My Internship Blog
Internships are required at Brigham Young University-Idaho to graduate in most majors. For a horticulture degree you need 400 hours of on the job work for it to count as a credit towards your graduation. I chose to do my internship in my home town, Fremont, Nebraska. The population is just under 30,000 and has a rich clientele if you know where to go. The shop that I'm working for is named IN BLOOM. They are a newer shop to the area. The other shops in Fremont have been there for at least 20 years. In Bloom has been in Fremont for only 4 years. While I complete my internship I had the goal of giving good marketing to the shop and helping to bring in more clientele.
Christmas
Over the Christmas holiday In Bloom was some what busy in my opinion. However coming in right before the season was done I wasn't able to experience the full blast of the busy season. I was able however to make some interesting designs due to the fact that In Bloom is associated with Bloom-Net also known as 1-800-Flowers. The one design shown to the left is suppose to be a christmas tree. I was able to make about 3 of those, each one becoming better as I went. Even thought the picture is not very large you can still some what see the detail.
19th of December through 23th of December
Over the This week I have made several centerpieces and about 6 or 7 other arrangements. I was also able to learn how to take orders and become familiar with the employees that work here. There is Jenefer the owner; Sheryl, Jenefer's mom; Sam a college student; Amanda another college student; and Angela who, I'm not exactly sure why she is here, she just comes around.
26th-27th of December
I learned how to use the cash register today. Its nothing like what I'm use to from Hy-Vee, but its so much easier and simpler. Its a good system to have. We haven't really had any one come in. A few people here and there. We have a few ad's in the news paper for sales and stuff. Its a little weird that we have lotions and food items I feel like. But I'm use to a grocery store flower shop so its ok in my opinion.
28th-31st of December
We had a lot of people come in this week especially to buy discounted Christmas items. It was great. We are staying busy. They keep sending me home early though. So it looks like I"m going to be her about 38 hours this week. Not bad. But they aren't paying me so I'm not sure why they don't just want me hanging around.
2nd of January through the 7th
The plant truck came today and I got about $300 worth of plants in retail. I was worried that Jenefer was going to be upset. But we sold like 3 the next day for funerals. One big peace lilly and one a small peace lilly and a rubber tree. Not bad in my opinion.
We had some more people come in to buy Old Christmas stuff, but not too much else is going on. I'm thinking that I want to put on a plant seminar. Jenefer is taking this week off so I'm the only one thats really here designing. But we have only had a few small arrangements. If we have a steady business like this through the rest of the month I think that they will break even on everything.
We had some more people come in to buy Old Christmas stuff, but not too much else is going on. I'm thinking that I want to put on a plant seminar. Jenefer is taking this week off so I'm the only one thats really here designing. But we have only had a few small arrangements. If we have a steady business like this through the rest of the month I think that they will break even on everything.
9th-11th of January
Um not much to report. I don't really get to do too much designing now that Jenefer is back. Its okay though. We have only had a few orders so far this week. Not much. Its starting to get a little borring. But its after Christmas so it is more than likely going to slow down. However I"m use to Hy-Vee always at least a $400 day. So going from $400 down to $20 is kind of a big deal to me. But as long as they think they are doing well thats all that matters.
16th-18th of January
Um, I'm kind of in shock. I found out that Jenefer hasn't paid herself in 3 years. That also means that her mom hasn't been paid. I'm a little worried. I'm coming up with marketing ideas in my spare time between my online class and work at Hy-Vee in the grocery department on Saturday nights. They want me to buy the business and if it doesn't start putting out a profit then I'm not going to even think about buying it.
19th-21st of January
I came up with some ideas to increase business. They were the ways that my mom started up her own Real Estate company. She doesn't like the ideas of flyering or sending out personalized postcards or anything like that. They don't seem to think stuff like that will work. I'm not sure what their reasons are for their marketing skeems but what ever works for them. They do a lot of weddings so thats where they get most of their money. So apparently every day stuff isn't really their idea of making money. I thought I had some good ideas, but I guess not.
