Today we’d like to introduce you to Liezel Houle
Liezel, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
In 2019 I moved from the Philippines to the US and married my husband Michael. We initially lived in the Bay Area where I got my first job as a florist at a local flower shop. I became more interested in plants while living and working in California and decided I wanted to start my own business in the plant industry. I spent weekends researching and learning as much as I could about plants. After a few years in California, we relocated to the Austin, TX area since Austin is my husband’s hometown. We purposely bought a house that had a big enough backyard to build two large greenhouses. One is our succulent/cacti greenhouse and the other is our tropical greenhouse. Once the greenhouses were constructed, including electricity, I was able to start filling them with plants. One major challenge was finding good plant suppliers and transportation companies that would deliver the plants to our residence. From there I was able to build our website and started to make my first sales. Of course sales were slow at the beginning, but I was able to sell on live selling platforms such as Whatnot and Palmstreet to boost my sales. I also worked on my Instagram and Facebook page to promote my business. Today I continue to sell plants locally and online. It’s a lot of hard work, but I like it because I’m building my own business around something I really enjoy. Recently I’ve started importing rarer exotic plants from Thailand that are hard to find in the US. I’m hoping I can visit Bangkok in the near future to continue my quest on finding great plant suppliers. It makes me happy when I can provide people with a great selection of plants at very fair prices.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Never smooth when you start a business from scratch. I Initially thought I would mostly sell plant arrangements, like a florist but living plants. But I found out the market demand for just buying plants is much larger.
Figuring out how to build affordable greenhouses in my backyard was pretty challenging to. Then determining how to keep the greenhouses cool in the summer and warm in the winter was another obstacle. The greenhouses have a double plastic layer that inflates to provide insulation, which helps hold in the heat from the heater. In the summer we have shade cloth, multiple fans, and a misting system to keep the plants happy.
I mentioned before finding good plant suppliers and trucking companies to deliver plants safely was a big challenge. Many suppliers don’t have a website, so I ended up finding many suppliers through their social media accounts. Networking with people in the industry and asking them for advice or information was also super helpful.
Live selling on Whatnot was very intimidating at first. But eventually you become comfortable and now it’s fun.
One of the hardest things was figuring out how to pack and ship plants in the mail. You need to be fast and efficient while keeping your shipping material cost low. After trying so many different ways to pack plants I now have a methodology that works for me. It makes me feel great when my customers give me positive feedback on the quality of my packing.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We specialize in selling interesting ornamental plants. We try to cater to all types of plant people. Whether it’s succulents vs tropicals or common vs rare. We work really hard to find cool plants at fair prices. What sets us apart is that we sell plants that can’t easily be found in the Austin area. Our prices are also usually lower than competitors since we are a small business with extremely low overhead. We also offer great customer service by being honest and using our acquired plant knowledge to give the best possible plant advice.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
Whatnot and Palmstreet are amazing apps for people looking for an instant revenue stream to jumpstart their business.
https://worldofsucculents.com/ was one of my main sources when trying to learn about the thousands of different types of succulents in the world.
I really like Sean’s YouTube channel @onlyplants. Learned so much about plants and the plant industry from his videos.
Bangkok International Exotic Plant Show and Sale in Thailand and The Tropical Plant International Expo in Florida are the best events for networking with the international plant community.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tejasplantsandgifts.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tejasplantsandgifts
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shoptejasplantsandgifts
