OFI 679: Starting A Scrappy Flower Business In Your Basement | FFA SAE Edition | Braylee Finck | Maroa-Forsythe High School FFA

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INTRODUCING BRAYLEE FINCK!

Today’s guest, Braylee Finck, started out by describing herself as not having an agricultural background. I had to get to the bottom of this. It turned out that what she meant was that she did not have pigs or steers to show at the fair because she lived in town and could not keep livestock like that.

However, none of that stopped Braylee from making the absolute most of her time in FFA and setting herself up for great opportunities in the future. Braylee eventually became her chapter’s president. Along the way she started a flower business called Petals and Blooms in the basement of her home.

Braylee has a knack and love for marketing. This helped to compete with more established flower shops in her town by displaying her arrangements on social media. Braylee reached the point that she was providing the flowers for very significant events like weddings and funerals. She took advantage of every advantage working out of a basement offered her by selling at a discount. And, she overcame the disadvantages by using social media. This is a great story!

SUPERVISED AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCE: Flower Sales

HIGH SCHOOL: Maroa-Forsythe High School; Maroa, Illinois

MASCOT: Trojans

FFA ADVISOR: Cassie Crouch

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR BRAYLEE FINCK:

Click on the picture below to be taken to the Maroa-Forsythe High School website:

Braylee’s FFA Advisors’ Email Addresses: cassie.crouch@mfschools.net

Maroa-Forsythe High School’s Telephone Number: (217) 794-3463

FFA LINKS:

National FFA Organization

Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAE’s)

Support FFA

Donate to FFA – One way that FFA students are able to start small businesses is through an FFA grant of $1,000. In 2014, 141 FFA students received these grants. With your donations, more students can get this head start – pay it forward.

REASONS TO DONATE TO FFA:

Only 2% of Americans grow and raise most of the food and livestock consumed by the other 98% as well as the rest of the world. FFA is providing the needed education, training and resources to Americans that will carry that torch forward and insure that America continues to have inexpensive, quality food.
Rural Communities will rely on entrepreneurship in the future for population growth and job creation. The FFA is a major catalyst to that entrepreneurial growth.
Farmers, ranchers and those working in agriculture give the rest of America incredible amounts of freedom because the search for food is as simple as going to the grocery store:

“The future of American agriculture depends on the involvement and investment in America’s youth, In order to prepare for the population of tomorrow, we need to encourage America’s youth today, and show that careers in agriculture are profitable, rewarding, and vital.”.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue