Flower Clique's Summer of Petals, Plans & Productivity

Episode 283: Join Lori and Vonda as they dive into the highs and lows of this year’s Mother’s Day sales, share their thoughts on how technology is making us all a bit lazier (and maybe dumber!), and discuss their busy summer ahead. They also reflect on how GPS and AI tools like ChatGPT might be impacting our critical thinking, this candid episode covers it all.

They also chat with special guest Ralph Giordano about the upcoming Florida State Florist Association Convention—think tropical vibes, hands-on workshops, and no fancy black-tie stress! Plus, get the lowdown on their summer travel plans, including Texas State Floral Expo, customer service and sales webinars, and the AIFD Symposium in Palm Springs.

Packed with real talk, laughter, a few valuable tips for florists and creatives alike, this episode is a perfect listen whether you’re designing, delivering, or just dreaming about flowers!

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

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:03

That's gonna be a lot of Diet Coke that week, and we don't even normally drink Diet Coke, but Ellie and I will be drinking Diet Coke that week.

SPEAKER_03 0:15

Welcome to the Business and Pleasure of Flowers.

SPEAKER_05 0:17

We're your hosts, Vonda LaFever and Lori Wilson, and we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Vonda. Good morning, Vonda. Good morning, Lori. First of all, I want to say that last week we had our shop talk, our monthly flower click shop talk, and it was our Mother's Day recap. And both of them went very well. Everybody had pretty good Mother's Day. I think everyone was pleasantly surprised. Didn't you kind of have that same feeling?

SPEAKER_03 0:55

I did too, yeah. And I've had several conversations with shops too that some of them were flat, you know, like maybe up 3%. You know, which they're like, well, that's pretty flat. But many of them had good Mother's Days. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:09

And many, actually. It was very encouraging. Right. And a lot of them really thought they were going to be low, or like worse than last year. So anyway, I was concerned about coming into Shop Talk because I didn't know. It seems like a lot of them were real slow the beginning of the week. And then like Thursday, Friday, wow, it it just kicked in.

SPEAKER_03 1:35

Except for the ones who took your advice that you give every single year. Yeah. And do pre-calling. And they were like over the moon excited what they were able to place since they did the pre-calling. Yeah. Yeah. That was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_05 1:48

That was really telling to me. And every single year we have more and more shops that take that advice and realize, oh my gosh, this was this is easy. This is, you know, the one one of our smaller shops said that they had a one of their newer employees was like, I want to do that. And she's like, okay. And she did. She made 250 calls. I know. I loved that. And she said she was so proud of her. And and it really, really was helpful from a production standpoint, too, and delivery standpoint. So anyway, it was it was good. I'm I'm I know they're glad it was over. And now we've moved on to all of the graduations and summer, summer things. But anyway, I want to talk about something that has nothing to do with that. I want to talk about some things that have been bothering me lately. Some things that are causing me to have trust issues with the world, I guess. I don't know how else to put it. So I was reading an article, and I wasn't reading it on TikTok, I promise. I was actually reading it reading. Okay, you're reading a real article. I usually tell you I was reading an article on TikTok. So this one had actual words. And this is true. I think there are things out there that are making us dumber in this world by choice. By choice, we're choosing to be dumber. And it started for me, it started with Google Maps. It actually started with MapQuest back in the day when you could get the address and print out the map and follow it.

SPEAKER_04 3:35

Right.

SPEAKER_05 3:38

Now I just plug in my phone and go, okay. Yes yesterday I had to go pick up a prescription. I clicked on the the text that said your prescription's ready, and I took me to the address to the CVS. It was the wrong CVS. So they were like, ma'am, slash idiot, this is not the right CVS. But it's the one my Google map took me to. It was four miles. So anyway, long story short and embarrassing. I didn't fact check or do anything because I just trusted the button. The guy was like, no, this is wrong, blah blah blah blah. Or I had to go to the other one, took forever, made me mad. I I was stuck in 530 traffic, blah blah blah. I'm thinking about this and I'm like, I don't check things anymore because I just click a button and listen to my lady that tells me where to turn, where to go. Yes, that's true. You know, like I'm not using my brain. Like I used to literally look through an atlas or look through even a printed out map or track and or use common sense to read the address. Had I looked down and actually looked at the road and checked it with my brain, I would have known, hmm, that's probably not the right one. The other thing that I know beyond the shadow of a doubt is causing me maybe I don't know to be dumber, but to be more skeptical of other people's intellect is Chat GPT. Yes. 100%. Every email that comes to me, every post, everything I assume was not written by that person. And that is probably pretty true. So what am I supposed to do with that? Because as someone that taught reading language arts and taught how to write a research paper and taught how to write a book report, like use your brain for good and to write creative writing, I'm just gonna walk through the rest of my life assuming everyone's stupid, including myself. Because we're getting to this point already that everything I write, I'm like, oh gosh, should I run that through chat GPT first to make sure it's okay?

