027: Making Sense of Being an Entrepreneur with Elizabeth Greenberg of Non-Scents Flowers

Do it your way. You know build this company your way, it is your dream, your company. And that is not to say, don’t take advice from others, but as we were talking about earlier, take that advice but never lose track of your way, of never lose track of your dream, because that is what your company is.

#00:01:05-2# Neil : Hello, its Neil Ball here, thank you so much for joining me today on the entrepreneur way. The entrepreneur way is about the entrepreneur’s journey, the vision, the mindset, the committment, the sacrifice, failures and successes. I am so excited to bring you our special guest today, Elizabeth Greenberg. But before I do, I have a little bit of trivia for you. Eugene Sernon said ‘curiosity is the essence of human existence, who are we? where are we? where do we come from? where are we going? I don’t know, I don’t have the answers to those questions, I don’t know whats over there around the corner, but I want to find out.’ The entrepreneur way asks the questions so we all get the insight, inspiration and ideas to apply in our businesses. Elizabeth, welcome to the show, are you ready to share your version of the entrepreneur way with us?
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#00:02:01-7# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Yes I am.

#00:02:04-1# Neil : Fantastic, thank you for coming on the show. Elizabeth Greenberg graduated from Elon University with a BSBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurship. Upon graduation she decided to persue her business start-up. Non-scents flowers. While bootstrapping the company, modelled as a social enterprise, Elizabeth also works as a freelancer, maintains a number of personal and professional blogs and teaches horse-back riding lessons as well. Elizabeth, can you provide us with some more insight into your business and personal life to allow us to get to know more about what you do, and who you are?

#00:02:43-1# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Of course, so on the business side, non-scents obviously is the main thing that I do. But the freelance work and the horses really stem from just what I enjoy doing. I have always enjoyed riding, I studied marketing so it was kind of something that was of great interest to me, and I really get to have fun doing those different kinds of things writing for fashion companies, beauty companies, writing for horse-related things. Working with people on their business models, their plans, any kind of branding, so I get to have a lot of fun with that, which kind of keeps things lively. It can really get kind of dark sometimes when you are working on your own and trying to get something off the ground, its a long process, so its nice to have something else that is a bit more fun and kind of rounded I guess. And then on the personal side, everything kind of overlaps, the horseback riding, teaching lessons really came from love since maybe I was five years old of horses. And I was just lucky enough to have a mom that said, ‘ok you can ride a pony’. When I asked as every little girl does, ‘mummy can I have a pony?’ ha ha ha so I did not quite get it. But at least I got a lesson on it, and that kind of started a life-long love for me, and a very good de-stresser. So between the horse, I also have three rescue animals, two cats and a dog. So they keep me very busy, and every now and then, like I said, being an entrepreneur can be a kind of lonely journey, if you are just working on your own or with a small team, so I try and get out in my local community and their different types of dance classes and events that go on. So I try and kind of mesh everything together, which makes it fun for me.

#0 #00:05:01-3# Neil : Yeh ok, Elizabeth can you just tell us a little bit more about your business, non-scents, because obviously there is a story behind this, isn’t there about how you set it up? It would be interesting to hear about that.

#0 #00:05:13-6# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Of course, so I was a first year student, at Elon University, when a friend of mine had to be brought to the hospital and was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. And I had had, alot of relatives, alot of family members, both parents, my grandparents, alot of people that I have known have had cancer, but I have never been the one who was kind of in charge of buying the gifts or expressing sympathy or good wishes, things like that, and this was the first time you know I was the one going to the hospital bringing something to visit my friend, and it was all on me. So when I called to see what room and what unit to send flowers, because that is the traditional thing that you send, to someone in the hospital. The nurses said, ‘I’m sorry but live flowers are not allowed in the unit that your friend is in, because of a risk of airborne allergens and also a risk of bacteria growing in the water and things like that’, so she said, ‘I am sorry but you just can’t send anything to those units’. Well I was not really happy with that answer and that kind of led to the creation of the first non-scents arrangement. Which looks like a kindergarden child made it. But its the thought that counts, so I really just went on YouTube, learned how to make a paper flower, and put quotes inside, my friend he was a 22 year old male, so I did not think silk flowers were a good option. And I did not think a teddy bear would suffice, and you cannot bring chocolates to someone who can’t even open their mouth. So that is kind of the route that I took and I put quotes from the tv show ‘signfeld’ the movie ‘the hangover’ you know, different sports figures throughout history, quotes from them, and just wrote them all in the flowers and I ended up hand-delivering the arrangement to a hospital in new jersey and at first people tried to keep me from bringing it into the hospital, because they thought they were flowers, so I had the kind of initial swarm of nurses, yelling ‘no no no, you can’t come’ and then once it set in that this was all paper, then people started asking, ‘oh where can I get one, they said I cannot bring my flowers in’. And it just kind of grew from there, I mean I was I think I was 18 years old at the time. So I knew nothing, I had taken one entrepreneurship course in college which was the first time I think I was even introduced to the term entrepreneurship, and I liked it, but I never thought that I would be the one that actually started the business, had the idea, and my mom really supported me alot in encouraging me to kind of see this through and see where I could take it.

