Ep 19: Refining the floral industry with Eni Awoyemi, Founder of Feyi Flowers

0:12This week we're bringing you something new that we're calling Lift off with. Now, in honour of National Small Business Week, I'm bringing you some of the best kept secrets who are perhaps earlier on in their journeys are really on their way to lift off. We're bringing you a new episode every single day to shine a spotlight on these incredible women that you might not have yet heard of. Right, so let's lift off with. Today we're joined by Eni Aueyemi, founder of Faye Flowers. Now, after facing redundancy just months after maternity leave, Eni turned a challenge into an opportunity, building a thriving floral brand from the ground up.

0:47From navigating business challenges to building a thriving brand, Eni has truly carved her own path. And in doing so, she's encouraging a new generation of aspiring entrepreneurs. So let's find out why she's a lady who launched. Right, before we get into it, if you like this episode, which I know you get it, Please don't forget to like and subscribe and to share it to your group chat. Thank you for being here. Thank you so much for having me. You know I'm a fan. You know I'm a fan. And I'm so, so excited that we get to sit down and chat. You come to our lunch. Yes. Which was such a lovely day.

1:24Incredible. There were so many amazing women. It was so good to hear everybody's stories. And it sort of ended up a bit of a therapy session. I mean, that's what happens when you get a bunch of ladies together, right? It was like a therapy session meets kind of group bonding experience. I loved it. It was the best time ever. But I wasn't sat near you, so I didn't get to ask. You were. I was like, I can't believe I have this chair. I was like three seats away from you. No, but I mean, I wasn't next to you, so I didn't get to like sort of pick your brains. Yeah, but you had a lot of people there.

1:52So I'm so excited that we get to do this. I think the best place to start is who is Annie? Yeah. And what is Faye Flowers? Absolutely. So I'm Eni. I am a mom. I'm an entrepreneur. And Faye Flowers is a brand that I've created specifically for the modern woman. So we create bouquets that are wrapped in unique prints. And our focus is all around self-care and just really encouraging women to buy themselves their flowers. There's this simplicity that is just genius. I'm like, of course, like we know a good bunch of flowers, right? And we know a bad bunch when we see one. Why are we not buying them for ourselves?

2:33Why do we wait for an occasion or I don't know, a man or, and they say that when men buy flowers, it means they've done something. Wrong. Yes. Like, why do we wait for an occasion? Why don't we just treat ourselves to a good bunch of flowers a little more? Exactly. I think it's like we just don't feel like we deserve them, which is strange. Yeah. But yeah, that's what we try to do in our community of girlies. They understand that and they want to just put a little bit more into themselves. And I think that's so important. like it's nice when you receive a flowers from your man or like an occasion but I think it's even better when you receive it for yourself and you've actually bought it for yourself it just feels better than a bunch that you actually want yeah exactly that looks good on your kitchen table like your style your aesthetic and they are so gorgeous and they are so distinctly fay flowers when you see a bunch I know they're from you or at least they should be yeah we'll get into the kind Kind of, I'm going to call it inspiration.

3:34I'm going to call it flattery, but we'll get into that in a little bit. Take us back, first of all, before Faye Flowers. I've heard you speak, I've watched clips of you talking on other shows. And I've heard that you say that you've always been a bit of a hustler, right? From a young age. Tell us what that means to you. So I've never had like one job. I've always had like two jobs whether I'm full-time I always had something else going on so that driving me I guess maybe it comes from like my parents so my parents were immigrants they came to the UK when I was about nine and they've always worked so many jobs and I think for me I just always had that driving me that I had to be working like two or three jobs at the same time to like do the best that I could so that's where I think that's always come from and I've always wanted to work for myself yeah it's so it's so interesting because I I definitely can emulate that with my mum like she she was working in boots and she was a hairdresser and she would do and there was kind of always everything so it wasn't really an option not to I didn't think working is you know working isn't important it was always seen as a priority yeah and I think when you're a mum there's that moment that for me that dialed up a notch and then we talk about the idea of mum guilt and you're trying to make everything happen and we spoke before we recorded about you know the nursery drop and everything else in between but actually for me I've always sort of appreciated my mum's work ethic and learned a lot from that and I hope that my children do the same yeah absolutely I think it's my mum's drive and like seeing her do so much for me it's like I have to have two or jobs for me it's like it's the norm right because I've seen that growing up so it doesn't feel like I'm doing too much it just feels like I should have two or three different hustles I'm just as I go along I'm just working and like I want my daughter to also see that like the brand is named after her so like everything I do I want her to feel like really really proud of it yeah and oh my goodness me she if she doesn't realize yet she really will and having her name as does it does it give you because we all call our business our babies right yeah like your second child or for me my fourth child does it take a new meaning when your business is named after your baby girl absolutely so her name it's like a nigerian name and it's like a yoruba name so it means my joy can i like take this as my joy and that's how we want everyone to feel when they receive the bouquet like have that feeling of joy and we get that from our customers it feels so good and like when i hear people say feyi and they're like pronouncing it right even they pronounce it wrong I'm like I just love that like everybody knows her name like I love it yes yes yes exactly and you've already done the bit for her like my daughter is called Alaya for her whole sort of 12 years everybody's calling her Alaya and you know they never quite get the name right but you've done the work for her yeah I'm like now everyone knows how to pronounce it exactly that um I want to talk about going from the idea of having lots of different jobs to knowing that you want to launch a business because it is it's a risky thing to do it's a brave thing to do it's very bold to go okay I'm going to actually take a punt on myself here and I'm going to rip that band-aid off and I'm going to do this for me because I I've got this idea and I know it can be something and I feel passionate about it what how did that transition look to you so prior to fair year I had another business which I'll call it probably a side hustle because I was always in corporate but I had another business just before that for four years um so I was always doing that I and I knew that I wanted to work for myself but I just couldn't really take that plunge and I would say it was when I became a mom like being a mom just instilled something in me that it's just indescribable I felt like if I don't do this now when am I going to do it so did you feel like it gives you like because I I couldn't agree more and it was the same with me with my little cocoa and obviously my reason was my frustration with the baby market however I it's just it gives you that gives you this set of balls yeah and you're like off we go I think it's like a mum now I don't know it gives you that like come on I'm having a baby you feel like you can do anything right so yeah that was how I felt and um this time last year I was actually made redundant from my corporate job so I felt like I could go into another corporate job or I could take a risk for myself and I was like this is the only time I can actually do it I've got a bit of cash now from like redundancy I can put it all into my business go all in or I can save it and you know be a little bit safe I've got my daughter have some savings and then like work a corporate job but I thought actually I'm gonna be a little bit crazy and just put it all into my business and that's what I did um and yeah I'm really glad I did that I bet you are did it feel quite now or never at that point it did yeah I felt like if I don't do this now like I just turned 30 I just felt like when am I gonna do this you know I'd rather fail now than have that regret later yes yeah they say if they say like foul fast don't they like if you're gonna do it foul fast get on with it and you're on to the next thing let's talk about brand identity because Because it is, as I said before, it is so clear.

9:06And I could recognise a bunch of fae flowers anywhere. Was that something that you stumbled across quite quickly? Did you know how to, because a bunch of flowers is gorgeous, right? And you can pick a gorgeous bunch of flowers. But having brand identity when it comes to a bunch of flowers is actually quite a difficult thing to do. Because you're not reinventing the wheel here, right? You can be great at floristry. but how do you set yourself apart from other brands? Yeah, and that's how I felt. So I was really frustrated with the floral industry as a whole. I love flowers, right? So I always like arrange flowers myself.

9:42I'd buy flowers from the supermarket, but I get like different bunches that I can put together that I felt like it really fit with my style, like my kitchen table. But then when I ordered online, I didn't really like the bunches that I received and I thought the packaging just wasn't great. You know, the experience for me just wasn't there as a woman and it just didn't feel shareable. So I wanted to make a change to that. I also took some inspiration from like the way flowers were wrapped in the 80s. Like it was always with newsprint, but I wanted to like modernise that a little bit, which is what we've been able to do with Faye.

10:13It's so brilliant. And you're right, when you're receiving a bunch of flowers, it is an experience. Like that is such a key word, isn't it? And you want to feel that, whether you're gifting someone and they say, oh, I've received the most gorgeous bunch of flowers from you today. and you want that it is the experience of it you want to feel special you want to make someone else feel special yeah it needs to be a personal touch as well which i think was really missing within the floral industry there isn't really a brand identity there yeah i always say to my girls i'm like we're not a floral brand we're actually a fashion brand we're a beauty brand so like i put i instill that in them when they're like making a bouquet because you think when you're receiving like you know a nice dress like that feeling you get when you order something that's how i want people to feel when they get a fair UK.

10:58I love that it's kind of completely flipping it on its head. Yeah the problem we have is when you have a very clear identity and people are picking up on that clear identity and they're like yes I love this this is my new florist this is how I'm gonna shop you get the big brands that want to do a little bit of what you're doing. Yeah and what I think was very clear with you is you have built up a community not just a customer you have really built an online community in a quite a short space of time yeah and there were said brands that were using you as quite heavy inspiration and boy did social media know about it how what was that first moment like when you thought okay this is a competitor we're very new here I've done something I've worked for this and there are people emulating what we do it was insane I think for me I felt really defeated like when I started seeing you know a little bit of inspiration here and there um for me all I could do was share it with our audience I think when you build up a community and we were really small like I think I had like 2 ,000 people before I shared.

12:192 ,000 very engaged people. Very engaged people yeah and I just shared what was going on because that's what we've always done and you know we have our community basically rallied behind us and got the story out there which I think is super important. Absolutely that and was it something that you'd because when things are happening sometimes you do you share it like sometimes it builds before you think right I'm going to share this because this is really kind of bothered me now or was you kind of in real time sharing it in the moment i sat on it yeah i did a bit of investigating because it happens doesn't it yeah colleen rooney honestly like i am a little investigator my exes won't like me for that but like it's actually paid off um for me right now we've all got one good investigator in the group chat haven't we we all do we all do there you go that's your role but yeah i sat on it and you know i wanted to do my research to just make sure like you know everything that I'm looking at is correct and I was really nervous yes about sharing um and I just thought there's nothing else I can do but share my story and I that's where I first heard about you because I so many people I follow were sharing that story and and were like this is not okay this is our girl we're shopping here from now you even saw stormzy front and center of that and he's amazing he he i mean he has been a real big champion of yours isn't he yeah i mean he bought 100 bouquets added to the workload but it's solidarity but yeah yeah but it was great yeah definitely like one of the people that got behind us and leanne pinock as well like she got behind us and posted so it's been amazing to see the support and I never expected that or when I posted that video it's a story that touched everyone because I think it's a story that everyone can resonate on any level everyone's had a situation where they think they're the first at doing something or they feel that they've really then you know put their heart and soul in something and someone's taken a little bit of that for themselves I think everyone it got everyone's back up didn't it it really did but But I think the best thing about those situations is when somebody is looking at you so intensely, they can only take from what already exists.

14:38They don't know what's up here. And I spoke to Jo Malone about this and she was really, really, and she says that your kind of currency is what's in your brain. And people can't access that bank account. So that's something that only you can control. They can only mimic what they see step by step. But you are already ahead. You've done that. Exactly. right and you're kind of thinking of the next thing because as an entrepreneur and as a founder that's how you work yeah so I think it's taking it as flattery but it's to me creative laziness too yeah exactly so and authenticity will always win correct so we just hope that audience see what we do and like love what we do and yeah really stick with us exactly that and like I said you have more than an audience you have a really even before everybody was like giving you that boost you know Having 2 ,000 engaged people, it means the world, and that's how everyone found out about it.

15:33Authenticity always wins, girl. I can imagine navigating at the time, though. It's always easy to talk about it through the lens of success, isn't it? The lens of, like, it's amazing now because this has happened since. Weirdly, when you look back, it actually probably was one of the best things to happen because it gave you that boost. But at the time, the feeling is not the best at all. what I want to touch on what is next for Faye Flowers because since we heard your name there has been a boom girl and a boom that we are all here for but what's next what does that what does that look like for you so we are continuing to scale that's really important to us like we want to be everywhere we want to be in your online retailers we want to be doing the different pop-ups and that you're going to see more of us um collaborations are really important to us which is why i always say like we're like a fashion and beauty brands because you see in the next few weeks the brands that we're partnering with and the content that we're creating it just is going to resonate with our audience more than ever and we are also releasing personalized rap which we haven't done yet we've hinted it a little bit it's called fae and you and it's basically allowing our community to be able to personalize our current products which we've never done before we've done it with like a few brands but we're releasing that collection which i think is going to be incredible yes um we're also going into like weddings and bridal as well so i mean it makes perfect it's been a big arcs for us yes um and i think people are really gonna love it yeah so how does that look then because scaling very early on is kind of no mean feat how big is the team now and how big does it need to get to scaling the way you need yeah so we've got 13 people in the team and I think you'd say it's that big but it's mainly that big because we're a floral company so you need more hands and we do exactly we do everything so I think about 10 florists and then the rest they're like cool team in terms of like admin and marketing um but if we want to be doing like you know a thousand or five hundred bouquets a day which is the dream like we'd have to like triple that size and wedding season and wedding season is coming up really soon so we're trying to figure out how we're going to do all of that logistically yeah it's so exciting though do you feel excited excited but like nervous it's such a scary journey but like yeah I'm really excited to like conquer all of that and like learn new things as I go along and grow yeah grow and I think that is you know there's a quote that says I'm not just the founder of the business in founding the business I found myself and I think it's there's so much to learn about yourself along the way and I suppose already you've taught yourself a lot of resilience and how you handle situations that you've had to deal with quite early on that actually it's you evolve don't you throughout the process I'm sure you already have already yeah you must feel that I've learned so much about myself and yeah like you said I am really resilient which I knew I was before but when all of this happened there's a lot that I've had to do that and navigate that I just never expected so yeah it's been a really great learning curve for me and this and it's going to continue to be I mean that's the beauty of it I mean it's also the kind of like of it too yeah and everything becomes a new kind of ceiling and I suppose a new like a marker of like okay it's stressful but it's not that and we got through that so we'll get through this yeah that's kind of how it moves and then you'll be chatting to me in two years time with well I've got a team of 700 I can't imagine I can't imagine um I want to do something new now and this is the first time we're doing this which I'm excited about and we're calling it set the table now I'm not sure if you listened to our first episode of launch box with Dior and we love to your life character she's amazing and she speaks about designing your future self and it's something that I do with her regularly and it's where it it could be something close something so far ahead like there might be something big I have coming up next week and we sort of design my future self and how I want to feel on that day or in five years time what does the future me look like and I'm so interested to know how you would plan to set the table for the any of tomorrow or of next year or in six months time how does your future self look yeah so for me like imposter syndrome has been quite a big deal to me and just not really having that confidence so my future yourself I want to be able to walk into a room and like not have imposter syndrome have that confidence so like be ready for the next stage of the business I think when we like scaled and you know we got all those orders like really really quickly I just wasn't ready and obviously that's the dream for any small business owner that your business just goes viral and it just you know you get all of these orders but you're not always ready so I want to be ready for that next stage as the business grows and progresses and yeah just really have that confidence and however that looks and i think it's kind of like you say imposter syndrome is a funny little beast because when everyone else can see it and you maybe can't and everyone thinks you're ready and feels that you are yeah but you are because you're doing it but you don't feel it you kind of want that to match yeah you need that balance the kind of reality to the like internal exactly that's a good one okay so when we speak again are we like striding here bussing your way in i'll be there That's it.

21:15That's the energy we want from you. And as you know, every episode I ask our guests how they spend their lunch hour to finish. And I'm so, your job is really hands on, right? That's the way it is, kind of getting everything turned out and all just done. Do you make time for lunch?

21:41Doesn't he say that? No. no it's so hard yeah i think by the time like we're getting through the day i'm like oh it's dinner time now you know but i think what i want to do is put more of a routine in place and as my team is growing i'm getting to a space that i can actually just leave them to it and actually get lunch like this week i haven't been in the studio which is like great and i was able to have lunch when i'm in there it's not so easy so yeah having the right people to help and support you you can actually like have a bit more of a self-care routine which is what I'm trying to implement more and do you find is it has it been a hard thing because something that I find really tricky and I found it very tricky years ago but even still I have to get better at it to kind of hand over the reins a little bit and take your foot off slightly because now your job now involves lots of other layers right you're here you're interviewing you're you know it's not just in the studio yeah doing the kind of day-to-day so have you found it hard to take away a little or give away a little bit of the control absolutely i think obviously we've just grown massively within the last three months yeah think about it most people that are coming into business i know them for three months which is really like new so it is really hard and i don't want to be a micromanager no but I found myself that unfortunately I kind of am at the moment because the business is so important to me I'm so passionate by it and I want to make sure that everything goes really well yeah but I'm glad we've got some amazing people that I can trust that I can like maybe take a day off and I can feel like things are going to go well which is really nice to have and your team is everything isn't it your team is everything so when you find the right people that's when you don't want to let them go exactly that please don't leave me literally well thank you so much i've loved it i've loved catching up with you properly and finding out all about you and i'm very very grateful for my beautiful bunch of flowers that you've brought me they are also this is the first record in the studio you how did you know the color scheme how like i've got a branded rap and I'm so excited about it.

23:57We have eyes everywhere. I'm starting to feel like that way girl. Thank you so much and I can't wait to catch up with you in, we should do it again in like six months time or a year's time and find out about the future you. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you.

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