Blooming Hearts: A Valentine's Day Special

Description:  Lori has fun interviewing Vonda and Ellie before Valentine's Day to learn a bit about their personal preferences in terms of design styles and favorite flowers to recounting their most memorable Valentine's Day stories.  

Vonda and Ellie also share tips and guidance for new employees navigating their first Valentine's Day in a flower shop, which is also a really good reminder for seasoned staff.  Discover where they find their inspiration and how they continue to nurture their creativity in this blooming industry.

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

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

He lived outside of Ames and he would come in because the girlfriend was in Ames and his wife was outside. He had a city girl.

SPEAKER_03 0:09

We had him a big city girl in Ames.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

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

SPEAKER_02 0:20

And we believe the business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Vonda. Good morning, Vonda and Ellie. Thanks for I'm excited. We have a guest, Ellie. Good morning. How are you guys doing? I'm good. How are you? I'm doing great. I have a funny, funny little linny story. Super short, but I have to share because every time I think about it, I giggle. So, you know, we've been going back and forth with the VA trying to get all of this stuff moved from one state to the next. And you would think, since the VA is all of the United States, our states would talk. But fun fact, not always. They don't always talk. So okay, okay. Anyway, so we went last week, and my dad and I were sitting in the waiting room to wait to talk. And if you've ever been to a VA waiting room, there's lots of characters, and I enjoy it, as you know, Vonda, because I get to meet people and talk with them and hear their story, and they're amazing, amazing people. But we were in the section where most people uh were waiting to get their hearing aids checked because that's why we were there. We were there, and so I'm sitting there next to my dad whose hearing aids were broken. He's sitting next to a man whose hearing aids were broken. We're like our whole section is pretty much broken hearing aids. A nurse comes out and she yells, Is anyone here for auditory appointments? Like auditory, and everyone just sits there and I'm looking around, and she says, Auditory, auditory appointments, and I'm looking around, and there's like an assistant behind her with a clipboard, and they're just looking around and everyone's just staring. And so me being the helper, stand up, start pointing at my ears, and I'm going, hearing aids, who needs hearing, and I'm like looking at everybody, and everyone's looking at me, and they're like, their hands go up, like everybody's look at this woman, and I'm like, you can't say those, like you need to use your hands.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

And use words they understand that.

SPEAKER_03 3:04

Yes, I'm like, no, to say that like they were that's ironic.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

You need a sign, you just need like a big cue card.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

You need a big cue card with an ear on it. Yes, like green ear, red ear, like go.

SPEAKER_00 3:19

And like maybe like a clapper, like one of those hand clappers, or like some sort of a percussion instrument.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

So funny because they're like, oh yes, yes, that's me, that's me. I just thought, this is my calling. This is my calling. I need to volunteer my time here.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

You need to play bar rescue and go in there and exactly.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

I'm like, can I help you? What surely? How do you nurses get through the day? Matt, it's not these people's fault. No, they're there for hearing aid. They can't hear, they don't know. Anyway, it just funny, Lori. It was funny. And my dad the whole time is like, is it me? Is it my time? Is it my time? Is it mine? I was like, no, daddy, we're not even getting to the point. We gotta fill out the forms first. Anyway, okay, that has nothing to do with Valentine's Day, but it was it wasn't. I'm sure there's a lesson in there people can extract.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

And so there's a lesson in there. Patience, patience, patience and like delivering the message in the correct way.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

Yes, communication, effective communication, use effective communication. And remember in sales prep school, when we talk about the importance, it's okay to use your hands.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

That's right when you're talking.

SPEAKER_02 4:37

This is what I thought of.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

And you have to be adaptable to any type of customer. There's not everybody's not gonna be the same.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

Yeah, exactly. See, customer service, customer service. So okay, switching horses. We're gonna talk about Valentine's Day memories, and I'm gonna interview the two of you. Oh, okay. Um, and we've kind of done this before, but it's gonna be a little bit different, not just Valentine's memories, but I even want to talk about just like your styles and your perceptions of the industry, that kind of thing. So I've sent you a few questions because Ellie needs to know what's coming.

