Consumers [music] today, you know,

whether they're at work or at home,

burnout's real, anxiety's real. We move

at a fast pace, and while I embrace that

and love it, and I think about AI

[music] is clearly changing

productivity, I think people are still

searching for presence, [music] and I

think that's what gardening does.

>> How do y'all Melissa with Coro? Welcome

to the big idea at Yahoo Finance. As a

co-founder of Hello Alice, it has always

been my goal to give entrepreneurs the

tools they need to succeed. So, let's

cowboy up.

All right, y'all. Today's big idea

question is, how do you cultivate better

mental health? Our industry today is my

favorite, in-home gardening. Y'all, I'm

so excited today to talk gardening. I

love having my hands in the dirt, but

in-home hobby-based gardening is $13

billion

globally. So, if you want to think about

how to monetize a beautiful, soulful

hobby, this is it. Today, we get to talk

to Donna Lydiard out of Texas, my home

state. She is the CEO of Garden Nuity,

and you really want to think about how

do you create a strong business out of

somebody's passion? How do you do the

logistics? How do you do the love around

it? And also, she is keeping her hands

in the dirt, but also utilizing AI. So,

let's talk to Donna.

Donna, welcome to the big idea. We're so

excited to have you.

>> Thank you so much for inviting me today.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to the

conversation.

>> Well, and guess what? My garden is

rocking and rolling, thanks to you. So,

I've always been a floral person. You

know, I love my roses, but thanks to

you, I now have a planter box with

instructions, and more so, a calmer

soul, thanks to you. I love that. How

did How did you even come up with this

whole notion that you were going to ship

what I would say goodness and calming

around the country in gardening.

>> Well, I wish I could say it's because I

was a master gardener

um and that is not the the case. Uh we

really look at it as an experience and I

love that you said it was calming while

you did it. We really look at it as

beyond the product. It's the experience.

It's how you feel when you do it. But

the feeling shouldn't end right when you

get it planted. You should have that

great feeling when you harvest herbs and

put it on a pizza or in a cocktail.

Uh and I think we really looked at where

consumers were and where wellness was

and how could we bring the two together?

>> Yeah, I mean cuz your history you were

at Neiman's and inspired by, you know, a

totally different type of retail, right?

>> Yes, Neiman's and Barneys

um and Borders Books

uh and so yeah, I can but every single

one of those I think had experiential

layers and I look at Stanley Marcus and

and

all honesty I think he really created

the idea of a consumer experience. I'm

not sure he gets credit for it, but he

created Fortnite. He created He first

built how he wanted consumers to feel

when they walked in the store.

And I think that's how we have looked at

our product development. How are

consumers going to feel when they open

the box? When they put their hands in

the soil, those kind of things.

>> Um so when I

love my rose garden and when I'm out

there people either know, especially my

children, I'm either calm or I'm pissed

off cuz cuz I go there to

>> [laughter]

>> to calm down or or it's cuz I'm happy.

Tell me just in terms of wellness, I

mean you really treat this as a full

experience. So I mean what does it do to

people? Their their soul, their calming

and children, too, to to think about

gardening. I mean, I remember when

Michelle Obama really brought back the

trend of gardening and that was more

about healthy food choices, but but

you're looking at the entire experience.

>> We are we're looking at um whole human

and holistic health. So, our mission

really plays into mental health,

nutritional well-being, and of course

the wellness of the planet. And I think

that uh it invites you to slow down.

You know, when you are out there

gardening with your roses or with your

uh

herb garden, it invites you to kind of

be present. You're not holding a phone.

You're actually engaged. So, when we

look at wellness, we know there's a

distinct difference between wellness and

well-being.

And wellness is what we do. Wellness is

how we feel. And I think we are playing

into both of those and consumers today,

you know, whether they're at work or at

home, burnout's real, anxiety's real. We

move at a fast pace and while I embrace

that and love it and I think about AI is

clearly changing productivity, I think

people are still searching for presence

and I think that's what gardening does.

