Kelly Baker-Jamieson had a vision to start her own business. The idea of edible bouquets made from fresh fruit, blossomed into a successful business startup. In 2005, just three months after she first had the business idea, Edible Blooms opened its first store in Brisbane.
Edible Blooms acts as both a catering service and a florist and supplies high-quality edible bouquets. The innovative business does more than satisfy your appetite, it puts the fun back into gifting with an easy online service.
“Edible Blooms is just like a florist, but you get to EAT our bouquets on arrival.
“I love sending beautiful flowers, but always found it hard to get consistency in the quality and product. Since opening our colourful doors, we have been honoured with the 2009 Telstra MYOB Small Business of the Year for Australia.”
The business has a strong focus on quality and consistency, which has enabled Edible Blooms to grow largely through word of mouth. More than 60% of daily sales come from returning customers and referrals.
Kelly’s favourite aspect of running a business is in using her creativity and seeing her ideas come to fruition.
“I have enjoyed the inevitable experience in business of making mistakes. When something goes wrong, it challenges you to think outside the square for a solution. Some of my best strategies have been the result of mistakes.”
For those starting out in a new business, Kelly recommends that you learn how to manage your cash flow and how to connect with your customers.
For this, she suggests that you should ask yourself the following questions:
- Who is my customer? Am I connecting well with them?
- How can I ‘cut through’ the clutter and tell them about my product/service?
- What is my cash flow cycle?
Kelly wishes she had known the following advice before starting her business:
- When starting out, cash flow is the lifeblood of your business.
- Hire slowly.
- Make sure your employees match the brand values you are building.
Kelly Baker-Jamieson’s advice for starting a business:
- Take a holiday before you get started!
- Surround yourself with positive, can-do people.
- Build systems so that you can automate as much as you can.
