Forecasters predict that this holiday season will show higher revenue than others for retailers!

For most floral business owners, the holiday season brings in a tremendous amount of the year’s revenue, and early preparation is crucial to staying ahead of the competition.

Preparing for the winter holidays puts a lot of pressure on shoppers and retailers alike. What gift could be simpler or more beautiful than flowers? So now it becomes a question of presentation, and offering the right deals to get customers in the door.

Image via Shutterstock

Jolly Promotions

Promotions are not just for your big chain department stores. Flower shop owners have jumped on the holiday offers bandwagon and are expanding their profits with major bargain flower deals. Make sure to advertise your floral deals on your website, social media, email marketing and anywhere else you can.

Popular offers apply to items purchased only on one day or a range of time, although you should allow delivery on a future date. Here are some specific examples:

• Decorated boxwood tree at 50% off
• Gift with purchase
• Buy one centerpiece, get the second free
• Small gift card with purchase

You can adjust the deal to best suit your business, but bargains help to move other products.

Image via Shutterstock

A Dashing Web Presence

With 25% of shoppers projected to only shop online this holiday season, it is of great importance that your website is up to the task.

• Display your holiday products, centerpieces, holiday decor, etc. in organized, easy-to-find categories on your floral website to create a user-friendly experience.
• Make sure your store phone number, address and hours are displayed and can be seen easily. Some customers may prefer to call in their orders, but they’ll need to know how to reach you!
• Check that your floral website is mobile friendly.
• Write a blog entry or two about new seasonal products, tree decorating tips, etc.

Image via Shutterstock

 Appearance and Options Are Everything

Make sure your store is festively decorated for the holiday season! A warm, inviting interior encourages customers to keep browsing. Offer a variety products so that customers can purchase other gifts in addition to their floral purchases.

• Make sure your flower shop is clean
• Offer gift wrapping
• Stock candles, chocolates, and plush
• Decorate poinsettias with bows, pine sprigs, or twigs in beautiful containers.
• Offer refreshments to customers like coffee, tea, or eggnog

Image via Shutterstock

Commercial and Residential Holiday Decor

In-business and in-home decor can be very lucrative for florists who participate. There are even companies that only offer holiday decor, this is something fairly simple to arrange.

• Pursue contracts with local businesses for their outdoor wreath-making and indoor holiday decor
• Offer mini decorated boxwood trees or Christmas trees
• Call local restaurants and offer weekly holiday flowers for bars, counters, and tables

Florists, do you have any tips to share that have brought revenue to your floral business? Please share your feedback and questions in the comments below.

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Floranext makes great florist software: florist websites, floral POS, florist wedding/event proposal software, and florist technology. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

If you don’t understand how secure websites work, you are not alone.

So what are HTTP and HTTPS websites? HTTP is short for hypertext transfer protocol, and HTTPS adds an S for secure: secure hypertext transfer protocol. Is your eCommerce website HTTP or HTTPS? And if you don’t know, how can you tell?

HTTPS uses a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) to encrypt data transmitted over your website. SSL provides a coded encryption which scrambles the information into a series of random characters and once that information arrives at its destination—the other computer—it will unscramble itself and be readable again. The coded encryption is what keeps hackers from stealing sensitive information.

How Can You Tell if Your Floral Website is HTTPS?

When browsing the internet pay close attention to the websites you view and notice if they start with “http://” or “https://”. Click the information icon and it will show you a message just like in the image below.

The image below is taken from a secured website. It has https:// in its URL, and if you’re using the Chrome browser you’ll also see the word Secure next to the padlock icon.

Why HTTPS is a Must for Your Floral Website

Besides the security of customer data entered into your flower website, it is becoming mandatory on search engines.

• Security of Data. When you have an SSL certificate on your website, all information passed between the user’s browser and the website including passwords and credit cards can potentially be intercepted. HTTPS protects customer data.
• Customer confidence. With version 56 of Google Chrome released in 2017 any websites that require visitors to enter sensitive information will be marked as “Not Secure.” This is something your customers will notice immediately and can lower their confidence in ordering from your website.
• SEO. Studies have shown that secured websites have higher search engine rankings. 
• Website Load Times. HTTPS websites load faster, which also benefits your SEO.