>> So, you know, you think beautiful garden

company, but as an entrepreneur, I think

holy crap, how are you shipping live

objects around the country? I mean, I

can't imagine the Talk talk to me about

you you actually have a like a logistics

supply company.

I mean, that's got to be tough. How did

you How did you figure that out?

>> You know what? We really It comes in

different phases. So, we first looked at

how can we make sure it matched the

right plants to the right people based

on predictive weather?

Um and so, we have a a patented

algorithm that really looks at matching

those. So, if you're in Wisconsin and

it's January, I'm not shipping you a

tomato. Even if you want a taco toppings

garden, it wouldn't thrive. Um Um, and

then from the live plant logistics, we

are very fortunate. We work with some

incredible growers. And we've tested and

tested and tested. So, the idea when you

open it, that starts the experience. And

so, the plants not only have to be

healthy and happy, but they have to be

well presented, so you're not

overwhelmed, dirt's not going

everywhere. So, we looked at all of

that, and we went through a lot of trial

and error. We drop-kicked boxes before

we introduced new packaging. We throw

them off the roof. I mean, we try

everything to make sure that when the

end consumer gets it, it feels good. And

living plants, you know, plants weren't

bred to travel by FedEx or UPS. So, we

really look at what is best for them.

And if we're, you know, moving

products from a place where it's pretty

hot, from a farm that's hot to where

it's a little bit cooler, we'll put cold

packs in. You know, we've put ice packs

in, heat packs. We really look at the

health and well-being of the plants.

>> That's That's incredible. I um I I want

to talk about you as as a founder and

entrepreneur. You You're an incredible

mom. You have a Olympic

athlete in your family, which is

amazing. Um, and you're kind of in the

sandwich generation, which is so

interesting. How How is it being being

inspired by your kids and running this

company? I mean, it's it's it's a lot.

>> You know what? For years, because I was

always a working mom, uh, people ask me

to talk at their

conventions or whatever about balance.

And I think balance is ridiculous.

>> Oh my god.

>> I think if you

>> We could talk all day long about the BS

of balance.

>> on a tangent. It's minute-by-minute

choices, and you're never fully in

balance. Um, you just have to make a

choice and live with it. And I'm going

to work late tonight and not help

Madison with algebra. And okay, so she

didn't get an A. Okay, I'm living with

that choice I made.

Um

It is You know what? It's really

bringing together

two of the greatest things ever. I mean,

and there's so much

so many common denominators between

being leader,

uh entrepreneur, and being a mom. I

mean, so many things you don't know and

you have to figure out on the fly.

I am the mom of a of two girls, one who

is in the VC world, and the other one is

the Olympic athlete. She's won several

gold medals in Special Olympics, and it

has been

uh a different journey to traverse,

uh and one that I have learned to really

rely on a sports a support system, um

and I I can't be afraid to ask for help

when I don't know how to do something,

and I've learned that I am her voice.

She may be my teacher because she

teaches resilience and perseverance, but

I am her voice because she's really

non-ambulatory, non-verbal. And as her

voice, she has things to share, and so I

share them.

>> Well, and I I love how much we learn

from our children. Um

what what has, in terms of your

business, you taking from from either of

your children into the business that you

learned from motherhood that you're

like, "You know what? This might work in

the boardroom."

>> Yeah, um

don't be afraid to just start something

new.

>> Mhm.

>> Yeah, I remember when I was teaching

Madison both to ride a bike and to

drive, um

you she was scared. And you just have to

go. And I think in business, especially

as an entrepreneur, the one advice I

give people thinking about starting a

company is just go. Don't wait till

everything's perfect. You got to just

go. You know, I remember saying to

Madison, uh

"You don't have a brand new bike. It

might not be perfect. It's a a rainy

outside, but today's the day we said

we're going to learn to do it, so let's

just go. You can't wait until every

condition is perfect or the moment

passes you by. So, I've learned um

sometimes you just have to push go uh

and keep faith.

