Meet Leena Pettigrew, IT analyst whose houseplant hobby made $148,600 in a year from her garage while she kept her full-time job

For Leena Pettigrew, a houseplant collection once took over her home and has now turned into a six-figure business. Leena is an IT analyst in Houston, Texas, and now sells online from her garage while continuing to work full-time in the technology sector. Between July 2023 and July 2024, the business generated nearly $148,600 in revenue. That works out to an average of about $12,380 a month. Meanwhile, the amount represents revenue, not profit after expenses.

Her journey into the plant business began as a hobby. Pettigrew and her husband, Marquise, were redecorating their home in 2022. They wanted to add greenery to empty spaces, and then they bought a few succulents, but the collection soon grew beyond what they had planned.

Notably, large Monstera plants eventually filled rooms in their house. Pettigrew had limited space. So, she started looking for ways to sell the extra plants rather than keeping adding to the collection.

The journey of the business

Pettigrew first sold plants through Facebook. There she discovered that people were willing to buy them online. Later, she found Palmstreet. It was a marketplace for plats and home decor, and joined the platform in June 2023.

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She did not rely only on regular online listings. Then, she began selling plants through livestream actions. There, buyers can watch the sessions, see the plants an bid on the ones they want.

This helped her reach customers beyond her reach. Pettigrew holds livestream sales about twice a week, and each session can last four hours or longer, and sells roughly 100 plants during a stream.

The inventory has different verities of houseplants. According to reports, some larger plants can sell for more than $100, depending on the variety and size.

How does she manage the business?

According to Pettigrew, running the plant business takes about 20 hours a week. She spends that time sourcing plants, caring for them, preparing orders and handling sales.

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Her garage has become a makeshift greenhouse. It has space to store as many as 1,000 plants at a time. Her husband also helps her in the operation.

She also works as a full-time IT analyst and earns roughly $90,000 a year, according to the report. Meanwhile, her plant business has grown enough to allow her husband to reduce his working hours at an automotive repair shop they co-own.