Should this board be open to Home Based businesses?

Should flowerchat be open to non B & M "flower people"?

  • No, Full Service industry insiders only

    Votes: 53 38.4%

  • Absolutely, everyone has to start somewhere

    Votes: 49 35.5%

  • Only if they have some accreditation

    Votes: 24 17.4%

  • Perhaps (explain in post below)

    Votes: 12 8.7%
  • Total voters
    138
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I wonder how many of us paid for information from the professionals as we were growing up. I wonder how many of us had mentors...

After I graduated (having paid for my formal education), I was fortunate enough to find people who were more than willing to mentor me (at no cost). I guess I see some (not all) of the comments directed at Wink as being rather elitist and personally leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Do I belong here? Probably not. Am I glad I'm here? Without a doubt. Do I have anything to offer? I guess that's up to the receiver of the information. Can I afford to pay to learn from my peers... not at this time.

V
 
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I've been stopping by 'real florist' shops the last few days. What I saw in a couple places was disgusting. Old merchandise, 1/2 dead flowers, tired displays, etc....

In my Mom's little town, the best flower arrangements come from the Rite Aid (drug store) which has a lovely section staffed by seasoned professionals (one who happened to be my very first boss). Good quality, good prices, full service.

IMO it's not just the 'where', but the quality, attitude and respect for the profession.

I admit to feeling uneasy with new members who have no experience, no education, no serious commitment to the profession - and ask us to educate them from the ground up. I simply choose to ignore those questions.

Take a class or four, work in the industry, learn the basics, show that you believe there's more to the floral world than printing your name on a business card before I will volunteer my time to help educate you. (Remember, we are all voluteers here and any answer is a gift to be given- not an obligation to be fulfilled.)

'Real florists' are working from home studios and doing amazing jobs for their customers. Most focus on wedding and event niches and develope reputations for quality. The successful ones are well trained and charge prices in a similar range to B&Ms.

So I guess for me it comes down to a commitment to the profession - with the location being unimportant.
 
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I admit to feeling uneasy with new members who have no experience, no education, no serious commitment to the profession - and ask us to educate them from the ground up. I simply choose to ignore those questions

Could not agree with your post more...you hit the the nail on the head...Folks like Wink deserve respect, so do many of the others...but when someone posts on "how do I make a tulle puff?" Well, I ask " what and how did you get here". I am willing to share my limited knowledge to other professionals whether they are in a b&m shop or working out of a studio but I am not willing to provide the answers to someone who has not taken a class, is not licensed, hasn't a clue, and has no overhead...basically I consider these to be hobbyists trying to ride the coatails or just someone who is going to further injure the industry by producing junk.
I also do not appreciate seeing professionals attack long standing contributors here...if you are new, maybe sitting back and learning something first just might benefit you before you go into a tirade with someone as professional as Joe Mioux...truthfully one person in that thread threaten to "be out of here" , well if that is a sign of your level of professionalism and commitment to learning ...by all means do not let the door hit you in the rear before it closes. Joe never deserved that tirade and probably anything that poster ever posts again will be ignored....jmho which on this case is not subject to change.
Sher
 
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I don't know how to vote, although I'm leaning yes.

On one hand, I don't see much difference in sharing info with a home based person versus someone who just bought a little shop and has no clue. Technically the shop owner belongs, but what's the diff?

ON THE OTHER HAND, the recognition of just how many home based are here concerns me and I believe they will limit the exchange of info. While they may be outstanding floral designers, I don't want to help them take away my business. Think of the other extreme. What if a Walmart rep joined and wanted to suck up as much info as he could about how florists operate. How willing would you be to share info then?

We have reached a critical juncture here. The powers that be need to make a decision about what Flowerchat will be, and let the chips fall where they may. If it's the wrong decision, like the changes FloristBoard made, the florists will go somewhere else.
 
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Couldn't we already be sharing info with a rep from WalMart and not know it? It has been too long since I joined and I can't remember the details. Does anyone check out the info when you sign up?

I was a member of another board years ago and you could join and read but could not post for a time period so that you could get a feel for the board and how it operates. Basically posts were blocked, I believe, for the introductory period. Something like that could be done here, if desired. In the case of the otehr board that time period was four days but it could be whatever. I don't know if that would actually help here but thought that I would throw it out in case.

