Cliquer Spotlight: The Secrets to Success in Challenging Times with Michelle Jones
What would you do if someone offered to sell you an entire flower shop's assets — cooler, vases, tables, register — for $3,000? If you're Michelle Jones of Flowers by Michelle in Las Vegas, you say yes at age 20, borrow first and last month's rent from your grandmother, get a co-signer for the power company, and reopen the shop in three days. In this Cliquer Spotlight, Vonda and Lori sit down with a Flower Clique member whose shop has survived a recession, a pandemic, and everything in between — and who now averages 50 to 55 deliveries a day.
A shop built on a $3,000 handshake
Michelle started at 15 with an after-school job in a small-town greenhouse and flower shop, then worked five years at a Las Vegas shop that slowly fell apart around her until she was the last employee standing besides the delivery driver. When a shaky sale to another buyer fell through — the buyer's check bounced — the owner called Michelle with the $3,000 offer.
Here's the part that makes it more than luck: during slow afternoons at that failing shop, Michelle had quietly built a complete business plan "just to be goofy" — the name Flowers by Michelle, the logo, the style, all of it. So when the call came, she was ready. She already knew the landlord from his rent-collection visits, he signed the lease without hesitating, and three days later she was open. When the previous owner's daughter predicted "she's never gonna make it, she doesn't have enough experience," it just lit the fire hotter.
From 16 Mother's Day deliveries to Best of Las Vegas
That first Mother's Day, the shop did 16 deliveries — Michelle's mom drove them in a rented van, stopping for ice cream along the way. By the first Valentine's Day it was 180, and Michelle was learning on the fly everything nobody had taught her about prep work and processing early. She studied the successful florists in town, borrowed what worked, and deliberately made her shop different — until one day she realized she'd stopped watching anyone else and was setting her own standard. Today Flowers by Michelle has won gold in the Las Vegas Review-Journal's Best of Las Vegas poll five years in a row.
Flexibility is the survival skill
Michelle watched the recession hit Las Vegas hard 12 to 14 years ago, and she noticed a pattern: the florists willing to go outside their comfort zone survived; the others didn't. When COVID shutdowns came, she used those recession lessons. The governor's order included fine print encouraging small businesses to use their websites and delivery — and her husband asked the clarifying question: "How is your driver any different than an Amazon driver?" She refused to shut down, ran distanced deliveries, and had her whole team back by the first of May. As the hosts put it, flexible is one of the F-words of this industry: if you can't adapt, you can't sustain.
Hire for genuineness, lead with a no-drama policy
Michelle hires by looking for something genuine in a candidate's eyes — the sense that they're not just being nice for the interview — because every person, from phone to design bench to delivery, creates a customer impression, and no department can drop the ball. She also states her no-drama policy right in the interview: communicate properly, deal with problems right away. New hires sometimes spend their first days quietly marveling at the atmosphere — she calls it "detoxing" from dramatic workplaces. The payoff came from a 40-year industry veteran on her team who told her: "You're not a boss, you're a leader."
Her growth nugget: don't cheap out on your website
Asked for one thing that would help other shops grow, Michelle didn't hesitate: do not underestimate the power of an awesome website, and put the money into it. She sees florists in Facebook groups hunting for the cheapest website company and winces — you get what you pay for, and your website is a first impression. Her formula for the shop's growth comes down to two words: website and friendliness.
Key takeaways
- Build the plan before you need it — Michelle's "just for fun" business plan let her open a shop in three days when opportunity knocked.
- Let doubters fuel you; being told "you'll never make it" is free motivation.
- Flexibility separates the shops that survive recessions and pandemics from the ones that close.
- Set expectations in the interview — a no-drama policy only works if the owner models it and every employee upholds it.
- Invest in your website and your friendliness; every customer touchpoint is a first impression.