We were lucky to catch up with Audrey Ferguson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Audrey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

When the pandemic started and everything was on lockdown in Spring 2020, I spent a lot of time alone in my apartment. One thing that brightened up my days was buying an assortment of flowers from Trader Joe’s with my groceries and making a floral arrangement for my home. I started doing this on a regular basis, making a new arrangement every few weeks and I started enjoying making different arrangements with different florals and greenery. It became a creative outlet for myself. Later in 2020 I watched some of my best friends start their own businesses and it inspired me to start my own as a florist. I wanted to be able to make floral arrangements to brighten up the homes of those in my community, the way that fresh flowers did that for me early pandemic. I began to do my research starting a small business in Florida. I first worked on branding with a local creative and friend. I then filed for my LLC. By the end of 2021, Bloom & Stem started to bud and by early 2022 I watched it grow and start to flourish. My business now offers local flower delivery, flower deliver subscriptions, flower crown workshops and build your own bouquet bars for events.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I work as a full time dietitian, which I am very passionate about, but I have always found in my life that I enjoy being creative. I found such joy in making flower arrangements in my free time, that I decided to make a small business to share this joy with others. Bloom & Stem offers flower arrangements with local delivery, flower delivery subscriptions for regular floral delivery, and event workshops including including a flower crown workshop, flower arrangement workshop or build your own bouquet bar. Bloom & Stem offers personalized products, for any occasion, delivered with love and care. Making our customers happy is of utmost importance.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

I think the most effective strategy for growing clientele has been networking with other local businesses! What I love about St Pete FL is the local business support and I have truly enjoyed getting to know other small businesses in the area. I’ve worked with several other small businesses in giveaways where we put together a package of services to giveaway by setting up a promotion on social media. It’s a wonderful way to network while also building clientele! It has brought me a lot of business and social media following.

Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?

I guess you could say my full time job has been a supplementary revenue stream! It has helped fund to start my own business. I work full time as an oncology dietitian which I truly enjoy. However, working in oncology can be heavy at times, which is why I have enjoyed creating floral arrangements on the side.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.bloomandstem.co/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/bloomandstem_co
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bloomandstemllc