>> And that's what you did. I mean, you

were knocking on doors when folks didn't

and you ended up talking to the head of

the Container Store, right? Was I mean,

tell me about that story cuz you People

weren't listening at first.

>> Well, it's not about the deck, it's

about the story for me. Um and when

people when I would, you know, present

the idea you know, as an older founder,

they were not shy about saying, "Wow,

you not

>> Wait, are we older founders? What?"

>> I'm an old founder.

>> Are we what? We're wiser founders is

what we are, right?

>> We're wiser founders, that's right. I

mean, it's

>> by the way, the average age right now of

folks starting their companies, uh the

average is 45. Side note, that just came

out. It's so exciting.

>> Yeah. Okay, back to your story.

>> And I do love that women find their

confidence again at age 55.

>> Let's go.

>> So, let's use it, right?

>> Yeah, absolutely.

>> We had a lot of no's and we had a lot of

people everything from, "Are you not

just tired by now in your career?" And

I'm thinking to myself, "What do I need

more makeup?" And I learned really

quickly to just let if they say

something

stupid, to let the silence fill the

room.

>> Mhm.

>> And then I come back with what I want to

say. When I met with Garrett Boone, who

was one of the original founders of

Container Store

um his administrative assistant, I

reached out, said, "Well, he's not

investing right now." And I said, "I get

that. That's okay. I just want to meet

him because he really is

known for creating customer experience

in modern-day retail.

And he introduced a new category through

container gardens or through Container

Store. And he came to my office stayed

about an hour and said, "I got to be

part of this, and he invested, and he

has become a dear friend, a confidant,

and somebody I absolutely love spending

time with.

>> So, you know, what what is that I want

to take that lesson to folks that are

just getting started with a wild idea,

right? I mean, I love our small business

owners and entrepreneurs because they're

going to hear no over and over, but you

got to keep going, and then you sought

out one of the biggest names in business

at the time. I mean, what what, you

know, if I'm sitting there and I've

heard no 100, 200 times, what do you

tell that founder in that moment?

>> Keep going.

Get back on the horse and try again. If

you actually believe in what you're

doing,

then find the right partner. And I will

say you have to be pretty brave to walk

away from the wrong partner. We met with

Julie and I met with a couple of

investors who wanted to come in as lead

investors, and

it didn't feel right, and when I said to

my husband, he goes, "How did it go?" I

go, "I got the ickies."

And he said, "Enough said." So, you have

to be prepared to walk away from the

wrong money, and get the right partners

who not only

will believe in you, but leave believe

in the mission.

And no means no doesn't mean no

forever. It means no right now, and we

don't know what's going on in their

world. I mean, it took me a lot of time

to get Bonnie Plants on.

Um, you know, they're one of our

a strategic partner and a small

investor, and I met them through

LinkedIn. They're one of our farm

partners, and we love Bonnie Plants, and

originally they were like, "No, we're

not doing any kind of small investments

right now." And, you know what? I kept

pushing, pushing, they invested, and one

of the coolest experiences in my life,

we had a big investor meeting, and the

CEO of Bonnie Plants at the time came to

the meeting, and somebody asked him,

"Well, why did you invest in Garden

Innuity?" Cuz they're the nation's

biggest plant network company.

And he said, "Because we grow gardens

and they're growing gardeners."

>> Ooh.

>> I was like, "Can we put that on a shirt?

I know we got it on tape, but I'd love

that."

>> grow gardens and they are growing

gardeners. Brilliant.

>> That's about the experience. So, I was

It was exciting to have that happen.

>> I want to lift up two things you said

for our listeners um that are really

important. One is no doesn't mean

forever, so keep going, keep those

relationships, but you also said walk

away from the wrong money, to

paraphrase. So, I think those are

equally as important and you you brought

up Bonnie Plants. You all are launching

a a big partnership with them and

Miracle-Gro. Is that correct?

