 Diety diaper your baby the soft fresh way. Diety diaper your baby today All of the flowers were wilted. They're like the diva of the flower world Because I'm a floor feel you're you're away. I'm a floor feel everybody welcome to the show this is a show about Failure, I mean not completely failure. You're like growing up like you tell your mom like oh my failure She's like no, honey. You just failed at something. That's what this is about is having a big idea running with it and falling down every once in a while F***ing up every once in a while because that's what we do when we have an idea that's worth pursuing So not on the show. We've got Sarah from the Stemery. She has a flower subscription service So you can keep sending flowers to the person you need to keep sending flowers to I don't know exactly how that works. Maybe because I don't have somebody wow I've probably got plenty of people. I should keep sending flowers to uh to be honest. So I'm hoping that uh Sarah can help me out with that Let's go Everybody welcome to the show as I mentioned earlier. I've got Sarah here from the Stemery, I don't know why I want to say steamery and everything but stemery Yeah, steamery is like a like a dry cleaner or something You're not a dry cleaner The stemery flowers flowers Tell us a little bit about your uh about your business. Yeah, so we're a flower delivery subscription service So we bring flowers to your home or office or business every week every other week or once a month So it's pretty simple like you don't have to make a lot of decisions You just tell us when you want them delivered and pick a size like this is This is kind of a small version of our medium size because it needed to fit on this table Yeah, but like we have three three different tiers. So the medium size is actually bigger than this It's like it's like less condensed than this We just use seasonal flowers and make different arrangements each week and it's always a surprise and fun treat for yourself A treat for yourself. Wait, is there anybody that sends flowers to themselves? Yes, so many people Yes, like that's the majority of our customers. Yes. They send flowers to themselves. Yeah, totally I did not think that at all. I mean it's like you get you get a massage for yourself like You treat yourself to other things. So treat yourself to flowers. Why not? How'd you get started doing this? Oh, man, I just like spent years working random office admin jobs and never Like being satisfied with that. Yeah. Um, and I would come home and like make Handmade greeting cards to sell on Etsy really like or for a while I was like making like lunch bags and computer sleeves and trying to sell those online and like doing poppers around town Were you like like sewing them yourselves and putting them together? Yeah. Yeah. Really? Yeah, so it was like all this super random stuff that I just like get it in my head like oh, I could do this Yeah, and um, and you know like I'd sell some stuff here and there But it was never like a success by any means And I would also get super bored like okay. I've made enough of the greeting card Like I've made like a hundred of these and they're stacked up. Yes. Oh my gosh Do you remember do you remember your first sale on Etsy? I don't know if I remember my first one, but I remember there was this one Christmas where I was like making Christmas cards Yeah, and something happened and like the Etsy algorithms were all of a sudden My shop was getting featured on like the front page or something And I got like all of these orders and I was like I'm not prepared to make this many Christmas cards. Yeah, so I'm like staying up late every night just like Did you not have like the set like on there of like the hey, we're sold out or hey, whatever you were just like Yeah, no, I was just like I've always been like I can't say no like To to like orders like people are sending pay me money Like I have to figure out a way to make it work and it was never like I can't do it It was just like a lot more than I ever expected And I just got like really really bored with it eventually and then All of a sudden like somebody asked me to do flowers for a wedding like it was kind of like you're creative We bought all these flowers put them together in bouquets for us. Had you ever done it before? No like never Usually when somebody like is involved in a wedding. Yeah, it's like I need people to seriously know what they're doing right because you're gonna like Ruin my dad and I recommend that. Yeah, but Except for with me because no, I I'm brilliant. I wouldn't I wouldn't say that that was my best work ever Well, because now you probably know more right? I know what I'm doing now I didn't then I get like one of these people with my sister so I get totally like laugh She's totally like she bought flowers. She's cool. She's cool. But like she bought flowers at Like Trader Joe's or something and then she was like, I just thought you could put these together for me And I was like, all right, I'm doing it You're a really good sister Like I love that there's the assumptive clothes like you're creative Put these together for me So but as much as they weren't like by any means a really great bouquets or anything I had so much fun doing it. Yeah, and I was like, this is something I can see myself Doing for like a long time and not getting tired of it and just loving it And it's true because like each arrangement I make they're always different It's not like I'm sitting in like cutting a pattern sure like making the same thing over and over again so It's just like a fun creative experience every day and it's also I love that it's it's a nature Quick question. Do you still do some of the other types of things too? No, any of that is just too busy Yeah, and it's like I really did get tired of it So and once you find the thing that's like fulfilling you and you're like happy with that like This is I mean since I've been doing flowers. It's like the first time that I've ever not been doing something else, you know Like I'm just happy doing it and you love doing it. Yeah. Oh, that's amazing. Yeah, what is what has been? Probably the biggest challenge just getting started with doing flowers I mean I think that and this is something I still don't like doing but like planning like I On You're like I have a business. Yeah, the only thing I don't like doing Planning because like I I think that part of being creative is that you're visual and you like to like look at things and pick Things out and like especially if it's like that like for valentine's day coming up, right? Yeah, like I have to like guess how many people are going to order stuff and like then Calculate how many flowers of each type of flower. I'm gonna need right and like that's math and like Guessing and I'm like that is my least favorite. That's like the biggest learning curve and my least favorite part Yeah of doing flowers. Yeah, do you buy flowers a lot jack? You give out flowers. You buy flowers for yourself I uh Don't buy flowers for myself You could I make a lot of edibles of flowers edible flowers. Yes flowers. I'm a I'm a floor feel you're a you're a what? I'm a floor feel wait. Is that a real word? Yes. It is a very real word Is that like someone who knows me and my we do things with flowers I need to know wait. Is that somebody that loves flowers or eat flowers or the love flowers Which might include eating. I mean gustation is a part of the jura. I'm a flora fell too. All right jack This is like a whole I know arrangement drink arrangement. Yeah, your drink is called the flower press. Yes It is uh an amalgam Of a florality Made by botanicality and yes Made by a floor feel you want to give it about three stars a press presbyterian Old school drink family of rickies and Collins Press usually has equal parts ginger ale and tonic In this case, we have pink ginger ginger beer And a pink grapefruit tonic for the fill on the press side of that We have big gin on the bottom with a little bit of my very special in-house Apertivo which has terpenes among other things uh staff of joshua flower cordial. It's one of the only uh Blooming trees that bloom twice a year once in spring and once in winter And then uh italicus bergamot liqueur Yeah, a little bit of bergamot tincture spritz on top too because I like bergamot and strawberry bitters Made by moi. I mean this sounds like the fanciest drink I've ever had I said bergamot. I know it is fanciest drink. Are you are you ready to try it? I am so ready to try it All right, you're right. How do you uh How you say cheers you use a certain word you say salute a salute day Like the italians because it's my favorite place to drink. Isn't it it's in italy? They have the best wine so wow. This is delicious Fragile. Mmm Yeah Like dangerously good dangerous. Mmm It's pretty boozy Do you do any bouquets or just based off of? Like the region right totally and that's like my favorite I mean that's been like a really important part of the stem race since we started This isn't like all local by any means because it's the winter and everything is dead But pretty much for like nine or eight or nine months out of the year Yeah, I get all of our flowers from the Seattle wholesale growers market cooperative, which is this awesome group of Farmers who came together and they're like we want to like provide a place that everybody can buy Like local flowers. Oh, wow. And is it just flowers? It's flowers and foliage and anything that they grow Yeah, and it's awesome. It's I mean, it's a pretty unique resource that a lot of Most places in the country don't have yeah, you went down a route where Again, you've got to keep up like you learned with etsy Like I like that you're like what can't say no like yeah if they order it. I'm gonna make it and give it to them And now you're in a situation where it's it's kind of the same because the subscription means you know You're gonna have to ship something every you said every week every two weeks. Yeah We do twice a week um Our delivery days are twice a week and then like our subscribers have different like some of them are weekly summer every other Monthly yeah, but it is I do have to say no a lot Yeah, because because as a floral designer it is kind of like assumed that I do weddings and I do do some weddings But I am very limited on like how many weddings I can take because not on your website Right. It's not on our website. It's kind of like if somebody Is like we really like what you do like would you be willing to consider? Then I will talk to them and if I can make it work And I kind of like prefer to do smaller weddings just because it's a lot more manageable. Yeah, but yeah, like I think that Starting this so I like came up with this subscription model because I wanted something that was scalable that I could grow and potentially Like could run maybe one day without my everyday involvement So I was like, how can I do flowers and it not just be like tied to me being there doing this thing every day and also be like a year-round business because I'm not saying that there's no winter weddings, but there's a lot less So like there's very clearly like a wedding season and then an off season. How's it going? Like do you see? Sort of like a future where you're going to be like living in Cape Town and just like All right kiddos have fun running my business. Yeah, I mean that's I would say that's the goal Like I love doing floral design. So it's not like It's not like I want to be like totally removed from it Like I'd love to be able to just be like I'm gonna do some arrangements today And I think that's like a big part of My vision from the beginning was like, okay How can I get this to the point that I have like freedom and flexibility and can eventually like pull away from different parts And I still I mean I work every day like I mean I try to take weekends, but It's still very involved like on a daily basis But I can travel because I hired people and like I think there's this like tension where you're like I don't want to spend the money on that but if I don't then I can never leave And so I think there was a lot of decisions like Hey, like sure I'm gonna sacrifice a little bit for this But I'm gonna hire some people early on who can do floral design who can do deliveries Who can like take on extra work if I want to leave town for a week or two Like and they are wonderful and I have a great team. You can't talk highly enough about them and I'm really grateful for that Where did you have like Uh missteps or things that you thought you knew What it was going to be like and then it wasn't like okay, listen, where did you up like where were you like? I got this wrong. Oh my gosh Like there's so many I think one of the earliest ones was just like learning about flowers and I remember this one time that There's these like big dahlias. They're called cafe ole dahlias What do they look like? They're big and like lots of layers of petals that kind of come like ray out from the center And they're beautiful color kind of like blushy And I just like when my first year was doing arrangements and they like showed up at the market I was like, oh man got to use these and I put them in all my arrangements and The next day I came into the studio and