Episode 5: Cultivating and Maintaining a Budding Business with Betsy Chappell
Join your host Betsy Bush as she speaks with Betsy Chappell, the business owner of Blooms. They discuss the beginning of her garden design business, cultivating her newfound passion, and maintaining openness when her career pathway changed.
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Transcript:
Betsy Bush (01:01):
I am so happy to have my guest Betsy Chappelle on today. She's the proprietor of Blooms, curated container gardens in Lexington, Kentucky, where she provides consultation, design and installation of garden spaces and custom containers. Look her up on blooms.design on Instagram. I've watched Betsy take her passion and huge talent for garden design from her own yard to working with the local landscape service a couple of years ago, Betsy went out on her own and she has a lot to share about taking the passion that she was nurturing for so many years to becoming a business and then taking it to the next level. Betsy Chappelle. Yes, we are two Betsy's talking to each other. Welcome to the latest version.
Betsy Chappelle (01:58):
Yes, we are both Betsys.. And we're second cousins. If I've got my family tree, correct. We've had, we've had many things that have bonded us over the years and certainly the gardening has been a main one of them. And Betsy has been a wonderful support as I've gone through this. I can't even call it a midlife change because I made this leap of faith into this my own little business at the age of 63. Good for you as well as I, as I told all my friends and my family who kind of looked at me that this was, this is my last chance for a last hurrah. I'd had an idea percolating or were oh, five or 10 years as I worked for a landscape company and developed skills, skills and talents that I didn't think were natural talents. I had never thought of myself as a creative naturally creating things inside or outside, but I learned, I really learned from the people that I had a chance to be around in the landscaping business. And there wasn't really a whole lot of risk involved if this thing fell flat on its face, except my my reputation and my ego. But the desire to see if I could get this thing off the ground was enough to get me started.
Betsy Bush (03:28):
Wow. So just to kind of put everything in context, you went to college and you were what kind of a major?
Betsy Chappelle (03:37):
I went to university of California in San Diego, very hardcore science. Most people went on to some sort of PhD or medical school. I went on to nursing school because I did just know as much as I loved biology. I just had an inkling that I wanted to have a little bit more freedom and that things that I did as the years went along. So one thing led to another, I got married, my fellow, I dated in college and we ended up here in Kentucky, which was a real change from living most of my college years out west, where in San Diego, one season is as good as the next. You come to Kentucky. And I began to appreciate and relish the change of the seasons. So that leads me outside. We have a home, I have my first piece of ground. And I think this happens to so many people, you find that it's just nourishing for the body and the soul being out in the dirt. Isn't
Betsy Bush (04:36):
It true? And that's been so true this past year. I think as people have been home, so many of us watching day by day, the change of seasons that has really been an eye-opener for a lot of us.
Betsy Chappelle (04:51):
It has been. And ironically, my business was poised perfectly for this year of COVID because I was into well into of my second year. So I'd gotten a lot of the, how the learning curve, if the first year we can go back to that, but I've gotten a lot of the learning curve of the first year under my belt, so that when COVID hit it, wasn't too hard to, for me to adapt. Mostly, I want to say on the marketing side and communicating with clients, but we can all talk through a screen door and be six feet apart out in the garden, myself personally, and, and you, my network of people in the landscaping industry, we're extremely fortunate
Betsy Bush (05:43):
Lexington, Kentucky, just to put this into a little bit of perspective for people who don't know it is a beautiful place. It's a very old historic town, but it also has a vibe to it because it's a big university town as well, and it's circled and circled by a horse farms. And more recently there's the whole bourbon trail sort of thing. So there are all these interesting aesthetic things happening in Lexington. There's a modern thing, but there's an old historic late 18th century, early 19th century historic brick homes, you know, is one thing, but then you have the classic horse farm sort of thing, because there were a lot of thoroughbred farms and then the whole bourbon trail is also a new thing. So there's a lot going on in Lexington.
