One of the ways to a happy, fulfilled life is when you can take something that you already love doing, and start a small business out of it. Worms have the ability to turn many people into entrepreneurs.
Starting a business can provide several benefits, including the ability to be your own boss, the potential to earn a higher income, and the opportunity to pursue your passion or create something new. All signs right now are pointing towards significant opportunities in the near future for Worm People.
Let's talk about the need for worm based businesses
- Reducing organic waste
- Demand for organic fertilizer
- selling castings
- selling worm tea concentrate - Demand for worms
- worms for composting
- bait worms for fishing - Demand for worms, worming equipment, and supplies
- Demand for worm education
"A business is simply an idea that makes other peoples lives better."
- Richard Branson
Reducing Waste
Reducing the organic waste that goes to the landfill has the opportunity to become a great business on its own. Landfills are becoming increasingly expensive and are actually just burying problems. Diverting organic waste from landfills can help to extend the usefulness of these limited resources. Keeping organic waste out of landfills is a necessity to solve this issue.
Organic waste needs the proper environment to properly break down. After all, it is the billions of microorganisms (and worms!) that do this work and they are living things! These organisms are just not abundant in a landfill because it's not a good habitat.
Think about this business idea:
A subscription service within your community to collect their organic waste for a monthly fee.
Subscription Consumer Benefits:
- Zero hassle organic waste removal
- They take part in helping the environment
Subscription Producer Benefits:
- Income stream from subscription
- Free input material for composting
- Potential customers for finished compost/castings products
- You take part in helping the environment
Organic Fertilizer
One of the first reasons I started worming was because I did not want to use synthetic fertilizers in my garden. There are a lot of people like me in the world that understand the downsides of using chemicals to grow their food, but just don't have the time or the knowledge to create castings themselves.
Synthetic fertilizers have skyrocketed in price. Given the opportunity to purchase organic fertilizer vs a chemical fertilizer at a similar price-point is a no-brainer.
When the worms produce castings for you, you have two options for products. You can either sell the castings as is, Or you can turn them into a worm tea concentrate to be sold. The worm tea can have a much higher profit margin, but it also has added steps to the process and limits the shelf life dramatically.
With a little research you will find which (or both) may be right for you. Either can lead to significant profits if you don't mind getting a little dirt under your fingernails :)
Fertilizer Consumer Benefits:
- 100% organic
- Greater yields on crops
- Helping the environment
- Helping to reduce waste in landfills
Fertilizer Producer Benefits:
- Income stream from sales
- High profit margin
- Work from home
- Substitute product = high existing demand
- Sustainable product demand (Customers always need more)
Worms
Just as with cattle or any other livestock, either the livestock produces a product or they are the product. Worms as a product category growing fast and many producers are currently not able to keep up with the demand.
While breeding worms specifically for resale might not be for the beginner worm person, it is certainly attainable for anyone to learn how to do. Worms are primarily sold for a few reasons:
- For composting
- Fishing bait
- Pet Food (fish, birds, reptiles & amphibians)
Worms are a renewable resource and most likely one of the fastest livestock to reproduce. This makes for a great business model.
Worm Consumer Benefits:
- Ability to create their own worm castings
- Affordable live fishing bait
- Affordable renewable food source
Worm Producer Benefits:
- Income stream from sales
- High profit margin
- Work from home
- High existing demand
- Sustainable product demand (Customers usually need more)
Worm Equipment & Materials
As the demand grows year over year for worms and worm castings. The demand for the equipment is growing as well. This includes existing products like: worm bins, worm bedding, sifting equipment, storage, worm food, packaging, etc!
There are many things already in use in people's homes and businesses, but this category has so much room for creativity and invention. If you at least get involved with worms on a very small scale for your own garden, you may begin to see problems and challenges with your setup. I promise you that you are not the only one.
If you have the gift of problem solving and can turn these problems into products for the world, you have an incredible world wide customer base waiting 😊.
"Sell the problem you solve, not the product"
Worm Education
I can't tell you how many people have reached out to me looking for more knowledge for raising worms. To say it is a rapidly growing industry is still an understatement.
As with all information: practical, systematic instruction on the topic (i.e. education) is critical. Worms can be used in formal educational settings with children such as classes and fun educational activities/field trips, or in the form of higher education/ trade schools using worm composting classes & workshops.
If you have a few worming years under your belt, education on the subject has the potential to be a business all on its own. However you choose to educate, there is a potential business model that can be adapted.
In Summary,
Great business starts with the customer in mind. These businesses don't just supply a demand, they sometimes actually create the demand by offering value to the customer.
Every entrepreneur should take a break from being the producer to look at the world through the eyes of the consumer once in a while. We should challenge ourselves to find out what it is we would want, and just wonder for a bit about how things could be better and different.
A great business with real potential must start with a good product, at a fair price - but there is much more to selling worms, castings, or anything else for that matter.
Good businesses sell and represent trust. Every transaction we make is like planting a seed of an annual OR a perennial. While both can be large, abundant and beautiful, perennials are naturally a part of their environment and keep coming back year after year. Trust is essential for a perennial business - it is a shortsighted business person who tries to get "a sale" instead of developing a long-term trust relationship with a customer.
A business that just sells a product and is focused solely on this year's revenue is an "annual" business, and in turn will have to be continually "planting" every year.
A business that sells a product and perfects that product every year; where the owners care and explain the product(s), show how to use them correctly and why they benefit the customer are planting business perennials. These business-folks provide an exceptional value by building relationships & trust on top of their great products, and in turn will reap the harvest for many many years.
"A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business."
- Henry Ford
Have a wonderful worm week!
