Growing Joy with Plants - Wellness Rooted in Nature, Houseplants, Gardening and Plant Care · Maria Failla- Happy Plant Lady and Author of Growing Joy: The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness

Growing a Plant Business, A Marriage and A Community of Plant Parents with @mrstannertheplanter

·1 hr 5 min·4 clips

Erica met Tanner at a tire shop while she was on lunch break with her son's hockey gear in the car.

1. Growing Joy with Plants features Erica Mitchell talking about the Tanner the Planter and Famous in Oregon plant business and her marriage with Tanner. 2. Maria hosts Erica as the co-founder who helped shape the brand, the shop, the live sales, and the customer community. 3. The episode asks how two partners build a plant company and a marriage at the same time. 4. Erica says she met Tanner at a tire shop while on lunch break from an education job and carrying her son's hockey gear. 5. She says Tanner started talking because he was trained for small talk at the tire shop, and she says the relationship began as friendship. 6. Erica describes working in school administration, subbing, and helping in Spanish-speaking roles because her district needed someone who spoke Spanish. 7. She says a health-supplement company gave her a first taste of working for herself after a divorce and pushed her toward entrepreneurship. 8. Erica says plants were not the original business plan, but the couple realized they both had to be involved once the plant work grew quickly. 9. She explains that live selling started around 2019 by collecting email addresses and sending PayPal invoices manually. 10. Erica says the storefront lease was signed in March 2020 and the shop opened in May 2020, right as shutdowns were beginning. 11. She notes that people were driving from Dallas to Prosper, Texas, to shop because they saw the store on Instagram. 12. Erica says the name Famous in Oregon came from Tanner being from Oregon, where plants are part of the landscape, and from a partner’s festival nickname. 13. She says the first year included too many services, including plant maintenance and in-home consults, because they did not yet know how to say no. 14. Erica describes learning that customers could become takers if a visit started as one task and expanded into many plant questions. 15. She says the content strategy began when they realized the store itself was full of education, and Tanner started making one video a day. 16. Erica says a failed brand-deal recording pushed Tanner to buy a Sony a1/7-style camera from a creator friend, and that camera later powered viral videos. 17. She describes their strength split as Tanner seeing the business from a bird’s-eye view while she focuses on immediate details and relationship work. 18. Erica says the team now includes an ops manager named Adam, shipping manager Lily, customer service lead Teresa, and store keyholders who handle daily responsibilities. 19. The conversation feels practical, warm, and candid, with Maria asking detailed operational questions while Erica answers with specific examples. 20. Plant-shop owners, creator-business couples, and listeners who like behind-the-scenes growth stories would get the most from this conversation.

As heard by us

A plant business story with texture: steady work, a creative habit, and the rough edges behind both.

Maria and Tanner keep the focus on how a plant business becomes both a daily practice and a creative outlet. The episode stays grounded in the work itself: showing up at the shop, learning by necessity, and building a rhythm around making one video a day.

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Why you'd press play

For when you want plant joy with a real creator-workflow backstory.

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