The 2nd annual Small Business Saturday® is a day dedicated to supporting small businesses on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year.
Visit a local small business, make a purchase, and be responsible for improving our local economy!
The NLRB said it decided to postpone the date to allow for enhanced education and outreach to employers, especially small and medium-sized businesses.
Employers should assume they will be required to comply with the posting requirement and post the notice on January 31, 2012. The Palmdale Chamber of Commerce will have a compliance product in time for employers to distribute it to their employees before the new January 31, 2012, deadline.
Name: Chris Spicher
Business: Antelope Valley Florist
Title: Owner and President
Age: 60
Member Since: 1989
Q: How has being a Chamber benefited your business?
A: It helps me become known, improves my credibility and makes me a part of the community. Being involved is important, you get what you put into it.
Q: How has this economy affected your business?
A: I’m not sure it’s the economy, the age we live in, or the particular retail business I’m in but I think all the above affect what we do. The last time the economy did this back in the early 90′s I had dropped my membership to the Chambers of Commerce. I thought if I could save some money it would help me but what I realized is that not being a chamber member was a bad move. Being involved in the business community is so important to your business. It’s like Mom, apple pie, and join the Chamber.
Q: How do you plan to overcome the economic difficulties?
A: I was brought up with the mindset that the way I was going to make money is with my imagination, my creativity. I think building relationships with people is important because it’s a people business. We are heavily involved in social networking. People are getting to know me through these venues and deciding that they might like me or understand me and that’s where they want to spend their money. We go back to the basics of meeting people, knowing people, being involved in the community, and in social networking. Even though we’ve been in the same location for 50 years it’s having a presence in the community.
Q: Do you think being involved in social networking helps you to make those connections?
A: Part of what it does is keep me excited. So instead of going home and being depressed I go home and think of new promotions. Which is what I used to do when I was 25-30. The sky was the limit, I’d run like crazy all the time, thinking of fun ideas and staying up late. It was so much excitement but after you’ve been doing it for a while you have this feeling of entitlement. Then you have realize that you are only as good as your last arrangement. You continually have to thank people for being your customer.
Q: Is there anyone who inspired you to choose this career?
A: I enjoyed working with my dad and he was a hard worker and he had great people skills before that was a term that people understood. I liked the business of making people happy and taking care of people. I met many great florist, and in those days, we had a relationship with the growers.
Q: Do you feel like the internet and price are affecting your business?
A: I think people have always thought of flowers as expensive but at least we got past the need for only two occasions; funerals and weddings. If I had to wait for funerals and weddings to sell what we sell I would be in big trouble. Flowers are every day now, they are still built around holidays but now it’s about what’s the cheapest. People will go online to save 12 cents but that’s not the customers problem. That’s the problem of the proprietor and so we have to offer them something that they can’t get anywhere else.
We received an order and the card read, “I know it’s not Friday but it’s the 13th, have a nice day.” What kind of occasion is that? It touched her and she’ll never forget it. That’s what it’s about! What did you have for dinner three weeks ago? You don’t remember? You spent money on it. You might remember last night. What do you have that you’ve spent money on that you still have today? There are few things we spend money on today that we will keep forever but an emotion or a feeling, that will last. Especially, if it’s done at the right time and the right reason they will never forget it.
Q: Do you offer a rewards program?
A: I have a Club 150 for the person who’s in here a lot, on the 12th purchase they get $50 off. Most of the time they just take a $50 arrangement but then again, it becomes a to-do card. Pretty soon you’ll have 12 of these cards from various people. That’s why we have to figure out how to put it on the smartphone so you don’t have to carry around a thick wallet.
Q: Who inspired me to choose my career path?
A: I had many talks with my dad about going to school and ended up getting a Bachelors degree. You can go to school but when you get out, you still got to work. Being a florist was a business where you could set your own hours, your own pay, it had benefits and it’s a very active business. I’m 60 and I’m still able to move around.
Q: Did you start this business?
