👻 The $10k Houseplant Side Hustle

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If you’re new here, we turn $1 into thousands building these weird but simple side hustles. Welcome to Ghost Business 👻 Your (mostly) weekly email

TLDR;

• Start small with $500–$1,000 in grow lights, racks, and starter plants, then sell on Etsy, IG, and farmers markets.

• Focus on rare, high-margin plants like variegated monsteras and mini citrus while keeping herbs for fast turnover.

• Scale to $10K/month with cloning, subscription boxes, and branding that makes your plants the life of the party.

• This guy does $36k/mo selling mini orange trees 😳 

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People are obsessed with plants right now, from TikTok-famous variegated monsteras to countertop basil that screams “I’m healthy.” Indoor farming taps into the wellness, foodie, and home décor markets all at once. It’s not backbreaking farm work either, just some lights, pots, and patience until you’re rolling in green.

Check out this Australian plant influencer with 600k followers 😮 

• Rare plants sell for hundreds (sometimes thousands) online

• Herbs and mini citrus trees have wide appeal and quick turnover

• Small footprint needed, no land lease required

• Growing market for sustainable and hyper-local food/plants

The MVP

You don’t need a greenhouse empire to start, just a spare room or garage that can moonlight as a jungle. An MVP setup could include grow lights, soil, starter plants, and shelving, all in the $500 to $1,000 range. Marketing is as simple as snapping good photos, listing on Etsy, FB Marketplace, and Instagram, with ongoing expenses mostly being electricity, soil, and water… cheap enough to leaf you smiling.

• Initial setup: $100 to $200 (lights, racks, starter stock)

• Marketing: Free on socials, $100 optional for boosted posts

• Ongoing: ~$50 to $150 per month (utilities, soil, pots)

• Sales channels: Etsy, local farmers markets, plant swaps, IG

  • All in ~$300

Path to $10,000

Once you prove people are rooting for you, it’s time to scale. That means cloning high-demand plants, investing in better grow systems, and treating your space like a mini nursery. Pair strong branding with subscription boxes or “plant of the month” clubs, and you’ll see profits blossom faster than weeds after rain.

• Focus on high-margin plants (rare variegated species, dwarf citrus, gourmet herbs)

• Clone and propagate instead of constantly buying stock

• Create subscription offers: $30–$50 monthly per box

• Add workshops or digital guides for extra revenue

• To hit $10K, aim for ~200 subs at $50 or 500 plant sales a month at $20

p.s If you found this insight into the newsletter industry valuable, imagine how helpful it could be to someone else dreaming of starting their own hustle!

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Viability:

1 [building spaceships] 🚀 to 5 [easy peasy] 😊 

Indoor farming sounds lush, but it’s not all sunshine and soil. Plants can be finicky, with pests, mold, or just plain dying on you before they ever sell. Plus, keeping up with demand, shipping delicate greens, and standing out in a crowded “plantfluencer” market can make this side hustle feel more thorn than rose.

(As usual each business will have it’s own setbacks, and it’s all about the execution and consistency rather than just having the idea)

It’s a great day to be great!

Love, Mike 👋