SPEAKER_03 6:21

Because we're second guessing ourselves when we write. Yes. And even when you're writing an email, the that little pencil thing comes up on mine that says, Would you like us to exactly?

SPEAKER_05 6:32

I'm like, snap it to a failed pencil, get out of my face. Yeah. Let me error if I want. Let me sell my own. Error is human. To forgive is divine, isn't that the same? That's what the saying is. That's right. Like, I don't know. These are just feelings I have. And I feel like the rate we are going, none of us, our our brains are all gonna be mush because we just throw it into the phone, throw it into the app, and then just send it.

SPEAKER_03 7:07

Well, and even more importantly, things like do our young children even know how to read a map? You've gone through that. No, they don't. Do they know what a white map looks like? Can they maneuver through that so they can use their brain to go, oh, that doesn't make sense? Right. Because we do rely on, you know, not map quests, but whatever maps to get me where I'm going, even if I'm going to be going in a couple weeks to Orlando, Florida. I know how to get there. I know the way because years ago, right? I I've been there enough times, but I still listen to every direction to tell me where to turn. And that one's mostly because of traffic. But I will check with my granddaughters to see. I have a you know, a high school and a junior high to see, hey, are you learning anything about maps? I think that's important. Yeah. But then the AI, boy, I can't imagine having to be in a school, a teacher like you used to be. Yeah. And to try to determine, did that person write that? Or I don't know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 8:19

I know there's software from what, again, from what I've read, or from what some of my teacher friends have told me. I mean, that software, the minute that's created, there's something else created to combat that software. And again, that's the problem. There's always gonna be one step ahead.

SPEAKER_03 8:37

So Lori, I have a solution. Maybe. Okay. Instead of them writing everything, maybe they need to have the student get on and do a video. Even if they're reading that kind of thing, but then if it's not like in their own words, it's not gonna flow well. Right. They're just reading it.

SPEAKER_05 8:56

No, that's not a bad idea. Actually, my youngest who is taking college courses right now, that was one of his finals, an option that he could do. He could do a Zoom video for his final as his report, which I don't think was a bad idea. Presentation reporting his whatever, his findings. But I don't know. I just think even when like social media content nowadays, people posting stuff, and like every time I see like a certain amount of emojis and things like that, I'm like, eh, they got that on Chat GPT. Right. And I'm just, I don't know. These are thoughts that enter my mind.

SPEAKER_03 9:36

Well, I understand why you think people are getting dumber because we're not using our brain.

SPEAKER_05 9:41

Well, and again, I'm including myself in that because I I use Chat GPT every day. And then I'm like, God, why am I second guessing my email to this person? I understand for grammar, you know, making sure did I do yes, all my T's are crossed, my I's are dotted, you know, that type of thing. But it's okay. It's sometimes it's okay to sound like a human. You need to sound like a human. Right. Right. Come on, let's be human. We we want to come off and sound human.

SPEAKER_03 10:18

So well, that's a perfect segue into talking about what we have coming up for the summer, because the summer is gonna be a blink. Speaking of maps, Google Maps, yeah, and education and being smarter and not dumber. Yeah, all of those things, you know, there's a lot going on this summer with us, you know, with Flower Click, with Business and Pleasure Flowers. We are gonna be all over the place.

SPEAKER_05 10:45

I have R on the road. And I think we talked about this, I don't know, when a while back. The beginning of the year, I was like, do we have anything scheduled? Like, I feel remember that I'm embarrassed that I even had that conversation with you and Ellie. And I'm like, be careful what you ask for. And now I'm kind of like, wrap, my entire summer is booked with just random tricks.

