Selling Worms for Profit in 4 Hours Per Week

If you've been to a book store, browsed the best selling books on Amazon.com, or watched the morning news talk shows in the past few years, then you've probably seen or heard about Tim Ferriss and his book titled The 4-Hour Work Week.

It certainly sounds too good to be true, but it depends on your viewpoint. Some people see the title and immediately dismiss the idea, but they are most likely missing the point. The title and idea of a 4 hour work week is really more of a marketing ploy than a realistic idea. Most any successful business owner knows that during the start-up stages you will probably spend more than 4 hours and more like 80 hours, but again....it depends on the business and how you plan to scale it.

And let's not forget the definition of work. If you enjoy what you're doing, is it work? If you would do what you're doing whether someone paid you a single penny is it work?

To demonstrate some of my points above please consider this....

If you take a micro business idea like growing herbs and vegetables in unused space in your backyard or raising red wigglers in a spare room in your basement or garage, you might be surprised how little actual work it is and how much "return on investment" you receive.

If you are composting with red wigglers to reduce your household waste stream or growing vegetables for your family to eat, what's to stop you from selling the extras for a few dollars? Does it take a lot of extra work on top of the work you're already doing? If you're already doing it for fun, then is it actually work if you sell the extras to your friends and neighbors? You can place ads on Craigslist to sell red wigglers and I know from personal experience that you will soon have people e-mailing you at all hours of the night asking to buy them from you.

Earning what you consider significant income may take a while, but based on your upfront investment the ROI can be significant.

Here's my pesonal testimonial provided as motivation for you:

In 2008 I purchased 1 lb of red wigglers for $29 from a local supplier and had them delivered to my door via the United States Postal Service.  I put them in a typcial home style vermicomposting system and was off and running. Within a few months, it became a challenge to see how fast I could multiple my worms into greater numbers.

I added a few additional items to my composting efforts including a Rubbermaid plastic tub, a 12 gallon Utility Mixing Tray, six 5 gallon buckets, and several inexpensive 2 gallon plastic storage bins. I purchased several feed sacks full of rabbit manure from a local farmer for $5 a bag and posted an add on Craigslist offering worms for sale. Commercial worms farmers laughed at my efforts I'm sure, but from my original $29 investment I earned several hundred dollars enjoying a hobby turned micro business opportunity doing something I enjoyed immensely and I helped spread the knowledge regarding how to turn household kitchen waste into a desireable soil amendment. And...I spent much less time than 4 hours per week doing it. I used a free website to promote it online, a free service to advertise it online, and I received numerous referrals from local gardening and hydroponics businesses for local customers wanting to purchase red wigglers. My ROI for this whole project was probably in the vincinity of 500-600% or maybe even more (I didn't keep track of every single solitary expense).

You might be wondering if I am still pursuing this business or not and why I would want to share these details on this website.

I relocated across the country for my "job" and abandoned the business for a while since I couldn't realistically move 20 lbs of red wigglers in trunk of my car and drive them 1,500 miles in 100 degree heat. But, now that I'm settled in I have every intention of resuming my micro entrepreneurial efforts. And this time, I will also avoid a few of the pitfalls I experienced the first time like buying worm composting containers from commercial sources. I'll simply use stuff I've already got laying around the house and garage.

Worms for Your Garden

I ran across this video tonight on You Tube, but before you watch it I need to add a short disclaimer. I haven't actually tried this method of attracting worms to my outdoor gardening efforts, so I can't say for sure how well it works.  Judging from the video below though, it must be working pretty well.

European Nightcrawlers vs. Red Wigglers for Home Composting

Eisenia foetida

I have been composting with worms for almost 3 years in my home.  I started with 1 lb of eisenia foetida and in a two year period I grew that amount to more than 19 lbs. I supplemented my composting efforts with rabbit manure purchased locally from a rabbit farmer to help multiply my worm population faster. If you have lots of worms you also need lots of food for them :-)

After our move from Florida to Michigan, I started my worm composting efforts over from scratch with 1 lb. of eisenia hortensis worms.  If you have never compared the two worms up close here's a quick description based on my experience and observations.

EF's

• 2-3 inches long
• small and skinny worm
• eat almost anything
• tendancy to ball up and group together in the bedding
• multiply quickly, 1 lb can double in size within a couple of months
• will compost and reproduce well in temperatures up to 100 degrees air temperature
• lots of room for error in bedding, they will tolerate poor bedding conditions for short periods of time
• commercially viable for vermicomposting ventures

EH's

• 5-6 inches long (even longer when extended)
• fatter worm than EF's
• a very active worm compared to EF's
• do not multiply as quickly as EF's, 1 lb can double in size in 5 or 6 months
• tendancy to roam and will escape if conditions do not suit them
• favor cooler temperatures
• favor lots of neutral material in their bedding
• do not like bedding that heats up
• do not like bedding that is too wet
• appear to do well in paper and cardboard bedding with small amounts of food material
• commerically viable for retail and wholesale sales as a fishing worm
• less desireable for vermicomposting and home composting, but acceptable

I have no plans to switch back to eisenia foetida for my home composting efforts, but if I do decide to get back into the business of selling worms to other home composting enthusiasts on a small scale I will add EF's back into the equation.

How to Harvest Worm Castings

Many gardeners use compost piles to dispose of yard clippings, leaves, and other types of yard refuse. Traditionally, this has been done via "hot composting" methods by combining "greens" and "browns" to create decomposition. Other gardeners use red wigglers to help with the process. It's a little faster process by getting the worms to do some of the dirty work.

I don't have a hot compost pile yet, but I've been composting my kitchen scraps, newspapers, cardboard, coffee grounds, and smaller amounts of leaves with worms for the past two years with nice results. We use the resulting worm castings as a soil amendment in our garden, potted plants, and flower beds.

Here's a video with a cheap and easy tip for reducing the time it takes to harvest the worm castings and separate the red wigglers.