How's the Weather?

It’s been a milder winter than usual, but that doesn’t seem to stop me from wanting spring to come even earlier this year.  We just got our hour of daylight back and nothing tantalizes the senses more than having more time to enjoy outdoors in mild temperatures. 

Businesses too have been tantalized as of late by positive economic indicators: jobs seem to be picking back up, the stock market is on an uptick,  consumer spending is increasing.  But just as a winter chill in March can hang around like an annoying gnat, businesses are not so quick to embrace the positive, warm, spring-like news. 

It’s understandable.  After all cold, dark times are not that far in the rearview mirror.  A timid, timed approach to hiring and development is prudent given the ride we’ve been through.  And while many are optimistic of a warm, mild spring, there is always the change that your particular area may be in for more cold, damp and dismal weather.  It’s safe to say that places like Miami and San Diego will have pleasant weather, they always do.  But what about places like New York, Boston and Chicago?  They rely much more heavily on unpredictable factors like the jet stream and wind patterns to determine long term temperatures weather patterns. Your business might be like Miami, it doesn’t matter the time of year, for the most part the weather is nice.  Oh sure, you get a big thunderstorm and sometimes they come in clusters, but overall, your temperature and climate are attractive to customers.  Or maybe your business is like New York, it could be a rainy, wet spring, or it might be a mild, warm and fun place to be depending on effects that are beyond your control.

While this is a very simplistic analogy, I tend to think of each of these types of businesses as being someplace in between and yet leaning towards one or the other.  Economic forces will always play a factor in any business decision, yet some businesses are less affected by them than others.  Small businesses in particular, like the kind we help here at Beacon are most vulnerable to “big picture” economics, and yet thousands of small businesses also have thrived through tough economic times with little damage.

So how does this bode for the future?  Well, like the weather, the future is impossible to predict with 100% accuracy.  But like a city’s geographical climate, there are indicators of what tomorrow will be like.  Let’s take a look at a few of them

1. The business of tomorrow will be more automated.

It’s here.  After the internet boom, costs of doing business online plummeted and companies looked for ways to get more done with less.  This had ripple effects across the business landscape with dire predictions of robots replacing all of us.  That has not happened, but it’s here.  It just looks somewhat different than what you saw about artificial intelligence in the movies.   As the labor force looks to open its doors once again, it will be those with the skills and adaptability to automate their work that will be hired.

2. The business of tomorrow will be leaner.

This means that yes there will be fewer employees in a typical corporation or small business.  It’s not because businesses are not interested in growth or expansion or new talent.  It is a factor of cost.  The cost to hire and keep an employee is becoming prohibitive, but businesses can only automate so much.  Humans are still the driving force behind innovation and ingenuity.  No machine can replace that, but humans do get sick, do take time off and do have greater cost demands than machines in most cases.  And now with the notion of healthcare benefits being a wildcard political factor, the need for simplification of benefits across the board is just over the horizon.

3. The business of tomorrow will be competitive

Competition drives our society and with news travelling faster than ever before, the ability to “cut in line” when it comes not only to market efficiency, but with new ideas and innovations will be at the forefront.  Being first to market has always been an important issue, but as time marches on this will become an even bigger factor as small startups look to improve on existing technologies and products.

Yes, the weather is never an easy thing to predict.  Climate is much easier to distinguish, but when it comes to business climate, it is important to take stock of where you are- Miami, or New York?  

Hey Flower Guy- Holiday Season Is Over

I’m posting the article below by Wil Gonzalez, AIFD from the Ukiah Daily Journal in Northern California.  As the Valentine’s Day season, and the holiday season for that matter is behind us, a number of challenges this year await.  Wil has provided a great piece here from the perspective of the retail florist to the consumer.

And take a moment before or after reading this article and vote on our poll to the right.  We want to know how your Valentine’s Day Sales went.  Enjoy.

-----By Wil Gonzalez, AIFD

Well it looks like the holiday season is behind us. In the floral industry that means from Thanksgiving to Valentine's Day. As many people surmise, Valentine's is a huge. And it is only one day. My boss says it looks like it was a good day. He judges a good day when none of the employees are fighting, when we don't receive complaints and when all deliveries are made and little or no mistakes are made. I agree, a good day. I work with some amazing people, who worked hard to make sure all customers were well served. Since it is a small shop we all do many different tasks. Sales clerks will be trained to green in vases and gather flowers for designers. Designers will be sales clerks when there are 10 customers waiting to be served and all the phones are ringing.

It was at that time when I over heard one customer complain that "florists over charge on this day just because we can." Since I was with one customer, I was unable to respond and our poor clerk was left speechless. I feel bad for that customer because he left feeling used.

In the many years I have been in this business, I have found that people gravitate to floral work because they are creative/artistic people who like flowers and like people. Those who work in flower shops want to assist, help, guide our customers to make a purchase that fits the occasion and their current budget. In my travels I've learned that while the profit margin for flower shops is very low compared to other businesses, all shop owners stay in this industry because they do want to help customers get the best value for their floral purchase, in hopes that they will choose to buy flowers in the future.

In the articles I write I attempt to help that customer understand that this is a business that deals with a perishable product that has seasonal demands and weather related concerns. There is also the very basic business axiom of Supply and Demand. All of these things affect the price of the flower you want to buy today.

You have to know I feel so lucky that when I came to Ukiah 17 years ago, I chose the flower shop that would be the only flower shop left in Ukiah after all these years. I have to say that it has everything to do with great employers. They give me time off to do the MCAVHN annual Event of the Heart, in the middle of Valentine's as well as donate flowers for the event. They let me do far out, fashion forward designs for modern, young customers. They care about the business, customers, employees, and above all they care about the flowers they purchase and where they are sourced.

I'm proud to say that long before Buy Local' was a slogan, my boss always procured product from sources as local as possible. When big box or grocery stores started buying roses (and lilies) from South American growers, many California growers sold their farms. These are now sprawling suburbs. As for the imported product, I know what flowers go through to get to that big box store before it gets to you. First, it's pesticides and fertilizers no longer allowed or used in the USA. Next it's the travel and storage. From Columbia to Miami. That is usually the point of entry. Sitting in a warehouse waiting to be inspected by USDA before being shipped to the next warehouse. Waiting 1-3 days before being shipped to your big box store. This journey can take 3-6 days.

Chances are those flowers have been stored and shipped with produce. Produce that emits ethylene. Ethylene (C2H4) is a naturally occurring plant hormone. It does affect the growth, development, ripening, and senescence (aging) of all plants. Bananas, after being brought to the USA, are placed in huge lockers where high levels of ethylene is introduced in order that the bananas turn from green to yellow. Those bananas are probably in the same produce trailer as apples, potatoes, strawberries peaches as well as roses and carnations. Ever buy a peach that FELT ripe but was hard on the inside? How about strawberries that started to rot before you could finish the basket? Maybe long lasting carnations that dried up, shriveled up after 3 days? How about the rose that never opened or heads that just fall over. These are some of the effects of ethylene exposure. Unless my boss is eating an apple when driving, freshly harvested roses from the farms to the shop, our California grown roses are not exposed to outside sources of this ripening agent.

Maybe you saw my Facebook page with the photo of the boxes of Pro-Flower product being manhandled in some warehouse, somewhere in USA. Hey, where's the romance? Where is the love?

In the big picture, the National Retail Federation reported that consumers probably spent $1.8 billion on flowers for Valentine's Day. That is up from $1.7 billion in floral sales 2011 and $1.6 billion 2010. We notice that sales are higher when Valentine's Day is on a weekday and deliveries to a work place are in high demand. In this small town shop with all the extra help that needed to be hired, tight workspace and long hours to get every detail on every order just right, we got along just fine. It was a successful holiday. Now we take a breather and get ready for Mother's Day. Where ever Mom is I recommend, order early and order directly from the delivering florist.

Wil Gonzalez works for Rainforest Fantasy, is NW Regional past-president of the American Institute of Floral Designers, Ukiah Garden Club president and a trophy winning Rose parade Floral Designer. 