23rd-28th of January
We are for sure doing the plant seminar. Not much has come in for orders at all. We had to pay in for FTD this month. I'm hoping that my plant seminar will be good. I'm a little worried. But I feel like I need to prove myself to these people and show them that I'm worth something and have good ideas and that I can do some really good things. I"m slightly frustrated since I'm not really designing too much and don't have much else to do than play on my computer. But I'm going to show them how to make money by having these seminars! I'm going to kick some major butt! We also got candy in this week. I got to help set up the display.
30th and 31st of January
Plants came in Yesterday. I got them all ready priced them and got them ready to go out the door. I'm just now hoping that people show up this Thursday. I've taken almost all of the things that I learned in Plant Culture and Plant Propagation and put parts of it in to my seminar. It should be good.
1st-4th of February
The plant seminar went really well. We had 7 people that showed up our of 11 who said they were going to be there. It was good. There were a lot of questions, all of which I was able to answer. I spent just over an hour speaking, it would have been about 30 minuets but they had a lot of questions. I felt really smart because I'm sure that no one else at In Bloom would ever be able to answer them. I feel like I proved myself to my boss and my co-workers, I showed them that I'm good at something.
Its now time to get ready for Valentines day. I'm hoping that its really good. My only worry is that we don't have enough buckets. I really hope we do.
Its now time to get ready for Valentines day. I'm hoping that its really good. My only worry is that we don't have enough buckets. I really hope we do.
13th-18th of February
Monday we got in a bunch of flowers. I didn't think we were going to be able to fit all of them in the few buckets that we had. But they did all fit. It was a decent amount of product. Over 500 roses and other things. We did a lot of the specialty arrangement called Fields of Europe done through 1800-Flowers. It was fun. That was my main thing to do. The sad thing was I don't have a car right now so I'm relying on mom to get me to and from work. So she Had to pick me up early on the 13th and I lost a lot of experience. I really should have just walked home. Tuesday I went on deliveries with another unpaid employee. It was Jenefer's dad. He was fun to be with. Fun to talk to and stuff. After we got about 15 deliveries done I came back to the store and did an arraignment here and there. It was steady enough. We sold mostly stuff from the cooler we had made up from Monday. There was one time though that I had to hurry really really bad. It felt amazing! It was stress, but it was a good stress. It made me feel alive. I had two arrangements that I had to do identical and had to get them both done in 15 min. It took me about 17 but it felt great. About 4pm though people quit coming to the store.We decided that we would stay open till 6 just incase. We cleaned up our stuff though and got ready for the next day. Only 1 customer come in and he wanted rose petals. We marked them down for him. So it was at least one last sale. Wednesday not much happen. We had a few customers come in but not much happen. Thursday was really bad. I broke the key off in the register with my hip. I was so upset. I didn't know what to do. Then I was holding the Owners dog and it jumped out of my arms. It was a really bad day. Friday Jenefer actually showed me how to green things her way. She uses a lot of greenery seeing as how its less expensive and helps fill in. Also it gives the arrangement shape. I was really happy that I felt that I learned something.
Looking Back
Looking back at what all I did on my internship I realized that I should have been a little more in-depth on my internship blog. Not much happen though threw out the internship. I am happy though that I did learn a few things. I feel that the best thing that I learned is that having a young flower shop in a town with 3 other flower shops and a florist that does stuff out of their home is hard. You need to be really established. I went into one of the other flower shops in town the other day and they had 3 designers, one clerk on the floor and the owner. So I can defiantly see the difference. Maybe it was just the time of the year, but I feel that there are ways to have more business brought into your store. My mother has started many businesses, most have failed. Others have been bought out. Seeing all of her marketing techniques I feel that In Bloom could have used those to their advantage. My mother came in and talked to Jenefer many times while she came in to visit me and gave Jenefer many ideas. However, in my opinion, Jenefer seemed to not want the extra business, in my opinion she seemed that she wanted to do only high end marketing. But since she couldn't do the high end marketing she didn't want to any. Jenefer and the couple of other employees are very nice and some have really good ideas that got listened to better than mine or my mothers. I hope that things work out for Jenefer and business picks up now that I'm gone. Like I said I did learn stuff, just not as much as I was hoping that I would. However I'm very greatful for what I did learn and if I can afford it when I'm done with school I would like to do another internship at a more established flower shop in hopes that I can learn more in my journey to become a full time florist.