Lessons Learned From My Previous Business Life As A Florist

By the summer of 2001, most of my work experience had been in working for small business owners. In raising my children, it was important to me to have the flexibility that working in small business provided. For those readers that know me, it won’t be a surprise that my entrée often was often as a bookkeeper – experience that led to an understanding of how desperately owners needed someone they could trust to manage their money. Once I got in the door, there were always opportunities to wear lots of hats and that appealed to me as a woman who easily got bored. 

Working in these jobs, along with a great deal of arrogance, lead me to the conclusion that owners didn’t have a clue about how to run a business. They didn’t understand marketing, accounting or human resources. Chances of survival were slim. Of course, I was certain that I could do it better!

Frustrated and bored with working in my latest role, I decided I would buy a business. Something already up and running that I could use my magic touch on and make a fortune. I started looking at available businesses and contacted the broker for one of them, a prop company. It wasn’t the right fit for me, but now I had a broker. It wasn’t long before for she called me to discuss a florist for sale. I thought she was crazy. I would never buy expensive flowers a florist sold – let along buy a floral business! She patiently explained that this florist focused on providing flowers and décor for corporate events and weddings. This was a market I knew well after spending the prior 10 years working in the event entertainment business catering to the same market. Now that made sense! I was sold and started down the road required to make it mine. This is where the lessons began.

Don’t ignore the messages you get from your network and from your gut. I wanted this business! It was my way out of working for bad bosses and making a meager salary. I could serve the same clients that I had served in my prior job. This would be fun and there was probably no one on Earth that could sway my opinion. Not that they didn’t try. I applied for SBA loans from three different banks. Two of them turned me down cold. The third bank helped me find a way. They encouraged me to borrow from my parents and use my retirement accounts as collateral. They asked for my business plan. Now that was a joke! I was a good writer and could make my plan look pretty – but really, I didn't have a clue about how to project sales, who I would hire or what would make us better than the competition. It was a beautiful but fictitious business plan. It didn’t feel right. Just like I didn’t listen to the first two bankers, I didn’t listen to my gut. I borrowed the money and jumped in headfirst.

Sellers are liars. I had heard this phrase many years ago in a real estate class. But they were talking about home sales. It didn’t occur to me to translate this to a business seller. And what didn’t he lie about? I should have caught on when he mentioned a second set of books. My accountant advised me to ignore them and evaluate based on tax returns, which I did. Primary sales were to hotels for their events. He didn’t tell me that his reputation with the event planners was considerably less than stellar. His service was terrible, the quality of the flowers was poor, and the man just was not nice. (I had signed an NDA, prohibiting me from talking to employees or customers.)

Then there was the retail side of the business. The operation was in a 2,200 square foot space and provided jobs for 10 floral designers and delivery people. Approximately half of that space was a retail store, with gifts, decorative items and a flower cooler. Imagine my surprise when I took ownership the week before Valentine’s Day, wanted to order flowers for the occasion, and was told by the employees that they never sold anything for Valentine’s Day! In fact, the entire retail side of the business had been fabricated to attract a new owner! Ouch! 

A third example of the lies or “omissions” was payday for the employees. One of the delivery drivers stopped in my office to make sure I was aware that he wasn’t on payroll. He was actually paid under the table in cash!

That leads into the third lesson. Examine your values and what you consider ethical. My ethics certainly were not to pay anyone “off the books.” My values told me to treat employees well. Imagine their pleasure at the following: I removed the bars from the windows that made the place look like a jail, I installed a hot water heater (floral designers have their hands in water all day, and they had been forced to only use cold water), bought floor mats for them to stand on, and let them paint and design their own stations to their liking.

Additionally, I made sure the flowers were always fresh. Few people know that florists often use the oldest of flowers for funeral sprays, knowing that they would only be used for one day. That didn’t change the price and invited customer dissatisfaction when they went to the cemetery a day or two later to find dead flowers on the grave of their loved one.

