Plant Lover’s Tiny Terrariums Take Root on Instagram

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

I'm so excited to get ready to go out on the road in less than one month. I'm going to be talking with people all across North America about the new book, "100 Side Hustles." And really, I'm not just talking about a book. I'm talking about stories, talking about real-life people just like you. Maybe some of them that you've heard about on the podcast who've been able to create a new life for themselves or just do something fun, make some extra money, doing something they are interested in, passionate about, or something that just kind of gives them a little bit of a different direction, purpose, and life, etc. Now, today, let's talk about one of these stories, "The Rise of the Plant Influencer." In this story, one man's love for terrarium building blooms, and he uses his marketing skills to make $10,000 and grow an Instagram following of more than 30,000 people.

His project has clearly taken root. He's drawn upon the powers of photosynthesis, which, as you may have learned in elementary school, is all about turning likes into dollars. That's right. That's what it's about. Photosynthesis, likes into dollars.

Just remember, there is something out there that you can do, too. That's what Cytosol School is all about. I'm so glad you're here today. Stay tuned for this story. Here's a quick shout-out to our sponsor.

When Jesse Goldfarb first started dating Lauren, the woman who had later become his wife, he also became interested in plants. Hanging out at her place, he noticed that she had two bonsai. Looking further, he saw that, although these bonsai were beautiful, they also seemed a little unhealthy. After some research, he learned that all they needed was a trimming and an annual potting. He excitedly got to work and revived them both.

Then, while he was glad they were back to health, he missed taking care of them. He felt that way for years, something was missing in his life, but finally, Lauren bought him a gardening magazine that changed everything. As he was flipping through it, he noticed a section on container gardens and small terrariums. They were tiny enough that they would be cheap to make and only take a few hours to assemble. He could be creative and work with plants, but wouldn't have to commit to a huge project.

It was perfect. Jesse rushed to the store to pick up some supplies and immediately got to work. He made one the first day, two the next, then went back to the store to stock up for making ten more. When his co-worker saw one that he'd planted on his desk, she asked if Jesse would make her one, too. He said sure, that would be $40.

Of that, $20 was spent on supplies and the other half was profit or payment for his time. Jesse's plants became an office trend. As more and more people ordered them, he increased the price. In fact, he doubled it every order for the first three orders, but no one complained because as time went on, the terrariums were becoming more and more complex and Jesse was getting better at making them. Around this time, he began an Instagram account where he posted pictures of bonsai for fun and had accumulated 4,000 followers.

He had a feeling that if he focused his social efforts on his terrariums, there would be just as big of an audience if not bigger. And a bigger audience, of course, meant more sales. So, in November 2016, he officially created his account called Teeny Tiny Terra. From there, he posted photos of his favorite terrariums. His creations grew to be more and more unique.

He started putting the plants in test tubes or placing some of his daughter's small toy figurines in the containers. People loved what he was sharing. Plus, as a marketer, that's what he did for his day job, Jesse was able to use techniques he was already familiar with to get his name out there. One tactic that worked especially well was contacting aggregator accounts. These are accounts that curate content that isn't their own.

These accounts need content to survive, so they're always looking for new things to post. If you get them to post something of yours, it can give your account exposure. By doing this, Jesse soon racked up thousands and thousands of followers, all the way up to 30,000 at the time we worked on this episode. His sales increased too, and another money-making opportunity presented itself—sponsorships. For a price, Jesse would incorporate his terrarium designs with products from a particular company.

These days, only 15% of profits actually come from selling terrariums. Another 20% is from those sponsored posts, but the biggest source of his profits actually comes from something entirely different. After his success on social media, Jesse found himself craving in-person interaction with his audience. He saw that other artists were doing workshops and realized that he could start his own for terrarium building. By charging $150 per person at 50 to 150 person workshops, he could make a lot of cash quickly.

This now accounts for 65% of his annual profits. By building up an audience on his Instagram account, Jesse was able to get his money-making ideas to the market, the people that would be most likely interested. As his hustle grew and he had more ideas, he already had a huge pool of people just waiting to become his potential customers. Last year, he made $10,000 from teeny tiny terra and has already sprouted $7,000 in profits the first few months of 2019. Keep an eye out to see how Jesse continues to grow.

Jesse has planted himself in a less competitive space, nourishing the seeds of side hustle profit, and also it just looks like he's having a lot of fun, which is pretty cool. There's nothing wrong with a simple product business. Very easy concept. If you go and look at the Instagram account, you understand it right away. At first, when I was working on the story, I thought, "Wow, his office mate didn't mind paying $40 and then the next person paid $80." But then you look at the pictures and these are actually really elaborate.

He puts a lot of work into them and it's the kind of thing that I was like, "Wow, I should have one of these on my desk. Maybe I can get a side hustle school branded sponsored terrarium," something I've never thought about before. But there's all kinds of things I've never thought about as I work on this program for you. So as I said, nothing wrong at all with a simple product business. It can actually be a lot easier to go to market with something like this than with something that is either more complex or in a much more competitive space or something where you have to do more aggressive selling or pitching or whatever.

He's just, as I said, having fun, making plants and $10,000 last year, $7,000 in the first few months of this year, and we'll see what happens next. So I like how he's also been able to diversify his revenue streams by not just making the plants but also doing the sponsorship thing and now by doing the workshops, which really has the chance to probably take off the most. So lots of potential there, and I hope it gives you something to think about. Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better. To find the notes for today's episode and see more about Teeny Tiny Terra, to practice that but I got it down, Teeny Tiny Terra, just come to sidehustleschool.com/858.

Episode 858. Thanks so much. I'll be back again tomorrow and I hope you will be too. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School.

From the Onward Project.