Kelly Perry - 00:00:05 - You are listening to the Team Flower podcast where we talk about flowers, people who've dedicated their lives to sharing them with the world. Today we have Carly Cylinder with us, author of the Flower Chef. She's a florist working in three major cities, primarily for national brands. You'll quickly feel welcome. As you listened, carly's openness and transparency invites you into her life right from the get go. In this episode, you will hear about designing for the camera, how carly went from waitressing to working for major brands in three locations, LA, New York City and Texas, and writing a book, what it was like for her to start her business in New York City, designing for corporate clients versus designing for wedding clients. How Julia Child in Lucille Ball have inspired both she and I and carly's work with south by southwest, a large conference in Texas. We're also going to chat a little bit about what writing the Flower Chef book was like for her and how to tap into the clues that will help you follow your dreams. This podcast is brought to you by Team Flower. Flower is a group of people who are loving the world through flowers, whether you're a professional farmer, florists getting started or just love flowers. Welcome to the party. If you'd like to know when new podcast episodes are released and received, fun video tutorials and articles, signup for our pen pal club. It's free. Visit teamflower.org, and click on free resources. Okay. Welcome everyone to the podcast. I have Carly here with us.
Kelly Perry - 00:01:31 - She has written the book called the Flower Chef. We're going to chat a little bit about that and then also about her different locations, the clients that she serves and things like that. Welcome carly. It's so great to have you here.
Carly Cylinder - 00:01:42 - Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited. I've been excited all week and I am right now in my pajamas with my dog next to me at my best friend's house in Arizona. So this is, you know, this is not a normal day,
Kelly Perry - 00:01:57 - Not a normal day in the life.
Carly Cylinder - 00:02:00 - Kind of, you know, we all work, I think in our pajamas in front of the screen a lot, so thank you for having me.
Kelly Perry - 00:02:06 - Oh, absolutely. You'd laugh if you, I just came up from the studio. I am working on a couple of flower arrangements for class that we're filming this weekend and have you ever arranged flowers with an eyepatch on so you can see like that two dimensional all look like, you know, on a, like in a picture. So I had my eyepatch on my big old fluffy coat. I mean you can't do it for a long time. It's one of those things you just sort of like put it on to like check and see, you know, how everything looks because you do lose some depth, you know, whatever you're taking like a flat image. And so that little eyepatch um, my friend John from Minnesota told me about that and I thought Oh I need to try that. So I have an eyepatch in the drawer out there that I to give myself a little test. Yeah, it is. It's incredibly interesting if you lose your kind of like your third demention whenever I, when you're,
Carly Cylinder - 00:02:58 - That's so true. Because if I'm doing something editorial and I saw this a lot with the stylist on my book, on the shoots, you know, seeing how she was lifting everything and trying to get the depth that, that makes a lot of sense. Do you switched the eye? Like you just keep it on one?
Kelly Perry - 00:03:17 - Well, I think that my right eye is like the dominant eyes, so it's really uncomfortable if I cover that. I don't. I don't know. I guess it would just maybe depends person to person, but
Carly Cylinder - 00:03:29 - See I wouldn't know what to do. I'd like to do it every like 10 seconds or something and
Kelly Perry - 00:03:34 - No, it's just like one, just one. The different in the different phases. Like when you feel like you're pretty close to done that sort of like just pop it on there real quick to see if you like, you know, need to adjust anything for the camera. One of those things I wouldn't arrange the whole thing with an eye patch or your I will will go crazy. I'm sure. I'm sure there probably aren't any eye doctors listening, but if there were they would be like, you need to take that. You need to take the eye patch off. Oh, no worries. Sorry.
Carly Cylinder - 00:03:59 - That's crazy. Well, that's interesting and that will go in the sequel to my book or your. Okay.
Kelly Perry - 00:04:07 - An eyepatch arrangement. Yeah. Anyway, well that was a little, a little segue into something. Well, tell us a little bit. You have three locations, one in LA and New York City in Texas and I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit about this progression for you and I don't know, just when you knew it was time to expand what it's like juggling locations are the clients similar. Do you have similar offerings? Maybe it's different in different areas and then maybe if you could just share a little bit about what you would tell someone who's considering an expansion plan and trying to decide if it's a good idea for them.
Carly Cylinder - 00:04:45 - Yeah, I mean it's all. Let's see where to where to begin. Okay. So I think even me starting and flowers as kind of just not something I thought I would be doing. And so at first basically I started in 2000 basically in 2010 and I was having a really tough time because, you know, it's a struggle. I think it's a really hard way to make a living despite what you might see on social media and there wasn't instagram back then, thank God. So I wasn't constantly comparing but I had had my business for a few years and I started out doing just daily arrangements and then moved into weddings and I wasn't really that happy doing it. I don't know why, it just really wasn't for me. And you know, after a few years on a lot of struggling and I, I went through this really, really bad breakup and it was really unexpected on my end.
Carly Cylinder - 00:05:40 - And so I had moved to New York. I had lived in La for like 10 years and I was like, I'm over this. My brother lives in New York and I'm super close to him. And I had had the idea for the book and that's kind of what kept me going, I would say is just the passion for that because the idea for that came before pinterest and you could find stuff on blogs but just not the amount of information we have now. So at the time my idea was more innovative, I would say. Uh, so anyway, I had moved to New York and I was 29 and I had gotten a job as a waitress. I had never waitressed before and it was pretty dark time and I was really, really broke. I think I mentioned to you I had like twenty cents to my name, like literally because I think cashflow is a really hard thing when you have a business and you know, especially with weddings, if you get a deposit then the wedding's not till later.
Carly Cylinder - 00:06:38 - All of that stuff is really hard to manage when you're bootstrapping it. So yeah, so I was in New York and I was really over it. I was just like, I'm going to waitress and I'm not leaving here until I sell a book or a show or something. Like that's all I cared about. And in LA I still kind of maintained these smaller events. I didn't really have huge clients but my first couple of clients were PR firms because it was kind of like a friend of a friend owned one. So, um, that was my clientele and I had a couple people that would freelance for me and so they kind of kept it going when I moved to New York and that was kind of the first time I had to manage something across the country, but it was all very doable. And the designers that work for me know they know how to buy and I was very specific with aesthetics and we'd get photos and that sort of thing.
Carly Cylinder - 00:07:34 - So when I was in New York I had just kind of called or emailed or whatever, those clients, because they were bicoastal and I just was saying, Hey, I'm here, you know, like I'm in New York if you want to hang out. And then they're like, oh, do you, are you doing flowers out here? And I'm like, um, maybe, you know, and they're like, oh, well I remember the first one was this event for Swarovski and it was a big event and it was like these events that were they were doing were the ones that I could never get in LA because it's really hard to get these really good corporate clients. Everyone wants them. It's just, it's hard to get. So they were like, oh yeah, we have this thing. And I'm like, oh my God, yeah. And so that kinda like lit a fire under me and that I was like, alright, what am I going to do?
