51视频

The 51视频 E-commerce Show hosts Jesse and Richie talk with Jaeleen Shaw, the founder of . Starting last year, she and her husband have taken an offline flower cart and used their website and Instagram to build a business. They started offline selling flowers locally at farmers鈥� markets, pop-ups, weddings, and events.

We discuss:

• Local networking groups
• Teaming up with a photographer
• Web designers and developers
• Instagram strategy
• Instagram tool
• Shoppable posts
• Email strategy

Transcript

Jesse: What鈥檚 going on, Richie?

Richard: How are you, Jess?

Jesse: I am great.

Richard: I鈥檓 excited today. I鈥檓 always excited to get going back on the podcast, but it鈥檚 always great to talk to a merchant.

Jesse: Absolutely. It鈥檚 been a while here. So for merchants listening, send in your notes. We want to talk to you. We want to help you spread the word and everything. Yeah, we get to talk to the merchant, and I think what I really want to talk to is that her Instagram game is excellent. My Instagram game is not that good. Random pictures here and there, they all look different. They鈥檙e blurry; it鈥檚 kind of a mess, really. We want to really dive into figuring out how she did this Instagram game. Anyway, with that, let鈥檚 bring on our guest Jaeleen Shaw. How are you?

Jaeleen: Hey guys! Thanks for having me. I鈥檓 good.

Jesse: So you are the owner of Flora Flower Cart.

Jaeleen: I am. Yeah.

Jesse: Well, give us a little background on your business.

Jaeleen: For sure. We鈥檝e been in business for a little over a year. We started last April. And it evolved. I鈥檝e always loved flowers and loved people and wanted to do something in the community here; we鈥檙e in Fresno, California. We had been back east to Nashville, and there鈥檚 a lot of flower tracks and things happening back there. That gave me a little bit of inspiration and because they had a similar concept where it鈥檚 “build your own bouquet, do it yourself,” which is what our flower cart is. So we came back to Fresno. We really wanted to do something different because Fresno doesn鈥檛 have any cool florists. They have a normal florist but not an interactive kind of thing. And so another friend of mine happened to be had gone to visit the flower trucks in Nashville and was thinking the same thing. She helped me design and helped get it started, and it bloomed from there. Fresno has really loved us well. That鈥檚 the small story.

Jesse: Awesome, I like the usage of bloomed from there. Now to give people a listing of pictures, so I鈥檓 looking at your website, which is FloraFlowerCart.com. I see the flower cart. I see a bike with a cart. Almost like a hot dog stand, or I don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 a better word to describe this.

Jaeleen: I describe it as Paris-themed. Kind of like Magnolia farms, Paris style. It鈥檚 like black and white, and it鈥檚 mobile so we can ride it with bikes, we can petal it, using all the puns. (laughing)

Jesse: Awesome. You鈥檙e doing farmer鈥檚 markets and things like that, festivals where you ride the bike, bring the cart in and open up shop?

Jaeleen: Yes. We do a lot of pop-ups, a lot of farmer鈥檚 markets. We do a lot of coffee shops, and we also do a lot of birthday parties and bridal showers as where the flowers are the favor and activity for the party. But yeah, pretty much just local things in Fresno.

Jesse: I like it. So you get to see the city as well. You鈥檙e out on the weekend festivals. Drinking coffee and having fun, and meeting people too.

Jaeleen: That鈥檚 definitely the best part, being a part of Fresno community. It makes it feel a lot smaller when you get to meet a lot of people in town.

Jesse: You鈥檙e selling in person as well. Do you take online payments as well, like credit cards, just cash? How do you do that?

Jaeleen: We take card and cash. Online, and when we鈥檙e out with the cart, we take both.

Jesse: You鈥檝e only been doing this a year, so you don鈥檛 know it has been hard but like five years ago that would have been a very difficult proposition. Lucky you started when you did.

Jaeleen: Yes, for sure.

Richard: What鈥檚 been your main focus so far? Now we鈥檙e going to get into the online side of it obviously but when it came to the events, what鈥檚 been really working for you? Has it been farmer鈥檚 markets? Did you get a lot of word of mouth there because it鈥檚 such a cool looking cart? I imagine people come up just to check out the cart and let alone: “Yeah, you can hire us to come to your event or your wedding.” So what鈥檚 worked for you so far with the referral and all that?

