We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Anulika Agu. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Anulika below.

Anulika, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

The Flower Plugg started off as a way to personally help myself with my mental health and wean off of tobacco. I’ve been living a plant based lifestyle for going on 7 years now which also led me to the world of holistic healing and natural alternatives. You add that to being a stoner and that’s pretty much how I got introduced into smoking herbal flowers like roses, lavender, mullein and their benefits. After doing my research on smokable herbs and taking courses to expand my knowledge, I started making my own smoking blends and noticed less cravings for marijuana and tobacco. I also noticed that certain herbs used either elevated my mood, calmed my nerves, helped with sleep, and cleared out congestion/mucous I didn’t even know I had. After about a well over a year, I introduced smoke blends to my friends and family. September 2020 The Flower Plugg was born and I’m so grateful for the growth of my business and being able to expose the community to the healing benefits of smokable tea blends. My goal has always been to share the goodness of herbalism to communities that are not as familiar with this information. I’m so thankful that through social media and word of mouth I’ve been able achieve this and help people naturally heal through herbs.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Anulika Agu, and as the owner of The Flower Plugg my goal is to bring herbal medicine awareness to communities that are not familiar or exposed to these benefits. As a stoner who is also into holistic healing, I really began to understand the importance of taking care of your physical health on the inside just as much as the outside. My smokable blends helped me during tolerance breaks especially during a time where I was forced to take a tolerance break due to constant panic attacks. When coming out with my smokable tea blends, I really wanted to make a product that people could relate to. Marijuana is slowly being accepted into society, however, people still report feelings of anxiousness or paranoia when under the influence. My smokable tea blends are a great alternative to give your body a euphoric, calm feeling without the high. Do not be fooled by the packaging, my products contain no THC or CBD. I also did not want my products to be just for smokers which is why all blends can be smoked, sipped, or soaked in; making it a product that everyone can enjoy!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

After my first viral video on tiktok, I had to learn a lot of the business aspect of things really fast. One of the hardest moments is when Shopify didn’t allow me to use their credit card processer anymore. My business was considered a “high risk” business due to the pre-rolls and my herbs being smokable (despite it not having any thc, cbd, or illegal substances). This was very abrupt and I was not prepared for it at all. I took other forms of payment, but not having credit/debit as an option led to lost sales and emails from customers wanting to purchase but not having accounts to the other forms of payment. I could have stopped right there or just continued to stick Paypal and Venmo transactions, but instead I did my research on other card processors and reached out to people. After 2 months of searching and going through interviews, I finally found one that fit and worked with my business. The whole experience was a lot more tedious and emotional than it sounds, but I’m so glad I pushed through and kept The Flower Plugg intact through the process.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Hustle Culture. With running a business, you’re taught and feel like you have to be on the grind with no breaks 25/8. The first year and a half of my business I fell victim to this mentality. I’d literally get up early in the morning working and wouldn’t stop until 12 or 1 in the morning. I felt like I was failing if I wasn’t working on something business related whether that be content, emails, business ideas, etc. My business was running me at that point. I wasn’t eating nearly enough, I was in a constant state of stress, and most importantly my passion was dwindling. My mom finally had to tell me that I needed to take time to rest my mind and body. Not doing so only led to burnout and made what used to be fun a chore. This is what led to work days and rest days. I set a schedule for my work days and give 2 days throughout the week to catch up on personal things, spend time with loved ones, and rest. I’ve noticed my passion has sparked again, I have energy, and I’m genuinely happy.

Contact Info:

• Website: TheFlowerPlugg.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/TheFlowerPlugg
• Yelp: https://pinterest.com/theflowerplugg
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@theeflowerthugg

Image Credits
PC: Instagram @thepr0ducer_