Financial Analyst Unearths Organic Plant Shop

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

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So back in my reselling days, when I was making some extra money and then actually making a living for a number of years, just buying stuff and reselling it, we talk about in a number of episodes here on Side Hustle School, I didn't really specialize in anything. I sold coffee for a long time, but I kind of, you know, lent it in that by happenstance. And then I sold toys and video games and cigars and just all kinds of stuff, like whatever I could find a way to buy and then resell for a profit, I did. But there was one thing I never tried to sell. Actually, there were probably a lot of things, but for the sake of this introduction and this segue, let's say there was one thing I never sold.

And that thing or that category, that item was houseplants or plants in general or anything living, let's say. If I was gonna sell houseplants, I would try to do so as quickly as possible before they died because I wouldn't be very good in caring for the inventory. I'm actually trying to add more plants into my life now. Got a couple of them around this studio where I'm recording. But when I went to the store, I told them, you know, my number one prerequisite here is low maintenance, just because it's me we're talking about here.

So no online plant selling for me, but there are people out there doing it. And some of them are finding success with it. So in today's story, for example, I'm gonna tell you about a financial analyst with a green thumb who unearths an online plant shop. When her dream of having a retail store becomes over watered, she digs in and finds another way. We'll also look at the end of this episode at the concept of researching and learning from your competition.

Now, this is one of my favorite parts of the side hustle book from idea to income in 27 days. So if you haven't had a chance to check out that book yet, well, you'll get a bonus primer in this lesson. And if you have, you'll get a bit of a refresher on this section called "Become a Detective." All right, this story of fun foliage profits is coming up. Stay tuned. [Music]

It's safe to say that financial analyst Abi Downing has a knack for tending plants.

Her experiences cultivating greenery began as a labor of love, growing up in her childhood home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When the temperatures dropped, Abi's mother took comfort in the bright green house plant she kept year round. She wanted her children to share the feeling that came with keeping plants, so maintaining them became part of Abi's chores. The more she learned about them, how to grow and propagate those plants, the more she realized that maybe she wasn't so different from her mother after all. It fascinated her that you could cut off a piece of vine, stick it in some water, and then watch an all new plant grow.

When she moved out of her parents' house, that love of bringing the outdoors inside came with her. Before long, Abi had quite a happy little plant family over in her new home, and she realized she wasn't alone. Well, it wasn't just the plants. I'm talking about just, you know, community. Lots of other people like plants.

Over the past few years, Abi had seen a love of all things house plants spread its tendrils across the furthest reaches of the internet, like wisteria working its way up a trellis. There were Instagram profiles and blogs completely dedicated to growing plants. It was becoming more and more common to see neighbors scrambling for the keys to their front door, while juggling a couple of spider plants in their arms. Abi had long wanted to start a side hustle, and it made sense for her to nurture something with a product that she was truly passionate about. It seemed like an idea too good not to let it take root.

Her initial thought was, "Oh, I could sell my plants at fairs and farmer's markets." She discovered that the requirements were steep. All of the markets that she found in her area required you grow the plants yourself from seed, and they needed to be organic to the region. So over the next year, Abi repotted her idea. She realized that an e-commerce shop could be the solution she was looking for. It would be easy, it would be cost-effective.

She could keep inventory at her home and benefit from all that extra oxygen in the air. And since she would be running it online, she could fit it in around her work schedule. With the idea firmly planted in her mind, she set out to start digging. At the time, she was taking a plant-focused watercolor class. They were often going on tours of greenhouses, floral shops, and botanical gardens.

On one trip where her classmates were all focused on the flowers, Abi spotted a section of the shop completely dedicated to houseplants. That shop ended up being her first wholesaler. But Abi also knew it's best to not put all your bulbs in one pot. So she started looking for more suppliers. She went around to different shops seeking out labels or tags.

It would give her some indication of where they were getting those plants from. This process allowed her to add a couple more wholesalers to her list. She opted for plants that were low maintenance, suitable for small spaces, and easy for beginners to take on. Not only did she think all these attributes would be desirable to customers, they might also cause fewer headaches when it came time to ship the plants. And to develop that shipping strategy, Abi drew on the same detective skills that she used to find a wholesaler.

