We were lucky to catch up with Shauna Wardlaw recently and have shared our conversation below.

Shauna, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later?

I’m not sure there is a right time or wrong time to do something. For sure you may not get the outcome that you were looking for, but there was a lesson there that needed to be learned that is helping you towards that “right” thing. I think the right time is generally now. Stepping out from fear; fear of failure, of the unknown, of vunerability. Fletcher’s Florals started as a 5 year plan conversation with my husband. I thought it would be really special to have something that we both had interest in and that there seemed to be a need for within the community we were moving to. When I finally sat down and officially made Fletcher’s Florals a business, it was for selfish reasons. I wanted fresh garlands and wreaths for the holidays and (at the time) did not know where I could get them. Thinking maybe I wasn’t the only person out there that felt this way, I found some wholesalers and brought in fresh holiday greenery. Over the course of about a year, we went from holiday greenery to doing florals for events and major holidays. That year consisted of small steps that would eventually lead to us opening a brick & mortar floral boutique in our little town, which was much sooner than we had originally envisioned. I truly believe that God set in motion a chain of events that opened a door for Fletcher’s Florals and by having faith in what I felt so strongly pulled to, we walked through that door.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I was born and raised outside of Houston in small town called Alvin. My parents owned a snowcone stand when I was little and there was a flower shop next door. I have found memories of that shop and am told that I would “dumpster dive” for the discarded flowers. As I grew up, flowers were not on my radar at all; so it’s funny to me to look back and think the seed was there it was just in hibernation. I grew up, went to college, got my business degree and job in corporate America and was ready to settle down. Shortly after getting married, my mom and I started a furniture flipping business. We would find old pieces and restore, refresh or repurpose. This small side business really opened my eyes to other possibilities. Eventually we said goodbye to furniture (it’s heavy y’all!) and I moved on to events. I hosted and promoted events 3 states over from where I lived, and while that worked great, once we had kids it became a bit more difficult. Shortly after our son arrived, I said goodbye to events and focused on our family and building our home.

Somewhere in there I started to have an itch to open a store front and I wanted it to include flowers. I remeber telling a friend that “I’ll open a flower shop and you open a wine bar and we can have wine and flower parties!” As time went on, the itch only grew as as it grew I knew it was something I really wanted to do. Open a floral boutique in our little community.

The first Fall in our new house had me wanting fresh wreaths for our front doors and fresh garland for the fireplace mantle, but I had no idea where I could find them. After some research, I found a great wholesaler that would ship them in, so I came up with a plan and created Fletcher’s Florals. The thought was that I couldn’t be the only one with this desire for fresh greenery around the holidays. Turns out it was such a great idea that every big box hardware store and grocery store also had them that Fall. Insert Spring, and I transitioned to flowers. I’d do arrangements for friends, and then friends would ask “do you do this?” My answer was always, “sure, why not!”. Slowly, over the course of a year, I had more and more under my belt than I really ever thought I would. I was doing weddings and events, which I honestly did not think I had an interest in. And it turns out, weddings and events are my favorite things to do. Stressful because I want everything to be perfect, but so much fun.

In the Summer of 2022, things started to fall into place and opportunities started to open up. Things that I 100% believe were the acts of a higher power. We were given a chance to take Fletcher’s Florals brick & mortar. I put all of my faith in God and walked straight through the door he opened for us. September 2023 was a year for us in the store and boy did we learn and grow! “PIVOT” is a phrase that runs through my head often. While the door was opened, it is still up to us to put in the work to help Fletcher’s Florals grow.

One thing that I think sets us apart, is that I do not have any formal training in florals. I know, if you’re reading this and you have had formal training you are cringing. Had I known this would be a path for me, college would have looked a lot different. But what this means for our clients is that I do not have a text book way of doing things which allows me the flexibility to pivot and be truly open to trying new things. And thank goodness for YouTube and Instagram! I’ve watched many of ‘how-to’ videos. I love having the ability to be flexible in my designs and the ability to help my clients visions come to life. And on the non-event side, I LOVE making people smile or feel loved through flowers. For me, Fletcher’s Florals is personal. It’s been a way to connect with people, to brighten their days and honor their loved ones. It truly is a privilage.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

When we opened, the worst case scenario for flowers would be that our cooler looses power. What we did not anticipate would be that the real worse case scenario for flowers would be the cooler dropping to freezing temperatures. We had a wedding we were preparing for; all the flowers arrived and all had been processed. The day before the wedding, our cooler froze. It was the saddest floral sight I had ever seen. The only thing that did not completely wilt were the Peonies, and even they were not very happy. Frantic, I had to source all new flowers for the wedding and was lucky enough that I could find what I needed on such short notice. But profit was out the window at that point. We immediately put a separate sensor in the cooler that sends alerts to our phones should the cooler drop below a certain temperature.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Customer Service. It’s something I think is really lacking in today’s world. People want to feel heard, and understood, and just want to be treated kindly and with respect. If you can build your reputation on a solid foundation of great customer service, you will attract loyal clients that will show you grace when mistakes happen. And secondly, if a mistake does happen, make it a point to make it right. Early on I was double booked and had someone else working the store for me. I dropped the ball on letting them know about a flower delivery that needed to be handled that day. I receive a call the following week saying the flowers were never received. I did not realize what had happened until that phone call ended and it ended with me saying, no I’m sure they were delivered. As soon as I realized what happened, I sallowed my pride and called them back. I did not make excuses, only owned up that the delivery was missed and gave them a full refund. I waited a week or two and did a separate delivery, on us, as an apology. That same client has come back several times since for their flower needs.

Contact Info:

• Website: fletchersflorals.square.site
• Instagram: @fletchersflorals
• Facebook: @fletchersflorals