Is your glass half empty?

[twiggy]

well one positive thing I see about the price of gas is many more people in my town aren't going out of town nearly as much..which means more shopping done locally... ME!

Also, we can't forget those people who didn't get to go on a vacation, or make other big purchases they may have been looking forward to.. instead they may be making 'entitlement purchases' to make themselves feel better. and guess who has a cute little store with lots of
gifts and beautiful flowers??.... ME again!

my glass is half full... with my favorite drink!:>

 

[RDeighton]

Thanks for starting a great thread!

Folks, just for fun, make a list of the most pressing issues affecting your shop, and changes affecting this industry. You may have six or eight items, maybe even more. Scan the list and you will realize a number of items you have no control over, such as the state of the economy, the price of fuel, etc. Contrarily, your list will contain only a few "real" items - things you could control. Focus on this list, and what might surface are a bunch of opportunities that were being overlooked because we're so stressed-out about a bunch of things we can not control.

Five items that I believe are particularly important these days:

1. Honestly assess the business environment. See things the way they are, not the way they are painted by the media or neighbors or other doomsayers.

2. Stop worrying about things you cannot control. Gas prices are out of sight. Many segments of the economy are hurting, yet some segments of the economy are thriving. Can you control any of these things? If you can, tell us. Now.

3. Focus on what you can control.You can control your work ethic, your ethics in general, effective communication with your staff, and hopefully your behavior. This is where we should focus our energies: squarely on items that will impact productivity, efficiency, and morale.

4. Look for opportunities. The Chinese word for crisis translate to "danger & opportunity." Yes, from a standpoint of thoroughness we need to examine the danger related to situations and the business environment. it is simply good strategic planning to ponder as many angles as possible. What I frequently observe though, is many business owners in all kinds of retail tend to fail to think creatively about what opportunities may be lurking out there. Don't lose your optimism over the dangers and hazards that are out of your control.

5. Practice optimism, or more precisely, pragmatic optimism. It is our great sense of optimism that allows us to flourish. Let's face it. If we were not bold faced optimists we would have never started our own businesses. Now is the time to be optimistic and start creatively looking for opportunities. This doesn't mean we ignore the realities of our current situations.

In closing, allow me to quote Henry Ford, who many years ago said: "One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his greatest surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn't."

Think positive!

 

[Sher]

Thanks for starting a great thread!

Folks, just for fun, make a list of the most pressing issues affecting your shop, and changes affecting this industry. You may have six or eight items, maybe even more. Scan the list and you will realize a number of items you have no control over, such as the state of the economy, the price of fuel, etc. Contrarily, your list will contain only a few "real" items - things you could control. Focus on this list, and what might surface are a bunch of opportunities that were being overlooked because we're so stressed-out about a bunch of things we can not control.

Five items that I believe are particularly important these days:

1. Honestly assess the business environment. See things the way they are, not the way they are painted by the media or neighbors or other doomsayers.

2. Stop worrying about things you cannot control. Gas prices are out of sight. Many segments of the economy are hurting, yet some segments of the economy are thriving. Can you control any of these things? If you can, tell us. Now.

3. Focus on what you can control.You can control your work ethic, your ethics in general, effective communication with your staff, and hopefully your behavior. This is where we should focus our energies: squarely on items that will impact productivity, efficiency, and morale.

4. Look for opportunities. The Chinese word for crisis translate to "danger & opportunity." Yes, from a standpoint of thoroughness we need to examine the danger related to situations and the business environment. it is simply good strategic planning to ponder as many angles as possible. What I frequently observe though, is many business owners in all kinds of retail tend to fail to think creatively about what opportunities may be lurking out there. Don't lose your optimism over the dangers and hazards that are out of your control.

5. Practice optimism, or more precisely, pragmatic optimism. It is our great sense of optimism that allows us to flourish. Let's face it. If we were not bold faced optimists we would have never started our own businesses. Now is the time to be optimistic and start creatively looking for opportunities. This doesn't mean we ignore the realities of our current situations.

In closing, allow me to quote Henry Ford, who many years ago said: "One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his greatest surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn't."

Think positive!

Awesome post..you should publish this!
Sher

 

[Bigted]

It just occured to me that if your glass is always half empty, you probably have too big of a glass.

 

[goldfish]

We are working on DIY marketing and a new "wacky" arrangement style that might appeal to younger buyers. We also just started experimenting with hand-crafting floral containers by ourselves. These are three major projects going on during summer.

Now is a changing time for our industry, so there must necessarily be many opportunities. For a new start-up shop like us, this is the best environment to catch up and over-grow more established ones.

Small start-up like us (since 2005) are nimbler in changing business model and, in general, less risk-avert than more established family-owned shops. We don't have this old wisdom that may prevent established shops from making what they would consider "stupid" moves.

My observation is that established shops tend to prefer incremental changes. Now _that_ may or may not be a good strategy, if they are facing a rapidly changing environment. We know that one established florist in our area has lost 30% of revenue in the last 3-4 years. I suspect this kind of decline is not uncommon even among established florists. Start-ups die more quickly (like within 2 years), though.

 

[RC in Dayton and Cincinnati]

goldfish,

You'd think what you say would be true, but in reality it's my observation small start-ups in the flower industry haven't been especially nimble, especially adventurous in risk taking, nor especially independent in thinking.

I think the problem with your premise is the time factor. Many great revolutionary ideas take years of nurturing before they take off. Kind of like a fire waiting to happen can smolder and smolder appearing it will never catch. Most small start-ups don't have the resources or patience to wait it out.

As for my revolutionary ideas, my lips are sealed.


RC

 

[goldfish]

You'd think what you say would be true, but in reality it's my observation small start-ups in the flower industry haven't been especially nimble, especially adventurous in risk taking, nor especially independent in thinking.

Your observation may well be true. But that all depends on experience of the owner.

You DO need experience in order to be successful in business. No doubt about that. I just don't believe the experience must be specifically in the florist industry.

As a matter of fact, I actually believe opposite is true. I think that experience per se, if it's too narrowly focused in one area, can be detrimental, as open-mindedness and experience sometimes go against each other, and the person making decisions may not be quite realizing it.

I think the problem with your premise is the time factor. Many great revolutionary ideas take years of nurturing before they take off. Kind of like a fire waiting to happen can smolder and smolder appearing it will never catch. Most small start-ups don't have the resources or patience to wait it out.

OK, this one, I partially agree. If someone spent a long time in a particular area, s/he probably has accumulated more interesting ideas than a rookie does.

But don't discount the benefit of not being "tainted" by old wisdom. Perhaps the best example of that is in the field of science. For example, two 2006 Nobel-prize winners in medicine were awarded for the work they did when they were just rookie investigators. (More info here)

I'm not naive enough to think that business and other profession are the same. I'm too old for that (I'm 48). But I do believe that sometimes a revolutionary idea comes from a pure, untainted mind free of any constraint that past experience tends to impose.

 

[RC in Dayton and Cincinnati]

Goldfish,

You misunderstood what I was saying.

When I refer to the time factor I'm referring to the length of time for revolutionary ideas to catch on.

For example, your "Wacky" arrangement style may be revolutionary, but it may take five years for the consumer to understand it, another five years for the consumer to warm up to it, and another five years for the consumer to accept it. Revolutionary, maybe, but do you have enough staying power to wait fifteen years? Great ideas often are slow to catch on. Most start-ups can't stay afloat long enough to reap the rewards.

RC