Episode 214: From sharing a common interest to growing a business into a hub for all things indoor plant related with Lauren and Sophia of Leaf Supply
Go and meet. You never know what's going to happen from that. In this episode, Fiona talks to Lauren and Sophia of Leaf Supply about how they keep on top of everything as well as their own work outside of their business. They also talk about how they started, what/who influences them and so much more. Tune in!
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
How Leaf Supply started
Pros and cons of friendship and business
On COVID
Keeping on top of everything
On Leaf Supply's Best-Selling Book
Sources of Inspiration
What's next for Leaf Supply
Conclusion
Get in touch with My Daily Business Coach
Resources and Recommendations mentioned in this episode:
Luke
Paul
When you're in a business, you don't always see things clearly. Have somebody who's like, “Maybe think about where your revenue is coming from and if you're doing these things for the right reasons.” It was helpful to sit down and be like, “We're killing ourselves saying yes to pretty much everything because you feel you need to and taking on so many things because maybe something good will come of it.” Particularly, because we are stretched to the end with the books, family, and stuff, it's been beneficial to cut back, streamline, and work out where we should be focusing on and what's important to us.
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Welcome to episode 214 of The My Daily Business Coach podcast. This episode is a small business interview. That is where I'm interviewing incredible, creative small business owners from around the world at different stages in their business and with all sorts of different services, products, and different offers about all sorts of things. How did they get started? Who influences them? What tech platforms do they use?
If you are new to this, make sure you hit subscribe so you don't lose out on any other interview episodes. Plus, our Quick Tip episodes come out every single Tuesday morning, Australian time, or our longer Coaching episodes. Before we get stuck in this interview with an incredible duo that is super creative and doing lots of different things, I wanted to remind you that group coaching is now open for our next intake. This will be the last intake of 2022. If you are interested in working with me and nine other incredible small business owners, please make sure you check it out before we close it.
We always get emails from people saying, “I didn't know it was available.” It's available right now. You can apply over at MyDailyBusinessCoach.com/groupcoaching. We do have people from other sides of the world. We have people from other countries outside of Australia. Please don't feel like, “I have to only be in Australia to apply.” You don't. As long as you got a good internet connection, you are fine. In this episode, the people being interviewed are from a past group coaching group. They came to me through group coaching. I'm grateful that we connected.
The other thing I want to mention is to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the beautiful land on which I am recording this podcast and that is the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. I pay my respects to their elders, past, present, and emerging, and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded. As a small business owner, I also pledged to work in ways that do aid in true equality for our First Nations people. Let's get on this episode.
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On the podcast, I am joined by the incredible small business owners behind Leaf Supply and that is Lauren Camilleri and Sophia Kaplan. Sophia and Lauren didn't know each other before a friend hooked them up on a friend date with, “You guys both like plants so you should meet.” From there, Leaf Supply was born. I love that as a story, in general, and as a point of inspiration for anyone listening who's like, “I should take out my friend when they offer to introduce me to somebody.”
Outside of Leaf Supply though, Lauren and Sophia both run their own businesses as well. Between them, they've got at least three businesses. Within those, they have multiple things that they do. They give so many ideas, insights, and realness in this interview. They’re genuine and down-to-earth about challenges they've gone through, things they've had to overcome, what it's like to work with somebody else, is it good to have a business partner, and how they can complement each other with their skillset. Also, how have they continued to grow Leaf Supply while also having these other businesses, young children, and all sorts of things?
Lauren Camilleri is an art director, a design obsessive, and an indoor plant specialist. She has a degree in interior architecture and graphic design in her bones. Lauren brought all of that to Leaf Supply. In her own right, she's the creative director of Belle Magazine. I'm sure lots of people listening will know that. She’s also the co-founder of Leaf Supply and all the things that they have brought out. If you want to connect with Lauren, you can do that at @Domus_Botanica.
The other part of Leaf Supply is Sophia Kaplan. Like Lauren, Sophia has a whole bunch of other things that she does outside of Leaf Supply. You can find her on Instagram, @Sophia_Kaplan. She is a botanical stylist and set designer. She uses local and seasonal produce. Also, she is a florist. She has been a florist and floral stylist for so many years and curates the most stylish plants for leaf suppliers and all her clients, events, and all sorts of things.
Together, they are this incredible, dynamic, and creative duo. When they started Leaf Supply, they did so because a friend had set them up on a blind date and they didn't know exactly what it would become but it has flourished and bloomed. It has become a go-to source for people around the world for inspiration about plants through things like their incredible books, which have sold unbelievably well all over the world. That is putting it as an understatement. Anyone who's attempted to pull together a book, particularly a book like this with a lot of imagery, a lot of different pieces of content, it is a beast. They have done this four times because their book, Bloom, is going to be out in October of 2022.
