What if you could transform your home or business environment with a touch of botanical elegance? This episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast features Liza Greever of Fox and Fern Botanical Styling, a hidden gem in downtown Chattanooga. Liza takes us through her fascinating journey from Maine to Tennessee, sharing how she turned a home studio passion into a full-fledged designer's choice floral boutique. We delve into the various services her shop offers, from wedding arrangements to unique faux designs, and why now is the perfect time to place your Mother's Day orders.
Supporting local talent has never been more crucial. We explore why choosing local florists like Liza, who prioritize creativity and personalized service, trumps the convenience of larger, less personal flower delivery services. Discover the value of seasonal flowers sourced from local farmers, offering not just aesthetic beauty but a fresher, more vibrant product. In this episode, we also tackle the misconceptions about floral design, revealing the hard work and dedication behind each arrangement. Stay tuned to learn how you can nominate your favorite local business for a spotlight on our future episodes, and help us keep the heartbeat of Chattanooga's local economy strong.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Scott Howell.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hello good neighbors and welcome to the Good Neighbor
Podcast brought to you by theFriends and Neighbors Group of
Cleveland and the GreaterChattanooga Area.
Again, my name is Scott Howelland I'm your host today is Scott
Howell and I'm your host today,and for all you first-time
listeners out there.
The purpose of the GoodNeighbor podcast is to bring
awareness to the residents ofour communities of the locally
(00:33):
owned and or operated businessesin Cleveland, chattanooga,
dalton, georgia and all thesurrounding areas.
Small local businesses are thebackground of our communities
and they need our support.
Joining me today is our goodneighbor, liza Griever at Fox
and Fern Botanical Styling.
Thank you for being our specialguest today with us, liza.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Oh, it's my pleasure, my pleasure.
You know, we want to know a lotmore about your business and
learn everything we can today,me and all of our listeners too.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
But before we jump into that.
Is there anything you'd like toshare with us personally, about
yourself, your family?
Well, I did not grow up in.
Chattanooga.
But my husband did and wedecided to pick Chattanooga as
our place to raise our child.
And we decided to pickChattanooga as our place to
raise our child.
So we have a fifth grade sonand we have two Boston Terrier
(01:35):
dogs who are usually in ourflower shop.
So if anyone ever wants to comeget puppy kisses and hang out
with the dogs, they're always inhere.
But yeah, that's our littlefamily and I love living here.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
I grew up in maine, um, but I love living.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Chattanooga is my, is my home, so you know maine I've
heard how beautiful maine is.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I've heard about it fall of the year there, of
course y'all get a lot of snow.
You know the winter time.
We some.
We don't see much here, butChattanooga area is a beautiful
area.
A 10-year-old boy growing uparound all these mountains and
hiking trails and all theserivers and things to do, it's
just a marvelous place to live.
The whole Chattanooga area.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
I completely agree, and the people are really great.
It's been a really supportivejourney.
I've felt very welcomed by thecommunity.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Well, that's wonderful to hear.
I know everybody out there willbe glad to hear that we have a
lot of new people from all overthe country.
How long have you been here now, Liza?
14 years 14 years, so you'vebeen here a while so you kind of
know what a lot of the peopleare just moving into the area
kind of experiencing when weleave the South and go somewhere
else.
We call it culture shock, but Iguess it's kind of reverse.
(02:50):
Reverse culture shock when youcome from other areas of the
country and come to the southyes yeah, I think it's great, no
definitely in a good way, Ilike it.
Well, let's talk about fox andFern Botanical Styling.
So I want you to tell us whatyou're all about.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Well, so we started in 2015 and I started doing just
weddings and special eventfloral design out of my home and
I had a home studio for aboutthree years and then it really
picked up speed and I decidedthat I wanted to have a
storefront and kind of startlike a non-traditional flower
(03:32):
shop More modern designs andalso we don't have like the
1-800-Flowers type of orderingsystem we have a website and
everything that we make isdesigner's choice.
And so our clients can, you know, write us a note or call us
requesting certain styles orcolor palettes for their flowers
(03:55):
, but, um, or you know differentkinds of flowers, but
everything that we make iscustom okay so it's.
