In my last post, I talked about what classifies a small business as a small business, and the history of Shop Small Saturday. The day you shop whether Black Friday, Shop Small Saturday or Cyber Monday is here nor there. Unless there's an amazing deal or limited quantities on a product you've been eying, what's important is to shop small businesses at some point during the holiday.
This holiday season, I want to give a handful of small businesses I follow a shout out. I've selected these businesses for a variety of reasons. Above all, I love what they are doing and want to show them local love! They are in alphabetical order.
1. Drawings by Trent | Unmistakable Art
I first discovered Drawings by Trent on TikTok. I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this family and their mission. You can read the full story for yourself here, but Trent is a 27-year-old man diagnosed with Autism who lives in El Dorado, Kansas. Trent is famous for his animal drawings! He has very limited oral communication, but expresses himself through is incredible art.
What started out as a way to help Trent become a productive member of society, has grown into so much more! He helps build awareness about Autism and shows other people how similar children can achieve their full potential in life. Through the help of his family, Trent has over 1.1M followers on Instagram and 2.7M followers on TikTok. They are an incredible community, and I wish Trent nothing but success!!
(image source: Drawings by Trent)
2. Flori | Locally Sourced & Sustainable Flowers
Not only is Flori my client but owner Lori Poliski, has been my floral friend for many years. Though Flori has been in business for over 5 years, Lori has been living this creative lifestyle for decades. It's literally a part of who she is. She's always busy doing something in the garden, making an arrangement for someone or caring for one of her animals or family members.
For years, Lori had been making a name for herself in the wedding space. She's an exceptional designer! Incredibly detailed and particular about her work and quality, she makes it look effortless (even though I know she's been up all night!). Last year, when I shared the news of my shift to consulting, Lori asked me to build her a new "retail" website on Shopify. She knew I had a lot of experience building my own sites on the Shopify Platform and wanted an easier way to manage her retail sales.
Today, Flori can be found on two sites, an incredibly smart strategy! Lori has Flori.Flowers, which targets her wedding and event clients, and Shop.Flori.Flowers which focuses on retail sales like local delivery, funeral & sympathy, and her CSA subscriptions.
Lori's design style is very organic and natural. It looks like it's been freshly picked from a garden because it has! Lori has a wonderful, picturesque property located in Woodinville, WA where she works out of her private studio. There is always something going on at Flori's Studio!
(image credit: Missy Palacol Photography)
3. Joy Blooms Farm | A Specialty, Seasonal Cut Flower Farm
Though a client now, I've known Laura Morimoto of Joy Blooms Farm for many years. I met Laura when she first started growing fresh cut flowers. She's a quick drive for me in Preston, WA just east of Issaquah off I-90.
When people ask what the difference is when buying flowers from a grocery store versus a flower farm, you won't know the difference until you've done so. Laura grows some of the best professional grade flowers I've ever designed with. She is a perfectionist of quality blooms. I used to buy a bucket or two of flowers from her each week as a florist. I always wanted a best mixture of whatever she had growing at the moment. Gosh, I miss buying flowers regularly from her!
Now, Laura is expanding in all directions. She has an impressive crop of peonies and cold-climate roses in early production and always exploring new varieties of flowers. This year, she also had a successful spring plant starts sale and another bulb sale this past fall. I am really looking forward to Joy Blooms Farm in 2025!
4. KM Marketing Services | Social Media Expert
I discovered my next inspiring business at a recent women's small business networking event on the Eastside. Katie Miller of KM Marketing Services is a delight. As a guest speaker on social media, her personality was infectious!
She might remember this a little differently, but there were some technical complications at the beginning of her presentation. She was flustered, as I would be, and a back-up plan was immediately put into action. A few minutes later, she was up and running, standing in front of a packed room. We've all been there, but she pushed through her frustrations with humor. Forced to regain her thoughts and composure for all to see. She was so relatable in that moment, and I've been following her ever since.
I think she's the essence of social media today. She shares her life, her feelings, and it's become a part of who she is. Small business owners could learn a lot from her vulnerability. It's what captured me and made me a follower.
(image courtesy of kmmarketingservices.com)
5. May Flowers | A Toronto Area Florist
I discovered May Flowers in a most unusual way. Years ago, when I was building the Lora Bloom website as a floral marketplace, I spent a lot of time with the Shopify call center in online chats. By the way, this is an excellent feature for small business owners and one of the perks of hosting a website on Shopify. 24/7, you can get help. I'm sure the help desk is now AI driven, but back then (pre-Covid) you could actually message with a real person on the chat. This is how I learned the Shopify platform so well. I ran into all sorts of little roadblocks and would connect with someone in a chat who could walk me through solving a problem.