#00:08:46-4# Neil : Mmm hmm, so hence your name, non-scents flowers?

#00:08:48-5# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Yes, yes.

#00:08:50-1# Neil : So its a classic tale of entrepreneurialism, this really isn’t it? seeing a problem and coming up with a solution, and then finding that other people also want that solution.

#00:08:59-9# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Of course,

#00:08:59-9# Neil : Which is great, so how does your marketing, you have obviously done a marketing degree, and how does that help you in your business?

#00:09:09-9# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Oh goodness, well so my concentration in marketing was in sales and branding. So those are the two kind of focus areas that I was in, but it also, there was a little bit of market research, I took courses on copywriting for marketing materials. How to talk to customers, different kind of things like that. How to create a consistent brand, how to message your company. And I was kind of fortunate enough, at the time when I was building the company to be in a university environment, because I could turn to alot of my professors to ask their opinion, or to have them review things that I was working on, and since it was a smaller university, they had the time to give a little bit of extra focus or time to help me out with it. So I would say it helped alot in my confidence, in terms of what I knew a larger company would do, what the traditional way of marketing is and then really how to do my research. I think that is where it really helped is the research component. But, as I am sure you know with a start-up its completely different, than what you are going to do just simply because of the budget. You know? you can learn to do all of these campaigns and content creation and write all this wonderful copy and then you go to put it out there, show the world everything that you have done and you get the bill for it. And you are like ‘oh well, I can’t do this as much as I thought I could.’

#00:11:10-9# Neil : No

#00:11:10-9# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : You know, so I would say that the degree is definately helpful, the reason I chose the two concentrations to study both marketing and entrepreneurship, is because I had no idea of what I wanted to do. So I figured, those two things would apply to everything, and that was true you know, they both apply, I would say the entrepreneurship degree was a bit more helpful, but certainly the marketing degree just even if its just confidence, some people are natural sales people, some people naturally know what the world wants to hear and how to say things to people. And then some people like me, need a little bit more context around it to really be sure about what I am doing. So that is kind of what it gave me.

#00:12:08-2# Neil : Ok thanks for that. So what do you enjoy most about what you do Elizabeth?

#00:12:16-9# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Definately seeing the impact of our products and the company itself, so I think I was in high school, and I was first introduced to Tom’s shoes. It was a young company at the time, it was pretty new, people still thought they were ugly, they were not quite cool yet. And that was kind of my initial introduction to social entrepreneurship. This idea that a company can make a profit and sustainably give back to the world in some way, and do good in some way. So I really liked that idea, I had no idea what I was going to do with it, it was just one of those things that I really liked. And then once I got to college, I took a course in Buenosaris Argentina. And we worked with an internet radio start-up company. So then I got to see how your traditional company, your traditional start-up so to speak, your regular if thats what you want to call it. Start-up works, so with non-scents I kind of fused all of those ideas and the products obviously are made to help people in situations that are difficult or trying, and that is what they were originally designed for, they were used for just about everything. But we get, on the customer side, we get calls in for example, there was a school bus crash. A bunch of, I think they were maybe 5-8 years old, was the age of the kids who were in the accident. And one of the little girls was intensive care, and her teacher called us and ordered an arrangement, to be sent to the hospital. And we delivered it to the hospital, and we had to got through alot because they were not wanting to disclose her location because of news reporters and people wanting to know more about the incident and things like that. So, we dropped it off with a nurse, had the nurse bring it in, and about 2-3 weeks later, we got a call from a woman, who turned out to be the little girl’s mom, and she was calling to thank us because her little girl came out of the coma, and was asking her to read the messages that her teacher had sent through the flowers. Over and over and over again. And just getting calls like that, knowing that this woman, this woman did not even order the arrangement, sheUnive r benefited from it. Her daughter benefited from it, and they cared so deeply about that, that they called us to personally thank us. And that happens alot, so on the customer side, thats really the most enjoyable thing is seeing that impact for them.