SPEAKER_03 5:22

So she doesn't it does help, Lori.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

It does help, it does help. So we always like get to know you more and more about people that work here. So anyway, all right. Vonda, I honestly don't think I've ever asked you this. How would you describe your own personal style of when it comes to flower design, a flower arrangement arrangement? What is your favorite personal style? If if somebody just sent you, if you got a whole box of flower click bundles and they just said, make something, what would be what style would you gravitate to?

SPEAKER_01 6:03

It's interesting, Lori, because if you were sending me the flower click bundles, I probably would just do like more of a mass design because that's the type of flowers that we are have in most of those designs, because they photograph well, they look good on websites, you know, all of those type of things. But I actually I really enjoy doing line design, which you would never know because they don't photograph well for a website, because the larger you get in a design, the smaller the design looks on the website. Hence, our great photographers right here. So I would say one thing that I have always said my designs is interpretive designs. So an interpretive designs, and I wrote down this so that we make sure we have the correct definition, a composition in which the design elements are organized to suggest a given theme, idea, occasion, mood, or atmosphere. So that's kind of what I like to do is interpretive design because it really is around a theme or an occasion, you know. So interpretive design would be mine.

SPEAKER_02 7:07

Wow. I would love if you could do like a whole line of that, like a whole section of that sometime. I wish it wasn't so hard hard to photograph. I would love to see. Just doesn't show well. Yeah, yeah. I bet I better said we could figure it out. Yep, I heard her. I heard her. You heard me and you have it recorded. Yep, exactly. Ellie, what about you? What is your own personal floral style?

SPEAKER_00 7:35

Well, that's an interesting question, Lori, because I wouldn't consider myself like a designer necessarily. Yeah. But what I like, and what if you were to send me a bunch of flowers definitely on the wild side, like a little bit chaotic. I prefer monochromatic or monofloral. I love to make a visual impact quickly, and so with that, you can either do all the same type of flower or all the same color. And honestly, I like both together. So that would be what I like. And the those four key words: monochromatic, monofloral, drama, wild. That's kind of the hint for Vonda for you for my wedding flowers. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

There we go. But yeah. I think what we like to do, I know I like to do, and I think we do a lot for our designs for flower click, are using different techniques. So it's not necessarily a design style, it's the techniques like groupings, which is placing identical materials in specific areas together, right? So we like to do maybe groupings and collaring where we have the foliage around the edge of the vase so you don't see that lip of the vase. So we do a lot of collaring and basing, which is the flowers towards the edge of the arrangement if you're doing something more in a line design. So I think we would look at those and say it's not necessarily about the design style, it's about a lot of the techniques that we use within the design. And I love to use different techniques. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

And I'll add to that, I love to have the vessel tell me what the design should be. And I like the cool vessels that are like, okay, it kind of speaks to you and what you think it needs.

SPEAKER_02 9:31

Yeah. I love that. I will say I noticed that with you, Ellie, whenever we're at a photo shoot, like even the last one when we brought in some of the accent decor ones. And my job was to clean them and place them in a line. And so I was doing that, you know, that's my my big task, and getting them all in a row, neat and tidy, the containers. And then I notice you're over there, and you really are studying them and you're looking at them and you're picking them up and you're visualizing, and I can watch how your mind is working, and then you're sort of looking at all of our buckets and the flowers, and then you're looking back at those, and you're looking at the camera, and your mom and I know what you're doing, like you're going, hmm, and you're creating right there, you know, in front of us. And it's it's miraculous to watch. Stretch. No, it truly is for me, because that's not how my mind works, and I don't even know that you realize you're cognitively doing it, or that anybody's watching me. Well, you certainly don't know that people are watching, but I'm like, wow, she's truly looking at like this. Oh, this would look this guy will look at this.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

Yeah, there are a lot of designers who do just that, they visualize the design before they actually put a flower in it. And I think that's what Ellie does most of the time. Yeah. Sometimes I don't. I like start and then see where it's gonna go.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Yeah, that's where you yeah, you add what you need. That's the way you paint, you paint more.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

Yeah, yeah. And that's what and then, but you may take out the whole bouquet and throw it in another vase after you don't like it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

So anyway, that really is interesting.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

So, Vonda, speaking of all of this, do you have like a go-to flower that you love to work with?

