A garden in a box?

One thing I’ve learnt as an entrepreneur is that things never go according to plan, and things often take longer than you want them to.

During Lazy Flora product testing, I had to abort planned trials twice, because the quality of the cardboard boxes wasn’t good enough, then the interior moulded packaging didn’t fit in the right way and plants would have moved around too much in transit. I also discovered that beyond a certain point, boxes are simply too big to be handled comfortably, and couriers don’t take boxes above a certain size. So I went back to the drawing board and completely redesigned the packaging to fit all these new requirements, and came up with custom-designed box sizes, that are designed to fit the configuration of the interior packaging.

With every setback, there was a little voice in my head doubting my ability to bring Lazy Flora to life. But I knew I just had to keep going, because every challenge I overcame was directly contributing to making Lazy Flora products better, Lazy Flora a better company, and me a better business owner. 

Shipping the first few parcels out and waiting for feedback from testers was a really nerve-wracking time.

Thankfully, the feedback from trials was overwhelmingly positive. Testers were universally impressed with the quality of the plants and how the packaging had protected them in transit. This picture was taken by one of Lazy Flora’s original product testers as she opened the box for the first time.

All this makes the pain and product refinement/redesign 100% worth it. Imperfection gives rise to great beauty. And as with gardening, it takes time to cultivate beautiful things.

So today, my tip of the day: patience and persistence all the way.