- Tending your business is a lot like taking care of plants.
Each plant comes with different care
and you really need to have that intuitive instinct
and make sure you make the right decision for your plant,
just like you're making the right decision
for your business.
Every plant doesn't get water the same.
Every business doesn't get water the same.
I'm Shayla Cabrera, and Tiaplanta is my business.
Tiaplanta is a plant shop
that is rooted in community, diversity, and education.
And it's something that we live every single day,
whether it's providing workshops,
coming into our co-working space, corporate maintenance.
The benefits of having plants in your space
is something that we want to be able
to provide to our whole community.
The name Tiaplanta actually is Spanish
because I'm Afro Latina.
I'm half Puerto Rican.
And so Tiaplanta means "plant aunt."
Make sure you're comfortable if you bring in a new plant
and give you the education you need
to make sure whatever plants you're bringing
into your home thrive, not just survive, but thrive.
All of these services that we provide come together
so that our customer or our client really feels
that they have the support they need
on their plant parenthood journey.
So if you wanna bring more plants into your home,
you could give me a call.
You're not exactly sure where to place them in your home.
I come in, scope out your house,
figure out the ideal spot for your plants.
Really beautiful.
I'm so excited to get this on the right track for you.
The privilege to go into my clients' houses,
it's one of the best parts of the job.
A successful month for Tiaplanta
is a month where every weekend we're booked with events,
a month where we're scheduling further events
into the future.
We are super booked a majority of the time,
and it's really just prioritizing
where our time is gonna go as a business.
So as long as I get to go out
and spend time with my community,
it's a successful month for me.
When I founded this business,
I knew that houseplants were really going
to be a big hit during the pandemic.
One of the things that I knew
was that this fad was going to kind of come
to a slower point.
Being in the kiosk and,
where I had opened up my flagship,
being that the fact that there was no running water,
we had to provide our own heat, no electricity,
it was a lot of hardships,
on top of controlling the environment
with our houseplants, right?
So I knew that we were taking losses,
I was studying the profit sheets
and just understanding
that we needed to make a change in the business.
I then saw where the most profit was being made,
in terms of services and the amount of effort
that I was putting in with my time.
And I realized that we had a greater profit margin
when I could just be in a place and share my knowledge,
whereas selling individual houseplants came
with a lot more work and less revenue.
Having multiple streams of revenue
and building the brand was the most important aspect
of the business.
So that if we had to pivot,
the brand is still strong and our customers know
that the quality will be there either way.
As long as we stick to being Tiaplanta
and we're your plant aunt,
we're open to doing pretty much anything.
A lot of times, when you're a small-business owner,
there's a lot of holding onto an idea
of what you want your business to be.
The greatest strength that any entrepreneur
can have is the ability to pivot,
and the ability to assess and problem-solve
what is in front of you and your business,
and make the right decisions so that your business can grow.
Being able to let go of ideas of success
and create and innovate within your own business,
within your own mind, will allow your business to grow
or to just create a whole new business.
There's no shame in pivoting.
There's no shame in changing your game plan.
The only person who's the boss
at the end of the day is you.
If I were to give advice to any entrepreneur,
I would tell you to just believe in yourself.
You have to believe in yourself, believe in your dream.
When I was a little girl,
there weren't a lot of people
who were bosses who looked like me, who dressed like me,
who spoke like me.
So it's always been a dream of mine to be that person
for anybody who looks like me,
to be the role model as a woman of color.