002 – A stress to success lifestyle business with Julie Brugioni of The Silk Thumb

Gift Biz Unwrapped.

Episode number two.

Hi, this is John Lee Dumas of Entrepreneur on Fire,

and you're listening to Gift Biz Unwrapped.

And now it's time to light it up.

Welcome to Gift Biz Unwrapped,

your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop and

grow your business.

And now here's your host,

Sue Monheit.

Hi there,

I'm Sue Monheit and welcome to the Gift Biz Unwrapped podcast.

Whether you own a brick and mortar store,

sell online,

or are just getting started,

you'll discover new insight to gain traction and grow your business.

Today I am thrilled to introduce Julie Azzoni of the Silk

and for the past three decades has specialized in creating unique

interior designs,

utilizing the world's finest artificial flowers,

plants, and trees for both residential and business applications.

Some of their well-known clients are Billy Corgan of the Smashing

Pumpkins, the Signature Room on the 95th and Ravi Festival,

which is an outdoor concert area in the northern suburbs of

Chicago. Julie grew up in Highwood where the silk thumb is

currently located.

She started working in the retail store when she was 16.

And under the previous owner,

she learned the tricks of the trade.

And since I said previous owner,

you guessed it,

she had the opportunity to buy the business.

Guess what she did?

Julie owns two dogs and is busy planning for a big

event next May,

and that is her wedding.

So Julie,

next May,

do you mean in like a few weeks from now?

Yes, I mean in a few weeks from now.

Are you ready?

I am Sue.

Yay. Very exciting.

What else should we know about you and your business before

we get started?

What makes the silk thumb different is I come out to

see your space,

whether it's a new law firm downtown or a new home

in the suburbs,

I get a feeling of your surroundings,

of your taste,

of your color,

whether you're traditional,

whether you're modern.

And then I create an interior landscape of floral,

of plants,

of trees for whatever that is needed to warm up your

space to create color and welcome your guests without the maintenance.

So a lot of other stores,

you know,

there's this customization that we offer that I don't think many

do. Yeah,

So your difference is you're really not just a a cookie

cutter approach,

you really get to know who your customer is.

And so every single application is unique.

Exactly. That sets you apart so much,

just right there.

Well, Julie,

as our listeners know,

we like to align this conversation around the life of an

inspirational candle.

Shall we light it up?

Let's do it soon.

Okay. I'm glad you said that.

Now help us envision your candle.

What color is it?

My candle is red.

And why is it red?

Red is my favorite.

Color has always been my favorite color,

and it's also the,

the color of my favorite flower.

A red rose has always just been the most beautiful,

strong and exquisite flower.

I love the smell of them,

I love the layers,

and I love the thorns of a red rose.

So I'm just drawn to the passion and fire that red

gives me.

Love that passion and fire.

And with that,

let's talk about a quote that's resonating with you these days.

And this would be the quote on that beautiful red candle

On my candle.

I'd like to say that there'd be some long,

eloquent quote,

but my candle says,

let's get her done.

Let's get her done.

And what does that mean to you when you think about

that? I say that a lot to myself when I have

a big job to do,

and I mean a job I've been preparing for,

for a month.

Like for example,

this last December,

I had one of my biggest jobs in seven years.

It was an indoor pool room,

and I had designed the layout and picked the color and

plants for 150 plants for this room.

Each nook,

each corner was filled with realistic greenery and it really was

spectacular, but involved multiple people.

It involved a 22 foot truck that I drove.

Whoa. Yeah.

I mean,

I'm driving like Penske trucks and really in the morning I

take a deep breath,

I look at all the plants and I'm just about to

get overwhelmed and I,

I look at everything and I say,

all right,

let's get her done.

There You go.

And that just energizes you to take action.

Right. And I do,

and I like literally like roll up my sleeves.

I've got like gym shoes on or like boots and I'm

like, let's do this.

And once you've done that,

I mean once you've walked out of your comfort zone and

taken action and actually succeeded,

then you can be so proud of yourself on the other

end. No,

it's, it,

it's true.