SPEAKER_01 11:27

If you ask Julie Poetler, my favorite flower to work with when I'm doing line designs is Laatris. I knew you were gonna say that. Yeah, it's the Laatris. I and you said the and what would Julie say about that? Julie would say that is hard flower to work with, but I have to just point out this because she just did an artist in residence program, an air program for Leslie Ann Cravens uh at one of the colleges. And one of the things on her list that she wanted to use to teach the students to use was Laatris. Oh, left so hard, unlike Julie. And she's like, I know, I know, I can't believe I did that. Yeah, so I would say Laatris, I love using roses, then variegated pitasporum, as you know. I love your variegated and lily grass. So those would be the ones, yeah. It's just so funny.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Those are like all my least favorites. Yeah, yeah. Ellie, what about you? Probably because I've seen them my whole life with you. Yeah, probably, and you probably made me learn all of those when I was a a young child. For me, I love a good hydrangea. I think it adds a nice base, it adds a nice texture element. They with proper preparation, they last forever. Um, hydrangea is always like a solid first stem for me.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

Um I can tell what you love hydrangea.

SPEAKER_02 12:54

That's great. Good one to love. Yeah. Yeah. Hydrangeas go with everything. So, Vonda, what are some things you do or how do you stay up with the latest design trends and things that are going on in the industry to know what to create for flower click members?

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Well, it's interesting because years ago, my go-to was AIFD symposium. And what I would see and experience there would bring me into everything I needed for the whole year. I mean, really, that was so much. And then go to SAF, Society of American Florist Convention, and see the new varieties of flowers, you know. So that kind of shows you a lot. Yeah. But nowadays, I mean it's endless. You look on social media and you can see things that are good and bad and ugly, quite honestly. All three. And then you're like, ooh, mm-hmm. Anyway, so then you have to kind of decipher because I think people are trying to determine the trends that are coming up by what they're seeing.

unknown 13:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

And there's so much misinformation out there that it's hard for you to distinguish what's right and what wrong. So I still go back AID symposium and essay.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

Yeah. Right. What about you, Ellie?

SPEAKER_00 14:08

For me, that's very interesting that you said that, Vonda, about trends because we're seeing like with social and how the attention is 100% on that, like trends do catch on like wildfire and just go immediately. Whereas back in the day, back in my day, you know, you'd have to look on Tumblr or look on these like obscure blogs to find things. So yeah, I agree. You do have to be careful, and like just because something takes off like wildfire doesn't mean that it's like I mean, in a sense, it is kind of social proof that people like it, right? Maybe we're getting a little deep into psychology now and like what people like versus what gets attention and all of that. But I would say I still love Pinterest. I like some like more obscure international blogs or trend sites. I think trend land is a good one. Things like that, where it's more of like a global perspective rather than just like what's on your algorithm. I think you know, gets a little stale. But I got a new architectural digest magazine in the mail the other day, and on the cover is this design in this cool vessel, and it's cool color flower, and then I look closer and they're all carnations. And like, I'm like, oh, we need to shoot something like that. That looks so cool, and it's just carnations, and they're like fluffed perfectly, and um, so you know, you get sparks everywhere. Right, right. Those are those are my top sites, top places.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

Okay, Lori, we're gonna take a quick break to hear a message from our sponsor.

