We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Hilton Carter a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hilton, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think it takes to be successful?

That depends on your definition of success. There are many ways to be successful in life. Financial success is one thing, but the definition of a successful life in my eyes is being able to wake up everyday and enjoying what you do. I used to work a job where I got PTO, sick days, and all that good stuff. I enjoyed it a lot but I wouldn’t say it’s my passion. My passion was designing interior spaces with plants. On the weekends this became my side hustle to the point where I was using all my PTO to focus on my new hustle. I got a call from my boss one day because I was out of PTO and continued to take days off to work on my growing hustle. I realized I was only giving half of myself to each of these jobs, so a decision had to be made. I decided to pursue my hustle full time and i’m so glad i did.

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 am a Baltimore local who designs interior spaces with plants. I am an author, business owner, public speaker, and most importantly a family man. I have a second daughter on the way. I sell my own line of merchandise including embroidered hats and graphic tees. I also have custom handmade propagation cradles for sale to expand your green collection. I went to college for video production but spent most of my career tending to plants and sharing my love and passion for them. I have a following of over half a million on instagram and share content relating to plant care tips, with a few series on “Did You Know’s?” and what I like to call “Bad Hilton”. I also recently started a podcast called Inside Hilton’s Head with my cohost Mollie Lee.

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

My wife, Fiona, saw that I was really doing what I loved and encouraged me to post about it on social media. So there I was posting pictures and videos of myself talking about what I ate for lunch or what I did that day. I really enjoyed talking about interior design and showing my home but what caught people’s attention the most was the amount of plants I had. Then things started to pick up and I got more and more followers everyday. I think posting consistently and posting unique content is a way to grow fast.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

There are many different career paths and ways to support yourself financially. I have worked both a 9-5 corporate job and freelance. They both have their pros and cons, but I never envisioned I would be working for myself full time. Freelance can seem daunting at first because you don’t have anything to fall back on but yourself. Once you rip that band aid off and commit yourself to going all in, you will be surprised how well things can be. It’s having the faith to take that leap and not knowing where you will land. In terms of investing, the higher the risk the higher the reward, kind of mindset.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hiltoncarter.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hiltoncarter/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thingsbyhc?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Image Credits
Hilton Carter