Jaeleen: So the number one thing that I say when we first got started that really helped us boost and get in front of the community because we are really a word of mouth and experience-based business. So people come to us for that perfect Instagram picture and all of that. And the way we really got out in Fresno is we鈥檙e a part of a local entrepreneurial group that鈥檚 called Tuesdays Together, and there are chapters all over the world, and they鈥檙e part of the rising tide society. We got a part of that community really early on, and all the people involved in that really core in the creative community here in Fresno. They all shared about us on their social media and with their friends, and that made it where we really blew up really quickly because they really loved us and cared about us. That was the biggest thing.

Richard: That鈥檚 super cool. I never really heard that phrase, the perfect Instagram picture, but it makes sense. There is this local coffee and flower place in my neighborhood down here. It鈥檚 just like clockwork, I know every single time I鈥檓 driving by there, it鈥檚 always someone taking pictures in front of that thing — word of mouth on steroids.

Jaeleen: I have a picture, I came there because of that coffee shop. (laughing)

Richard: That鈥檚 funny. I live right down the road from there.

Jesse: That鈥檚 interesting. This business has been accelerated by not that you marketed on Instagram necessarily, but the fact that Instagram exists. People are very conscious of their Instagram profiles.

Richard: Ages here with Jesse but we knew that as the Kodak moment spots where you just go and have these little perfect place to take these film pictures. (laughing)

Jesse: That鈥檚 become huge, way more than it was ten years ago.

Richard: You got people literally doing cool looking graffiti on the sides of their brewery, so they know people were gonna come take pictures. “Oh, that brewery in San Diego,” and they鈥檒l probably come in and have a beer.

Jaeleen: Yeah, totally.

Jesse: Makes sense, and now you get to help fuel that. I love the usage of your local communities. Are there local networking groups? Because we talk about all our online stuff and yes, there鈥檚 all these online ads and such you can do. But that鈥檚 business 101 that鈥檚 always been a thing. Talk to the local network with other local entrepreneurs, love it that way — a big part of your growth.

Richard: People sometimes forget social media starts with the word social, so why not just go out and be social from the get.

Jaeleen: For sure. It has a lot of impact.

Jesse: Yeah, for sure. You鈥檙e not hiding at your computer, which I sometimes do. (laughing) Get out there, shake some hands, say hi. Be nice. All right. Awesome. Now not only are you doing the whole flying game, you definitely have a beautiful looking website, great social. How did you know the online side? Did you do it yourself? Did you bring in an agency? How did you get started online?

Jaeleen: As far as our website, my husband does a lot of the behind the scenes for me. He does all on our website. And we do have a photographer for photography-wise, and we have a local lady that takes photos for us. But yeah, it has been set up, all of our website. As far as taking payment, he has a really good eye for design and then we do have a designer that works with us as well as far as like graphics and things like that.

Jesse: Okay. That鈥檚 good, so you get to be the front-facing, and you get to play with flowers.

Jaeleen: I get to do all the fun stuff. (laughing)

Jesse: Your husband is like sweating it out behind the computer. (laughing) Do you happen to know what platform he鈥檚 using for the website builder?

Jaeleen: Yeah. He uses WordPress.

Jesse: Okay ,great. It looks great. WordPress is one of the most popular platforms out there, so that makes sense. And yeah, I can tell you could have done this yourself but I can actually tell that you invested a little bit more money to have really good photography and a designer, it shows.

Jaeleen: Thank you.

Jesse: Good use of funds. It basically brought you ahead, like three years of where you could do it on your own. For people listening. Please start your own, not saying you should hire somebody. But if you want to get there faster, hire somebody.

Jaeleen: Totally. And it frees you up a lot to do. Like for me, my gift is a lot more behind the scenes involving and people as compared to just doing the website or design. So yeah, it frees up a lot of time too.

Jesse: Perfect. I get it. I鈥檝e done both. Sometimes just pay somebody some money, and you get way better pictures. It just gets done a little faster and faster. Now on the social media site as well, I mentioned these pictures. Is that all you, is that all the photographer? How do you get that done?

