Somebody pinch us!
This doesn’t seem real yet! If there were ever a pivotal moment in our lives and career, it’s this! We’ve dreamed of businesses investing in us and driving a brand-spankin-new truck… we had no idea that it would happen at the same time!
For as long as we can remember, we’ve been making the most with the little amount that we had. No excuses of why we couldn’t do it, just making it happen. We packed-in over one hundred plants into our small SUV to haul to job sites; we borrowed friends’ trucks to be able to pull skid steers to job sites; we pushed our small Tacoma out of wet grass because, you know… it was a pre-runner (Toyota no longer make those, by the way). We’re BIG on not making excuses and using the cards that we’ve been dealt because after all, they’re our cards and no one else’s.
“We’re BIG on not making excuses and using the cards that we’ve been dealt because after all, they’re our cards and no one else’s.”
During our trip to Palm Springs, CA in December of 2020, we talked about business goals and personal goals. We both wrote our lists separately and then came together to share it out loud. There were two things we both had on our dream big boards: brand sponsorships and get a truck that can haul everything we need. These were two of the biggest things we were focusing on for 2021.
Co-owning a business with a relative can be tricky… what if the other see things differently? What happens when one doesn’t trust the other? That has never been the case for us. We believe that our ideas, passions, and goals are given to us for a reason and we give each other space to dream and trust that there is a bigger purpose behind them. We knew when we read this aloud that this was going to be a TALL task if we were to execute it ourselves. So we prayed and waited.
The truth is, we’ve been talking about getting sponsored by a truck dealership all year. Proof of this was when we took a photo of our volunteer team at our Summer Container Workshop in July of 2020 and we all piled in (and on and around) Celeste’s Tundra. Celeste is one of our team members and she had just bought a brand new Tundra. Heather said, “Y’all, we’re gonna be sponsored by Toyota one day!” Fast forward to today and we have our very own Tundra thanks to Mike Johnson’s Hickory Toyota.
See, this goes along with us giving each other space to dream and execute when we feel strongly about something! In December, we shared the image on Fawn’s Instagram account and spoke it aloud that Those Plant Ladies needed a truck for 2021. We shared about the impact it would have on our business and asked for sponsorships. We tagged Mike Johnson’s Hickory Toyota and bam! The People at Mike Johnson commented back to us and said: reach out to us this week and let’s see what we can put together.
Can you imagine the squeals when we read that DM? We communicated a bit through Instagram before making that phone call.
On December 30th, while driving home from a lunch date with a friend in Charlotte, Fawn called Andy and introduced the business and told the story of why we needed a truck and what we had in mind. To be honest, we were still hesitant at this point but we were excited to go for it. Andy said to give him until after the new year to get back with us. It was great to chat with him but we weren’t really sure how this would all play out. Nothing was concrete yet; it was a waiting game… complete with lots of prayers!
On Tuesday, January 5th 2021, Andy sent a text: “Hey! Good morning. what does your week look like? I’d like to get together and brainstorm up a way for a relationship with what you guys are doing within your business and us.”
WOW! We set up a time to go to the dealership so we could chat in person. We said to each other on the way there that if nothing else, we should make this a learning opportunity to understand what sponsorships look like and that if nothing came from this, we would use it as a learning experience and keep going.
We went into the dealership for our meeting and sat down with Andy in his office. We poured out our hearts about the mission behind our business to inspire, educate, and empower women to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty. This business isn’t just about us; it’s SO MUCH BIGGER than we can even fathom. It’s sort of like a movement. The green industry as a whole is predominantly male. Fawn knew women wanted to be a part of working with their hands, using equipment, and having the gratification of seeing the fruits of their labor come to life before their eyes after a long days work… they just needed a safe space to do it. We’ve yearned for a mentor or role models within the industry to teach us the ropes, tell us the things no one else was telling, give us advice, but we always came back empty. We strongly believe this longing was put inside of us to give us a passion to become that person for someone else!
This past year we’ve built this brand to encompass so many things that women, men and kids can benefit from. We realized that our community wanted to know all the things about plants, fashion, and more. After we taught one of our ladies how to drive a tractor for the first time at one of our installations, she went out and purchased her very own Kubota because she loved it that much. We don’t want to be sell-outs to every brand or sponsorship that comes along, but we do want to tell you all about the products we get our hands on (the good, the bad, the ugly). With us, you’ll get the insider perspective on everything we get our hands on!