all of the flowers were wilted and I was like Oh my god What like that quick so turns out they're like the diva of the flower world and I had no idea and they just have like They're just like hanging out You can't plan on them for anything much less like when I send out subscriptions I want them to last for people for at least five to seven days. Yeah, so it's not like it's just like they Show up and need to look good that day. It's like they need to look good for almost a week They oh lay. Yeah, so I never ever used them anymore, but I had no idea and so then Like that morning with all my subscriptions I'm like going down to the flower market like buying different flowers and like trying to put them all in And it was just like I had no idea So unfortunately, I had to learn from my own mistakes and not other people Well, I think that that's while the truth is that's probably what everybody does starting a small business or Becoming an entrepreneur like yeah, that's probably the best and easiest way to learn about it Yeah, I think a lot of people myself included They've probably spent too much time researching or reading stuff because then they don't do it. Yeah, right like it's like Oh, let me figure out how to write a business plan. Oh, let me figure out how to market my business. Oh, let me figure out what the Decoration should be in my tortilla shop, right instead of just Do it And then you find out and then you like and you learn and I mean I'll come across stuff And I I have to research and I have to figure out how to do it But I just I tend to be more like as I go like, oh wait, I can't I can't do this. What do I do? Like I told somebody I'd build this huge installation and I have no idea what I mean, I'll pretty much always say that I can do something that somebody wants Like if I do do a wedding or like an installation for a business or something because I know I can figure it out But like yeah, like I remember this one business like they wanted Their logo and flowers on their wall what for like a grand opening and I was like, yeah, no problem And then I was like Absolutely, I'm gonna use cafe olas What do you think is in sight like did you grow up around entrepreneurs? Did you grow up around people that were taking these types of risks to figure out what it is that they wanted to do? Yeah, for sure. I mean, maybe not to the same extent like Like neither of my parents started a business per se, but like Both of them are very entrepreneurial like my mom teaches piano like she's done that her whole life And she's always been kind of carving her own place in the world And I think I remember as a kid like she would always be making and selling stuff like back in the 90s when like Like sweatpants suits were really popular Wait, what? Like I remember as a kid My mom would make these like cotton sweat suits and she'd use puff paint and like design like themed Sweat suits Like with like piano or like music notes all over them or is this a thing Or is this really a thing of the 90s that I missed it This sounds glorious my dad wrote music and he's actually a really great songwriter But he did a lot of jingles so like back in the 90s again when jingles were like all the way I remember specifically this one he wrote for this diaper service That like they would pick up your cloth diapers and clean them and bring them back This is so good. Yeah So he also wrote a wait, did you like that's right? If you remember it You're like I remember I do I remember the whole thing. It's the only one that I remember that what you do actually remember the words All right, hold on. I'm gonna sit and I'm ready to Receive the jingle about well, how does it go? I'm in I'm a little like nervous because I'm not a singer. So that's okay. I'll sing it back to you if it's easy Goes the service is called diddy diapers Okay Diddy diaper your baby the soft fresh way diddy diaper your baby today Diddy diapers the one for your little one diddy diaper your baby today That's amazing Oh, I think I think I think we're good forever That's it like I think we Like diddy diaper your baby today to also give my dad credit that he then went on to actually start a business Like he didn't just do the jingle No, like but the jingle thing is the most fun. Yeah, he he failed at all other things Yes He used to speak doing jiggles, but then he went on and did a separate business Yeah, so he actually like worked for companies like most of my life growing up until I was a teenager and then he started a business doing like Um contractor like he was a contractor and he built like additions onto people's homes and stuff like that. Oh, wow. Yeah But it's interesting because you follow a similar path in Like you knew you were going to make things and now now the thing you're making is a business not just flower arrangements, right? I wouldn't be surprised if we see something completely different Like from you in the next five years the next 10 years like yeah, we'll see what happens I mean, I feel really happy with this business and like But it would be really cool if it if it takes off and it's like able to do on its own I have the chance to do something else in the future. We'll see. Yeah, who knows What do you see what do you see next for the the business itself? I mean, I think that I'm constantly looking for Like how to scale so and I think that there's always that kind of like tug and pool a little bit because Like we'll get more subscriptions And I'll be kind of stretched thin and like my team will too But like we're not quite at the point where we can hire somebody else, you know So there's like that kind of back and forth. Um a little bit So right now just figuring out like how to continue making connections in this area and like growing the business in seattle But eventually Like I'd love to expand. Yeah. Um and who knows maybe even have other locations. Yeah Any last parting words of wisdom to the masses or to the guy that's still afraid to like Become a freelance anything I mean if you If you love it in your hearts in it, I think you're just gonna do You're gonna do such a better job than you're doing it something that you don't feel that way about so go for it That's awesome. Yeah. Thank you for being on the show so much. All right. Uh, what was the italian one? Salute day. Yeah. Yeah Salute day Sarah, thanks for being on the show. That was a blast Thank you for the song that I will never ever ever forget And if you like what you saw then subscribe ring the bells click on the stuff that's around my face right now And if you have your own f up your own go to fups.com. We would love to have you on the show