In 2017, Leena Pettigrew received her first houseplant—a golden Pothos, known for being low-maintenance—and accidentally killed it.
Leena Pettigrew
Fast forward five years, and she decided to give it another shot. Leena and her husband Marquise were redecorating their Houston home and needed to fill some empty spaces. She went to Lowes and picked up a few succulents.
What started as a simple hobby soon turned into a passion, and eventually, a side hustle. After her home became “overrun” with 8-feet-tall Monsteras, Leena sought ways to sell her excess houseplants online. She discovered Palmstreet, a home décor marketplace, and began auctioning her plants through livestreams last June.
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Between July 2023 and July 2024, Leena generated nearly $148,600 in revenue, averaging $12,380 per month, as per documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. She now stores up to 1,000 plants in her garage.
At 44 years old, Leena dedicates about 20 hours per week to sourcing, selling, and shipping plants, all while maintaining her full-time IT job, which pays her roughly $90,000 a year. She also works as a paid consultant for Palmstreet, training new sellers.
Leena’s side hustle has become so successful that it now replaces the full-time income Marquise used to earn. The couple runs the Palmstreet business together from their garage-turned-greenhouse, alongside five contract employees.
Building a Thriving Houseplant Side Hustle
To develop her green thumb, Leena spent countless hours on YouTube, learning about plant care. She and Marquise would often lie in bed watching videos—plant care for her, bass fishing for him—before falling asleep.
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Selling her houseplants involved more than just growing them. As she began offloading her extra plants to local buyers through Facebook, Leena realized she enjoyed the customer interactions. However, turning this hobby into a business required a lot of administrative work, including sourcing inventory and meticulously tracking each sale.
“I spent countless hours recording every purchase and expense in spreadsheets,” Leena recalls.
At PlantCon Houston, a fair for plant enthusiasts, she met another seller who encouraged her to try Palmstreet, then known as PlantStory. The platform offered two selling options: a traditional online store and a livestream auction where sellers could showcase their plants in real-time.
Leena initially listed a few plants on her online store, but found taking photos and writing descriptions time-consuming. When she tried the livestream feature, she felt awkward on camera—until Marquise, who was helping arrange plants, started cracking jokes.
His humor put Leena at ease, and she appeared more natural to the 55 viewers watching the livestream. That first auction, which lasted four hours, resulted in the sale of 53 plants, according to a Palmstreet spokesperson.
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Two months and several successful livestreams later, the couple sat down to create a comprehensive business plan.
Reorganizing Life Around a Successful Side Gig
Today, Leena sells about 100 houseplants per livestream. With an established reputation, she’s able to sell larger, more expensive plants—starting at $30, compared to her initial price of $5. Her Monsteras now sell for upwards of $115 each.
The extra income allowed Marquise to step back from his full-time job at their co-owned auto repair shop. He still works about six hours a week there, mostly for friends and family who insist on his services.
Running the auto shop full-time was stressful, Marquise admits. They had employees relying on them for their livelihoods, and customers were often unhappy—worried about their cars, the cost, or the time it would take to get their vehicles back.
In contrast, managing the contract workers for Leena’s side hustle is far less stressful. The workers rely on the gig for part-time income, so the business’s success doesn’t feel like a matter of life or death. The work is also less physically demanding, and the customers are generally easier to deal with.
Together, the couple now has five streams of income: Leena’s IT job, Palmstreet selling and consulting, the auto shop, and a virtual mechanic gig Marquise picked up in his spare time.
The extra income helps keep the auto shop running and has even funded a few weekend getaways around Texas. They say it’s important to take breaks when both partners work from home and the side hustle is based in their garage.
Looking ahead, if the side hustle continues to grow, Leena hopes to sell the auto shop, move to Florida, and open her own greenhouse. She envisions hiring enough staff so that she and Marquise only need to work part-time. This could happen within the next year or two, she believes.
With more free time, they plan to focus on other passions, like volunteer work, says Leena.
Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect that Leena attributes her success on Palmstreet to her growing reputation. This reputation helps her sell more large, expensive plants.