Today we’d like to introduce you to Taylor Thigpen.
Taylor, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started Plantkingusa when I was 14 years old (May 2020), so just after the Covid pandemic began. I have been involved in horticulture for a large part of my life and currently am the president of a student horticulture club here in Clay County.
When schools closed, I began brainstorming ideas to keep busy, and that’s when I put together an idea to sell plants and cuttings that I had already grown. I began selling boxes of plant cuttings on social media and the demand quickly grew, I was maintaining about 10-20 orders a week shipping across the United States.
At the same time, I was in the transition from middle school to high school, for the future goals I had, I had a desire to attend a private high school that focused on helping me reach those goals, so the founding of Plantkingusa was hopeful that it could help support me going to get an education I wanted since attending a private school was not financially reasonable for me and my family.
Never would I have imagined, my idea took off and is still fast-growing today, almost two years later. I continued to reinvest profits to grow and bring in new ideas to grow my backyard business into a full-time greenhouse operation. Plantkingusa is now a licensed nursery that has shipped thousands to all 50 states and two countries. I have had the privilege to employ both local students and adults and watch our greenhouse numbers continue to expand.
We specialize in tropicals, succulents, aroids, and rare plants. We grow a lot of our own plants but have the privilege to work with other growers across Florida and other countries such as Ecuador and Asia. We lead classes in the Jacksonville community and continue to give back to programs in our community, that is super important to me and something I continue to work for and support each day.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Although Plantkingusa grew at a fast rate, that came with lots of learning and decisions to be made. I think the biggest struggle has been my age, starting at 14, all on your own, and building a licensed business from the ground up definitely was filled with challenges. I had to learn tons of logistics such as licensing, local laws, taxes, social media marketing, communication skills, etc.
I will say I learned all of this through trial and error, I made lots of mistakes down the road and it was hard to find help but I did not let that stop me and every struggle I had eventually became accomplished due to my determination and drive to watch my business succeed.
When the pandemic hit, I also had to adapt quickly to many safety measures and take my business fully online which actually helped my business grow so much faster, so it was a rewarding challenge.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I think the biggest thing that sets me apart, besides being a teenage entrepreneur balancing school and a full-time business, is the close relationship my business has with our customers.
We are proud to create close and personal relationships with all of our customers across the globe. Our business does not have automatic responses, every question and comment is personally answered and every customer has access to personally reach me. Many people do not know how plants help so many people deal with depression and health issues and we have been honored to be able to hear, listen and engage in helping people through horticulture.
Plantkingusa has interactive social media pages and a private Facebook group where people can ask questions and connect with each other across the United States.
What do you think about happiness?
I am always happy when I am doing something in my community. I love to be involved and meet such amazing and talented people of all ages around the Jacksonville area. My passions are decreasing food insecurity, food waste, and education, so supporting those three goals are happy moments.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: Www.Plantkingusa.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/Plantkingusa
- Facebook: Facebook.com/Plantkingusa