She ordered plants from her competitors and took special note of how they packaged and protected the plants during shipment, how long it took to go from order to delivery, and the marketing materials that came with the box. One thing she found noteworthy is that her competitors were shipping their plants on their sides, something she would have never thought to do on her own. Not only does this protect the stalk of your plant, but it also saves space when it comes to packaging multiple plants for a single order. Finally, with all of her plants in a row, she built a website using Shopify and called her new shop Perico Plant Co. She sells these plants and the traditional planners that come from the wholesaler.

She also has some upgraded options on her website, glazed ceramic and cement style planners that are popular with trendy plant lovers. Now, one downside, Abby discovered that this is somewhat of a seasonal business, at least online, because customers are hesitant to purchase plants that have to ship in the cold. When she saw that customers were visiting her site but not buying, she found ways to reach out to them to get an idea of why. The overwhelming response was that they were waiting until the warmer months to make their purchases. So to supplement a reduction in orders during the cold weather, Abby found ways to sell her plants at local pop-ups and has even brought in more than $1,600 over the course of a single weekend.

As a matter of fact, she's absolutely sold out within two hours. Since starting, Abby has sold over 200 plants and has made roughly $3,000. She invested $500 to stock her inventory, create her website, and do some basic marketing. While selling organic plants, Perico Plant Co. is growing organically, and Abby has unearthed a new source of income, doing something she enjoys.

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So on that concept of becoming a detective or just doing a little bit of competitive research, hearing this story, Abby wants to have the plant business, and so she finds suppliers, wholesalers, by looking at the labels of plants in various shops and greenhouses out and about. And that part is simple enough, but what I think is interesting is that she actually goes and orders plants from whatever other online retailer she can find. And in doing so, she's researching how do they do their shipping, which is a question that I would have. I know pretty much how to find a supplier for something, but when you're shipping a house plant, as mentioned, I'm not very good with them, I wouldn't know how to go about shipping them. And so the way she figures it out is by looking and seeing what other people are doing.

So super smart trick there. And in the side hustle book, when I wrote about it in that context, I told the story of how, like when I was first selling on online auctions years ago, when I was selling all that random stuff, I paid attention to the kinds of items that were selling, like over and over. And then I would basically reverse engineer the process, track down the wholesaler or distributor, and then write them to ask about their price. So you can think of this as following the money, basically, like where's the money? What is being bought and sold?

How is that being transacted? And what are the original suppliers? Some of that information may be a little bit hard to find, but it's not really hidden. It's just, you might have to do, again, a little bit of detective work. But it can often be a really profitable strategy to kind of figure that out, especially when you're doing something with reselling.

I think you can do this kind of thing with lots of different businesses, but especially with reselling, because so much of that information is transparent one way or another. In other words, you can see what people are buying and selling things for. So you can probably get a good idea of what their profit margin is. And then you can ask yourself, like, is this gonna be profitable for me? Is this worth me spending more time in, or should there be a different market, perhaps, that I should explore?

So go and be a detective. That's my encouragement, my challenge for you today. As always, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Today's show notes are at sidehustleschool.com/803.

Come and check out the Perico Plant Co. Maybe you'll wanna order some plants for yourself or for a loved one, perhaps. And I was about to say I'm gonna sign off and go water my plants, but I don't think I should do that. That's part of the problem. I think I'm overwatering, but I'm just afraid.

Like, I worry that if I don't water them, they're gonna die. Apparently, if I water them too much, they're gonna die. It's just, ah, this is why it's so hard. Perhaps we have some listeners who could advise me about my plants, but, you know, you're busy. I don't wanna take your time.

It's my goal to help you, not the other way around. So I'm just gonna keep making episodes. That's what I'm gonna do. I'll be back again tomorrow with episode 804. My name is Chris Guillebeau.

This is Side Hustle School. [Music]

From The Onward Project.