They are incredible outside of selling a whole bunch of botanical wares like pots, water misters, and actual plants, especially throughout Sydney and New South Wales in Australia. They also have their books. They also are brand content creators as well. They've worked with huge brands on content creation. They have that knack. Do you know those people that you meet who have this knack for making everything look beautiful? They're also those types of people that you meet that do not understand how good they are because they maybe take for granted this creativity that they've got they both have in spades.
In this episode, we talk about how they keep on top of everything as well as their own work outside of Leaf Supply. How did they build it? How did they get through the challenges of COVID? Also, how did they get a book deal? How do you go from being super interested in plants, working in creative direction, plant styling, and floristry to creating these major best-selling books and being able to do four in a relatively short period of time? We cover all of that and more in this interview. It was my absolute pleasure to ask Lauren and Sophia to this podcast.
I had been following them on Instagram and thought they were amazing. They then applied for group coaching a couple of years ago and they went through the group coaching program. They were always such wonderful contributors to the conversation. They had so much knowledge to give. Also, they’re humble in everything that they have created. I hope by the end of it, they were excited and a bit more confident in putting themselves out there because what they have to offer is second to none. It's amazing. Here is my interview with the wonderful Lauren and Sophia of Leaf Supply.
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Hello, Lauren and Sophia. Welcome to the podcast. How are you both feeling?
Hello, Fiona. Thank you so much for having us. We're excited to be here talking to you.
It's awesome to be on your podcast. We love listening to it. It's nice to star on it.
It's an honor.
Thank you so much. I'm sure loads of people know about Leaf Supply but for those who don't, can you talk us through a little bit about why you started the business, who started the business and was it both of you at the same time? How did you come up with a name as well? It's such a cool one.
Leaf Supply as a business has evolved over the years since we started. It became a hub for all things indoor plant related. We've got our online indoor plant and botanical wear store, which is based in Sydney where we both are. Additionally, we are the authors of 3 seem-to-be 4 books. Another part of the business is creating content with brands that we love. At the core of it, we love plants and we want everybody else to love plants too.
Lauren and I got set up originally on a blind plant date by a mutual friend who said, “You guys both love plants. You should meet up.” We met at a coffee shop. It was interesting, we both had a similar idea for a business. That wasn't the intention of the meetup, it was to talk about us. We had a similar idea and then we decided it'd be better to do it together. What year was that, Lauren?
It was early 2016 that we had that little date.
It was a year of planning.
We launched in December of that year.
Your business baby is off to school at that age. Who's this person that put you on a blind date? Are you like, “You changed our lives.”
She's pretty proud of herself. Shout out to Luke.
One of the things that comes up a lot with people that I work with or people that I'm coaching and they're like, “I'd love to bring on a business partner,” or, “My sister, cousin, or best friend is interested.’ You both started the business. What has that been like to have this business partnership with a friend? What are some of the pros and cons? A lot of people would love to do it. A lot of people have done it and it hasn't worked out. Congratulations that you’re still going over five years on. What are the pros and cons of friendship and business?
We weren't friends at the beginning. Maybe that plays into it as well. We have become friends over the years, of course. That blind date was the first time we'd met and it wasn't that much after that point that we started the business. We've developed a friendship during that time. I don't think we would still want to be in this business if we didn't like each other and get along well.
I remember getting some advice from my friend who’s got this successful catering and organic food business in France. She said, “Don't have a business partner. Do it yourself. You have to split the profits. You have to split the creative side of things. You will never get your way all the time.” I am grateful that we did this together. I don't think we would have the capacity to do it on our own. Also, we bring two different skillsets to the business. Lauren is an incredible creative director who's done all the branding. She came up with the name Leaf Supply. LS, Lauren, and Sophia, it all ties in.
I’ve never thought of LS.
When she came up with that one, I was like, “This is perfect.” She's also got an interior architecture background. She's got this incredible aesthetic and attention to detail. I’m more production-based so I came from working in advertising and doing production sort of stuff. I'm quite hands-on. I'm also a florist so I like getting my hands dirty and going out to the nurseries.
Also, I love working with other brands. I love doing collaborative stuff. I feed off that. We take the lead in different areas of the business but we still run pretty much everything by each other. We don't necessarily have total autonomy but it doesn't feel like a drag. You want the other person's opinion.
It's helpful to have that person to bounce ideas off and to run things by. As well as having two different skill sets, we also have fairly different personalities in some ways but they balance each other quite well. Sophia is great at jumping on to things straightaway. She would be like, “Let's get this done right now.” Whereas, I'm like, “Let's think about it. I'll have a bit of a play.” She's like, “No. Let's get this done.” It's a good balance. Sometimes I’ll be saying, “Let's take a step back and think about is this a good balance to that?” Other times, it's like, “No. We'll be faffing around for hours if it's up to me.” It's not just skills but also personality that complements each other quite well, which is useful.
