Business1 min read

Lost job, sold plants from 600 sq ft flat; now has millions in annual sales

By · Via Times of India · Published by Everything Blog

In short

Hurst founded the business in 2020 with no prior horticultural background, initially packing inventory on his apartment balcony alongside his husband and mother. The company relocated to a 3,000-square-foot greenhouse before explosive growth on TikTok Shop accelerated shipping demands beyond platform limits. By 2026, the operation transitioned to an auction-style livestream model to handle surging customer traffic. The company now ships approximately 1,000 orders every day while employing a dedicated team of 24 workers.

Key points

  • The business scaled significantly after adopting the Brandon The Plant Guy brand and buil…: The business scaled significantly after adopting the Brandon The Plant Guy brand and building an audience of over 268,000 social media followers.
  • Adopting a livestream auction model helped the enterprise expand to 24 employees and hand…: Adopting a livestream auction model helped the enterprise expand to 24 employees and handle roughly 1,000 customer orders per day.
  • Rapid volume growth resulted in more than 100,000 plants sold during 2026, with weekly di…: Rapid volume growth resulted in more than 100,000 plants sold during 2026, with weekly distribution reaching approximately 5,000 plants.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

Brandon Hurst never planned to become a plant seller. In 2020, he was working as an administrative assistant at a Los Angeles real estate office and living paycheck to paycheck when he lost his job during the Covid-19 pandemic. Looking for a way to make extra money, he began reselling items on Facebook Marketplace, then noticed a woman selling inexpensive plants bought from a dollar store. He decided to try the same idea, posting his first listing, a pink plant in a pink pot, in April or May 2020. According to PEOPLE, customers began messaging him almost immediately, and that small experiment became the foundation of a multimillion-dollar family business.

Six years later, Hurst’s company has sold more than 100,000 plants in 2026 alone and now generates millions of dollars in gross annual sales, as per the report. What once operated from his roughly 600-square-foot apartment now employs 24 people, sells about 5,000 plants each week, and processes around 1,000 orders a day. The business has also moved into a 3,000-square-foot greenhouse in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, giving Hurst…

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