You know all arrangements.
We don't make the same thingtwice, so we love to design our
floors around you know someone'sindividual personality and make
them feel extra special andkind of pay attention to
(04:17):
everything that our clients areasking for and describing so
that we can get the order rightand, as things have kind of
progressed, we still do a lot ofevents and weddings, but we're
also working on we have a plantshop and so we're doing a lot of
design of house plants inbusinesses and homes and we're
even kind of branching out todoing like for faux flowers,
(04:40):
like silk flower designinstallations inside businesses
or around doors of businesses,and all of that can be seen on
our website.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
So those soup flowers are good for us non-green thumb
people, right?
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Yes, and we don't typically do like silk flower.
We do everything custom forthose.
So we that's more of like youknow, installations in different
businesses and you know arounddecorating their round outside
of their door or makingsomething like a fake flower
wall inside of their business.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah Well, mother's Day is coming up.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Y'all have anything available for people that want
to get their mother, their wifeor some you know special person
in their life their wife or someyou know special person in
their life, absolutely so I willbe working on our mother's day
page that I'll put up on ourwebsite.
And we offer delivery.
You know, and we go.
We can go as far as cleveland.
We are downtown on chestnutstreet.
(05:36):
We're right in between the reedhouse and, uh, the westin hotel
um yeah, so we're like right inthe, in the downtown location,
but we can deliver, you know,anywhere and um, we need about
like usually a day's notice, uhfor, but we do same day delivery
.
But like we prefer, if you know, get your pre-orders in so we
(05:57):
can make sure we can guaranteeyou know we have the flowers for
for everyone I was in was indowntown last week and went to a
concert down there lastThursday night and, sure enough,
I saw your business right there.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I pulled off the ramp , was looking right at your
business.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yes, I know when the Tivoli reopens too.
We're so close to the Tivoli,so it's really a wonderful
location.
I've been very happy.
The whole West villageneighborhood is.
It's a a wonderful location.
I've been very happy.
The whole West Villageneighborhood is a great little
neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Well, tell us about your journey, Liza, how this
came to be.
Were you into floral designwhen you were in Maine?
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Yeah, I did.
I worked at a little flowerfarm and I, you know, kind of
just played around with itgrowing up and then it just kind
of spiraled into wanting to doit more often and really wanting
to work on it and you know, Ihad a young child at home.
(06:56):
So I just decided, as astay-at-home mom, I would, you
know, play with the idea ofhaving my own design business,
and it just grew from there.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
That's great, Congratulations.
I love to hear success stories.
I love to hear success stories.
I guess because I was raised bya single mother.
I'm kind of partial to hearingwomen-owned success stories.
I like that.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
I appreciate that.
No it really has been.
It's been a really wild journey.
I mean, I just started it,funding it from my own little
savings and and, um, you knowthere's been like twists and
turns.
The pandemic was like reallyhard, but we seem to recover
from it and are doing betterthan ever last year and this
(07:38):
year.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
So if you experience any hardships or difficulties,
so I guess that would have beenone of them, right.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Yeah, because there were so many events and weddings
that got canceled and had toget rescheduled.
So it was just a really chaotictime, but, like we made it
through.
I have a really wonderful team,too, of people who work for me.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yeah, Well, they can't beat that.
I tell you, good help is hardto find, so if you got some,
hang on to them yes, I'm verylucky uh, you know, uh, some of
the questions that we're talkingI was planning on asking you.
We've already kind of, we'realready kind of answering them,
so let me turn it just to apersonal, just for a moment,
towards you and your family.
So, here you are, inchattanooga, you got this 10
(08:23):
year old son.
What do y'all do for fun whenyou're not working?
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Oh well, my husband is a local musician.
He plays a couple bands, so welike to catch, like local music.
We like to go out and about.
Um, we, my son plays sports, sowe're usually I'm a soccer mom
or basketball mom.
Um, we like to go out.
We like to be outside, for sure.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Does your husband play with any of the bands that
he played with?
Do they play to any of thelocal downtown venues?
Speaker 3 (08:56):
I've interviewed a few of those.
