Check Out Flin Grant’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Flin Grant.

Hi Flin, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I don’t meditate regularly, but the idea for Plant Magic Club began in an early morning meditation on my birthday. I hoped for some direction towards a creative income source to give my family more security, and I didn’t want to do anything that I’d already done before – those were the wishes. The intention was so clear, and in those meditative moments, like a light, cloudy daydream, the answer came to me, literally, a gift from the universe.
I know it sounds so woo woo, but nothing like that had ever happened to me before, or since. It was a quiet revelation of what to do… build these aromatic plant activity boxes for kids… and I just started moving forward doing it from that day on.

To say this is nothing I’ve ever done before is a bit simplistic. It’s more of a union of everything that I’ve ever done before.

I was a classroom teacher for 20 years before becoming a mom and a certified aromatherapist. In that time, I went from being a summer teaching assistant to running several different arts education programs, and I’ve always loved working in the field of education and with kids. When we decided to homeschool our daughter, I began teaching collaborative plant dye and aromatherapy workshops to adults in my free time, but then Covid hit and shut everything down. I was asked to teach aromatherapy to kids online for a program my friend started, and I realized that there were no kids programs teaching safe aromatic plant studies. Everything was geared towards adults. But kids LOVE plants and nature studies and arts and science. So it suddenly clicked… a kid-safe aromatic plants activity box was definitely something that my family would have purchased if it had been available.

Going from teaching in person to being a small business owner selling products online has been a huge learning curve! From navigating e-commerce to shipping and packaging — the creative part is the easy part! There are so many constant and unforeseen obstacles to navigate. And so much sweat equity up front, with working all hours of the day and night, and trying to balance building a small business with the demands of family life. All that said, the reception for Plant Magic Club has been incredible and we have the best families ever using our products. When I get a positive email or social media comment saying how much a family loves the boxes, it makes everything worth it.
I always try to come back to remembering who our clients are… and it’s us. I created this activity box series because it’s something that our family was looking for and it didn’t exist. I often ask myself, what do I want as a mom, as an educator, as an herbalist, as a client? That’s how I inform the choices we make.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
What I’ve learned along the way is that things don’t need to be “perfect” to get started (and if you have that perfectionism mindset then you’ll likely burn out before you ever get off the ground!). I kept telling myself, “You’re just planting seeds and seeing how this thing grows.” It doesn’t have to grow overnight. We’re about to start our 4th year in business and are still growing, and thriving.
With success can come internal pressure about what you think you need to do to keep that success going – following similar paths that others have forged. Yet, the beauty of having your own business is that you get to define the terms of what works for you. Being authentic and coming home to that when you stray is the key. If something is stressful and not working how you thought it would, shift and do something else! For example, Plant Magic Club started as a subscription box business, but after 15 boxes were produced, a new one each month, I started to need a creative break, and knew that the previous content was good enough to be reproduced for new kids and families to use. In the subscription box business, losing a loyal customer is the worst thing that can happen, and there’s this pressure to create something new over and over again to retain your base. However, in the activity box business that I pivoted towards, I know that there will always be more kids out there who haven’t tried our boxes yet and will love them. My choices aren’t based on fear, but on trust.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Plant Magic Club is the hands-on activity box for nature-loving families. Every box is a class in a box. Order from our website and boxes are delivered directly to your door. Our largest market is homeschool and charter school families looking for innovative curriculum, and every box includes activity sheets in science (botany), social studies (map work and career studies) and language arts (poetry and creative writing). Engaging projects and collectibles that go along with the nature theme round out each box.
This fall we’re also launching our new geology unit called Earth Magic Club, and kids can collect 15 different rock specimens and learn about rocks, gems and crystals. All content is written by a California credentialed teacher with a Master of Arts in Education, Instruction and Curriculum, who’s a homeschooling mom – me!

What do you like and dislike about the city?
I love that we have access to so many incredible family friendly arts and cultural activities – from the Lunar New Year parades in Chinatown to the Gem Hall at the Natural History Museum, and a million things in between. Then, mix in all of the natural resources on top of it! There’s so much inspiration in the tide pools of our beaches and the hiking trails of our mountains — so much flora and fauna to enchant us and humble us.

And what do I like least – I mean – isn’t it always the traffic!?

Pricing:

• Free Shipping Offer – Use code: VoyageLA

Contact Info:

• Website: https://plantmagicclub.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plantmagicclub/ — or @plantmagicclub

Image Credits
Flin Grant