3 years owning a venus flytrap business
12 years of houseplant experience
Thousands of plants saved
Hey, I’m Mr.Houseplant !
My name is Vladan Nikolic (Mr. Houseplant), I am a houseplant expert. I have 12 years of experience with indoor plants and gardening. I am also a social media influencer for houseplants, with over 500,000 followers on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter. And I am the founder of “Mr. Houseplant LLC”.
Here is my story…
I grew up in Belgrade, Serbia, in Eastern Europe. I earned management and international marketing degrees and started working in the non-profit sector, where I spent the next 10 years. I’ve held good jobs with good international organizations that were well paid. I liked my co-workers, I liked the jobs, but I wasn’t really happy. I felt something was missing, but I didn’t know what. The love for plants was always in my family. My mother and brother had lots of houseplants ever since I can remember. But for me the love for plants kicked in later in life.
I got the desire to improve the look of my neighborhood, so I started greening up the area around my home, I planted trees and shrubs and my outdoor gardening journey began. As I improved the look of my neighborhood, I started realizing how much I enjoy gardening, and how beautiful and relaxing it is.
The economic situation started declining. I struggled for several years with finding a well-paying job. As my struggle continued, my love for nature grew. I did outdoor gardening for 4 years. I dabbled with organic vegetable gardening for a year and discovered how amazing it is growing your own food!
From there I transitioned to houseplants. I started filling up my home and my office with plants. My office desk had no papers on it, only plants. As I was searching for the life that I want, career that I love, I continued learning about houseplants. I was reading plant books and digesting agricultural extension and university websites like crazy.
My interest in houseplants skyrocketed once I got a venus flytrap as a gift, I immediately fell in love with it! I started propagating them and very soon I started a carnivorous plant business that I owned for several years. Owning a houseplant business, with several hundred flytraps at any moment in time, really helped me expand my knowledge.
In an effort to improve my economic situation, my brother suggested I apply for the US Green Card lottery. I didn’t expect much, but I applied anyway. And honestly, completely forgot I did. I only remembered to check the results a few weeks before the deadline.
Imagine my surprise when I saw I won!
I started thinking – is it too late for me to move to another country, another continent and basically start from scratch? How will I leave my family and friends and go 5,000 miles away?
But then positive thoughts started kicking in – it’s an opportunity to go to a country where anything is possible, a country with a reputation that your dreams come true. I suddenly thought of all the possibilities – maybe I can continue my carnivorous plant business, turn my side business into a full-time job. Do something that I really love doing for a living!
I made a decision to go for a few months and see what it’s like. A big, bold decision. I said goodbye to my parents and flew to Washington DC.
There, I started working in a non-profit – a good job with great colleagues and great supervisors. But I also started building a small jungle inside the office and my new home. I felt the need to share my love for plants with the world, so I started posting houseplant care info on Instagram.
In the meantime, I fell in love 😊
I met Jeannette, the girl of my dreams. She was an Instagram influencer with 27,000 followers. She helped me make my first Instagram steps.
After work hours I would produce social media content. I spent countless hours learning the intricacies of Instagram – which hashtags to use, when to post, how to take good photos, how to do video editing…I’ve had many sleepless nights as I was shooting and editing plant videos after work. At moments it seemed impossible. So much work, so little to show for it. But I kept at it.
And my account slowly started growing. People started recognizing my work and my name. I went from a few hundred followers, to a few thousand, to tens of thousands. I was becoming a plant influencer. I started getting offers from plant companies that wanted to work with me. I got brand deals, even book deals.
I never thought I would be a social media influencer. But I realized I love producing plant content. I love producing plant videos. I love sharing my knowledge with all of you.
Everything started to make sense. My move to the US made sense. This is where I was meant to be, this is where I was meant to stay.
I created accounts on other platforms – TikTok, YouTube, Facabook, Twitter… and kept producing content.
Now, I do what I love. I love what I do. I’m living my dream. I live in Washington DC, doing things that make me happy, helping others discover a happier life with houseplants. My accounts are being followed by almost half a million people. And my videos have been seen over 60 million times.
I’m grateful to have this opportunity. I’m grateful to my family and friends for support, for giving me the strength as I was starting a new life 5,000 miles away from home. I’m grateful to all of you who have been through this journey with me, supporting me, without you I wouldn’t be where I am today.
This is my story of my journey and my personal transformation. Thank you for taking this journey with me! I believe my best time is yet to come!
Yours truly,
