Terrariums are EVERYTHING. If you are so lucky as to have been living under a rock and you do not know what a terrarium is let it be known that terrariums are currently trending. This is the success story of how a passion for plants set the stage for a very successful Pop-Up.
It started with a great idea. Alex Estrada is in the know and happens to love plants. She is a Senior Visual Designer currently living in San Francisco after recently relocating from NYC. A Miami girl at heart, greenery and plants have always been an obsession of hers. It wasn’t until Estrada moved to San Francisco from New York just a couple months ago, that she began planning her new plant business. After having a conversation with friends about small business ideas, she decided that with the help of another friend, she would host a launch party for her business. By putting a date on the calendar, Estrada felt the need to be in action– both around clarifying what exactly her product and services. She also wanted to have a site up and running that sufficiently shared her offerings. Her passion-turned-great-idea developed into the recent site launch of her new business and blog: Tierrita, which translates to “a little Earth.”
How did it actually happen? In knowing that she loved plants, she started documenting the plants her home terrarium and her visits to gardens on social media and develop a following. With an online community, she knew she could either start some sort of terrarium business where she assisted other people in creating their own home gardens or she could have a blog where she discusses all the things that she likes about plants.
While blogs can be incredibly lucrative, Estrada wanted something tangible to offer to her customers and followers. She decided to offer both. The desired outcome for Estrada when it came to this pop-up revolved around three important needs that Estrada had for her new business: a tangible offering, and a definitive website launch date, and exposure to a new community. By offering a workshop as a Pop-Up, Estrada was able to bring something both valuable and tangible to her community while simultaneously sharing her plant knowledge and bringing her brand to real life in front of an audience.
It’s all about timing. “The timing for [this Pop-Up] event and my site launching was perfect—it was almost too good to be true. I have had this idea in my head for about a year now… To have my own creative outlet where I could bring my thoughts, creations, and various passions to others. I wanted this space to be a perfect balance of offline-time for creating and making, but also online-time for building and sharing. My problem was… I was all talk, no action. I would just talk myself right out of actually getting to work and getting sh*it done. My ideas, sketches, site designs would be half-baked, and I never felt ready to launch until things were 100% perfect and complete. Until this event came about, I had no other choice but to hold myself accountable and get something out the door, acknowledging that ‘done is better than perfect.’ So this is it! The time is always now. Get ideas out the door and improve upon them later,” Estrada says of her experience.
The Earth Day Pop-Up Event. 40 guests signed up and attended an Earth Day yoga class and terrarium workshop led by Alex Estrada on Wednesday, April 22d, 2015. The decision to make Earth Day the same day as launch-day was part of her overall strategy and ultimately gave her business and pop-up event powerful context. The event began with yoga. There were refreshments served in partnership with Good Eggs and Urban Remedy followed by a classroom style workshop where guests learned about succulents and building personal terrariums.
And Estrada would do it again. “In a heartbeat. These experiences not only force me to break out of my shell about, but also offer something, no matter how big or small, to other people. Building a terrarium at home is nice and stress-relieving, but building it with 40 people is definitely way more fun,” Estrada says of her event.
Everything was a success. This event also elevated Estrada’s new business. The pop-up allowed Estrada to raise her brand awareness and, as a result, she was able to grow her following. “I actually got some terrarium orders off of a short online form I thought no one would see! I got some social media love, too. More importantly, I think it affected the way I treat my business—which is as a real, serious gift that others could gain some sort of value or happiness from,” Estrada explained.
Now her customers have a place to go when they want to connect and feel inspired. Estrada chronicles her adventures in making terrariums and all things plant-related for her audience to read. She also shares on her discovery of new plant shops, her indoor garden stylings, and street-style snaps of sexy succulents. The site is the destination for plant lovers around the world. It’s gonna be a party in your plants, and you’re all invited.
Be inspired to take your passion and idea to the next level through a Pop-Up.