Business Lessons From A 1980's Flower Shop

​My parents owned two flower shops in the 70’s and 80’s, and that’s where I first learned about running a business.  The flower industry didn’t yet have online florists, min-flower shops in grocery stores, or floral subscriptions services.  It was just hard work, marketing, and creativity.  They were passionate about flowers, they loved that they could care for people through their art, and they loved making people happy. 
 
Despite similar challenges to your business (online, malls, etc), my parents’ 3 principles mentioned above are still fundamental for you and your business.  Try them out and watch your business grow.
 
Hard Work – Are you the hardest working professional in your industry?  If you are not, your lesser talented competition has the advantage.  Don’t give away your gifting and talent to someone who works harder than you.  When talent and hard work meet, great results are accomplished.
 
Marketing – My parents were old-fashioned (back when old-fashioned was all there was).  They used the yellow pages.  You have social media.  They put out door hangers.  You have email lists.  They sent “thank you” cards.  You should still do this.  Either way, your community’s awareness of your business is in the most part up to you.  Word of mouth doesn’t start until there is something to talk about.
 
Creativity – My parents were artists, and their medium were flowers.  No two arrangements looked the same, and they took pride in their work.  How can you approach your business this way?  If you are a frame seller, do you see the match between your patient’s face, their prescription, and their fashion as an artistic expression?  Do you see your customer service as artistically tailoring your patient/customer’s needs as art?  If you do, you will stand out.
 
The business landscape has greatly changed in the last 20 years.  The fundamentals of success have not.  Approach each day with hard work, marketing, and creativity to stand out above your competition.  My parents did and were successful.
 
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Gordon Duncan is the CEO/Consultant of ProSight Success.  He has worked in the eye care industry for nearly 20 years.  He has consulted in the medical field, manufacturing, accounting, and many other disciplines.  You can contact him at [email protected]
 
P.S. ProSight offers a host of resources for the optometric and small business field.  You can find front desk training for things like common expressions and more at our Front Desk Academy. 
 
P.S.S ProSight Success has a 7 volume playbook to put all of these things in place.  In fact, we recently published this system in paperback.  It has been called the “Optometric Textbook for the 21st Century”.  Typically, this resource costs $199, but in light of seeing another practice fatality, I have cut its cost 50%.   From now until the end of the year, you can purchase the ProSight Success System in paperback for $100.  This 2 lb. (over 300 pages of resources) playbook has been #1 in 7 different countries, and it’s the step by step process that the doctor above walked through. 
 

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