One night, I had an issue. Connecting with the Shopify Help Desk, I started working through a problem with an agent. The agent commented on how nice my site looked. They said it reminded them of another flower website, May Flowers. From that night forward, I started following May Flowers and have loved their work since. But, it isn't just about their beautiful flowers. Their online site, use of site features, and social media presence are on point. They keep up with trends, are engaging, and carry a positive and uplifting energy about them. May Flowers is definitely one to watch.
6. The Old Soul Flower Company | West Seattle Florist
I knew Sophie Strongman of The Old Soul Flower Company long before she was my client. Sophie runs in the local and sustainable community of Seattle, which is a strong one. We first met when I was running Lora Bloom as an online floral marketplace. She sold flowers on the site.
Sophie has the most humble and kind soul you'll ever come across. She's deeply connected to the earth and honors those who came before our time. She lives an incredibly sustainable lifestyle and works hard to carry those values into her business.
Last spring, Sophie reached out to have me build a new website. She had partnered with Bloom Nation and wasn't happy with the results. Once ties were severed, her only option was to start from scratch creating a new online presence for her florist business in West Seattle. Over the last several months, she's been slowly rebuilding her visibility with a state-of-the-art Shopify website that is hers and hers alone.
7. Ridwell | Recycling Services
My next inspiring business is one that I probably think about multiple times a day. Founded in Seattle, Ridwell is a subscription-based company that collects household items to be properly recycled or repurposed into new useful products. Every other week, Ridwell swings by my house to collect plastic film, multi-layer plastics, batteries, light bulbs and much more. Wholeheartedly, I LOVE Ridwell!
If you've been following my business journey over the years, you know I'm a big supporter of sustainability, less waste and preserving our planet. I believe in global warming and how humans selfishly destroy our earth. However, I'm the first to admit, I believe in balance. I still shop at big retailers, but I try to make a conscious effort of the products I purchase and how I dispose of them. While my household pays for recycling services with our garbage, I know there are many household items these services don't collect and end up in landfills. This is where Ridwell comes in.
With the invasion of plastics, I'm trying to do my small part to recycle. I have felt such guilt for so many of the products I buy because of the plastic packaging. While trying to limit overconsumption altogether, knowing there's a viable resource to hand-off plastics to be properly recycled makes me feel like I have some sort of control. Perhaps, someone will be inspired by this and feel they can do it too.
8. She Wood Go | Hawai'i Inspired Products
The Hawaiian Islands are very near and dear to my heart. With many amazing memories and experiences in Hawaii, I will always honor their place and people. My next inspiring business came in a unique way too.
My husband works for Amazon in new business development. In recent years, he's been directly leading initiatives to help small businesses of the Islands to sell Hawaiian-made products on Amazon. She Wood Go is one of those businesses he connected with.
On his last trip to Maui, he brought home a beautiful denim bag with an embroidered ʻulu quilt design on the front pocket. Tempted to keep it for myself, I have decided to gift it to my mom for Christmas, as she is a quilter. Researching this business further, She Wood Go is owned by Leinani Hong. Her products are beautiful!! I really want her jumper and the "She Go" hat! What she creates is special. Not just because they are beautiful but because they carry the spirit of the Islands.
It's something I can't explain. They remind me of such wonderful and warm feelings. Many years since I've visited, I miss Hawaii, dearly. She Wood Go products touch a part of my heart that can only be rekindled when I'm physically there again. I wish them so much luck!!
9. Suayla.com | Pioneering Upcycled Textiles
While I don't always have the budget to purchase repurposed products, I always try to follow and support brands reinventing the kinds of products available on the market today. Suay is one of those brands.
I discovered Suay on TikTok. I absolutely LOVE their business model. They are making bold statements... "pioneering the clean up economy....created from a combination of post-consumer waste, deadstock and domestically, organically grown fibers...garment workers' rights and policy reform for fair wages"... and more. They have fantastic designs, and how Suay repurposes textiles is ingenious!
Not only does Suay create incredible clothing, they also have a textile recycling program and community die bath. Suay is one to follow and learn from!
(image courtesy of suayla.com)
10. Teressa Johnson | Beauty in Imperfect Living
The last small business I want to feature is one I always look at when she posts on Instagram, Teressa Johnson Studio. In the chaos of my life, it's the blend of old and new that inspires me the most. Teressa's styling captures how I would like to surround myself in life, even though it's not always that way in my real life. She has a way of drawing out subtle color hues and impactful statements from the complexity of life, leaving an air of simplicity. She adds pops of vibrant colors on muted backdrops. She brings the outside in and the inside out. Everything is perfectly imperfect. I love that.
