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

Hi J., thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Before I owned a houseplant boutique in the Triangle, I was a travel writer. I spent about 6 years of my life traveling around the world and everywhere I went, I would visit plant shops. I’ve always had a love of houseplants so as I traveled and experienced the world, I made sure to mentally take notes about the shops I visited. I knew at some point in my future this is what I would do and so noted what I liked and didn’t like, what worked and didn’t work about all the shops I visited.

When COVID hit, people needed something to do. The trend towards houseplant popularity was already there but COVID amplified it for everyone. Essentially, the pandemic quickly made a houseplants trendy and my research for the business showed the trend is not going anywhere…in fact, it’s growing. People love plants. They love the many positive impacts plants have on their lives. From helping with mental health, to improving physical health, bringing nature indoors…the many positive impacts of plants really upholds the values of Millennials and Gen Z. That is to say, these two generations really value nature and holistic living. Plants fit perfectly into these values.

As for a the shop itself, I realized that our city is quickly growing and modernizing. I recognized that there aren’t a plethora of modern shopping experiences in Raleigh and we could provide that for people. There are certain products people prefer to purchase in person verses online. Plants happen to be one of them. Choosing a plant is a process for many people. It’s personal.

So I decided to provide a clean, modern, boho vibe where people feel peaceful while they shop for plants. We place an emphasis on high-quality products and services while also providing the best customer service we can through our knowledge as well as our empathy towards customers. We believe the combination of everything comes together nicely and creates a fantastic plant buying experience for customers. We always say we are a plant shop by plant people for plant people.

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?

Well, my name is J. Harvey and I am have a long road that led me to this moment in life. I have a Masters of Interdisciplinary Studies in Nonprofit Agricultural Development with a focus on Agroecology/Horticulture and Nonprofit Management. I also have a Masters in International Relations with a focus in Policy Analysis and Global Governance.

I’ve always had a deep love of plants. As a child, I’d often head to the woods and dig up plants to replant into pots at my house and see if I could keep them alive. As an undergraduate, I managed my campus’ Peace Garden, started and agricultural club called: L.O.C.A.L, and founded a campus Farmer’s Market.

I’ve served on the Board for an Ecuadorian Nonprofit called Third Millennium Alliance that preserves the equatorial cloud forests in that country.

As I already, stated, I was a travel writer for many years which helped me perfect my social media marketing skills that I definitely put to use with Urban Pothos.

Urban Pothos provides a hip, modern shopping experience for plant lovers of all levels. We provide a uniquely diverse selection of houseplants, pots, and other supplies as well as unmatched services. To us, customer experience is really important so we try our best to always provide an incredible experience.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I owe the existence of Urban Pothos to a moment when I had to pivot. The pandemic hit in 2020 and I was one of the first people diagnosed with COVID19 in the state. I thought I would be out of work for a month or so and then back to traveling the world. However, as we all know, everything went entirely wrong for the world in many unexpected ways. My 6-year career of travel writing came to an abrupt stop. I became pretty depressed and had to deal with my mental health for a bit but as soon as I came out of that, I began writing a business plan for Urban Pothos. In fact, I spent most of 2020 writing a comprehensive business plan which serves as the blueprint for the business today.

Essentially my entire world came crashing down due to circumstances outside my control. Instead of holding on to my normal, I decided it was time to move on to something bigger. It felt as though the universe was pushing me along my path and I decided there was no reason to resist. Fast -forward, after investing and following my business plan, we opened the shop in June 2021 with no debt whatsoever.

It was a great choice to pivot and recognize when the entire universe was telling me to move on.

How did you build your audience on social media?

As a result of my previous career, social media marketing is second nature to me. I have a very strong understanding of how to harness various platforms for the betterment of a business. I also keep up with developments and trends within social media. For the 6 years I was a travel writer, I had to market myself, push out my content, and convince others they should hire me to represent and write for their publication, city, state, or even country.

I took all of these skills and now apply them to my business. Social media is a strong tool for business owners of any size. When appropriately harnessed, it can have a profound impact on a businesses bottom line as well as its reputation.

My advice for all business owners when it comes to social media is to sit down and write out your goals for your social media efforts. Then determine the types of content you need to create to accomplish those goals. Make sure your content is relevant to the customers. That means it should entertain them or provide them with something valuable. The content should always be relevant to what you do or sell. Your customers don’t care about what you are wearing or eating…they follow your business account because they are interested in your business. Keep your content relevant to the business and. in this way, your customers will be happy and drawn to your content. This is how you further develop trust with your customers and increase sells.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.urbanpothoshouseplantshopnc.com/
• Instagram: @UrbanPothos
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UrbanPothos

Image Credits
All photos are the property of Urban Pothos LLC. You may use the photos and no credit is needed.