For Mike Lafferty, moving to Florida and starting up a small business was always a dream. “I had an image of me at the front of a store, chatting with people as they walked by,” said Lafferty. “It is how I always pictured my retirement.” That dream nearly became a nightmare. After retiring from his 37 year career as a mechanical engineer, Lafferty and his wife Ella picked up stakes in their former home town of Scranton Pennsylvania and moved to sunny Coral Gables Florida. Within a month, Lafferty had sunk most of their life savings into starting up a small business, a flower shop, that would allow the couple to spend their golden years enjoying what used to be just a hobby.
“For years, we gardened in Scranton,” said Ella, “and we thought it would just be perfect to move to a warmer climate and make a going business out of that interest in botany.” They quickly learned that you need far more than a green thumb to succeed in the crowded Southern Florida market. After they spent their nest egg starting the business, they learned that there were four other flower shops just in their neighborhood alone. “At first it did not bother us a bit,” said Mike. “We went in to each of them, and we were convinced that our quality would soon make us the go to place for flowers. The other stores kept changing owners. The plants were unhealthy and shriveled. We never thought anyone would prefer those stores to ours.”
But that is exactly what happened. Mike and Ella ultimately had to take a crash course in running a small business. “We had no website. We had no way to get our name out there,” said Ella. “Our grandson, Joey, actually built a wonderful web page for us, but we just were not getting enough people to click on it.” That was when a former colleague suggested that they look into an SEO services provider. “I thought it would be expensive, but the SEO services pricing was fantastic,” said Mike. “Ella did not want to do it at first, but when she saw the SEO services pricing, she agreed that it was worth the chance for a bit.” They found a Miami seo, hired a web design firm to polish up their grandson’s website, and soon saw their business expand nearly overnight. “Our Seo in miami got us at the top of all the web searches, and when people knew about us, they kept coming in,” said Ella. “With that impact, I am still amazed at the SEO services pricing.” See more.
This may be my age speaking, but I miss the days when the way to improve your business was by offering quality, shaking someones hand and building a word of mouth reputation.
I am pretty young, but I agree with you 100 percent. I was taught that the best way to run a business was to be able to look someone in the eye, tell them the truth, shake their hand, and work hard.
I am pretty young, but I agree with you 100 percent. I was taught that the best way to run a business was to be able to look someone in the eye, tell them the truth, shake their hand, and work hard.
I am pretty young, but I agree with you 100 percent. I was taught that the best way to run a business was to be able to look someone in the eye, tell them the truth, shake their hand, and work hard.
I am pretty young, but I agree with you 100 percent. I was taught that the best way to run a business was to be able to look someone in the eye, tell them the truth, shake their hand, and work hard.
I am pretty young, but I agree with you 100 percent. I was taught that the best way to run a business was to be able to look someone in the eye, tell them the truth, shake their hand, and work hard.