Carly Cylinder - 00:08:22 - And so I went to the flower district which was very small there and I just went into some of the vendors and I was like, what am I gonna do for space? And I remember when I was like, do you guys rent space? And they're like, no, but go down the street and asked for this guy and who walked down the street. And I looked like I was 12 because I look kind of young and I had this backpack on and like I looked like a mess and then they're like, oh, go to this guy. So he walked up to the sky and like, do you rent space? Like, no, go to the third floor of this building and asked for Pedro. And I'm like, what for people finally to come to this building. And I met with Pedro who is the manager of the, called the 120 building and probably 50 floors rent space there. And I still rent space there.
Kelly Perry - 00:09:09 - I think I've been there actually. Yeah, it's like a street behind. The Flower district.
Carly Cylinder - 00:09:09 - It's right on 20th.
Kelly Perry - 00:09:09 - Oh okay.
Carly Cylinder - 00:09:18 - Yeah, right on 20th. And it's kind of nondescript but tons of florists rent space there. And it's really, it's awesome because I feel like people in New York, much more collaborative and the kind of nicer. Well they are nicer than LA so everyone's like, oh, what are you working on? And everyone's willing to lend a hand or if you need a driver or resources. So cool. Hey, just kind of looked me up and down like who are you? And I was like, can I rent space? And then he just decided to be nice and I was like, uh, okay. And so that's how I found. I found some space and, and then I had started teaching at Brooklyn brainery, which is this, it's this place where they do classes on really any kind of arts and writing and history.
Carly Cylinder - 00:10:00 - And a friend of a friend had taught cooking there. So she, she knew I had done classes in La and she was like, oh you might want to teach there. And so I started teaching these just very easy, you know, casual classes that people would sign up for, like make a spring arrangement, make a mason jar arrangement. But I would spot the best people in there and I always think, do you want to freelance? And so they would just
Kelly Perry - 00:10:00 - Smarty pants
Carly Cylinder - 00:10:27 - Jen who, uh, owns it would always say you treat this like your Craig'slist. And I'm like, I know because I would just pick out the best people. And so like Julia, who was my first kinda head designer person out there, she was there and then this other girl Ariel came with her mom and you can just tell people just seem to have a knack for it.
Carly Cylinder - 00:10:47 - And I taught, Julia had experienced, she had gone to some classes but the second girl had none and that was like, okay, make this arrangement, you know, and she's like, I don't know what I'm doing. And like, no, no, no, you can do it. So that's kinda how I got three freelancers out there. And then just because when you're working somewhere that's the best way for referrals. And then I met this other person who was the VP of another pr firm who did tons and tons of like fragrance launches for every celebrity has like a fragrance. So we would do all those and it was just like all this word of mouth. And then I'm trying to think. I still lived out there. I had decided I wanted to move back to LA and I kept getting pulled back to New York, which was a good thing.
Carly Cylinder - 00:11:32 - And I remember when the superbowl was in jersey, a guy in la was looking for New York florists and then I got recommended. So I actually flew a friend out from LA to help with and we were in Jersey for like four days. It was really nuts doing all these arrangements for the superbowl sponsors and yeah, just like evolved that way. And so it was a blessing that my ex broke up with me because I ended up getting all the work they could never get away. Yeah. And if I had not moved to New York, my book would not have sold because they really, really, really wanted me to have a presence in New York because I guess a ton of book buyers and people that buy books are in the northeast. So little did I know. And then I moved back to LA and I wasn't sure that I was going to still have business in New York.
Carly Cylinder - 00:12:21 - And I remember meeting with some of the designers and just kind of going over the game plan. Like when I moved back, are you able to handle it? And then sure enough, like I had come back and it just kept going and so now I fly out for, for really the big stuff or I'll try to line it up, like I'll try to line up the classes along with the events and I'm like, this past fall it was kind of like in an anomaly. I went out I think five times, but it was all within like maybe four days notice. Like these events, these really big events, I was getting like less than a week notice. Oh Wow. Which was really, really crazy. You know? Uh Huh. My boyfriend's always like to. They understand what you're doing. Like no they don't. They just know they need flowers, need flowers right now.
Carly Cylinder - 00:13:17 - Right now they don't know that it takes a week to special order or. Yeah. And so that's kind of how I did that. And then for Dallas I had, I had taught these two women that these two sisters but live in Dallas, but they were in la and they wanted to do a private class and so I met with them and then they can introduce me to other, to other people in Dallas and when I was doing my book tour last year, um, I was there and the like five speaking type things in like three days and really loved it out there and got to go to. They're like, it's not a flower market, like I guess the vendor and scope all that out. And so that was kind of a desire and I think there's a really good market out there and I just loved being out there.
Carly Cylinder - 00:14:06 - So it's also cool because you can rent space from the vendor, it would be like a mayish type place. Sure. So you can just rent space there and then they have floral supply syndicate out there, which I buy from a lot in LA. So I knew everything. It was really easy. There's a lot of space health care, so we're actually working on getting more weddings out there and. Okay, great. Just because of that's kind of the market. So in LA in New York, I'll do a few weddings, mainly corporate and then Dallas, we're really trying to work on the wedding market. That was a long rambling story, but
Kelly Perry - 00:14:45 - No, so good. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So primarily you are in LA these days, is that correct?
Carly Cylinder - 00:14:53 - Yeah, I live in LA and then I go to New York. It depends. Like I'll be out there I think the first week of May, so we have to tentative events and then I'll do a class and they'll go out for about a week or so and I'll either stay with my brother or sometimes I do an airbnb or you know, just kind of figure it out.
Kelly Perry - 00:15:19 - Yeah. Little mobile office and then the people who were a part of your class, they're sort of the go to people in New York that you're using for freelancers and then in Dallas, the same the people that you had met at your class?
Carly Cylinder - 00:15:32 - Yeah, actually in Dallas a gal found me on Instagram, so I always get people. I mean I'm sure you could do too, but always getting people that want to, you know, to work or work and flowers. Everyone wants working flyers. No one wants to do the computer work.
Kelly Perry - 00:15:32 - We need more managers.
Carly Cylinder - 00:15:49 - Yes, exactly. Yes.
Kelly Perry - 00:15:51 - I need someone to manage me. Please help.
Carly Cylinder - 00:15:53 - Yeah, exactly. Oh my God, I, I, I'm really getting to the point where it's really kind of hard to manage everyone, but
Kelly Perry - 00:15:53 - Yeah.
