UWC: Did you fully replace any income you had before you left school? Or did you just take the leap and figure it out?
BC: I think my grad school stipend was something like $650/month – and the affiliate marketing was the most money I had made at any sort of “job” up till that point (maybe even since!), so it’s safe to say I had replaced my income. Haha
Joking aside, this was actually hugely important because we had just bought our first home, and we were planning a wedding for late the next summer. My wife had (and has) a decent job, but it would have been tough to keep everything afloat with just that plus my stipend.
And as I alluded to earlier, it eventually led me down the path to where I am today!
Bottom-line, I am proud to be a “drop-out,” but on the flip-side, I am also very happy I spent those extra years in school, since much of it was closely related to my current focus and interests.
UWC: Bentley, it’s certain that I would not have started Urban Worm Company without your encouragement and guidance. And truth be told, I may not have even pursued vermicomposting as a method of recycling to the extent I have without you either. So I have to ask, “Who was your Bentley Christie?”
BC: Wow, what a compliment – thanks, Steve!
As for my own journey, I ended up having a MAJOR turning point after investing quite a lot of money in vermicomposting/composting information products, and basically reading everything cover-to-cover.
I bought ALL back issues of Worm Digest (sadly, I don’t think you can even buy these any more), and a current (at the time) subscription.
I subscribed to Castings Call and bought ALL back issues of it, along with a variety of other Vermico info products.
So I guess if I was forced to pick just one person most-responsible for my future wormy ways, it would likely be Peter Bogdanov, the owner of Vermico. Apart from creating some really fantastic information products like Castings Call, I was very inspired by his overall business model. His major strength was connecting people in the industry and helping the spread of high-quality information.
On the academic side of things, Dr. Clive Edwards was hands-down the most influential person. He had even offered to be an outside reader for my MSC thesis, believe it or not. And we ended up staying in pretty close contact in the years after I left school.
UWC: When it comes to vermiculture and vermicomposting as a business, I think most people, myself included, grossly underestimate the physical labor involved, not to mention bagging and shipping. What do you think are the first doses of reality when someone starts raising earthworms?
BC: I think one of the major wake-up calls for a new “worm business” owner (or wannabe) is the fact that it’s not NEARLY as easy to grow gobs of juicy worms as we tend to think – especially not in a limited about of space.
Even WITH all my reading/studying, I was completely and utterly clueless about this. I figured that if I set up a utility shelf with some “growing trays” in my basement I’d be able to grow enough worms to supply any worm orders (by the pound) I received – especially when supplemented by bulk worms ordered from another supplier.
I think another big wake-up call” relates to outdoor systems. Many people mistakenly assume that raising worms in outdoor beds is a piece of cake. Of course, Mother Nature is more than happy to prove us wrong. There are SO MANY potential challenges with outdoor systems it’s not even funny.
Are there ways to make both of these scenarios work? ABSOLUTELY – but there are definitely some nuances (major understatement – haha).
Another huge smack in the face for me involved my realization of just how important (and limiting) TIME can be. Not only did I assume it would be “fast and easy” to harvest and pack worms (again, it CAN be if you have a good system in place) – but I also made the mistake of thinking I could have a million different moving parts in my “business”. I wanted to grow multiple kinds of worms, and sell all sorts of different products.
It wasn’t until I really got laser-focused, and put a real value on my time that things started to head in a positive direction.
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