>> We're BR and I'm absolutely thrilled. Um

so, when I think about it, we met the

leaders at Scotts through Bonnie and

they are absolutely

understanding the future of gardening is

not just about products and it's about

guidance and accessibility and

introducing new people to the wellness

benefits that come from gardening

and we have launched Inspire to Grow, an

incredible collection of gardens that

fit anybody's lifestyle. So, whether

you're in a high-rise, wheelchair, have

a balcony, wherever you are and it

really brings together three of the

strongest brands, you know, Bonnie

Plants

and then Scotts Miracle-Gro from a

product standpoint and then our

experience. So, together we're really

inviting people into the joy of

gardening.

>> That's so exciting. So, I wanted to

talk for a second about mistakes. We we

are trying to be very transparent on the

show. We call them our dirty unicorns

because being an entrepreneur is hard,

you know, I'll probably make 10 mistakes

before breakfast today. Tell us about

one of your dirty unicorns that we can

all learn from.

>> You know what? I've always believed um

hire slow and fire fast.

>> Mhm.

>> If it's not a right fit, you can get

really excited because you see this

long line of to-do's that need to be

done. You think you found somebody who

can jump in and get it done.

Uh and I think you can

I think you can tell the first 4 weeks

if somebody is a good culture fit.

>> Mhm.

>> Um and so I've made a couple of hires

that weren't the

ideal.

Uh and some worked themselves out, some

I had to work out. Uh but that is that's

hard because when you're starting out

it's like, oh, I want the best people,

please come work for me.

But they need to be smarter than you,

they need to have confidence, but they

need to fit. And as an entrepreneur, it

is not 9:00 to 4:00.

It is whenever the job needs to be done.

So if we're here at 7:00 in the morning,

that's okay. And if we're here at 11:00

at night, that's okay. We need to make

sure the job's done. And that doesn't

fit with some people. And so my biggest

mistakes have been people.

>> Mhm. Um

>> and I've learned from that. I'm better

at it. I mean, I can't When I interview

now, I have a couple of tricks that I

do.

>> Ooh.

>> Um

>> Can you tell us one?

>> I'll share. Yeah, so you offer somebody

a cup of water, a cup of coffee,

whatever it might be. We interview. If

after the interview, they just get up

and walk out the door, thank you so

much, but leave the coffee or the water

on the table, that means they get don't

get the whole job done. If they say,

"Oh, let me bring it to the kitchen."

cuz we walk by the kitchen on the way

out, and they just put it on the

counter, that's a B. But if they

actually open the dishwasher and put the

glass in, that's an A. That means they

go all the way through.

>> Remind my children that, by the way. Um

so, our you know, our company motto at

Hello Alice is everyone takes out the

trash. It still is after 12 years. Yeah.

>> Um that's so interesting and uh Kim

Perell, a great entrepreneur out of

Florida, uh says POP, perfect on paper.

Uh because you can see someone's resume

and even meet them for I mean, it's so

hard when you we're with someone 30

minutes, right? So, I I I I appreciate

that advice and the whole, you know,

fire fast if it's not working. I it's I

that is very important. Um so, Garden

Nerdy

>> for them, too, right? I mean, if it's

not a culture fit now, they can't be

happy.

>> Yes. Yes.

>> not

particularly easy, probably, to work

for.

I mean, you know, I'm pretty driven and

competitive and Julie, my co-founder, is

clearly the nice one. That's I will on

my deathbed probably not be described as

nice.

Um but, that's okay. It takes two.

>> Which which uh which famous person said

nice women never make history, rarely

make history? I don't remember, but I'll

I'll find it and send it to you. But,

yeah, that's I've read that quote a

couple of times. So, we we nice

whatever.

Um listen, that the other thing I wanted

to understand is

you you have such an interesting

juxtaposition

that you are going to keep people's

hands in the dirt

in this world of AI, when we're on our

phones and so on, yet you are leveraging

AI. Uh uh

tell it tell me I was so obsessed with

with the whole model that you have now,

using AI to help all of us garden

better. Tell us about that.

