The Idea
Hobbiton
In 2017 I visited Hobbiton whilst in New Zealand, having only watched the films the night before. I was amazed with the stunning set and just how popular the venue was. It was the closest you could get to the fictional world - a truly magical place.
Inspiration
The Party Tree
I remember the tour guide saying the 'oak' on top of Bag End was entirely fake, with every leaf hand stitched. Every time one would fall off, they would give it to a visitor and I thought what a cool souvenir that was!
The guide also told us about The Party Tree and how it was potentially under disease (it's okay don't panic!)
It wasn't until a month later when my friend was driving to our campsite when the idea struck me. I thought "wouldn't it be amazing to be able to have your very own Party Tree?".
A quick google to find that this niche business didn't already exist and The Famous Tree Company had started.
slowly building
The Next 7 Years
The idea had slowly been ticking along in the background whilst I was at university, including a placement year in lockdown focussing on the project. I have been screenshotting and saving any and every famous tree from films, tv and articles.
The business was always my long-term goal but the issue of where to start and how to go about building this business always held me back.
Quarter Life Crisis
The Biggest Risk Is Not Taking A Risk
After 3 years of working self-employed as a woodturner and YouTuber, I was looking for a change and started looking for video editing jobs in London.
After months of applying for roles and the realisation that my heart wasn't really in it, I decided to make The Famous Tree Company my main focus.
It was probably Simon Squibb who said the biggest risk is not taking a risk, and this made the decision to go all in very easy. I would never regret trying and failing.
It was also the best time in my life to start with no tie-downs or commitments. Time is the most valuable asset anyone has.
The plan
Where To Start?
Whilst I had the idea, the story and the passion, I had nothing tangible. The plan was to start social media accounts, filming all of these famous trees whilst growing a following of unsuspecting future potential customers!
Talking to camera and producing short form content was brand new to me and it's been a huge learning curve, but I'm improving on every one.
Most videos would take 3 days to produce and I knew to just keep sticking at it and think of the bigger picture .
Saplings
First Harvest
One of my fears was persuading the tree owners to say 'yes'.
Fortunately the 4 trees I secured were all very supportive, and I could start my first harvest collecting seeds! This was not without its challenges, mostly due to pigeons and squirrels taking most of the seeds! I collected 1400+ seeds from the Nearly Home Trees, only to find the majority were hollow husks!
In winter everything is dormant, and it's not until the spring that you start to know how many seeds will germinate in to healthy saplings.
Getting busy
Patience
The first conker surprisingly germinated November and this was my first reward for all my work so far; I've got at least one!
Every seed that germinated would spur me on, and I could start to plan how many saplings I might have to pre-order on kickstarter.
I slowly took over my Mum's greenhouse and potting sheds, with my expanding quantity of baby famous trees!
kickstarter
Launch
The plan was to always launch on Kickstarter, a crowdfunding platform.
I wanted to slingshot The Famous Tree Company by taking pre-orders, and cementing ourselves as THE place for famous trees.
The previous 15 months of social media videos was all gearing for this launch. 15M views and 20k followers who would unsuspectingly become the first supporters of this business.
The best part is it's essentially money for old rope, and the world needs more trees. One of the aims I hoped for is getting people who have never planted a tree before, to plant a tree! Of course we're not going to save the planet, but I wanted to do my part to help which is why every purchase would replant x10 more trees in reforestation projects around the world.
Future
What's Next?
The mission is still the same, plant more trees and leave our mark on the planet.