Sometimes yeah, Sometimes theyplay at the Barrel House
Ballroom.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, yeah, I interviewed them the other day.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Yeah, they played nightclub, they played all over.
But yeah, we really like thatlive music scene.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah, absolutely yeah , I've got to go there and check
them out.
They told me I could just siton the patio with my dog and
just enjoy the atmosphere.
I'm going to go check it out.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Yes, yes, I love that .
I love patio season inChattanooga.
It's the best.
Yeah, chattanooga is the bestyeah.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
You know you have these custom-made flowers.
I know you mentioned something Ikind of want to capitalize on
if you don't care, that you'renot connected to the
1-800-FLORIST-type services thatare out there, and what that
means basically is you go onthese 1-800, I'm not trying to
call nobody out but these 1-800websites and you look and you
(09:47):
pick out the you know I'm nottrying to call them by the app,
but these 1-800 websites and youlook and you pick out the flyer
you want and then the floriststhat do participate with that
it's sent to them and they haveto try to make it to look as
close as they can to thatproduct and then it gets sent
out.
When you said you're not dealingwith that is because, if I
understood you correctly, youwant everything to be original.
You want you want it to be.
You said you don't do the samething twice.
So it's not a cookie cutterthing that you do.
(10:09):
You want everything to beeither from inspired, from the
mind of the purchaser or if theytell you hey, this is what I
want, this is the color I want.
I'm giving you creative freedomto do what you want.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Yes, that is exactly the way the way the business
model is set up.
Also, those kind of companiestake a lot of money from the
local designer.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
that you know, they your site.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
However, they take so much off of it, Then I would
rather build an organic customerbase and just do it from
scratch, even though it's been,you know, challenging at times
(10:56):
to be able to train ourcustomers.
That you know.
If, also, if we're not gettingcharged those heavy fees, we're
going to be able to give themmore flowers for the amount of
money that they paid.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
So it works for everybody.
Yeah Well, you know thispodcast is all about focusing on
local owned and or operatedbusiness, and that's what we're
all about, and I don't ever tryto disparage anyone and I won't.
I won't say this disparagingleader.
Maybe there's some florists outthere that really need those
1-800 things and if they do, I'mnot trying to disparage anyone,
(11:29):
but I would like to say this toall of us listeners, and to
myself as well, that if we canpick up the phone and call
1-800-whatever and order aflower, and we can pick up the
phone and call Liza Griever orwhoever you say, well, I want
this to go to.
You know, Podunk, USA, into atown that I don't know anything
(11:51):
about.
I don't know who the floristsare.
It's called Google.
Right, Google, find the localflorist, find their phone number
, find their website, orderdirectly from them so they don't
have to give up their profits.
Like Liza said, they can giveyou more product because they
don't have to give up theirprofits.
Like Liza said, they can giveyou more product because they
don't have to give up theirprofit.
Support local businesses.
(12:11):
Let's do all we can to drivethe revenue that we spend to the
local people so they can growand prosper.
I'm going to tell you what ifevery local business in
Chattanooga disappearedovernight and wasn't there
tomorrow?
I want you to think about whatkind of place this would be.
Wouldn't be much left, would it?
(12:31):
So all?
our listeners out there we needto remember these things.
Let's call the florist directlyand get what we need from them.
So Liza offers a beautifulservice where she said I'll
customize what you want.
You just tell me what it is.
If you tell me what you want,I'll do it like you want it, but
if you give me the creativeexpression and just tell me what
colors you want, I'll make yousomething beautiful.
That's what I'm here, is thatright, liza?
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Absolutely.
Yeah, you nailed it, it'sperfect.
Yeah, I'm really excited to beable to talk about this with you
and just let more people runour business and how we make our
designs.
It's exciting.
And also just keeping in mind,too, like using seasonal flowers
.
You know we try to buy as muchas we can from local Chattanooga
(13:13):
flower farmers, so you knoweverything everybody's getting
is very fresh.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
That's awesome.
Yeah, just you know, businessowners supporting one another
that's what it should be about.
I know we have competition, butcompetition is good overall for
everyone because you know itdoesn't let people take
advantage of us.
You know, if there was only oneof everything, then we could
charge what we wanted, right?