It’s Tee Time

Yes the frigid days of January are upon us. The long cold winter has descended on these hapless souls in the northern hemisphere. But not all places above the equator have been transformed into a quasi tundra where conditions are as inhospitable as an alien planet. We here in Florida are still enjoying days in the 70s and 80s, the southwest and southern California also boast mild days and cool nights. And for those of you who do not have the good fortune to live in these warmer locations, first let me apologize. For those of you who seek refuge from the icy, blustery north, welcome. And it is to these individuals that I write this review of GolfShot, a nifty little app available on your handheld device/ smartphone from the good people at Shotzoom.


First of all there is a free “Lite” version and a full $29.99 version. I would recommend trying out the “GolfShot Lite” version before buying the full version (which I know carries a steep price tag, but worth it, once you find all the cool stuff it can do).

Let’s start with all the neat stuff that the “Lite” version does.

So when you hit the links, you take this little app with you on your phone you can use it as your scorecard for you and your golf buddies and email it to them when you are finished. It automatically loads the closest golf courses, asks you which distances you’ll be teeing off from and you also have the option of inputting your personal handicap. Then asks at which hole you will be starting and at this point you will also be entering the other members in your party.

After you finish each hole, the app lets you enter the number of strokes for each player. When you, as the owner of the app, enter your score, you also will enter the club you used to tee off (Par 3 holes), whether you sliced left, right, came up short of the fairway or hit the fairway (Par 4 and 5 holes). There are also inputs for sand shots and penalty strokes. The app complies this data at the end of each round and produces useful information such as driving accuracy, greens in regulation, recovery, putting averages and other information that is plotted on a graph and can show your progress over 5, 10, 20 and 50 rounds. You can recall your stats for each round (where it was played and what your stats were for the date and particular course) that you play and see which way your game is trending.

So in summary, that is what the “Lite” version will do. The main drawback I noticed in playing with this app is that since I am left handed golfing and right handed writing, I have to use a gloved finger to input my scores and other information so it makes my finger about twice the size. I use an iPhone so the on screen buttons can be hard to press with any degree of accuracy, but I get around this by carrying a stylus which I would recommend for this app especially if you plan to use it on the golf course where one little (innocent mind you) incorrect entry can throw your stats off.

As fun as the free, “Lite” version is, the full $29.99 version is even more enticing. This version gives you all the features as the “Lite” version, but includes a GPS feature which will measure your ball’s distance from the front, middle or the back of the green. It also includes aerial images of the course to present you with the perfect distance to the hole, making your club and shot selection that much easier.

The whole app is uncannily accurate and really does double as the ultimate range finder/ scorecard no matter where you choose to golf and regardless of your ability. The largest drawback to this particular app is that with your “location service” turned on at all times (it has to be if you want to know exactly how far from the hole your next shot is) it is a major battery drainer. Forget about answering an email or taking a call out on the course, this app will take you from 100% to 0% most likely before your round is over. The only true way to get around this is to carry a spare, portable power source, but let’s face it, who wants to do that?

But have no fear, the good people at Shotzoom have obviously listened to their reviews, taken heed and come up with a nifty alternative. Enter the Shotzoon Golf GPS Rangefinder. This app eliminates the continued use of the GPS running in the background. It is a very accurate rangefinder and can make your club selection very simple. While it does save your smart phone a good deal of battery time, it too can be a bit cumbersome and difficult to gage each time you take a shot. Holding the unit steady and seeing the screen on certain types of sun-filtered days can be a bit daunting.

I addition, Shotzoom provides Golfplan with Paul Azinger. This app provides personalized tips and tricks based on your current game. I have yet to play around with this app, but would welcome any comments from those of you who have and I will try to write a review when I get the chance.

So to conclude, I would recommend that for the average golfer, if you are looking for a nifty electronic scorecard, the Golfshot Lite version is an easy to use, free app that provides you with a ton of information and can help see which way your game is trending.

If you are into having all the ins and outs of a rangefinder and GPS system incorporated into your game, I would recommend Golfshot GPS ($29.99 in the iTunes app store), but again beware that the battery drain will be severe.