Jaeleen: As far as Instagram goes, I run Instagram. I do all the posting and interaction on Instagram and the photos. We do have a photographer. What we do for that is, and I set a couple of shoots per month and pre-think out at the beginning of the month what we鈥檙e going to be posting. I do a lot of batch working. I鈥檓 a really big fan of batching things in the business. We do one big photoshoot a month where we bring in different local people that could be models if you want to call them that and just to get different faces on Instagram, to get interaction, and to show who we are. So we do photo shoots and then she also weekly if I have things I鈥檒l just take them to her to get photos of them. I do all that Instagram, part of it as far as posting, interacting with people, and what we鈥檙e going to write on Instagram and things like that.

Richard: Super cool. One of the reasons we love talking to merchants so much is other merchants that are listening can learn some out of the box things that you get caught in your own business sometimes. Are you teaming up with this photographer in some ways? I mean to ask a question, you can go as deep as you want, it鈥檚 not necessarily personal, but you鈥檒l get why. It鈥檚 so perfectly set up to where if this person is let鈥檚 say mostly a wedding photographer, it鈥檚 a natural that where do you think this person is going to ask: “Hey, I recommend these people for flowers” or “If you鈥檙e doing flowers, I recommend this person for.” Do you guys have some sort of special setup there? Are you friends? Again, you can go as deep or as little as you want.

Jaeleen: I found her on Instagram from seeing all of her photos. We鈥檝e become friends from me asking, kind of hired her to do our photos and which has been really cool. It鈥檚 really neat how you can create really good friendships from Instagram. It鈥檚 crazy how that happens, but you can meet a lot of really good people and create friendships. We met through there, and she does mostly portraits for family and a little bit of brand photography. Then since us being together, she has a lot more brand photography, which is really cool that we鈥檝e been able to in a little bit of a way I hope to boost her ability to do more brand photography. And we get a lot of hearing from her as well as sharing about us. A lot of her neighbors and she uses us if she has flowers to deliver and things like that. But yeah, there鈥檚 a lot of collaboration when you use local people because they care about you a little bit more, they want to invest in you. They know who the people are that you鈥檙e marketing to. I think it鈥檚 really valuable having somebody that is local that you can both feed off of each other and share about each other.

Richard: We won鈥檛 get political or anything but just sometimes in the world it gets to where it鈥檚 like if I鈥檓 winning, you鈥檙e losing. It鈥檚 nice to have people thinking: “No, we can bake a bigger pie together. We鈥檙e literally helping each other out; we鈥檙e both helping each other鈥檚 brands.” Her pictures are going to look better with a bunch of pretty flowers in it. So good stuff for sure.

Jesse: What I caught there, I think people could learn from is that you do this monthly. Maybe it鈥檚 more often. You don鈥檛 just say: “I need some pictures, and in the future, I will get some.” You schedule it monthly. “This is my scheduled day; I鈥檓 going to have a bunch of pictures. I鈥檓 going to batch it.” It doesn鈥檛 mean you post all those pictures the next day. You spread it out. For people that need a lot of social content, that is the way to do it. Pick a day. Get a bunch of content and then drip it out throughout the month.

Jaeleen: It definitely helps a lot. And also creating, and shoots, and inviting other people that are local also helps a lot, which is like marketing yourself because they share about it, and you have a lot more people sharing about it. It just has a further reach when you include a lot of other people to shoots and things like that.

Jesse: That鈥檚 good. And now with social and letting the content out, dripping the content out. Do you do that just natively inside of Instagram? Or do you use a scheduling tool? What do you do for that?

Jaeleen: I do. It鈥檚 called UNUM, I don鈥檛 really know what that stands for, but it鈥檚 an Instagram planner that you can see your feed before you post it. So I usually do it in two-week blocks. I can write all my captions, have all my hashtags, and see what Instagram is going to look like when it鈥檚 on my feed beforehand. I put everything inside of that app and pre-write it and all that. I have tried something that automatically posts for you. That鈥檚 a little tricky because it doesn鈥檛 post your comment or things like that.

Jesse: Another tool, UNUM?

Jaeleen: Yeah, that鈥檚 it. I don鈥檛 know what that stands for.

Jesse: That鈥檚 fine, I just want to be able to share that with other people. Is it an app for your phone, or is it a desktop tool that you can bring all the photos in? Which one is it?