So competition is good, but atthe same time, just remember to
(13:43):
support the local-ownedbusinesses as much as we can.
And, liza, one more questionbefore we get into how people
can find you If there was onething that you wish listeners
knew about your company thatthey wouldn't know, if you
didn't tell them and you'd liketo just shout it from the
rooftops, what would it be?
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Well, a lot of people come into the shop and they say
, oh, it must be so wonderful tojust play with flowers all day.
Right, it is, but there's a lotmore stress, I think, than
people realize.
And floral design is, is heavymanual labor.
(14:22):
It's really a lot of likephysical work and there's a lot,
you know, weddings, especiallythe setup that's involved.
I mean I will go 15,000 stepsin a day on a wedding setup day
easily with, you know, lookingat my smart wash at the end of
the day and I'm like oh, wow, Ididn't know that I went that
(14:45):
many steps and it's it's harderwork than I think people realize
.
And also, you know flowers area luxury item.
They are expensive and we don'twant them to be that way,
necessarily, but that's just.
You know.
If people knew how much we getcharged for the wholesale
product.
I think they would be like oh,okay, I think I understand, and
(15:07):
not only that you're talkingabout buying them from local
farmers.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
You know, there's the .
Every time the prices ofeverything go, anything goes up.
It goes up to that, everybusiness owner.
So that flower, the flower farm, all their expenses go up.
Gasoline went up, guess whatTheirs did too, all those things
.
So you know, we need to keepthose things in mind to all of
our listeners out there.
We need to keep those things inmind.
(15:31):
You know, not everybody's justtrying to get rich off of us.
Some of a lot.
Most business today are justtrying to stay afloat and
survive because we don't have aprofit.
There's no profit.
Anyone do it, uh, except forunless you're a non-profit
organization, obviously, butmost of us aren't.
We need to make a profit, right?
We need somebody to help us.
We can pay our, our bills andfeed our families as well.
(15:53):
So keep that in mind whenyou're shopping for things.
If it's a quality product, justget ready and pay whatever it
takes to get you the productthat you're going to be happy
with.
And that's what I'm hearingtoday.
So I was just equally excitedto find out about what you did
as well, Liza.
I'm so glad that you decided tocome on the program and talk to
(16:13):
us about all this.
So how can listeners learn moreabout you, about what you offer
online or offline?
How can they contact you?
Speaker 3 (16:22):
So they can Google us Fox and Fern Botanical Styling.
Our phone number pops right up.
They can call us.
Calling and getting our storehours is wonderful If they visit
our store in person.
At 807 chestnut street there isthe city park parking garage
and they can.
If they can't find a streetspot, they can go in the parking
(16:46):
garage and for up to 30 minutesit's free, so that's a good
resource oh good yeah, so theycan come in pick, pick up plants
and then hopefully have freeparking.
And then we have a website,wwwfoxandfernstylecom, which you
know you can order flowers, getmore information, and our
(17:07):
Instagram account, Fox and FernStyle, has probably the most
updated of all of like whatwe're working on.
I am trying to have our websitehave even more updates, but
it's just hard to to get it alldone sometimes.
So I would say that theInstagram account has the most
(17:29):
updated photos at all times, soour website is also linked to
the Instagram account, so peoplecan look, you know, on the
website.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
All right.
Well, you heard it here Fox andFern botanical styling.
If you're looking for somewhereto go for mother's day, it's a
good, good, good option.
You're having a wedding contactand find out what they've got
available for you.
And but always remember, youknow, like I say this every time
, over and over and over, let'smake sure we support these local
businesses, you know.
(17:58):
So, again, Liza, thanks forbeing on the program with us
today.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Thank you so much, Scott.
I really appreciate thisopportunity.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Absolutely.
It's been very informative,very informative.
And to all the good neighborsof the Cleveland and the
Chattanooga area, after meetingLiza and learning more about Fox
and Fern botanical styling, Iknow that she hopes you'll take
a moment and consider all theshares to offer and remember her
when you need or want theproducts and services that they
(18:26):
provide.
And before ending this episode,I'd like to thank you all, the
listeners, for taking time outof your busy day and visiting
with us at the Good NeighborPodcast.
