What Can You Learn from Tik Tok 🤷🏼♀️
Lori is a TikTokker. Vonda is not — which surprises exactly no one. This week Lori is on a mission: to convince Vonda (and you) that TikTok is more than a time suck, and that flower shops ignoring it are leaving opportunity on the table. Along the way there are life hacks, baby goats, a chicken named Carlos, and — unexpectedly — some of the best inspirational advice the hosts have shared all year.
Taming the time suck
Vonda's hesitation is fair: even her son admits to losing 30 minutes down a TikTok hole. Lori's answer is boundaries. She scrolls only in the evenings — her designated TikTok downtime — and almost never opens the app during the workday. She's also deliberate about who she follows: marketing and leadership influencers, Canva tutorials that have taught her tricks she didn't know, recipes (about 80 percent of her saved favorites), animal accounts, and inspiration. There's a dark side of TikTok, she acknowledges — she's just never ventured there, because you curate your own experience.
One caution she offers: be a skeptical scroller. For every genuinely useful hack — crack eggs on a flat surface instead of the pan's edge, turn a garbage bag inside out and pull it through the can, slice a Ziploc baggie with a sharp knife so it self-seals into two little bags — there are "mythbuster" accounts testing which ones are lies. Try things yourself before you believe them.
Why a flower shop should care
Lori follows several Flower Clique members and other florists who do TikTok well, and a few patterns stand out. Quick DIY content works: a 30-second tutorial like "here's how to make a quick bow for your Christmas gift" keeps people coming back to learn. And here's the honest part — Lori watches tons of DIY creators and has never once bought supplies to make anything herself. But she would absolutely buy from those creators. That's the point: positioning yourself as the expert makes you their florist, whether or not they ever tie a bow.
Your shop is also full of ready-made content, especially right now. A close-up of a sparkly Christmas tree with filters and music, a walkthrough of your decorated store, or an employee with big personality featuring a product — none of it has to be perfect. If you're chasing younger customers, especially Gen Z and wedding couples, this is the platform where they live, and it isn't going away.
Practical starting points from the conversation: create an account and just test it. If a younger employee already TikToks, ask them to help run it. You can even keep videos private until you build confidence. The real key, Lori says, is consistency — and you truly never know what will go viral. She follows chickens, after all. Whatever catches on may have nothing to do with flowers and still bring business through your door.
Five thoughts from a farmer
Lori's favorite follow is Hidden Cove Farms, an animal sanctuary whose farmer shares weekly inspiration while feeding his donkeys. Last week's list stopped her mid-scroll:
- Sometimes the very thing that breaks your heart will fix your vision.
- Don't waste your time trying to prove you're a good person — your actions will do that for you.
- If you're helping someone and expecting something in return, you're not being kind, you're doing business.
- Some bridges are meant to be burned — there are things you can't afford to return to.
- Everyone has a soul: protect it.
The conversation goes deep from there. Lori recalls teaching seventh grade in a classroom with a one-way observation window — never knowing who might be watching kept her accountable every single day, a mindset she urges shop owners to carry through the holiday rush, when your whole team is watching how you treat people. The hosts talk about exhausting "scorekeeper" friendships, why letting some bridges burn is healthy, and how givers — which describes most people in this industry — get hurt because they don't protect their own souls. As Vonda sums it up, it's really about self-care and mental wellness.
An accountability moment
Said out loud and on the record: Flower Clique is doing TikTok in 2023. When Vonda and Lori are together at the Profit Blast in Texas on January 14th, they're making their first TikToks — and in the meantime, Vonda has homework: download the app. Lori is sending her inspirational accounts and turtle TikTok. Chickens, by mutual agreement, are off the table.
Key takeaways
- Set boundaries before you download: pick a scroll window and curate who you follow.
- Post quick, imperfect DIY tips — viewers who never make anything themselves will still buy from the expert they watch.
- Your decorated shop and personality-filled staff are content; a sparkly tree with music is a TikTok.
- Hand the account to a TikTok-savvy employee and keep videos private until you're confident.
- Consistency beats perfection — you never know what will go viral, and it may not be flowers.