Mentors, Micro-Mentors & Miss Piggy: A Chat with Mike Black of Jet Fresh

Episode 278: Today’s guest is the one and only Mike Black, “Head Coach” of Jet Fresh—and if you know Mike, you know he’s way more than just a title. Lori and Vonda sit down with him to talk about mentorship in the floral industry and generational leadership. Mike shares stories from his early days in the flower biz, his take on today’s younger generation (spoiler: he’s a fan), and the exciting projects brewing at Jet Fresh. Oh, and there’s also Miss Piggy, golden tickets, and a few strong feelings about Skype.

This one’s packed with wisdom, laughs, and a whole lot of heart. 

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

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

I say this in our meetings a lot. Is just because you're a good producer does not mean that you're a good leader.

SPEAKER_02 0:13

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

SPEAKER_03 0:18

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

SPEAKER_02 0:29

So Lori, we have someone special today. I'm so excited because Mike Black, we have a lot in common. So I'm so glad that Mike was able to come in and join us today.

SPEAKER_03 0:39

Mike Black, the owner of JetFresh. And I don't know, what is your real title? I don't even think I know.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Like a year and a half ago, I changed my title from president to head coach.

SPEAKER_03 0:52

Love it. Love it. That's sad.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

I don't feel like a president. Yeah. I feel like a coach. And I asked that's my like my kind of like thing is I like to coach these people.

SPEAKER_03 1:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Keep them out of danger.

SPEAKER_03 1:08

Right. I told Vonda to hurry a press recording because we were laughing because we were having some technical issues, and you were saying that Skype's getting ready to go away.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Yeah, it's a disaster. We I I've been communicating with farms around the world and people in my office on Skype for uh I don't know, since I you started using a computer. And now it's going away. So this morning, Mimi taught me how to change it to Teams.

SPEAKER_04 1:39

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

And she went on to show me all the different groups that are existing in her teams and how, like, I don't know. I'm gonna have to play with it for a while and get used to it. But I don't like change. I like Skype. There's nothing wrong with Skype, everyone has it. I have hundreds and hundreds of contacts on air, and I guess it all moves over to Teams, but yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:08

So is that because Teams is owned by Microsoft, right? And yes. So did they just buy Skype?

SPEAKER_00 2:16

I think it's one of the same. I think Skype they bought it at some point. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 2:20

Oh, okay. All right.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

But yeah, Skype is mainly the farms in South America, that's their main way of communication in Skype. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

It's still, but not anymore, right? Because it went away worldwide, correct?

SPEAKER_00 2:35

It's going away May 1st. So people are asking now, hey, have you got the team set up? Because we need to change. And you know, like, I don't like to miss a beat. I don't like to miss an offer. I don't like to miss like an issue with a farm or something like that. So I don't want to be the odd man out. I want to make sure that I have the way that I can communicate because we do a lot of spot deals. And if you happen to be on the short list, you know, if you don't answer quick enough, they're just going to go to the next next person. So I like to answer pretty quick.

SPEAKER_02 3:08

So your team knows how to be on top of technology and get you where you need to be before May 1st.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Yeah, we have Dan Riley here, who started here as a driver, but he's like self-taught. He's basically our IT go-to guy. We have somebody that knows even more than him, which is Lazaro, which is Tina's husband. He works for us as an outside contractor, but he does all the heavy lifting with the IT. But Dan puts out a lot of fires with the IT. But besides that, there's just a lot of young people here that know how to use all this shit. They just know.

SPEAKER_03 3:41

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so this is my transition. Or it's waiting for you to say something about the young people. So here's one of the reasons that we wanted you on here. There's many, many reasons. But when you and I were at Nextgen this year, which we go every year, we are known as the aunt and uncle there, right? But the good news is they don't call us grandma and grandpa. So I feel like that's a win. We're not that old, but they do call us aunt and uncle. But when we were there this year, we they gave us little pack ribbons like we get like PSCI or sponsor or presenter, whatever. But this year they gave us ribbons that said mentor. And I was like, oh, what's this? And Amanda from SAF was saying, oh, these are new this year. And you and Mike Black have them, and we're gonna tell you about them later. I still haven't done that. But you and I were talking, we were really excited because it just kind of evolved that way, right? We do always find ourselves in these amazing conversations with the youth of the younger generation, and we're always sitting at a table with them and being able to share stories and hear stories learn from them. And so that's why I wanted you to come on here. And when I was sharing with Vonda, because Vonda's a mentor in AIFD, she's like, Yeah, AIFD has that same program. It's like that's amazing. So that's kind of what I wanted to talk about at the beginning, just sort of hear, yes, we need them in our lives to help with our technology. Absolutely. But we can be wise in other things too, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Sure. Is it an official thing now that like they have like official mentors?

unknown 5:32

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

I think it's a smart, I think it's a smart thing for them to do. I do too. You could bring all these young people to convention and you could share all the different things that they share, especially if like you sit at the bar, just you know, relaxing after the full day, and just somebody a lot younger would come over and just introduce themselves and say, hey, I'm so and so from somewhere, and tell me about this and tell me about that. And and and and I like that stuff. So I I I I engage right away with those people and I tell them whatever I can. For me, like when we leave each other, I'll feel like, oh, I just kind of help that person, maybe. You know, that person's got a little bit of more confidence, or that person got uh a little more advice on how to talk to their boss or on what flowers they should be buying, or what method of transportation is out there. Just all kinds of stuff. Just all kinds of stuff.

SPEAKER_03 6:29

It's it is plus you walk away and you've made another connection in this industry. I think what's cool too, especially when we're at a an event like Next Gen, when you're with a lot of employees, younger employees, because a lot of businesses just send their employees. So a lot of these people, it's their first event they've ever been to. I had probably four that I can remember of people I had never met before come up to me. And because of this tag that said mentor on it, whether we were on our scavenger hunt or wherever we were, and asked me questions. And they were new, it was their first time, and I think they saw it and were like, okay, maybe she's a safe person. This old lady that has this mentor thing, maybe I can ask her. And so we just started having conversations. And by the end of that short time, we were kind of friends. And I I introduced them to like Aaron Bruno and just a couple of other people that I knew. And I was like, this is so fulfilling. I I don't know if it's a real thing or if they just felt sorry for us and need to label us. It's a way to get in.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

It's a way to get in over 40. The other thing I think the two of you don't realize when you have that mentor badge on, and AIFD has done this for quite some time, that they have the mentors and that you come early and you mentor people through the AIFD symposium. But having that badge on, people are watching you. Lori, they're not just coming up to you, they're watching Mike. They're seeing how he interacts with people. He's seeing how he's interacts with the young, with other vendors and everyone else. And I think that is more powerful than them coming up and talk to you. They're like, let me see what's she doing? Oh my gosh, what's that guy doing? And then they feel comfortable approaching you or just watching, like, this is what I need to be like. This is the type of person I want to be, kind of when I grow up, right? Of to a certain level. And that to me is more powerful than actually what you're saying and what you're doing. It's just they're watching. They're watching you. Yeah, yeah. That's a really, really good point and also a scary point. I know, right? It's a little scary, but you wouldn't have it if the if SAF didn't believe that you were someone that people should model themselves after. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:50

So yeah, I was excited for it because I believe in it. I think all three of us believe in the power of mentorship because I feel like we all had mentors in our life, which leads me to my question for you, Mike. Starting out on your path in this industry, who were your mentors or did you have any?

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Well, when I first started out, I was very young. I was 16 years old, and I didn't want to go to school. And my dad and my uncle and my grandfather, they had a wholesale business in the flower market on 28th Street. A normal person would say my dad was my mentor, which is true. So I never lived with my dad. My parents were divorced when I was maybe one year old or so. So I never really lived with him, but I got to be with him all day, every day, and I was in awe with my father, and not just on how he operated, but like how he dressed and what kind of cars he drove. And my dad was cool, man. He just really was a cool guy, and he was a ladies' man, and he had a good taste in cars and so many other things. But growing up in the flower market, you get micro-mentors everywhere. Let's say they're 40 somewhat friendly competitors on the same street, and you get to know them, and you're just some kids, so they have no fear of talking to you. You're Eddie's son, you know, just some kid. It's like I'm I'm no threat to them. And by doing that, I got to learn from a whole lot of people. And then when I decided that I was going to go out on my own and get into, I thought the mass markets and the supermarkets were the future. I was in my late 20s when I did that, and I went out and I started a bouquet company. And one of my dad's friends was a buyer for a supermarket, and I really looked up to him, and I went to visit with him and his buyer, and they told me, No, you're not ready for us. You need to go out and you need to get some more experience and then come back and talk to us. So I listened to what he said. His name is Danny Senatucati, he's now retired, but he was one of those industry leaders who actually took the bunch of daffodils, the random bunch of marguerite daisies that you saw in a supermarket. And he was the one of the main ones, especially up in the Northeast, that really saw the value of flowers and how people love flowers. And he somehow convinced these store owners, because it was a cooperative, he kind of convinced these store owners to allow more and more square footage for flowers. And then before you know it, these stores are having like full service shops inside these stores. And anyway, so I went out and I made my bones, so to speak, with some smaller customers for a while. And I bought myself with the help of Olimx Holland, they allowed me to buy a bouquet line and I bought it with 12 post-dated checks. I had to give them 12 checks because I didn't have the money to buy it. So they allowed me to finance it with 12 postdated checks over a year. And I took that machine and I hired some guys, and now I was ready. And I went back over to Danny and his buyer, her name was Nancy at that time. And they said, okay, we're gonna give you a shot. And I know he gave me the shot because he was a friend of my dad's and he knew me since I was a little kid. They said, We'll fax you over the purchase orders. And I figured, give me a few boxes, they're not gonna give me anything. And they gave me like 400 boxes of bouquets that were to be delivered like three days later. Oh my, there's no way I can do it. And we worked, we literally worked almost 24 hours a day for two days straight. And we actually produced the order, delivered the order on time. And from that moment forward, Danny kind of put his arm around me and protected me against the big groups that would come in to try. Like, they always left me a spot, they never cut me out completely, even though I might have been more expensive or whatever. He was one of my mentors as well. Danny said, Okay, I I miss talking to him. Danny Danny Carisi was another like a manufacturer's representative for different flower and plant companies. I would do work for him, and he helped me a lot as well. So there's a long list of mentors that I had had.

SPEAKER_03 13:33

Wow. So what I hear you say is you because because of your relationship with your dad, and the your dad had good relationship with other people in this industry, and because of that they mentored you, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:55

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 13:57

And so I see that Vonda sees that, Ellie sees that, we see that in you and your family business too. Absolutely, absolutely your sons and you like it's it's all generational. You're patterning after your father. It makes me feel emotional because like you're telling the story and we're seeing it play out in the next generation, too. So that's that is so amazing. Is your dad still living? No, no, no.

SPEAKER_04 14:27

So he would be so amazing.

SPEAKER_03 14:30

He would be so proud, you know, like to see your sons doing it too, and your sons are mentoring in their own way, also. And speaking of your sons and the younger generation, what do you think young people in our industry because you do have a platform on this podcast, on your own podcast, on everything? What do you think they need to hear right now? Like if you could offer them any piece of wisdom or advice, what is it you would say to them?

SPEAKER_00 15:08

If you listen to a lot of messages that come across, they say that young people don't like to work. They say that young people don't want to go to an office, they want to work remotely. And I'm sure there is plenty of them that want to do things that way.

SPEAKER_04 15:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

But that has not been my experience. My experience has been that young people are attracted to businesses and types of businesses and companies that's going to give them some sort of reward, not only with money. Right. But to give them reward of like accomplishments and of being able to travel to places they never thought they could travel before, or to attend a convention that you never thought that you would attend before. I think it's a lot of bullshit that young people don't want to work and young people don't want to punch the clock, so to speak, and don't want to work long hours, they don't want to work weekends, they don't want to work on holidays. I don't think that's entirely true. I think if young people today, if they're into what they're doing and if they're curious about what they're gonna be doing, you can't hold them down. You can't hold them down, and it is not for money. I don't think most of these young people, money is the first thing on their list. I think it's some sort of being able to post it on social media is important to them. To be able for people to watch their life go in their profession as well as personally.

SPEAKER_04 16:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

I believe that that's a big thing for them, for them to be able to share their experiences on their own personal social media, not just on a business, but also in personal. And I think the flower industry gives you that stuff. And that doesn't really matter what side of the industry you're on. The creativity doesn't end. These breeders are popping out new varieties faster than you can remember what they are. And we are looking for these people. We are looking for them because it's an industry full of old farts. We need these young people to come in here and be the next generation. So I I would say if you're a clock watcher, the flower business ain't for you. Right. If you want everything delivered to you on a silver platter, the flower business is not for you.

SPEAKER_03 17:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

But if you're creative, if you are mind hard work and you don't mind getting up early in the morning, you don't mind having to work on weekends sometimes, and you don't mind jumping on a plane and traveling, you don't mind working with like-minded people.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

Being a team player, right, Mike? Being a team player. I think that's it.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

I think that we've gotten a little bit of a bad rap. And we're moody, we are not always happy, smiley, whatever, because the flower business is that kind of stressful business. But I mean, there are people that go to college and then they go and they get their MBA from the Worthing School of Business and they go work in the stock market. What's the difference?

SPEAKER_03 18:26

Yeah, yeah, that's that's quite a moody business, too.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

There's no difference. Right. There's no difference. The the difference is the flower business, the stock market is you can fast track yourself to an executive position pretty quick if you hustle and you put the work in. But you go and you spend all this money on all these master's degrees and all this stuff just so you can get a job working for some big bank and they put you in uh in the pit in the stock market and you're throwing papers around, and it's the same yelling, screaming, everyone's making money or losing money in a bad mood, in a good mood. It's the same shit without having the need to have all that formal education. You could get a really good education, and I'm not telling people not to go to school, I would never say that. But what I'm saying is it isn't necessary in order for you to be a young person. Look, we got a kid here, he's 30 years old. 30 years old. We saw something in him. We hired him as a guy to clean the buckets years ago, and we saw something in this kid, and we took him out of buckets and then we put him in like more of a packing position in the cash and carry, and then it evolved into a sales position in the cash and carry. And I thought so much of this young man, I said, I'm gonna invest in him. And we sent him to Holland. Pinky! That's right, we sent Pinky to Holland for three weeks. He worked one week on a flying Dutchman truck, he worked one week in a cash and carry, and he worked one week in a Holland exporter. And he came back here with a head full of ideas. And just last week, we asked him if he would be interested in taking on the role of the manager of that department. Wow. As the leader of that department. He's 30 years old. There's people older than him that is working in that department. My son Connor is also in that department. And Connor decided to come into the flower business after he went to NextGen with Casey and Ryan. That was his decision making when he met all these people in the same age. And he's doing really well, and he's now in sales as well, and he's doing really well. So, like, it's very possible. Yeah, it's very possible he's making good money. And he's here early in the morning, he's here till the afternoon, he works weekends when he has to, he covers for other people who ain't here. He's gonna be the leader, he's gonna have the weight of the world on his shoulders. He's 30 years old.

SPEAKER_02 21:08

Isn't it self-satisfaction, Mike, that you're finding and in your modeling, you are modeling for them what it's like. And they're like, hey, you know, he doesn't look like he's overworked, he's stressed sometime, yes, but this looks like a great position. So the modeling that you're doing, the mentoring modeling, is bringing these young people in, and you have an eye for that, which you just mentioned.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

You can always spot the ones that have a lot of potential. And I read recently, and I say this in our meetings a lot is just because you're a good producer does not mean that you're a good leader. Oh, a hundred percent. And I have made that mistake a thousand times. I have put good producers in leadership roles and it didn't work out. Yeah, so I have these conversations with them now, and I Say, hey, before I even think about putting you with a position of more responsibility, do you even want it? Like, I know you're a great producer and I know you're where you are, but I mean, for me, it's not just about money. The money part is kind of the easy part. The hard part is taking on the responsibility and not being overwhelmed and just say, well, I made a mistake. This is not for me. And, you know, we don't want to lose you as an employee just because we gave you promotion. So, like, I take my time with it and we talk for a long time and try to make sure that it's just not all about the dollars, that it's actually about your personal satisfaction and your personal growth within the company. And the schooling that we give, you can't go to a college and pay for it.

SPEAKER_03 22:48

No.

SPEAKER_00 22:48

The schooling that they get working in a flower company, whether it's retail, whether it's a farm, whether it's wholesale, whether it's an importance, doesn't really matter what segment. The schooling that you're gonna get, there really is no college for that. It's a school of hard gunps. That's a school and you invest your time.

unknown 23:05

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

And you take some pain and you work some holiday rushes that nobody wants to do. And that's how you you find out who are the real leaders and who aren't.

SPEAKER_03 23:19

Yeah, yeah. I get it. So what what's going on with JetFresh? What's brewing with JetFresh? What's new with JetFresh? Every time I'm on social media, you you have your wholesale, but then you have something new.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

We've done a few new things lately. We have a two really new important projects. One that I'll talk about first is our new strategic partnership with VIP Roses. This is a conversation that I've had for about seven years, ever since I bought the farm in Ecuador. Every year I travel to Holland and I always visit with the Assassin family, the owners of VIP Roses, not because originally because I had anything in mind. It's only because I've been a fan, a super fan of them forever. So as long as I can remember, I've always been a super fan of VIP Roses because they're the nutty professors of flowers. They are creative geniuses, and they have convinced the world that it's okay to work with color-enhanced flowers. And the US, in my opinion, is really far behind Europe when it comes to the consumption of flowers. And these guys have a whole business only around color-enhancing flowers. And one of the things that they do is they have their waxed roses, which are their choco roses, their fresh roses, which are created to look like chocolate-covered roses. And it's taken them 20-something years to develop to the point where it is now. And before COVID, it was a flat out no. And during COVID, it got to be a maybe. And you know, a lot has changed in Holland as far as the production of roses, and there's a lot less growers of roses in Holland because of the cost to heat the greenhouses in winter, and there's a lot more imports from Africa and stuff like that into Holland that they use. But it felt like the right time to them for a sit-down, and after months of going back and forth and talking about it, Jeff Fresh Growers has become the only officially licensed manufacturers and distributors of VIP Choco Roses into the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean. So we have an exclusive agreement with them. It's basically like a franchise. We have to use their packaging. Everything we produce has to be under the strict approval of them. They approve the packaging. Even if we create something new, it needs to be shared with them first and get their approval. And we also have to give them the recipe that we use because they want to do it as well on their side. So I felt like it was a great opportunity for a small boutique farm to come out with something that the US really doesn't consume much of. It's something that people bring in from Holland on holidays, but the prices are really high. So in order to get the price more in line with the margins that a retail florist or a dot-com florist would need, Ecuador is the solution to that. So we're packing them and shipping them. Right now, we've gotten all the bugs out. It's taken us about seven months, six or seven months, to get the equipment right, to go back and forth with VIP. They came down to the farm, they inspected everything. We built a new building just for it. We're running it just like Willie Wonka. You cannot come in without a golden ticket. You cannot come in without a golden ticket because everything's gonna be a little bit more.

SPEAKER_03 27:22

Are you wrapping up in candy bars? Can we buy the candy bars and get the golden tickets?

SPEAKER_00 27:26

No, no, but I like to use movies as a way to connect the idea. And you know, I know that Mr. Slugworth is around looking, trying to get in, but we're not letting him in. And I recently had a visit from Lisa and Ali from 50 Flowers.

SPEAKER_03 27:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:45

The week before last, we met at my farm for the day. And when they came in to the VIP laboratory, we gave them a golden ticket so they can enter.

SPEAKER_04 27:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Yeah, it was great. And now they they're thinking about putting it on their website as something cool, unique, and new. And I think a lot of florists out there would benefit from having something unique like that on their landing page of their websites because, like, what else is there new? What else is there new to think of? And they can buy as little as 20 stems from their wholesaler. They don't need to buy hundreds and hundreds of stems. They could buy as little as 20. And right now, like all the Kennicots got samples like a couple weeks ago. We got really good reviews from all the locations. So we're hoping that they're gonna bring that out there and and put that in their hands and some dot-com people. So because there is the there's a traditional wholesale stream, and then there's the farm to be farm to consumer. There's all these different ways that people are buying and selling flowers. Supply chain is just a mess. You could buy flowers just any which way. And we're looking to partner with just a few. We don't want to saturate the market, we don't want to overproduce, we want to make sure that we continue to do the same philosophies that the Sassin brothers have, where it's limited. There's four or five other people that do wax roses in Holland. No one's ever heard of them. No one follows them. They're not VIP. It's kind of like the story of the ketchup. You know, the story of the ketchup. You go into a restaurant, you go to a restaurant and they got they got like Cisco ketchup on the table, and you kind of know what your experience is gonna be like. Or it's hunts, it's not hot, right? And so you go to a place that has hinds, okay, we're home, we're on a good spot. I think the VIP Rose brand, the VIP brand itself, is globally known. And I think it's the Heinz of Flowers. And I'm super excited about it. I invested a lot of time, effort, and of course money into it. We built a whole new building for it. We brought two sea containers from Europe to Ecuador just to get started, and then it took us months to perfect it so they were actually shippable and there weren't any quality issues on the other side. So, and the second project that we have is up during December, we were notified that a piece of land was for sale on the other side of the river from where my farm is. And we know because of all the roll-ups and acquisitions and mergers that we need to produce more flowers, not only for ourselves, but also to meet the demand of some of the customers existing that we have for our product. So we bought that land, and unfortunately, we don't have much budget to put on that right now because we're building a new warehouse here in Miami. We're not building the warehouse, but we're building the interior of the warehouse coolers and stuff like that, which is very, very expensive. And so we need to finish that. But this year has been a project year for us, and we're a little bit burnt out because of it, but we're almost finished with the warehouse, and the farm started to dig the hole a couple weeks ago for our new irrigation reservoir, and then we will build three hectares of greenhouses this year, and we will grow the most demanded varieties that we have first, and then our long-term 10-year plan is to a little bit each year as as we have some cash available to continue to build it out as we can.