Always remember again I say itover and over to support the
locally owned and or operatedbusinesses in Cleveland,
chattanooga, dalton, the wholeChattanooga area.
(18:47):
I wish I had time to justmention every community, because
they're all important.
So when I say the greaterChattanooga area, it's just part
of it.
So this is Scott Howell withthe Friends and Neighbors Group.
Everyone, go out and make thisa remarkable day.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNPClevelandcom.
That's GNPClevelandcom, or call423-380-1984.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Scott Howell.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hello good neighbors and welcome to the Good Neighbor
Podcast brought to you by theFriends and Neighbors Group of
Cleveland and the GreaterChattanooga Area.
Again, my name is Scott Howelland I'm your host today is Scott
Howell and I'm your host today,and for all you first-time
listeners out there.
The purpose of the GoodNeighbor podcast is to bring
awareness to the residents ofour communities of the locally
(00:33):
owned and or operated businessesin Cleveland, chattanooga,
dalton, georgia and all thesurrounding areas.
Small local businesses are thebackground of our communities
and they need our support.
Joining me today is our goodneighbor, liza Griever at Fox
and Fern Botanical Styling.
Thank you for being our specialguest today with us, liza.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Oh, it's my pleasure, my pleasure.
You know, we want to know a lotmore about your business and
learn everything we can today,me and all of our listeners too.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
But before we jump into that.
Is there anything you'd like toshare with us personally, about
yourself, your family?
Well, I did not grow up in.
Chattanooga.
But my husband did and wedecided to pick Chattanooga as
our place to raise our child.
And we decided to pickChattanooga as our place to
raise our child.
So we have a fifth grade sonand we have two Boston Terrier
(01:35):
dogs who are usually in ourflower shop.
So if anyone ever wants to comeget puppy kisses and hang out
with the dogs, they're always inhere.
But yeah, that's our littlefamily and I love living here.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
I grew up in maine, um, but I love living.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Chattanooga is my, is my home, so you know maine I've
heard how beautiful maine is.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I've heard about it fall of the year there, of
course y'all get a lot of snow.
You know the winter time.
We some.
We don't see much here, butChattanooga area is a beautiful
area.
A 10-year-old boy growing uparound all these mountains and
hiking trails and all theserivers and things to do, it's
just a marvelous place to live.
The whole Chattanooga area.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
I completely agree, and the people are really great.
It's been a really supportivejourney.
I've felt very welcomed by thecommunity.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Well, that's wonderful to hear.
I know everybody out there willbe glad to hear that we have a
lot of new people from all overthe country.
How long have you been here now, Liza?
14 years 14 years, so you'vebeen here a while so you kind of
know what a lot of the peopleare just moving into the area
kind of experiencing when weleave the South and go somewhere
else.
We call it culture shock, but Iguess it's kind of reverse.
(02:50):
Reverse culture shock when youcome from other areas of the
country and come to the southyes yeah, I think it's great, no
definitely in a good way, Ilike it.
Well, let's talk about fox andFern Botanical Styling.
So I want you to tell us whatyou're all about.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Well, so we started in 2015 and I started doing just
weddings and special eventfloral design out of my home and
I had a home studio for aboutthree years and then it really
picked up speed and I decidedthat I wanted to have a
storefront and kind of startlike a non-traditional flower
(03:32):
shop More modern designs andalso we don't have like the
1-800-Flowers type of orderingsystem we have a website and
everything that we make isdesigner's choice.
And so our clients can, you know, write us a note or call us
requesting certain styles orcolor palettes for their flowers
(03:55):
, but, um, or you know differentkinds of flowers, but
everything that we make iscustom okay so it's.
You know all arrangements.
We don't make the same thingtwice, so we love to design our
floors around you know someone'sindividual personality and make
them feel extra special andkind of pay attention to
(04:17):
everything that our clients areasking for and describing so
that we can get the order rightand, as things have kind of
progressed, we still do a lot ofevents and weddings, but we're
also working on we have a plantshop and so we're doing a lot of
design of house plants inbusinesses and homes and we're
even kind of branching out todoing like for faux flowers,
(04:40):
like silk flower designinstallations inside businesses
or around doors of businesses,and all of that can be seen on
our website.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
So those soup flowers are good for us non-green thumb
people, right?
