With her wonderful creativity and skillful hands, she made millions of "green banknotes" in two years - pursuing her green dream,

building a "creative botanical museum"

Lv Rui, born in 1986, is a clever Nanjing girl. In love with nature, she likes to take care of flowers and plants, and she has turned the balcony of her home into a private garden full of greenery and fragrance.

In her circle of friends, she is a "botanist". She knows all the flowers and plants that are easy to grow, which plants are edible, and which plants have medicinal value.

In 2008, when Lu Rui went to study in France, she met her husband, a young man from Jiangsu who was studying landscape design in Paris. After returning to Nanjing two years later, the two got married hand in hand, found good jobs, and lived a peaceful and stable life.

But as a designer for a company, Lu Rui often worked overtime and stayed up late, and gradually became tired of this job that required excessive health in exchange for high salary. Lu Rui took a long vacation for himself, accompanying his mother on an outing at the foot of Purple Mountain, and brought home some small flowers, moss and strange-shaped stones.

She made clever use of the things she brought back. She first spread a layer of culture soil in a small glass jar, then spread a layer of pebbles, and added wide-leaf pothos, jagged herbs, and lush green radish. A combination of moss is planted inside, creating a quiet rural pastoral scenery.

Bringing beauty to the pale, refreshing to the dull, "turning decay into magic! My dear, you are so talented!" After seeing Lu Rui's works, her husband, a senior gardener, said to her Much appreciated.

Lü Rui came up with a bold idea: People living in reinforced concrete are increasingly separated from nature. Why don’t I open a creative green plant museum and put myself into it? How about sharing the pleasure she gets from plants with others? Her husband supports her quitting her job and becoming a boss: "Let go and do what you like. Even if the business fails, I can still support you."

March 2011 , in this gathering place for literary and artistic youth near Nanjing University on Hankou Road, a wooden house of more than 20 square meters appeared. In the two small flower beds in front of the house, margaritas, lavender, etc. were blooming. This literary and artistic cabin quickly attracted the attention of passers-by.

When you push open the glass door of this store named "Yige Natural", the wind chimes hanging on the door jingle, and what you see is the vibrant green color of the house. Therefore, the English name of the store "ECOECOH" (echo of ecology) found its origin. This store has an ecological theme and specializes in potted succulents, vanilla seedlings, natural landscaping aquariums, etc.

Different from other plant stores, every pot of green plants sold by Lu Rui is originally designed and matched, and has a beautiful name. "Ruo Ge Shi" is like small musical notes, "Moon Rabbit" has white ears like a Moon Rabbit, and "Emerald Beads" are like round emeralds...

Write "Review" "Change plants, fun business is booming

In addition to selling herbs such as lavender, mosquito repellent, Milanese, and jasmine, as well as succulent plants such as aloe vera, bear boy, Sansevieria, and cactus that do not require much effort to take care of, The most eye-catching thing is the pots of creative green plants designed by Lu Rui himself.

One day, two girls who looked like college students walked into the store and asked in surprise: "Boss, why is there a beautifully colored 'little stone' in the flowerpot?"

Lu Rui smiled: "Don't be fooled by its appearance. This is Lithops. It is native to South Africa. The plant grows like a stone. It hides from foraging animals and 'mixes' in the stones to protect itself. There are also Lithops. The common name is *** flower. You see, it has two petals, which are very symmetrical. The one next to it is a green pantyhose made of herbs and soft branches. ”

The two girls laughed out loud at the childlike design: "Oh my god, it's so funny!" They happily bought two pots of cute "*** flowers" and later During this period, many classmates and alumni were introduced to the store.

Most people born after the 1980s will not be unfamiliar with straw dolls. In the past, there were often small stalls selling straw dolls on the roadside or at the campus gate. The vendors said, "Just water them." They sell them with the slogan "you can grow your hair" and they cost one yuan each.

In order to help those born in the 1980s regain the warm memories of their childhood, Lu Rui also launched a homemade "improved straw doll" - she wrapped sawdust and other cultivation substrates with grass seeds and tied them into a doll shape. As long as you water the plant and keep it moist inside, the grass seeds will germinate and grow green grass, just like a doll growing hair.

Lu Rui also made the customized flower pots into the shapes of artistic villains, football stars and small animals, which look cute and funny. Because the grass seeds she uses grow very fast, the grass doll's hair is thicker, and customers can also trim it into various fashionable and personalized "hairstyles" according to personal preferences!

But compared to her A clever combination of themed bonsai, the above two interesting plants can only be regarded as "pediatric". She uses succulents, herbs, moss, branches, small dolls, etc., and after careful matching and decoration, she can often create fairy-tale "homes", and then puts them into transparent round glass jars or square glass Inside the box, there is another beautiful name such as "The Wizard of Oz" and "Life is Like a Summer Flower", which is deeply loved by literary young people and white-collar workers.

Lu Rui creates many green plant bonsai themes, such as animation themes, movie themes, animal themes, Neverland themes, etc. Each theme contains ten or twenty kinds of microscopic bonsais of different shapes.

Every time a customer purchases creative green plants from "Yige", Lu Rui will carefully inform them of the matters that should be paid attention to in caring for the plants, and finally package each pot of plants beautifully. She hopes that everyone who buys green plants can "treat them with love and kindness." Despite repeated warnings, many customers still neglect to take care of the plants because of their busy work schedule, and eventually "grow" pots of red flowers and green grass to death.

