Goochland - Flowers Consultant at Baby Boomer Life is none other than…

your favorite blogging baby boomer, Alexandra Barrett.   Yes, it's true.  This summer I am spending a great deal of my time in a shop called the Commonwealth Gallery Florist in Goochland, VA. with my God-daughter who is a very dear to my heart young woman, Tonya Northcutt. 

Tonya's mom and I go back 38 years and I was dubbed God-mother when it appeared that the blue eyed blonde looked a lot more like me than her brown eyed, brunette mom.   A lot of the time I feel like mom and grand-of-all-mothers too.  Tonya's brood is a large one and range in age from almost 3 years old to just turned sweet 16.  She's got her hands full!    So here I am.

I have been using my business and people consulting skills to help Tonya turn her lovely little shop around and what a blast I am having so far.  It is beautiful in Goochland, VA. which by the way, is on the road from Richmond to Charlottesville and is some of the most beautiful country you'd ever want to see.  I swear that Goochland County, Powhatan County, and Louisa County in Virginia, have all but stolen my heart.  Magnificent country filled with flowers, flowering trees like Dogwoods and Magnolias, multitudes of the most beautiful birds, and horses that make you long to ride. Green fields blow in the breeze and the air is truly sweetly scented.  It is well kept country on the backroads of Virginia that makes me proud to be an American and a Virginia girl with a 300 year family history.  What a place to spend a summer!

The great thing about this opportunity is that I get to use my skills helping someone I love and I get to exercise my brain and learn something new at the same time.  There is a lot to the floral industry that I never knew! It's like every other business in that it is a world unto itself and you really don't know about it until you enter it.

The Goochland community is warm and welcoming and a strongly interwoven cluster of friends, neighbors, family, and small businesses.  They help and support each other.  That is the beauty of small town America and it still exists all over the country in little towns you and I have never heard of but like Goochland, VA., they exist.

I quickly learned more about flowers than I have ever known in my entire life and I consider myself a lover of flowers.  The energy of flowers; the color, the pollen, the scents, the beauty, have all impacted my life in ways I can't explain.  I had a bit of a sinus attack after about a month and it was intense but after that I was fine and have been fine ever since then.  In fact I feel as though I may somehow have strengthened my immune system-kind of like eating a teaspoon a day of local raw honey to eliminate sinus reactions in the spring.  It works. 

The thing about the flower business is that it really is a people business.  People buy flowers for emotional reasons.  Flowers are about feelings.  Just do a few deliveries like I have and you will see for yourself.  There is nothing so satisfying as the amazing looks of surprise, joy, incredulous suspicion, confusion, and tears of joy when one hands over an unexpected floral arrangement.  That's why they all have to be beautiful and unique.  We are dealing with peoples hearts and messages of love and appreciation.  Flowers are the language of love and gratitude. 

To my knowledge, no one has ever sent an "I hate you!" bouquet.  But if they did I bet they wouldn't be enemies for long! 

Maybe it's just this small town, I don't know, but I had no idea that so many hundreds and thousands of flowers are sent out each day until I started talking to wholesalers in the business.  We take flowers for granted and we think of flowers on appropriate holidays like Mother's Day or Valentine's but don't forget about birthdays, anniversaries, promotions, funerals, weddings, Teacher's Day or Secretary's Day.   I send out "just thinking of you", and "I love you" flowers many times each week and this is the country. Imagine in a city like New York or Atlanta! 

By the way, I was recently informed by a wholesaler that growers are doing everything they can to breed the scent out of Roses.  I was aghast.  Every woman I have watched receive Roses in my entire life had immediately stuck her nose right up to the flower longing for the natural perfume of the Rose.  Okay, so a few people have allergies.  Even they want their Roses to smell like Roses! 

There is a Rose called Forever Young. It is a gorgeous ruby red and it smells divine!  Whenever I am able to get those we get calls and compliments because the scent is worth the extra money and women long for the magic of a room scented by Roses.  Why are we intent on destroying natures most basic gifts to us? Please don't get me started on that one!  I packed my soap box up already.  But don't you agree?  I would deal with a sinus headache if I had to just to smell the perfume of Roses in my bedroom or office.  There is nothing like it and I don't want it to go away ever!

Flowers in Goochland.com was born out of this little exercise to see what internet marketing would do to help us connect further to the community at large and we have been having a lot of fun with it.  Tonya is learning about internet marketing and we are even teaching the children.  I love being a Boomer! 

One thing I have noticed is that there are a lot of people on the net claiming to be the local florist in Goochland but in fact we are the only flowershop in Goochland.  There are a few home based designers doing weddings here and there and trying to get some of the business from local businesses, also, there are a bunch of internet sites claiming to be local while grabbing orders that they then want to pass onto us for a piece of the pie.  BUT they are not local and they do not deliver and they do not even buy flowers or design the arrangements.  WE DO!  And we deliver with a smile even when the delivery is twenty something miles away-which it often is in the country. 

It really is amazing also, to be part of someones wedding by doing the flowers.  You can put alot of love into a bouquet when you build it handling each stem and blossom yourself, meticulously constructing something beautiful for the bride to carry as she approaches her groom.  What a magnificent old tradition.  It is even more special to me now than ever. 

I believe that I have impacted my God-daughter in some really good ways with my appreciation of the trust that goes into each flower order we receive. I think she has a deeper emotional perspective on the importance of what she does everyday and how much it means to everyone in the community.  Being the local florist is an important job and a grand opportunity to serve the community in a joyful business where creativiy, love, and service are the buzzwords

There is no doubt that I will miss the Commonwealth Gallery Florist and my darling Tonya when I head out of Virginia this summer. By the way, it's true-Virginia is for lovers!  If you aren't sure just send someone an arrangement of Roses and  Stargazer Lilies and see what happens.  They may fall in love with you! 

It is my experience that a lot of Boomers are paying it forward to the younger generation by sharing their time, experience, and wealth of knowledge.  Being willing  to share business tools and attitudes of success that are natural coaching and mentoring gifts is a priceless gift that we can offer to build memories that will last a lifetime.  It is never to late to share our expertise and business skills for building relationship marketing success stories. 

If you have one of those stories to share by all means make a comment and post a link.  We'd all love to hear them or read them. 

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