It's amazing.

My goal is just for the homeowner or the business owner

to shake my hand and tell me what a great job

I did and that they're,

you know,

that they're happy.

So that is my main goal and I just make sure

everything gets done.

And I,

I kind of take it in checkpoints too.

Like even just getting to their home.

I'm like,

okay, I got you their home check one,

everything's unloaded,

check two.

You know,

like, so it's just a mental thing.

I'm doing okay.

I've done it in steps,

you know,

so now I just have to do this done.

That's some really good information because if,

I think if you look at a project in its totality,

it can be overwhelming,

but just to break it down in steps and then take

each individual step,

get it done,

like you said,

check it off is a great way to accomplish things that

at first look insurmountable.

All right,

Julie, let's go back to the very beginning of your journey.

You were talking about how when you were young,

you were working at the silk thumb.

Yes. First off,

was this your very first job?

It wasn't my first job.

It was my first long job.

I did work at Ravi actually when I was 15.

But my mom really wanted me to have a job.

I was 16 and I didn't wanna work at JUUL or

McDonald's. I wanted to work somewhere different.

And one of my girlfriend's sister was working at the Silk

Thumb and she told me that they were looking for a

stock person and someone to do organizational tasks and to clean,

you know,

to clean and do things was a very busy store.

There were about five people working there.

And so I started to work there.

I started to work there after school,

during breaks during my summer,

and I really,

really loved it.

So then you worked,

so you obviously did because you worked there for a long

time. And then tell us what happened.

Give us the story about how all of a sudden you

found that you could possibly actually own the silk thumb.

Yeah. Well,

it was so different and I loved watching the floral designers

come up with the designs and how seeing 12 stems,

you know,

12 separate stems could then turn into a masterpiece before my

eyes. And the store was always overflowing with flowers and trees.

So it was just a wonderful,

happy place to be.

And I loved how the previous owner,

Vicky had started this business in her basement and then became

really so popular that she started renting the storefront in Highland

Park. So I went to Northern Illinois,

which is not too far away,

and every other weekend I would start coming home and I

would work there on a Saturday.

And she loved how I just would roll up my sleeves

and I wasn't afraid to get dirty.

I would come in and I would clean house and she,

she loved that I would break boxes down,

I would stock flowers,

I was moving displays around.

I was just always very hands-on in that store.

I guess I felt very comfortable.

And then I ended up interning with her.

So I got college credit my junior year,

and that's when I really learned a lot about the business.

Part of the,

about the business.

She started taking me on buying trips to California.

So I saw how she was communicating with like,

with her wholesalers and with her clients.

She started bringing me to homes in the North Shore.

And when I say homes in the North Shore,

I mean,

we were doing like Michael Jordan's home and Scotty Pippin's home

and Richard Mark's home.

So I really got a firsthand experience of what it was

like to run the business.

And it was really amazing.

Basically long and short,

after college I worked at Northwestern Mutual for five years and

I, I'm glad that I did because I,

I had got my administrative assistant,

Giln, the organization that I needed,

that I,

I had utilized quite a bit now as a business owner.

she wanted to retire.

She was 60,

she had run the business for 28 years and she was

ready to retire.

And after coming up with the money,

which, you know,

you know,

pay, I did pay her off,

but had a business loan that I'm,

that I'm still paying off almost eight years later,

just to let you guys know how invested I am in

this business.

But what I did was I bought the name along with

her stock cuz she had been in business.

There was a,

a value to that,

to that name,

to the silk thumb.

So I continued to pay that down and I will do

it. I'm almost there.

Oh, of course you will.

And the silk thumb,

I mean,

being Julia's right in the community that I live in,

and I know that the reputation of the silk thumb has

only been enhanced with you at the helm.

You certainly did the right thing even though there was an

investment to be had.

And you can hear the names that Julie's kicking around here.

It's true.

I mean,

she's got her foot into the big guys here so That

I took a leap of faith.

Yeah, yeah.

But you know what,

that's what everyone's doing.

You know,

whether it's big names like you are working on,

you know,

luckily you had a little bit of training to get in,

you know,

and some guidance.

Yeah. Or if someone's just starting out and creating something for

themselves, you've gotta have the faith in yourself and you've gotta

just do it,

you know,

make a plan,

a smart plan,

but just do it.

I do wanna mention that I'd never taken a business course

before. So this was,

I, I knew the silk thumb,

but I had never taken a business course.

So in terms of like the financials and the accounting,

the payroll,

that was completely foreign to me.

So it it mean I can't even go into like the

first year I was like a,

a hamster and a one of those little mouse in a,

in Those wheels,

in those wheels Just trying to figure out what the heck

I was doing.

How did you do that?

Did you take classes or have,

have someone help you out with it?

Just on the side?

I started,

you know,

I started,

I reached out to people in my community and I started

networking a lot and I started to listen and I listened

to, to advice and you know,

some people were giving me more than I wanted,

but I would listen and I would network and I got

introduced to a lot of people who had experience behind them.

And obviously I'm still learning and I made some,

some trips and some falls that I learned from.

And that's,

you know,

what happens sometimes.

Well, that leads us perfectly into this next question because as

you are alluding to,

the path is never just straight and narrow and smooth things

can get difficult and challenging to say the least.

Can you tell us about a very specific time when that

inner candle that you had that that glowing of the silk

thumb and all the floral started to flicker and almost extinguish?

Yeah, there were,

you know,

there's a lot of challenges and opening and,

and having a business and running it.

If it were easy,

everyone would do it.

A lot of people I've,

I've heard that say saying,

and, and it is very true.

It is not for the weak of heart.

If you have the passion and you know the strength and

believe in yourself,

it can be done.

I mean,

So what happened after that?

Basically the world economic disaster,

Small shops like mine were closing even on my street in

an affluent neighborhood,

you know,

in the north shore of Chicago,

there were small businesses closing down shop.

So I had to do something and I had to do

something fast.

I literally had tapped out all of my resources.

I had tapped out a credit card.

I was like,

you know what,

if I'm gonna do this,

I can't walk away right now.

I need to know that I'd tried everything I could to

keep this business afloat.

So I just,

you know,

she really sold at a good time and I bought at

a bad time.

But, but You didn't know what was around the corner either.

I didn't know.

No. I mean,

God who knew that that was gonna happen exactly their jobs.

But basically I changed the business was,

the business model was,

I'd say about 80% residential homes to 20% corporate and commercial

work that we were doing.

And I switched that around and really went for forward towards

the commercial and corporate clientele.

And I talked to them about how they could save,

you know,

how I could focus by focusing on how businesses could save

money by cutting their fresh floral costs,

by cutting the,

the maintenance of the plants and the fresh flowers by bringing

them a new quarterly arrangement,

a leased arrangement to them,

or just doing silks in their lobby instead of fresh.

So that was when,

and then I started networking at Tongue and that was when

I got into Apprentice hospital and the signature room and House

of Blues downtown.

I had a beautiful product that didn't die.

So The other thing you are saying is you provided a

solution to other businesses who had a problem and the problem

was they were going through the economy just as you were.

Right. So here you walk in with a solution,

they may never have even considered silk floral before,

but it was a huge money saving opportunity for them too.

Did this just come to you overnight that this should be

your approach?

You know,

I, people were talking,

I listened to them,

I listened to the problems that they were having.

People were telling,

they're telling me that they were cutting their reception arrangements,

their fresh arrangements.

And you know,

everyone's going through a hard time,

but you certainly don't wanna look like you're having a hard

time when you walk into a lobby and there's no flowers

or it looks dire or not welcoming.

I was networking with a lot of business people,

so I could see that that was a need.

You know,

so I was,

I was going downtown quite a bit and I was seeing

the hustle and bustle of,

you know,

and how my product could solve a solution,

like you said.

And how did this change the way you worked your location

or your daily habits in the work environment?

Well, I found myself out of the store a lot more

and then I had to have someone in there,

you know,

I had to have to pay someone to,

to be there.