A: My parents bought the business, it was started in the 1940′s. My mom and dad saw an ad in the paper and moved up here from Los Angeles because it was the land of opportunity. This was a place where they could get in on the ground floor. They were young adults with all the original people who developed this valley.
Q: Why did you choose this career over others?
A: I was traveling in a van after college and I decided that it was time to get to work and I know how to do this and I know the community. Every young person never looks to make this decision for their whole life but down the road you look back and you realize you did. I looked around other flower shops and no one was hiring, and I was qualified!
Q: What do you like most about your business?
A: It changes every week, there’s always a new product released. I enjoy meeting new people. The challenges we face every week is exciting. This weekend we have three weddings and a corporate event, there’s never a dull moment. I love the constant activity.
Q: What’s a typical day like?
A: I come in at 7:30 because the flowers come in early, we make sure everything is in water. This is an “AM” business, meaning that everyone wants their stuff when they open their office or before she leaves the house. Between 9 and 10 o’clock is when we do the bulk of our deliveries. We then take phone orders and fix flowers up for spec for the store. Then the day is busy planning for future events and deliveries. Sometimes throughout the day we are a resource for customers, such as what’s the meaning of purple flowers.
Just like anything in life, there are many struggles that we have to deal with in a home based business, especially in the beginning. The challenges of dealing with the unexpected and dealing with the things that are outside of your control sometimes get the best of us as human beings. However, when you understand what contributes to your struggle, you will be able to better defeat that struggle. The same thing applies to the struggle of your home business.
Here are five struggles that a person may potentially deal with in his or her home business.
1. Transition from Job to Business: This is a great struggle for people to deal with because most people are very comfortable with their position financially. The idea that a pay check is guaranteed every week or two weeks gives the person the impression or facade of stability. Even if we all know that any job could potentially end at any time. Nonetheless, the transition from job to full-time business person is a great struggle for many.
2. Marketing: Not all of us have the gift of knowing where all the buyers are or predicting buyer behavior. Because of lack of knowledge in marketing, home business people sometimes get nervous or scared to set a budget for marketing. Therefore, business people will waste valuable time trying to learn how to use “free” methods of online marketing or offline marketing just to cut costs, but little do they know, it is hurting their business.
3. Tax Knowledge: Understanding taxes is probably the highest struggle because people don’t understand that they have to consult someone for tax advice. Make yourself aware of what you need to do in order to get yourself situated with taxes. It will always benefit you to keep updated about the tax laws about the business you are in.
4. Licensing: This is also a very stressful thing for people to think about because we all know that eventually we have to get “legit.” That way you can be a full established business. The problem is, people don’t want to deal with this part because it costs a lot of money for most people and they don’t want to deal with the paperwork or legal fees.
5. Work Space: This is another problem for most home based business owners because they may think that they can work “anywhere.” However, the truth is that most people cannot work in areas like their living room or in the basement. In fact, probably the most difficult thing to figure out is where to create an effective workspace. You have to make sure that the space is big enough to place a desk and/or a printer and other materials that will that you use within your space. This is usually a bedroom or den area in the house.
Russ Falls
661-533-5138
www.russfalls.net/
When you start a business, it is important for you to have a business plan. A business plan consists of income projections, your executive team, your market, your niche market and your overall marketing plan. There are other semantics involved in a business plan, but this is more of a general view of what your plan will be based around.
There is no difference between having a home based business plan and a regular brick and mortar business plan. The only difference is that you are not going to have office space. Instead you are going to operate your business from your home.
When you build your plan, the only thing that you are going to have to adjust is how you are going to run your daily operations. The key to having your plan taken seriously is a little secret called getting “legit” or having a business credential like an LLC, license and/or DBA (doing business as.) This will enable you to take advantage of lines of credit and other benefits that you otherwise wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of without some sort of credential.
Of course you will want to incorporate this in your business plan so that you can accelerate your efforts. You will also want to make sure that you find out any tax information you need so that you don’t get penalized.
You will want to pay attention to the training department of Russ Falls Home Business site so you will improve your skills to be more successful in your home business.
Russ Falls
661-533-5138
Russ Falls Home Business