SPEAKER_02 31:30

Congratulations, oh Mike. That's thank you.

SPEAKER_03 31:33

That's that's amazing. Wow. It's all good things. You've had a busy, busy 2025, and it's not even halfway over.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

It's been super busy, but luckily, both in Ecuador and here in Miami, we have an amazing team of people who are all in with the company and are really excited about what's next for us. We're one of those who we know we're not for sale. It's a family business, and there could be a time in the future where we need some investors or something like that in order to continue our growth. Who knows? But we're not gonna be part of those big groups if I can help it. We're gonna continue to be independent, and of course, I have to do business with the bigger groups, but I think there's uh also a group of buyers out there that wants to kind of be more important, and in a way to be more important, you need to be in business with an independent, smaller company where you're not just a number, where you're actually a very important part of us. You want a million stems and red roses? Sure, you can't call us for that. But but if you're looking for a steady supplier, whether it's from the farm or from Miami, we don't really sell flowers and we don't really sell quality. What we sell first and foremost is loyalty. I think that's what some companies don't remember is how important loyalty is in our industry. Because the flower business is one of the few businesses that are still out there in the world that are still all about a handshake. Flowers, produce, and diamonds are the ones that come to my mind. I don't know any other businesses that are not contractual, everything else. There's lawyers involved. Here, yeah. I know you, I know you, you know me, we do business. And I think more people need to remember that. I think a lot of people forget about that. And that pisses me off when I take flowers all summer from a grower and then the market gets hot and then they disappear on me. And that happens more and more every day.

SPEAKER_04 33:42

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:43

You know, I can honestly say, and Vonda, if you have heard something speak now, but I can honestly say I've never heard a negative, like customer service related issue when it comes to JetFresh ever. I've never heard anything negative about you, but when I'm talking about like customer service complaints, because I talk to florists all the time. We talk to a lot of florists. So kudos to you and your team. I think that's where your loyalty comes in. All of your customers feel heard and loved. I think they feel loved.

SPEAKER_02 34:22

That's what I was gonna say, Lori. Relationship. When when I hear that, jet fresh, it's about the relationship that that salesperson has with them. And that's why the loyalty, because they built that relationship and it's like, hey, I'm I'm gonna continue this.

SPEAKER_03 34:35

Yes. And I want to go back to one thing. You and I were talking, I don't know, it was a year ago one time about our love for Simon Sinak. We love him. We follow him on Instagram, we listen to his stuff. And going back to what he was talking about, the younger generations and everything you said is absolutely correct. But he was saying the younger generation, when they go to work, they do expect you to listen about their home life, they do expect the relationship, they do expect the experience. Like you gotta provide that. And so, as you were speaking, I was thinking, not only do you provide that for your employees, but then your employees provide that for your customers. And so it's just that trickle down effect. And that's what we try to do too, a flower click, even though it's a little harder because we're virtual. I mean, sometimes it's really hard because we're virtual, because we can't be physically together. But man, those times that we are, it just makes it that much sweeter. Like that we do, you know, when we can be together. So it's so, so true that they want relationships just like your customers.

SPEAKER_00 35:54

Yeah, I I will tell you, I like to be transparent about that stuff. As far as never pissing off a customer, we're sure you have.

SPEAKER_03 36:02

I'm sure you have. I'm just saying, I'm not just this morning.