So then I found that leads me to this last year.

And this last year was sort of the straw that broke

the camel's back for me.

Again, like you had mentioned,

this silk thumb had been in downtown Highland Park for about

30 years.

And basically during the winter months,

downtown Highland Park was pretty quiet.

And just like a lot of other businesses,

it's cyclical.

And my January,

February and marches were just dismal.

I mean,

so dismal this the,

you know,

a couple days.

I was having like $0 days and I still had my

overhead to pay.

I still had my rent,

my, my at and t bill,

all of these things.

And I was,

it was becoming so bad.

I was,

I was crying.

I had Annette to my assistant,

you know,

who had worked with me for the last seven years.

I was cutting her hours substantially.

Like I,

I had have her in four days a week.

And then it basically got down to about one day a

week and then almost went down to every other week one

day, every other week.

And I'm very prideful.

So that was really hard to do,

which she understood because she could see I was a mess,

like literally a mess.

And like if someone didn't come in the store all day,

I would be heartbroken.

And I had such a beautiful product.

So it was like,

you know,

it was stopping me from going out and getting business because

I had to,

to be at the store.

So it was like,

it was a lose lose situation.

And in February I found out that my building had been

sold and that I was gonna have a new landlord.

And he was a nice guy,

but he basically told me that my rent was gonna be

going up $600 in August,

which is when my lease was up.

And I knew at that point I couldn't even consider the

extra $600 in rent.

I wasn't even paying myself a regular salary,

you know,

during those months.

So I went to a friend,

a very,

very wise friend who was always very straightforward with me.

And I,

he does not beat around the bush.

And after I shared with him,

you know,

what I had taken in this last year,

you know,

how, how much I was working,

he basically said that I needed to rip off the bandaid

and move on immediately.

He's like,

you need to get out of the storefront.

Immediately he said,

he said,

what did he say?

He said stuff,

he basically said that every day I'm in the store,

I was bleeding and he told me I should call my

landlord the next day and see when I could leave.

And it was like a slap in my face.

And I still remember I was like,

quiet. And he looked at me and he is like,

I'm sorry Julie,

I just,

you need to hear this.

And I'm like,

you're right.

I do.

Because I was so emotionally wrapped into the business,

like, cuz I had been there since I was 16 years

old and I'd that I,

I just,

it was like such a,

a big part of my heart and You probably never even

considered that alternative,

Never considered the alternative.

But I knew that the business was not working like this

anymore. So what did you do?

So I literally called the landlord the next day,

explained the situation and he said,

how quickly are we talking?

And I said,

as quickly as possible,

when I make up my mind,

I am like,

let's go,

let's do this.

And because there's no reason to dilly dally and get sad,

it's like this is what's gonna happen and I need to

move forward with it because this is the smart thing to

do. It's not easy,

but it's what I need to do.

So he found another tenant like very quickly,

which meant I needed to evacuate.

The, the space that we had occupied,

you know,

had been occupied for over 30 years and there was a

basement involved.

This was a,

a big task and it was a very emotional one.

So let's jump over now to the future cuz we have

a lot I still wanna cover cuz you have such valuable

information. So what did you do?

Where'd you go after you shut down the store?

I took everything after I had sliced 50 to 60% off

a lot of my inventory.

I took everything I had left and I,

I found a location where I could just sell off the

remaining stock.

And while I was doing that,

my, you know,

people were still able to get in touch with me.

Like my social media,

my website was still up,

so I was still selling things off and people were getting

in touch and they were like,

cuz in my,

in my head I thought that the business was over,

the business could not function without a storefront.

And in my head I thought this was what needed to

be done and I was just gonna sell off when I

needed and go get a job for someone.

But what happened was people were like,

Julie, you're so talented,

why don't you just do it out of this space?

And I was like,

how can I do it out of this space?

I'm up a flight of stairs,

I'm in a,

it was literally a commercial building,

it was not pretty,

it was like basically just a warehouse,

like cement floors with an adjacent office.

But I started to take a job,

you know,

someone would call and say,

could you do this for me?

