Is Starting a Garden Business Worth It?

Today, I want to tell you some crazy facts about growing a gardening business. I have been in the garden business since 2015, and I thought the industry was big back then, but man, oh man, it was just getting started. So I am Nicole Burke. This is the Grow youw Self podcast. And I'm on a mission to get everybody into the garden, everybody to start, start a garden. And for that to happen, we need more garden consultants. So after I started my own garden consulting business in 2015, I started garden consulting training in 2017. I would be on Instagram, you know, showing the work I was doing, the gardens I was installing, the clients I was working with. And people would DM me and be like, actually, two kinds of people would DM me. One would say, hey, Nicole, and do you know anyone who does what you do? But in my town in Washington State or New York or California, and I would say, huh, I don't think I do. And then I would get another message from someone else and they would say, hey, Nicole, I'm a gardener and I'm secretly stalking you because I wish I could have a business like this and work in the garden too. And so those two messages were coming at me almost all the time. And I thought, huh, I think there's something here. Like, these people need what I'm offering. I'm not there. I'm in a different town. And these people want to do what I'm doing, and they live right next to the person who's asking for help. So it was a light bulb moment of a way that I could absolutely multiply myself, multiply my efforts, and reach way more people by teaching others how to become garden consultants. So we're now in. This is 2024 at the time of this recording. So I've been doing it now for seven years. And it is amazing to see the businesses that our graduates have created. They say a mark for a business, a small business, is first to make it past the first year. But then if you can make it past the first year, the next big hurdle is the fifth year. If you can keep a small business alive for five years, you're in like the top 5% of small businesses. And there are a ton of garden consultants who started their business with me right when I started training in 2017 and 2018. And they're still in business. And what is it, 2024. So they've passed the five year mark. We've had garden consultants who started as accountants or as nurses or as flight attendants, doing all these other things as doctors and nurses. And teachers and then became garden consultants. Made enough as garden consultants to quit their full time job or to work as much or as little as they wanted and then go all in with their garden consulting business. So it works as part time, it works as full time, it can work anytime. And I want to give you some stats and some crazy facts about the the garden industry that show you why this is such a fun and exciting and new business to be in. So first up, the number used to be150.150 billion with A B dollars spent every year in landscape and garden industry. So it's about 100 billion was spent on landscaping services and then about 50 billion spent on garden supplies. Well, I looked it up in the 2023 report and the number has not, has not disappointed. Okay, we are now at 180. So it's gone up by 30 billion. They're expecting in 2024 there will be $180 billion spent on the garden in the United states alone. So $180 billion. I don't remember how many people we have in our country. Is it like 500 million? I don't know, 300 million or 500 million? Sorry, didn't do that piece of the research. But it breaks down to be about $500 per person. A little bit more than that because the spending in the garden industry is on the rise. So just take a second and think about that $180 billion, right? And then think about how big, what portion of the country is your town or city? I like to do this, you know. So how much of the country is living in your town? Is it 1%? Right. 1% of the country lives in your town. Well, if it's 1% of the country, that means 1% of $150 billion is spent in your town. Do you know what that stands for? Like $1.5 billion. What if your town is only 0.1%, right? Then it's $150 million. What if your town is only zero point zero one percent? Then it's $15 million. So it's just a ton of money being spent. And unfortunately, most of it's being spent wrongly. The next crazy fact is that the landscaping industry is growing faster than the economy over the last five years. So we have the normal growth of just how much things in general are growing in the economy. And then we have different industries. And year over year, the landscaping industry is outpacing. So what's happening is there is a growing desire to reconnect to nature for everybody from people in their homes, apartment dwellers, all the way to business owners and business complexes, nursing homes, hospitals, schools, you name it. Across the sectors, all those places are coming back to the realization that they want more than cement and grass, right? And so the desire and the growth for the industry is getting bigger, and it's growing faster than the economy. The next crazy fact is that most of these people who are putting in new gardens, changing their landscaping, they've got two major interests. The first major interest is native plants. I think it's because of the climate considerations, maybe Doug Tallamy's book, Nature's Best Hope. There is just a growing understanding that native plants are best, which is so amazing and exciting to see the trend rising. So more and more people want to put native plants in their landscape or at their business park, wherever they're working. And more and more people want to grow their own food. So those are the two key interests that everybody's showing interest in when it comes to landscaping and gardens, native plants and food production. All right, the next one is that over 55%, over half of Americans say that they do a little bit of gardening. Have you found this in your own experience? I have to say that I would think most of those people, when they say that, what they mean is they mean they weed their flower beds. You know what I mean? Because I don't know that many people who actually like, cultivate plants and grow plants in the garden, at least in my neighborhood or any of the neighborhoods I've ever lived in. And I feel like maybe those people would self identify as gardening, but what they mean by that is, like picking some weeds and like mowing the grass, perhaps, but that number continues to get bigger. But even if it's. Even if these people really do have gardens, just think of how many more people in America could become gardeners. 