We recently connected with Elio Calabrese and have shared our conversation below.

Elio , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

Deciding to be my own boss and own a business is one of the best decisions I have made in my life. I would also preface that by saying it is a lot harder than it ever was working for someone else, but MUCH more rewarding. The idea or thought of working for someone else again certainly has crossed my mind from time to time. Specifically dealing with issues whether customer related or business that can be difficult. So many things that I may want to overlook or move past have to be dealt with. There is a lot of fun in operating my own business but also comes with many other challenges.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I got into plants at first from thinking they were fun. I have since worked in various fields from installation to wholesale in the plant industry. Working in these different facets and seeing many different aspects helped to shape where we are today. As far as our business we started out as purely retail, doing pop up events, small table setups at shops and just about anywhere that would let me sell. From the start I knew I wanted to get into different aspects such as rentals and installations at businesses. The pandemic set us back from getting into those and catapulted us into full retail. Now that people are going back to offices and having events we have been expanding our reach. We have been doing multiple rentals a week and have many corporate clients we care for now as well. We love finding creative waist bring life and and joy to spaces all over.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

The start of my business was relatively simple. I had a small amount of money (I believe it was around $3,000) and a credit card. I bought all the supplies needed to get off the ground right before my first event and the rest is history.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Our social media presence and overall presence as a business happened really naturally. I made a point of putting logo stickers on anything I could find. They are on every single plant and we would give away free stickers as well. I was lucky to get in with some influencers early on who wanted to share my story and what Urban Planting was all about. From there things have been rolling along!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.urbanplantingcleveland.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/urbanplantingcleveland
• Facebook: Facebook.com/urbanplantingcleveland