Gavin Ciccia, USA
My Story
This space is for you. In this issue of Worm ' ag three worm farmers I found on the WFA will tell their story.
Gavin Ciccia, USA
Our first guest, Gavin Ciccia is the youngest commercial worm farmer in the United States. He started out his business as a young 15-year-old, a freshman in high school to be exact. Gavin currently owns and operates Jersey Worms on a daily basis. Along with Jersey Worms, Gavin runs a local landscaping business and is a full-time student at County College of Morris where he is majoring in Agricultural Business. Throughout his youth years Gavin has become an outdoor enthusiast as well as an entrepreneur.
October 11, 2013, I received my first pound of worms. Originally, I had purchased them for nothing more than growing my own fish bait. But low and behold it would turn into something I would never imagine. It was hard at first to grow these worms( Red Wigglers). After doing several hours of research to determine the best bedding, feed, bins and more, I found several different ways that were possible.
That night my father gave me an idea to grow and sell my worms. I thought about it for a second and then I specifically remember saying,“ You’ re crazy, who would ever buy worms? It’ s just a worm!”
The only response from him was,“ You bought them, didn’ t you?” Then it clicked, I did, didn’ t I? I thought about it for a bit and began to wonder what in the world people use worms for. Being a fisherman, the first thing that came to mind was fish bait. Then more ideas followed, gardening, composting, waste reduction and more! It was in that moment I had something more than just a pail full of worms in my garage. I had the start of my own personal business.
Over the next few months I started to grow several different types of worms. I did research on a day to day basis finding out new information about worms and their use to the environment. As a freshman in high school, I never thought I would picture myself growing worms.
When I expanded my collection to 5 pounds I thought I had enough to sell. I put an add on craigslist that said“ Worms for Sale.” I had planned on selling them for fish bait by the dozen. Within ten Minutes I had four calls from people offering as high as forty dollars for a pound of worms. I was ecstatic. I managed to sell all my worms. Every last one of them. I immediately thought to buy more, and so I did.
As time went on I realized that I should take it a little more serious. If I want to make a business out of it, I had to be professional. I created a quick website as a selling platform. Since then my website has come a long way. I took a class to learn how to build websites. Immediately I knew I wanted to name it Jersey Worms. It was the first thing that came to mind and I was happy with it. Simple and easy was the way to go for me. I began to use Facebook as my tool for marketing. That’ s where things got complicated. After joining Facebook groups about worm farming, I realized I wasn’ t the only person selling worms. As I constantly tried to pitch my business to others I was constantly fighting a losing battle. Other worm farmers who clearly knew more than me were swallowing up sales before I could get to them. That wasn’ t my main issue though.
Starting out, my biggest issue was my age. At 15 nobody took me serious about selling worms. Everyone thought it was a joke. Surely, they thought I couldn’ t be serious or successful. Not many 15-year-old kids run a business or even have the responsibility to feed animals daily. I didn’ t expect there to be a real difference between growing 1 pound of worms and 100 + pounds of worms.
I ended up joining the Worm Farming Alliance( WFA), I was offered a lifetime membership and I thought,“ When opportunity knocks, answer.” And so, I did. I joined the WFA as a lifetime member. With the contacts I have made though the organization I have come along way. I know almost all the members and most of them know me as well. I became more and more well known as time went on. Through the WFA I have also gained many friends /
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