Today we’d like to introduce you to John Lindsey.
John, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
It was all a dream some 20 or so years ago 1996 I was living in Pasadena, CA., working as an office clerk at a boring job dreaming of being my own Boss. The Story behind Petal Pushers is one of sheer determination, will & perseverance always the hustler since my childhood days of cutting lawns, candy sales and odd jobs with neighbors. My Mom suggested that I consider selling flowers on the weekends for extra money, She introduced me to the margins in the industry, and the rest is history, I did some short stints in local shops, went to Floral Design school, and started to frequent the Los Angeles Flower Market on weekends started selling single Roses in the Old Pasadena area, Five years later 2001, I would open a Flower & Gift Mall Cart in the Long Beach Towne Center, Wildly successful with moviegoers and mall patrons, A year later 2002 another location in Los Angeles, at The Mercado La Paloma for its Grand opening. Those locations were both a short lived two years, but they were the catalyst into The Full Service Florist and Indoor Plant sales, care and weekly maintenance direction of the business which has been largely successful with great Yelp/Google reviews from past customers and the eventual move to our present location on Flower St. in Los Angeles and the long standing to this day, relationship with USC Staff, Faculty, students, parents & the DTLA demographic.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has not always been the smoothest of Journey’s, In 1998 in Pasadena I was issued a Business license to conduct flower sales on the city sidewalks, but was targeted for arrest, twice over a short period of time for selling flowers on city streets, as there was an ordinance, prohibiting sidewalk sales though the City Clerk of Pasadena had issued me a license to do just that, after the second arrest for sidewalk sales of flowers, I was fed up and sued the City of Pasadena, and prevailed in Summary Judgement as my own attorney, as I could not afford the Attorney costs to file suit, I headed off to the Law Library, motivated by the conviction of being within my rights, two years later I won with a considerable 1998 money judgement for damages, but a great loss of time off track on the journey Now two years later I could continue on my journey of establishing Petal Pushers
Please tell us about Petal Pushers Florist.
At Petal Pushers we are a full service florist, that also provides Interior Office Plant weekly care & maintenance services throughout the Los Angeles area & USC Campus. We are known for unique floral designs and stunning office interior planters. We maintain a sustainable workshop that considers our use of electricity and recycled water. Our hours of operation are usually by appointment only, which just means call first for something specific, or catch us in the shop from 6AM-6PM with today’s Blooms. Call first & Pull up later your order is ready upon your arrival, we differentiate ourselves with an anal attention to detail and a Customer is always right, even when their wrong, approach to customer service, also we would rather create a relationship for tomorrow than a dollar for today. All money is not good money.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Without recurring accounts for services or goods, small business is a tough trial & error scenario, I had to learn the value of relationships over dollars.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2809 S. Flower St. Los Angeles, CA
- Website: www.aaapetalpushers.com
- Phone: 800-787-1983
- Instagram: Petal Pushers Florist
- Facebook: Petal Pushers Florist
- Yelp: Petal Pushers Florist
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