>> Yeah, you know what? It is starts it's

called Garden Nerdy Match and it starts

with um

with there's a couple of questions, but

if you type in your zip code, not only

do we look at what the predictive

weather is in your area,

but we look at how long it's going to

take for something to fruit. Because if

you plant it, let's say I plant a tomato

in August,

but it's not going to have enough time

before it gets cold to fruit, I will not

feel like a successful gardener. So, we

look at all different kinds of

attributes. Then, we really utilize this

platform to match plants to the

nutrients they need. So, not all soil is

created equal. And I always think about

most plants grow in the soil, but the

truth is plants grow because of soil.

So, you got to get the soil right. And

so, we really look at all the different

things individual plants need. Tomatoes

need something different than basil.

Succulents need different soil than

tropical plants. So, we really look at

the overall experience, and we couldn't

do it without AI. I think companies who

ignore the benefits of what AI can do,

they're going to miss an opportunity.

It is our future, but that actually

helps me because gardening is personal,

and it invites you to pause and be

present, something that AI can't do. Uh

AI certainly delivers. So, before the

experience, we match you to the right

plants. Then, we have something called

Grow Pro. So, we track the weather for

you by zip code by day. And if weather's

coming in that's going to impact

specifically one of your plants, you'll

get a text message that says, "Hey

Elizabeth, you know, move your garden

inside. It's going to be a little cold

tonight." And that engages the gardener.

It extends the life of the garden, but

it more importantly, it lets them know

we're growing with them.

>> So, what is the future of Gardenuity?

What's next?

>> Oh my gosh. You know, I want to

in in on the big picture, I want to see

a garden on every patio, balcony,

rooftop. And we're lucky cuz we work

with about

65% of our business is working with

corporate partners and their wellness

teams. So, we're now covered by

insurance, so companies can offer

gardens and gardening experiences to

their employees. Um we're the first

gardening company

>> covered by insurance?

>> We are.

>> That is awesome.

>> Yeah, it because the data and the

research supports how good gardening is

for you, we just said, "Let's do this."

And Cigna was the first to join, and we

are um

>> That's a great business model for you,

too.

>> Well, because then they need us. They

get to grow with us, and then they come

back as a direct consumer. But we are

the first gardening company that

insurance approves gardens for

employees.

>> That is brilliant. And you're brilliant.

Um

>> Well, thank you.

>> Well, I just I just want to thank you

for um getting us in the dirt, calming

us all down, teaching us um I you know,

I And by the way, you're you're in the

great state of Texas, my home state,

which I should have acknowledged from

step one. I wore my howdy necklace for

you today.

>> Love that.

>> Um but I'm so excited about your new

partnership with Miracle-Gro and and

Bonnie Plants, and I just I want us all

to keep gardening together. Thank you

for coming on the Big Idea and joining

us, and I will continue to report back

on my herb garden.

>> Oh, I'm so glad and how you use it.

>> Yes, ma'am. Well, awesome, Donna. You're

the best. Thank you again, and come back

and see us soon.

>> Absolutely. Thank you.

>> At the end of each episode, I love to

give a shout-out to a small business

doing amazing work. Today is one of

Donna's new favorites, Field's Good, a

new functional cookie brand launching

right now, co-founded by Ashley Fields,

daughter of the famous Mrs. Fields, who

founded Debbie Field Cookies. These

cookies are designed for a

better-for-you snack with the added

benefits of focus, energy, and sleep.

Check them out at fieldsgood.co.

Thank you, Donna, for coming on the show

and keeping our hands in the dirt and

thank all of you for joining us. This

has been the big idea by Elizabeth Gore.

Come say howdy to me on any of my social

channels at Elizabeth Gore USA or you

can scan the QR code below to see Yahoo

Finance's podcast or get them anywhere

that you listen to your podcast. I hope

you'll have a great week and as my

grandma always said, hold your head up

high and give them hell.

>> [music]

>> This content was not intended to be

financial advice and should not be used

as a substitute for professional

financial services.