We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lindsay Moe & Jessica Neumann. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lindsay & Jessica below.

Lindsay & Jessica, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

What started as a dream slowly became a reality once we realized that we couldn’t stop discussing the possibilities of creating a local plant shop. We started with the basics of any business plan: the name, the website, and a general idea of how it would work, and then we realized that we needed a fantastic logo. After reaching out to a few designers, we were lucky enough to hire Lisa Sirbaugh Creative. Her thorough process of creating a brand identity forced us to answer many questions about what BUDS was all about, which was more helpful than we could have ever hoped. Our brand was absolutely on point with what we wanted to convey and helped us determine the direction that we would take our business. We started listing pre-potted houseplants, succulents, and arrangements on our website and arranging pick-up hours with our customers. We then signed up with a few local farmer’s markets, wineries, and other events as vendors, which helped us meet the community and determine our customers’ needs. Our short-term goal was to open up a small retail shop so that customers could come to us to shop rather than constantly transporting our delicate plants. We finally opened our shop in New Market in October of 2021, about six months after BUDS was born.

Great, we 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?

We are lifelong friends, which we will dive into further in the following question. Currently, we both live in Frederick County with our families. For the past 13 years, Jessica has also been running another local New Market business, Jessica Neumann Photography. Lindsay recently left the workforce as a Marketing Manager for a medical education company to spend more time with her family.

We both have always had an entrepreneurial drive and a love of plants. Through the forced free time that the pandemic created, we found extra time to explore the world of plants and succulents further and dive into learning the nuances of plants and plant care. As residents of New Market and Mt. Airy, we quickly realized the need for a local plant shop and were excited by the idea of also carrying local artisan crafts and gifts. We knew from the start that we would offer fun events, plant workshops, and a repotting service. There was nothing quite like it yet in the community, and just like that…BUDS was born!

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

We both grew up in Ellicott City and remained friends after high school and through every phase of life: marriage, babies, new homes, and more. We are childhood friends turned lifelong friends. We met in 2nd grade as a byproduct of our older brothers’ friendship. They were two years older, and as their friendship grew, so did our forced playdates. We spent a lot of time together through elementary and middle school, but our friendship solidified into a lifelong bond in high school.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

We have multiple means by which our customers can stay connected. We just launched a new website with many new features, including shipping, ordering for local pickup, event, and workshop information. We also encourage our customers to sign up for our monthly newsletters, which alert them of new workshops, sales, and events. Social media is significant for us, as that is how we share the latest plants we get in stock weekly. Lastly, we have many amazing customers who have helped spread the word about our growing business. We wouldn’t be able to do it without them!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.budsplantboutique.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/budsplantboutique/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BUDSPlantBoutique
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/buds-plant-boutique-new-market

Image Credits
Jessica Neumann Photography