We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sarah Little. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sarah below.
Sarah, appreciate you 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.
For me personally, plants have always been a part of my life, though I didn’t really get bitten by the plant bug, so to speak, until about 6 or so years ago. It runs in my gene pool. My grandmother was a big creative – she was an avid painter and very much into flower arrangements – This is evident in a lot of her paintings. Most of them have some greenery/flowers/landscape in them. She was also a big gardener. My grandparents had a place out in the VA countryside and I remember spending many summers of my childhood helping out in the garden picking fruits and vegetables, fishing, riding the tractor, and just generally being out in nature.
Fast forward to my mom who has the ultimate green thumb that came about strictly out of a love of houseplants and a lot of trial and error in figuring out how to keep them happy! She has 125+plants in her home, including a Ficus Benjamina from 1976 as well as quite a few other plants that are decades old. She’s also known in our circles as the “Orchid Queen”. She has 40+ orchids and at least 38 of them bloom every year (if you’re an orchid person you know this is a skill set as most people will toss their orchids out once they drop their blooms). She maintains a greenhouse at her home where many of her orchids thrive. My stepdad jokes that the plant store is more dangerous than the jewelry store in their house. I love how each plant that she has tells a story about the time and place it’s from and what that time period meant to her and to us as a family.
As if that weren’t enough – My uncle is also a certified horticulturalist.
My passion really developed from a love of interior design. I’ve always loved creating spaces and when we moved to the Fort Mill area I noticed that those spaces in our home were missing something – greenery! I started buying a few plants and placing them where I wanted them to be – aaaand then they would die hahaha. That’s because I was putting them where I wanted them, not where they needed to be. Over time I educated myself and started to incorporate more plants in the right spaces as I was able to keep them alive and figure out their needs. And really it snowballed from there – I just got more and more and more! Friends would comment on how they loved my plants, how many I had, and ask for advice and help in getting plants for their homes.
Like my grandmother, I’ve always been a more artistic, creative person and once I had more free time (read: all kids in school, out of the baby phase) I knew I wanted to utilize that in some way and do something for myself, I just didn’t know what. I thought for a long time that I would do something with interior design, but for some reason just couldn’t get myself there. It was my husband, Barrett, who suggested that I turn my plant passion into a business. Knowing how much Ive enjoyed going to small boutique plant shops, and seeing a gap in the Fort Mill market for just such a thing, I thought OK! Lets do this. And that truly is how my little leaf journey began.
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 get a lot of joy out of caring for greenery and having it in my space and I want to share that with others. So many people think they kill everything or have a “black thumb” but it’s just a matter of trial and error. Greenery indoors has so many emotional and physical benefits. I love that I’m able to open a shop that will bring this to others, but I’m most proud of being able to support other small locally-owned businesses in the process – especially female-owned. I will be carrying a lot of local, handmade items like pots, plant stands and hangers, candles etc. in the shop. This is such a great way to highlight the awesome local artists within my community and give them a platform to be represented. I love engaging with people as much as I enjoy caring for plants – it’s at the core of how I want little leaf to be represented.
There is currently no brick and mortar shop like this in the Fort Mill area. I’m exceptionally proud to be the first to open one here. I also love that my kids are able to see me turn my dream into a reality – what an awesome example to set for them.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
The irony is I’ve never loved social media. I all but stopped using it completely for a while because I found it to be disingenuous and overwhelming. The truth of the matter is that while I may still feel this way, it definitely has a lot of utility for small business. I had to get over my disdain and get on board with using it to my benefit. I did this first by finding good people. I knew there was a puzzle to the algorithm that I wasn’t going to solve on my own, so after doing a little research and getting some recommendations I enlisted the help of a social media company – Misty Saves The Day. They have been an absolute life raft for me when it comes to navigating the ins and outs, dos and don’ts of social media. It is truly a full time job and having them allows me to focus my energy on actually running my business. Second – I educated myself. Being more social, I like engaging with others, so I knew I needed to get over myself and learn more in the social media space. I needed the help, but my engagement is just as important. So that’s what I’ve been doing – learning how to do reels, post stories, play around with what’s trending or new-particularly on Instagram. For anyone feeling overwhelmed by the idea of doing it all themselves, a little help and education goes a long way!
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
This is an easy one – referrals. And the way you get referrals is by being a genuine, kind, knowledgeable human being. I am fortunate to have a large network of supportive friends and family who have helped spread the word. I believe that good people like helping good people so interpersonal relationships are key. Sure, social media and other marketing streams help, but knowing the people in your community and having a good reputation is what can make or break you.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.littleleafplantboutique.com
- Instagram: @littleleaf_plantboutique
- Facebook: @littleleaf_plantboutique