Jaeleen: It can be both. I usually post from my phone, and then I create all the content on my laptop online because it鈥檚 easier to type on your laptop.

Jesse: Your process will be when you take all the photos in the batch. The photographer gets those too in edited format with obviously a very consistent style. Then you will schedule the photos on your phone and then do all the hashtags and stuff using the tool on a desktop.

Jaeleen: Yeah. She鈥檒l give me all the photos, and they鈥檒l all be on my laptop, so I鈥檒l just download them on my laptop and add them to this UNUM. I add all the photos and all my comments and everything on there. Then all I had to do for my phone is I go to the app, and I just post it from there. I don鈥檛 really technically do any typing on my phone or adding photos, and it鈥檚 all you can do everything on your laptop.

Jesse: Got it. That makes more sense. I missed a step there.

Richard: For other merchants out there that are potentially thinking of hiring someone else. What way do you transfer these files? Because I鈥檓 sure those images, that鈥檚 a lot of space. Do you use Google Drive, Dropbox?

Jaeleen: She uses a website called Pixieset. I have a link, and she just continues to add folders to that link. It鈥檚 what a lot of photographers use to send different shoots to their clients. You just have a login, and then I do download the photos to my laptop. But I have that link so I can get that at any time, which is nice.

Jesse: You don鈥檛 have to edit photos or add any captions, that鈥檚 all done for you, right?

Jaeleen: Yeah. I just then add it from my phone. It鈥檚 really fun.

Jesse: All right. Love it. I鈥檓 not going to edit photos, so that would be nice. If I could at least start with a nice photo, I could do way better on Instagram. (laughing) Awesome. We put it through an e-commerce comment or two here since this is totally 51视频 E-commerce. I noticed you are using this Shoppable posts functionality. Every now and then, there will be a post where if you鈥檙e scrolling through the feed, you鈥檒l see the little shopping bag. Do you know if that鈥檚 worked for you or not?

Jaeleen: Yeah, for sure. We have had quite a few people utilize that link and ask questions about it. And I really love it. I love being able to have that just because it helps people see that “Oh, I can actually purchase this.” It shows a price right away because people don鈥檛 like to click off of the app. They just scroll really quickly, and you can grab their attention a little bit, and that helps a lot. With that tool, they can see that “Oh, I can actually purchase this.” That gets them thinking a little bit more as compared to just seeing pretty images.

Jesse: Good, I鈥檓 glad. Usually, when we talk to people that have a strong Instagram game, we have to encourage them to do that. You鈥檝e already done it, so good. Good job. With that, have you played with the ratio of the amount of posts you tag products on? I didn鈥檛 see many. So I wanted to see if that was on purpose if you鈥檝e thought about it deeply. Just your thoughts on it, I guess.

Jaeleen: Yeah. Good question. I haven鈥檛 really thought about it a ton as far as ratio goes. That is a really good question, though, and I don鈥檛 have a specific plan of how I do it. I usually do it if I鈥檓 talking specifically about the bouquet that I would be selling. So that鈥檚 typically when the caption is about purchasing it. That鈥檚 when I鈥檒l usually add it to it. If it鈥檚 just a picture of a bouquet with a different type of caption, I usually don鈥檛 add it. Maybe that is a little bit of what I do.

Jesse: So yeah, you have a plan. (laughing) I just want to dig into it a little bit. I was sort of sensing that if it鈥檚 a shot just of the bouquet, so essentially a product shot for e-commerce people, then you do it. But if it鈥檚 more of a lifestyle shot where there鈥檚 a little baby holding the bouquet, you tend not to take that. Is that good or bad, I don鈥檛 know.

Jaeleen: That鈥檚 a good question.

Jesse: I think the jury is out on that. By the way, I don鈥檛 know the answer, but my guess is you don鈥檛 want to be overly salesy, and that鈥檚 probably a good idea.

Jaeleen: I can definitely agree. Don鈥檛 be salesy at all types of sides. It is good to add that, and that鈥檚 probably where I am coming from. I don鈥檛 want to sell, sell, sell. But also you have to in order to make a business.