Carly Cylinder - 00:16:02 - Yeah. So I have a lot of people apply and a lot of people through referrals because you know, everyone else is either freelancing with other florists or they're, you know, they're doing their own thing on projects. So I have new people working for me in New York, but there's about three or four out there and then in la about five or six. It can be, yeah, it can be a challenge for scheduling and they can be definitely nerve wracking and if I'm not there I'm like, oh my God, I just pray that basically it all goes well there, there, there and everything
Kelly Perry - 00:16:40 - In those cities. It's freely, you know, it's primarily freelance, like the, the space that you have as studio space, so it comes in whenever you have an event that's taking place or whatever, then that's the space that you use. You have freelancers coming in to take care of that so you don't have, you know, a retail space that's open every day that you have staff that you're working with. So it is more of this a kind of on an as needed basis that you're assembling these teams and all of that kind of thing.
Carly Cylinder - 00:17:04 - Yeah, exactly. And it's, for me it's great because there's no real big overhead and I'm not sure. I'm not a person that does well on a schedule. So for me it was kind of the perfect thing is to work like crazy for a week and then the next week kind of decompress and I try to pair up, like for instance I have, I know the people that work well together so I try to keep that in mind like these two women that they love doing the flower crown stations and all that, so I'll try to always put them together. Or I have my main designer in LA and we have kind of assistant designer. They do flower installations really well. So I kind of try to pair up people and the scheduling can be crazy actually. Sometimes a client will say, okay, we need you for this. And I'm thinking they're talking about New York, so I'll have that all set up. And like, no, we met LA. So there there's been times like that.
Kelly Perry - 00:18:02 - Yeah, wouldn't that be the worst if it was like, I'm in the wrong, all the flowers and all the people
Carly Cylinder - 00:18:11 - It was like two days before and they're like, no, no. And I'm like wait, what? And then I felt terrible for, you know, the people that are counting on that for work too. So it was just like a
Kelly Perry - 00:18:23 - not good. Yeah. Yeah. Well you had mentioned, you know, we'd mentioned about like that there weren't a lot of managers in the flower world and I think that that's something that a lot of people who are primarily got into it to be designers. Whenever their business grows and you know, it turns into this like, Oh, I guess I'm the manager of the people now. Well you can really hire a manager to manage you and the other designers that you're, you know, putting together, you ultimately are the owner of the company, but they are the ones who are functioning as, you know, doing scheduling and logistics and things like that. So a lot of people are like, oh, I don't know about. I don't know about expanding. Will I be able to like, design flowers still? And you know, that's the way that you can accomplish that is to hire somebody on that's really skilled in those type of managerial roles. And they run all of the people for you.
Carly Cylinder - 00:19:18 - Yeah, I agree with that, but you know what, to be honest, I always wanted to have, I only wanted to, I wanted to own a florist retail place space and so for me, I love the business and I do love that part and I don't, I agree. I don't think almost all the people that work for me that to their own flowers, that's the least favorite part. But for me, I love it and I don't, I actually don't like making tons of arrangements. Like, yeah, it's not fun for me too.
Kelly Perry - 00:19:45 - I'm kind of, I'm kind of the same way. Yeah, I do. I love the business part of it.
Carly Cylinder - 00:19:51 - Like it's fun. Then I walk away and like I don't, you know, and um, the, the design aspect from afar, I truly think that the people that I hire are better than me and usually we'll come up with something better. I'm like, oh, I like that, but you know, I see, I see every single thing that goes out. I, I'm the one that does all the ordering for the most part, I'd say like 90, 80 percent of the time. So I know I'm ordering all the stuff and you can tell in your mind how it's going to come together, you know, so I'll order all the vases and the flowers and they kind of just put all together or sometimes they'll put their spin on it and then I'll see photos and then I'll say, you know, lower this or make it more architectural or whatever. So there is, I think for people that want to expand, if their love is designing, you still can. But if you love getting your hands dirty then you know, maybe jump in, jump in there or only take jobs that are worthwhile that you can actually be there for. Because if it's hard to let go of that a little bit.
Kelly Perry - 00:21:05 - Yeah. Tell us a little bit about, since you're working in both weddings and corporate clients, what are some maybe similarities and differences between those clients? Like whenever you have a corporate client, do they want to see a proposal from you or as an estimate suffice and colors or you know, how, how do, what are some similarities and differences in terms of how you treat and you manage different those different types of clients.
Carly Cylinder - 00:21:05 - So my corporate clients, which again, it's like probably 90 percent now. It's all very quick turnaround. I don't ever make a sample and they, what I mainly do for a lot of them is they'll tell me the idea and a lot of times I'm just replicating an image they've already sent. I'm putting this on it so they have a good idea. Like we want it to look like this, you know, and then I'll share. I'll make up a pinterest board for them. So actually if you go on my pinterest, I don't have a big following or anything, it's just the flower shop, but you can probably see some of the boards I've made for these clients and further events. And then I'll say, you know, these are the flowers is, these are the vase options. And then I took up there, the pricing put together, the employees and I'm very, very quick with it. So I'll try to do it that day and they'll go back to their clients because incorporate, there are so many levels to
Kelly Perry - 00:21:05 - So many hands.
Carly Cylinder - 00:22:36 - And that's why a lot of it times these things are so last minute by the time they get approval. So we'll have to have staff just on hold and then say okay, let's do it. And it can be, it can be frustrating because sometimes I can't get the things that I would have liked to or I know it could have been this much more amazing if I just had more time. But I kind of have to work with whatever I've got. So yeah. So that's how it goes. And usually budget wise, they'll almost always tell me about budget. Not really, but I'll, I'll do something. Then they'll say bring it down or whatever it is, we're increasing it and that'll be just know. Tell me what your budget is. Yeah, like let me just know. And so it on the occasion that we have the same event that's in New York and LA, that of course makes it easier because we're just replicating that and that's, that's a big draw for some clients. That's why it's easier to win a lot of those jobs because they just want the same person that can. They don't have to think about
Kelly Perry - 00:23:36 - The convenience is really important for the convenience. They're superduper busy
Carly Cylinder - 00:23:40 - And they can trust, you know, they can be like, oh, okay, well they did this so we know what to expect. So yeah, the corporate, it goes really fast. I don't do any samples. Sometimes I have one client that will come by the studio and just check it out. Sometimes they want to do that, but oftentimes not with weddings. I mean a lot of people are wedding florists, you know, you do wedding. So you know, it's just a really lengthy timeline and lengthy process and people always think like, oh you don't like weddings because bridezillas. I'm like, I've had amazing brides. I can only think of like two really bad, like ones that I think are actually both divorced, but they, it's not that, it's just for me, it's the time, the timing of it and like it's hard for me to think a year out or a year and a half out and I don't know, it's just for the way I work.
Carly Cylinder - 00:24:31 - And it's also. I remember we were doing a lot of weddings during the time period in La. Well for me it was a lot. Was maybe like 30 in six months or something. But for me that was a lot. And, and we kept making the same thing and I'm like why? Why am I doing the same thing? It's like peaches cream, sage color, you know, and the person that I had an old business partner actually, but she was like, because you keep selling that you can get the same thing. And so there isn't as much creativity like I liked. So I liked working with the brands because you're always matching their clients' needs and it's very, very different. Weddings all do and it's nice to be able to be part of someone's big day and have them look and you know, you're getting the feedback and I think that's special too.
Carly Cylinder - 00:25:18 - But it's just a lot different. I don't make a lot of samples either for that. I have a friend that's getting married and she was asking me about the process and I said, well, I don't need that much time. It doesn't matter if we meet an hour in a month before.
Kelly Perry - 00:25:34 - Yeah, because you're used to that where somebody who only does weddings is like what I needed to talk to you eight months ago.
Carly Cylinder - 00:25:39 - Oh yeah. I guess it's interesting,
Kelly Perry - 00:25:39 - Like the comfort levels.
Carly Cylinder - 00:25:44 - Yeah. Hit me up a month before we'll get this, you know, so sample and she'll go the. She wants to go a farmer, which is totally fine. But yeah. You know, same thing you meet with people. I think for weddings, it's such a personal thing. That personality is just a big determining factor. It's like, okay, do you click click with the bride? No. Yeah. And can you make them feel confident that you'll bring their vision to life and you're spending their money or their family's money? Whereas corporate, they're spending someone else's money, so yeah.
Kelly Perry - 00:26:22 - Yeah. Essentially. Yeah. Just to, completely to, to really completely different worlds. Truly. Yep. So whenever it see. I primarily, weddings is, but I started, my first client was a corporate client and so it's interesting and I didn't have it for a very long time. You know, we moved. I was just kind of getting started. But it is interesting how my thing that made me nervous was with corporate clients, it's like I never really knew who my client was and it's like the flowers were a reflection of so many different people in so many different opinions that that was like a little bit stressful for me because I wanted of course to make sure that everyone was happy and you have to remember that your audience in that type of setting is so much greater than just the per than the assistant who called or you know, whoever was assigned that task of finding flowers, you know. So it's interesting to then receive feedback from the, you know, whoever it was, you know, the head of the project or whatever through other people to use. Sometimes that happens and oh, I just had a. I just had a really hard time with that because I wanted to make sure everybody loved it. And whenever you have a bride that you're working with and that's your direct client, you know, like, okay, she's happier, she's not, and this is what I need to do to fix it. So there's an element of letting go that you have to have in, in corporate world with pleasing everyone, I guess you could say.
Carly Cylinder - 00:27:45 - Yeah. Yeah. I don't think I'm, I, I'm, I don't have that. Like people pleaser. That's great. I guess that's good. And so I'm kinda like, you know, I see what you're saying though because it is hard. And like I'm working on something right now for New York and it's on Monday and I have no, like I've been staring at these containers and it's the silliest thing. I'm like do they want this white ceramic or this white other thing? And I had no idea because the client, so they're like the advertising agency there and clients, old navy and they're putting on the spring event and so I'm like, and I know how long it takes to get the approval process. So I often just play it safe, you know, with something like that. And I just am like, I hope they, I don't, I don't know, I feel like I'm just throwing a dart and hoping it.
Carly Cylinder - 00:28:38 - Hoping it lands somewhere to land somewhere. And it's totally true. You really, you don't know. And ultimately with the, in this case where it's like they're, they're just want their client to be happy. So if they're happy then they're happy. The other one, you know, they're happy with me. Sometimes if I'm just working with a corporate client to directly now, then you kind of get into their aesthetic. So then you just know, you know. You know what they want. And usually that's this tactic of their brand and the company. So you have a better idea.
Kelly Perry - 00:29:15 - Yeah, I love that. That's good.
Carly Cylinder - 00:29:18 - Yeah. It's, it's like oftentimes I'm like, I literally have no idea if they're going to like it. I can't even tell you.
Kelly Perry - 00:29:28 - I love that you move forward despite that. Always. So one of the things that I really love about you is that good. Like go get 'em attitude. Say yes, figure it out along things. And um, I know your book, the Flower Chef was inspired a little bit by Julia Child and I just see that, you know, the same kind of philosophies and attitudes there and I think that's one of the reasons why I absolutely fell in love with her and I have to admit that I have a pinterest board that has like quotes of Julia Child and I love Lucy and feel like,
Carly Cylinder - 00:30:05 - I mean like they are both such pioneers and now I'm gonna go and I'm going to go on your page right now.
Kelly Perry - 00:30:14 - I have going to have to pin a couple of those little quotes. It's so fun. I don't know if it, I'll have to look and see. I don't know if it's a board that I have, like I don't know if it's a public board that I have or not. But anyway. Yeah, I love both of them. They are pioneers. They were people who, you know, I loved one of Lucille Ball's quote. She said that I'm not funny. I'm just brave, you know, she goes out there and she tries things and it comes off and you know, brings a lot of joy to people. So I think that's so fun. And I was just wondering what goes through your head whenever you're approached with a project that you've never done before and how are you managing that little bit of pressure of like, oh well it won't it, you know, what, what you think is an important thing for someone who's in a new situation with flowers that is maybe not feeling so confident. What would you, what would you recommend?
Carly Cylinder - 00:31:07 - Well, I think there's two things because I always, always, always will say yes and you know, figure it out later. But in the early days when I went to that, of course it's completely nerve wracking. It's like, you know, you're, you feel like you're gonna just pass out from anxiety. Like what did I, what did I get myself into? I have no idea how to do this. And that's when you just hopefully bring on friends or tried. I mean you figure it out, you really just have to. And it's also, I think really, really important to know other florists because I had, I was part of this business networking group and I remember the woman kind of introduced me to this other florists and I took that as being like, oh, I don't want to talk to her. Like that's my competition. And she was like, no, it's, you need, you should be friends with people in your industry.
Carly Cylinder - 00:31:55 - And I was like, oh my God, that's so true. Because during those times it's like constantly texting or emailing, like, Hey, I have to do this. How would you do it? You know, that's the best way to figure it out. Or. And there's so many ways to do the same thing. Especially now that like the flower walls and all that are so popular. There's so many ways to do that. But I have, I'm super, super lucky because I think I want my blahzay attitude. I don't want to say that I care immensely, but the people that work for me I think care almost a little bit more. So they're the one stressing. Like Jill, who's my head designer in LA, she's constantly like up at night thinking about things and I'm like, she's, she's staying awake at night that I'm just kind of counting on her to figure it out. But yeah, you're just know that it will work out. I've never not had it workout. Knock on wood. You kind of have to be innovative and just ask around.