Some unsecured websites that are HTTP look like this:

However, for some they already appear this way. This new warning is part of the long-term plan to distinguish pages from HTTP and let visitors know they are “Not secure.”

No doubt about it, HTTPS is and will be a requirement on all websites. Your customers deserve to shop with confidence and you owe it to your floral eCommerce to have a website that allows you to reach your fullest potential on search engines. Find out if your website is HTTP or HTTPS.

Florists, do you have any feedback or questions regarding HTTP and HTTPS websites? Please share in the comment section below.

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Floranext offers great florist software, florist POS, florist websites and florist wedding proposal software. Our florist technology products are built by florists, for florists. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

Image via Shutterstock

Floral entrepreneurs are increasing their profits with a fresh new spin on the classic flower shop!

Financial experts agree that incorporating other services into your business is a win-win combination. You can diversify your business assets and minimize your vulnerability to twists and turns in the market.

On the other hand, combining a flower shop with another kind of business can raise sales as both work to give exposure to the other. More and more flower business owners are tackling more than just flowers.

Image via Shutterstock

Florist & Coffee Shop

Talk about the ultimate place for relaxation, sipping a coffee surrounded by beautiful flowers. Savvy floral entrepreneurs are creating a buzz with flower/coffee shop locations with customers waiting for seats and lines out the door.

• Create a beautiful atmosphere surrounded by flowers and filled with wonderful scents.
• Outdoor seating and ample comfortable seating inside the store.
• Offer delivery of all coffee shop goods with your floral arrangements.
• Offer delicate tasty treats and quick sandwiches and snacks.
• Offer free Wifi

This is ultimately an easy combination to accomplish if you  already own a brick and mortar flower shop with enough space to accommodate seated customers. You may even consider partnering up with another business that specializes in coffee.

Image via Shutterstock

Florist & Hair/Beauty Salons

The secret to this combination business is markup. Florists know that flower shop product markup is low in comparison to other businesses, but hair salons have high markup, meaning a hair salon’s services are almost all profit (minus commission and the usual expenses like rent/mortgage and utilities). What you pay for in a hair salon is mostly labor. In the floral business, labor is not as prominent nor is it reflected as much in sales.

• Establish a hair salon that offers great service and incorporates your flower shop.
• It’s helpful to understand how beauty salons work, there are state licenses needed for both shop owner and barbers/hairstylists.
• Offer options for event/wedding patrons with package pricing for flowers and beauty needs.
• Prom packages never looked so good.
• Offer delivery options for flowers and beauty products, flowers and gift certificates, flowers and gift baskets, etc.

Although it takes more sweat equity to obtain licenses and to incorporate a flower shop beauty salon, the payback could be well worth the effort. There currently aren’t many of these in the world, however, the few there are have had continued success.

Image via Shutterstock

Florist & Bakery

Unlike coffee shops, bakeries offer in-house baked goods, bread, pastries, and cakes. Flowers and baked goods go hand in hand, and what a great gift. Birthday flowers + birthday cake = tremendous brownie points and a crowd pleaser. Sales can’t come easier than that.

Flower shops have been teaming up with bakeries for a while now, the combination flower shop/bakery may be easier to pull off in families or with close partnerships between florists and bakers. Regardless of who bears which responsibility, the combination is sure to impress.

• Offer wedding packages for flowers and wedding cake.
• Team up with a reception hall to offer floral and baked good services for all their events.
• Offer delivery options for all bakery goods with flowers.
• Be sure to check local state and town laws for handling food with flowers.

Image via Shutterstock

Florist & Home Decor

Florists, we know many of you already incorporate home decor items in your flower shop, and you’re wise to do so. Flower shop owners now are taking it a step further: instead of incorporating some gift and home decor items, they are essentially opening two businesses in one location with a larger inventory of all things home decor: furniture, textiles, candles and more.

The trick is to offer more for customers to browse.