Betsy Chappelle (06:45):
There, there is. And again, I just feel like there was a karma was looking out for me with a landscaping company that I applied to, which came on just the reference of a good friend who laughed and said, well, you've gotten into so much into gardening. You need to go work for a landscaping company, which I had been a nurse before old history had been in biology, major a nurse, then this gardening passion. And I took the, the shift became, I took the master gardening program in the sense that I was getting a groundwork of horticulture basic horticulture and finding that, that I liked it and became intrigued with the functioning of the landscaping industry. So I did apply, I applied to this company, which was extremely high end classy outfit here in Lexington. I really truly felt honored to work for them.
Betsy Chappelle (07:46):
And they, they were divided into two divisions, one division did maintenance, and one division did the landscape design and installation. And I kind of created myself wiggle room between the two because I liked the maintenance and I liked the install, but I also wanted to learn and see the design and the installation of, of what was going on on that. And then I think I realized there was a creative part of this that intrigued me. So I kind of created my own little niche so that when this company it, it dissolved and merged into a larger company. I had gained enough experience and found my, and I call it a niche. What I do. I mean, I guess potentially it could be a year round type of a job, but I have kept it pretty much seasonal. Although there was not much break this last winter, I was doing installs in February being with this company, I was working on these horse farms and I would just come home tired, dirty, and exhausted, but think someone has been paying me to be out there. So that's where even though I was into my sixties, I just, wasn't quite ready to give up.
Betsy Bush (09:13):
Nor should you, I mean, this has been my ongoing theme. It's like you and I our mothers. You know, we have decades ahead of us, right? Your mom is in her early nineties. You know, this is something we have to think about that. What can we do that will keep us interested and engaged and productive for the next few decades? Because, you know, we used to think it was over at 65 and we know, we know very well that we can be productive and interested and fulfilled, you know, decades, you know, decades from now. We need to kind of put our heads in that space.
Betsy Chappelle (09:55):
And I realized that this is just an opportunity for me to pay it forward, to be mentor my idea. When I found this niche working for the landscape company, they would put in these huge, beautiful containers, and then everybody would walk away. The guys would come back and mow the yard and trim the box woods. But no focus was given to the aesthetics of these containers after people walked away. So I said, no, no, no, no. This is, this is another opportunity. So I kind of created that. So then when, when, when blooms got started and I had conversations with the owners of the other company, they were incredibly supportive. And at that point there was sort of the assumption that, of course I would name it, Chappelle pots and containers. And I had decided initially I was not going to use my own name because I wanted to get this business up and started join in with a younger person, such that this is my goal. In three to five years, we are a known entity in our community. I'm staying local. My, my mission stay local, create something, bringing another partner, a younger partner who then can buy me out takeover. And another couple of years here and I didn't want to put my, my ego into it. I wanted it to be something that could be an independent business for somebody else. You know,
Betsy Bush (11:36):
We got to know each other kind of later in life when we were — were you artistic as a child? I mean, did you feel like you wanted to do something and everyone steered you into science, or did you discover this artistic side of you later on? You're shaking your head.,
Betsy Chappelle (11:53):
I laugh .To this day. I really don't consider myself artistic. And I say this to people who felt like he knew her like me, who did the sciences or healthcare or my new partner. We can get into that. She comes from an accounting background. You find these underlying passion. I wasn't even interested in horticulture and I'm still not really interested in horticulture. I'm interested in design and plants and flowers. My foundation comes really off of what I have learned. You can learn so much, even though you may not have natural talent. I've learned how to look at a landscape and see scale, how to look at pots and, and know where they should be placed. But those things with an open eye and paying attention to detail, I just encourage women who don't put yourself in a box and limit what you can still learn from experience.
