Hello r/bonsai! I saw a decent bit of interest in my previous post about trying this AMA, so check it out because I answered a bunch of questions there. My goal in doing this is to help others who may want to start a hobby business as well, so I’m happy to answer detailed questions about how to get started yourself. We are always hearing that "we need more growers," and while I'm not entirely sure I am the type that we need, maybe if enough of us are doing it, we can meet the market.
I learned all this on-the-fly and with much research, so as a disclaimer:
- This is not financial, legal or business advice. I am well versed in nothing and barely know what I'm doing. Get a good accounting or tax professional to help you out!
- I am further not an expert in anything else I talk about tbh. I'm sure there are better ways to propagate, grow, and setup a nursery than what I've chosen. Same goes for other operations. I'm just sharing my experience and I will invariably discover mistakes I've made through this AMA.
Cheers,
Billy
by boonefrog
2 Comments
**Some business background:**
* I started [Appalachian Plantworks](https://appalachianplantworks.com/) in late 2023 and so far I haven’t made any profit – I’ve been investing everything back into the business. It is a part time job for me that I schedule around my normal FT work.
* There’s also a lot answered in my [FAQs](https://appalachianplantworks.com/pages/faqs)
* [This is a link to my 2025 expenses](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tWyy_2zpP1codq36TguQRNGor80ArG54/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=111140139261939376101&rtpof=true&sd=true) up through mid-December. I still have to go back thru files and add fees and other expenses, but it’s close!
* [This is a screenshot of my Shopify dashboard](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-OE8uR1T-B5SBw1Nn6olV9D-NwDNLp6J/view?usp=sharing), showing finance and marketing. It doesn’t include about $6k in sales I made before I launched the website in April.
**For the AMA:**
* For those of you who are bonsai hobbyists with limited business experience, if you take away one piece of advice from this, let it be that 90% of your learning will be on how to run a business, NOT on how to grow trees. Get [this book](https://www.amazon.com/So-You-Want-Start-Nursery/dp/0881925845) and read it twice.
* Please try and ask specific questions if you can! Questions like “How is your nursery setup?” and “How do you grow everything?” are too broad for me to give you anything less than a short novel.
* Examples of things I’m happy to answer detailed questions about:
* Finances, revenue/profits, pricing and selecting products
* Working with customers, [website](https://appalachianplantworks.com/) build and management, marketing outreach, and social media
* Shipping & packing, nursery workflows, and how I built nursery infrastructure like benches, grow beds, hoop house, etc.
* Spreadsheets, planning docs, apps, templates, and anything else that might help you organize your work.
* Things I may not cover:
* I won’t share some specific vendors or the exact prices I pay. Some are people I’ve spent time developing relationships with who may have limited stock of material that I rely on or who may have changing prices.
* Super detailed business legal/tax advice – this varies by state and I’m not an expert, please talk to a professional for help.
Thinking of doing this, have you found an importer to work with to import ficus or other trees?