Lv Rui was very distressed. She decided to teach her customers to be kind to plants and respect the color green.

In the summer of 2011, Lu Rui posted a notice in the store: "Any plant purchased in our store can be taken back if you fail to care for it and it becomes terminally ill or even dies young." New green plants will be replaced for free, but please write a review carefully."

This rule shocked customers: "Oh my God, can the beautiful boss still make money by doing this?"

Soon, several letters of review appeared on the "reflection wall" in the store. "Beautiful sister, I'm sorry, I was on a business trip for a while and forgot to hand over the plant on my desk to a colleague to take care of, so..." This review letter signed "Xinyue" was written by a white-collar girl of.

The owner of another letter of review is Xiaoman, a junior student. She said that she was busy with exams and writing papers this month, and she turned the combined bonsai "sponge" she bought at Lu Rui's shop last month into "Baby Crusoe" was half-dead on food supplies.

“Actually, asking customers to write a letter of apology is not an apology to me, but an apology to the plants.” Lu Rui said that plants are also alive, and if you buy them, you should be responsible and take good care of them. In fact, since the store policy of "exchanging plants with letters of review" was implemented, not many people came to exchange new plants for free. Customers have become more responsible in taking care of the green plants in their homes.

This "strange business strategy" that Lu Rui came up with because of her love for plants attracted several local media reports, and her shop also became famous. Half a year after the store opened, monthly sales were as high as 20,000 to 30,000 yuan. Excluding various expenses, Lu Rui could still make a net profit of tens of thousands of yuan. In early 2012, she opened a Taobao store to simultaneously develop physical stores and online businesses.

Let plants tell stories and convey warmth and care

One day in April 2012, Ms. Sun, a regular customer, walked into "Yige" and said that a good sister of hers had no children after marriage. , usually treat your beloved pets as children.

But recently, her pet dog Labrador, which she had raised for many years, died of cancer. Ms. Sun hoped that her best friend could get over the depression of losing her dog, so she turned to Lu Rui and said, "I Knowing your ingenuity, can you design a pot of creative plants so that my friend can not only express his grief but also see hope for the future from green?"

After accepting this special order, Lu Rui Ming thought hard for a long time and finally decided to create a bonsai with scene elements such as care, warmth, and strength to comfort the lady who lost her dog.

After this work was completed, it was named "I'm fine in heaven, how are you, Mom?" The bonsai is divided into two parts, one part is heaven, and Labrador looks at the earth on the other side. It seems to be comforting the owner in the world; the dead branches on the other side represent that the mother is sad, but when the dead branches gradually turn green and grow up, they can be connected to the heaven on the other side. The two have a subtle connection and care for each other.

After Ms. Sun paid 500 yuan and took away the "healing bonsai" placed in a glass box, she called Lu Rui that night to express her gratitude: "My friend saw the gift. , couldn’t help but burst into tears, saying that I really understand her, and she will definitely become stronger just because of this carefully crafted bonsai. Thank you so much!”

A small bonsai work. , can actually soothe people's hearts and allow the sad people to step out of the haze of life and embrace the sunshine! This business can't help but open up Lu Rui's thinking. After that, she began to launch a new business "Personalized bonsai customization-tailor-made for you with a story" of plants”.

At "Yige", Lu Rui not only sells plants, but also promotes ecological concepts. For example, she and her husband specially designed a small bottle of succulent souvenirs, which included a flower-shaped plant and a cactus. It was very popular at weddings. When a gentleman got married, he ordered more than 300 pieces in one go.

Lu Rui explained: "The wedding candies given at the wedding will be gone after eating them. It is better to give such souvenirs to the guests. The flowers represent the beautiful bride and the tall cactus represents the groom." Such souvenirs will be more meaningful and can be kept at home for a long time, as if they are inviting everyone to witness the growth of a new couple's love."

Although there is no lack of competition in the process of starting a business. , the business method has even been imitated by several local green plant stores, but the ingenious Lu Rui is constantly creative and can always introduce new things, making "Yige" the leader in the industry.

“Following the footsteps of others, although safe, is a sign of lack of ambition. Only by constantly innovating, providing customers with more considerate services, and establishing your own brand can you grow bigger and stronger. " Lu Rui concluded.

In July 2012, seeing that the online and offline business of "Yige" was so prosperous that his wife was still very busy even though she hired two clerks, her husband simply resigned and joined Lu Rui's "green business." Since then, while selling personalized small potted plants and customizing "bonsai with stories" for people, they also often take on the business of making large-scale combined bonsais for companies and units.

By May 2013, through hard work, the young couple already owned two branches in Nanjing. Today, two years after the opening of Yige Creative Green Plant Museum, Lu Rui and his wife have earned more than 1 million yuan in "green wealth" with their wisdom and two pairs of skillful hands!

Currently, Lu Rui and his wife have earned more than 1 million yuan in "green wealth" with their wisdom and skillful hands! Rui has registered its own store name and trademark and is preparing to develop franchisees and "copy" this trendy business to all parts of the country, so that every urbanite trapped in the cement jungle can have a "pocket green home" of their own. ".

Girl plants create creative returnees