We caught up with the brilliant and insightful MaryAnn Ford a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

MaryAnn , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

During a dark moment in my life and the life of a loved one, we couldn’t see the light. I had lost all hope and all faith. Then out of the blue, the word FloForward appeared in my head in the early hours of a morning I wasn’t sure my heart would survive. Trigger warning: I was talking to a loved one about his willingness to live. I literally felt like I was drowning and there was this huge weight on my chest. I had no idea why this was happening except that I needed to be his light and get us through one day at a time without any idea how I was going to get myself through it. But FloForward. That’s all I kept hearing in my head over and over again. Soon I realized, ironically, it was a play on my maiden name and married name but it didn’t feel like an original thought. I felt like I stole it somehow. Anyways, Everytime I encountered another difficult obstacle in my life in the upcoming months, FloForward remained a constant mantra that gave me enough hope to push through.

Shortly after, I was invited to listen to a sermon and the pastor preached on Isaiah 43:2. The message given, although not directed at me, surely felt like it and I was crying my eyes out. I felt heard and seen in a way that is unexplainable. I felt found and that everything was going to be okay. I felt that somehow I was covered.

This person I was praying for, that I was helping “FloForward” through each day, at one point in my life, he saved me and he probably doesn’t even know it. He saved me by introducing me to the ocean and surfing. We bonded through our love of the ocean and surfing. We would paddle for each wave we saw coming even it we weren’t even sure if we were going to catch it. If the waves or ocean was too rough, we made the best of every wave and used it to our advantage. There were so many lessons that I learned out in that water about life from just talking to him and the surfing the ocean itself.

So when this sermon revolving around, Isaiah 43:2 – “When you go through deep waters I will be with you” happen to be the first sermon I decided to listen to, I knew there was no way it was a coincidence. It was all about the ocean and trusting Him through your storms. The main statement that stuck out to me was, “I rather be in the waves with Jesus than in the boat without Him.”

I had no idea how we got through that time in our lives. How I was able to remain this persons light through it and now I know it’s because He gave me the guidance and strength to do so. I watched a miracle happen. I watched this person’s life unravel with blessings after blessings. I watched FloForward become a mantra in my life, his and others we shared our story with. I’ve gotten to connect with so many people with amazing inspiring stories of resilience, faith and trust. I’ve talked to people putting on a mask to get through their day and they see my FloForward bracelet, ask me about it and then after I explain the meaning behind it watch a shimmer of light in their eyes. I get to share my story, my testimony and the good news. I’ve gotten to build a community and that alone has been worthwhile.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

This is actually an ironic story too. The person I talked about in the previous question actually had a clothing brand. When he went through that time, he lost it all. I never wanted to start my own business much less a clothing brand. It wasn’t until FloForward became a mantra in my life that I wanted to share with others.

I create each design based off a reminder I feel like others would resonate with after hearing a story of someone’s valley and their resilience through it or some of my own personal experiences where I’ve gotten great advice or scripture inspired me. Some designs are also based off the life lessons I learned while surfing.

I think what sets us apart is the meaning behind the brand and that there is a story behind every design. If you click on our products on our website, instead of a lengthy product description, you’ll see a “Behind the Design” which explains the story behind it to help inspire the customer.

Eventually, because I’m a book nerd, I want to create bookmarks based off the designs with their stories under it to go along with every shirt sold.

Every time we receive an order, while being packaged, the customer and the items they purchased are prayed over. I handwrite a thank you note with a small prayer as well to put in each order.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

So the idea of my clothing brand came around the COVID pandemic. Social media was blowing up and ecommerce businesses were blowing up because we were all on shutdown or quarantine. I held off and to gauge interest in the brand, when I had appointments for my hair, nails, doctors or etc. I’d make myself vulnerable enough to talk about my clothing brand idea. It was a huge risk because I was scared someone was going to end up stealing it. Fast Forward a few years, those people are the ones that have helped me spread the word and get me connected to small businesses in my area to help me promote. Again, vinyl and sublimation T-shirts started blowing up so the market was saturated by inspiring faith-based apparel but I took the leap and started signing up for vendor events, farmers markets and etc. This is when things really started to pick up. There were other vendors with apparel at these events so I thought the odds were stacked against me but it ended up being quite the opposite. We were one of the busiest vendor tents at most events. Because of the backstory of my clothing brand, I had to prepare myself to be vulnerable with my story to complete strangers. I live in a small town community so this was terrifying because everything around here is by word of mouth. It was an old school marketing strategy and it was risky with social media also still being prevalent. After one of our first events, we built a small community of those who regularly attend these farmers markets or vendor events and that small community started sharing more about FloForward & Co. on social media. We’ve had influencers reach out to us to collab as well as other small businesses. It’s all been a blessing of community and fellowship.

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

Because we are a clothing brand trying to share our story, networking events with other small business owners or entrepreneurs has been the best strategy to grow our clientele. Not only do we gain the people at networking events as customers but their customers as well! Being genuine and vulnerable when sharing your story and goals for your business and just having real relationships with people where we are all just trying to take care of each other and help each other grow.

Contact Info:

• Website: floforwardco.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/floforwardco
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/floforwardco