• Think location and space, and consider parking.
• Search for home decor vendors that allow you to maximize profit.
• Offer delivery for home decor items, and bundle decor packages with flowers.
• Sell both flowers and home decor items on your eCommerce website.

Consider location and square footage—this flower shop combo may require capital investment to get off the ground, however once established, you will be the talk of the town.

Florists, do you run a flower business combination shop? Let us know how running two businesses brought you success in the comment section below. If you have any questions please post below as well!

We wanted to share one of our reader’s feedback with the beautiful images he sent us!

From Joe Sexton, barber at Barber Stop/Flowers by Guenthers:

“My wife and I have a barber shop in our flower shop. The barber brings 4,000 more people every year through the front door of the flower shop. Many have never been inside. Also, the flower shop helps increase the barber shop sales. Women are the first to know when their guy are unhappy with their haircuts. They pick up the barbers’ flier and contact info which drives their guys into the shop for a haircut. Many buy flowers after their cuts to take home. Seems to work well.

“I am the barber in our flower shop. I have a shop that fits inside an 8′ circle anywhere in the store (within a 10′ for a regular 110-volt power outlet). It’s hard to visualize if you’ve never seen one.

“I think this would be a great idea for many florists. It’s really done well for my wife and I at Flowers by Guenthers.”

Photos courtesy of Joe Sexton, Flowers by Guenthers/Barber Stop

Floranext makes great florist software. Florist websites, floral POS, florist wedding/event proposal software, and florist technology. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

Have you worked hard to provide quality blooms and care to all your customers, only to be forced to compete with a floral order gatherer?

It can be frustrating and discouraging for florists who invest serious sweat equity into running a flower business only to see an eCommerce company to move in and pass themselves off as local florists.

There are many different kinds of floral order gathers, from the larger, well-known wire services to ones that take over search engines. We will focus on the floral order gatherers who run search engine ads that knowingly deceive their consumers, and offer you ways to maximize your sales and eCommerce legibility without worrying over order gatherers’ paid ads to lure customers into shopping with them under false pretenses.

Image via Shutterstock

What are Floral Order Gatherers?

Order gatherers—in this case, floral order gatherers—are virtual businesses that have no intention of filling the order purchased by its customers. What order gatherers essentially do is harvest the customer’s information and payment details and then look for real local florists to fulfill the order.

Order gatherers can benefit themselves and the filling flower shop alike, right? Well, yes and no. Order gatherers only pass along a fraction of the customer’s payment, and the customer gets less of what they actually paid for.

Floral order gatherers know that they profit by sending orders to a real local florist, while you the actual florist pay for mortgage/rent, utilities, employees, and product.

Another concern is that some order gatherers are passing themselves off as local florists when in actuality they do not run a flower shop or design flowers. You likely have seen their paid ads on search engines.

Below is an order gatherer’s paid ad on Google. (We covered the name of the order gatherer as well as their website address.) If you look at this ad you can see how easily a customers could believe this is a genuine San Diego florist. There is no indication that this company has nothing to do with fulfilling their order.

Image provided by Google

A Step in the Right Direction: There have been several lawsuits filed by florists to stop these order gatherers from blatantly falsifying information on their ads regarding their location.

Image via Shutterstock

How to Beat Floral Order Gatherers

So what can you do to stand apart from floral order gathers that are taking over your area with paid ads on search engines? Unfortunately, there is no surefire way to stop them other than educating your consumers and marketing your floral business in a way in which it is not affected.

We understand that is easier said than done, however there are a few points working in your favor: floral order gatherers’ time is limited, there are more and more articles out to help consumers identify order gatherers, and consumers are wary of paying more for something only to get less.

Take these actions to brand yourself and increase your visibility as a legitimate local florist in your area, that will offer customers exactly what they paid for.

1. Use a blog. If you have an option to add a blog to your floral website, do so and take an action on educating customers on what a real local florist offers versus a floral order gatherer. An article on your website on this topic will reach more people than visitors that just land on your web page. Besides discrediting order gatherers, this strategy will bolster consumer confidence in your floral eCommerce.
2. Add content and write-ups. Add a gallery and write-ups of your flower business’s staff to your website to showcase you as a local florist.
3. Consider your marketing. The advantage you have as a real local florist is that you do not have to spend a small fortune on ads that fundamentally deceive your customers you’re trying to attract. Market your flower business on social media consistently and be sure to ask satisfied customers to review your shop on Google and Yelp. The best way to do this is having links on your floral website to allow customers to easily click and review you.
4. Use store promotions and offers. Floral order gathers offer many enticing promotions to entice customers to click and shop—refer to the search engine add above, offering 45% savings. We do not want you to give your flower arrangements away from free, however, consider running some enticing offers to get customers to click on your website. This is a great option for gaining new customers as well.
5. Don’t forget about SEO. Your search engine optimization should be on point to compete with online businesses like order gatherers. Work with your floral website provider to make sure you are listing on the first page on search engines. Make sure your Google business page is set up and work on adding images and getting reviews. This all helpful in raising your site’s ranking on search engines.
6. Try a Google ad. Thanks to the internet, marketing is so different today than it has been in the past. That isn’t to say that mailers don’t work, but placing a Google AdWords ad can be helpful in building your brand visibility. Start off with a lower budget, see how your conversions go, and build up from there.

Image via Shutterstock

Floral order gatherers do not play fair. There is no way to stop them completely, however, florists do have the upper hand as floral order gatherers need filling florists to make their business possible. Partner up with other real local florists and stand up to the floral order gatherers by educating your consumers. We are not saying that no florist should ever fill a floral order gatherer’s order, but it’s about time that florists get compensated appropriately for their services. Do not hesitate to ask for more money if you are filling a gatherer’s order. Florists, your expertise and resources are needed to keep floral order gatherers in business—remember that.

Florists, how have floral order gatherers impacted your flower business? Please share your feedback in the comment section below. If you have any questions please post below as well!

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Floranext makes great florist software. Florist websites, floral POS, florist wedding/event proposal software, and florist technology. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

With beautiful imagination and bountiful skills, these designers create hypnotizing works of art.

Today we’d like to pay homage to all the amazing floral artists on Instagram for bringing recognition to the floristry industry. It was difficult selecting just a few florists of Instagram to plug, but we encourage you to start following these influential floral designers.

Meta Flora (@metafloranyc)

Image via Instagram by @Metafloranyc

Marisa Competello’s floral designs are more like floral sculptures. Her creations ooze with inspiration and innovation. We love showcasing her designs, and highly recommend you find her on Instagram.

Moonflower Design (@moonflower_design)

Image via Instagram by @moonflower_design

Mandy O’Shea and her husband have made headlines with 3 Porch Farm, their floral design studio in Athens, Georgia, using only the flowers and botanicals they grow. Their designs play with symmetry and texture, creating a forward focus. With over 26.7k followers on Instagram its no wonder @moonflower_design is creating a buzz.

Lewis Miller Designs (@lewismillerdesign)

Image via Instagram by @lewismillerdesign

We raved about floral designer Lewis Miller in our write-up The Art of Flowers. We appreciate florists who continually step outside the box and show the world how to appreciate flowers. Lewis Miller wins for his exceptional floral works of art and allowing us all to see floral arrangements in a whole new way.

Lucy the Flower Hunter (@lucytheflowerhunter)

Image via Instagram by @lucytheflowerhunter

Viewing Lucy the Flower Hunter’s designs is like stepping back in time and traveling into the future. Her modern-vintage floral designs are so magnificent and enchanting.

Kiana Underwood (@tulipinadesign)

Image via Instagram by @tulipinadesign

Kiana Underwood is encouraging many newcomers to join the floral design world on Instagram with her bespoke event floral designs. With over 274K followers she is not one to miss, her beautifully feminine floral masterpieces are sure to inspire.

Florists, do you have a florist or flower shop that are a must-follow on Instagram? Please share your feedback in the comment section below.

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Floranext offers great florist software, florist POS, florist websites and florist wedding proposal software. Our florist technology products are built by florists, for florists. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

So you have a knack for arranging blooms. With a deep appreciation for flowers, floral design is a fun and exciting endeavor.

