Every Monday, we ask small businesses key questions. Here we speak to Craig Troup, who runs Aberdeen plant shop Highland Moss, together with his partner, Pamela Adamiec.
How and why did you start in business?
My partner, Pam, and I, haven’t led conventional lives. We both had very different upbringings and fate brought us together.
With Pam’s keen interest in houseplants and my tech experience, we decided not to fit into the way we were “supposed to live” and take the reins ourselves.
Pam made our first moss pole and sold some cuttings from her own plants, and we continually reinvested until we could live from it full time.
How did you get to where you are today?
You can’t allow yourself to even consider stopping. Go big or go home.
We put all our energy into making our business the best, but it isn’t about being better than everyone else. It’s about being the best product of our own abilities. You can’t ask for more than that.
Who helped you?
Our family, friends and loyal customers have given us so much help, and we’re very thankful for their continued support.
Organisations like the Federation of Small Businesses, Business Gateway Aberdeen City and Shire, and Robert Gordon University have all been very useful. And our bank, Barclays Eagle Labs, have offered a lot of free support to helps us retain our focus.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever had?
This quote by Amelia Earhart (aviation pioneer): “The most effective way to do it is to do it.”
It’s easy to talk yourself out of something but sometimes you need to dive right in. You only live once, after all.
What is your biggest mistake?
We don’t think too much about mistakes or regrets but, if anything, they make you appreciate what you have. When Pam went to collect Noel, our dog, as a puppy, she regrets just taking one and not the whole litter.
What is your greatest achievement?
It might sound corny but we started Highland Moss just six months into our relationship. This feels like the biggest achievement. We created our own happiness because it wasn’t going to stroll along on its own.
Beyond that, we see the impact we’re having on the lives of others, giving them a happy place of their own. That’s why we started using the slogan “your happy place” after hearing countless customers refer to us this way.
How are you managing rapidly rising costs and how could the government help?
The struggle is real, not only to keep things going but to make the business a little bit better every day. It would be great if there was a tiered system for VAT, so a growing business doesn’t lose 20% sales revenue the moment they start to become successful and have to register for the tax.
What do you still hope to achieve?
We have a vision of much larger premises, compared with our current home on Constitution Street, where we can host large workshops, offer a wider range of products, and create a space where people can genuinely unwind and feel good. We offer many unique products with our moss, which is very niche but has huge potential.
We supplied the National Autistic Society Garden with more than 1,000sq ft of live moss for this year’s Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show – 10 times what we provided to show gardens last year.
We aim to switch from picking moss to growing moss, and eventually to replenishing forests throughout the north-east.
What do you do to relax?
We love to meet up with friends and go on long dog walks. Noel has become a bit of a celebrity in the shop, and sometimes we meet customers at the beach with their dogs for a bit of a party.
What are you currently reading, listening to or glued to on TV?
I’ve been listening to audiobooks by Stephen Fry about Greek myths and the story of Troy. Pam’s been binge watching old Star Trek, The X Files and true crime podcasts.
What do you waste your money on?
One day, we might have money to waste. We occasionally spoil ourselves by going on road trips and finding cool places to eat.
What’s the first thing you do when you get up in the morning?
We like to hype Noel up and play games with him, and his energy gets us motivated to get up and going.
What do you drive and dream of driving?
We just upgraded from a little Toyota Aygo to a Mitsubishi Barbarian pickup truck.
Four years of driving into the forest to pick moss in the Aygo has been absolutely brutal. It held up well, but our new “Highland Moss-mobile” is a dream come true.
One day we’ll have a wee bus so we can take people out moss picking with us, and it’ll make them look at the forest in a whole new way.
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