#00:15:32-9# Neil : Mmm hmm

#00:15:32-9# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : And then on the supplier side, all of the paper that we used to make our bouquets is fairtrade certified and made in an environmentally sustainable way. So we get to read the stories of these women who are usually the main income-earners for their family, and because of their job at these different co-operatives that make these papers, they can afford to feed themselves, their families, send their children to school. So just knowing that through this one company, through this one small company, we can have such an impact on anyone, you know. You know anyone on the customer side. And then also have an impact on people half way around the world, thats my favourite thing about it.

#00:16:33-5# Neil : Thats fantastic. So what is it that drives you? I suspect you have already talked about that in what you have already said but what actually drives you Elizabeth?

#00:16:45-2# Neil : Yeh so you are right, alot of what I love about what I do is also kind of the driving factor. But there is one picture of a little girl, so we go into hospitals, childrens hospitals, adult hospitals, and do workshops with the patients. Let them make their own flowers, things like that, and I have a picture from one of those workshops, and its a little girl, she had to be 8 or 9 years old and she has a face mask on, and she is hooked up to a couple of different things and she is holding her version of a non-scents arrangement, and you can tell just by her eyes that she is smiling. And I keep that picture on my desk and every time I look at financial statements and I am like, ‘oh my god, how are we going to get through this month?’ or you know I look at different things and it is not growing fast enough. I always look at that picture, and I realise why I am doing this, I am doing this because there are people in that situation who might not be smiling. If not for something that can brighten their day. And its so small, and if you just, ‘oh I received a paper flower arrangement because I can’t have live flowers’, ok great. But when you actually see the emotional and the psychological differences, that something bright and colourful can have on people, you know, if you just dig a little bit deeper, its an extraordinary difference. So that is kind of what drives me through all of this, kind of tougher decisions.

#00:18:47-5# Neil : It must be incredibly gratifying knowing that what you are doing affects people like that, and helps them so much?

#00:18:54-2# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : It is, it most certainly is, and you know I think it is the way that alot of people are kind of leaning towards these days. You know you see all of these articles come out in the news, about millenials who won’t work for a company if they do not do something to help their communities. Or if they don’t operate in the most environmentally efficient way. Things like that, so I really think there is a trend towards you know, doing something good as part of what you do every single day.

#00:19:33-6# Neil : Mmm absolutely. So how do you relax when you are not working in your business?

#00:19:41-7# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : That would assume that I am ever not working on the company correct.

#00:19:43-6# Neil : You must take some time out? ha ha ha ha

#00:19:49-7# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Yes, technology, we have a love/hate relationship, because it really lets you work all the time, which I would not suggest to anyone, but no, in all honesty, I do try and take the weekends off. Not because I think its a great idea in terms of productivity, but I do think for my own well-being, that taking some time off is good, so thats actually why I stuck with the horses, and still have my horse, who is in her early 20’s now, so it was one of those things where, I would go to the gym, I would go running, I would even go to yoga classes. And while I was doing all of those things, I would still be thinking about work. But with horses, they are very large animals, and very unpredictable, so your head cannot be anywhere except in the present moment, focusing on what this large mostly stubborn, sometimes tempremental animal is doing right in front of you. So really the horses play a big part in my ability to kind of decompress, relax, and stop working. But you know, I also go out with friends, you know spend time trying different things, I think I mentioned dance classes and things like that just started taking a lindi-hop class, which is African swing dancing, so you know just trying to kind of do all these different things, most of it is active though, I don’t think I can, I have a hard time relaxing while sitting still so, ha ha

#00:21:56-6# Neil : Apart from when you are on your horse

#00:21:56-6# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Very true, very true

#00:21:59-9# Neil : And do you have any entrepreneurial role models?

#00:22:04-2# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Yes actually, so I mentioned Tom’s shoes and Blake Mykosky, its the founder of that company. And he was the initial role model, just because he, I can’t say he was the first social entrepreneur. Because then you kind of get into the question of, ‘alright, well did Mohammed Eunice come first with Miko Franihan saying and their people before him doing things that were similar?’ But I think Blake Mykosky was really the first one that phrased it in a way that almost everyone can understand, and he really stuck with it. Because he has got in a lot of people trying to make similar products and sell them in a similar way. He has got people saying ‘you know if you really want to do good for people, and have a social impact, why don’t you just give everything away? why are you keeping money for yourself?’ so he has kind of run the … of the kind of different things that can happen on the positive and the negative side for a social entrepreneur, so I would say that he was really the first, and I actually saw him speak in person. #0