Many florists start their careers after years of daydreaming about venturing into the world of floral design. Florists are like miracle workers, bringing endless smiles and emotional well-being to recipients. It’s a no-brainer, if you love floral design, then become a florist!

Before starting your journey, there are a few things you should consider. Floral designing is an art, and however effortless a good florist makes their work appear, trust us when we say it is not. Even the hand-gathered whimsical bouquets that look like they were plucked from a garden are carefully constructed using the principles of floral design.

Floral design is about so much more than creatively arranging flowers. We want to be encouraging to newcomers to the floral world, but we also want to be helpful. Here are four tips to keep in mind as you work to become a professional floral designer.

Image from Shutterstock.com

1. Learn and Polish Your Floral Design Skills

It is always beneficial to study the art of floral design in a class setting, or learning directly from a mentor. There are so many facets to arranging blooms that it is impossible to be an expert right from the beginning. Besides floral design, you must be educated on prepping flowers and have a clear understanding of the basic principles of arranging flowers. Remember your floral arrangements are only as good as the care you take when prepping them—flowers are perishable and good prepping makes for long-lasting arrangements.

To learn more, consider:

• Taking a floral class
• Working with a mentor
• Volunteering at a local flower shop
• Getting comfortable with the sharp tools you will be using
• Learning how to make ribbons and work with wire

Image from Shutterstock.com

2. Consider the Other Work Florists Do

By now you’re already aware that being a florist requires hard work. Besides prepping flowers, expect to lift heavy containers, spend long hours at work on your feet, and get few holidays off. Being a florist is rewarding, but there are a few other skills a good florist needs:

• Time management is essential.
• Good communication with your customers is a must.
• Be flexible with your work schedule (you won’t be able to make other plans for floral holidays like Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day).
• Customer service skills—you will have some customers who are bereaved or going through turbulent times. The compassion and empathy you show them can make a world of difference.

Image from Shutterstock.com

3. Explore Your Floral Design Style

It’s important to develop a signature style. Although we discussed the basic principles of arranging flowers, expert florists have their own flair that distinguishes their arrangements from the next florist’s. Think about what your style lends itself to and work on crafting a unique style.

• Be focused and pay attention to detail.
• Be creative!
• Perfect your skills, so you can make what you see in your mind’s eye a reality.
• Appreciate different flowers and greens and understand how they are used.
• Remember that you are an artist, the flowers and containers are your canvas.

Image from Shutterstock.com

4. Set Goals

So far we have discussed becoming a floral designer. However, you may already be working as a designer and have a higher goal, such as opening a flower shop, working from home on wedding and event florals, or find employment with a local flower shop. Whatever your floral design short-term or long-term goal is it is good to work towards that by networking through marketing and building relationships in your area.

• If you are looking for floral design work at flower shop and consider yourself an expert, call around to local flower shops.
• If you are a novice to floral design, look for employment as a helper and look for mentorship opportunities.

If your goal is to run your own floral business, think about how you’ll market your floral design business.

• Consider your floral business name carefully
• Purchase a domain name
• Create business cards
• Create a website so that you can start building your brand visibility on the internet
• Start on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
• Cultivate relationships with local business owners, funeral directors, bridal shops, restaurant owners, churches, etc.

Florists, do you have any advice for our readers aspiring to become floral designers? Please share your feedback, tips or any floral design-related questions in the comment section below.

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Floranext offers great florist software, florist POS, florist websites and florist wedding proposal software. Our florist technology products are built by florists, for florists. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

Florists, are you bewildered by Google AdWords?

We have received many questions on using Google AdWords, and we’re in agreement that if you are new to the application it may look a bit daunting. We thought it beneficial to explain the mystery to some of Google AdWords and how it works.

Before we begin, let’s point out that Google AdWords is NOT FREE and can actually be quite pricey. So why use Google AdWords? Google AdWords makes your marketing easier by bringing in traffic through the use of keywords, allowing you to customize your ad campaigns and turn clicks into sales.

