Meet David and Dee, the small business owners of The Gazebo Florist who kick-started their dream with support from their Many Rivers business coach.
Before starting their own business, Dee had been working as a florist for years and David was a stay-at-home dad. David had felt a drive to start a business for years but didn’t know why or how to get his idea off the ground. He reflects that his idea of business before he opened The Gazebo Florist and his reality as a business owner now is totally different.
“The number of things that I have learnt from this experience is incredible. The amount of growth is incredible.”
Keep reading to hear what David has to say about his small business journey with The Gazebo Florist.
Meet David and Dee
The Gazebo Florist has been operating for three years. It’s a flower shop and we sell flowers online and over the counter.
I was a stay at home dad, and my wife worked as a florist for ten years. I tried to go to university but it wasn’t right for me. Before that I was working in retail. I always wanted a small business but didn’t know how. I just had an internal drive to do it and I’ve gotten so much out of it.
It is hard to get a fulltime job and sometimes employers aren’t very good to their staff. For Deanne, she needed to progress in the florist industry and avoid business owners that aren’t always moral and ethical. For me, I find that there are things in life that you want to do but you don’t know why. I had an internal drive to start a business.
Working with Many Rivers
Many Rivers is the best and I have loved working with Dylan. There is no rubbish with him. He keeps it real and keeps it raw. I don’t want to talk about fluff, I want to be realistic and Dylan is great with that.
We originally got a loan, but apart from that it is just the support from Dylan, our Many Rivers business coach, that helped most. I think that it is important sometimes in life to have people who believe in you when you don’t believe in yourself. It is hard when you start your own business and there are lots of different things coming at you all at once. For us it was important to have someone on the sideline cheering us on and helping us with all the little things being thrown our way. Dylan was believing in our dream even though we were under the pump and had so much going on. Now that we are in the swing of it, we only ring Dylan every now and then.
Some people can’t go the traditional way in life. I couldn’t because I can’t pass exams and so can’t get employment through the traditional means. It is important to have services like Many Rivers to help people that can’t go to the traditional services. We are so grateful for Many Rivers and the opportunity that we’ve had to receive support for The Gazebo Florist. Many Rivers helps the marginalised people the people that are underused in society. The support and funding are resources to get these people working. There wasn’t a specific expertise that I needed to qualify for Dylan’s help and knowing that there is someone there all the time to ring at the end of the day makes you feel okay.
It has been great to have Dylan on board, there’s no words to explain the help Dylan has given us except for lifechanging. I had long term mental health issues from when I was young, but it’s now getting better. Having my own business has helped me get back in the game, boost my self-esteem and feel good about myself.
Biggest Challenge
Staying alive in the first 12 months. There’s nothing that stands out and there is no one thing because there is always a lot of things going on at the same time. When you’re new there is so many ups and downs.
Biggest Success
I don’t think it’s the one thing either. There is a lot of little successes along the way, and a lot of them are emotional not monetary. Sometimes just getting through the Mother’s Day season is a success.
Future Goals for The Gazebo Florist
We have many other businesses ideas that we would like to find a way to implement. We are also now looking to buy our first home because we have saved up so much money since starting our business three years ago. Our priority is to try and employ someone part-time and create a bit of work-life balance because that is what is important to us at this point of time in our lives. We can’t keep doing these hours and so this comes at a price. The business is stabilising and we’re happy with that – we would just get burnout.
Thanks David and Dee for sharing your story with us. We can’t wait to support you on this journey to achieving your future business goals.
Are you ready to take the first steps towards making your business idea a reality? Our Many Rivers business coaches will be with you every step of the road, not matter where your journey takes you.
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