Kelly Perry - 00:32:57 - Asking questions. I think that's so important. And even looking in other types of industries and building and rigging and I asked my dad so many questions about, oh, how would we, how, how can I make this thing float off a mantle and stuff like that. Fabricators. People like that are so helpful in bringing ideas that are, you know, have maybe never been done before to live. That's a question asking.
Carly Cylinder - 00:33:22 - Yeah, I met this production company or they're fabricators. It's called mcnally, but work all over just on a. We actually had to coincidentally back to back events together and I was like, this is a godsend. This guy, I wish I had known him, you know, for the past seven years because now I can be like, Hey, I do this, how would you do it? And then they'll, you know, we'll do the computer drawing the cad or whatever. Um, so yeah, I think if you can even just google production fabricator, that's, that's the way to do it. Just start. Yeah. Good place to start in and become friends with other florists and um,
Kelly Perry - 00:34:05 - That's we do on Team Flower, on the team, flower community, those are a lot of common questions. So how do I do this? This is something new for me and somebody can pop in who's done it before and ease a little bit of those concerns. That's one of the big things with Team Flower that my goal was always to we need to just relieve some of this anxiety and newness and you know,
Carly Cylinder - 00:34:05 - It's incredible what you built.
Kelly Perry - 00:34:05 - Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. It's been a lot of fun. I love it a lot and I love all the people. So that's a whole
Carly Cylinder - 00:34:34 - could ask you about that. I'm so curious about, like I don't, I don't understand how you compiled so much, like it's beyond, like I can't even comprehend that. How long has it been? Must Do, how are you working on this? Every single day?
Kelly Perry - 00:34:51 - Well, so I work with it. I work on Team Flower with my husband, Jesse, and so I like to say that all of the good ideas come from him. So he had this idea about starting this whole community and he wanted it to be a platform and you know, he had this whole vision for it and since I'm not a coder and since I'm not even technology really savvy at all, I just, I didn't even, I couldn't wrap my head around like these things that he was talking about, but seeing he just went for it and seeing it come to life has been a really beautiful thing for us. So yeah, we work on it together and I have philosophy flowers as well. So that's the wedding business and I'm here in Boone right now, but I've really toned back philosophy, flowers just for a season this year.
Kelly Perry - 00:35:40 - I'm growing more flowers for the first time. I'm probably not going to be a flower farmer that's not on my to do list, but we're doing so many new classes and bringing other people onto teach with us. And so actually a lot of my days are composed of like editing classes and working on concepts and working with people to get their messages put there and out into the world because I know there's so many people who love teaching like me, but technology is not a strength for them. And so that's really what we're able to offer and do at Team Flower is give them that platform and give them that existing, you know, the community that's, that's there and in place to support the content that they're wanting to get out into the world. So my days are actually looking a lot like content and filming with Jesse on weekends and being out in the garden, starting seeds have Heather's coming here to do a class about photographing flowers here later this afternoon.
Kelly Perry - 00:36:36 - So that's a little bit about what my days look like. Just one wedding this year. But I think it would be so fun to have a shop some day. I just love everything. I think that's my. I like a little bit of, of all of it, right? Yeah.
Carly Cylinder - 00:36:50 - You like to change it up.
Kelly Perry - 00:36:52 - Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So anyway, that's, that's what we're doing over here, but I want it the next little question that I had on here for you, tell us, can you tell us a little bit about south by southwest? I, Jesse had to correct me again because this is started in tech world and I was like what is that? You know what? Oh yeah, you know, what is this? But of course it's like a really well known conference and I don't know, Jesse described it as kind of like pop culture in a way. How would you describe it? I know it's a lot of different things. Tell us about it and what you do for them.
Carly Cylinder - 00:37:26 - Well, I, so it's a huge, huge festival conference. They have an interactive kind of tech part. They have a film festival, a music festival and spans two weekends in a full week. So I, one of my clients, I wasn't working directly for them. There's tons and tons of these events that companies will sponsor all over. It's kind of almost like a, I don't even want to say Coachella, but how coachella will have these kind of private parties around the festival. So it's like that and my client that there are clients, Elf cosmetics. So I had done their event in New York and they for when actually for when they went public, that was really cool. I got to go and do flowers at the New York Stock Exchange, which was like super neat. And, and so, and my other clients, snapchat actually. And so they weren't going to be out there for the tech part and some other companies.
Carly Cylinder - 00:38:27 - I mean all these people just come from all over to do these events. And so, um, yeah, that's kind of why was there and I was like, oh this is a great chance for me to be back in Dallas and you know, just kind of run through things again and see the vendors and all of that. So it was another last minute thing, the week before I'm getting confirmation and flew into Dallas and I actually had a couple people on hold to do the flowers. I had four events and for smaller events I would say, but it was just kind of a, a lot logistically. And then I didn't end up having any help at all and it really, it really reminded me of the first two years we were doing everything. Like, Oh yeah, like I remember doing these weddings myself, like every part of it.
Carly Cylinder - 00:39:19 - And it's a lot of work is. So I felt like okay, this is like old school, you know, like here I am like panicking, desperate being like the flowers. Yeah. Like this is not going to happen, you know. And so I ended up, I think I ended up working, you know, eight or 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM that night I was supposed to drive to Austin at one and I couldn't because I was doing it. So I finished at like nine. I slept over at the house of the woman that I know there and got up at like 5:00 AM and drove to Austin and I had rented a airbnb there. So like in the backyard I was finishing everything.
Kelly Perry - 00:40:01 - I know that feeling though, worst, that's probably the thing, if you're going to do something new like we talked about earlier. Yeah. You just have to make sure there are a lot of people there and you can figure anything out. But if it's just you, those are the moments that I have felt like, oh my gosh, this might not happen. Yes. The moments that I've been all by myself, you know, those were the true panic moments. So you have people there, you can do any, you know, you can get it done, you can do anything. Yeah. And you can all by yourself definitely.
Carly Cylinder - 00:40:31 - I was like unloading, like I was timing it, you know, like, okay to unload the SUV. That took me about 45 minutes, which was like, wait, why did it take so long? Okay, now I have to do these and this event starts at four. And I remember being like, okay, it's like 2:30 no matter what I have to be done at three, you know. So I went over and
Kelly Perry - 00:40:55 - I'm gettign heart palpitations.
