Here's how 1-800-Flowers founder Jim McCann made his first billion dollars
On this episode of Executive Exchange, Founder and CEO of 1-800-Flowers.com Jim McCann joins senior editor and host Ruth Umoh in our Fortune studios to discuss how he turned one flower shop in Manhattan into a $3 billion company with worldwide recognition. Today, Jim oversees a sprawling $3 billion multi-platform e-commerce site that sells much more than just flowers, including The Popcorn Factory, Cheryl's Cookies, Harry & David, and Wolferman's Bakery.
Transcript
00:00 Walk us through how you made your first million.
00:03 Well, I don't know.
00:04 I don't know when that happened, because wealth is generated mostly by creating value.
00:12 Somewhere in that first 10 year period, I accumulated a bunch of these stores and they were profitable.
00:19 And when I bought the company that had the 800 number in it, I had to muster together all the money.
00:26 And when I was able to put up $2 million to buy the company, that's when I realized I had more than a million dollars.
00:36 Are you able to share how you made your first billion dollars?
00:40 Sure. It's brick on brick.
00:43 For us, it's continuing to build a portfolio of brands, making yourself more convenient so people can act on their thoughtfulness very conveniently.
00:53 And the mobile device was the way that really catapulted us.
00:57 And mobile has completely revolutionized our business.
01:00 And that's when we crossed the billion dollar threshold.
01:02 When, hey, if you were in the back of an Uber and you just came from a great meeting with Ruth and you wanted to say thanks to her,
01:10 and say, "Geez, I'd like to send her a bouquet."
01:13 Well, now instead of having to wait till you get the office or open up your laptop and go in through your PC, you have this mobile device in your hand.
01:20 Now you can just go click on her app and with voice interactivity say, "I'd like to send Ruth a bouquet of flowers.
01:26 Here's what I'd like to say in the card." And you're done.
01:28 So that's when mobile really kicked in.
01:31 That's when we crossed the billion dollar threshold.
01:33 I want to end with some quick questions for you around Robin, if you will.
01:40 Best business advice you've ever received?
01:43 Best business advice would probably be to not listen to all the people who tell you that your wacky idea can't happen.
01:52 That listen, listen for good advice.
01:55 But if you think it can work, keep going because people don't know what they don't know.
01:59 It's easy to say that in hindsight.
02:01 It is. It is easy to say it in hindsight.
02:03 But when you're making decisions now and you think back, what would the advice be from that person on this back then?
02:09 It helps you to contextualize.
02:11 And the other thing in terms of leadership was, I don't know if you heard of this guy, Jamie Dimon.
02:17 He runs a little bank uptown here.
02:18 But he's someone Chris and I are friendly with.
02:22 And advice he gave me one time, and I think about it often, is he said, "Jim, you spend way too much of your time evangelizing."
02:31 I said, "What do you mean?"
02:32 He said, "You spend too much energy and time trying to get everybody in the organization to get it."
02:37 I said, "They don't all need to get it."
02:40 He says, "They just need to have the faith that you get it.
02:42 And that if they do their job of moving things from here to here, and everybody does that, it'll roll up into a beautiful noise, a beautiful crescendo."
02:52 The most important question, what is your favorite flower?
02:55 Well, there's a year-round answer, I guess, and a seasonal answer.
03:01 Seasonally, a peony.
03:03 Because there's still, with all the things we've done in terms of the science, they're still kind of rare.
03:10 My wife is the head gardener at home.
03:12 I'm her helper.
03:14 But we have beautiful peonies, and they're majestic and special.
03:19 But on a year-round basis, we were talking about roses before.
03:23 I'm a purist. I bring flowers home.
03:25 I don't bring, oftentimes, a mixed bouquet.
03:28 I bring a single flower.
03:29 I like to work them and see how long I can get them to last.
03:32 I like to work the flowers myself.
03:35 But I love a vase of roses, all one color.
03:39 And that's what gets me excited at home.
03:42 I now have a hankering for fruit and chocolate almonds.
03:45 I don't know why.
03:46 Who knows? Maybe it's in your future.
03:48 (laughing)