We recently connected with Amber Taylor and have shared our conversation below.
Amber, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with what makes profitability in your industry a challenge – what would you say is the biggest challenge?
As a maker and small business owner, I’ve continually noticed that most of the consumer population expects low prices and fast shipping. Big names that can get you cheap goods in a day or two have conditioned us to expect the same of small business owners and it’s just not feasible.
When you purchase a handmade product from a small business, you’re supporting not only the maker but recognizing that the product has hours of work invested in it as well as the love and care of the individual who crafted it. Essentially, you’re supporting their dream! And to be honest, most small business owners and makers are cutting their prices trying to make a sale in order to compete, which means they’re making WAY less than they should. Throw in all the fees that online marketplaces or craft shows charge and makers are either racking up their prices to compensate or they’re taking a great loss.
This is no different in the sola wood flower industry. Most people haven’t heard of sola wood flowers and get excited that they’re handmade yet still eco-friendly. And then they expect them to be cheaper than fresh. Paying less for something that is handmade, will last forever, AND is eco-friendly? When you spell it out, it doesn’t make sense, does it? The work to get the flowers from their “raw” form to a state ready for design takes over 10 steps and at least a day or two when you factor in “dry time” for the paint to fully set. Factor in all the other design elements and prep work, and the amount of time it takes to complete one arrangement is already 20x more than that of a fresh-floral equivalent.
Amber, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’m a mother of three boys, an entrepreneur, and a small business owner. I started Wood Flower Barn in 2020 as a way to help get my creative bug out and stay sharp while having the opportunity to stay home and raise my kids.
My mother is a florist; I grew up with her designing flowers and got a job at the local flower shop when I was 15. There I learned the basics of floral design along with other necessary small-shop skills. I was raised knowing how to work hard and not waste time or be lackadaisical in my efforts, which has also helped me in my entrepreneurial journey. I was introduced to sola wood flowers after graduating from college, getting married, and starting a family. I realized that I had all the skills needed to start my own business and work from home. Wood Flower Barn has allowed me to do both, be there for my kids while fulfilling that entrepreneurial drive.
Sola wood flowers are still new to a lot of people even though they have been around for centuries. Originating from Eastern India/West Bengal, sola wood is similar to basal wood and, when wet, is very pliable. Artisans shave down shola pith reeds into sheets of sola wood and then use a variety of techniques and tools to form the wood into flowers. There are hundreds of flower styles and each flower is one-of-a-kind because it was handmade.
I love that sola wood flowers have an exponentially lower carbon footprint than their fresh and faux counterparts and yet, they still last for years. If left in their natural state they are completely biodegradable.
Wedding flowers are my favorite. More and more couples are choosing sola wood flowers over fresh because they can completely customize their colors and themes in a way that generally can’t be achieved with fresh flowers. I work with every couple to ensure I capture their vision. It is so fun to see how everyone’s preferences are so different and I love that I’m able to make their wedding flowers uniquely theirs and that they can keep the flowers forever. Getting wedding pictures back is the best; seeing my flowers in use on their wedding day makes all the effort worth it.
I specialize in wood flowers but I also sell a handful of other curated items such as wood signs, hand-carved wooden accents (trays, candlesticks, seasonal figurines, etc.), and beeswax candles. I strive to provide quality products that are a little different than what you would find in big-box stores. The items I carry are only in stock for short periods of time and each season brings a new collection of items that are never guaranteed to last! Most items fall into the “farmhouse, neutral, minimalist” realm but are versatile enough for many spaces and aesthetics.
We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.
I mainly sell on my website which is hosted by Shopify. From the beginning, I wanted to have my own site rather than go through places like Etsy because I didn’t want to get “lost in the crowd”. I also love having control over what my site looks like and having the ability to adjust things as needed. I eventually “caved” and started an Etsy shop which did incredibly well while I played their “game”.
Etsy’s algorithm is tricky to navigate. I’ve learned the hard way that you have to do all the right things to get a shot at being shown to customers. It’s a wonderful platform if you’re doing all of those things (offer free shipping, be a star seller, quick responses, multiple products, good reviews, international shipping, quick turn-around times, great descriptions with pictures and videos, etc.), but if you drop off on any of those (don’t even think about putting your shop on vacation) you’re sent to Etsy purgatory. Not to mention you have to raise your prices again and again to cover all of their different fees. Off-site ads are another sore spot for me.