Betsy Bush (12:54):
That is so Interesting because so often I think we feel, oh, I've never had that talent for that. Or, oh, I'm not artistic. Or other people say I'm not musical, or I, you know, I, I'm not good at languages. And we, and we do tend to limit ourselves to what may be someone told us. In first grade I talked to I taught one of my earlier episodes was with Lela Goldstein, who was a wonderful collage artist who said, and when I was in first grade, I had a first grade teacher who said, you'll never be an artist. And it's almost as though, you know, sometimes you carry those things with you, but it is also so interesting to hear from you that you don't need to carry around this characterization that maybe other people have put on you, that there are things that you can learn that looks so natural.
Betsy Chappelle (13:53):
Find an area that just where you're comfortable and you're willing to take chances and you're willing to make mistakes. So as a nurse, that was, that was, you make a mistake and you can kill a person. I can go out and plant all day long and know that if I've made a mistake, if I've put a plant that wants shade into a pot in the sun, it's, it may die. But that's a lot different than, than, than the, than the other kinds of stresses of, of killing a patient. So,ubut, and I also realized and learned when I worked for the landscaping company, that, that for myself personally, and I think when you start a business like this, you've got to have a real good grip on what's your working style, what are your strengths and weaknesses? So I had gathered that I, I can spin off of being around other creative people.
Betsy Chappelle (14:51):
I can get one idea going. And then I like to be with someone who says, well, we can do this with that idea or vice versa. My creativity is one that really grows off of being around other people. So what, which taught me that it, it, it is important who you put yourself around, whether you bring someone in as a partner or just your network of people. First, I thought I was going to stay so loud. I couldn't find anybody who wanted, none of my friends were interested and tell like gala my garden club said she was interested in garden design. She was in her thirties, new to Lexington. So it didn't have the connections that I had in the landscaping industry, or a strong horticultural background. So we had, we started out kind of knowing that we both had different interests in the long run, but to get started was going to be good for both of us.
Betsy Chappelle (15:52):
She could help me, I can help her. No problem about that. There were no competition younger, so she knew a lot more about the technology, had a go get us a web account and all that. And so we became very good at realizing each other's strengths and weaknesses. And I think that is very important. And communicating those things, we had a little bit of a breakdown in that. And then, you know, it did to the point that it sort of became clear that she needed to go her way. And I was, had learned enough to go my way finished out last year, solo and then was extremely fortunate to have this other younger gal in her thirties with an accounting background, come back into my life. And so I'm starting out this year really all excited again.
Betsy Bush (16:46):
Oh, fantastic. So when you started this, you had no idea that it would really take off the way it has.
Betsy Chappelle (16:55):
I didn't, I had a sense that there was nobody else in this area doing this, at least in any known quantity way. I did as much research as I can. I talked to all kinds of people in the landscaping industry, and it's an interesting niche because most landscaping companies don't really want to invest in having a person just to do this. It's too seasonal. It's too detailed, intensive work. It's, it's not, cost-effective bottom line is not cost-effective for them. Most nurseries garden centers don't want to have to carry the insurance to have someone go out and work on somebody else's property. I thought, why are garden centers doing this? And, and I found out that's their reason. So I made sure that I do pay, I pay for the kind of insurance that Congress made when I am working on somebody else's property.
Betsy Chappelle (17:55):
So there were particulars to this kind of niche industry, which I think had just left the space empty. And I finally, it really was a year before I connected with a, I still have to kind of laugh to myself. There is a professional organization of container gardeners. Oh my gosh, there is, there is, we have an annual meeting in a different location. Of course, this year we had to do so many things virtual, but actually we have connected more over zoom chats and meetings than in the years before we help each other. We help each other get through the winter. But I think when I, as I got to hear the stories from these ladies, and most of them are, are women who they had started these businesses in their, in their thirties. And some of them are 10 years into their businesses. So it just did leave me with that was the only regret is that I wish I had found this 20, 30 years ago in my forties instead of my sixties. And yet it had not come to Lexington. So I think I have found something that's going to continue to grow.
Betsy Bush (19:17):
And I encourage my listeners to go on Instagram and look at Bloom's dot design and see these gorgeous containers of all seasons. You had a big Christmas business, which I think was maybe surprising to you,
Betsy Bush (19:34):
Right?
Betsy Chappelle (19:36):
Because when the new gal, Faron is her name, came on as the accountant. And she finally capped through all my billing and invoices said you did better in November and December practically. Then you did all spring. And the fact that I liked doing winter outside I'm okay up on a ladder hanging garlands. So that comes to knowing where your comfort level is, where your skill level is, where you need to bring in people to help you. I have learned at the drop of a hat now I will find people to help me do larger things. So I say in that sense, it really has, has the potential to become a year round because we've reached out to do, to work with event planners. And I tell all my clients and people I'm in league with, I am not a florist. I'm not a true event planner. I'm not going to do tablecloths and napkins. I want to be part of a team. That's doing that, where I can bring my expertise just in, into this particular area.
Betsy Bush (20:50):
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Betsy Bush (21:45):
You know, on your Instagram. I see things there that I haven't seen anywhere. And you developed something very interesting to go into containers and garden beds, which is this, what do you call it? A circle,
Betsy Chappelle (22:03):
A ring. And I will, I have to full honestly admit the inspiration came from it from this woman. And she's even older than I am up in Detroit who has an amazing gardening business and a fellow with her developed. These specially designed rings. And I went up to Detroit. I had to see and get my hands on them for myself. It's a hoop with a channel such that you can. We initially designed them to be used during the winter to wrap them with lights. That's the idea. It's a hoop with a channel that you can write rap lights in and they have a base that you can stick into a pot. And we have them from two foot diameter up to five foot diameter. And so we, we kind of began to use an experiment with them last winter. And then really the fun for me came when this, this last summer I had an, an older woman who wanted to put in a cutting garden for herself and her grandchildren and the curtain garden happened to be in the shape of a circle. So ding ding, ding, I'm going, oh my goodness. So I brought in one of my five foot rings that has stakes. And so you stay it into the ground and it became the centerpiece of this cutting garden. And we did stone, a stone path running through it and it was just charming. And the original ones that were made out of steel made by just a factory here or business here in town at the sheet metal. Okay.
Betsy Bush (23:49):
So you had these, you had these fabricated in Lexington. It wasn't something made In China. No, no, no.
Betsy Chappelle (23:57):
We Hadn't completely. And it, and it did it, we went through multiple iterations of the ring. What's the right diameter, rest of the right height. How long do the stakes need to be to hold it stable in the ground? Again, turned out to be a lot more of an intensive process to create these, but the inspiration was there. And again, there wasn't really too much to lose in doing this except the cost of producing these ranks. So w w w we kind of, we got pretty nailed down on, on what we wanted these rings to look like with found a fellow right here in Lexington to fabricate them for us. And he was just baffled by these two women wanting to these garden hoops. It is so much fun when you can pull in other businesses to buy into what you're doing. I think that is the joy of sharing your creativity in your ideas with the fellow who's running the sheet metal company, you know, and next thing you know, he's talking to these two ladies doing gardening.
Betsy Bush (25:06):
So come summertime. I put one of these five foot hoops into this children's garden and kind of opened a whole new idea, inspiration of, of another way to use these hoops. Then the PST resistance for me was that in February, there's a a horse sale outfit here in town. That's actually based in New York, phasic Tipton, maybe you all in New York, Northern named phasic Tipton. And one of their big horse sales centers is here in Lexington. And as you enter, as you drive into this beautiful piece of property, stone walls and Southern Magnolias are these massive five foot containers and ding, ding, ding five foot. Well, that's exactly what the diameter of my rings. And you learn to judge the proportion. What size ring looks good in what size pot, what plant material is there in February? Well, not very much. So we use these five foot rings as the focal point in these four huge containers as you drive into the phasic Tipton center. And we, I think we, we filled the center of it with green box woods. It almost didn't matter what you put in. It was all about the drama. Yeah. And this is another part that you learn when you're outside. And again, it's a learning process is scale. And I'm always reminding to step back, think about the scale and the impact. And if in doubt, go bang, you know this for the drama of it. So th th th the rings have taken on a life of their own.
