Success blooms for student
with online flower business
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We want your help testing an interactive multimedia
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Here’s what it involves:
• Viewing a computer program on either
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• Takes about 1 hour
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For more information:
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Oregon Center for Applied Science, Inc.
1839 Garden Avenue Eugene, OR 97403
Political science freshman
Michael McNeeley created
FloristDEX.com, which links
45,000 sellers with buyers
By Steven Neuman
News Reporter
Freshman Michael McNeeley never
planned on going into the flower
business during his first year of col
lege, but today McNeeley is the proud
owner of FloristDEX.com, a Web site
that boasts affiliations with more than
45,000 florists.
The transformation from student
employee to business entrepreneur
began when McNeeley took a job
working as a customer service repre
sentative for national floral retailer
FTD at a Medford call center. He said
he picked up the job "out of
nowhere."
"1 was not looking to become part
of the floral industry or anything like
that, 1 just got really into it," McNee
ley said. "We worked in a giant call
center — I spent my entire life in a cu
bicle and dealt with florists and dealt
with consumers and 1 had to mediate
between the two."
Through witnessing the conflicts
between consumers and florists, he
began to formulate a business plan.
McNeeley said his site offers con
sumers a national listing of florists'
phone numbers and addresses. Rather
than attempting to sell flowers direct
ly, FloristDEX allows the consumer to
directly contact the florist, and the re
sult is a cheaper price for consumers.
Unlike other services that charge a fee
to connect consumers with florists,
FloristDEX receives revenue from the
florists who pay for the listing. Con
sumers get their flowers at the price
that one would get for a bouquet or
dered locally.
As one of the next steps, McNeeley
said he wants to partner with whole
sale retailers of flowers to offer dis
count incentives for florists who sign
up with FloristDEX.
McNeely's business plan seems
solid, said Gecko Designs owner
Gabe Silverman. Silverman's compa
ny designed the graphical side of
FloristDEX for McNeeley. For Silver
man, a multimedia design major
who graduated from the University
in June 2003, the plan sounded fa
miliar and ambitious.
"1 started my own business in 1996
when 1 was a sophomore in high
school," he said. "Back then, there
was this idea floating around that you
could make a Web page, put it up on
the Web, clients would be beating
Tim Bobosky Photographer
Freshman Michael McNeeley, the owner of FloristDEX.com, hangs out among the
wildflowers Thursday outside the EMU. His Web site connects florists and buyers
nationwide. He got the idea for the Web site after working in an FTD call center, he says.
down the door and you could start
cutting checks right away."
Silverman said when McNeeley
first contacted him last year, he had
underestimated his plans.
"1 thought, you can go to FTD and
order flowers and there is no way he
can compete," Silverman said. "But he
had really thought about it and had
done his work."
McNeely said the process has be
come more challenging as the busi
ness has developed.
"It wasn't daunting when I first
started this, it still isn't daunting to an
extent, but the fact that FTD and all
these other companies are so large,
and I'm just a student, it's a little bit
difficult," McNeeley said. "The design
process, all the ideas, it was really fun
developing all that. Working things
like getting registered for the state, tax
es, all the things that are more logisti
cal, that was more daunting."
McNeeley studies political science
at the University, not business.
"1 just do what I enjoy," he said. "1
don't think that to be successful in
business you have to have a business
major."
Silverman said McNeeley has
shown a serious devotion to making
FloristDEX a success while making an
effort to understand the inner work
ings of the Web site.
"When we first put the site up it was
getting hits but not as many as he
wanted, so he came back and did a re
design and he worked with us to
change the site," Silverman said.
Peter Maag, a University multime
dia design major who runs The Maag
Group, agrees with Silverman. Mc
Neeley hired Maag's company to han
dle the programming for Florist
DEX.com.
"He was one of the first people
we worked with who was younger
than us," said Maag, who plans on
graduating in the fall. "He was very
mature. It's just like dealing with
any other adult client we've had in
the past."
McNeeley said although Florist
DEX.com officially launched only
four months ago, the site has proven
successful.
"It's gone really well," he said. "It's
been in the works for a year or so
now, and yesterday we doubled our
web traffic, and since the first month
we're probably up over 10,000 per
cent."
Maag said he thinks McNeeley has
a future in business.
"He's pretty young, and he has a lot
of room and time to grow," he said.
Contact the business/science/
technology reporter
at stevenneuman@dailyemerald.com.
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