Be Inspired

secretgarden

secretgarden

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2010
760
838
93
Decatur, Illinois, United States
www.secretgardendecatur.com
State / Prov
IL
We attended a wholesale show at Bonnett's in Milan Illinois Sunday. It was an amazing show presented by J. Robbin Yelverton AIFD, CFD, PFCI. He is the co-owner of Blumz in Detroit.

It is always so great to see new ideas, meet other florists, and see what the wholesaler has new for the coming seasons. There were about 150 florists in attendance and Robbin did a great job inspiring us all. A few things really hit me at this meeting though. The first was when he asked how many people were state certified. Out of those 150 only 5 of us raised our hands.... Really 5 out of 150 wow. Later in the show he talked about websites. When asked how many had websites I would say about 50 hands went up, again WOW.

I am not saying being certified makes for a better florist, some florists are great just the way they are. But when you have an opportunity to better yourself, your industry, and your shop, why are people not taking that opportunity. I realize that the cost is great (I just finished Illinois Certification in March and all told about $1500). When our state convention had a trivia page with ICPF questions on it and people at convention could answer the questions to win a prize. The 2 that tied were myself and one other recent ICPF grad, we only missed 1. So things that were important enough to be on a state test are not common knowledge to all in attendance. (Okay now I'm rambling) but my point is, we have to set ourselves apart from others. The people shopping with me may not know what ICPF stands for but they know it's something and it helps make me an authority in the field.

About websites..... WHAT THE HECK, get off your bum. At this point it does not matter if it's your own personal or if you have someone, even heaven forbid a wireservice, create it for you. How are you going to compete if you don't have a website. You have a phone right... people are not telegraphing you orders.

Okay, climbing off my soap box now. Here is a link to pictures we took at the show. Hope these inspire you....

https://picasaweb.google.com/102540982432989968248/BonnettWholesaleDesignShow
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tina Semock, dlnfloral, Tuberose and 6 others
Unfortunately not every state has a florist association so no all florists have the ability to become "certified" except through AIFD.

I love going to design shows. They are tiring because usually it will be on your only day off but I always learn something.
 
I love design shows and i've been to one of his. He flat out tells how it is. He showed gluing corsages and using pipecleaners as a base. I still do it his way and would love to see their shop. He made everyone feel guilty about not having a wreath or something on our entry doors.
Honestly feel marketing, website, and accounting education is way more important at this point than getting certified. There just isn't the time or money to do both.
 
We have no state florists association, much less state certification, wish there was. I don't get to many design shows anymore, they're always too far away.
 
Okay I guess I was in left field on that one. I did not realize how many did not have state organizations. It was just drilled into me that education and design shows are how you advance your designs. Education was so important to Carolyn (previous owner) that she was ICPF and so is the store manager Carol. One of the first things I did when I purchased the shop was get that ball rolling, and Michael starts his classes in September.

I still honestly believe that the classes really helped me as a new shop owner. The focus on design was not strong, but we did learn the principles and that goes a long way. The business side was good too and I know that a lot of folks in my class (along with myself) will be able to bypass mistakes because of it.
 
Lori,
I can't tell you the number of florists who have called me wanting bootcamps, because they have no State Associations. With this economy, people are staying within about 2 hours for "continuing education". Our state decided to go from one end to the other, so someone suffers. Also, I vaguely remember at LA State of a new accreditation program (out of Michigan State) that numerous states have jumped on board, it's endorsed by AIFD with some of their requirements, but stricter than most states. I was shocked to find out the all florists in La had to be licensed individually.
 
Tiny store here...grossing under 150,000 dollars on the outskirts of Boston...so that is TINY...I barely make enough to pay the bills..but I saw the importance in certification and did it 2 years ago through AIFD...and I have a website... I cannot imagine not and a POS system, I also cannot imagine not having that...I know the money may seem like a whole lot, but imagine saying that you don't have the funds to buy flowers or dress your window, these are key elements to moving forward in business today..if you didn't buy flowers you would eventually not have customers, well if you are not online at all, you will eventually have no customers also...consider a website as far more important than a showroom/storefront, within the next 5-15 years it will be your storefront or you won't have any...
 
  • Like
Reactions: anytimeflowers
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back