55%. So we've got another half of the. Of the whole population that could take on gardening and really make the community, the culture, the country that we live in, so much better. And then the last stat is that it's expected that 20% of Americans say they'll start a garden soon. And that's where I want to hone in on. 20% of Americans, when surveyed, all say that they'll start a garden soon. But here's the thing. They're probably not. They're probably not going to do it, right. They're in the survey. They feel a little bit of pressure. They know they should start a garden, but the reality is they're probably not going to, unless that's the magic word. Unless they are convinced that it's worth it. And that's where you and I come in. They have to be convinced that it's worth it for these next 20%, for next 45% of Americans to become gardeners. What if all of us lived, what if we lived in a town where gardening was as normal as driving that if you had a car, you had a garden. If you have a house, you have a garden. If you have a kitchen, you have a garden. What kind of world would we live in if that was the case? I think it would be a better world to live in. I don't know about you, but I think food would be less scarce, I think we would be healthier, we'd have better energy, we'd have less depression and anxiety and we'd have plenty of things to share and talk about that don't happen on this device. 20%. How do we convince them? That is going to come down to people like you and me. 1. Living out a garden centered life. So not being a homesteader, not having to go all in on living off the grid, but just being someone who's known as a gardener. Simply by living that way, you're inspiring the people around you, these 20% that say they'll start a garden soon, you're inspiring them that maybe they could make it a part of their reality as well. So living life, living a garden centered life in front of your peers, your neighbors, the people in your city and town is the first and really the best way. The next is sharing it. So sharing the garden, sharing the things that you harvest, sharing the overflow of the things that you pick, and then sharing your space, inviting people to come visit, to let their kids come take a wander through your garden, having harvest parties and celebrations that show all the things you can grow in your town and city in that particular season. And then the next thing you could consider doing is coaching, taking the things that you know how to do in the garden and actually letting people pay you to give them that advice. Sure, you could do it for free, and of course we all do it for free in a lot of ways with our just handing off things and in casual conversations. But everything changes when you move it into a consulting relationship where they pay you for your advice. Because I don't know if you've heard me say this before, but those who pay pay attention. So if you can help someone in the garden, give them a step by step and show them how the garden is absolutely worth it. They're nine times out of 10 more likely to actually make their garden happen this season. And they're going to be more confident, less overwhelmed and way less likely to quit because they got your help through the process. So garden coaching is my favorite part, my favorite aspect of the garden consulting process and the career. There are all kinds of different things you do as a garden consultant, but one of the big ones is garden coaching. And a coaching session looks just like going to the client's space, assessing what is, explaining what could be, explaining your principles, that your systems, the way you garden and then giving them a simple three step plan on what to do to make their space better or to get started in the first place. You literally assess, then you share your tips and then you give them a step by step plan. That's all that garden coaching is and that is what can happen. That's what is what's necessary to move these last 20%, these last 45% of Americans or wherever they are waiting to start a garden. That's what will move them to the next step. Being influenced by you, watching you live a garden centered life and the benefits that has on your everyday life. Getting to experience some of your garden with you, whether it's from your harvest or having a tour or just simply talking with you about the things you learn and enjoy in your garden and then finally getting professionally coached from you. So getting a step by step plan from you on how to make their garden happen or how to make their garden better. This is what we call garden consulting and this is the heart of Gardenary is helping people like you turn into garden consultants so that you can help people in your own town or city take the leap, see that the garden is worth it and actually go for it. At the time of this recording, we have an exciting event coming up called the Gardener's side Hustle where where I'm going to be teaching you how to create a side hustle from your garden. How to earn money simply by teaching and coaching and offering a few products and services that are directly correlated with the garden you're growing in your backyard. You can find out how to sign up for the Gardener side Hustle workshop right below this video. And if you're watching this at a later time or when the workshop has already passed, we always have a resource waiting for you all about garden consulting that you can find@gardenary.com I changed my life by becoming a garden coach and a garden consultant. As soon as I did that, I got to share my joy and the thing I love the most with clients all around my town and city. I got to take care of my kids when they were off school because I got to set my own schedule and I got to change my family's finances by helping with all the expenses that come with everyday life. And I just made I made my whole life better by going for it, becoming a Garden coach and helping People learn to garden. So these are some fun stats about the gardening industry and if you want to join it, if you want to be part of this growth, then you should come and check out our garden consulting program again. Come learn about the Gardener's side Hustle Workshop if you're watching this in real time. And if you're a little bit late, just head to gardenary.com and we'll have a resource for you to check out right there. Thanks so much for watching the the Grow youw Self Podcast and I will see you next time. Thanks so much for listening to the Grow youw Self podcast. You can keep listening anywhere. You love getting your podcast delivered on Apple, podcasts on Spotify, iHeartRadio, you name it, we are there for you. And if you want to read the notes and get our free resources to help you grow more, you can go to gardenary.com podcast.