Understanding how Google AdWords works means understanding how to bid on ads, which turn into conversions. Let’s focus on a basic introduction to Google AdWords to clear up the mystification of how it works.

Image via Google.com

Basic Google AdWords Bidding/Budget Functionality

Sometimes you can not fully understand how something works unless you dive right in and try it out for yourself. That certainly applies to getting started with AdWords. There is a reason why we starting out with Google AdWords bidding, it is of great importance you are knowledgeable of your targeted spending before even complicating Google AdWords.

• Automated Bidding: By far the most recommended if you are just starting out with Google AdWords. Set a daily budget and let AdWords adjust your CPC (cost-per-click) bids to bring you the most clicks possible within that budget.
• Manual Bidding: Manual bidding lets you set bids at the ad group level, allowing you full control over your CPC for keywords or ad placements, so you bid what you want for the clicks you want.
• Setting A Daily Budget: One of the most crucial things to remember is to set a low daily budget. We recommend no more than $10.00 a day. Paying for an exorbitant amount of clicks to your AdWords campaign will leave you feeling defeated.

Image via Google.com

Understanding/Researching The Floral Market

You’re now ready to start a Google AdWords campaign, but have you thought about the keywords you’ll use to reach potential customers? This question can seem simple—just use keywords specific to the floral industry, right? Well, yes and no. You’ll need to do some research, but we promise you’ll get the hang of it.

• Keyword Planner: Take advantage of Google’s Keyword Planner on Google Adwords (in your account under Tools). Be sure to describe what you’re promoting to reach your targeted audience.
• How are customers finding you with keywords? Enter how you think people are searching for flowers into the keyword planner. Our goal is to find the keyword which has the most searches.

Note: You cannot access Google Keyword planner until your payment information is entered into Google Adwords. 

Image via Google.com

Starting Your Floral AdWords Campaign

First, navigate to https://adwords.google.com, and sign in or click Start Now. If this is your first time on Google AdWords, try to set aside some uninterrupted time to complete setup.

• Pick Your Goal: Do you want customers to call your business, visit the store, or visit your website?
• Choose Your Campaign Location: You will want to choose a geographic area—large or small—your campaign will cover.
• Define Your Products and Services: Enter your language, the products you offer, and who to show your ad to.
• Create Your Ad: Start with your Headline 1  and remember to stay relevant to the floral industry and what you are promoting. 
• Setting Your Budget: Remember to start off slow and set a daily and monthly budget when getting to know Google AdWords.
• Review Your Ad Settings: Take some time to review your settings and make sure everything is correct.
• Enter Your Payment Method: Enter in your payment information and voilà, you have created your Google AdWords campaign.

Image via Google.com

Tip: When defining your service be sure to take advantage of the Add Another option below Show your ad to people looking for. AdWords will give you a list of related keywords, check all that apply. Most if not all will be useful to add.

Understanding Google AdWords Acronyms

As you begin your journey into Google AdWords you may find some acronyms that throw you:

• CPA: Cost Per Action, the amount you pay each time a user takes an action such as purchase, signup, call, etc.
• CPC: Cost Per Click, the average amount you pay when users click on your ad.
• CPM: Cost Per Thousand, the amount you pay when Google displays your ad to users 1000 times.
• CTR: Clickthrough rate, a percentage of the number of clicks you get on your ad or keywords divided by the total of impressions received.
• GCO: Google Conversion Optimizer. You may indicate a target cost per conversion you want to pay and Google will optimize your placement and CPCs to bring you conversions at or below that amount.
• PLA: Product Listing Ad, an ad on Google search with an image displaying a product for sale on an ecommerce site.
• QS: Quality Score, Google’s score for users’ experience when they see your ad on a page.
• SEO: Search Engine Optimization, a strategy to move websites and pages higher in the rankings in organic and free listings.
• SPN: Search Partner Network, information on other search engines where Google displays ads in response to a search query.
• USP: Unique Selling Proposition, unique selling features of your products, services, customer experience and guarantee that make you unlike your competitors.

Florists, how has Google AdWords helped your floral business? Please share your feedback in the comment section below. If you have any questions please post below as well!

