Originally working in agriculture, he was forced by ill health to change careers and set up a shop to sell medicinal herbal remedies at Goose Gate, Nottingham.
Although he had no formal qualification, he had learned the skills from his mother and from the Methodist book, Primitive Physic by John Wesley.
He was the son of William Boot; his mother Sarah (née Fox) had practised the duty of herbal management; John was inspired by this.
He set up a shop at Goose Gate, Nottingham, to sell medicinal herbal remedies, and called it "British and American Botanic Establishment".
[2] In the store, he offered remedies and consultations to members of the public three days a week, in a poor area of Nottingham.