Etsy will pay to have your products shown in ads on other websites (off-site ads). However, once you make 10K in a year, you can’t opt out. So if a customer buys ANYTHING from your shop within 30 days of clicking on an offsite ad, they’ll take an additional 12-15% of that sale. It’s nice for the exposure but I’ve found that the system needs some work.
Christmas 2022 I had a customer purchase something for $35 with free shipping from an off-site ad. That customer then turned around and spent $60 on expedited shipping. Because the expedited shipping increased the order total, the offsite ad fee I paid was more than half of my sale! To me, it made more sense to only charge the fee on the product total, because that shipping expense wasn’t part of my profit. Etsy wasn’t too keen on refunding me that extra fee. Thankfully they did, but as a “one-time” thing. Hopefully, the policies have changed since then, but I’m not sticking around to see. It definitely made me realize how little Etsy cares about the systems that are hurting the very businesses keeping them alive. While I was grateful to not have to drive my own traffic to my Etsy shop, I would rather focus my efforts on other avenues to bring in customers.
There’s another platform I sell on called West Tenth. They provide micro-businesses a chance to have an online presence while recognizing the value of promoting us “little guys” to local markets. I joined a few years ago when they were only about a year into their startup journey and I’ve been impressed the entire time. I love the sense of community they promote while providing meaningful training and support for the small businesses on their platform. I really feel like they are my cheerleaders and are willing to do anything to help me succeed! While they do charge a fee, it’s only charged post-purchase and in one lump sum (not broken down into 5 separate fees like Etsy). I’m grateful they’re transparent about the fee and encourage their storefronts to increase their prices to fully cover it.
West Tenth not only has the small business owners in mind, but they want to help consumers connect with great local talent right in their hometown. West Tenth is still expanding but has “opened up” several cities across the US where they’ve focused their efforts to recruit small businesses to join their platform. I love that I can hop on the app (or website) and find a local baker to make a drop-dead gorgeous cake for a special event and know that I’ll be supporting the baker’s micro-business while also getting something so stunning with the love and attention I would have put into it myself.
Don’t worry if West Tenth isn’t in your area yet, a lot of businesses on West Tenth provide shipping or have virtual services. Check out westtenth.com to see what I’ve been raving all about.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I’ll be honest, it’s been tricky to find the right balance between my business and personal/home life. Starting your own business is hard enough, but building enough traction to get going and be profitable is a challenge for every small business. I’ve had to find a balance with my home life (three little boys ranging from 15 months – 6 years old need a lot of attention!) which means that sometimes I have to be ok with turning things down and putting my shop on hold. As hard as it is, I have to do what makes sense for me and my life.
My biggest challenge is the lack of time. I know everyone struggles with that, but seriously. I need time to be with my family, manage my household, take care of myself, and run a business that is VERY hands-on. Sola wood flowers aren’t just something I can do in the background; I have to be fully invested to get a task done. This means that I generally have to wait until nap time and distract the older kids in order to complete my projects or wait until my husband gets home from work so I can lock myself in my workroom for the rest of the night. I also have responsibilities in my church and community. Essentially, there can only be so many penguins on the iceberg before one falls off… As you can imagine, I’m struggling to keep it all together.
Life is always changing, and as my kids get older, I must continue to adapt in order to be the wife, mother, and business owner I need to be. This means adjusting the systems I use to be successful in my business and as a person. My family has always been my focus and with the growth and demand of being a business owner, I’m always trying to find the right way forward so Wood Flower Barn can continue to evolve as I do. I have to remind myself that “I’m in control” and that I can make the decisions I need to let it serve me better.
So while this isn’t necessarily a “story” per se, I think it shows how my entrepreneurial journey may not be all rainbows and daisies. No one’s is. But that’s the life of an entrepreneur, adapting and continuing forward so you can get to where you need to be.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://woodflowerbarn.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/woodflowerbarn
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodflowerbarn
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amber-thompson-taylor/
- Other: West Tenth https://www.westtenth.com/shop/ut/salt-lake-city/wood-flower-barn