I am getting more and more phone calls and emails asking me how one can start their own online worm business.
First off, let me tell you right out of the starting gate, having your own successful worm farm is a lot of work! Some folks have the impression it is easy and not very time consuming. I personally work online and offline about 70 to 80 hours a week. Now this can be started as a part time business, however to have a larger farm does require attention to detail daily!
Is it worth it? Yes, in fact most others I have helped have the same enthusiasm I have and the more you learn about worms the more you want to learn!
Others ask why I would help others compete with myself. Simple answer is the fact that there is plenty of room for reputable worm farmers online as well as competition is healthy for any business!
To get online is actually easier and more economical than many believe. You need not know any programming, HTML but rather point and click and upload your own images if you choose if you know where to go.
The first item is selecting a domain name. I recommend you select something utilizing keywords such as “red wigglers” or “worms” in the domain name you choose for search engine optimization if you are looking to get into the worm business. If you are looking into another business, look for keywords to include in your domain associated with such.
I even know of some people that register their own names or family names and post family photos… to share with friends and family around the globe.
The site we register our domain names as well as use their shopping cart for our customer’s security is Order Your Domain, which offers the lowest prices and best products. The best domain extension to register is a .COM however I do personally own a couple .INFO and .NET extensions
Next you need to be able to build a website, which is where WebSite Tonight comes into play. You can actually have your web site up and running within a matter of an hour or so. They offer loads of templates to choose from, allow you to enter your own text and images to personalize your web site.
Lastly you need a secure shopping cart. The one I actually switched to and still use for Organic Worm Farm after trying others that the emails got hacked from the database is Quick Shopping Cart. Again it is simple to setup and use while insuring the security of your customers.
Lastly, if you do not already have a PayPal account, you can set one up for free so as to accept credit cards and PayPal payments as well as accept checks or money orders.
These are the basic affordable tools you need to get yourself up and running online in your own worm farm or other business.
Don’t forget to order worms in bulk to save money to begin raising them while having enough on hand to start selling some off at a profit!
Bruce
Bruce
How do you go about trade marking your name?
Also would I need a tax id number? And how does all that work?
Bob,
As for trademarks, some companies online that assist in setting up a corporation also assist in trademarks.
As for taxes, you need to check with your local city, county and state as this setup and fees varies from area to area.
Bruce
I am in the process of starting my own red wiggler business, some woth mail order but trying to sell retail and wholesale here in the Denver, CO area.
Is there anything you can suggest that I can go see or read on how to start the larger facility rather than what area I have now.
I live on 5 acres, but live here with husbands employer owning property.
I will need to set up facility and have alot of area inside and out
Just want to research the way and how to run this business the most efficent/
Thanks,
Lisa
Lisa,
First off since the temperature gets quite cold in your neck of the woods I would have to ask do you have away to heat the inside areas to keep the worms during the winter months?
Bruce
worms live thru winter in the southern states of the u.s. why should i protect them form the cold, in the area where i live (santa cruz county) it does not snow or gets colder than 23 degrees.
Tony
Some worms tolerate the cold better than others. If you have in ground beds which are deep enough worms such as the red wigglers or Europeans might fare well. On the other hand a worm such as the African nightcrawler will be dead the next day!
Bruce