Betsy Bush (26:59):
And, and aren't you doing thingd in copper>
Betsy Chappelle (27:05):
One thing leads to another, and this is the way my brain operates. I had a wonderful client who lived lives in a historic house downtown, and has a front entrance with steps that come up on both sides in this beautiful front door. He wanted pots out front. Well, there, we played around and there was no place to put pots just wasn't gonna work. So then along comes the idea to do planter boxes on the outer part of the front steps of his wa up to the front door. And he had some cop, he had a beautiful lantern in copper, and I'm all about bringing elements, design elements together. I want to look at a space and say, okay, he's got this beautiful orangy red door. His lantern is tones of verigated copper. I'm going to have my planter boxes made of copper.
Betsy Chappelle (28:03):
So that's, I go out and meet this awesome man out in the country who does custom copper. And again, who is this woman who wants to make me have, do copper elements for the garden, but we did it. They are absolutely beautiful. We now keep the copper containers out front year round because they're part of the statement of the front of his house. And so I had my copper connection. Alrighty. So the rings in the rings are going along, and then it's like, well, say we want to take these rings and use them not just for like at night to hold rings. We want to make them into a piece of art. I can treat them as a piece of sculpture. So we take them out to our copper guy and learn all about the, the properties of copper, the thickness, the malleability, and we're now having our rings made of copper. Wow.
Betsy Bush (29:02):
That will be stunning. It will be stunning. And, and, you know, here's a question you may start getting orders for those., Start shipping all over the country.
Betsy Chappelle (29:15):
Saying very true? And kind of along with this whole thing is I have done basically no advertising. The only thing I do is Instagram. And I give tribute to the gal who worked with me at the very beginning. She knew how to set up an Instagram, which I think is pretty simple. And, and I have my little business card and that's it. I don't even do Facebook. You can communicate on Instagram easily
Betsy Bush (29:48):
And, and visually lots of impact all of that. And, and people can share comments back and forth. And you also have a new logo, which incidentally happens to be inside a circle, right? Yes.
Betsy Chappelle (30:03):
So, so when the, the, the copper ring really gained momentum, and it was when I joined, brought in this younger gal, and I really sensed, there's going to be a future. This gal will take blooms on for hopefully many years. I wanted her to have a chance to put her stamp on rebooting the company and between the two of us, we designed this, the logo, which of the copper ring. And I must say it looks very classy. And she even got us at the magnetic decals that we have on our vehicles. So I started out just in my gardening clothes in my 20 year old truck. And I now have a new truck Blooms did well, enough last year that we purchased a new truck, we rebooted logo business cards. And here we go again. Yeah.
Betsy Bush (31:04):
And I think you're poised for a great season as the cloud starts to lift. And, you know, hopefully we'll be able to, you know, have those outdoor barbecues and gatherings and all those beautiful things that happen in the summer. And especially in a beautiful place like Lexington. Yes.
Betsy Chappelle (31:26):
Well, and, and in the process from a business point of view I went in having a pretty clear sense of who my target clientele was going to be because, you know, not everyone is going to pay to have someone come do their pots and containers. It's a, it's a luxury item if you will. Okay. so I knew who my clientele was. I had a base of clients from my landscape being company, and they had no problem saying, you just carry on doing Mrs. Smith's pots and you keep her happy, and that will keep, keep her with us also. So a lot of it really is about the relationships that I had set up before I left to go on my own and maintaining those relationships. Okay. I knew one of my weaknesses, my strong weaknesses is the paperwork, the accounting. I don't like it.
Betsy Chappelle (32:25):
I don't want to do it. I want to be at the garden center and my hands in the dirt. Okay. So I really focused the first year on tapping into sub contracting is how I see myself and how I would sell myself to the large high-end landscaping companies, again, who don't want to have their own person on staff. Okay. So that I can subcontract with them. And what it gives me is it gives me easy paperwork. I just can send in, you know, time and materials. It gives me people to work with it connects me back with the creative, the landscape, our I'll work with the landscape architect. That's done their project. It's entree to the client. I'm not such a fly by night in her little truck. It gives me some, it gives me some validation and it sure is a win-win for the landscaping company, because they can have someone come in and do do this niche who has the experience.
