Sending Smiles ~

About a month ago I was doing my usual buzzing around the shop and noticed a few people browsing. I greeted each with a "Hello" and a "Is anyone helping you yet?". Each told me they were being helped and I did not doubt it as all my employees were hard at work wrapping bouquets and bagging gift items. It's what I love about retail! That whole, I'm here, I need help and I need it now. I find it so stimulating! One woman, as I greeted her said "This place is amazing". She had this look on her face, her head was moving up and down, left and right and her eyes almost looked wild. I became alarmed!! What did she mean? Amazing good or amazing bad? I was almost afraid to ask but I said "Is that a good thing?" and she was like - "oh yes, this place is amazing". I had to ask further, "In what way" and she went on to tell me that she couldn't believe the selection of product we carried, how many employees were flitting her

Hey, you may laugh at the title of this blog but while sitting in the Miami Airport on my way back from vacation, I was thinking about work, more to the point marketing my product. I'm pretty much always thinking, the wheels are always turning, how can I make my business better, what can I do to sell more flowers and it came to me, the true strength of my product is that it's perishable. How can this be a strength? Well, think about it, how many people do you know that "have it all"? I'm sure, if you are like me, you know many of these people that have just about everything they need. I believe that I'm one of those people. Honestly, I have a nice house, food on the table, an adoring husband and two cats in the yard, there isn't anything I truly need. So what does this have to do with flowers? If you are like me, you've seen some of those programs on TV that show people trying to get out from underneath tons of clutter in their houses. They subject the

We've all heard that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and boy if that isn't the truth, I don't know what it. Being in the business of floral design puts me in the center of this truism just about every day. We've all had this happen. Someone in your life gives you this gift for your birthday or maybe Christmas. They watch you intently as you open the package, bit by bit. They have this look on their face that says "she's gonna love it, I hope she loves it" and of course, you really want to love this gift you are opening. You have all these preconceived notions of what this gift could be. Is it those cool jeans you saw in American Eagle or maybe one of those soft and fuzzy terry cloth robes you saw at Victoria Secrets. The tension mounts. Them looking at you and you intently digging inside the gift box and then it happens.... you unfold the ugliest blouse you have ever seen in your life. You look up into the eyes of the person who's obviously excite

Why, you might ask, would a florist who has worked 90 hours this week, be taking the time to write a blog? Surely, I deserve a rest! I must confess, that a glass of wine and a warm bubble bath sounds wonderful right about now. The truth is that Mother's Day is an emotional day for me. With no time to really process my feelings and being responsible for helping to make other peoples mother's happy, my thoughts constantly turn towards my own mother. I've noticed over the years that Mother's Day is a very emotional holiday. It's amazing the look on a woman's face when you hand her those flowers! It's what inspires me most in this business. But with all the good and honorable feelings, sometimes negative and discouraging feelings arise. I remember about 6 years ago a woman called me late on Sunday afternoon and wanted me to know that she was most displeased with the flowers she had received from her daughter. I was, of course, very upset and offered to redelive

When you really think about it, we all have Assistants in our lives. They might not have the title of Professional Administrative Assistant but there are those people, both at work and at home, that help to make our lives easier. It might be a simple as someone who you can assign duties to at work, or who makes dinner for you at home but we all have those people that sometimes go unappreciated. What would be do without them? I don't even want to think about it! So, as a florist, knowing that this week is Professional Administrative Assistants Week or Secretary's Week, whatever you want to call it, it makes me think that we should all take a few minutes to thank the people in our lives.

This morning, as I was driving to the shop after a meeting, I started thinking about the floral seminar that I attended at the beginning of the month. Our speaker had called flowers a "Gift" and he was trying to have all of us (florists) think of our product as a "gift option". I knew what he was getting at and I agreed that sometimes we forget that flowers are one of many gift giving choices. Sometimes in my mind, I have set us apart from other gift retailers but the truth is that our product is one of many options that gift givers can choose from. Now this got me to thinking how do flowers rank as gift? I’ve been in the business so long that sometimes it’s hard to think like a consumer or even a recipient of flowers. In an instant, I was 5 years old again. It was my first dance recital and my mom had given me a sweet little nosegay of carnations and babies breath, tied with a pink bow. If I close my eyes, I can still smell those flowers and I feel instantly h