Richard: Yeah, you鈥檙e a business. And one of the ways you can offshoot that, this is just an opinion, take it or leave it, it鈥檚 up to you. I would even think about doing maybe Instagram lives or YouTube videos or on whatever platform you prefer, sounds like Instagram. Showing people how to make these bouquets because, on the one hand, people get afraid: “Oh my gosh, someone鈥檚 gonna just go do it.” But what ends up happening 90+% of the time is they鈥檙e like: “Oh my gosh, that was so awesome.” And then the reciprocity. They鈥檙e like: “Well, that seems like too much work. I got to go still go buy all that stuff and put it all together. But they did well, who would I buy it from? I buy it from the person who just showed me.” It鈥檚 literally like it. Again, it sounds a little scary at first sometimes. “Wait, someone else might start doing this in the local neighborhood.” But it really works. I鈥檝e seen it work a lot. Man, Jessie and I had a friend that used to do this before everyone was replacing iPhones. But he just did videos “Here鈥檚 how you replace. Here鈥檚 how you do the screen. Here鈥檚 how you take it apart.” Then next thing you know, everyone鈥檚 going from those videos to his site to buy all these parts. And then you can sell more. Like, “Oh, by the way.” It doesn鈥檛 seem as sales because you鈥檙e like, “I鈥檓 also showing you how to do it yourself.”

Jaeleen: Oh, for sure. That鈥檚 a really good idea. I love that.

Jesse: As you were saying, Rich, I was scrolling through your Instagram profile, Jaeleen. I didn鈥檛 see too many videos here. The pictures are beautiful. There鈥檚 no one knocking that. But I didn鈥檛 see too many of the Instagram Stories. So maybe an opportunity where stories are the action. People are spending their day with their heads hunched over looking at other people鈥檚 30-second lives. It might be a good idea.

Jaeleen: Definitely.

Jesse: Because you鈥檙e at these beautiful locations, weddings and markets and things like that. I鈥檓 sure they鈥檙e very picturesque. Beyond the picture, they might also make good Instagram Stories.

Jaeleen: Totally, that鈥檚 definitely something we really want it. I need to do more. I feel like video takes a little bit more thought beforehand, and that鈥檚 probably why I haven鈥檛 done it. And because I want to do it perfectly, do it good. But it doesn鈥檛 have to be perfect; you just have to do it.

Richard: There are different levels, we won鈥檛 dive into too much detail on this, but sometimes it鈥檚 just behind the scenes. “Here we are, setting up at the local market.” That one doesn鈥檛 need to be perfect. They understand you鈥檙e setting up at the local market. And sometimes if you do those too perfect, then they don鈥檛 believe it as much.

Jaeleen: It looks fake. Yeah.

Jesse: I get it. I can see that perfection in the photos. A video is harder. I totally get it. But they disappear after a day or two. If it鈥檚 behind the scenes, I think your quality level can go down. You have to let go a little bit. I don鈥檛 want to pressure you. (laughing)

Jaeleen: I love that. That鈥檚 definitely something I need to work on.

Jesse: Instagram looks like your main platform. I saw your service Facebook profile. How does your flow work? Facebook versus Instagram. What鈥檙e your thoughts on that?

Jaeleen: I鈥檓 pretty much focused on Instagram. And then we do sometimes automatic posts to Facebook. Mostly because I haven鈥檛 had the time to put into creating Instagram content and Facebook content and say Pinterest content. Because they鈥檙e all a little bit separate and you have to spend a lot more time to do all three. Instagram has been our main, but then Facebook, we just do automatic posts sometimes. Our main customers are on Instagram. That鈥檚 why we focus on that.

Jesse: It makes sense. Your main customer being what demographic?

Jaeleen: My age group. Females that are between 25 to 35, and they鈥檙e typically on Instagram as compared to Facebook. Facebook is a little bit of the older crowd, which we love, but they don鈥檛 tend to be as interactive.

Jesse: Shout out to the old people, there I go. (laughing) It makes sense, you鈥檙e right. I just wanted to check on that. I get it. What you do on Instagram, usually, you can automatically post it on Facebook. I think when you鈥檙e limited in the amount of time, that makes sense. You mentioned Pinterest, as well. Do you also do the same idea there, also post on Pinterest on occasion?