It's nice watching you two love bomb each other. It's such a lovely thing to see. When you said, “We weren't friends. Don't get it twisted.” You started with a business in mind. Even though you have such complementary strengths and you've figured it out and how it can all run well. At the start when you first had those few meetings and you were planning it out, did you think, “You'll do this and I'll do this.” Was it as clear cut as, “She'll do the brand name and I will go and deal with all the plant suppliers.”
A little bit at the beginning. Certain roles that we take on have kept the whole way through, except when we've been on different maternity leaves and the other person steps up. Particularly when we were starting and I was doing some of the branding stuff and Sophia was looking for ceramicists or going out to nurseries, that's how it played out in the beginning. How do you think it's evolved, Sophia?
That was out of necessity in a way. Visually, I know what I like and what I don't like but I have no idea how to use Photoshop, InDesign, or anything like that. You know so much more about branding so that just made sense. There was no way I was going to be like, “I'll take the lead on this one.” Also, as a florist, I have a van so it ended up being quite practical for me to be the one going out to the nurseries. We did it together a lot in the beginning and it became a bit too time-consuming for both of us to do it. It became more me.
You're then out of the nurseries and you'll often be sending me photos and we're like, “What do you think of this?” I was like, “I like that plan. Have they got this?” It's still been pretty collaborative through all of those things.
With the design, you always run stuff by me.
I want to come and work where you are.
We’re making it sound so amazing.
Lauren, you touched on it before when you said maternity leave. The last few years have been up and down for a lot of companies. I'll let you talk about how it went. You've got lots of things happening in the business but you both also had children on the cusp of COVID. Lauren, your child is the same age as my child. Sophia, you had a child right in the middle of it. How has COVID impacted and is it still impacting your business? Did you find more people were coming to you because they wanted more nature in their homes and people were stuck indoors? Do you feel like it didn't? How has COVID impacted business and motherhood?
With the babies, it was book and baby, sometimes with the little baby attached to you at the shoots and whatever. In terms of COVID, we had the biggest spikes by huge numbers than what we were normally doing. It was a big business time for us. I remember when the first lockdown happened and when COVID first arrived, this is a good example of Laura being like, “Hang on. Let's step back.” I was freaking out. I was like, “We have to shut the business right now, today. Close it down. No one can go in there. It's too dangerous.”
It's not a dangerous environment by any means, our studio. It's usually one person in there packing orders, generally. It's a big space. It's not a super spreader environment. I freaked out and Lauren was like, “Let's take it one day at a time. The government is not telling us we need to stop right now. Let's take it slowly and check-in with our staff as well if they were comfortable,” which we did and they were. That was a good example of that.
It has been busy with all of the lockdowns and this huge spike. The last lockdown was when I had my second boy. I was sitting at home and breastfeeding constantly. I was watching the Shopify orders coming in. I was like, “I want to help. I want to be there. I'm sitting here and stuck to this chair for so many hours of the day.” Whatever I can do from my phone, I was contributing in whatever way I could.
There were positive things. It’s great to get a boost. Lots of people in that home area and particularly online found that was a strong thing. There were hardships or things that made it hard to run the business like logistics were hard and couriers were a huge challenge for us securing careers. As well as it being super busy and being great, you’re scrambling to make that work in a much harder environment. You make sure you're getting all your orders out and you're not upsetting any customers because you can't keep up with demand. Balancing those busy times with the not-so-busy times, you're trying to scale up. When things get down, how do you ride that roller coaster? It's been challenging in that sense, even though it's been great to have some super busy times.
You guys don't do things in hubs like when you were like, “Baby and book.” Firstly, congratulations on doing so well and surviving it. Good on you, Lauren, for saying, “Let's not panic too much. Let's not throw away everything we've done.” I hear you, Sophia, because I remember sitting on our living room floor crying and going, “This is the end of everything.” It felt like you were watching Handmaid's Tale at the start.
It was such an unknown. You didn't know what was going to come of it. It was scary.
Good on you for getting through it. What helped you through it in some way is that you have both had other businesses as well as Leaf Supply. I'm wondering, when did Leaf Supply turn into something that was not a fun side project with this friend of a friend that you’ve been introduced to? When did it become the front-runner? Is it the front runner? Do you still have the other businesses? I'll let you answer those first before I keep adding more and more questions.
I'm not 100% sure that it is still our front-runner at this point. We both do have other stuff that we love to do. Sophia is a good florist and I am a creative director and so on. I enjoyed that. While that struggle of, “We're spreading ourselves thin doing those other things as well,” we do enjoy those other things. They do bring benefits to the business in some ways as well. Sophia might get jobs through her floristry business that are more appropriate for Leaf Supply. My connections to the publishing world and my design skills have been helpful.