#00:23:27-0# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Which was my introduction to him, and what he said just made sense, it made total sense to me, because I had worked in alot of non-profits, and I found that regardless of the tensions of the organisation. Its hard to keep good talent, if you cannot pay them, as bad as that sounds, you know, if you have someone and all of a sudden, they decide they want to start a family, and they realise they cannot afford to send their kids to school, or to the school the kid wants to go to or you know any kind of array of things can happen. You know, they might want to do the best thing but someone else gives them a better offer, so I just saw how hard it was for non-profits to continue creating sustainable change, for the people that they were trying to help, so Blake Mykosky really phrased it in a way that made me understand that social enterprise was a viable alternative to the non-profit model.

#00:24:31-0# Neil : Yeh, just interrupting you slightly there, Tom’s shoes, they are the company that give a pair of shoes away every time you buy a pair of shoes, aren’t they?

#00:24:41-0# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Yeh and now they also do eye care, so buy a pair of eye wear, they give either an eye surgery or some kind of eye treatment to someone who is blind or in need and they have a couple of other things, two that are newer. In terms of books and things like that, so that is his company, and he has really grown it, and I think they founded an organisation or some kind of foundation to help social entrepreneurs. And the second role model is quite a bit different, and if anyone watches the show ‘shark tank’ they know her and its Barbara Quirkran. And she is in real estate in New York, but I first met her, at an event for women in business or women entrepreneurs, and she was absolutely hysterical. She explained how she was one of 11 or 12 children, and worked in a diner, ended up following a boyfriend to New York City, worked with him in his real estate company, and then he ended up choosing the secretary over her and so she took half of his clients, and started her own organisation. Her own real estate company, and just she her story is just amazing because she knew nothing about real estate. Other than what she had done with him, and she would talk about sending and press releases about this celebrity buys this apartment in Manhattan in New York City and it was not her apartment, she did not make the sale, but she knew that newspapers would be interested in knowing where Jennifer Lopez is living now.

#0 #00:27:09-2# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : and she ended up on the front page of the New York Times. The Quirkran group says that JLo is moving into this apartment in Manhatten and it was just one of those stories where it really showed that no-one really knows what they are doing. But if you really think about things, and you know, play it smart, then it can work out for you, but she is such a real person, she is wildly successful but a very real person, who kind of shows that you don’t need that degree from Harvard or Stanford, or Oxford or any world renowned school, to really make it, and I think it was a great story, so I definately look up to her.

#00:28:09-0# Neil : Ok, Elizabeth, can we go back to the time before you were an entrepreneur? and can you tell us about the difficulties you had to overcome when you started your business?

#00:28:20-1# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Oh goodness, well I was 18 years old, and I had only known the word entrepreneur, for about three months. So thats where we are starting, and I goodness, goodness, so I was in college and I had declared my major already but the classes I had taken were most of my .. arts class. So I had a great English class under my belt, I had maybe one statistics class, a couple of calculus classes, maybe an art history class thrown in there, so really no knowledge of business, no formal knowledge of business, no formal knowledge of marketing. I knew pretty much the only thing I knew was that I needed a website of some sort. And I knew that I knew nothing, those were pretty much the two constants, I knew nothing, but I need a website. Ha ha and thinking back on it now, I am just hitting myself in the head. But I did have professors to help me out, so I was lucky to have mentors, who instead of telling me what to do, taught me how to ask the correct questions.

#00:29:49-9# Neil : Yeh.

#00:29:54-7# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : And I think that if they had told me what to do, I would have probably made fewer mistakes, however at the same time I would probably still be making mistakes, that are larger in terms of the catastrophe measure following. So I was lucky that they kind of helped me go through the process. But really being uneducated, so to speak in the business world and how things were done in business, being a 5ft four blonde female didn’t help my case at all. And just thinking that the website was what I needed to start with, I mean there you go, thats like a recipe for disaster right there. So those were kind of the biggest things, and the website, goodness, that was where I blew most of the money that I had, which was a terrible idea. There are so many different and better ways you can go about doing that, that will cost you no money. Just a little bit of extra time but I didn’t know that, so

#00:31:19-4# Neil : And did you have any doubts that delayed you starting your business?

#00:31:25-2# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : You know, I probably should have, there is this website called Legal Zoom where you don’t even need a lawyer, you can just go ahead and buy or register a company through that website. So I kind of just jumped and thought afterwards. You know at the time it was the summer in between my first and second year, at university. So I was at home, with my mom, and she is looking at me kind of toying with this idea, and I had been emailing with different professors about it, and she said, ‘you know what I started saving money for your college education when you were born’, and she said, ‘I really don’t think that I should have to wait for that return on my investment, so you can finish your degree and then go start a company’. And my mom has always been a little bit kooky but she is a single mom, and raised me I am her only child, and she was not supposed to be able to have kids, so she had me at 40. So we have kind of a kooky relationship, but she was just extremely supportive in saying, ‘you know what, this is the time to take that risk you have got nothing to lose really, you know at 18/19 years old you can still you know live at home, and not be judged for it. You know, not feel bad about it and’ so I was really like, ‘ok we are going to do it’ and filed for an LLC and registered non-scents, once I got the name, registered the name. Registered the company and we were off, but certainly I had doubts afterwards, everyday I am like, ‘why am I not in a comfortable, salaried life working for some company?’ you know ‘why did I decide to do this crazy thing?’ but I think that is part of being an entrepreneur is you know, even if you know you are crazy, you still do it.

#00:33:53-7# Neil : Yeh I think its something that, someone suggested the other day to me, its a gene in you, and you can’t help it. You have just got to pursue it.

#00:34:04-7# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Oh yeh, oh yeh, I agree completely, and one of my professors put it in the best way, he was presenting an award and he was explaining the student who received it, the student turned out to be me. But he said, ‘this is one student, who will get pissed off alot in life, and every time she gets pissed off, she is going to start a company to fix it, so that she does not have to be pissed off any more.’ and I looked at him and I was, I was just thinking ,Professor Palin is this really what you think of me?’ ha ha ha but its true, its true entrepreneurs are the people who don’t like something and instead of complaining about it, they fix it. And alot of times, thats the crazier thing to do because its uncomfortable and its uncertain, and its weird and its different, and probably none of your friends are going to do the same thing or even close to the same thing, but you still do it.

#00:35:16-0# Neil : Yeh. Absolutely. So what mistakes did you make that slowed your journey and obviously I have given you a few hints at those but is there anything else that comes to mind?

#00:35:26-2# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Yeh, so the website was one, and thats like a technical mistake. I would say trusting the wrong people, and not in a terrible, doom and gloom kind of way. But there are alot of organisations out there, that say they are there to help entrepreneurs and to help people working on their company and all those different kinds of things, and people out there that really want to ‘help you’ in your journey, and I think I was almost blindly trusting people, in that I wanted to learn from everyone. But I think that the biggest thing was, I was so focused on learning from everyone. That I forgot to keep in mind my vision for the company. You know my goal, where I wanted the company to go. Because alot of people, yes they are doing these things, but some people might not be doing them, out of the goodness of their heart. You know they might be doing it because of a need for economic development in a certain area. They might be doing it because they are connected to a related industry or have a similar market, and they think it will help their company or their product. So I think it is really important to, and I have learned this now, ‘keep in mind what you as the entrepreneur want for your company. And you know, be open to the advise of others’ I would say that it definately cannot hurt to get as much advise as possible. But to just take that advise in stride with your vision so that you don’t lose that

#00:37:35-3# Neil : Mmmm

#00:37:35-3# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : And I think that it went through alot of things and did things in alot of different ways, where one way would have worked, so for instance, a business plan, its an important document, everyone wants to have it, you know there are so many templates out there, for your financial projections and your market goals and your research and your industry data. All that kind of stuff, you know use your business plan as a road map, you don’t need to have you know, this 5-tier excel document, with all this data in it, because honestly you don’t have that. You know, its just one of those things where again its someone who was taking a corporate mindset to it where in my head I was thinking this is going to be bootstrapped to a small business and then grow from there. Which is one of the reasons why we did not take any outside investment.

#00:38:45-5# Neil : Ok and what are some of the things you did before you started your business? that would be helpful tips to some of the listeners who have not yet taken the first step on the entrepreneur way?

#00:38:58-8# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : So definately I did my research, kind of in that story, of how the company started, I was lucky enough to be in a hospital, in the environment that I wanted my arrangements to be in, and get people’s opinions, get people’s feedback. But I definately think, the biggest thing about being an entrepreneur is are you solving a problem? And if your product or service is solving a problem, the go out there and talk to the people who you are helping essentially, and say ‘would you use this?’ You know I think that is a really big thing that alot of people don’t do. They will come up with this idea, and ideas can be great and fun but people have got to want your idea.

