It’s A Dirty Job But Somebody Has To Do It
When most people think of Entrepreneurs, they tend to think of Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley, not Sand Hill Road in Antioch, but whether the world recognizes it or not, entrepreneurs come in all shapes and sizes and one benefit to Antioch’s growth, is an increase in innovation. Case in point, Dave and Beth Anderson from MonsterWorms.com, they may not have VC backing or a nationwide marketing campaign, but they do have a great idea and the willingness to explore it, so they started a business selling worms to the public.
Now I know what you’re thinking pretty gross right? except it turns out that these worms can help you reduce the amount of garbage you throw out and give you award winning fruits and vegetables. Because their red worms can eat half their body weight in just one day, they are ideal for creating a natural way to dispose of your table scrapes and left over food. This leaves your kitchen smelling nicer and can help save on your garbage bill.
After digesting your leftovers, the worms leave behind a rich nutrient that gardeners kill for. If you try to buy compost at the store it can be pretty expensive, which helps to explain why people would want to turn towards MonsterWorms to create their own in the first place, but the reason why it’s in such high demand is that it does amazing things to vegetation. One look at Dave’s lawn and you can tell how dramatic the difference is.
On one side, he put worm casings and on the other side it’s all natural. I won’t even tell you which side is which because it’s so obvious. The extra nutrients really helps to bring out the extra greens in his lawn.
Perhaps even more interesting then what the worms can do for your garden though is the story behind how MonsterWorms got started. With their kids getting a bit older and the economy in dumps, Dave wanted to find something he could do, but that didn’t take him too far from home. When Beth was growing up, she used to sell nightcrawlers to the fisherman and with Antioch being a huge fishing town, this seemed like it made sense. Dave seized on the idea and started to grow worms in his garage. After experimenting with various containers, he came across a system that seemed ideal for growing a population. Because the worms will eat anything organic, they’re not very expensive to feed. You can give them newspaper and they’ll be happy, but Dave says that if you want to make them crazy to feed them watermelon. I guess it’s something like catnip for worms.
After discovering that the bait market was a bit soft, the Anderson’s started selling worms to other gardeners who wanted to help reduce their footprint on the planet and get a hold of that sweet black gold that costs an arm and a leg if you try and buy it from a nursery. I don’t really know the reason why, but since the 1990’s the compost market has been experiencing hyper growth. It’s not really the sort of industry that folks on Wall St. pay attention to, but those who’ve been part of the market know that consumer demand for compost has been skyrocketing. The San Jose area in particularly has some of the highest demand for compost in the country. This really made Antioch ideal as a place for the Andersons to try and start their own business.
Since adjusting their business model, things have really started to take take off. It can take up to three months to grow the worms, so it can be difficult to balance supply with demand, but Monsterworms seemed to be doing a good job balancing the two. Certainly as their business grows though, the worms will inevitably take up more and more of the garage. Since Dave runs his small business out of his home, city regulations don’t allow him to let people stop by and pick up the worms, but he is happy to meet Antioch residents to sell them worms at convenient locations in the city. For those who might live outside of Antioch’s borders, the worms are shipped via priority mail and require that someone be home to pick them up. They don’t seem to have any trouble surviving the trip, but if they get left on a doorstep in the sun, it will kill the worms.
Perhaps what’s so amazing about what Dave and Beth are doing with Monsterworms is the potential that exists in Antioch for the entrepreneur with a little e. One doesn’t need to have multi-million dollar backing in order to be able to do something that you love and something that makes the world a better place. You just need a little bit of funding, a lot of motivation and a ton of heart and you too can boot strap a business. If you do happen to latch onto a good idea in an industry that’s starting to take off, then eventually investors, customers and expansion will come. We need more entrepreneurs like this in Antioch to help offset the loss in jobs from established sectors.
Over the last two years, Antioch has watched in horror as the real estate and auto market has melted, taking thousands of jobs from residents. We can lament the passing of these dying industries or we can re-invent ourselves. People like the Anderson’s may not get the tech buzz of other .coms, but they are true heroes in Antioch. Antioch’s friendly business environment makes it ideal to seize control over your own destiny and Dave and Beth are leading the way. Here’s to hoping that Monster Worms quickly outgrows their humble beginnings. To see a detail look at MonsterWorm’s operations please check out our Flickr set.