Ep. 106: Amy Dunlap (Stemz)

Today we’re visiting with Amy Dunlap, owner of Stemz, Inc. in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Amy never could seem to avoid the draw of flower shop jobs in high school and college. After studying horticulture in college and getting a Masters degree in Agricultural Education and Communication, she opened a home-based floral design business to service weddings and events and eventually bought a building to house her business. Following her intuition, Amy decided to close her shop in 2018. But she didn't sit idle for long before pursuing a new floral endeavor - creating Stemz, a platform to help strengthen the local cut flower supply chain by cultivating connectivity between US farms & floral creatives.   Join us as we talk with Amy about: Taking the first steps toward bringing a large and complicated vision to life The advantages of having co-founders who represent different facets of the floral profession Understanding the importance of distribution in making local flowers accessible to florists The challenge of building supply consistency when selling local flowers to florists Adding Stemz staff members who can build relationships with designers and learn their needs The importance of loving the problem your business is trying to solve Building a business slowly so you can adapt the model based on the results you're getting Editing your services to avoid distractions that keep you from growing and staying true to your message LINKS MENTIONED IN EPISODE 105: Slow Flowers Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers (ASCFG) Chapel Designers Holly Chapple Bloom Trust Co Grand Floridian Hotel / Walt Disney World FOLLOW STEMZ: WEBSITE INSTAGRAM FACEBOOK MEET THE STEMZ TEAM: Amy Dunlap (Stemz Founder) / Amy Lynne Originals Claire Parrish (Stemz CFO) / Heritage Harvest Farms India LoFaso (Stemz Business Development) Lindsay Potter (Stemz Operations) / Piper + Fig TODAY’S EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY: EveryStem EveryStem florist software has the power to change the way you price and order flowers for a profit. Here’s what floral designers are saying about their EveryStem experience: “The rewards have been incredible. 2021 was our most profitable year of our 14 years in business because of EveryStem.” Ashley Fox, Ashley Fox Designs “I love using this software program- I have really reduced my tendency to overbuy and have improved my profit margins by at least 10% since starting it. I tell everyone who asks for a better way to do recipes and pricing that it is worth it!”  Kira Barker, All in the Details Flowers Host: Amy McGee (Bloom Trust Co.) BB Podcast Sound Engineer: Grayson McGee Music Written & Performed by: Landon McGee