SPEAKER_00 36:06

We sent a customer who needed uh white anemones with black center. They got a box of white anemones with green center. Okay, don't worry, we just got a shipment from Italy and we'll replace it. So we shipped on the white with the black center from Italy, but you know, sometimes when it's cold, the white anemone is blush. It's not white. It needs to be in water for a while in order to get white, and the customer didn't like that either. So we're probably not in a good place right now with that customer, although we're continuously offering the FedEx new ones or whatever to replace it. It's still frustrating for them. It's still a screw-up that we created, and we can never be that perfect. And about the young people in the office and in the warehouse and wherever they are, it was a lot easier when there were only a few of us. But there's so many of us now. There's like almost 50 people in Miami, and there's over a hundred people in Ecuador. Yeah. How do you do it? Like, how do you have a conversation with all these people? And how do you have the city of Durral tell you that your permit is not approved for this, this, this reason, and then come back to the office with a smile on your face and say, hey, how about them Yankees? It doesn't happen.

SPEAKER_03 37:23

Like, it's not like No, that's not real life.

SPEAKER_00 37:27

We as the leaders get dark sometimes, at least I do. And I don't get to be that person that people that work for me probably need every day, every time. I try. Right. And I even try to call people after work or something like that, just how you doing, you know, stuff. But it's a whole nother project for me to try to keep up with like Jason just came back from week's vacation. It took me two days to ask him, how's your vacation? You know.

SPEAKER_02 37:58

But other people around him, like you have a Lori. I have a Lori who can do that, right? So Lori goes and checks on other people. You have people who are doing that as well. So it's not like you have to do that every single day. You have Mimi, you have Brian, you know, you have people who are doing that. So those people are still feeling heard. Although we feel like, oh, we should be doing that. Somebody else hang out.

SPEAKER_00 38:24

Well, I kind of feel like I like doing that, and I feel people might might never open up to me like they would to the other people. I think it's good that they talk to other people because sometimes people don't want to tell me stuff, although I think they should. They they just don't want to. And Juanita will always call me out on everything. Like, I love her, like she's like, nope, that's not good. We gotta no. Like, I love her, I love opinions. I love opinions, I love strong people, especially love strong females. In in Ecuador, our 95% of the management team are female in the farm, yeah. And in Miami, it's the opposite. Yeah, so I'm working on changing that too. I want more females to go up the ladder if possible. I think it's uh it's needed. But yeah, we're pissing a customer off here. Yeah, once you're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_03 39:19

Well, I mean, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:22

We try to fix it.

SPEAKER_03 39:23

What you know Well, I think that's key. We talk about that a lot with our Flower Click members and even with ourselves. The key is what did you try to do to solve it? That's where the truth lies, that's where the value is. It's like why reading the reviews on a Airbnb, right? I can read the negative ones, but I want to read how the owner responded. How did they try and was it authentic? That's what I care about.

SPEAKER_00 39:50

And that's what we want that too. I want our Google reviews answered. We had some lady give us a negative Google review because the company stopped to sing happy birthday for one of our oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 40:03

Yeah, please well, then we also know people are a little wacky to those things.

SPEAKER_00 40:09

I like to say they use a Google review as a secret weapon to harm to others. But they don't really get how hard we work and how that can really affect someone's decision. A negative Google review is not great. So, you know, I'm glad we have a lot more good ones than bad ones, but the way these people Google work, we just had somebody from Gravity Free on on the podcast recently who who was explaining to us how we need 350 positive reviews to correct one negative.

SPEAKER_03 40:40

Yeah, it's crazy. And it shouldn't be that way, it's so messed up. Yeah. It just we can't can't work about it. So okay, honestly, we could talk for four hours, but Vonda would have a heart attack.

SPEAKER_02 40:55

It's way too much to edit, I would have to say, Mike. But I am so excited you came on and you are such a big mentor in the industry, not just at JetFresh, but in the industry. And I think sometimes you don't know that. And so being aware of that, um, I don't know, is kind of humbling, I'm sure. But I think it's really cool for you to continue to do that. All the events that you guys are so active in, it's just it's just great to see you and your crew just killing it. That's what I just say, killing it.

SPEAKER_00 41:24

Thank you, Rhonda. Thank you very much, Laurie. We just adore you. We're big fans of you guys, and I I love your business model. I know that our families, our friends, the young ones are friends, and I I think that's all born from these conventions and like-minded people, and I just love it. I love that Laurie's a Miss Piggy fan because I love I'm a Miss Piggy fan.

SPEAKER_03 41:52

They are my friends. Yeah, make me so happy. I think very much.

SPEAKER_00 41:58

I really appreciate our friendship and uh thanks for inviting me. Whenever you need me, you got my number.

SPEAKER_03 42:03

All right, same here. Thanks, Mike. 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 last briefing on Alexa.

SPEAKER_01 42:24

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