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Floranext makes great florist software. Florist websites, floral POS, florist wedding/event proposal software, and florist technology. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

Florists, have you ever been taken aback by a floral card message?

With the overwhelming response to our Most Ridiculous Things Said in our “Florists’ Thoughts” blog series, we thought it would be fun to launch another survey to ask florists about the most bizarre and hilarious messages they have ever had to write on floral arrangements.

With a tremendous response from our readers, we will list our top 10 answers in this blog. Thank you to all who participated on these Florists Thoughts!

10.  An elderly woman came to send flowers to a friend who just had her leg amputated. She wanted a get well balloon to go with it. After she browsed through the selections, she chose a “cute” one but overlooked the message on it which read, HOPE YOUR BACK ON YOUR FEET SOON.

I assured her we’d take good care of her order but without her knowing, attached a more “appropriate” balloon…

-anonymous

9.  A Customer picked up flowers to take along to his colonoscopy. “Thanks to the girls of the rear guard.”

-Shearers Florist

8.  “I know that you are blushing, now everyone is looking and wondering who has sent you the flowers. You can’t tell them it’s your lover, but I thought that if the husband is not sending, then I will. Happy Valentine’s Day. From, ????????”

-Wildflowers Of SC

7.  Set the stage. Valentine’s Day! Big snow storm in Maine. The guy is a snow plow driver. “Dear Susie, the driveway isn’t the only thing that is going to get plowed tonight! Love, Your Snow Plow Guy.”

-B Bridges

6.  “I love you b**h, your the best b**h, can’t wait to see you b**h.” Man to his girlfriend, very classy…

-Amber Roses

5.  “I think a while of love, and while I think, love is to me a world sole meat and sweetest drink. Close connecting link ‘tween heaven and earth. Derek.” This order was sent over the wire and that’s word for word how it read, grammatical errors and all. We posted it and whenever we needed a little laugh all anyone had to say was “I think a while of love” and we’d get to laughing all over again.

-anonymous

4.  I did a funeral piece for a man whose best friend died, they were friends for like 50 years and were practical jokers. He wrote on his card message ” good luck getting in!”

-Scholl

3. “I love you so much I could sh*t.”

-anonymous

2.  “You are the bacon bits on my salad of life.”

-Mppatch

1.  “I love all your pink parts.”

-anonymous

Florists, share your most hilarious card messages with our readers in the comment section below.

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Floranext makes great florist software. Florist websites, floral POS, florist wedding/event proposal software, and florist technology. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

Family-owned floral businesses rarely survive the transition from the first generation to the second. As a matter of fact, in this day and age, they are becoming more and more obsolete.

Many studies have shown that there is a high impact on family-owned and run businesses on our economy. In the floral industry, there was a time when this was the norm: a local flower shop stayed in the family, resulting in a local staple, while the whole family was able to live comfortably from running the family-owned flower shop. There was never a question of whether their children would continue the business after their parents’ retirement.

On our quest to find a third-generation family-owned flower shop, we came across Lighthouse Flower Shop in Mesa, Arizona. We thought it would be illuminating to have a brief Q&A with Lisa Miller, the third-generation owner of Lighthouse Flower Shop. This extraordinary accomplishment of running a successful flower business for 58 years definitely beats the statistical odds. We hope you find this interview encouraging, informative, and a piece of floral business history.

Lisa, Age 5

 

What year did your grandmother Hope Griffin open the flower shop, and do you know why she decided to open a flower shop?

Her first flower shop was in Presque Isle, Maine, and Grandma Hope saw that people getting married at the local church needed wedding flowers, so she decided to open a flower shop.

Tell us how the name Lighthouse Flower Shop came to be.

It was originally called Griffin’s Flowers in Maine and the first few years here in Arizona, but when my mother Ruth took over she renamed it Lighthouse Flowers as a tribute to Northern Maine.

 

Lisa’s mom, Ruth

 

When did your mother take over the Flower Shop and why?

My mother Ruth—my Grandma Hope’s daughter-in-law—took over the flower shop in 1974. My mom took over because she didn’t have anything else lined up, and she did have a knack for the floral business.