We're at a point where we probably get a bit more solid about what is the front-runner or where things are at. We haven't necessarily done that quite yet. There are certain periods where Leaf Supply takes up a huge amount of our time, particularly when we're writing and producing the books. That's always a time-consuming thing. At the moment, we do still have other things that feed into this business as well.
I enjoy the floristry and the design aspect of my life. I like having multiple things in my life. I would get bored if it was one. I like the flexibility of both of them as well. As much as Leaf Supply stuff has to get done, we have staff in their day-to-day doing the distribution and potting and everything like that. There is flexibility in both businesses, which I appreciate.
I love flowers. I love plants. I don't want to lose that side of things either. It’s finding a way for them to both run well. Both of us wish we could give more time to Leaf Supply. It functions well. It operates quite happily the way it is. We did some business coaching and looked at all these great ways we could grow it. We have done some of that but we know that there's so much more that we could tap into if we had the time to give it that energy.
We wanted the business. We always knew that we both wanted to have families and that kids would always be part of the equation. We tried to create something that would be flexible. Depending on what else we had going on in our lives, we could make the business work around that. In some ways, it’s great but in other ways, it means that maybe we then would let things slide for the business so that we could focus on those personal things. It’s a purposeful thing. It's creating something that works for us and what else we have going on in our lives.
You have many things going on.
I heard you saying that in coaching.
I'm going to put you on the spot if you're comfortable. How do you two then communicate? Are you rapidly texting each other every single day? Do you use WhatsApp?
Pretty much.
How do you ?
I've often said we talk to each other more than our partners. We do live with our partners. We’re constantly texting. There might be quite a period but there's a lot of texting.
We have a WhatsApp group with our two staff members as well who are in the studio. There is a constant stream of messages going to update each other. Also, emails, phone calls, and all the things.
You touched on that it can get particularly busy when you are working on a book. You guys are huge authors. I'm not saying that lightly. I have worked in book publishing. Also, I have been privy to your sales numbers and they are out of this world. You two don't realize how gigantic they are, particularly for Australia but anywhere in the world. You guys are doing so well. Congratulations.
Thank you.
I would love to know how the books happen. You have said, “We have these other businesses. Plus, we do these. Plus, we’re both moms.” How do you find the time to create them while juggling everything and staying true to your values?
The book came along unexpectedly. We didn't set out to become book authors. We could both agree on that. It was quite early on in our business having started leaf supply and we were approached by an old colleague of mine. One of my first jobs was at Murdoch Books in book publishing. He was an editor at the time. He's now a publisher of his own company.
At the time, he wanted to do an indoor plant book and he knew that I was doing Leaf Supply with Sophia and had seen what we were doing. He knew that I could design it. We could photograph it. He trusted us to write it even though we'd never written anything. It was an opportunity that we could not say no to. We were both gobsmacked that it would even have come up.
At the time, we did it thinking, “We might sell a couple of copies but this is a cool thing to do. It's great for brand recognition, credibility, exposure, and all of those things.” I said to Sophia, “We are going to work. This is going to take up so much time. We're probably not going to make any money but let's do it.”
Also, the components of the bookmaking, the writing, and the shooting, we love doing those things. Yes, it was consuming but it wasn't like a chore to do it. We both enjoyed the process.
We went into it thinking, “Who knows where this is going to lead?” It was the biggest shock that people bought it. I can't even believe that they're selling it in China, the US, and all through Europe that's been translated.”
I have seen it everywhere. It's in the fancy supermarkets, the beautiful homeware stores, and the big retailers. It is everywhere. You guys are doing so well.
Thank you. At the launch, Paul from Smith Street, our publisher, said, “Should we do another?” We were like, “Okay. Let's do that.” It is such a good opportunity. You don't want to turn that opportunity down. Now, we've finished our fourth book. We've finished writing it and hit send to the printer on that. We're waiting for our author copies now, which is exciting. It has become this completely unexpected part of our careers that we enjoy doing and people seem to love it too, which is great.
We have gotten better at it. We've streamlined our processes. We're better at doing it even though it is still time-consuming. Also, off the back of the previous ones that have done well, it's easier to find people who want to be photographed in our books and that stuff. The process has gotten easier over the years. It is still a juggle. Every time I speak about new books, my partner starts shaking and curling up in the fetal position.
We've worked with some amazing photographers like Luisa Brimble, Jacqui Turk, and Becca Crawford. They've all said yes without hesitating, all of the people that we've asked to shoot around the world. We've shot in Berlin, New York, London, and various places. They've all said yes. We work up the courage to email someone to ask if they want to be involved and expect them to say no and then they say yes and it's an incredible feeling. Maybe in terms of who we've asked, we've become more and more adventurous in who we put the fillers out to.
