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Business Spotlight: Susie Sayger
AARON HALE
Susie Sayger is owner of Heaven Sent Flowers in Bonita Springs.
Heaven Scent Flowers
27515 Old 41 Road , Bonita Springs
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- Name: Susie Sayger
- Age: “Old enough to drink.”
- Education: High school graduate and one year of college at Sydney University in Sydney, Australia.
“Probably the best education I had in my life.”
- Business: Heaven Scent Flowers Inc.
- Position: Owner since 1986
- Tell us about your job? “Everyday is different. You never have an idea what your day is going to be like. You have birthdays, weddings, funerals. Everyday is a different day.”
- What’s your training with flower arrangements? “It’s a self-taught thing. You have tons of talent that you hire all around you. We have a lot of training and schooling, but then you take that information and do it your own way. It’s a very personal thing. It’s a very artistic thing.”
- When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
“Well, I was a dancer. I danced since I was 3 years old. I taught ballroom dance, ballet and jazz.
“My health changed at 29, and that wouldn’t let me do what I was doing. My mom and dad were out here in Florida. They started a flower shop because Bonita needed one. I decided the timing was perfect, so my husband and I packed up and moved to Florida.”
- What keeps you coming back to your job day after day? “I love my job. I can’t imagine doing anything else, really. We sell emotions. Be it for a birthday, wedding, anniversary or sympathy, the people you work (for) are asking you to take their emotion of love or sympathy, transform it into flowers and take it to the person they want to send it to. You have to be the interim person to extract what they’re looking for and turn it into an artistic thing that will make both of them happy. Everyday is a communication of different emotions. They range from high to low. Even sympathy work is very appealing to me because you’re making the family feel comfortable in a bad situation. It’s a good thing. It’s a very uplifting job.”
- What’s the worst part of your job? “Long hours. You’re working even when you’re not here. Running your own business is very hard.”
- Tell us something about yourself that has nothing to do with your job? “I love to go away in a motor home and explore parts of Florida that other people pay thousands of dollars to do. Florida has some gorgeous, gorgeous places, some beautiful campgrounds and beautiful state parks. We love to explore and relax and recuperate.”
- Future plans: “We’re opening up an ice cream store.”
It will be adjacent to the flower shop, and Sayger’s husband, Jim, will manage the new business.
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Great lady..
#1 Posted by dooley on October 10, 2008 at 1:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Ice cream shops have the highest rate of failure of any business. mostly because people don't start eating ice cream until 2:00pm, so you pay rent, air-condition, and full-day expenses for a store making sales only half-days.
Doughnut shops business generally dies off around 2:00 pm.
That's why you see Baskin-Robbins and Dunkin doughnuts sharing spaces around the country.
If you want to improve your chances of success you may want to consider offering a breakfast fare of fresh-baked croissants and pastries with a simple cup of good coffee.
They come frozen, you just pop'em in an electric convection oven and "voila" (No grease trap required) Just a suggestion.
#2 Posted by Naplestango on October 11, 2008 at 4:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
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