Growing a business has quite a few parallels with growing a child.
First, there's the naming (the fun part), then the legal paperwork (the not as fun part). There's sweat, love and tears, and just when you think you've got this phase figured out, the next one starts and you get to figure it out all over again! The learning curves are plentiful.
When I started Plant Magic Club it came from pure inspiration, and luckily was perfectly in line with my interests, skill set and experience. Yet, it was also new and exciting to embark on something that was very much entwined with parenthood and family time. A family business. Although a majority of the efforts fall on me, I get to share the entrepreneurial spirit with my daughter, and witness the flame that it's lit in her as well.
So thank you to each and every one of you for being here with us, and joining us as we grow!
(Speaking of growing... Here's a photo video of the sweetest fuzzy caterpillar we discovered while on a hike last week.)
Onto the News...If you've been with us since the beginning, you know that Plant Magic Club started as a subscription box business in our first year. Creating a new box each month was an exciting and exhausting enterprise! The plan was always to continue to offer the finished boxes as a whole nature studies curriculum. So, last year I began offering bundled boxes in fun themes like Garden Magic and Taking Flight, two of our most popular sellers.
In April '24 the current aromatic activity box curriculum was completed with the Cinnamon, Cocoa and Treasures of the Rainforest box. However, I quickly discovered that offering all 15 boxes all the time, like I did this spring, proved to be a work and life balance challenge. Since every activity box is put together by hand, and the personal touches are important to me, I needed to figure something else out.
So, in our upcoming third year, I'm going to begin offering Plant Magic Club boxes seasonally, in the fall and spring semesters. Currently, products in the shop are either labeled Fall '24 or Spring '25 to distinguish them. I'm also moving to a specific ordering window timeline, to make sure that there's built in admin time to re-stock products and create invoices for our many charter school families.
If you like to plan ahead like I do, mark your calendar for these upcoming dates:
July 15th - Fall '24 boxes will be back in the shop and available to order.
August 15th - November 15th - Fall '24 boxes will be available and shipping.
December 1st - Spring '25 boxes will be back in the shop and available to order.
January 15th - April 15th - Spring '25 boxes will be available and shipping.
I'll also be modifying the monthly newsletter into a seasonal newsletter.
We all have exceedingly full inboxes, and you know where to find me! Plus, all of the current ordering and shipping dates are always on the homepage of the website at plantmagicclub.com
Have a fabulous summer Plant Magic Club... Happy exploring and adventuring!