Jaeleen: I鈥檒l go on Pinterest every now and then, just add a bunch of pins. I don鈥檛 actively do Pinterest. But we鈥檝e definitely seen a lot of interaction on our website from Pinterest. We get a lot of clicks to our website from Pinterest. That鈥檚 something I need to upper game, especially when we start doing more online stuff.

Jesse: I think you鈥檙e on the right path there. I get how Instagram is probably your main place you would focus on. Because your pictures are so good, I think Pinterest would also be great for you. But if you only handle a local delivery area, then some of that effort might be wasted. UNUM also allows you to post on Pinterest from the same platform that might be an easier way. Just click another button.

Richard: That leads to another question we had. So you鈥檙e delivering locally. You started out offline. You started to see, “Hey, we should have at least a presence online.” You鈥檙e using Instagram; you鈥檙e still doing it locally. How are you handling delivery right now?

Jaeleen: People order online from our different size options for our bouquets. And then we go and deliver locally to Fresno and Clovis, and it鈥檚 our area right now. We do deliveries, and then we also do subscriptions. We have a lot of local businesses that get it bi-weekly or just other local people, as well. So we do deliveries and subscriptions locally, and it鈥檚 all purchased through our website.

Jesse: I love the subscriptions. I didn鈥檛 catch that on the website. So that鈥檚 great. You know every two weeks or so how many flowers you need to buy and what you need to deliver on what day. It makes life a lot easier. “Next month, this is the amount of revenue I should expect.”

Jaeleen: We love subscriptions as it really does help a lot.

Richard: So you鈥檙e doing local, and you鈥檙e delivering local right now. Do you have aspirations to take this outside of Fresno, or what are you looking at there?

Jaeleen: Yeah, we do for sure. Our goal that we鈥檙e aiming for right now is by the beginning of December, January-ish, we鈥檙e going to be launching a delivery service to 48 states. We鈥檒l be able to ship to anyone in the States. I鈥檓 really excited about that because I鈥檒l open up a lot of availability to more people, not just local. That鈥檚 our goal, which is our next biggest step in the business. We鈥檙e super pumped for that.

Jesse: Wow. Yeah, that鈥檚 a big step.

Richard: That鈥檚 super awesome on a couple of levels. Not only is it a big step and good for you. I love that you have aspirations to grow but also keep that local flavor, but this might go back to a couple of things we covered earlier. You showing people how to do this, that鈥檚 how they can feel like they know you even if they鈥檙e not next to you in Fresno. That鈥檚 one thing and then to Jesse鈥檚 comment if you were going to stay just in local some of that effort on Pinterest and stuff might get lost, but it won鈥檛 be if you have plans to grow. You might not see the result as quick right now, but — I鈥檒l stick with your puns — you鈥檙e planting flowers. (laughing)

Jaeleen: Totally agree with that. Investing more in Pinterest, I鈥檒l definitely do that, for sure.

Jesse: Is there any pressing questions that we could help you out with the platform?

Jaeleen: One thing that we have been looking into is being able to as far is when people are ordering to have block out days. We don鈥檛 deliver on the weekends right now locally, and we don鈥檛 have a way to block out days where they can鈥檛 even choose. That would be super cool to be able to have a way where we wouldn鈥檛 have to email them: “I鈥檓 so sorry, we don鈥檛 deliver locally on the weekend.” Because they can click on it and see that one thing would be super cool.

Jesse: Got it, totally makes sense why you would want to do that. First let me ask, if somebody orders on a Friday at noon, do you still deliver on that Friday?

Jaeleen: On the website, we say that we require twenty-four hours to have a guaranteed delivery day. If we can make it happen and the order is at noon, we will make the delivery. But if we鈥檙e not able to put it into our schedule, we just email them and let them know that it needs to be twenty-four hours. “Would it be OK if we deliver this on Monday?” We really try to work with them being that they were able to order. That鈥檚 how we deal with it right now.

Jesse: The reason I asked that is because the answer for how you would solve that depends on how you want to handle that. What I think you would want to do is you鈥檙e basically looking at a delivery schedule that鈥檚 a lot like a restaurant even though you鈥檙e not a restaurant. 51视频 is actually built also to have a lot of restaurants that use us so heavy. This is where you would want to look at the docs yourself. You could look for restaurant delivery options if you want to talk to support, which I would recommend.

Richard: Or make your husband do that. (laughing)

Jaeleen: I鈥檒l get it on his list. (laughing)

Richard: And that鈥檚 not that you can鈥檛 do it, that鈥檚 just what he does.

Jaeleen: Just outsourcing. (laughing)

Jesse: We鈥檙e outsourcing this to the husband. (laughing) He鈥檚 going to look at setting up delivery like a restaurant, and support can help with this. Go to a live chat to the support, and they鈥檙e going to help walkthrough. You could block out ordering on the weekends, but I think rather than that, you would run it be able to scheduled deliveries. That way, you could take an order on say Friday through Sunday but do the delivery on Monday. I want to answer your question: yes, you could turn off the ability to order on the weekends. However, I wouldn鈥檛 recommend that I would prefer you to say let鈥檚 set up the delivery window as such so you can take on Friday night if you鈥檙e at happy hour and somebody wants to buy some flowers. Let鈥檚 let them buy some flowers, but let鈥檚 just let them know upfront that you鈥檙e not going to get it delivered until Monday. I want you all to make money over the weekend. Basically, no, that is yes. Talk to support; they are your friends here.

Jaeleen: Yeah, I wanted to tell you that your chat support is pretty awesome. They do a really good job.

Richard: We try to recommend that pretty often on the podcast. There鈥檚 a lot of people that do take advantage of it and love it. Then there are other people that sometimes shy away, and we try to remind them, use it, that鈥檚 what they鈥檙e there for. They love helping you out. It鈥檚 part of why we even do this show.

Jesse: And they鈥檙e very good, it鈥檚 a live chat, but they will solve almost all your problems. Not all your problems in your life, but yeah, check out the support, think of it as a restaurant option.

Jaeleen: Perfect, cool, that helps a lot.

Jesse: We鈥檝e mentioned a demographic there, do you do anything on Snapchat by chance?

Jaeleen: I don鈥檛, and I鈥檝e actually never had a Snapchat account before. Do you think that would be a good thing?

Jesse: I鈥檓 torn. I鈥檝e never had a Snapchat account either because I am a little too old for that. But I know that the thing about Snapchat is that they definitely have some younger demographics, but people that use Snapchat don鈥檛 use other platforms necessarily. They鈥檙e all about Snapchat, and it鈥檚 more of their messaging. It鈥檚 that when they look at their phone, they鈥檙e looking at Snapchat. It鈥檚 tough for me because I don鈥檛 necessarily use it myself. But if I were looking to sell to a younger demographic, I would consider it. Yes, it鈥檚 more work, you have to post again. I get it. I mean, maybe. You鈥檙e just doing such a good job with these photos; you鈥檙e already paying for them. If you could also post them in some other place without it being too much work, that that might be an option. Just because you mentioned the demographic, it fits. Rich and I love to help people out with whatever problems you have. Are there any marketing plans you have that we might be able to offer a hand?

Jaeleen: Yeah, I think that the next thing we鈥檙e going to be working on as far as marketing goes is email marketing. We haven鈥檛 done a whole lot of that yet and that I feel like that鈥檚 a whole other world. And I know that it works really well and we definitely want to use that especially if we鈥檙e going to be shipping out and having a lot more of an online presence. So yeah, if you have tips on the email marketing since we鈥檙e going to be getting into that soon for sure.

Jesse: Number one, absolutely, you should be doing email marketing. It鈥檚 low-hanging fruit, you鈥檙e already gathering some emails from your store, but you can gather a lot more. I saw your Instagram profile. There鈥檙e like 70,000, almost that magical 10,000 swipe up number.

Jaeleen: So hard to get there.

Jesse: You鈥檙e close. I don鈥檛 want to distract you from that goal; I get it. But there are ways to gather. All that people on Instagram would they sign up for an email newsletter if there were some freebies are giveaways. You won鈥檛 get 10,000 right away, but you won鈥檛 get to 1000 unless you start getting people opt-in. Whenever you start, you鈥檙e going to wish you had started a long time ago. Just start gathering emails. Platforms, it doesn鈥檛 really matter. There鈥檚 a lot of good ones. It depends on if you just want to send newsletters and such. The big guys out there, they will probably all work. If you鈥檙e thinking more and you really want it tied into 51视频, I would look at the 51视频 App Market and look at people that are already integrated by that. The names are escaping right now, but they鈥檝e been on a podcast before. You want to do the abandoned cart emails. If people are on the site, those are nice or follow-ups.