Carly Cylinder - 00:40:58 - They were all um, at 6:00 AM setups. Like you don't have that crazy setup on a wedding, you don't even have that on a corporate event usually. So yeah, I would get there at like 6:00 AM, fix up the flowers because they all kind of got knocked around and you know, have to recut everything, put it all back together, be done at like 8:30 or 9:00 AM and go back, try to sleep. And it was just like craziness. But it was really, it was cool. It was cool to be in a new city. And I did get that feeling too though, like okay, I don't know any of the vendors out here. So if I need something, I mean I guess I would have gone to trader Joe's or whole foods or. Right. I had the exact number of everything that was, which I thought overbought, but I didn't and I was like, Oh my God, I've one succulent left and right, this one container. So it was fun though. It was a good time and it's always cool to see a new city and, and try to figure, figure it out. But that was, it was neat and I hope I can go back. It's, it's always fun. I mean, you can do flowers and random cities then. That's amazing.
Kelly Perry - 00:42:15 - Absolutely. Well you'll have to pop onto the Team Flower community. I know there's a bunch of people that we have done in that area so you have to do a little post and say like please who can, who could help, you know,
Carly Cylinder - 00:42:24 - I know. And I actually ended up, uh, a freelancer that I know from New York now lives in Mexico City, actually works in Austin a lot. So I emailed her panicking, but it was, it was too late because it was like bring on when I don't know and then say be here at 5:00 AM. I was like, I'll just do it myself, you know? Yeah. But yeah, it's definitely for next time that you had mentioned that someone had contacted or said that they met me in Nashville.
Kelly Perry - 00:42:24 - Yeah.
Carly Cylinder - 00:42:24 - Who do you know who it was?
Kelly Perry - 00:42:56 - Like ever bloom design. Oh, do you remember her?
Carly Cylinder - 00:42:59 - Yes, of course. Christian for Kiersten? Yeah. Oh amazing. Yeah. We worked together on a David Stark job. Do you know who he is?
Kelly Perry - 00:43:06 - Oh cool. The name really does ring a bell, but I can't.
Carly Cylinder - 00:43:10 - He does like these multimillion dollar crazy events. Crazy weddings.
Kelly Perry - 00:43:14 - I was going to say, I think he's an event planner, but I wasn't like, I didn't catch all the dots.
Carly Cylinder - 00:43:18 - So yeah, he does get everything's in house. He started as a florist and his company is insane. Like he's, I don't know, he must have 50 people full time there. So we met on a job in Nashville doing a gala and actually she was my, she was my roommate in the hotel. Okay. She's awesome.
Kelly Perry - 00:43:39 - Cool. Yeah, she is.
Carly Cylinder - 00:43:40 - I'm going to be out in Nashville just for fun in a few weeks. And um, it's so funny because the guy that I mentioned that's now my production go to, he just emailed me yesterday, he said I have a job in Nashville and I was like, oh, that's my favorite city and it happens to be when I'm going to be out there like I couldn't believe it.
Carly Cylinder - 00:43:59 - So go and help with that.
Carly Cylinder - 00:44:02 - Yeah. My fingers are crossed for that. I was like, oh, another, another adventure.
Kelly Perry - 00:44:07 - Yeah, that's awesome. Well that is definitely you capital adventure, you love, love all those new things that are so comfortable with that. And that's, I mean that is, that's really special. A lot of people aren't up for those kinds of challenges and moving around and things. So I think that's really neat and you definitely have a unique voice in the flower world and even like I noticed that you write for the Huffington Post and do TV and other things that I would consider maybe non traditional flower marketing. I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit about that. What made you interested in that?
Carly Cylinder - 00:44:40 - Anything that I had done was to get this book sold because I wasn't for sure and I had, I had submitted to a lot of agents, you know, my book proposal and then nine months after I had submitted to my now agent, she wrote back and she decided to take on my project and so she was like, you need to build up your, you know, your platform or whatever. And so I'm like, oh, how am I going to do this? So that kind of led to me really hustling and contacting, huffington post and contacting, contacting and saying how can I blog? And so I would blog about weddings and then that actually opened some doors for other types of writing. And then I was doing a little bit of travel writing, but I mean I love flowers and I love my business, but I, you know, I love stories and I love writing and I love acting and I love all that sort of film stuff. So and hosting and doing any of that and being on camera honestly. I just like and yeah. So that's kind of other things that I was focusing on. I, I was trying to sell a show. It was a, like the flower version of chopped.
Kelly Perry - 00:45:55 - I want to be a contestant, but I don't know actually. I don't know if I have the heart for it.
Carly Cylinder - 00:45:57 - You can be a judge.
Kelly Perry - 00:46:02 - OK deal. We got it, we got it.
Carly Cylinder - 00:46:03 - Cool. But I thought that like, so I was trying to sell tons of these flower shows and there was a. The good thing about living in LA is your access to anything internationally would until Hollywood. So this manager and I was, we were taking it around to some of the big production companies, but ultimately they just didn't think there was a market. And, and there was that show called the arrangement on. It was on logo. It was kind of like the, I would say like a top chef or project runway and um, but it, it didn't do well, so it kind of ruined this climates for flower shows because they, because they said
Kelly Perry - 00:46:43 - Such a bummer. I always thought that that would be a super fun thing to do, to be like, you know, because they had like the cupcake show thinks it's cool
Carly Cylinder - 00:46:52 - To see someone doing flowers and doing it totally live and working with and usually,
Kelly Perry - 00:46:58 - Oh yeah. And even just like reality show style, like some of these big. I remember the season that it was like one winning after the next step and the next. And I was doing a lot of this by myself. Some of this stuff that would happen, I was just like, I feel like my life's a TB shot.
Carly Cylinder - 00:47:10 - Like where's the camera? Where, where are they? They must be around here somewhere. You know what I will say, I'll say I have been maybe a couple times now on pilots for other florists, so they're cool. Yeah. That never, you know, never amounted to anything by like, there was. I know there's a guy named Kevin Leedy, he's a florist. He's like always on the real housewives of La Premiere, like the very flaming Korean man, I think he's Korean, but he's like very amusing and very talented. So he, he would make for great TV and he had a pilot and there was me and three other designers and they just, I don't know, how they found me, I think they found me online, but they were going to cast me as kind of the punk girl, like bowl I guess. And a pink hair. Yeah, yeah. That I used to have that perfect for casting, you know, good. We have that girl and it was really funny because to be on that side of even a reality thing, they filmed it twice of them saying they liked my arrangement and then them saying they hated it.
Kelly Perry - 00:48:15 - Just to see which one to edit in.
Carly Cylinder - 00:48:19 - Oh my God. And we would. And then they told us all different challenges but acted like we were doing the same thing. Yeah. Just to mess with us. And it was like, it was so interesting, you know, the behind the scenes of that. And then I did get approached by if, you know, there's a few production companies that. Do you have that same idea? Oh, we should follow around a florist and see the chaos. But I don't think there was. I don't know. Yeah.
Kelly Perry - 00:48:46 - Never, uh, never quite took off.