Betsy Bush (33:35):
It's also the, the visible flourish, it's that luxury whatever that everyone notices that pops out and what the landscaping company does, which is, you know, is more in the background, but you provide that little extra flourish that, you know, everyone who steps out of their car and sees these beautiful containers goes Oh, that's gorgeous.
Betsy Chappelle (34:02):
As I refer to my, to what I do is really accessories to the hole, but it is very much a part of the whole. And I really want to function as if I'm part of a team creating a whole vision which then gets you into being flexible and working with different companies, different clients, some clients will give you carte blanche. And I've, I've, I've learned, you know, I'll, I'll go and I'll meet a client. And one of the first, we may walk around the outside of the, of the property, looking at where pots are and even discussing what color palette. But I try to weasel myself into their house with the question of what's the view out the window where you're working most of the time not, and which usually isn't out the front window at the front of your house.
Betsy Chappelle (35:03):
You're usually looking at your kitchen window. And most of the time I'm meeting with the wife or the couple or whatever, but I say, where are you standing when you're doing the dishes? Let's start by focusing on that, because I want you to put your money and my talents, where you are going to appreciate it. We'll do the front pots for your gas. But if you can, can catch them to make it very personal for them. Then you've got yourself, a good client and they'll start learning to trust you. And then when you go in, I'm looking out the kitchen window, but I'm also looking around at what's their style. What are their color palettes inside? Because the more you can translate that into outside, they're going to be happy. And they're not even going to know why I, there. It's like, oh, okay. Yeah. You know, I do like that color. That is my style.
Betsy Bush (35:57):
That's brilliant. That's brilliant going inside. And, and what will the clients see from the inside out and knowing that that's really your audience and something they'll see every day. I mean, a lot of people never go in their front doors. They want it to look nice, but a lot of people never go in their front doors. They want to what's what, what is going to greet that person when they go in the back door, the kitchen door.
Betsy Chappelle (36:23):
Exactly. Exactly you do. And by the way, that's a brilliant insight. Well, it is, it's sort of a tricky way to get yourself inside, which is what I want to see the view at their kitchen window. But I also want to get us a sense of how the, the living part of where they are in the house functions. And I, you know, and I'm always looking out the window. I don't care whether your laundry sitting on the dining room table, what is the view out your, your kitchen table? So it embeds you in, in a personal way.
Betsy Bush (37:00):
Brilliant. If you could distill your experience into three pieces of advice and it doesn't necessarily need to be garden advice, but the advice you have, you would pass along to someone who is looking at stepping up their game a bit and being more intentional about what they want to do. What advice would you pass along? Spend
Betsy Chappelle (37:25):
Some time in the area. And I use the word industry, cause we talked about the landscaping industry. Spend some time in the area in which you think you're interested. Okay. And I loved being at the bottom of the totem pole. I mean, I was, I was a gardener in the dirt, on my hands and knees at the very beginning. And you experience it all. You get a sense of really, truly how much work physical, but you know, creative. And so you get a sense of that. And then you can kind of identify where you want to develop your talents. And mine turned out to be more in the creative side. It surprised me. I could have just as well become obsessed with plants. But being obsessed with plants is different than designing containers. You have to know your plants, but it is different than putting together a color palette, size and scale.