SPEAKER_03 11:11

Well, we kick it off really June 4th. And we're not on the road, but we have a session on profitability that we're doing. Yes. Anyone is welcome to come to. Please look at an email that'll be coming about profitability, about pricing. It should be, it should be fun. I'll be doing some designing because you tell me I need a design design for design.

SPEAKER_05 11:33

And that webinar link went out in our newsletter a couple weeks ago. So you should already have it if you are signed up for that. But if not, make sure you're signed up.

SPEAKER_03 11:43

Yes. So that one's on the fourth. And right that weekend, we go to Florida State, Floris Association, and we're gonna bring in Ralph to talk a little bit about that. Yeah. So Ralph, let's listen to Raleigh. So, Lori, Donna and I will be attending Florida State, which is the 6th, 7th, and 8th, I do believe. But I really don't know that much about it. So we invited the expert about the convention to join us today.

SPEAKER_05 12:10

Our our favorite member. Oh, we don't have favorites, but if we did, we got all Ralph. And you know what I'll say about Ralph Giordano? He is even our members' favorite member.

SPEAKER_03 12:22

That's true. He is everybody's favorite. Because he's so helpful and insightful and shares all of his knowledge, and it's just invaluable, Ralph. I don't know if you really realize that, but you are just amazing to be able to help everybody. We love you for sharing Ralph.

SPEAKER_05 12:37

And I'm bummed that I can't come to Florida State because I have conflicts. The month of June's already gone in my mind. Ralph, tell us about Florida State Convention.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

Sure, absolutely. So, like Vonda was saying, it is basically the first week of June. It's a few days into the first week of June, and it is at Margaritaville in Orlando. So we are gonna have a nice little party. It's gonna be a little bit of a different twist on what we usually do. So it's gonna be a little more of a relaxed feel, a little more kind of chic, beachy chic versus formal. So we're gonna play into the whole Margaritaville thing, you know, cheeseburger in Paradise and all that good stuff, right?

SPEAKER_05 13:22

Based in a way in Margaritaville.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

Exactly, exactly. The resort itself is amazing. So if anybody wants to come, I believe they got a lazy rip river. So definitely bring your bathing suit because you're gonna enjoy it. It's been hot here in Florida. The pool is definitely gonna be a nice relaxing aspect to it. As far as the convention itself goes, it's jam-packed. We've got several stage presentations, we got several breakout sessions, hands-on classes. We even have a special hands-on class prior to the opening of convention to give everyone an additional educational opportunity. So us at Florida State, we're always looking for the best bang for the book, the most amount of education and presenters and broad spectrum of presenters to be able to give you, give the attendee that experience they need or want in the industry so they can get a little bit of everything, basically.

SPEAKER_03 14:21

That's great. When I looked over the programs, I thought, wow, this is really great. You have that nice mix of hands-on the classes, but then the maid stage and just great opportunities. But I'm glad to hear the beachy feel and more of a kind of a laid back thing. That'll be really fun. Really, really fun.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

Yeah, definitely. You know, it's still semi-formal, but it's not the whole black tie tuxedo feel. I'm probably gonna wear a nice tan linen suit or something along those lines, you know, just something relaxed and beachy.

SPEAKER_05 14:49

Yeah. So what would you say, Ralph? First of all, we're, you know, the end of May. Is it too late to register?

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Absolutely not. We discourage walk-ups and walk-ins just because of the food aspect of it, but we still do take a few. We always allow for that, but it is definitely not too late to still register. Our registration is still open. We tried to make the schedule to where nothing really overlaps so that way an attendee gets to see if they want to everything the convention has to offer.

SPEAKER_05 15:21

Oh, that's my pet peeve. When the conventions have too many choices in one hour to where you have to pick and you can't see, let's say there's three different things at one time and you have to pick, but you you don't have those options at another time. So not repeating. Yeah. Yeah, they're not repetitive. What would you say to someone that has never attended any kind of convention and is maybe on the fence because they might have to come by themselves?