SPEAKER_02 15:55

Hey clickers, it's me, Lori. Hey, did you know that Flower Click has an email marketing program that their members can add to their existing membership? It's called Click Mail, and it's your ultimate email marketing solution. For just $199 a month, we can deliver beautifully designed seasonal emails that are tailored to your shop's personality, keeping your customers engaged year-round. During peak seasons, like Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, FlowerClick will send between six to eight emails per month. Plus, every email features clickable links that drive traffic directly to your website, making shopping effortless for your customers. If you need special occasion reminders, FlowerClick's got you covered. For a one-time setup fee, we can send personalized birthday and anniversary reminders to your customers. Here's the best part of the whole program: there is a geo-exclusive feature that ensures no other shop in your area can join this program once you have it. Remember, click mails for flower click members only. So if you've been thinking about becoming a member, go to flowerclick.com today and schedule a time to make that happen. Okay, back to the pod. Love it. Rhonda, I want to go back to when you owned a flower shop. So you've been through a long time ago. A while ago. And you and Ellie both worked your share of Valentine's Days. And I know Ellie always tells a story how she would literally not go to school when Valentine's Day was during the week. Take them out of school. Take them out of school and come work, come work. So what is the most unusual or unexpected Valentine's Day in the shop that you have a memory of? Either one of you can go first. I don't really care. Whichever one has the memory pop in their head first.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

Yeah, unfortunately, I I know there were so many things, but I can't put a pin on something crazy that happened. I know that there was crazy stuff that happened constantly.

SPEAKER_02 18:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:17

Like car accidents or weird people that would come in, or, you know, strange card messages, all those things.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

Yeah. Well, you had those customers who would order something really unusual. And at our shop in Dixon, when I'm looking at that, it was like the person who ordered all the gardenias that had to have them delivered. You know. Did you have gardenias? Not usually. And so you had to be careful because you wanted to have them in, but they were so expensive you didn't want them in case he didn't call. So then we would call him, and then he's like, You're gonna ruin my surprise. You know, he was very, he was a very temperamental. Oh my gosh. Yeah, yeah. Um anyway, which is so funny because now my son and his son are best friends, so it's oh my gosh, how crazy! Yeah, anyway, but the funniest one, well, no, let's say the most memorable one. When I was in Ames, we had a customer, and he was my customer. His name is Alan. Alan would come in and he would get flowers for his wife. I mean, he was a good customer, so he'd come in all the time. Yeah, he would send flowers on Valentine's Day for his wife and his girlfriend. And he'd always say, Be sure not to get these card messages.

SPEAKER_02 19:37

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Oh, it was very stressful. But then the rest of the story is that he came in the week after Valentine's Day to tell me the story that the flowers that we did, we didn't do anything wrong, everything was fine. But he had ordered bathrobes and they got the cards and the bathrobes mixed up. Oh, he got caught. Wife got the real sexy one with that card, and the girlfriend got the fluffy old old wife one. Oh my god. I was like, oh my gosh. Yep. So yes, he got caught. We'll just say he got caught. Oh, that was my most memorable one.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

The drama.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

The drama. The drama in Ames. Small town tea. But he didn't even live in Ames, just so you know. He lived outside of Ames and he would come in because the girlfriend was in Ames and his wife was outside. He had a city girl from a country girl.

SPEAKER_03 20:42

We had him a big city girl in Ames. Iowa.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

So there, that's my that's my story. Oh my gosh, that's crazy. It was shenanigans that went on in that town. Which I think there's a lot of shenanigans that go on during Valentine's Day in a flower shop. We're like counselors. No, we're like we're like priests, right? They come to confession and you can't say anything. Yeah, and you're just like, yeah, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 21:08

Don't ask, don't yeah. What is something about Valentine's Day in our industry that people outside of this industry do not realize?

SPEAKER_00 21:21

I think there are a couple things for me that came to mind. People think that florists hike up the cost of roses just so they can, rather than not taking it into account that they cost more for yeah, you know. Anyway, supply and demand, all that. Just the the whole idea, the whole trope of Valentine's Day roses and their costs associated. And then yeah, I guess that's the main one for Valentine's Day. Yeah, I asked Tyler as well, and he said, like knowing proper care for your arrangement when people get their flowers delivered, which I think more women know more. Than men changing the water, giving them a fresh cut, keeping them away from sunlight or fireplace, things like that.

SPEAKER_03 22:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

Those are two things I think could be marketing angles or just pieces of educational content that shops could kind of talk about to their customers. Yeah.

unknown 22:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

I think though, Ellie, that's a good point about the care and handling and all of that. But a lot of times these are are women who only get flowers on Valentine's Day. So they might know how to take care of them.

SPEAKER_00 22:32

Right. I do think and then they complain. Right? That's the the people that you worry about that only get flowers once a year because yeah, they don't know. They don't know. And they tell their husband to never order them again.

SPEAKER_01 22:47

Right. Because they're so expensive and you should never order them in the first place.

unknown 22:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

So I love that. That's a good marketing angle. Tell them how long they're supposed to last. This is what you should do. What were you gonna say? My biggest one is just that people don't realize how much volume of business goes out of a flower shop during a Valentine's Day. You know, they just think, oh, well, you're busy, but they don't understand how really busy you are.

SPEAKER_00 23:13

And the hard work, it's not just being busy, it's the physical labor involved. Yes. Think of when we do our photoshops and how surprised Lori was the first time or Allie or whoever's come in to help for a day. And then think of that times a million for Valentine's Day. The scale. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:36

And they don't understand it's not they're not just busy that day. They are busy the first two weeks of February, like really busy prepping. Yes. All the preparation that goes into it.

SPEAKER_00 23:49

Yeah. Okay. Fun fact, I just got some content from Abby, our Abby chick at Blake Moore's. And she's sending me all this great stuff. And I'm like, you are so prepped. And she's like, it does not feel that way. So that just goes to show, you know, you think like it's just one thing after another until the day happens.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

You work off that checklist. Okay, we're here. This is where we need to be at this point. Check it off. Okay, what is the next thing? Just to get yourself ready for the day. Yeah. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 24:23

Okay. Vonda, what are one or two pieces of advice you would give to a new florist or a new employee, somebody that is new to our industry, that is going into their first Valentine's Day? What are some things you would tell them?

SPEAKER_01 24:47

Have fun. Have a good attitude and really have your mindset that, you know what, it's gonna be a lot of work, but we're gonna have fun. That's what I would say first. Be flexible. I might be putting you at the front room waiting on customers or wrapping flowers, or you may be sweeping the floor, or whatever the case is. Just be flexible. And my third one is communicate. Just have open communication with everyone here. You know, not just me. You're all your co-work. It's all about communication. So those are my three. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

Ellie? My pieces of advice are number one, watch the floors, watch your footing. It gets slippery, it gets messy, there are obstacles. It's kind of like when you're walking on cobblestone or an uneven surface. Like you kind of want to keep your eyes gaze downwards sometimes. You want to gaze upward as well in case you collide with somebody, but watch the floors. It gets slippery. And then when it gets down to the wire and it's February 13th and you're like absolutely exhausted, but you still have a full day of Valentine's Day left. Just keep remembering that it's all gonna be over in 24 hours. Just do what you have to do to get through it. If you have to mix your diet coke with a protein shake, which I have a visual for that that I'll post on Instagram. But just do what you have to do. Drink the caffeine. If you need to have some cinnamon hearts, like do what you gotta do to get through it. The other thing is remember the extreme distinction between back of house and front of house. And don't let the two overlap. It's like a play or like a musical. Like what people see in the front room should not be the same. If like if you have, you know, anger to let out or a dirty face or you know, a scowl, whatever, do it in the back of house. When it gets to front of house, when it's showtime, that's your best self always. Right. That is so good.

SPEAKER_02 26:45

That is so good. Really, really good advice. All right. Last question, Fonda. Valentine's Day. Did you love it or hate it?

SPEAKER_01 26:55

I've said it many times. I loved it. I loved it. Ellie, did you love it or hate it?

SPEAKER_00 27:00

I loved it because I was out of school and it was just happy. I think it's all about the environment in which you create in your shop, and ours was always happy and pink and red and romantic and fun and sweet, you know? Those are the memories I have of it. And yeah, it's a ton of work and chaos, but it's also like you have to remember, just like Christmas or whatever, remember the reason for the season. And people are really happy to make other people happy and show their love, and you get to play a big part in that. So yep.

unknown 27:36

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 27:37

I love it. I still love it.

unknown 27:39

I do.

SPEAKER_00 27:40

I've always loved Valentine's Day.

SPEAKER_02 27:43

Same. All right. Thanks, gals. Thanks, 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 28:09

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.