#00:39:49-3# Neil : Yeh

#00:39:49-3# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : And I think that was one of the biggest things that I did was I just went to hospitals and I talked to people at bars and restaurants, anywhere. I went to pitch events and different kind of conferences, and everywhere I went, I said, ‘this is my idea, this is a picture of it, what do you think? would you use it?’ I mean, at the same time, you have to be careful that none of your questions are leading people to a certain answer but really doing that research, is really important and making sure that this is something that you really love, because you have got to love it, if you are going to make it all the way through the end. Because I think start-ups and entrepreneurship and being an entrepreneur has kind of been glamourised by movies about facebook and stories about twitter and snapchat, and all of these different kind of platforms. You know, develop an app and become famous, kind of thing, but that is not really how it works for most entrepreneurs. And its not usually how it works for your first venture, its a slow process. It is a grind and you definately have to have some grit and love what you are doing because you will get burnt out.

#00:41:29-7# Neil : Elizabeth, can we now talk about the entrepreneurial journey itself, once you have started your business. And can you tell us whether you think culture is important from the beginning in a business?

#00:41:40-9# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Absolutely, I, so in the beginning, you are not going to have, you could but I would not suggest having any kind of pamphlet or written plan, on how people are going to act and behave and feel and what the culture is going to be like. The culture of a company is very much a reflection of the company’s leadership. So really understand what is important to you as a leader, so for me, so for me, I have a kind of ‘work hard, play hard mentality’ where I will put in everything. It will be a 100% effort all the time, and that is what I expect from everyone that works with me. And I say works with me, because transparency is also big, everyone who works at non-scents has the opportunity to design something, to share a creative opinion. To suggest something, to be a part of the company’s growth process. So that is kind of what our culture has developed into, where I have very high standards and so do everyone, so does everyone who works at non-scents. Who works with non-scents, but at the same time, its not a strict and stringent environment. You know, you get the job done, you do the job well and you have fun doing it. And I am friends with all the people that work with me. And so that is part of our culture, but I think a really important thing, is that culture comes from leadership and you cannot be a leader that says one thing and does another.

#00:43:49-6# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : So regardless of what you say you want, its really how you act and what you do and you do not need something that tell people what the culture is, it will develop into that, so I think it is important, certainly but it is almost an organic thing.

#00:44:10-4# Neil : Ok, and knowing what you know now, is there anything that if you had known it when you started out would have helped you to shortcut the learning curve?

#00:44:15-3# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : I mean like I said, now I have a lot more you know technical knowledge, in terms of web design coding, graphic design alot more knowledge about you know using social media platforms to market, things like that. Knowing the type of person that I am, if I had found a way to shortcut one thing, I would just end up you know, struggling with something else. So I don’t think, I am very much a proponent of learning through experience, and I almost feel like the lessons don’t really sink in unless I have really felt the repercussions from a wrong decision. But thankfully, when you start out and can I bootstrap it for a little while, it lets you have that learning curve, without a whole ton of risk. So I guess shortcutting the learning curve, there are alot of resources out there, now, alot of apps that have courses on different things that are ten dollar courses and you get a whole bunch of content, video lecture, all that kind of stuff. You can go on just about any entrepreneur or start up magazines source and get information on marketing, on finance, on hiring, on an array of different things that you might need, so certainly you can take a more academic approach to it, and again that kind of goes back to doing your research but I am not entirely sure that there is any way to shortcut the learning curve on your first time around.

#00:46:18-3# Neil : Ok and how much does gut feeling influence your decisions in your business?

#00:46:21-7# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : So I would say ‘all the time.’ Ha ha ha.

#00:46:28-2# Neil : Ok

#00:46:29-3# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Its kind of like, oh goodness, its kind of like Wikipedia, you know where if you are trying to find the answer to something, you go onto Wikipedia, and then you go to some other source that is much more reliable to back up what you found on Wikipedia. So that kind of is how the gut feeling works with me, its the gut feeling is the initial thing, I say, ‘I think this is what I should do.’ And then I will go and confirm that, however I can. But it really does have a lot of influence.

#00:47:12-0# Neil : Life is made of constant change, whether we like it or not, and in fact some people would say, ‘the only constant is change’ Elizabeth, how do you try to keep up with change?

#00:47:25-4# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : So I love change, one of those oddballs that really enjoys it, and I think that the best way that I have kind of kept up with it is through social media, I have a short attention span, and not alot of time. So you know, mediums like Twitter, are very helpful for me in terms of news and things like that. But also following people, even on linked in, or different writers that I respect and have already decided that yes these people have valuable content to share. They almost create a curated source of information on what’s changing, what’s the new, norm, you know what should we expect? what should we be getting ready for? So I think, really just using the tools out there, is the best way, but at the same time, as an entrepreneur and as someone with a young company, you know, not all change is going to apply to your company. So just because this is the new big thing, does not mean it is going to be the best big thing for your company. Right?