Carly Cylinder - 00:48:48 - No, I don't think so. But Jeff Leatham, do you know him? Jeff Leatham, he does all the, the flowers at the four seasons and the one in Paris and he made those. Know the bouquets that are just like, it's one type of flower, it's tilted to the side and the like in a vase like angular.
Kelly Perry - 00:49:06 - Yeah. I think there might be one of those in your book, right?
Carly Cylinder - 00:49:09 - Yeah. Something similar but similar design principles maybe. Yeah. Something similar to that Bait. He, he had a reality show to you about. You should look him up though. He is. Um,
Kelly Perry - 00:49:24 - I'll have to do that.
Carly Cylinder - 00:49:26 - Yeah, he's got a huge following and he's got tons of books, but I think I was the only person that watched that show. I love that show, but they ended up canceling it. So I guess I think we might be more amused by these antics.
Kelly Perry - 00:49:39 - We might be more amused by herself.
Carly Cylinder - 00:49:44 - What might be happening actually, why not keep flower reality show like you should follow someone around and post it on there. The, uh, different floors film themselves having a heart attack,
Kelly Perry - 00:50:01 - Man. Yeah, that's, that's no fun. It's, it's good when you can find like a peaceful way to work flowers because all those adrenaline rushes one after the next. I mean, as amusing as it can be. It really does wear your body out quite a bit. We got to take care of ourselves.
Carly Cylinder - 00:50:17 - Then it's like, oh my God, why am I doing this? This is nuts. Yeah. That's kind of like. Yeah, I have a lot of interests all over place. Oh, you are going to laugh though. I filmed last week or a few days ago. Do you know who bob Ross's? He did the painting. My goodness, I love him. Somebody told me once that I was like the Bob Ross of flowers. That is the best compliment you could have ever given me. I love him.
Carly Cylinder - 00:50:49 - You are very soothing. Yeah, you're very funny. Oh my God. That's hilarious. When you are going to love it. We were joking in New York, it was me and three other girls were working. We were talking about Bob Ross and Bob Ross did flowers. So I, um, I was like, I'm going to do that. So I filmed myself and I have the wig, I have the black background and I'm making an arrangement. Yeah. And I have to have someone edit it and I'm sure the sound quality is probably terrible because it was just me doing it like in my place. But um, yeah, you'll see a Bob Ross flower parody coming. I'll post posted that you'll like, yeah.
Kelly Perry - 00:51:28 - Did you include squirrels into your arrangement?
Carly Cylinder - 00:51:29 - You know what I was debating it and Gracie, my dog was there and I really wanted her to have a cameo. But like, you know, my dots very temperamental. She's like this little scruffy Mutt. And so shares. She wasn't ready, she wasn't feeling it. She was just. She got scared though. I'll tell you. I put on that wig and she looked at me like a crazy person.
Kelly Perry - 00:51:29 - Dogs don't like that. Not at all. Any time I'm wearing a hat or carrying anything in my arms buster's, like, okay, see you later. I'll be over here in the corner. That's funny. That's awesome. Well, I can't wait for that to come out. That'll be a good one.
Carly Cylinder - 00:51:29 - I just do random stuff.
Kelly Perry - 00:51:29 - Yeah. Anything else you want to tell everybody about today? That was the last question that I had for you.
Carly Cylinder - 00:52:17 - No, not really. It's so nice talking and I'm just. It was so interesting to hear about you and you know your experiences over there.
Kelly Perry - 00:52:27 - Yeah. And you too. Absolutely. It's been super fun. It's fun to talk about some of those, some of those other things. The books and the TV and all this. It's a whole, it's a whole nother world. They're completely different industries where flowers are intersecting. They're a little bit. So I think that's what really piques my interest.
Carly Cylinder - 00:52:45 - That's true because everyone's like, oh, I mean, I said the book, I want it to be like the Rachel Ray for flowers just because I really wanted to
Kelly Perry - 00:52:52 - Oh my goodness you do kind of. That does kind of look. Yeah, I could see it.
Carly Cylinder - 00:52:56 - Yeah. Like, or um, you know, I just wanted to make it for the at home person, not really the person at home that just wants some basic principles and.
Kelly Perry - 00:53:04 - Well I do think your book is a perfect fit for, you know, sometimes people will say to florists like, Oh, you know, I would love to learn how to do that. Well, I feel like this is the perfect book to hand your friend that would love to learn how to do flowers. Like this is a great book.
Carly Cylinder - 00:53:20 - Yeah. It's just like, and you know why honestly I, it sold in 2013 and wasn't published until 2016. So that was a little bit hard because there's so many things in there that I would have liked to change or add or even.
Kelly Perry - 00:53:34 - Oh, of course. I mean every is like that, right? Yeah. I kind of beat myself up a little bit about it though, because I'm like, oh no, like, you know, I would have done this, right, have different styles, but I think it is a good. It's a good little starter.
Kelly Perry - 00:53:47 - Yeah, absolutely. And you can always write another one. That's the, that's the beauty of it was books. You just have to keep going with them. And I think the whole, the whole process, there's so many things you gained from doing it that first time that now you're so much, you know, you have all like, I think I saw somewhere like, you know, kids book, like I think that would be so fun to have flower kids.
Carly Cylinder - 00:54:11 - I know I was debating on doing that at the flower shop for a kid.
Kelly Perry - 00:54:13 - You should write the proposal.
Carly Cylinder - 00:54:16 - Yeah. It's just so much time, but I'm like, I want to, I want to do that, you know? But yeah,
Kelly Perry - 00:54:26 - Yeah. It's such a competitive writing. Books is competitive, you know, piece. And you get a lot, a lot of no's before you get to guess. And you know, you have to kind of have some thick skin. If you're going to head in that direction for sure, but I think it's a very great and worthwhile thing to have and have done so, so many transferable skills that fit into all kinds of different facets of life. So I'm really glad you took the risk. I'm glad that you went for it. The world is better for it,
Carly Cylinder - 00:54:56 - Oh well. I really, really appreciate that. You are like such a source of encouragement that is just, it's so nice to hear, you know, your. We have no idea the impact that we're, we're going to make on someone else's life and what you're doing and set the far reach of it and it's just, it is cool to have something like you're, you're creating content that's accessible anywhere in the world, you know, and so when and those kinds of things and books like though those are long lasting. I agree. I think it, I think it is a worthwhile endeavor.
Kelly Perry - 00:55:32 - Yeah, absolutely.
Carly Cylinder - 00:55:32 - Now I'm now I'm like, okay, I'm going to write the next book now.
Kelly Perry - 00:55:32 - Yes you should. Books are one of those things that happened like in the margin sometimes, right. So you know, you just keep working on it and yeah, what it took three years to get it up and to get it out. But you know, that's, that's fine. Just keep writing, just keep writing in the margins, keep going on the tours, keep talking about it, you know, the books are books are not an easy thing to do for sure. So I always have a lot of an admiration whenever somebody really just takes the idea and runs with it and gets it completed, it's really, really special. So thank you.
