We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lauren Norvell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Lauren, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.
Here at Bring Joy we do weddings and events vs personal arrangements. I started with $1,000 in the bank and wanted to find a way to make money while I advertised. So I began doing local Saturday morning markets. I would haul buckets, vases and water in my car. I would set up a water station and a dog bowl to help draw people to my booth. I had coolers for ice to add to the flower buckets as it is hot in Houston no matter the time of year. My goal was to break even at the end of the day with what money I put into the day vs what people bought at the market. Finally after my 4rd or 5th market I had a couple walk up to me asking if I do weddings. I talked to them about what they were looking for and took down their information. They were my one and only wedding in 2018 but it was my start! I will never forget the anticipation that wedding morning. Navigating around the hotel to drop off the personal arrangements. Going to the reception to set up. I am so happy to have that as my starting point.
Lauren, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
We provide flowers for weddings and events. I was introduced to florals while working as a manager at a craft shop. I fell in love. It was a business I thought I could grow slowly while working full time. I learned hands on and DIY at YouTube University to learn new techniques. But not having gone to floral school helped me see different ways to accomplish goals. Sometimes my way was harder and sometimes it was easier than the way floral school teaches. It was a great trial and error. But it has ultimately allowed us to be open minded and flexible for our clients. One thing we get constantly complimented for. We always leaned for more sustainable options but are proud to be able to say we are now sustainable in most areas of our work. Some ways we off sustainable floristry is we rent silk flowers, compost fresh flowers after weddings, buy used vases, use biodegradable floral “foam” and buy local when able. We continue to think of more ways to be sustainable.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Working primarily with weddings there is built up anticipation on the clients end if their vision will come together. Occasionally what we provided does not meet their vision. There was a couple who ordered a medium size bridal bouquet and small bridesmaids bouquets. The bride was in tears as the bouquets were smaller than her vision. We had flowers that were going to go down the aisle that we pivoted to remake the bouquets on site. The important thing to remember is it is their vision and their day. Making sure the couple is happy with our work is our top priority. There is no room for ego in our work.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
I have never wanted to be active on social media. My marketing intern (my husband) really pushes us to post. We are not fancy and mainly show behind the scenes along with our work. I think us trying to be open resonates with couples looking for flowers along with fellow florists. I advise to be yourself and do not try at be fancy. Put your effort into your work not counting social media followers.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bringjoytexas.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bringjoytexas/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BringJoyTexas