#00 #00:48:45-9# Neil : Mmmm hmmm

#00:48:45-9# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : So those are really, thats how I really keep up with how the world is changing, and how different things are going on, and things like that for instance. I went to the Forbes 30 under 30 conference, last fall and a big thing that they were saying, was that, image was big, right? Now video is big. But not formal videos, real videos. So videos that make people feel like you are a real person. That they are getting to know the real you, so that kind of tells me alright, transparency is now big. Right? And Forbes was kind of my source of curating all of that content, all of the information out there, to figure out what the next big thing was going to be. So I think its great, I think as long as you don’t live in a cave or in a whole or something, with no connection to the outside world, its pretty easy, you know.

#00:49:54-1# Neil : Ok and what is your favourite book on entrepreneurialism, business, personal development, leadership or motivation? and can you tell us why you have chosen it?

#00:50:04-2# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Yeh, so I actually thought of two, one which I know is my hero, but it has been a while, since I read it, and that one is called, ‘the monk and the riddle’ and it follows, it kind of gives you a look into the silicon valley venture capitalist world. But it is an extremely entertaining read, and I just loved it because alot of times when you hear about venture capital, or you talk about getting outside investment, pitching to VC firm. When you hear the word silicon valley, you get that nervous excitement, but its always nervous excitement, right? Its always, ‘oh my, there are these great people out there that lots of money that can help my company, but its still nervous, its like them and you, as the entrepreneur, so this particular book really just kind of provides a more realistic view into the fact that these venture capitalists are people. They are people too, and they can see through things if it is not genuine, and that is all they are looking for. Its genuine people, with genuinely good ideas, and its a really kind of, its a good read, its an easy read, but it gives you a lot of insight. So thats one, the other one is the all-in start up. And that follows an entrepreneur, through the Las Vegas Poker tournament. The huge world series of poker tournament and it kind of draws parallels between poker and entrepreneurship. Which is interesting but it does touch on alot of really good points on what you have to look out for. What you have to think about, and what you have to do to see ‘is this business going to succeed or fail?’ why is this business not doing as well as I thought it was going to be?

#00:52:25-2# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : And different things like that, but again its a fun read. So I tend to recommend those two books.

#00:52:34-8# Neil : Ok thank you for that. Everyone, when you have a busy life, listening to audio books is a great way to expand your knowledge, in the time when you may be doing other things such as driving, or when you are at the gym. We have a special offer for you of a free audio book of your choosing, to choose your free audio book, go to freeaudiobookoffer.com. As long as you have not already signed up, then you will qualify. Elizabeth, what I would like to do now is talk about a few things in the future. So, first of all, what one thing would you do with your business if you knew that you could not fail?

#00:53:11-4# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : So I would certainly expand it internationally, its interesting for me when you reached out to me, because alot of our, alot of the news articles that have come out, and stories that have come out about us have actually been in the UK. Not in the US, and we have kind of, we have shipped to Belgium and to France, and it is a problem that really affects everyone. And I would certainly take that leap to really expand it internationally. Which I hope one day, I will be able to do. At least that is the plan, but if I knew it could not fail, right this instance, thats what I would do.

#00:54:02-4# Neil : Mmm hmmm, and what skill if you were excellent at it, would help you the most to double your business?

#00:54:07-7# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Oh goodness, what one skill? I was actually looking at this question and trying to figure out what that answer actually is, and I will tell you, I am not a 100% sure, what one skill if I was excellent at it, would double my business. But I certainly think, the willingness, I guess you could break it down into sales but the willingness to just go out there and talk to everybody and the ability to do it well. And really get your story heard, I think that is a big one. So, you know its one thing to be comfortable talking with people and to enjoy it, its another thing to really actively go out and seek people, to really talk to and for me sometimes I feel like its a little bit pushy, because I don’t like it when people do that to me, but you know, there is a fine line there, because you do have to get that story out. So I think that would help the best.

#00:55:25-7# Neil : Well I am glad that my question got you thinking. In five years from now, if a well known business publication was publishing an article on your business, after talking to your customers and suppliers. What would you like it to say?

#00:55:40-0# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : This is another one, ha ha ha ha this was another one. You know, it really goes back to that initial question, and conversation we had, at the beginning of this chat about what I enjoy most, and thats really knowing that we have an impact. And I think that connects back to this question, where I would love it to say you know what that impact was. You know, for the customers, for the suppliers. Really kind of break it down, get their perspective of it. You know, how have we helped change your life?

