Lessons learned & my first orders!

After publishing my first advertisements in the local newspaper, the town was officially aware of my new business adventure. The day after the ads went out, I received my first two orders for funeral sprays for a local service. I was slightly paniced when I first spoke with the customers because I did not have my account officially set up at the wholesaler I would be using to get my fresh flowers and supplies from. Once I got through to the right person at the wholesaler, I found out that they could not deliver product to my home. For some reason, I didn't even think about this issue when starting my new business. I've worked in the floral industry for 10 years and the wholesalers always delivered to the shops where I worked. Because I am starting my business from my home and don't have a store front, the told me they could not deliver product to me. I thought my dream was over! I spoke with one of my former bosses and she suggested asking them if I could pick up the products I needed. I called the wholesaler back and they would allow me to pick up what I needed to fill customer orders. Thank goodness! However, it makes sense that they wouldn't deliver fresh flowers to my home in the middle of the day. By the time I would get home from work and process the flowers, they might be dead! Once I faxed my final paperwork and I was approved to set up a new business account, I called and placed my first order with my wholesaler. I was so excited to pick up my first order of fresh flowers! Once I got them home, I let the flowers drink before putting together the funeral sprays. I also did not have my work space set up in the garage so I had to do all of that on this night too! Needless to say, my first night of completing orders was a long one! However, I was so excited to have orders that it didn't bother me to stay up late. My husband agreed to be my delivery boy and he took the sprays to the funeral home for me the next day.