Carly Cylinder - 00:55:32 - Are you going to do a Team Flower book?
Kelly Perry - 00:56:26 - You know, I have several book proposals that I'm just sort of chewing on so we'll see what happens with that. Yeah, I, it's not something that I always want to do. I didn't even like you. I never thought that I would be in flowers do flowers or that just wasn't really on my radar. I did everything within events except that I was like a cake baker whenever I was in middle school and I think that's so hilarious now. Like being in weddings and working with brides, like I found one of my old little proposals for somebody's wedding cake and I was like, I can't believe. Like my mom drove me to get my supplies and like drove me to the wedding. It's hilarious. So anyway, I did that for awhile. Worked in a bridal shop, always love planning events. I was like the party, you know, like the little themed party planner at my school and you know, student government association because I couldn't bounce a basketball and I hated the idea of something like coming towards my head, you know, like a sports person at all.
Kelly Perry - 00:57:21 - So yeah, that's kind of how I got, you know, did all of those pieces except flowers and the flowers, you know, Kinda came to me and they really stuck and I knew, um, I knew that that was it for me, that, that was the piece of it. But anyway, I do love absolutely everything about them and I love writing. I think for me it's a very therapeutic process and a lot of the things that I write are just like for me, you know, I feel like super personal and it's not something that I would probably publish or put out there in the world, but you know, what? Maybe maybe some days some of those things that I've been, you know, I'll be out in the garden and something will come to me and I'll come inside and I'll just jot down a whole bunch. It's like it just comes out very naturally and so I have a folder of things like that that don't necessarily fit together or make any sense, but I just am trusting that, you know, one day they will make sense and one day it all will come together and it really will encourage and encourage and help people.
Kelly Perry - 00:58:17 - And I know it's, it's helped me first and foremost just to have that. To have that process. But if you know, it might be a little bit scary for me to put some of that stuff out there. But if it can enrich the lives of, of people, I would be happy to do that. So. But yeah, so that's my book that I don't really know what it's about, but that it's just writing that's out there. And then I do have a couple other just proposals that I'm kind of like thinking about seeing what sticks. I think it's important whenever you're planning and you're doing different things in business to really. I tend to want to do a lot of different things, but I know that timing is also very important. And so I like to think about, okay, well what, what do I have right now? Like what's already in my inventory and what would be a really natural progression or like what, what is all of this kind of been building towards and not really pushing things before their time. Even if I feel like that, oh I have to do this right now, you know, or somebody else might do it or something like that. I just, I think that that is this, that's a really damaging mindset to have because it just puts you in places that you shouldn't be just yet
Carly Cylinder - 00:59:29 - That is so wise. That is incredibly wise and that's something I've just learned recently because it's like you can knock your head against the wall, you know? And I think that is so smart. It's so funny because I had, I wrote like this children's story book six years ago. That is actually cute. And good. And so I was working on, I'm like, uh, I never like, I don't really remember this, but yet, you know. Yeah.
Kelly Perry - 00:59:55 - Those are the clues, man. That's the clue. Pull that out and just kind of bring it back and see where it comes. But it's interesting how things that we write down, you know, years before they actually take place, kind of come back at just that right time and seeing that little clue is something that can really help propel you when the time is right.
Carly Cylinder - 01:00:16 - Yeah. Having faith in that and patience. That's.
Kelly Perry - 01:00:21 - Yeah, absolutely. Whenever I was in middle school, what if my like favorite tick, this just tells you the kind of middle schooler I was like, I was not a cool kid. I don't know. I just, Oh, I was what I liked. I just did it, but I would collage so I would get out all of my magazines and I would just turn on my, you know, nice chill music and I would just make these collages in my room of, you know, different words and people and feelings and all these kinds of things. And I had to laugh and cry at the same time because I had found this shortly after I had, you know, it because it had become real. Like I was a, I was a wedding florist. I was working with flowers, like I'd started philosophy flowers as moving forward. I found this piece that I had pulled out of, I don't know, probably an issue of Martha Stewart living and I had put on the top of this picture of this woman, I think it was maybe rose story farm and it was a lady with a hat and she had on her white shirt and her little dog was there and all the rose bushes and I put at the top of this. Someday I want to be this lady.
Carly Cylinder - 01:01:28 - Oh my God. I just got chills. Just got it chills.
Kelly Perry - 01:01:34 - It's really neat how those kinds of things happen. You know, you might not have thought about it for such a long time, but it comes back to you and there's this piece in you that's awakened. Did we have to listen and watch and be aware of those? So I'm really excited for your children's book. I'm believing for that. I'm sure what you have written so far will be, you know, the inspiration that propels you to that, but we need things like that for our children. Our flowers are something that are so healing and they are truly messengers of deeper concepts of hope and love and grace and rebirth and resurrection, you know, and so being able to teach children about that. Children love flowers. I had a little, a little flower.
Kelly Perry - 01:02:20 - I had some extra flowers. He took them to downtown blowing rock and put them on this little park bench and there's like free bouquets and the little girls, the little girls were the ones, the little girls came over and they all wanted the pink carnations. That was like their flower of choice.
Carly Cylinder - 01:02:36 - Oh really? That was it?
Kelly Perry - 01:02:38 - So yeah, they're so drawn to. They're drawn to beauty and that simplicity and picking those flowers and things like that. So I think they're a really important part in children's lives as well. So I'm excited about that. You'll have to let me know. I'll be your first customer and maybe maybe I'll have a baby by then. I don't have any. I won't read it to buster. Maybe we'll have to wait until.
Carly Cylinder - 01:03:02 - Well, I'm sure that by the time it's out you will have one.
Kelly Perry - 01:03:08 - Yes. Oh man, that's awesome. Well, thanks again so much for coming on the show today.
Carly Cylinder - 01:03:08 - Oh my gosh thank you for having me.
Kelly Perry - 01:03:08 - Yeah, absolutely. For everybody who's been tuning in listening today, we're so thankful to have you here and if you love this podcast. Share it with your friends. We are always happy to have our team, flower community growing with new people who love flowers, so we'll take
Kelly Perry - 01:03:35 - care of them. Thanks again so much for joining us. We'll talk to you soon. This podcast is brought to you by Team Flower. Team Flower is an online learning community focused on educating, connecting, and empowering flower lovers worldwide. Whether you're a professional farmer or florist getting started or just love flowers, welcome to the party. If you'd like to know when new podcast episodes are released in receive fun video tutorials and articles, sign up for our pen pal club. It's free. Visit teamflower.org, and click on free resources.