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Yes, and we don't typically do like silk flower.
We do everything custom forthose.
So we that's more of like youknow, installations in different
businesses and you know arounddecorating their round outside
of their door or makingsomething like a fake flower
wall inside of their business.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah Well, mother's Day is coming up.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Y'all have anything available for people that want
to get their mother, their wifeor some you know special person
in their life their wife or someyou know special person in
their life, absolutely so I willbe working on our mother's day
page that I'll put up on ourwebsite.
And we offer delivery.
You know, and we go.
We can go as far as cleveland.
We are downtown on chestnutstreet.
(05:36):
We're right in between the reedhouse and, uh, the westin hotel
um yeah, so we're like right inthe, in the downtown location,
but we can deliver, you know,anywhere and um, we need about
like usually a day's notice, uhfor, but we do same day delivery
.
But like we prefer, if you know, get your pre-orders in so we
(05:57):
can make sure we can guaranteeyou know we have the flowers for
for everyone I was in was indowntown last week and went to a
concert down there lastThursday night and, sure enough,
I saw your business right there.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I pulled off the ramp , was looking right at your
business.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yes, I know when the Tivoli reopens too.
We're so close to the Tivoli,so it's really a wonderful
location.
I've been very happy.
The whole West villageneighborhood is.
It's a a wonderful location.
I've been very happy.
The whole West Villageneighborhood is a great little
neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Well, tell us about your journey, Liza, how this
came to be.
Were you into floral designwhen you were in Maine?
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Yeah, I did.
I worked at a little flowerfarm and I, you know, kind of
just played around with itgrowing up and then it just kind
of spiraled into wanting to doit more often and really wanting
to work on it and you know, Ihad a young child at home.
(06:56):
So I just decided, as astay-at-home mom, I would, you
know, play with the idea ofhaving my own design business,
and it just grew from there.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
That's great, Congratulations.
I love to hear success stories.
I love to hear success stories.
I guess because I was raised bya single mother.
I'm kind of partial to hearingwomen-owned success stories.
I like that.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
I appreciate that.
No it really has been.
It's been a really wild journey.
I mean, I just started it,funding it from my own little
savings and and, um, you knowthere's been like twists and
turns.
The pandemic was like reallyhard, but we seem to recover
from it and are doing betterthan ever last year and this
(07:38):
year.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
So if you experience any hardships or difficulties,
so I guess that would have beenone of them, right.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Yeah, because there were so many events and weddings
that got canceled and had toget rescheduled.
So it was just a really chaotictime, but, like we made it
through.
I have a really wonderful team,too, of people who work for me.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yeah, Well, they can't beat that.
I tell you, good help is hardto find, so if you got some,
hang on to them yes, I'm verylucky uh, you know, uh, some of
the questions that we're talkingI was planning on asking you.
We've already kind of, we'realready kind of answering them,
so let me turn it just to apersonal, just for a moment,
towards you and your family.
So, here you are, inchattanooga, you got this 10
(08:23):
year old son.
What do y'all do for fun whenyou're not working?
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Oh well, my husband is a local musician.
He plays a couple bands, so welike to catch, like local music.
We like to go out and about.
Um, we, my son plays sports, sowe're usually I'm a soccer mom
or basketball mom.
Um, we like to go out.
We like to be outside, for sure.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Does your husband play with any of the bands that
he played with?
Do they play to any of thelocal downtown venues?
Speaker 3 (08:56):
I've interviewed a few of those.
Sometimes yeah, Sometimes theyplay at the Barrel House
Ballroom.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, yeah, I interviewed them the other day.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Yeah, they played nightclub, they played all over.
But yeah, we really like thatlive music scene.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah, absolutely yeah , I've got to go there and check
them out.
They told me I could just siton the patio with my dog and
just enjoy the atmosphere.
I'm going to go check it out.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Yes, yes, I love that .
I love patio season inChattanooga.
It's the best.
Yeah, chattanooga is the bestyeah.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
You know you have these custom-made flowers.
