Episode 53: Lessons Learned in 2020 and How to Take Control 2021!
In the last week of 2020, Vonda and Lori pour a (very early, very low-key) New Year's toast and look back at a year that started with Kobe Bryant's death and Australia on fire — before anyone had even heard the word "pivot." A year ago they were filming flower school in Des Moines; in March they were together in Cabo watching the first virus headlines roll in. Now, with the calendar about to flip, they trade the lessons 2020 actually taught them — and how to carry them into a year you take control of, instead of one that takes control of you.
Crisis reveals character
One thing the hosts noticed everywhere in 2020: a pandemic brings out who you really are. Many people got more patient — Vonda watched a stranger at the UPS store cheerfully wave off a long wait — but as Lori points out, people who harbored bitterness got more bitter, too. The pressure amplifies whatever is already inside. That cuts both ways for shop owners: Lori admits the year revealed some ugliness in herself, and the win isn't perfection, it's noticing. Vonda shares one of her favorite quotes on the chain from thoughts to words to actions to habits to character — because your character is what customers are watching.
The business application is concrete: when a customer is angry about an arrangement that missed the mark, own it. Saying "you're right, that's not our standard — what can we do?" shocks people, defuses the situation, and usually turns the complaint into loyalty.
You control your reaction — and your decisions
Vonda leans on the Charles Swindoll line: life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react. Lori's confession makes it real — most of the arguments she had during the pandemic happened entirely inside her own head, with the other person blissfully unaware. Choosing the negative path only hurts you.
The same logic applies to your shop. 2020 forced everyone into pure reaction mode — just keep up, just get to the shallow end. The lesson for 2021 is to get proactive again: plan two and three months out instead of a week at a time. And recognize that success is built from daily decisions. The owner who refuses to raise prices because of the shop down the street is making a decision not to be profitable — and calling it circumstance.
We can all do hard things
The biggest 2020 takeaway, hands down: florists can do hard things. Shops that didn't believe they'd survive to Mother's Day had record Easters instead. The hosts recall their interview with Ken Senter, who got up every morning during a season of canceled weddings, took a shower, and did it again — and who worried more about his brides than himself. Lori reaches for the children's book We're Going on a Bear Hunt: when you hit the mountain, you can't go around it or under it — you go over it, and the journey over is the point.
Failure itself got a rebrand this year. Lori tells the story of Instagram's founder, whose original app was flopping until his girlfriend said she just wanted to post pictures — the "failure" became the feature. Vonda's family asks a nightly dinner-table question: what was your peak, your pit, and your failure today? Because failures you learn from aren't losses.
Don't go through it alone
If you own a shop and you're not part of a community, make that your first move of 2021 — Flower Clique would love you, but any community that speaks your language counts: your chamber of commerce, the Society of American Florists, a vetted Facebook group. Just choose carefully. Surrounding yourself with positive people matters more than surrounding yourself with people who agree with you — and a community of Debbie Downers will make you one, too.
Key takeaways
- Pressure amplifies character — pay attention to what 2020 revealed in you, and own mistakes with customers quickly and directly.
- Life is 10% what happens and 90% how you react; most of the battle is the conversation in your own head.
- Trade reaction for planning: map the next two to three months, not the next week.
- Profitability is a decision. Pricing to match the shop down the street is choosing not to succeed.
- Treat failures as tuition — ask yourself daily what you failed at and what it taught you.
- Find a positive community of people who share your burdens; nobody should run a shop through this alone.
Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist