Kicking off 2024 with Goals and Word for the Year
Remember writing "void" across the first twenty checks of January because you kept dating them the wrong year? Vonda and Lori open 2024 with that bit of nostalgia before getting down to the real business of the episode: goals, vision boards, and the one-word themes they're each carrying into the new year. It's a light conversation with a serious spine — because how you frame January tends to shape how the whole year goes in your shop.
Little goals beat grandiose resolutions
Lori doesn't make big, sweeping resolutions. Instead she writes down small, specific things she'd like to attain — and this year's list is delightfully concrete: learn to play pickleball (with actual lessons first, because showing up without knowing the rules "stresses me out"), get back into Pilates, and take more weekend getaways. That last one comes with a lesson every busy owner will recognize: she and her husband never skip trips on purpose — it's pure lack of planning. Friday afternoon arrives and they realize they should have gone to Austin. The fix is intentionality: put the getaway on the calendar before the week eats it.
She's also assigned a couples project: she and her husband will each research three U.S. cities where they might one day retire, build little PowerPoint proposals, and pitch each other before visiting the finalists. Silly? Maybe. But it turns a vague someday-conversation into a plan.
Lori is also a vision board devotee — hers is made in Canva and doubles as her computer screensaver all year, so the reminders are unavoidable. Her rules: anything can go on it, nothing negative, and it's about you — not your spouse, not your kids. Vonda, who has never made one, got officially challenged on air.
Two words for the year: organization and reduce
Vonda's word is organization. She's naturally organized day to day, but new responsibilities with AIFD — including planning for Symposium 2026 — mean a big new chunk of work has to fit into an already full calendar. As Lori put it, this is the year of being hyper-organized: blocking time deliberately so the open spaces on the calendar stay genuinely open.
Lori's word raised eyebrows when she first shared it: reduce. But it's not about shrinking the business — it's about lightening the load. She spent a recent weekend clearing office clutter she'd convinced herself she needed ("I have this in a file on my computer — I don't need this"). The word extends everywhere: the closet full of clothes unworn in five years, the drawer that needs emptying, even reducing time in the chair by standing at the kitchen bar or walking the block between tasks. Vonda pushed back on exactly one item — reducing the twice-weekly Chick-fil-A run. Her challenge is worth remembering: why would you reduce something that brings you joy? Reduction should target weight, not delight.
Flower Clique's word: grow
For the company, 2023's word was refine — a year of improving existing products instead of pumping out new ones. For 2024, the word that kept coming up for Lori was simply grow. What struck them both is that the whole team had independently landed on the same feeling in the previous episode's goal-setting, without planning it. And as Vonda noted, it applies at every level: the company, each team member, and every member florist. Their job now is nurturing that growth.
Stop waiting for the "right" start date
The sneaky-useful stretch of this episode is about timing. We tell ourselves we can only start a diet on a Monday, or a new program on the first of the month — the hosts remember delaying their own Whole30 for exactly that reason. Florists do the same thing with business decisions: "after the first of the year," then "after Valentine's Day," always another milestone to hide behind. Vonda's advice is a fast decision filter: list just two reasons you should do it now and two reasons you shouldn't — not an exhausting pros-and-cons essay. If the positives clearly win, go. Her warning for the waiters: six weeks of delay can mean real money left on the table, and most people only see it in hindsight. The hosts are candid that the delay is usually fear and uncertainty, not logic — and this industry doesn't have many natural risk-takers.
Where to find them this spring
The 2024 travel calendar is already stacked: NextGen at the end of February, then straight to the Great Lakes Floral Expo in Grand Rapids in early March, Congressional Action Days, a Des Moines photo shoot with an evening education program on April 9, a Texas event in San Marcos in June, then AIFD and SAF's convention in August. If any of those are within driving distance, come say hello — and Lori would genuinely love a text or email with your resolutions and your word for 2024.
Key takeaways
- Skip grandiose resolutions; write down small, specific goals you can actually schedule.
- Pick one word for the year — for yourself and for your business — and check your decisions against it.
- Reduce what weighs you down, but never reduce the things that bring you joy.
- Don't wait for an arbitrary start date; test decisions with two pros and two cons and act.
- Weekend getaways and personal projects don't happen without intentional planning — block the time first.