In 2017, Leena Pettigrew was gifted her first houseplant — a golden Pothos, notoriously easy to care for — and killed it.

Five years later, she tried again. She and her husband Marquise were redecorating their home in Houston, and they needed to fill its empty corners, she says. She drove to Lowes and bought a couple of succulents.

The hobby blossomed into an obsession, and then a side hustle: After her home became “overrun” with 8-feet-tall Monsteras, she looked for ways to sell her extra houseplants online. She found home décor marketplace website Palmstreet, and started auctioning off her plants on livestreams there last June, she says.

From July 2023 to July 2024, Pettigrew brought in nearly $148,600 in revenue, or an average of $12,380 per month, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. She stores up to 1,000 plants at a time in her garage, she says.

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Pettigrew, 44, works about 20 hours per week sourcing, selling and shipping the plants — in addition to her full-time I.T. job, where she makes roughly $90,000 a year, she says. She also is a paid consultant for Palmstreet, where she helps train new sellers.

The side hustle is profitable enough to replace Marquise’s former full-time income, they say. The couple now runs the Palmstreet side hustle together, along with five contract employees, from their garage-turned-greenhouse.

Here’s how Pettigrew built and maintains her lucrative side hustle:

To develop her green thumb, Pettigrew spent a lot of time on YouTube, she says: She and her husband would lay in bed on their phones, watching plant-care and bass-fishing videos, respectively, before going to sleep.

Selling her houseplants proved more of an administrative process, she says. As she unloaded her extras, finding local buyers on Facebook, she realized she enjoyed the interactions. But creating an actual business — sourcing and buying inventory, keeping organized track of each customer sale — took time and effort.

“I spent hours and hours tracking every purchase and expense in spreadsheets,” says Pettigrew.

At PlantCon Houston, a fair for houseplant enthusiasts, she met another seller who convinced her to try Palmstreet, which was called PlantStory at the time. The platform, which promised to take over much of Pettigrew’s administrative work, offered two options: a traditional online store and a livestreamed auction system, where she could sell plants on camera in real time.

Pettigrew listed a couple plants on her online store, but taking photos and writing descriptions for each one took time. She tried the livestream feature, and her on-camera presence felt awkward and stiff — until Marquise, who was arranging plants next to Pettigrew, started making jokes.

He made Pettigrew laugh, which made her appear more at home to the livestream’s 55 viewers, the couple says. That auction lasted about four hours, and sold 53 plants, according to a Palmstreet spokesperson.

Two months and several successful livestreams later, the couple sat down to develop a more comprehensive business plan, says Pettigrew.

Today, Pettigrew sells roughly 100 houseplants per livestream. With an established audience and reputation, she can sell larger, more expensive plants, she says: starting at $30, rather than her old starting price of $5. Her Monsteras go for upwards of $115 each.

The extra income allowed Marquise, who now occasionally hosts his own livestreams, to mostly step away from his full-time job: running an auto repair shop co-owned by the couple. He still works about six hours per week there, largely for friends and family who “coax” him to take their appointments, says Pettigrew.

Running the auto shop full-time was stressful, Marquise says. Employees were dependent on the couple for their livelihood, and customers were often unhappy — concerned about their car, the bill or when they could get back to work.

In contrast, managing contract workers for Pettigrew’s side hustle — she started hiring people this past spring — is a less stressful experience, she says. The workers only rely on them for part-time work, so the business’ success doesn’t feel life-and-death. The job is less labor intensive, and the customers are largely easier to work with, says Pettigrew.

Together, the couple has five streams of income: Pettigrew’s I.T. job, Palmstreet selling and consulting, the auto shop, and a virtual mechanic gig Marquise picked up with his spare time.

The money helps keep the auto shop open. It’s also recently funded a couple weekend trips around Texas to preserve their sanity, they say: When you both work from home, with your side hustle in your garage, it can be hard to unplug.

If the side hustle ever outpaces her full-time salary, Pettigrew wants to sell the auto shop, move to Florida, open her own greenhouse and hire enough staff for her and Marquise to only need part-time work. It could happen within the next year or two, she says.

They’d spend their remaining time on other passions, like volunteer preaching work, adds Pettigrew.

Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect that Pettigrew says her reputation on Palmstreet helps her sell more larger, expensive plants.

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In functional romantic relationships, it’s psychologically healthy to feel a deep sense of belonging and attachment. However, becoming overly reliant on another person to feel whole, healed and secure is not only harmful to our wellbeing — it can damage relationships over time. 

This behavior is often referred to in mental health circles as codependency. People in codependent relationships develop a strong, unhealthy devotion to their partner, often at the expense of their own needs, because their identity revolves around taking care of and gaining approval from the other person. 