Wanda
 
I must say

After reading the posts I must say one of this reasons this industry is faltering is being exibited here on this board. Our industry does not take itself seriously. There is very low level of professionalism.

Take a few classes put an old frig in your basement and your a florist. Wholesalers welcome you. Call your state association, pay your fee and your listed as a professional. Try that in any other business. First go to you city leaders and ask to operate a auto repair shop from your garage. Call Toyota and ask to buy their repair technology tools. See if the tire suppliers will sell to you. The answer to all of the above is NO. But not in the floral world.

Maybe that's why the consumer hold this business is such low esteem. Maybe they feel all florists, both home and brick and mortar, are just hobbists becuase of the very nature of how this business is conducted.

I have no porblem with anyone running a flower business from their home. Just don't come to me and expect me to give you the benefit of the years of hard work to get the knowldege of ruuning a successful business.

For those that feel that basement bettys have a place on this board, why don't you place your business financial statements in the newspapers so that your local basement betty's can see. Post a list of your suppliers, so that they can cherry pick your line of goods and undercut you. Post the phone numbers of your top designers so that they can hire them after they took a potential sale away from you.

Passion for the business and being in the business are two very different things.
 
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Joe Mioux said:
If this forum was originally set up as a flower and garden forum for hobbyists, then I could see no problem with amatuers, enthusiasts and pros coming together to share ideas.

However, this forum was formed for the advancement of "Real Florists". It took me a long time reading this board to truly appreciate the meaning of those two words......

Joe
Click to expand...

Ditto...stole my thunder...

Look, putting it bluntly, my "idea" of who should be reading this board?
- Professional florist: location irrelevant. If they operate a BUSINESS, a real business in the floral industry, then welcome.
- Designers/Managers working for a REAL florist: sure - they ARE the industry...
- Trade members: you bet, vital to the board.
- Hobbiest, etc. who do not pay taxes, have no business EIN, pay "staff" totally under the table, etc. Nope...there are plenty of other garden club type boards around...

It was also mentioned that some of the topics mentioned here are GENERALLY not intended for the public to view or even understand. They are very industry related...not 'secret', but just best suited for those in the industry professionally.

As Bloomzie says, opinions vary...these happen to be mine.

- H.
 
Bigted said:
ON THE OTHER HAND, the recognition of just how many home based are here concerns me and I believe they will limit the exchange of info. While they may be outstanding floral designers, I don't want to help them take away my business. Think of the other extreme. What if a Walmart rep joined and wanted to suck up as much info as he could about how florists operate. How willing would you be to share info then?

We have reached a critical juncture here. The powers that be need to make a decision about what Flowerchat will be, and let the chips fall where they may. If it's the wrong decision, like the changes FloristBoard made, the florists will go somewhere else.
Click to expand...

Agree completely.

Until the other day I had no idea who was picking our brains here. I mean I definately wondered about the "how do I make a tulle puff" posts, but here's the answer to that.

When my local competition was a member here before she closed her shop I shared info completely differently, and will again be doing so.

Maybe it's time to be sharing some disinformation.

I recommend everyone join all 4 of the wire services and buy all the codified products so you can "get your product into homes" and make a name for yourself. Recipients could be your best source of new orders.

And you make a tulle puff by dipping tulle in the glue pan and mushing it together.
 
Okay, Bloomzie...first great laughs in the past few days...........
 
bloomz said:
Maybe it's time to be sharing some disinformation.

I recommend everyone join all 4 of the wire services and buy all the codified products so you can "get your product into homes" and make a name for yourself. Recipients could be your best source of new orders.

And you make a tulle puff by dipping tulle in the glue pan and mushing it together.
Click to expand...

You crack me up! Wait...I thought tulle puffs were a kind of cereal.
 
I'm new here and was under the impression this board was for professional floral people that own/work in floral shops. I was eager to discuss related issues with others in this field, and possibly increase my knowledge and design skills by the example of more talented and skilled people. I was surprised and thrilled to find that wholesalers, suppliers, event specialists and AIFD professionals also share in the discussions, people that take the industry seriously, have a serious commitment and a lot at stake.

