wants that. Or they don't like it, or they don't like it. Yes. And I'm like, but maybe your customer likes that and that will sell.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Okay, Lori, we're gonna take a quick break to hear a message from our sponsor. FlowerClick's expertise is your online store, your website. We create and professionally photograph current, trendy designs and add them to your website. Just like your physical shop, you have to change out the displays on your website. We do that for you. We merchandise the products on your website to entice customers to buy from you. It'll make you look great, you'll sell more at a higher price, and did I mention those are profitable designs. Your website is your best salesperson. And there's so much more to FlowerClick, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention our tight-knit community of members. We have like-minded business owners who respect and really want to help one another. Our members are amazing, which drives us to do all we can for their success. Don't underestimate the power of what FlowerClick can do for you. That goes back to your mindset.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Yeah, there it is. But I don't understand that mentality. I think about a stylist from Banana Republic. You know, they're of course gonna have things in the store that they don't love, but they're like, okay, but our customers may like this. I don't love it, but we have a customer base that might, so I'm gonna carry it because I want to make a profit.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. I I don't get it either, but it is mindset, you know that. I mean, even our members, non-members, we know that it's like we've always done it this way. This is what our customers buy. Yeah, but they don't allow the customer to have another choice. Right because they know better, they know better.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

Right. Well, and I've said this so many times, and I learned it over 10 years ago, sitting in a Texas State floral dinner where the presenter was Miss Jenny Thomason or Ingram now. Yeah, um, and I it was the first time I saw her in person, and she was creating this beautiful design. But in my mind, I'm like, what the heck? Like, that's not a sellable product, and where is she going with this? You know, on and on. And then she said it and it clicked for me. And she said, This is that product that you have in your store, where people walk in and they're like, Oh wow! Like it may never, ever, ever sell. That is not the point. The point is to show off your gift that you are an artist. Like, I just got goosebumps because it was like that moment for me of heck yeah, this is what you're to do. This shows what a creative you are.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

And you take that to your website too. Well, and you don't have to have that as a syllable item on your website, but you have to have some creative things when there's some things that people write, oh, oh, they can probably do this and this and this that I'm in have in my mind that I'm thinking, who can do that? Yeah, and like you said, if I go in the store, I see something that is very creative, and I'm like, oh, this is the right person for my my project.

SPEAKER_01 18:26

Right, right. It just shows how creative your designers can be. Yeah, and it reminds the customer, okay, I'm in the right place. These people are experts, they know what they're doing. I'm gonna probably pay a premium price, but I know what I'm getting. This is quality work, this is fabulous.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

These people are the experts. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

Yeah. So perspective, yeah, and mindset. I think those are two things, takeaway today. Yeah. Yeah, especially moving into Christmas, especially going into Valentine's Day. Exactly. And when you say perspective, I'm gonna wrap this up with back to Christmas. Okay. Because you are having a house full. Yes, as I am having a house full, and I think a lot of people who are on this call either are going somewhere or you know, having a lot of people in. I want you to take the perspective of this. Because if you're like me, you have a whole list of things that need to get accomplished before anybody comes. Yes. So that's where I am. I'm like, okay, I had this whole list and I'm like trying to check it off. Yes. And I gotta go back and go to Erica Martin, who is my daughter-in-law. And Erica always says to me, no one else will know what you didn't get up done on that list. No one else will know what you didn't check off. So don't worry your little selves. I mean, get done what you can, pace yourself, things that are very visible, take care of, but those little things like washing my windows, which I did this morning. Yes, a couple of them, because I'm like, this looks terrible. I'm like, if it doesn't get done, Lori, it'll be okay. It'll be okay. And everybody on the call because what people want are memories. They want the time with you, they want the time with the family. Sit back, laugh, enjoy, you know, sharing stories of years past. Yeah. And make new memories. Play games, you know, just have fun. That's what they're looking for. They're not looking to see that you wash that window, Vonda. Yep. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

The one thing that I will do, because people will notice I have to vacuum all the dog hair off the couch because they will notice they'll get it, they'll see it when they sit on it. So that's that is a must. But other than that, I think that's there you go. Just enjoy, right? Just take it. No, you're absolutely right. You're absolutely right. I've never gone to a host and hostess's home and left going, oh my gosh, their baseboards were dirty. Or I thought, like, you know, I don't care less. It's food, fun, fellowship, drinks, like people. It's just the people.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

It's all that matters. It's it's the people and the time and the and the experience. So okay, until next time.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

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.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

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