What is the earliest memory you have at Lighthouse Flower Shop?

Besides being there every day after school and on weekends, I remember making Mother’s Day corsages when I was in elementary school. Once for show and tell I even taught the class how to make corsages. Not bad for a little girl, wiring flowers together!

Lisa and Linda

As we see in the picture above, you have a sister (Linda Tomblin). Did she ever participate in the flower shop business?

She doesn’t have a creative bone in her body, but she went on to become a kindergarten teacher.

When did you take over the family business?

Four years ago, when my mother decided to retire.

Do you still see her around the shop often?

Yes, every day. She actually just ran a delivery for me with my daughter.

What would you say has made your floral business so successful for 58 years?

We are still the original family who owned the shop, and we have customers who are multi-generational. Also, we can have competitive prices because we own our building.

Did your grandmother, mother, or yourself use a wire service? Do you still?

My grandmother no, but Mom used to have Redbook and Carrick—I remember the flip book with the 5×7 pictures we kept on the counter.

We tried a major wire service for about a month. All their arrangements were short and tiny and we got too many complaints.

What would you say was the single most influential factor in the success of your flower shop?

Customer service, honesty with our customers, and high-quality product. I only take on orders I can handle, that I know will represent my brand—even if it means turning business away sometimes.

What are some of the biggest hurdles you’ve encountered while building the family-owned floral business, and how did you overcome them?

Learning to work with social media, SEO, and getting into advertising for the first time. My grandmother and mother did not believe in advertising, so their business all came from word-of-mouth. It was a simpler time to start a business, and there was a smaller variety of flowers and colors to sell in general.

Running a family-owned business can have its pros and cons. What would you say are some of the pros and cons?

Pro: I can set my own hours and have creative control over all projects I choose to take on.

Con: Long hours, and it’s hard to find experienced part-time help around the holidays.

By your measures (or from what you can remember) what year would you say you sold the most flowers?

When I started branding/marketing this created an explosion. This year has been our best year ever. Last week was actually one of my most profitable weeks, it was like a little Mother’s Day week.

What is one change to the floral industry that you didn’t see coming? Is there anything that you did predict?

Pinterest is by far the biggest change. Everyone comes in with the same picture—they don’t allow me to be creative, and everyone asks for burgundy dahlias.

Does that make you sad?

It does, and I love this business. Nobody else in the family wants the shop. It’s been here for so long, but I’m holding out hope for a fourth generation.

Lisa’s grandmother, Hope

What do you know today that you wish you would have known when you first got started running the flower shop?

My shop is much more profitable when we do fewer weddings. Last October I did 40 weddings, but they were smaller, and I’ve had to turn down other work to keep up with weddings.

What tip would you give someone that wants to be successful with weddings?

Be brave and charge for your work, and charge up front.

What would be the one piece of advice you would give someone who is opening a flower shop? 

Be prepared to compete with large grocers and wire service websites, and taking the time to educate customers about the difference between these sites and stores and a real brick-and-mortar shop. Your quality will always speak volumes for your brand, never skimp on quality.

Lisa’s Wedding, 1995

If you could do anything besides own and operate a flower shop, what would it be?

I would love to be an auto mechanic because I love cars. I also tried to get into the army, but they told me I was too small, so the flower business it was 🙂

We all want to know what your grandma’s, mom’s, and your favorite flowers are.

My grandmother loved amaryllis and bearded iris. My mom doesn’t have a favorite. I really like hyacinths and red heart garden roses.

In closing, there are many young new florists. What advice would you give them?

It takes so much hard work to be a good florist and a lot of patience. Everyone who wants to own a flower shop should apprentice at a flower shop. You must keep your flower shop updated on the outside—every year I update my flower shop to keep it feeling fresh.

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One thing we learned in interviewing Lisa is that you can’t start a flower business with the intent to keep it for your family, your goal should be to run a successful business for yourself, and if your family follows your example, that’s icing on the cake. As technology encroaches deeper into our lives, it’s important to remember how Lisa ended our interview: “Robots will never be able to arrange flowers.” We couldn’t agree more.