That's true.
When I published my book, it was nowhere near as big as your book. Yay to us moms.
It's a popular book. Don't downplay it.
Thank you. I had worked in book publishing and I was clear to myself that this is a PR exercise. It's a good thing for brand recognition. No one makes any money from books. You guys have sold a lot. Outside of that, I saw it as a real gateway for people to understand a bit more about me and then come in and do group coaching or buy my products and that's exactly what it's done. It's done its job.
I do still work sometimes with people or hear from people who send a DM going, “I want to write a book and then my business is sorted. Everything will come off that book.” In Australia at least, few people make money from books outside of the actual advance that you get. I'm wondering, have the books led to more sales supply or more of you two hired? Do you think that the books are in their own space and they haven't led to sales in the business?
We have most of our book sales in the US. Leaf Supply, service plants wise, we service Sydney. The botanical wares and self-care products, we ship Australia-wide. If we ship to America, there might be more payoff. To be honest, they're more of a standalone thing. The title of the first book is Leaf Supply. With the other books, we say, “Written by Lauren and Sophia of Leaf Supply.” I'm not sure that people necessarily make the connection that well.
In terms of our social media community, it's helped us build that. That is an international group now thanks to the books, which doesn't necessarily benefit our local sales. There have been benefits to the business in terms of maybe the publicity that we've got locally from the books, which would lead to sales and that sort of thing.
It’s making us seem like more authoritative figures within the realm of indoor plants. We haven't touched on it yet but our ethos as a business and as individuals as well is that we love plants so much and we wanted other people to be able to experience that as well.
Also, sharing that knowledge and empowering people to know.
To look after plants well and to accept some plants die. It's a vehicle for that to share that love and encourage people to find that love for plants as well. It has to come back to the business in some way.
Even from doing our mentoring and our group coaching with you, Fiona, you made us think about the business. Sometimes we were describing it as an online plant store but it's like, “No. You guys do the books and you do this.” That's where we've come to think of it more as a hub because it's not just one thing or the other, and it's not just the books. We're not just selling plants to people but we want to create a community, share the love and the education, and that's more about what Leaf Supply is. It's bigger than being an online store.
I love that so much. Thank you for being so honest and transparent with the book stuff. I do think sometimes people see a book as, “That's the end to all my problems.” It’s in the same way that they say, “If I could get the Instagram algorithm to like me, I could be a millionaire overnight.” Quite rightly, you mentioned that Leaf Supply is all about everything to do with plants across all sorts of different channels.
One of the parts of the business that you do well is brand collaborations and partnerships. You have worked with some huge names. Should we do a shout-out to anyone in the US? You can still do brand collaborations. People are always wanting to do this and collaboration is huge. I often talk to people in marketing as well that collaboration is a huge thing that people don't tap into enough. How have your brand partnerships come about? Is there a dream brand that you'd love to work with?
It has come about pretty organically so far. People tend to approach us. If there's a botanical serum or there's a natural element to the product, we work with homewares, we've done some great work with Koala. We liked working with them. Homewares, brands, and skincare brands.
Finding those nice tie-ins also from brands that share the same ethos and values as us and have that link. Lots of people are getting into plants across the board. Brands as well are seeing the benefit of bringing plants into the way they do things, the way they shoot things. There have been some nice organic collaborations.
With dream brands, it’s a hard question. It's like finding someone with a similar level of the brand. It's a hard one.
There are lots of brands we love.
Which brands do you love? I don't want to put you on a thing and then you'll be like, “Now we've made this brand look bad.”
I'm in interior design. Australian brands like Jardan do beautiful furniture. Local skincare brands have always been a huge inspiration in the way they do everything. I'm such a fangirl. Their marketing, their tone of voice, everything is great. They have fun with things and we like that aspect of their brand. We've thought maybe it'd be great to partner with a gin company, botanical gin. There are a few ideas out there that we've got.
In-store installations could be something fun for Leaf Supply to do.
Anyone who's listening, give us a call. I'll hook you up. Lauren, you mentioned you’re in the interior space. A lot of people that follow this podcast and who I work with are also in that design and creative space, both of you are. You seem to always be giving so much of this on your socials and in your business. You’re in all three of the businesses. You're giving away creativity all the time. I'm wondering, where do you each get your inspiration from? Also, did you both come from creative families? How did you both have the desire and the belief to go into these creative industries as a job?
Starting with that question, it's not something that I ever thought about when I was growing up that my family was creative. My mom is a teacher. My dad was a computer engineer. My dad is super creative. My mom is a good writer. My dad is a ceramicist so he makes pots for us. He has collaborated with us a number of times.
