Bonus Episode: We asked you, "What's giving you life, bringing you joy, through the challenges?"
For this short-and-sweet bonus episode, Vonda and Lori turned the microphone around. Vonda posted her signature question — what's giving you life right now? — on The Business and Pleasure of Flowers page, and the answers came pouring in. The result is a rapid-fire tour of the small joys keeping flower people going through shutdown, and a reminder that even in the strangest season, there's a lot worth noticing.
Family, first and always
Lori estimates at least three-quarters of the responses were about family. Vonda kicked things off with her own: a seven o'clock call every night from two of her granddaughters, Wheaton and Campbell, for "planking time" — one minute of planks together. Lori's answer is more sideways: with a quarantined teenager who can't go out, she's sleeping better than she has in years.
The listeners' answers echo the theme. One florist's family does a daily group call with daughters, son-in-law, and a grandbaby. Annie from Louisiana has had her New York City-based daughter home with her for six weeks — a twofold blessing of time together and worry set aside. Theresa, from a family of twelve siblings all raised in the flower business, joins a Sunday Zoom party that fills 22 squares on the screen. Kammie from one of the New York shops got a video from her three-year-old granddaughter that carried her through a workday alone in the shop. The hosts land on a question worth sitting with: when the dust settles, will we keep making these calls — or let the habit fade?
Shops using the pause well
Plenty of responses came from owners turning downtime into progress. Robin redid her shop's floors and reset the whole space so it looks bigger, cleaner, and ready for reopening. Stephanie in New York is remodeling her shop's interior completely. As the hosts note, if you can afford it, there's no better moment — you're not pushing business out the door by closing to renovate. Even better, these shops are posting the process on social media: "we're revamping, come see us when this is all over" — exactly the kind of relevance-keeping content Vonda and Lori have been preaching.
Permission to be a little silly
Some answers were pure delight. Donna is working puzzles with her daughter while The Love Boat, Happy Days, and Laverne & Shirley play in the background — which naturally sends Lori, keeper of every 70s and 80s theme song, into a story about serenading her 25-year-old bottle-line-working son with the Laverne & Shirley theme. Kristie in Washington, shut down completely, confessed her favorite quarantine ritual: sipping wine on the porch at noon, something she could never normally do. The hosts' verdict: doing things out of the ordinary right now is not just okay, it's healthy.
A community that shows up
The episode closes with Andy from Rob's Flowers in Missouri, a florist of three-plus decades who started the shutdown scared for his business. He began eating at local mom-and-pop restaurants and posting about them on social media — and those businesses started supporting him right back. Customers have been calling in orders for $25, $50, $100 of loose flowers and telling him to keep the change, over and over. As Andy told Lori, it isn't about the money; it's the feeling of being cared about. It's the collaboration-with-local-businesses advice the hosts always give, proven under pressure — and a real-life version of Mister Rogers' "look for the helpers."
Key takeaways
Ask yourself what's bringing you joy right now — the answer tells you what actually matters, and it's worth protecting after life speeds back up.
Keep the family video calls going; the habit is the blessing, not the crisis that started it.
If you can afford it, a shutdown is the ideal window for a remodel — and posting the progress keeps your shop relevant on social media.
Support other local businesses publicly; generosity between small businesses comes back around, especially in hard times.
Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist