We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tammy Davis. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tammy below.

Alright, Tammy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

It all started back in 2004 while I was working at a roofing company in a job I HATED for people that I hated and my life was miserable. Then one summer day Hurricane Charley came to Florida and almost wiped out Pt. Charlotte & Punta Gorda and destroyed so many roofs. A large majority of the homes had Tile roofs (vs. shingles roofs) and the company I worked for specialized in tile roofing. The roofing company had 5 locations throughout Florida and serviced the Pt. Charlotte area. A big problem was that there wasn’t enough tiles and the production time was long. It became more of a nightmare working at this job I already hated. I had to find a way out!! I started searching on the internet for types of businesses to start, or things I could do from home. I came across a book written by a lady who had a successful business in Bradenton, FL. It was “How to start your own Gift Basket Business.” I was very intrigued and thought I was crafty enough to run a gift basket business. I read this book from cover to cover more than once, following every step which outlined all of the things you needed to do to start a business. First come up with a clever name – I thought “well this is Florida” and so I came up with SUNSHINE BASKETS. I thought that was a catchy name and would brighten up someone’s day when they received a basket. Next was register your name with the fictitious names on the State of Florida website and register with your local County and pay a business tax. I thought that my first holiday coming up was Secretary’s Day and that I could really target the business owners to buy gifts for their employees. I decided to quit my horrible roofing job and I was ready to be an entrepreneur! I borrowed my husband’s credit card and I bought some wholesale supplies from some companies the book recommended and about $1,200.00 later I was ready to go. The book talked about getting a retail store but I figured I should work from my home until I knew what the heck I was doing!! So I cleared out my walk-in closet and my husband built me some shelves and that became my gift basket store! I made up 4 different “mock” gift baskets, took pictures and made a flyer with the prices and my name and number. I walked up and down Main Street, Sarasota, FL for hours, walking into businesses and handing out my flyers. After it was all said and done I had 2 people call and sold $400.00 worth of gift baskets. I thought “this might not be as easy as I thought it was going to be.” I decided to join the local Chamber of Commerce as I thought this would help me look like a more professional company if I was part of the Chamber. I met so many great people that I am still friends with today! I met one person who told me what I needed was a website. He helped me make a website from a templated company which allowed me to have a lot of control over adding items, changing pictures, prices, descriptions, etc. By this time I had to get more income and I decided to waitress at night. This way I was making some money to live and I had the days to work on my business pursuits. Once I had my website that was a game changer, now the whole world could see my baskets, not just a flyer for the business guys downtown! When I got my first order from the website I was so excited!! And business just grew from there.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Tammy Davis and the company I started is Sunshine Baskets. I have been in business for 18 years and I started this company because I had a horrible job I needed to get out of! I specialize in gourmet food baskets with cheese, crackers, pretzels, nuts, cookies, chocolates, popcorn, rum cakes and more. I have a beer and wine license and we make a lot of gourmet wine baskets. I started the business from my home and then after several years when I got my beer & wine license I needed to be in a commercial location to sell alcohol. I moved to a tiny little warehouse and worked there for about 6 years, then I moved to a bigger retail location and I was there for 5 years. After my lease was up I moved to an even bigger storefront that I have been at for the last 3 years. I think that starting the business from my home and slowly working up to the retail world is what has kept me in business. If I would have started with a storefront in the beginning I never would have made it this far. I spent a lot of time going to “gift basket conventions” and learning about different food products, making bows, wrapping packages, how to properly stack products and wrap. The presentation is almost as important as the products inside. I provide gift baskets for all occasions whether it’s a birthday, get well, new baby, holiday, wedding, thank you, housewarming, realtor, corporate gift and more. I look for unique and tasty gourmet food products that you won’t find at the grocery store or Walmart. I use small artisan crafters for something different and unique. There are a few items that are big name but I try to stick with the unique things. I want people to be excited when they open one of my gift baskets, I don’t want to hear “oh boy, another basket with stale crackers.” I help my clients by incorporating their logo items into the basket and matching their company colors with the food products and the ribbons. We can also theme the baskets to specific events or occasions. We hand deliver baskets locally here in Sarasota, FL and we also ship them throughout the United States. I think my business is set apart from other BIG BOX baskets because I hand make each basket to order. All of my items are fresh when put into the baskets. If you buy something from Sam’s Club, Costco or Walmart remember that those basket were made several months-maybe a year ago and most of the items are about to expire. They are mass produced and do not have the personal touch. I handmake each bow that goes on my baskets. There is a lot of pride and love that goes into the production of each basket that I make. I am most proud of the fact that I have built this business from the ground up and have moved from my closet to the 1,000 square foot retail store that I am in today. I have been in business for 18 years and I have many loyal customers that stick with me each year after year. I take a lot of pride in everything I do, if there is a mistake then I will go out of my way to fix it and make it right. Last year at Christmas my delivery driver brought a basket to the wrong address and when the receiver called me on Christmas Day saying it wasn’t her basket I went to my store and figured out where it should have went, picked it up and delivered it to the right address. And gave the honest lady a thank you gift as well! It is very important for me to make sure that everyone is happy and that things are done right and I treat people the way that I would want to be treated.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When I was about 4 years into my business and still working from my home, things were going good until one day. I got a phone call from this women who said she was from Ft. Meyers, FL (about 2 hours away) and she heard great things about my company. She wanted to order a champagne basket and come pick it up. I agreed and then we hung up. As I thought about the phone call there was several things that had me worried, who in Ft. Meyers would be talking about my little business?? I felt very uneasy about the phone call and thought it might be a set up. I called the woman back and told her I couldn’t sell her the champagne, she would have to bring her own and then I could put it into the basket. Well it turns out that she worked for the Florida Department of Alcohol and Tobacco and she said if I would have sold her that basket with the champagne I would have been arrested!! I could not sell alcohol without a license in the State of Florida. So she sent me the packet of paperwork that needed to be completed in order for me to have my license. When this packet arrived and I read through it I was ready to throw in the towel and shut down my business. There was NO WAY I was going to be able to complete all of the things that I needed to do, there was just too many things. I was sad and hopeless and didn’t know what to do, I thought things were going so well, I had just completed my biggest job, 250 baskets for $10,000. I looked through the packet again and I decided that I COULD do it and I would just tackle one task at a time until I got it all done. I wasn’t going to give up that easy, I had come this far in the journey. The very first item was I could no longer work from my home, I needed to be in a retail location. I ended up finding a tiny little room for $450 a month and that started my commercial space. It was actually the best thing for my business because it got me out of the house!! I felt like a real business now, I had a place people could come to. I slowly but surely went through each step and was able to complete them all and get my alcohol license. Now it is easy peasy each year, I just pay a $199 fee and that is all I have to do to renew my license!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

One year I decided to have a contest to get more followers to my Facebook Business Page. I made this big beautiful 4th of July basket with all kinds of goodies in it, many things were fun things that I got from the Dollar Tree, a few 4th of july red, white and blue Oreo cookies and other things and then the main focal point was a nice stainless steel YETI Tumbler. I paid like $15 or $20 to advertise on facebook to a specific audience and the people had to share the post and tag a friend to be entered to win. I gained about 1,200 extra followers to my page from that contest and the lady I picked to win the basket was so happy. I still have the followers and some of them have been loyal customers over the years.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sunshinebaskets.org
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/sunshinebaskets
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/sunshinebaskets
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/tammydavis