Daisy Jane’s Flower Truck is easy to spot with its bright red exterior and custom-made white canopy, which covers baskets filled to the brim with bouquet-ready flowers, each accompanied by a sign that lists its name, price and background story. Having a bad day? There’s a flower for that.
Owner and founder Megan Moore is readily available near her truck — which can be found rolling around Greater Cincinnati on any given day and popping up at various art fairs and events — to answer questions, chat with customers and arrange flowers into vibrant, colorful bouquets. You can even customize your own bouquet and write a personalized note with Moore’s vintage typewriter.
While she has no formal training as a florist — if time allows, she would love to check that off her list — Moore says her business venture has been a learning process. This year marked Daisy Jane’s debut as a rolling floral depot since she first bought the truck last fall. (She posts her weekly locations via social media and her website, daisyjanesflowertruck.com.)
“Oftentimes, when you’re trying to start something new, especially a business, you feel like you have to have everything in place,” Moore says. “I feel like you will never start if you know every single thing. You’ll always be learning.”
Moore, a Cincinnati native, was faced with a decision when her contract as a news reporter with Local 12 News — where she worked on Good Morning Cincinnati — was coming to an end. Renewing the contract meant early morning and late-night shifts and working weekends and holidays for at least another three years. But she knew she wanted more flexibility so that she could spend time with her family — especially with her young son.
“My family has followed me everywhere I’ve gone,” Moore says. “They’ve sacrificed so much in following my career path that I wanted to give back to them.”
She wanted to do something else, she just didn’t know what. Around the same time as she was debating her next move, a friend posted about a mobile flower truck in Nashville on Instagram. Moore immediately fell in love with the idea. She thought the concept of the truck was adorable and the flexibility of owning a pop-up business would offer her the schedule she wanted. She decided that if she could find a truck, and no one was offering the same business in Cincinnati, she would launch her own here.
She scoured countless truck listings on every auto website she could find before locating a 1965 Spring Special Ford E100 on Craigslist. Filled with nerves and excitement, she reached out to the owner and set a date to go visit the vehicle.
“I sat over here like, ‘Oh my goodness. If this truck is in good shape and good to go, then this is happening — this has to happen,’ ” Moore says.
She bought the truck in October 2018 and gave it a name: Daisy Jane. As Moore explains, daisies symbolize new beginnings and the name Jane means “God is gracious,” from ancient Greek and Hebrew.
A month after buying the truck, she left her job at Local 12 to pursue a long-term goal of owning a small business.
“I always knew, at some point in my life, I wanted to start a business,” Moore says. “I even bought a door — a mint green door.”
Bought from a Habitat for Humanity Restore in Traverse City, Michigan — where she previously worked as a reporter for WPBN-TV in 2012 and ‘13 — the door has traveled with Moore to every city she has called home and served as a physical reminder to Moore of her ultimate entrepreneurial goal. Currently, the door resides in her basement, but she would love to use it in a physical storefront one day. For her, it serves as a symbol of the independence, hard work and the reward found as a small business owner.
“I think what I love so much about small businesses is just the impact they have on the community,” she says. “When you buy from small businesses, you’re supporting your neighbor.”
Moore says she loves being a part of a community of entrepreneurs who have carved out their own path.
“Anybody who steps out and does that is taking a huge risk, but I think that so many can be inspired by someone knowing that this may not work, but it’s OK,” she says. “And if it inspires someone else to chase a dream that they have, then that’s all worth it."
For more information on Daisy Jane’s Flower Truck and to find upcoming locations, visit daisyjanesflowertruck.com.