And I ordered what I needed and ordered the material that

I needed just for that job.

So instead of having the storefront where I had to have

a stock of inventory that might just sit there for months,

I just ordered the 12 stems or the 12 orchids or

the two plants that I needed for that job.

And I remember finishing a job that I made quite a

bit of profit on because in this warehouse space,

my overhead is less than half that it was in Highland

Park. And I was like,

wow, I can't believe I actually made some money and I

get to keep it.

But look at,

look at what you did.

I mean you took the base business,

which you love so much,

you know,

providing beautiful surroundings Yeah.

For customers.

And based on the times and the situations you were in,

you reinvented your business still around the same product.

Right? And people ask me like,

why, you know,

why didn't you do this sooner,

Julie? This was so much better.

And I'm like,

I know,

I don't know.

I'm like,

you know,

I guess I just needed to,

I need to go through that,

through those steps I needed like to kind of have the

pain and the death of like the retail storefront and then

kind of reinvent myself and the business in this way.

So now,

like my website,

you wouldn't even know that I had this storefront in Highland

Park. You can just see like I could send and ship

succulent arrangements to Arizona if I wanted to.

And you know,

so because I'm not niche spaced into a Highland Park retail

storefront, my audience has now broadened,

if that makes sense.

So your business can even really grow bigger based on the

way you're set up now than,

than the way you were before.

Absolutely. I don't have to be there now between 10.

It's not like I've got these storefront hours that are,

you know,

open 10 to five.

I don't need to pay someone to sit there and wait

for customers to come in.

It's by appointment only.

So I've really simplified my life and that's what I would

tell business owners or people who are looking into it.

My life has come so much more simple,

you know,

and I meet people on my time and whether it's me

going out to their home or to their business or they

come meet me at my studio,

I don't need a fancy storefront.

And I realize now they,

I didn't ever need one.

I've got a beautiful product and I've got a talent and

people don't care if I'm working out of my basement or

if I'm working in a warehouse,

I'm producing a product that's going into your space.

Yeah. So I think,

I think the takeaway with all of this for the gift

biz listeners is make sure that you keep your eyes open

to considering new possibilities.

Yes. We're gonna move into what we call the reflection section.

This is to capture some good information from you in terms

of resources or tools that you found to be really valuable.

What is one natural trait,

Julie, that you have,

that you feel has helped you to succeed?

Well, I would say that I'm,

I'm definitely a go a go getter,

as you can see,

the getter done candle,

you know,

that is is something I've always,

I just,

I'm not afraid to roll up my sleeves and and give

it a go.

And the other thing is,

I have always been very good at color and in my

industry what I'm doing,

I'm very good at color combination.

And I could look at a picture in your home,

I could look at a color in your pillow and I

could literally go and match it to a flower that's the

exact color just by memory.

So I think that has helped me quite a bit.

What tool do you use regularly to keep productive or to

help create balance in your life?

Every day I use a to-do list.

I've been using the same list for about 10 years now.

Even when I was an admin,

I print one off every day and it basically says what

my high priorities are for the day,

who I need to follow up with,

the calls I need to make,

and the projects that I'm working on.

And every day I,

I cross,

I'm a pencil and paper,

paper type of gal.

I definitely don't put things,

you know,

like use my phone.

I like to cross things off when I'm done and I

use my to-do list absolutely every day.

And it helps me be organized.

And the other thing that I'm involved with is my networking

group. It's a,

it's, it's a b and I group and it's a weekly

networking group that I've been involved with for seven years now.

And that meets every week for an hour and a half

on Thursday mornings.

And I love it very,

very much.

And I would also tell business owners or potential business owners

that in the beginning I was networking a ton,

I was wearing myself out,

I was going downtown to networking events,

I was going to multiple chamber networking events,

young professional networking events.

And, and although that was good and I would say you

need to do that to get your feet wet,

you know,

give your commercial quickly to people and then people know who

you are and they recognize your logo and your business card

and your name.

Now I focus on my BNI group and that is called

Business Networking International.

I get about 20% of my business comes from this group.

