Background: The largest FTD Florist in the world. In 1987 Bill had never thought about selling flowers until a friend told him the cut flower business does $17 billion a year globally. By applying his knowledge of technology, Bill has brought floral retailing into the 21st century.

Industry. Flowers and technology

Startup Funding Source. Bill has founded and self-funded nine businesses during his career as an entrepreneur which started with a lawn mower when he was 11 years old.

Key Idea #1:

Big Teaching Point. Owning a business is not for the faint hearted but it can be extremely rewarding. By the time Bill was out of college, he had 50 employees in his lawn care business. He never even considered working for someone and believes that many "corporate types" may think they want to own a business, but they probably should keep their jobs. Bill says, "An entrepreneur is the person who puts all his marbles on the table. He risks everything on an idea."

This is one of the first commercial success stories on the Internet's World Wide Web; the world of electronic commerce will never be the same. When this story was logged, PC Flowers & Gifts is the most comprehensive floral and gift service in the interactive world. Bill Tobin became a businessman at the age of 11, yet he has never had a job. This newest venture is a result of his vast experience in creating partnerships.

Topic for discussion: What does he mean that his web site is one huge partnership?

Possible answers: Before the Internet was being used by the general public, the on-line services could get thousands of subscribers to use their path to the Internet. In 1996 the biggest service is America On-Line. Bill started his virtual flower shop by forming a partnership with the on-line service Prodigy. It had the infrastructure Bill needed. No one entrepreneur could afford to create what had already been built by Sears and IBM, the former owners of Prodigy. The other partnership critical to his success was the FTD florist group which is an association of shop owners. To be an FTD Florist, you must own a flower shop. Without the shops located all around the US and the world, Bill's customers could not receive the flowers they order via the Internet.

Key Idea #2

Bill says that Internet users are demanding consumers. If you sell a product from the Internet, it better be exactly what the customer ordered, it must arrive when the customer wants it, and, it must be competitively priced. Topic for discussion: What steps did Bill take to insure near perfect customer service?

Possible answers: First, Bill discovered that many of the FTD florists could not deliver. When the customer sees a picture of a floral arrangement on the computer screen and orders that particular arrangement, the florist must deliver exactly what the customer saw on the screen. Bill found that many florists would substitute containers or one flower for another. Through experience, Bill formed his own delivery system by using only 10% of the florists in the network. This means that England's is the only florist he uses in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Another customer service tactic is the push-pull technology.

This means the customer doesn't have to perform many key strokes. It is easy to navigate the site and the order form is simple to use.

His own employees are located at the FTD Mercury Network office, and, they work with software Bill developed for his business, not what was already in place. To increase the amount of time his customers can enjoy their floral purchase, Bill has established relationships with growers. As in the example on the tape, customers can order bunches of flowers which come from the growers by way of a warehouse in Miami. These flowers may last up to three times longer than ones ordered from the local florist.

Key Idea #3

Bill Tobin can be described as an entrepreneur, a deal maker, an innovator, a visionary. He has founded and self-funded nine businesses during his career. He has put the right people together at the right time to solve problems and create businesses. He has made himself wealthy. He says, "An entrepreneur is driven. He is like a dog with a bone -- he doesn't drop it until there's not a scrap of meat left on it. He stays with it. He is focused, tenacious, myopic." However, Bill also says no one should fall in love with their ugly child." Topic for discussion: What does he mean by "ugly child?"

Possible answer: Bill is talking about a business idea you have that just doesn't work, it doesn't make money. You created it and it is your baby, but, it turns out to drain you of cash and that means it is ugly. AT&T just pulled the plug on a service they tried to develop which cost them $100 million and was employing 60 people. Today those people are being assigned to other departments and the product is dead. Bill is saying to let go of ideas that don't work. If you aren't supposed to fall in love with your ugly child, but, you are supposed to be tenacious, when is the right time to give up? You have to weigh all of the elements carefully. What if you love cooking and open a restaurant that serves your favorite recipes. If you are able to make one location profitable and create a nice lifestyle for your family you might be completely satisfied. However, if you imagine multiple locations and you see yourself as a major restaurant tycoon you have an entirely new goal. Bill Tobin is saying, it might be a bad idea to try to add locations. If you pour money into buying equipment and leasing space and don't see returns, you should give up or change the strategy.

Key Idea #4

Forming partnerships is difficult for many reasons. All of the partners must have something extraordinary to gain, or, the effort is not worth the time. In this case, the FTD Florists were not interested in Bill's idea because they couldn't understand it, or, they may have felt threatened by it. The traditional "Mom and Pop" shop owner thinks locally, not globally. Topic for discussion: Why was it so hard for Bill to convince the FTD florists to do business with him? Possible answers: He never convinced them! He presented his proposal and was turned down flat. So, you've heard the old saying, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." Bill bought some flower shops, joined the FTD association and became the biggest florist in the country in less than a year. Today, shops such as you saw on the tape, are dependent on the orders they fill for PC Flowers and Gifts.

Key Idea #5

The idea for a business is only the spark. Bill says, "People don't realize that an idea represents less than 5% of a successful commercial venture." People have hundreds of ideas for businesses and most of those ideas never even make it into a useful format. You might walk into an ice cream store and see a new flavor called, apple cinnamon crisp, then turn to your friend and say, "I already invented this ice cream. When my mom used to make apple pie I would pile it up with vanilla ice cream, then stir the pie and ice cream together in my bowl. This is my invention." Bill Tobin would say, fine, you tried this at home, but, the ice cream shop owner had the same idea and acted on it.

Topic for discussion: What does it take to turn an invention into a viable commercial product.

Possible answers: Money and markets. You have to have cash to make the product then the market has to accept the product. There are many books on taking an idea from the mind to the shelf. What we learn from Bill Tobin is determination, application of technology, partnering with people who know more than you do, testing and continuous improvement. We can see that entrepreneurship is not for the fearful or faint hearted. You must be willing to bet on your ideas. Bill says... "An entrepreneur is the person who puts all his marbles on the table. He risks everything on an idea.

Jim Schell also answers the question: What is an entrepreneur?

Questions? We invite your questions or comments.