I was also surprised and dismayed to find that also populating this board are home based businesses, which may or may not be out to pick the collective brain of this community with the purpose of gleaning info towards using it to undercut the businesses whose very existence is threatened by them. Aren't we being wounded enough by the Walmarts and grocery stores that have closed thousands of shops when they started offering flowers to the general public at a price that's lower than what we pay to our wholesalers? I would be clearly upset if I gave information that could be used by a local, sloppy, in home business to take work away from our shop.

You say that the many of the types that pick our brains in order to take business away will eventually float away into the sunset after we ignore them, posh, they're lurking in the shadows watching. A moderator from a previous board I was active in said we had 5,000 members but only 300 actively posted, the rest lurked.

I feel that people allowed to post on a board of this type should have some type of vested interest and creditation towards professionalism. How that would be discerned I leave to the people that can think harder than I can.
 
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I Voted Perhaps:

But I have no idea of how to sort out the difference!

34 Years ago Akiko could have been classified as a Basement Betty, or a home business. Today she is the largest full service florist in North Central Pa. A little history:

Army Wife who grew up in a family whose girls and mother each belonged to a different "School" of Japanese Flower Arrangement and whose boys were sought after as judges of floral competitions. Akiko holds a professional teachers degree in the Sogetsu School.

When The Boy Scouts transferred her husband (me) to Pa she went to work for the local florist, and quit shortly thereafter because of failure of the shop owner to deliver funeral flowers among other lapses of professional conduct.

Akiko's Floral Arts started on a Saturday morning when a very distraught young woman knocked on the door with an arm load of flowers and asked if Akiko could help her. She was to be married in a few hours and the "Florist had not yet begun to work on her wedding flowers! One wholesaler was thrilled when I stopped him in another town, gave him our address and asked him if he would stop and talk to Akiko. He knew her from her previous association; we were on COD for several months, our first refrigerator was purchased used for $10.00, and our first "Real Florist refrigerator" was purchased with my cashed in retirement investment with the Boy Scouts.

I guess Akiko ceased being a "Basement Betty" when our town would not give us a permit for our third expansion as "we were getting to big to be in a Residential Area". (See a picture of the shop we built and moved into in 1978 at akikos.com).

MY TAKE IS THAT PEOPLE BELONG HERE OR NOT DEPENDING MORE ON MENTAL ATTITUDE AND INTENTION THAN PHYSICAL LOCATION.
 
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Stuck in the middle

I would like to be up front and honest with everyone here. I feel like I am almost stuck in the middle.

Brief history of where I came from in this industry. My step fathers family came to this country from Germany in 1880 and purchased land here (Queens, NY) with gold coins. The land that was purchased was used to build greenhouses. The greenhouses were purchased from a plantation in North Carolina that had been destroyed during the Civil War. The greenhouses had laid idle for some twenty years until the family had purchased them and moved them to Queens. They first grew violets, azaleas and other flowering plants which they took to the market in Manhattan via the railroad. Through the years they accumulated 20 greenhouses. Eventually being the first grower on Long Island to deliver with a truck. Since then it was past on from generation to generation.

We no longer have any of the greenhouses they were sold. In 1965 is when they started with the retail end of things. Now it is just my family, I am the 5th generation. Things have changed drastically from when everything first started. I want to take things to the next level. The town might not call for it.

The reason I am here and why I am stuck in the middle is because I work for my family, only part time now. Reason being is because I am furthering my education within this industry and also because I do not like how my family runs the business. Right now I am trying to figure out where I belong. I work both from my home (only doing the follow up and phone calls) and from the our florist (sitting down with brides and doing all my designing). I almost feel as if I should work from home because I would have things my way instead of how my family wants to run things.

So where do I belong? I am passionate about this business but do not have the financial backing at this time to open up my own B&M. My family however lets me do whatever I want, the only thing is when people walk in they might as well have gone to the supermarket to get their flowers. I do not want that, so it is that much harder to sell the bride on my experience and my pricing.

So I was thinking of working from my home. I have all the necessary experience (of course I always want to learn more) to have my own business. I just don't feel like I should be categorized as a basement betty or even a freelancer. I just want the proper guidance. Anyone willing to take my under their wing?
 
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please cut/copy and paste your post, the link won't work for us.

tracy
 
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