Betsy Chappelle (38:28):
So spend some time bottom of the totem pole, see where find out where your talents are going to bloom. You start an industry. And through that, you also learn your, your style. Like I knew I didn't want to be by myself. And not just for . I can do the work by myself, but that I function better when I'm around other people in a creative way, some creative people like to be totally by themselves. And I respect that too, but that wasn't going to be me. And then I also learned that you want to have a partner who you can communicate with real well, such that when you get to a job site, you can say, I'm going to do this. You're going to do that to give and take orders and instructions in an equitable way so that you take out any oneupmanship or I'm better, I'm more experienced. It's a fine line. When you're working with someone, working with someone versus just telling someone what to do is this to make money in this business, it really becomes about efficiency. Am I going to spend all day at Mrs. Smith's job? Or am I going to have a partner that I can work with so quickly and so efficiently, we can do three clients in one day.
Betsy Bush (39:55):
Wow. Such a good conversation, just to hear about how your ideas have developed and what you're doing. And I think a lot of us have little pots outside our doors that we will look at in a different way.
Betsy Chappelle (40:14):
So I could go on all sorts of the tidbits and tricks I've, I've learned. And S I D I laugh because oftentimes they are just little tricks. And during the winter which I didn't have much of this this year I spent a lot of time reading and delving into the floral industry, which I knew I didn't want to be a florist, but you learn thank goodness to you, tubes and all these things. A lot of the tricks that florists will use, I can translate them into my industry. So keep your eyes open on interior designers, same thing, hollers. Again, scale, but outside is, becomes a little bit of a different issue. Function, you know, you don't want someone running into a pot. So you find where your niche is, but you always kind of keep your eyes open and looking and learning from what other people in the spectrum of your industry are doing.
Betsy Bush (41:14):
So I don't know, my head is filled with all of your ideas, and I'm just in awe of all the things you've learned and are, are communicating to us what a fantastic conversation Betsy Chappelle,
Betsy Chappelle (41:31):
Then I say at this point is just the only way to communicate with me. Oh, this is okay. So with answer one comment about Instagram, I used to go around after I would finish a job, I would whip out my little, my phone and snap some pictures, and then come home and turn them into a square and put them on Instagram. And my daughter in her thirties, his mom, this is just, this is not doing your work justice. This is, this is not the caliber you want to be. So one of the towns that my new partner has is an amazing, she's an amazing photographer. And then it comes out with a real camera. And it's the difference in the response that we get from people has changed dramatically. And I know that it's all about her photography and I knew this and she captured it so well in pictures.
Betsy Chappelle (42:23):
I want to say I'm pots and containers. And, but I did notice a lot of other women in this business on their Instagram they'll show a picture of the pot, but they don't put it into a context. So I have really tried to focus on putting the work that I do into it, setting the house that it's in front of the garden, that it belongs in the tricks that I'll use, putting something up on a pedestal to give it more architectural stature. And then being able to translate that into a one sentence line on my Instagram, the photography
Betsy Bush (43:04):
It's, it almost looks like commercial professional level photography, which translates into you are professional professionals who will come in and make your also your, your, your business entrance. So you have a lot of commercial clients as well, as well as people who have beautiful homes and love to have beautiful flowers in the pots, in front of their homes or around their homes.
Betsy Chappelle (43:33):
When I went into the business I didn't really have that on my radar. So it took it, you know, it took her a year to realize the importance of that.
Betsy Bush (43:45):
Right? The professional presentation can make all the difference. And maybe it's not that big a deal to get a nice camera or someone who has a nice camera to take some pictures. And yet that translates into really upping your game a lot. So, yeah,
Betsy Chappelle (44:03):
And now I am a lot freer into putting what money blooms makes right back into it, that the new truck, the new logo, because I just I've seen where those things pay off for the business in the long run. And the more value blooms has that, the moral enjoy it when I pass it onto someone else. But you know, I've
Betsy Bush (44:29):
Really enjoyed this conversation has been, I hope
Betsy Chappelle (44:33):
That it's contributed something and it's been encouraging to those others out there that there's, it's never too late for a last hurrah. Find something that you can start with with the low investment monetarily, if, if that's where you want to start. But that has the, you can see it has some potential and just ride it on out.
Betsy Bush (44:54):
Betsy Chappelle. Thanks so much. Look her up on instagram@blooms.design. Thanks for listening!