I know you mentioned something Ikind of want to capitalize on
if you don't care, that you'renot connected to the
1-800-FLORIST-type services thatare out there, and what that
means basically is you go onthese 1-800, I'm not trying to
call nobody out but these 1-800websites and you look and you
(09:47):
pick out the you know I'm nottrying to call them by the app,
but these 1-800 websites and youlook and you pick out the flyer
you want and then the floriststhat do participate with that
it's sent to them and they haveto try to make it to look as
close as they can to thatproduct and then it gets sent
out.
When you said you're not dealingwith that is because, if I
understood you correctly, youwant everything to be original.
You want you want it to be.
You said you don't do the samething twice.
So it's not a cookie cutterthing that you do.
(10:09):
You want everything to beeither from inspired, from the
mind of the purchaser or if theytell you hey, this is what I
want, this is the color I want.
I'm giving you creative freedomto do what you want.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Yes, that is exactly the way the way the business
model is set up.
Also, those kind of companiestake a lot of money from the
local designer.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
that you know, they your site.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
However, they take so much off of it, Then I would
rather build an organic customerbase and just do it from
scratch, even though it's been,you know, challenging at times
(10:56):
to be able to train ourcustomers.
That you know.
If, also, if we're not gettingcharged those heavy fees, we're
going to be able to give themmore flowers for the amount of
money that they paid.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
So it works for everybody.
Yeah Well, you know thispodcast is all about focusing on
local owned and or operatedbusiness, and that's what we're
all about, and I don't ever tryto disparage anyone and I won't.
I won't say this disparagingleader.
Maybe there's some florists outthere that really need those
1-800 things and if they do, I'mnot trying to disparage anyone,
(11:29):
but I would like to say this toall of us listeners, and to
myself as well, that if we canpick up the phone and call
1-800-whatever and order aflower, and we can pick up the
phone and call Liza Griever orwhoever you say, well, I want
this to go to.
You know, Podunk, USA, into atown that I don't know anything
(11:51):
about.
I don't know who the floristsare.
It's called Google.
Right, Google, find the localflorist, find their phone number
, find their website, orderdirectly from them so they don't
have to give up their profits.
Like Liza said, they can giveyou more product because they
don't have to give up theirprofits.
Like Liza said, they can giveyou more product because they
don't have to give up theirprofit.
Support local businesses.
(12:11):
Let's do all we can to drivethe revenue that we spend to the
local people so they can growand prosper.
I'm going to tell you what ifevery local business in
Chattanooga disappearedovernight and wasn't there
tomorrow?
I want you to think about whatkind of place this would be.
Wouldn't be much left, would it?
(12:31):
So all?
our listeners out there we needto remember these things.
Let's call the florist directlyand get what we need from them.
So Liza offers a beautifulservice where she said I'll
customize what you want.
You just tell me what it is.
If you tell me what you want,I'll do it like you want it, but
if you give me the creativeexpression and just tell me what
colors you want, I'll make yousomething beautiful.
That's what I'm here, is thatright, liza?
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Absolutely.
Yeah, you nailed it, it'sperfect.
Yeah, I'm really excited to beable to talk about this with you
and just let more people runour business and how we make our
designs.
It's exciting.
And also just keeping in mind,too, like using seasonal flowers
.
You know we try to buy as muchas we can from local Chattanooga
(13:13):
flower farmers, so you knoweverything everybody's getting
is very fresh.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
That's awesome.
Yeah, just you know, businessowners supporting one another
that's what it should be about.
I know we have competition, butcompetition is good overall for
everyone because you know itdoesn't let people take
advantage of us.
You know, if there was only oneof everything, then we could
charge what we wanted, right?
So competition is good, but atthe same time, just remember to
(13:43):
support the local-ownedbusinesses as much as we can.
And, liza, one more questionbefore we get into how people
can find you If there was onething that you wish listeners
knew about your company thatthey wouldn't know, if you
didn't tell them and you'd liketo just shout it from the
rooftops, what would it be?
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Well, a lot of people come into the shop and they say
, oh, it must be so wonderful tojust play with flowers all day.
Right, it is, but there's a lotmore stress, I think, than
people realize.
