How I Began to Make Money Gardening

When we left off in Part One, I had finally decided that I was going to start Rooted Garden, that my focus was not going to be on selling goods from my garden, but on selling the knowledge I had gained from working in my own garden for the last five years.

Once I came to this conclusion, my mission became clear, which helped to laser-focus my messaging. The result was phenomenal. My business took off between January and March of 2016. I started booking garden consults all over the city of Houston. I would design the space for them and then either set up a DIY kit for them or help them install the garden.

Garden Consulting Businesses Like Mine Were Rare

I was so busy that it became clear I needed help. I started looking for other businesses like mine around the country, and I have to tell you, I couldn't find very many.

I finally found a few in the San Diego area, so I took some of the Rooted Garden money that I'd made and booked myself a plane ticket to California. I saw it as an investment, an opportunity to spend some time with gardeners who were running businesses like the one I wanted to run.

The advice these business owners gave me was priceless. We walked through the different aspects of our businesses, how we had set them up, how we hired people to help us, and even the type of gardens we were designing. I got to see some of the work that they were doing in their own spaces, and our time together gave me so much clarity.

When I came back to Houston, I was like a new person. I had a deeper understanding of the possibilities available to me and the direction I wanted to go because I had invested my time with these people who were probably five to ten years ahead of me. I felt like a time traveler—I had seen what future-me could accomplish with my business.

I probably spent around $3,000 to $3,500 dollars to take that trip and get advice from the experts.

And let me tell you, that trip more than paid for itself.

I Had to Build Excitement for My New Business on Social Media

When I returned from California, I was designing gardens that cost $5,000 and $10,000. By the end of June, I even installed a garden that was over $30,000.

My business celebrated its first anniversary in the fall of 2016, and by that point, it had grossed over $100,000 in revenue. What?!

Do you remember how much I had used to start Rooted Garden? $450—that's the only money I had ever put into my business from my own account. So, within one year's time, that $450 had turned into a business that generated over six figures in real dollars.

I couldn't believe it. I had gone from planning to sell salad leaves from my garden for $1 or $2 each to founding a company that made how much!

As I was growing Rooted Garden, I was telling the story. In fact, I used social media quite a bit to document the work I was doing. I've always felt that it's better to document your work than create work to show off, so all I was doing was just covering the work I was doing for clients, telling the story, and sharing my excitement.

It was because I was posting my work on Instagram and Facebook and my own website that I started getting messages from people from all over the United States.

I Wanted to Share My Gardening Knowledge with More People

When Rooted Garden really started taking off, I received so many DMs, comments, private messages, and emails from people why typically fell into one of two groups.

One group of people would say, “I love the work that you are doing at Rooted Garden, and I really wish there was a company like yours in my town. Do you know of anybody who could help me in [insert state or gardening zone]?”

The other group consisted of hobby gardeners and even many people who were probably better gardeners that I was. They were master gardeners or landscapers or horticulturists, and they would say, “I've been stalking your page for the last few months because I'm trying to figure out how you created a business based around the garden. I want to do that too.”

So on the one hand, I was receiving all these requests from people wanting the service, and on the other hand, I was hearing from people who wanted to provide this service in a similar way that I was doing with Rooted Garden.

The messages from both sides sparked an idea in my head that became Gardenary, and I can't wait to tell you more about it in Part Three!

Ready to See What You Can Create as a Garden Coach?

As I described above, I really struggled to find a mentor to guide me, someone with a business like mine who could show me the possibilities for growth and success. I created the Gardenary Consultant Certification program, GCC, to help gardeners like me launch and scale their own garden consulting businesses in just 12 weeks. It's the only comprehensive business program focused on the garden industry there is.

So if you're where I was all those years ago, hoping to make money gardening or searching for a mentor to help you start a gardening business, check out GCC.

I'm so excited to share the joy of spreading garden knowledge with others.