We recently connected with Kara Shaw and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kara, thanks for joining us today. Taking care of customers isn’t just good business – it is often one of the main reasons folks went into business in the first place. So, we’d love to get a conversation going around how to best help clients feel appreciated – maybe you can share something you’ve done or seen someone do that’s been really effective at helping a customer feel valued?

My personal strategy to customer service is to always give my customers what I would want if I were the customer. To make sure we have thought about things from the customers perspective. We train our staff to think that way and not just act like a “customer service” associate anywhere else. We don’t want to come across like robots or like we have a script and we can’t veer out of that, even if it doesn’t make sense or help the customer. Instead we aim to come across like the real people we are. Customers appreciate that, especially in these times. It’s rare.

We strive every day to make sure that little details in our processes are met and that our whole team understands the value of taking care of our flowers during processing and design stages that result in the longest lasting, best quality flowers in town. We care about that. We also push ourselves to make it easy for customers to place an order and get exactly what they want, and we work very hard to keep our costs in line, as well, not wasting flowers, supplies or time, in order to offer the best value to our customers.

To me, giving the best value each time is what customers really want and that is what shows them you appreciate them.

Overall, my goal with all my companies, is to offer truly helpful solutions to people who need our products and to consider the environment in everything that we do. We are working towards cleaner, more sustainable products, supplies, focusing on composting and recycling and how we impact the planet in every way. There is nothing more sacred than our planet and all of the life on it, so taking care of that should be first, and we work towards making things cleaner and toxin free every day. Like I said before, I focus on what I would want, and for me, this is the best way a company can show me appreciation, to take care of our Earth and truly help me with my needs. This is what I look for in the companies I do business with, so it is what I work to provide for my customers as well.

Kara, 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 spent my years between age 18-24 working in a few different flower shops, then took a break due to industry burnout for 2 years and became an executive assistant, handling legal matters, financial planning and sales force management for a large clothing manufacturer. After 2 years doing the jobs of 3 people and still wanting to do more, I followed a whim, really, and quit my job and signed a retail lease on a space in Smyrna Market Village that was not yet built. I had the idea to provide upscale, unique European style flower arrangements and wrapped bouquets to folks in the Smyrna area, who didn’t want to travel to Buckhead or Midtown to get nice flowers. My own needs for such flowers for entertaining, etc were not being met at that time, and I wanted to provide that in Smyrna. This industry, is very difficult, much like the restaurant industry. During my early 40’s, I struggled with life purpose and if I was doing “enough” and after some time struggling with this, I realized that I have always wanted to heal people, since I was a young girl, and that this is my true calling. I was always healing myself and others with all the natural health solutions that I came across in my life and travels over the years. I also, did not want to leave the business that I had poured my blood sweat and tears into for so many years, and it was finally making enough to support me financially. Thus, I decided to go to school at that time for my certification as a Clinical Master Herbalist. I began doing herbal consults for health issues and making some basic herbal health teas and other natural herbal products to sell out of my Smyrna store. My herbal practice grew steadily through word of mouth and eventually I also certified in an energy healing technique, called Emotion Code, that I felt did the most to help people to heal on an emotional level. In 2019 I received a letter from another florist in Dunwoody, who was experiencing the burnout that I knew so well and had overcome so many times… She was ready to be a full time mom, and wanted to leave the stress of a retail flower shop behind, I looked at the shop and the numbers and knew that I could fix the problems and profits and make this shop into a viable second flower shop, with the ability to order flowers in bulk and reduce costs, share staff, and increase product value, as well as split the city, delivery wise, to serve more customers in the way we wanted to. While this opportunity seemed like what I had always wanted before, and never could make it work out, it seemed the universe, was telling me “now”, after I had just gotten comfortable with my other 2 ventures… When the universe speaks, I listen. I am not here to limit myself, so I took on the 3rd business, knowing full well the challenges I faced. Then, just as things were leveling out and seeming like we were in the right direction, COVID19 hit and we were back to struggling to do all the things we had on our plate with 1/6th of the staff we once had. We are now working on re-inventing the company once again, to meet the demands of our times and major employee shortages, so that we can retain the best in the industry and still serve our bottom line. The challenges a small business owner faces all the time are never things that you would expect. It is a difficult path, not for everyone, but most of all, I am happy to have work that challenges me every day and keeps me growing and improving myself year after year, and having a staff of people who are like family.

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

Oh my, there are so many stories.. I mostly remember the highlights now: divorce in my very first year of business, leaving me unable to pay and support myself, living on next to nothing for the first 7 years while building the business and a profit. The housing economy fall, a mid life crisis, an existential crisis, health issues, the economy during and after Covid… Still going!

When you have a true vision about something, you don’t let anything stop you… That’s all.

I have learned that I can handle anything and that when you are able to bend and change and grow, you keep overcoming whatever obstacles inevitably happen, and if you stop learning, growing, changing, adjusting, working on yourself and continuously improving, whether it’s in business or anything in life, you start failing… Its a gift to be always in a place of learning.

Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?

I bought Blooms of Dunwoody in 2019. It took 6 months of working about 20 hours / week to get the loan approved. Not at all what I expected… That was on top of the 40+ hours / week I was already working. Lots of hoops to jump through for an SBA loan! Then I paid off the entire loan in a year… lol.

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  Website:  villagegreenflowersandgifts.com  , passionflowersherbology.com , bloomsofdunwoody.com