When I started another plant business, the idea was that my dad and I would create some pots and I would sell them online with plants. I didn't think of it at the time. Absolutely, I was inspired by him. He's one of those creatures who are not only creative but also has that logical-mathematical side down. He has that great balance, which I am not. Having parents who are creative has inspired me to be in a creative field, for sure.
My mom is a psychologist and my dad is in the not-for-profit sector. It’s not outwardly creative but they were incredibly encouraging of us as kids to try everything. Once I did find something that I liked, the flowers, nature, gardening, and plants, they gave me all the support to follow that and try out different things within that realm, travel, and go to gardens around the world. They’ve been incredibly supportive to allow me the space to pursue it.
Good on both parents to have that as a starting point. What a privilege to have those people around you.
It's pretty daunting to take that leap to something like this and through the books as well. They've been so good at taking care of the kids. They’re so supportive.
Thank God for grandparents.
Where do you source other inspiration outside of your parents?
Travel was a huge one for both of us. We've both done a fair bit of traveling. For me, books, magazines, and social media as well like Instagram and Pinterest. Visiting art galleries and botanical gardens is a massive inspiration for us, particularly on the plant side of things. There are lots of places where we get inspiration. I love when I find inspiring pictures on other people's Instagram pages and we want to share that as well. If you find a great immediate, you’re like, “Our community would love this. This is perfect for us to share as well.”
For me, traveling even just around Sydney and going to gardens. Going to the flower market a bit less so at the moment after I had my last little baby. I'm usually there once a week for flower work. Also, seeing the incredible seasonal blooms and talking to the growers is amazing. They've got plants out there as well. Going to the nurseries, they're lovely. All the nurserymen and women are amazing and to see the plants that they're selling. They've also got these corners where they're going to stock plants or special things for themselves or things have overgrown on the ground. It's quite magical and that's inspiring.
The crisp air inside a greenhouse filled to the brim with plants, there's nothing better than that. It's so beautiful.
I'm going to go to a flower market one day when I can get up early.
As a non-florist punter, you could probably get there at 6:00. Avoid the 5:00 rush, to be honest. You should do it. There is one in Melbourne and it does open earlier. It's a little bit further out of town. I'll give you a tour of the Sydney one if you come up here.
That would be so fun. Another revenue stream. Honestly, I would love to have a look at that stuff. I'm inspired by nature. Autumn is my favorite season by far. I love looking around at all the different colors and leaves. I'm blessed to be able to look straight up into all these gum trees.
You live in such a beautiful part. It’s gorgeous.
I'm lucky. You have helped lots of people with all sorts of things that they're doing. I'm sure so many people found a lot of joy through your products and your books, especially during COVID and when they were alone or in their own small space. Who has helped you build your business? Any mentors, coaches, a mantra, a film, a book, or something that's helped you?
In the beginning, we had some family and friends of me and Sophia. They were kind and gave their time. They’ve built a successful business of their own. I'm not sure if they've done coaching before. Out of the goodness of their heart, we had a few sessions with them working through a business plan and things like an exit strategy. All of these things, we’re like, “We've never heard of that.” They were explaining basic stuff to us but also brainstorming with us and giving us that space to figure out what we wanted it to look like.
Ariella, a friend of mine, moved back from New York. She was a bit of a loose end and trying to figure out what her next move was. I remember thinking, “I'd love to ask her to come to help us for a little bit.” She said, “Do you want me to come and put a little bit of time into Leaf Supply?” She did. It was incredible. She did all our operations. She cleaned them right up. We're not the most efficient. She sorted that out. She's got so much energy and does a lot of collaborative stuff now. She works for Unyoked at the moment, which is a startup world as well. She was brilliant. She left us to work for Unyoked, which is fine and fair. That was pretty amazing to have her come in and sort us out.
Also, Fiona. We did our group coaching with you. It was a game-changer for us. Even as we were talking about before, when we came to you, I'm like, “Can we do this and this?” You're like, “Maybe that's too many things.” It was. When you're in the business, you don't always see things clearly. To have somebody who's like, “Maybe think about where your revenue is coming from, and if you're doing you know these things for the right reasons.”
It was helpful to sit down and be like, “We're killing ourselves saying yes to pretty much everything because you feel you need to and taking on so many things because maybe something good will come of it.” Particularly, because we are stretched to the end with the books, family, and stuff, it's been beneficial to cut back, streamline, and work out where we should be focusing on and what's important to us.
For the first time on a few things, we probably crunched the numbers. I’m like, “This thing that I don't particularly enjoy doing is also not making us any money.” We were able to comfortably cross it off the list and say, “We won't do that in the future.” Also, to sit back and think about what aspects of the business we do you like. Creating content for and with brands, we enjoy that. There's a lot of thought process that goes into planning and coming up with creative ideas.
