Our success story this week is about an Indiana florist who has decorated the necks of Indy 500 champions for 30 years and who opened her own shop on the strength of her floral talent.

Julie Vance is the owner of Buck Creek and Bloom, located in Yorktown, Indiana. In addition to creating her signature designs for local special occasions, she’s world-famous for assembling the iconic floral racing award.

It opened in November of 2007, but she has been doing flowers since 1988. She opened in her hometown and said she would not have started a flower shop if she didn’t have good design skills and knowledge of the business. She emphasized that it’s really hard work and you have to be really dedicated and put in long hours.

She has been the designer that has the privilege of making the Indianapolis 500 winners’ wreath. It is a Borg Warner tradition that the winner of the race is crowned with a wreath, drinks the milk, and then his face is put in silver on the Borg Warner trophy in the beginning.

Here at the shop, her signature look is probably what she calls her sticks because she uses a lot of natural vines and curly willow and pods and shelf mushrooms and moss and all those real natural things mixed in with the flowers and plants, which what sets them apart from others.

Her path to success was just hard work including work at many other flower shops. Julie just loved this kind of work and it was her artistic outlet, so she always knew she would like to be a flower shop owner.

Governor Holcomb declared a proclamation naming it small business week throughout the state.

The IUC and the Indiana Small Business Development Center are going all over the state, recognizing outstanding entrepreneurs and small businesses that make Indiana communities places where people want to live.

We visited Butler University to hand out the woman-owned award to Indie Power Products.

Nancy Rider and the team have done an outstanding job getting the business off the ground and growing, and they’re excited to recognize the hard work.

The recognition is humbling and they’re honored given the fact that there are so many small businesses in the state of Indiana.

Being a woman-owned small business takes a lot of hard work and the recognition is gratifying.

This Week in Business we talk about the booming businesses of peanut butter. It is booming in Portage, Indiana of all places!

The two people who know about it better than anyone are the creators of B-Nutty, Carol Pola and Joy Tompkins.

They came up with the idea after looking for a way to fundraise and teach kids not only about nutrition and fundraising but also to give them something good to eat on the field.

One thing they are doing now is expanding from once-a-year fundraisers to local farmers’ markets and grocery stores after many people fell in love with their fun flavors.

At the time, the goal was to just give their team something to snack on when traveling and to franchise with it. This ran once a year but has now increased to multiple times throughout the year. Take a look at the full interview above to learn more information about this company. It’ll sure drive you nuts, making you want another jar of B-Nutty peanut butter!

Some people prefer to lease a car or truck or home, while others want to own one.

You will likely face the same question either way, whether you buy, rent, or lease your location, equipment, and more.

Courtney Kincaid, president and CEO of the Indiana CPA Society has some thoughts.

People are still trying to find out what their needs are as they start new businesses that have popped up post-pandemic and commercial real estate and also the leasing or buying of equipment, leases, and purchases as well as how they are to be treated differently from a tax perspective.

There are many things to take into consideration when people are looking at property. For example, something that’s really good to think about is what are the short-term benefits and what are the long-term benefits because that will depend on different ways that you will make your decision.

When you think about leases, it might be financially beneficial in the short term, but when you think about tax implications or depreciation, purchasing things in the long term, you might have a better long-term outlook.

The tax implications for a property are not just commercial real estate.  A CPA is a really good partner and helps you understand ancillary costs related to that property that might also qualify for a deduction, as well as saying what would qualify.