SPEAKER_00 15:55

Sure. So it's the be open-minded. When you go to a convention like Florida State or Texas State or AIFD's symposium, it's all about the education. It's all about the opportunity, it's all about the inspiration. It's not so much here's the design and sell this in your store. Because a lot of the stuff that we're showing you is not so much retail friendly in most markets. But the techniques, the style, the color, the combination, those are all things that can be easily implemented in your everyday, daily work. So that's the main thing. It's just be open-minded. Don't go there with the attitude, oh, I can never sell that. Because then you're going to get discouraged and you're not going to get the education that's needed. And then when you have the ability, do the hands-on classes. Like we offered two, I think it's four sessions, if I remember correctly, two different hands-on classes that were included in your registration. So there was no additional fee for that. When you have this opportunity, sign up for the hands-on class because you're going to get that one-on-one with that designer. You're going to get that touchy, feely feeling. So it's not just watching everything, you're getting a chance to actually do stuff. And those opportunities are wonderful because you typically, like myself, I learn from doing. I'm not book smart. I'm street smart. Everything I've ever learned, I've done it with my own bare hands. So, you know, I understand that feeling. And I understand people out there in the industry are just like me. They learn by doing, not so much by being shown what to do.

unknown 17:33

Right.

SPEAKER_03 17:33

Yeah, I love that, Rolf. But the other thing that you mentioned, Lori, is going by yourself. One thing, don't be afraid. And you're there, don't have blinders on. You need to actually reach out to people. Very first time I went to an AIFD symposium, I went from Iowa to California and I was scared to death. But I'm like, I did it. And you run into people and they're like, oh, we're so glad you're here. And you know, everybody there is welcoming and wants you to be there. And I know Florida is such a great, friendly atmosphere that people are like embracing you all the time. So don't worry about that.

SPEAKER_00 18:08

Yeah, absolutely. I would definitely agree about that. We make it our point to get involved with the newest members or the people that have never attended before and kind of introduce them to a few people, show them around. It is one of our strong suits, like you said.

SPEAKER_03 18:26

It is, definitely. Definitely.

SPEAKER_05 18:27

One more question, and I think this is probably obvious, but I want to make it clear because we have listeners from all over the country. This is open to people from any state, right?

SPEAKER_00 18:36

Yes. Our convention is open to anyone all over the country. And Florida State is Florida State International. We have members from all over the world. You do not need to live in Florida to be a member of Florida State. It is only $100 a year to be a member. That's nothing. We have educational things on our website. We're constantly adding new content. We do a great social media. We do pop-up little events all throughout the state of Florida and surrounding states. So if you're on the fence, spend the hundred bucks. It's only $100. You'll learn more information and make back that $100 in just your first thing that you do with the Florida State.

SPEAKER_05 19:24

Yeah. Well, it's also just nice to be connected to a community of other florists and designers. I mean, that's worth $100 a year right there.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

Absolutely. And the majority of our members are just like you. There are brick and mortar retail shop owners or event people. We do have some heavy hitters. We got Mr. Ian Prosser. Everyone knows who he is, and it's his daughter Zoe. We got Deborah De LaFleur. We got Jackie Lacey. So we're blessed to have a few heavy hitters in the industry. But they're so down to earth. They would take you by the hand. They will show you something. They will teach you something. They will talk to you. They are definitely not unapproachable.

SPEAKER_04 20:08

Right. Right. You guys do have a lot of teachers in Florida. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

We do have a good amount of heavy hitters. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 20:17

Like a lot of people don't want to jump out and just teach natural teachers.

SPEAKER_03 20:22

Oh, and embrace them and embrace the new forest or just new to Florida State convention. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 20:29

So I would say if this was my first time, that would definitely be the a convention to go to because you're going to be received in a very friendly manner. So anyway, Ralph, thank you for first of all. I literally texted you nine minutes ago. It's like, hey, can you jump on? Yeah, sure. That's fine. Send me a link. But we think it's important, right? We want to share this and we want as many people to attend these, especially these state level conventions, because honestly, they are bondas and my favorite things to attend. What's one of the things we love about the summer is being able to go to the state ones and AFD and SAF, but we love these state conventions because they're such hard work, too, from behind the scenes. My gosh, you guys plan these all year round, two years in advance sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

And we modeled ours towards the AIFD Symposium. So a lot of the similarities that Symposium offers, we offer them on a slightly smaller scale. So you'll kind of get a taste of the big leagues, if you want to call it that, when you come to Florida State.

unknown 21:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:36

We'll look forward to seeing you there, Ralph. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 21:39

Absolutely. Always my pleasure. Thank you, ladies.