Wow. That,

that's really nice to put a number to it.

Yeah. Cause I know a lot of people are familiar with

bni, but to be able to talk about the business that

you're getting is really valuable.

Absolutely. What book have you read lately that you think our

listeners could find,

find value in?

Yeah, that was,

that's a tricky one to be honest with you.

My brain is so wired during the day about what I

can be doing,

what I need to be doing next,

that at the end of my day I like,

I enjoy reading just fiction books to,

to have nothing to do with business.

To Have a little escape,

right? Yes.

To have a little escape.

But I will tell you,

I just,

I was a communications major focusing on interpersonal leadership and group

communication. And in that class I remember reading How to Win

Friends and Influence Others by Dale Carnegie.

And that was an excellent book.

I took a lot away from that book and I just

reread a paper I wrote for that class,

basically saying,

the more you get to understand the person you're speaking to,

ask them questions,

compliment them,

figure out what it is they're looking for,

what they desire,

you can tailor your communication to them to basically win them

over. Just as you're listening to the podcast today,

you can also listen to audiobooks with Ease.

Get an audiobook like this one for free.

All you need to do is go to gift biz book.com

and make a selection.

That's gift biz book.com.

Okay. Julie,

my favorite part of the interview is coming up and this

is the Dare to Dream section.

I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.

It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.

This is your dream or goal of almost unreachable height that

you'd wish to obtain.

Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.

What is inside your box?

That's a great question,

Sue. And to be honest,

I think that if you had asked me that question five

years ago,

I would've had a very different answer than the one I'm

going to give you today.

Where five years ago I would say that I wanted to

run a Fortune 500 company and have 10 people working under

me, where I would have salespeople out on the,

you know,

on the street selling Silk Thumb product where because of what

happened last year and how simplified things have gotten for me,

living a balanced lifestyle has become very important,

which I think inside this box would be a happy Julie,

a happy business owner.

Success to me is being able to,

let's say I'm getting married,

you know,

this next May in a couple weeks is to raise a

family and still have the silk thumb and run the silk

thumb successfully.

Have it still be respected,

have it still grow.

And when I have larger jobs,

just hire people as I need them and have a very

balanced life where I can live comfortably and I don't need

anyone else to support me means a lot.

I love that answer because one of the greatest things about

running your own business is you can make it whatever you

want. Yes.

You know,

it doesn't have to be a multimillion dollar business.

It can be something just like you're saying is in balance

and allows you to have time with your husband,

have a family if you decide to,

and that's one of the great reasons about having and building

your very own business.

Exactly. Yeah.

So Julie,

how can our listeners get in touch with you if they

wanna know more about your floral industry or just follow you?

Yeah, absolutely.

Silk Thumb has a Twitter page,

it has a Silk Thumb Facebook page that I'm on,

you know,

quite a bit.

I have a LinkedIn profile under Julie Brioni,

my website,

silk thumb.com.

There's email you can reach me through there@infosilkthumb.com.

I'm very happy to talk to people.

I'm very happy to share my story or things I've learned.

I've got plenty of them.

I've definitely fallen on my knees and gotten back up.

You know,

this September will be my eighth year in business.

And I'm telling you,

I think I took like one general math class in in

college and I avoided every other part of math and economics

and business.

But I would say I definitely have a good eight years

under my belt.

Well, you've learned it one way or another because you are

very successful.

So thank you.

Gift Biz Unwrapped listeners,

if you jump over to our website,

gift biz on wrap.com,

you'll find the show notes for Julie that have all the

information that she's shared with us today and the different ways

to contact her.

Thank you so much,

Julie, for the tremendously valuable gifts that you've shared with us

today. You've really opened up your business and your life and

told us your journey and it is worth so much to

our listeners.

So Julie,

may your candle always burn bright.

Thank you,

Sue. Appreciate that.

Learn how to work smarter while developing and growing your business.

Download our guide called 25 Free Tools to enhance your business

and life.

It's our gift to you and available@giftbizunwrap.com

slash tools.

Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for the

next episode.

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