And floral design is, is heavymanual labor.
(14:22):
It's really a lot of likephysical work and there's a lot,
you know, weddings, especiallythe setup that's involved.
I mean I will go 15,000 stepsin a day on a wedding setup day
easily with, you know, lookingat my smart wash at the end of
the day and I'm like oh, wow, Ididn't know that I went that
(14:45):
many steps and it's it's harderwork than I think people realize
.
And also, you know flowers area luxury item.
They are expensive and we don'twant them to be that way,
necessarily, but that's just.
You know.
If people knew how much we getcharged for the wholesale
product.
I think they would be like oh,okay, I think I understand, and
(15:07):
not only that you're talkingabout buying them from local
farmers.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
You know, there's the .
Every time the prices ofeverything go, anything goes up.
It goes up to that, everybusiness owner.
So that flower, the flower farm, all their expenses go up.
Gasoline went up, guess whatTheirs did too, all those things
.
So you know, we need to keepthose things in mind to all of
our listeners out there.
We need to keep those things inmind.
(15:31):
You know, not everybody's justtrying to get rich off of us.
Some of a lot.
Most business today are justtrying to stay afloat and
survive because we don't have aprofit.
There's no profit.
Anyone do it, uh, except forunless you're a non-profit
organization, obviously, butmost of us aren't.
We need to make a profit, right?
We need somebody to help us.
We can pay our, our bills andfeed our families as well.
(15:53):
So keep that in mind whenyou're shopping for things.
If it's a quality product, justget ready and pay whatever it
takes to get you the productthat you're going to be happy
with.
And that's what I'm hearingtoday.
So I was just equally excitedto find out about what you did
as well, Liza.
I'm so glad that you decided tocome on the program and talk to
(16:13):
us about all this.
So how can listeners learn moreabout you, about what you offer
online or offline?
How can they contact you?
Speaker 3 (16:22):
So they can Google us Fox and Fern Botanical Styling.
Our phone number pops right up.
They can call us.
Calling and getting our storehours is wonderful If they visit
our store in person.
At 807 chestnut street there isthe city park parking garage
and they can.
If they can't find a streetspot, they can go in the parking
(16:46):
garage and for up to 30 minutesit's free, so that's a good
resource oh good yeah, so theycan come in pick, pick up plants
and then hopefully have freeparking.
And then we have a website,wwwfoxandfernstylecom, which you
know you can order flowers, getmore information, and our
(17:07):
Instagram account, Fox and FernStyle, has probably the most
updated of all of like whatwe're working on.
I am trying to have our websitehave even more updates, but
it's just hard to to get it alldone sometimes.
So I would say that theInstagram account has the most
(17:29):
updated photos at all times, soour website is also linked to
the Instagram account, so peoplecan look, you know, on the
website.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
All right.
Well, you heard it here Fox andFern botanical styling.
If you're looking for somewhereto go for mother's day, it's a
good, good, good option.
You're having a wedding contactand find out what they've got
available for you.
And but always remember, youknow, like I say this every time
, over and over and over, let'smake sure we support these local
businesses, you know.
(17:58):
So, again, Liza, thanks forbeing on the program with us
today.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Thank you so much, Scott.
I really appreciate thisopportunity.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Absolutely.
It's been very informative,very informative.
And to all the good neighborsof the Cleveland and the
Chattanooga area, after meetingLiza and learning more about Fox
and Fern botanical styling, Iknow that she hopes you'll take
a moment and consider all theshares to offer and remember her
when you need or want theproducts and services that they
(18:26):
provide.
And before ending this episode,I'd like to thank you all, the
listeners, for taking time outof your busy day and visiting
with us at the Good NeighborPodcast.
Always remember again I say itover and over to support the
locally owned and or operatedbusinesses in Cleveland,
chattanooga, dalton, the wholeChattanooga area.
(18:47):
I wish I had time to justmention every community, because
they're all important.
So when I say the greaterChattanooga area, it's just part
of it.
So this is Scott Howell withthe Friends and Neighbors Group.
Everyone, go out and make thisa remarkable day.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNPClevelandcom.
That's GNPClevelandcom, or call423-380-1984.
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