#00:56:31-5# Neil : Ok so we are now at the part of the show where you share three golden nuggets with us, so Elizabeth, what is your favourite quote and how have you applied it?

#00:56:42-1# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Oh goodness. Theres so many, I think my absolute favourite one comes from Albert Einstein, and it is not the one about insanity. It is, let me pull it up here, ‘logic will get you from A to B, imagination will take you everywhere’ and I think that really applies to every entrepreneur’s journey, because you do need logic, to get you from nothing to something. But you absolutely need imagination to see that end goal, to have that vision. You need to be able to imagine it, in order to get there, otherwise you are using logic to get you from a known point A to a hopeful point B.

#00:57:45-1# Neil : Ok and do you have any favourite online resources that you can share that would be useful for us?

#00:57:53-1# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Certainly, so I mentioned earlier, that there are alot of courses out there, that can help you work on skills and different kind of things if you did not study certain things in university or in school. Or if you want to brush up on some skills. The application is called UDEMY I believe, and most of the courses are ten dollars, and its really great content so that kind of applies to just about everything. And then my favourite one is google. You’ve heard of that? Ha So I have learned, you know I have worked out of an excellorator with this company. And it really let me meet different people, see different people, entrepreneurs from age 16-65 so I got the spectrum of people at different points in their careers, deciding to start companies and the one thing I have learned is that everybody googles, no matter how much experience you have. No matter how successful you have been before, everybody googles, and some people are afraid to google, they think, ‘I should know the answer’ right, no-one really knows what they are doing. Everybody googles, so that is definately your greatest tool, as an entrepreneur is just the ability to google. And then aside from that, using sites like buffer to kind of stream line your social media. So social media is great for branding, right, maintaining a presence. Talking with your customers, sharing things in a non-sales kind of way. But its extremely distracting, very time consuming. And sometimes can pull focus, so sites like buffer, for social media, tailwind for pinterest, iconograph for instagram. There are a number of them for twitter. But alot of things that can kind of help regulate and streamline those process, those are great too.

#01:00:39-2# Neil : Ok thank you. And what is your best advise to other entrepreneurs?

#01:00:47-2# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Oh goodness, I would say I was watching the play-off games for American football. Since it is almost a super-bowl, last Sunday and the panthers, from North Carolina, its our team, this will be there second career superbowl, so they literally never make it to the superbowl, and they had a phenomenal season. And they are interviewing the coach, and the coach had a mentor, who said, ‘do it your way’ now don’t worry how other coaches have done it. Don’t worry what other teams are doing, do it your way, because if you succeed, you know you did it your way, and if you fail, you know you did it your way. And there is never a question about that, so I would say, my best advise, is do it your way. You know build this company your way, it is your dream. Your company, and thats not to say, don’t take advise from others. But as we were talking about earlier, take that advise but never lose track of your way. Never lose track of your dream, because that is what your company is. That is what it is, so I think that would be the biggest piece of advise, but I would kind of .. that with a second and to really value your network, and continually be growing your network. Not superfically, really grow that network, genuinely. And you know, it all goes back to just being, be yourself. Be genuine, be yourself, you know don’t forget who you are, why you are doing things, and really bring people into that. And I have had an absolute blast doing that, and maybe it will work, maybe it won’t, I will keep you posted on that one. Ha ha ha.

#01:03:19-6# Neil : Ok

#01:03:22-8# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : But I think thats the best thing any of us can do.

#0 #01:03:25-9# Neil : Yeh everyone, if you did not manage to get a note of Elizabeth’s favourite resource, or her favourite book, you can find the links on Elizabeth’s shownotes page, just go to theentrepreneurway.com and search for Elizabeth or Elizabeth Greenberg in the search box. Elizabeth, is there anything else that you would like to add about your business?

#01:03:45-4# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Well I think we have covered quite a lot, I would certainly encourage people to find us on social media. I personally manage all of our accounts, so you know, shoot us a message. You know, I am happy to answer anyone’s questions and really continue the conversation.

#01:04:08-6# Neil : Ok, Elizabeth its been an absolute honour having you on here, you have really given me a feeling that we have got to know the real you and you have provided us with some really great tips and insights, so thank you very much for coming on here and giving us your time.

#01:04:23-0# Elizabeth Greenberg, Non-Scents Flowers Founder : Thank you for having me, I am very glad that you have reached out.

#01:04:25-8# Neil : Yes you are welcome. Thank you.