In terms of shooting, it's a day of shooting rather than something that might take a week or two weeks. This is perfect for us. We enjoy doing this. The time-to-money ratio works out quite well. We're like, “We need to put some energy into making that a good part of the business,” which we're working on now.
It's helpful to have someone on the outside being a bit of a sounding board and sharing amazing knowledge with you. We've found that helpful. We don't have experience in business before we started this business. We're constantly learning.
It's my pleasure having you guys in group coaching. How amazing that you had these people that came into your lives and saw what you were doing and were like, “I want to help you.” Also, on the point about Ariella, often we don't want to ask for help. We have all these ideas about limiting stories we've told ourselves. She was like, “I'm excited to help you.”
Often, we forget that if we do ask for help, people want to help. People want to open up and be like, “Here's my skillset. It could help you.” That helps them feel good as well. A good reminder for anyone who's listening is to reach out if there's somebody in your life who could be like, “Could you help me with this?” Or, “Could I pay you for a couple of hours of your time or do a barter system?”
A friend of ours, Jane Rose Lloyd, has been a horticultural consultant on our two books, Bloom and Plantopedia. She was invaluable and helpful. We've become quite close friends. She's now working on her own book, which is incredibly exciting. I was like, “I'll tell you anything. I can be transparent about our deal, our experiences, and everything that we've learned over the 4 or 5 years that we've been doing books. I'm happy to give that to you.”
She's been invaluable to us and helping us with our books as well. I was more than happy to give that to her. It's not confidential. It's not necessarily information I'm going to give out on a podcast, our publishing contract. I was more than happy to tell her all of that stuff. I hope it was quite useful for her to have a reference.
Moving into this plant world, we've found how generous many people have been to us with their knowledge, the growers, and the people that we've come across from going out to the nurseries and stuff. We've been lucky to have been given knowledge from all of these amazing people for nothing. They've done it out of the goodness of their hearts. We've always felt that it's important to be generous with giving knowledge back as well. We get so many DMs and emails about people's plants dying. We've always been happy to respond.
It’s not Leaf Supply.
It’s completely random people. They've never bought a plant from us before. There's no harm in being generous. To a certain point, you don't want to give everything away for free. It's important to be generous with that stuff because it's a nice thing to do. It helps build that community that we're all about.
It always comes around as well, into the world. That positivity will come back.
You have a learning section on your website, almost a mini TV series on plant education. PS, you guys would be amazing on TV.
Our dream is to have a TV show at one point somehow, someday. We'll see.
House & Garden TV, it’s HGTV in America that makes all the big ones. What are you most proud of from your journey in this particular business?
It's hard not to say the books. I still haven't got my head around the fact that we're four-times published authors. It blows my mind that we've done that. I'm proud of us for doing that. The fact that people buy them is such a huge bonus. It's something I never would have anticipated. I'm pretty proud of us for that.
I have to agree with you. That is unexpected and pleasing. Whenever we get the author copies, I can't look through the book. I'm like, “I want to make sure of everything.” Six months or a year on, also, I was using Plantopedia as a reference for some stuff for writing in Bloom. I remember I sent you a message that I was going through Indoor Jungle and I was like, “This is a nice book.” We did good. It's this unexpected and lovely part of our careers.
You guys are humble like a lot of people. I don't want to say your sales numbers for privacy but lots of people have bought your book and it's amazing. A massive congratulations. What is next for you? Where can people connect with you? What's coming up for Leaf Supply?
We’re working on a new website. That's something that's happening at the moment. We don't have a launch date for that yet.
Not specifically.
That's quite exciting. It's going to have a bit of a new look and feel. We're excited about that. In October 2022, our next book which is titled Bloom will be coming out, which is all about flowering plants indoors and on balconies. That's pretty exciting to get that out into the world. I’m going down to Melbourne in August 2022 for a house plant festival. That's quite cool.
It’s taking your breath at some stage.
We’re doing that. As soon as you put a book to bed, we’re like, “Breathe.”
Are you going to do anything big now that you're pros at launching books? Is there big in mind for October, for Bloom?
We’d love to have a little party. Our photographer and horticultural consultant, Jane and Becca, everyone was shot.
Pretty much. Thanks to COVID, we were limited. We rarely could shoot.
We might come down to Melbourne for a little party perhaps.
Melbourne is where it’s at.
Now that COVID is not quite as limiting to what we can do, the publisher as well was talking about that it's the time to start doing a few celebrations for these things because we haven't had a chance to do that for the books yet.
The best place to connect with us is www.Leaf-Supply.com. We've got a special discount code for all the followers of Fiona’s lovely podcast, which is DAILYLEAF20. 20% off all of your orders. We'll do it for the months of June and July 2022. hop on and order a plant If you're in Sydney or botanical ware and self-care products if you're around Australia. Also, our Instagram is @Leaf_Supply if you want to check us out there.
Thank you so much for coming on and sharing all your wisdom and taking time out of your busy schedule with so much going on to share with the audience. Many people will be huge fans of you already and now this will make them fall in love with you guys even more. Thank you very much.
It's seriously our pleasure. It's been brilliant.
Thank you for having us, Fiona.
You're welcome.
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Such lovely women, down-to-earth, honest, open, and real. They're lovely. Their attitude and the way they come across are real. It's the same realness, genuineness, and awesomeness that you get in their businesses as well. I would love to know what you took away from that. Many things came up for me. I was scribbling notes as we were talking.
We'd love to know what you took away from it. Please, don't be a stranger. You can email us, at Hello@MyDailyBusinessCoach.com. You can send us a DM, @MyDailyBusinessCoach. You can connect with these wonderful people at Leaf Supply. You can find Leaf Supply over at @Leaf_ supply. You can also find them online at Leaf-Supply.com.
Two things that stood out for me from the chat were number one, giving things a go. I love that they talked about this book idea coming up and going, “This was a great opportunity. Let's go for it. Who knows what will happen?” From that book, many things have happened. I have seen the numbers. I keep referencing them but they are huge.
I have worked in book publishing. I studied book publishing as a post-grad. I've published my own book. I know what a good number is. They are far exceeding that. They're incredible at what they do and I loved that they went for it. Now they're up to their fourth book, Bloom, which is coming up in October 2022. Make sure you look out for that.
The second thing that I felt was awesome about this story is that a friend introduced them and was like, “You guys both like plants. Maybe you should have coffee.” I don't think that happens enough. Shout out to their friend who did that. Also, shout out to them for going ahead and meeting because it can be like a blind date. We all know that making friends as an adult is hard. Making friends when you're a business owner where predominantly you might be spending a lot of time by yourself is also hard, especially if you've got family, other commitments, or other things going on in your life.
I love that Lauren and Sophia were like, “Let's do this.” When they got there, they realized they both do love plans and maybe they could start a business. Here we are now with Leaf Supply. That's a great lesson in general for anyone who's listening. Maybe it's another parent at a school pick up or maybe it is somebody in your gym who has worn a t-shirt that is obsessed with the same thing that you are or that your business is about.
Maybe you've seen them take out their stationery that's coated and you're like, “We are like twins.” It could be somebody you used to go to school with or somebody you once worked with. Connect because it takes so much time thinking about, “It'd be nice if I could meet someone like me. I would have a friend in the same industry.” Yet, we probably don't proactively seek them. Also, when people say to us, “You should meet my cousin. They're into that as well.” Maybe go and meet. You never know what's going to happen from that.
I loved that they talked about how they had a blind date and went from there. Also, kudos to them. It's one thing to go on a date and go on a coffee chat and say, “I like it. We should start a business.” It's another to give it the time that it needed, which they said was about a year to get everything in place, to get the plans in place, to figure out how it's all going to work, and then launch it. What an awesome thing?
If you're listening to this and there's somebody that has said to you, “You should chat with that person.” Go and do it. Make it happen. Send a text or an email. Send whatever you need to do and make it happen. Especially now when things are opening up or have opened up in various places around the world, it's a good opportunity to meet with people. I know that my first client for My Daily Business Coach was a friend of somebody in my family. They had said numerous times, “I'd love to talk to you about marketing. I'd love to talk to you about social media.” Here you are, you're busy, got a job, and got kids. You make all these excuses. I thought, “No.”
When I wanted to start my business, I thought, “He's asked multiple times.” I remember exactly the cafe that we went to. We talked and chatted and nodded it out. We met a few more times and I met other people in his company. That was a great leg up to quit the job that I was in because I knew that I had that client booked in for six months. Let Lauren and Sophia's introduction and journey to each other be an inspiration to you.
If you would like to connect with Leaf Supply, you can do that on Instagram, @Leaf_Supply. You can also find them at Leaf-Supply.com. They are so kind and gave a discount code to anyone who's listening to this. If you'd like to buy anything from them including their books, you can put in the discount code, DAILYLEAF20. That is valid until the end of July 2022. Check stuff out. Nab yourself a discount as well.
Thank you so much for listening. If you found this useful, I would love it so much if you could share it on social media. Make sure you tag @MyDailyBusinessCoach and Leaf Supply so that we can see what you thought of it and what you liked about it. If you have time and you are interested, I would love it so much if you might leave a review for us. You can do that on Apple, Spotify, and all the places that you follow these days. It helps us get found by other small business owners. Who knows? Maybe there's somebody out there who needs to hear what Lauren and Sophia have been talking about.
Thank you so much for listening. I'll see you next time. Bye.