As a Harvard-trained psychologist who frequently works with clients with relationship issues, I have found that healthy relationships of all kinds require trust, vulnerability, and some degree of interdependence, rather than codependence. 

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At its core, interdependence is an understanding that relationships are a collaboration. Hallmarks of interdependence are mutual support, shared decision making, healthy boundaries and honoring each other’s individuality.

Here are 9 phrases healthy, thriving and interdependent couples don’t say: 

People who are codependent in relationships often try to hide, ignore or deny their own internal experiences, focusing all their energy on being there for the other person.

This self-sacrificing behavior is often part of an unconscious attempt to get a measure of control over a situation. But we all have needs.

The interdependent goal is that the needs, desires, dreams and wants of both partners are honored, supported and appreciated — and no one asks the other to give too much of themselves.

Codependency is ultimately a need to maintain a relationship at all costs because a person’s wellbeing and sense of security is based on that relationship.

As such, people in codependent relationships tend to avoid conflict whenever possible. If it emerges, instead of communicating their thoughts, feelings or perspective, they are likely to be passive aggressive or seem detached.

Interdependent couples will share how they feel, what they want, and then will listen to their partner’s response. They know that this practice will build a stronger bond, even when they disagree. 

People in codependent relationships often have a hard time saying “no” or setting healthy boundaries because meeting the needs of others is more important than tending to their own. 

Fear of rejection or ridicule leads them to do what others want even when it’s inconvenient, difficult, enables bad behavior, or is a violation of their personal values.

People in interdependent relationships, however, understand that they can say “no” and set boundaries without fear of retribution. They can acknowledge what the other person wants in a respectful way, and have the freedom to authentically say “no.”  

People in codependent relationships are strongly influenced by feedback from others, so they’re likely to be confused or unsure about their true emotions. They may minimize, deny or alter how they really feel in an effort to maintain the relationship.

It’s normal for any of us to be unsure of how we feel sometimes. However, people in interdependent relationships strive to understand, process and explore their true emotions internally, and then share them honestly. 

It’s very hard for most of us to deal with rejection or criticism — it feels good to have others like us. Yet for people who are in codependent relationships, it can feel intolerable to be disliked or unwanted. 

This leads some to become overly focused on their partners’ opinions of them, often compromising their authentic selves in the process.

In interdependent relationships, while the goal is to hear your partner ’s perspective and respond in a respectful way, there’s also a deep understanding that our value is defined internally. We don’t need other people to like everything about us to be whole, healed and important. 

People who struggle with codependency tend to be incredibly uncomfortable when they’re not in a relationship. 

Being single or without another person to care for doesn’t last long because they will seek out another relationship to fill the void when one codependent relationship ends.

To be in a healthy interdependent relationship means that you know that you are a complete person with goals, interests, and an identity — with or without a partner. Interdependent people embrace their solo time, especially when they are in a relationship.

People who struggle with codependency have a difficult time trusting others. Fears of abandonment is often front-and-center: They try to be everything to another person, by being overly responsive to their needs in an effort to make them stay.

To be in a healthy interdependent relationship means that you understand you can’t control other people. 

While you may fear a relationship will someday end, there’s an appreciation for the present and motivation to build a healthy connection, without controlling their partner. 

Many people in codependent relationships struggle with low self-esteem and an unstable sense of personal value. They can be very critical of themselves and others, often looking externally for self-validation. 

In interdependent relationships, people strive to look within and take responsibility for their own self-worth, while also leaning on loved ones for support when they need help.

People in codependent relationships often seek reassurance from their partner. This can look like asking whether they love them, seeking compliments, wanting constant contact and generally seeming clingy or needy.

In interdependent relationships, there’s a desire to connect with, trust, and bond with a partner. Yet people generally state their needs directly and discuss them in a collaborative and respectful, rather than clingy-seeming, way.

If you feel insecure in your relationship, try saying that directly. Talk about ways to make you and your partner feel loved and appreciated.

The important thing to remember is that people don’t become one when they’re in a relationship. They remain as two unique individuals with their own needs, wants and perspectives, who actively choose to share a key aspect of their lives.

As important as trust, intimacy and vulnerability are to the success of a couple, so is building your own self-esteem outside of the context of that relationship. 

Ultimately, maintaining our autonomy and remembering that we have the same value — with or without other people — is key to developing authentic, meaningful and healthy connections.

Dr. Cortney S. Warren, PhD, is a board-certified psychologist and author of “Letting Go of Your Ex.” She specializes in love addition and breakups, and received her clinical training at Harvard Medical School. She has written almost 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and delivered more than 75 presentations on the psychology of relationships. Follow her on Instagram @DrCortneyWarren.

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