How one millennial transitioned from the corporate world into “plantpreneur-ship”— and why a houseplant is never just a houseplant.
Nick Cutsumpas was a typical recent college graduate, casting around for what he wanted to do with his life, when he planted a tomato at age 22 and everything changed.
“From the moment I put the first tomato plant in the ground, I was just obsessed,” said Cutsumpas, who is now 29 and a full-time “plantpreneur.”
But that passion for plants took time to grow into a career. For a few years, Cutsumpas went the corporate route in New York City, working in sales and partnerships for several big-name tech and content companies. But surrounded by cubicles and concrete, he felt like he was going into “green withdrawal.”
“So I did what any normal person would do,” Cutsumpas said, tongue-in-cheek. “I bought 95 houseplants — and haven’t looked back since.”
A new career takes roots
Fresh out of college, Cutsumpas had a demanding corporate career that looked excellent on paper. He’d already become a hobby gardener by cultivating tomatoes in his parents’ backyard. To help cope with the stress of Manhattan work life, he decided to reconnect with his love of horticulture by buying a few houseplants.
Slowly, that reinvigorated enthusiasm for plants started filling up more and more of his downtime. He would rush gleefully to the flower district at 6 a.m. before work. He also began posting about his urban farming efforts on Instagram and eventually started helping friends — and soon, a few paying clients — design and care for their own cosmopolitan jungles.
With every plant he nurtured, and with every person whose inner green thumb he cultivated, it became clearer to Cutsumpas that plants weren’t just his hobby; they were his calling.
“Plants are counter-culture to everything we have in our fast-paced, instant gratification-filled lives,” Cutsumpas said. “Plants just slow me down in the best way. As much as you want to see a new leaf form, or watch your plant grow, you have to go through 10 steps... and then wait three months. It forces you to just trust the process.”
Once Cutsumpas had developed a roster of about 75 clients, he was seriously contemplating leaving the corporate world behind. Then he got cast on a reality TV show about floral arranging, which would require him to quit his job. It was the push he needed.
“The day I made the decision, I was working on a rooftop on the Upper West Side, covered in dirt and sweating. I was surrounded by all of these plants, and they smelled amazing. I felt great, and I just remember saying: ‘All right. I quit,’” Cutsumpas said. “I knew that I could build up the client base, and I knew that I could make social media work. I knew that if the show was successful, it would take it all to the next level.”
Cutsumpas branded himself Farmer Nick and started focusing largely on “plant coaching,” or giving people the knowledge and confidence they need to start growing plants at home in a sustainable way.
“Plants just slow me down in the best way.”
“Making them laugh or get
excited about plants for the first time, that’s a bigger win for me than anything else.”
“For me, reaching the person in the middle of Ohio who’s never grown a plant before, who has never considered their plastic usage, never cared about the environment — making them laugh or get excited about plants for the first time, that’s a bigger win for me than anything else,” Cutsumpas said.
He also understands how deeply therapeutic plant care can be for people, not just himself. Like the client he worked with who bought herself 15 houseplants, explaining she had just had a miscarriage and ached to care for something. Or the well-known social media influencer, who in a taxi with Cutsumpas on their way home from the flower market stuck her face deep into her plant, breathing it in.
“I was kind of like, ‘what?!’ This woman is dressed to the nines, she brought a photographer with her, and she’s got her nose literally in the soil. I’m like, ‘Are you OK? What’s going on?’” he recalled. “And she goes, ‘I can’t remember the last time I touched the earth.’”
Connecting purpose and passion
Now that he’s been running his business full-time for two years, Cutsumpas says he feels optimistic about his finances. But early on, the entrepreneur — who describes his personal money style in just two words: “a worrier” — grappled with self-doubt. He also made some rookie mistakes, like purchasing thousands of dollars worth of plants out of pocket for a project that fell through — without realizing his contract didn’t really offer him any meaningful protection.
“In the beginning it was really challenging because you’re going from this six-figure job to thinking, ‘Maybe I’ll break $50,000 this year?’” Cutsumpas recalled, noting New York City’s high cost of living. “Financially, it was scary.”
“It feels like you have this obnoxious roommate in your head that’s like, ‘Are you really going to be able to do this?’” he added. “Like: ‘Are you going to have to shut down in a year?’”
