Success Stories Profile: How Cait Khosla grew BotanyBox from a passion project to a full company!

Cait Khosla has always loved plants and knew that there was a hole in the market for what she wanted to do: bring reasonably priced greenery to your door and inspire people to love plants as well. She has been expanding Botany Box for three years and has no plans of stopping anytime soon!

The Botany Box Instagram has 18.6k followers and its feed features aesthetic pictures of plants, advice on both plant care and self care and also pictures of Cait in her natural element— with her plants! Even though Cait has thousands of followers, she creates a relationship with every single one of them. 

Her passion for her business shines through in her social media work, website and background. In addition to selling plants out of Los Angeles, California, Cait has introduced virtual plant workshops to Botany Box. You can tell that she really loves what she does and has worked hard to be successful, so keep reading for her success story! 

Tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do for a living. 

My name is Cait, I’m 27 and a new resident of Santa Monica, CA! I’m an expert in horticulture, social media and have a strong focus in digital media marketing. Before starting Botany Box, I began my career in strategic social media marketing at venture backed startups. After moving to NYC, I began to grow Botany Box and was inspired to find a resolution for reasonably priced plants that anyone can keep to motivate them to grow their green thumb. In 2020, I will be expanding all around California, where I’m in proximity to my plant distributors, and launching additional merchandise, box options and more!

What’s your background? What drew you to start your own company? 

My background is originally in social media marketing, I had been working at various start-ups for about 2-3 years before splitting my time between my full time job (at the time) and Botany Box! I have been working to build BB to hopefully turn it into a full-time job. I decided to start BB because I had such a love for plants, and if there was a sustainable / cheaper way to ship them to friends & family, I was going to figure it out!

What were some things you did in order to get your company started? 

When I really decided to get serious about creating a solution to a problem, I knew I needed help figuring out how I was going to build this. Luckily, a good friend of mine had a great connection who is still my business partner to this day. He helps with our website, finances, product creation, and more. I also decided to get some basic things to help me get organized: a great accountant, Trello, Later, Dubsado, etc. 

How long did it take you to be where you are today? 

Oh gosh, it took me over 3 years (from conception of our IG to the sales we get today!) BUT - I still have a long way to go!

What are your biggest accomplishments since you started your company? 

A big accomplishment was building my social presence on Botany Box. I really enjoyed creating a community there, and interacting with people all day (and honestly people all over the world). It built the confidence in me to launch products for Botany Box that people would actually be interested in. 

What has been the biggest risk you’ve taken with your company?

Spending money, necessarily and unnecessarily. I didn’t have enough money to start Botany Box, I scraped up anything I got from my paychecks, it took me A WHOLE year to pay my business partner back for all of his work. If anything, struggling to pay for supplies for Botany Box, or people who are helping me propel forward is also my biggest motivator. 

What are you most proud of since starting your business?

I'm most proud of putting myself out there, which sounds so cliche, but tons of people have hopes and dreams and business ideas and never execute on them - especially women. I'm excited I decided to leap at the exact moment it was terrifying to leap.

How did you get over mindset hurdles and propel yourself through tough moments as an entrepreneur?

It was all about the mindset shift for me, I needed to be more confident in my ability to talk about the business I created and sell myself more than anything! It's something I still definitely struggle with, I go back and forth between thinking I'm "being too cocky" to "not selling myself enough". 

As a business owner, What does your typical day look like?

Well, work-wise: I just created my 2nd LLC (Botany Box is already LLC’d) and now my name is, too. I’m an independent contractor and I’m really proud to say I work for myself and for some incredible female entrepreneurs helping their social strategy and content planning. I do tons of client work during the day, and get a ton of BB work done at night (with a lot of coffee to start, and then wine to end - of course).

What are some practical things you do to manage your time effectively?

I’m a huge morning person, and I love getting prepared for the day. I follow the Ivy Lee Method (article from Lauryn Evarts Bosstick) and I swear by it. I also start with an iced espresso because I hate hot coffee. And I love breakfast, I’d eat it 3x a day if I could. This is the general Ivy Lee Method idea (edited slightly to fit my style): 1. Write down the six most important things you need to accomplish for the day. Do not write down more than six tasks. 2. Prioritize those six items in order of their true importance (be honest)! 3. Concentrate only on the first task. Work until the first task is finished before moving on to the second task, and so on. 4. At the end of the day, move any unfinished items to a new list of six tasks for the following day. Repeat this process every working day. It helps me hit my peak productivity, where I would otherwise be a total scatterbrain (if I’m not already)!

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever followed through with?

The best advice I follow is always practicing time management and prioritization. I’m still learning that everything doesn’t need to be done in one working day and pushing off projects to save your mental health and sleep schedule is completely acceptable. Also asking for help is huge, I can’t hustle without help.

What was a major moment of transformation for you in your life since you started your business?

I think a big transformation was when people actually started reaching out to me on social media asking for advice with their plants. I didn't think I would ever have enough "pull" to be an authority on this compared to other people! It makes me feel so good when I get DM's from people asking what they can do differently, what they can add to bring life to their house, and more. 

What would you say is your motto to keep things flowing?

"When it feels like you've been buried - perhaps you've been planted. Bloom!" That's my favorite motto, helps me when I'm feeling a little down or overwhelmed! 

What’s one thing people would be surprised you do in your role?

I think it surprises people that I own a DTC plant company, on top of also working in social media! Some people think I'm a botanist, or a horticulturist (I wish - haha!) 

 We know starting a business can sometimes be stressful and take a lot of your personal time, What are your top 3 ways to deal with the stress and/or practice self-care? 

Self-care is SO important, and highly underrated. I really enjoy 1. Journaling 2. Watching mindless tv shows (hello Bravo TV) 3. Reading! I've been really into murder-mystery / suspenseful books. 

What would you say is your superpower?

Ahh, I think I'm a HUGE empath to my very core, I swear I can feel someone else's emotions and energy right as they enter a room, which helps me understand how to communicate with all different types of people. 

What’s next for you and your business?

There are SO many exciting plans we have for 2020. First, we’re launching new Botany Box options to give people variety. This was first on my to-do list and we’re almost done and ready to go! People will be able to shop for plants, tote bags, enamel pins and more. Another big goal for 2020 will be launching a newsletter, I want it to relate to more than just plants, and focus on sustainability/eco-friendly products and brands (which I’m passionate about).

What is some advice you’d give to someone who is interested in starting a new business opportunity or someone whom just started their journey? 

It’s something I’m still telling myself right now. Everything does NOT have to execute perfectly. You don’t have to have everything done right the first time. If we didn’t understand how to persevere as a human race, we probably would have given up when we were all learning to walk, right? I wish I told myself sooner that everything didn’t need to be done right now, in the moment, or else it wasn’t going to be a success. Another big thing is that you have to stop everything else you’re doing to start a business. While it’s no walk in the park working with my clients and running Botany Box, I think it’s a common misconception that you can’t do both and you have to commit to one.

So there you have it, Cait's success story-- all the way from starting a passion to becoming a business owner! If you're looking to learn more about Cait and/or  Botany Box, you can check them out online at https://www.botanybox.co/ and on Instagram @botanybox."