Plant Design and Care - The Plant Doctors

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Chelsii Gregory and Skylor Powell, founders of The Plant Doctors, located in Portland, OR, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

The two pillars of our business are community and plants. We define our success as a business by our ability to grow both! Let us teach you how to care for and expand your personal jungle, so you can soak up the benefits that plants have to offer. We offer plant installations, plant rentals, and plant maintenance for ALL! Every week we work in homes, offices, restaurants, event spaces, and more. We can help refresh your current plants, bring in new ones, or a combination of both! We offer weekly and monthly plant maintenance.

Tell us about yourself

Started out killing plants, and now I'm here! I did NOT have a green thumb as of 5 years ago. Then I became pregnant, bought my first home, and got addicted to plants once I was gifted my first Pothos plant. Skylor and I cultivated our love for plants by soaking up every bit of knowledge available. We've taken lots of classes and workshops, but the best teachers, of course, have been plants themselves. The learning doesn't stop, and we love getting to know plants and people so much more through the process! - Chelsii

I grew up in Ohio, where weeding the yard is a regular punishment for kids, so plants were never my thing. Honestly, I can't remember why I even bought my first one! What I do remember is telling Chelsii I made a big move to become a plant mom. As luck would have it, she revealed her own little secret that she had done the SAME! From then on, our friendship fed our love for plants, and our love for plants became one of our greatest bonding points. Which is exactly why we began the biz; our love for plants and friendship is too great to keep for ourselves, so we made a business of friendship and foliage to grow throughout PDX! - Skylor

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Being able to do what we love TOGETHER has been so incredible. We hold each other accountable to our boundaries so that we stay present in our personal lives and can give our all to the business when it's time for that! We recently moved to a 4-day work week, and that has been such an incredible shift. We're working smarter and harder for four days and then really get to reap the benefits of rest and time with family and friends over our three-day weekends.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Setting our boundaries and saying NO! We are definitely yes people and tend to think that we can take it all on! We've always learned to remember our values and say no when it isn't the right fit, or we don't have time to do it right. Always a work in progress.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

Always create processes! They take time and aren't that fun to create; well, Skylor loves creating them 😂, but they are SO beyond helpful to keep your business running smoothly. Things move really quickly over at The Plant Doctors, and having guidelines and processes in place helps us so much.
CREATE community!
HAVE FUN - always leave time for fun.

We're so honored that our community trusts us with their plants and in their homes/businesses/etc.! It's been the honor of a lifetime to get to know such amazing people and to have so much fun with amazing installs/projects!

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://theplantdocs.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theplantdocs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theplantdoctors/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.