Ultimately, Cutsumpas’ gamble on his new career did come together, both emotionally and financially. As @FarmerNick, he has more than 100,000 Instagram followers with whom he shares practical plant care advice, as well as his bigger thoughts on how plant ownership connects people to nature and what it means to lead a more environmentally sustainable life. His reach has only grown during the pandemic, when people have been buying houseplants in droves.
“For me, reaching the person in the middle of Ohio who’s never grown a plant before, who has never considered their plastic usage, never cared about the environment — making them laugh or get excited about plants for the first time, that’s a bigger win for me than anything else,” Cutsumpas said.
He also understands how deeply therapeutic plant care can be for people, not just himself. Like the client he worked with who bought herself 15 houseplants, explaining she had just had a miscarriage and ached to care for something. Or the well-known social media influencer, who in a taxi with Cutsumpas on their way home from the flower market stuck her face deep into her plant, breathing it in.
“I was kind of like, ‘what?!’ This woman is dressed to the nines, she brought a photographer with her, and she’s got her nose literally in the soil. I’m like, ‘Are you OK? What’s going on?’” he recalled. “And she goes, ‘I can’t remember the last time I touched the earth.’”
Gearing up to give back
Now that Cutsumpas’ business is thriving, he finally will allow himself the occasional splurge — mostly on plant-based meals out, or sometimes on a really special plant.
“I did buy a couple of variegated Monstera cuttings recently, which are kind of the ‘it’ plant in many ways,” he said, noting however that his current favorite plant is a spotted begonia that is red on the underside. (“I'm on a begonia kick lately, and these begonias — I think they're just stunning!”)
And he is thinking about how he can use his newfound financial security to give back.
“A goal of mine has been to donate 10% of my income to earth-focused non-profits, whether they’re things in the plant space, environmental issues, or agriculture,” Cutsumpas said, noting that he did so in March and April.
Cutsumpas hopes he is building toward something bigger, using something as humble as the houseplant to help people tap into their deeper sense of environmental stewardship, while reminding them of the joy and flow of simply slowing down and getting their hands dirty.
“Houseplants aren’t the end goal,” he said. “When you view your home as a living, breathing ecosystem, that is going to redefine the way that you think about your relationship with the world outside.”
My name is Nick Cutsumpas, also known as Farmer Nick, and I'm a plant coach and urban farmer. I first got interested in plants after I graduated in 2014. I was going to live at home with my parents and I was set to work a very corporate job in the world of tech in New York City, and I was living rent free. And my mom, like all good mothers, said, “If you're going to be living here rent free, you have to do something around the house.” And she said, “Why not start a garden?” And I went outside and I started with tomatoes and cucumbers and zucchini. And the moment those first seedlings went in the ground, I was hooked. And for those next three years, the garden just grew more and more robust each year, and 125 houseplants later, I haven't looked back.
After three years in the corporate world, I realized that I had built up a lot of great skills and could apply those to my love of plants. And I had folks reaching out on social media asking me for tips and advice on how they could take care of their own plants and grow their own gardens. And I realized like, “Hey, I could, I could prototype a business here.” And as a young millennial, the idea of a side hustle is very appealing and attractive. And I said, you know what? I can do this. I'm going to go out here and see if I can help my friends start creating their own green spaces. And it was something that happened, dare I say organically, but it was such a great experience to take the skills I learned from the corporate world and apply them to a new business that I was prototyping as a side hustle.
I've made more financial mistakes than I can count, but I've learned from those mistakes. And I think that's what's important, to become a smarter spender. But one in particular was when I was really building out the business in its early stages. I said, You know what? I need a graphic designer. And I went and found a fantastic graphic designer who made me some beautiful logos and imagery, all this great illustration. And I looked at it and I said, I actually don't have a use for this. It's not going to serve a purpose inside my business right now. It might serve a purpose in the next five years, but it wasn't what I needed in the moment. And learning to say, What do I need now, versus what is a nice to have? That kind of thought process has helped me make better decisions when it comes to my business and also the clients that I'm working with.
I believe that you need to treat your life like you treat your plant. And what I mean by that is that you're not going to see the results right away, and just because you think something might be good in the moment, doesn't mean it's going to be good in the long run. And much like a plant that you put in the ground, you're going to have to invest in that idea. You're going to have to invest in that seed for it to become a fully blossoming plant. And it may take time and it may take years until you see the results of that, but spending the time to be proactive and setting the foundation for your plant and your life is going to lead to some of the best results you can imagine.