SPEAKER_03 21:43

And then I get back from that on Sunday and leave the next Friday, I think. I go for the photo shoot right before Father's Day. Then I head up to Des Moines, Iowa for a photo shoot.

SPEAKER_05 21:55

Yes, that's a week long photo shoot you and Ellie and I and Julie. And Tim Farrell, we're all gonna be there. That is gonna be a hectic week, but we always make it fun. It will. It'll be fun.

SPEAKER_03 22:07

It'll be a lot of work. We'll get a lot done and a lot of work.

SPEAKER_05 22:11

It's a lot. It's it's a lot. That's gonna be a lot of Diet Coke that week. And we don't even normally drink Diet Coke, but Ellie and I will be drinking Diet Coke that week.

SPEAKER_03 22:21

Yeah, it's it's going to be really great, Lori, because I'm excited because Ellie sent out a survey to all of our members to ask them what are we missing with flower colour? Most of them said, You're doing great, there's not a problem, but we'd like to see this. And and we asked for suggestions for colors, you know, different color palettes. Right. So Tim and I and Julie are going to meet and go over all that and make sure that we have a really try to try to really accommodate. Yeah, try to accommodate. We can't do every single thing, but we can try to do other we can make some, yeah, we can make some adjustments. Yep. After that, then boy, I come on Sunday and I think Thursday, I fly down to Houston to be with you. Yep.

SPEAKER_05 23:03

And then we go to Texas State Floral Expo that weekend. That's going to be in League City, which is close to Galveston. It's kind of between Houston and Galveston area. And you and I are going to be presenting there. There's a ton of good classes there. So if anyone is on the fence about going to that, I highly suggest attending that. That's a big convention. They do it every other year. Well, then they do a smaller one in those off seasons. It's a really, really fun one. We're going to be doing what is ours called? Service and synergy.

SPEAKER_03 23:39

Yep. That's it. Yeah. That'll be good. We have the business session, but there's a lot of design sessions, hands-yep. So much going on. So really mark your calendars and try to make it to Texas State. We'd love to be able to see you there. Yes. And then right after that, Lori, forget the 4th of July and then July 9th. We have another summer session, which is a webinar. And you are going to be talking about customer service and sales. That's on July 9th.

SPEAKER_04 24:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 24:06

That's going to be a good one. That'll be on our next newsletter, probably.

SPEAKER_05 24:09

We're going to be giving away little secrets that are in our sales prep 2.0 school webinar.

SPEAKER_03 24:15

So you're going to want to come to that. Fun. Fun. And then the next day, I will be leaving on July 10th to go to AIFD Symposium in Palm Springs and be there till the 16th. So that'll be just like a here we go. Yeah. And Ellie's going to that, right? I think come for a couple days to the expo part. That'll be fun. That'll be fun. And then I think we have some personal vacations in there between you and I and my family comes. Yes. Yes. And we have a lot of our team goes on all those vacations. And then we have Society of American Florist Convention.

SPEAKER_05 24:54

Yes. We have SAF convention. When is that? August 11th, is it?

SPEAKER_03 24:59

I think it's the 11th through the 14th.

SPEAKER_05 25:02

14th, yes. August 11th through the 14th. And I am going to have Amanda Jadlinski on the podcast to talk about all of the fun stuff coming up for SAF. And I know you and Tim Farrell are going to be presenting there all about sympathy. You're going to be doing some designs and a lot of cool stuff there.

SPEAKER_03 25:22

Yep. We're excited about that. So we'll hear more about that when we have Amanda on. So it'll be a quick, quick, busy summer for sure. And then Christmas. Well, we have a few things coming up in the fall, but nothing is totally solidified yet. So I think in the next couple of weeks we'll have some more things to talk about. So everybody make sure that you're signed up for something to educate yourself, get yourself motivated for what's coming next. I mean, we've always got to be prepared for what's coming next as well as motivate yourself, educate yourself, get better. Yep.

SPEAKER_05 25:57

All right. Hopefully we'll see you guys at one of these places. Love to see everybody. See you there. 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_02 26:21

We look forward to seeing you next week. 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.