The Plant Friends Journal 005
Hey plant friends,
I hope you had a good Easter and managed to spend a bit of time out in the garden. I took a break from the newsletter last week (I hope you missed me a little!) and honestly, I don't regret it one bit. Some of you messaged me about orders or just for a chat, and I said the same thing to everyone — I spent Easter with the family, and we had a ball.
That said, as reasonably new parents to the whole ‘school holidays’ thing, we were completely unprepared for how everything would be fully booked — trampoline parks, inflatable parks, farms... all booked solid. So instead, we made the most of the good weather and headed to the seaside, with a few meals out thrown in for good measure. There’s always next year to plan better!
Although, in the midst of all the disappointment about the trampoline park, I somehow got conned into buying an actual trampoline. It looked much smaller in the shop — and now it’s fighting for space with the plants in the garden! 🙈 But the kids absolutely love it, so any plans for garden expansion are officially on hold for now.
Anyway, with no newsletter last week, there’s a fair bit of news to catch you up on.
Unless you're friends with me on my personal profile, you might not know that Plant Friends wasn’t my only business. I was also co-owner of a coffee company — we leased coffee machines to shops, filling stations, and convenience stores (you know the kind, like Frank & Honest or Costa machines you see about).
Notice I said was.
I’d been thinking about stepping away for a while. When I went full-time with Plant Friends last year, I thought I could juggle both. However over the past few months, it became pretty clear that trying to do both was making me less effective at either. Coffee machines needed restocked, the website needed maintained, new clients needed found... meanwhile, at Plant Friends, orders needed packed, plants needed cared for, and the website needs updated more than once a month!
There was a lot of emotional attachment too — I’d worked with the other co-owners for nine years. Honestly, as my heart moved more and more toward Plant Friends, I was frustrating them too. I wasn’t making meetings, I wasn’t staying on top of my restock schedules. If we hadn’t been friends for so long, they probably would’ve asked me to leave anyway.
A few weeks ago I sat down with one of the founders, and we talked about increasing my workload. I said yes in the moment... but on the drive home I had to be honest with myself. Was I being realistic? Could I really take on more? Or was it always going to be the plants?
You can probably guess where this is going.
In the end, it wasn’t a sad decision — it just took a bit of reflection about what I actually wanted, and what was best for my family too. When I look back, touring the country refilling coffee machines doesn’t fit anymore. I’ve no doubt it was the right call.
When I started the Plant Friends Facebook group, I never imagined that just a few years later I'd be selling plants full time. I’ve always had other things going on... but it’s clear now that this is the one I want to grow (last pun in this newsletter).
Sometimes, you have to prune away the parts of life that aren’t growing in the right direction — even if you’ve cared for them for years — so the things that really matter can thrive (sorry I couldn't resist).
See you next Monday!