Location, location, location. Fellow Phoenicians will know Cave Creek Road, the main road leading from Phoenix to the quaint western town of Cave Creek. The posted speed limits in front of my shop was 45 mph, but the traffic far exceeded that speed. I thought being on a main drag was a plus, but turned out it was a menace. Customers flew down the road and missed our signs. Worse than that, it was dangerous. The very last bride the former owner met with was killed turning out of our parking lot – the night before I signed the papers. (Talk about a sign! But no turning back at that point.)

Not only did the shop have unsafe access for customers, but is was not located in the safest of areas. Those bars on the windows were there for a reason. I was welcomed in one morning to find two gunshots in the huge plate glass window in the front of the shop!

Timing is everything. This business catered to the event industry. For the most part, major corporations from around the world held their corporate conventions in Phoenix. It was a great market for us – until it wasn’t. My discovery process was done in the fall of 2001, and the purchase was completed in early February 2002. The numbers I examined were for the prior year. Before the tragedy of September 11, 2001. Corporate travel literally stopped after that date. No one felt safe flying. Anything event-related died, anyone making a living in the field was forced to make a change. Hotels suffered, small businesses like mine struggled to survive.

Flowers die. I didn’t choose an easy business for my first endeavor. I had no experience with inventory, I didn’t know how to properly account for building assemblies (in our case, a vase and various flowers combined to make our product). To top it off, I was buying inventory that was perishable. In a couple of days to maximum of a week, my unsold inventory had to be trashed. Experience is critical to run a business of any kind, and the lack of it was extremely detrimental to my success.

The easiest sale is one that is free. The number one role of business owners everywhere is sales. Frankly, I advise against being an entrepreneur if you think otherwise. If you sell a product, there is some very strategic thinking required around how much product is “sample,” given away as a marketing tool, a way to get your name out there, a way to let people see what you produce.

Unfortunately, there is no shortage of people asking for free product. I am a big supporter of nonprofit organizations and have a few that I am passionate about enough to contribute time and money. As a florist, you are a magnet for charities wanting to have beautiful fundraising events without spending any money. They are sure to mention all the exposure they offer to potential clients. I learned that giving product is no different than giving money. Set a budget for how much you can contribute, and when it’s gone, it’s gone. Giving too much away was one of the biggest mistakes I made.

There is always a shiny new object or a knight in shining armor ready to save you. I had no clue. There were bridal magazines and bridal shows. The salespeople were so convincing. I remember my first ad buy for $5,000 in a beautiful glossy magazine and being convinced that our ad would bring brides by the dozens. What those ads brought us were dozens of salespeople from other magazines, each professing to be better than the last. Then there were the bridal shows, not only costing money as an entry fee, but requiring staff and product. The flowers were an additional sunken cost for any advertising we did. Flowers for the ad shoots, flowers for the floral shows. In fact, not only did we decorate our booth with the freshest and prettiest arrangements, but the other vendors asked for arrangements for their booths – all with the promise of referring us to their clients.

More than 15 years later, I embrace a system of Profit First – a system I wish existed in 2002. My chances of success would have been infinitely better having a system in place to help me determine how much to spend on these shiny new objects. 

I’m not any better than the next guy or girl. Remember that arrogance that convinced me that I could run a business better than those that I had worked with? Wrong! Business is tough. It’s scary and it’s expensive. There’s a reason for the huge failure rate. It takes a lot of hard work and experience, but also requires luck. We are in it together, and I am a strong believer in sharing our experiences to help others thrive.

Failure is not permanent.  This business I bought lasted two years. I couldn’t pay my parents back. I spent my retirement money and racked up credit card debt. I laid off my staff the week before Christmas in 2003 (humbling!). I filed personal bankruptcy in 2004 and had no idea how to support myself and the son that still lived at home.

The truth is that business owners fail, and they often fail multiple times before finding success. Many famous people have filed bankruptcy (think Walt Disney, Dave Ramsey, P. T. Barnum, George Foreman, Willie Nelson) and gone on to become successful and wealthy. There’s often a pattern: Going deeply in debt, financial mismanagement, lack of control and over spending. The lessons learned are enormous and can lead to a bright future. I will never regret my “expensive education.” It led me to where I am today, not only giving me the tools to succeed, but also the means and passion to help small business thrive in our community.

What lessons have you learned through a previous business life?