Jaeleen: We do use those and those actually helped a lot and abandoned cart emails, we noticed a big difference at this.

Jesse: Those are good; you鈥檙e using the integrated e-commerce ones, but it sounds like you鈥檙e probably not doing a newsletter or building the email list.

Richard: Also showing people how to do it because you can do multiple things in a newsletter. “I鈥檓 going to send you one and show you how I built these bouquets.” One of the things that鈥檚 great about email even though a lot of people say: “Oh, it鈥檚 dying. It鈥檚 going away.” Can鈥檛 forget every one of these platforms you use an email address to sign up with. Pretty much, a couple you can use your phone, it鈥檚 getting a little more usual — to use your phone to sign up to. Between the email list, let鈥檚 be honest, all these platforms, we love them, they send us traffic. People are doing social posts and sharing, and it鈥檚 fantastic. Definitely, do all that, but you actually own your email list. So if Snapchat or Pinterest or Instagram slows down, they鈥檙e your organic reach because let鈥檚 be honest; they鈥檙e all platforms. They want you to spend money to get more reach. Another good way to work around that is to have an email and can bounce that. Plus, as you get more and more of those email addresses, you can input that email list into those platforms and advertise specifically in front of your customers.

Jesse: To be more tactical here, for people that followed your path where it鈥檚 social media-heavy, Instagram first. I鈥檒l say your online path has been Instagram first. So you could repurpose a lot of what you do on Instagram. I would probably create two lists — one that鈥檚 a locals list and one that is outside of Fresno basically. In the Fresno area, “Hey guys, blah-blah, super excited about Saturday. We鈥檙e going to be at the farmers market, please stop in and say hello.” Here are some pretty pictures of sunflowers. Maybe there鈥檚 a sale. I probably would do it every single time, but more letting people know where you鈥檙e at and then also giving people a little entrepreneurship journey. I saw you had some new flowers placed at a shop, some coming soon, even announcing. People want to encourage people; they鈥檙e happy for your success. Not like pictures of Lamborghinis there from your flower sales, but we grow a business, come over and say hi. I think you could have a nice locals list of people that have met you at weddings and things like that. It would be great. Then the other list is more thinking down the road and selling across the US. That might be more of the how-tos. Be less personal, more about the flowers and the product.

Jaeleen: Yeah, that makes sense.

Jesse: Those are just some ideas. Again, repurposing the pictures you already paid for, and you get to use them in these emails. Maybe people just stop looking at Instagram for awhile. They don鈥檛 see your feed, but they will see those emails. So bring them back, and also those email lists can also be used when you do more online marketing. If you get a list of like 2,000 emails, you can plug those emails into Facebook Business Manager, which is used for Instagram and Facebook advertising, and then you can target those people with ads on Instagram or Facebook. It鈥檚 just another way to reach them. A little bit in the weeds that might be for your husband. (laughing) What鈥檚 your husband鈥檚 name?

Jaeleen: His name is Chase.

Jesse: Chase, I鈥檓 sorry, if you listen to this podcast.

Jaeleen: He鈥檒l get a long list. (laughing)

Jesse: Rich, any last questions here for Jaeleen?

Richard: No, I鈥檓 just super happy for you. I would just throw in one thing too on your shipping stuff that you were talking about. Is that because you don鈥檛 work on the weekends or is it because you have so many events? Cuz, there might be even a slight little tweak. Another thing for you and Chase to think about, where they can order online but pick it up at the fair or flea market or whatever you鈥檙e doing. Just another thought, that鈥檚 about it. These are beautiful. Now our wives are probably going to be like: “How could you do that show and not have sent us any?” (laughing) We鈥檙e bummed that you鈥檙e not already, but please let us know, and we鈥檒l gladly get some for our wives.

Jaeleen: I will. We鈥檒l give you guys some free flowers.

Richard: Even better. (laughing)

Jesse: Perfect, we鈥檒l help you out with some shipping. Jaeleen, really appreciate you being on the show. For everybody listening, get out there and make it happen.