This Side Hustle Q&A features Danny Trejo, an insurance agent who began a house citrus growing business By citrus in 2020
Where did you discover inspiration in your side business?
I started working on Via Citrus shortly after moving to New York, inspired by nostalgia for the citrus groves of Central Florida. I grew up in a big citrus nursery, stuffed with the sights and smells of orange blossoms – a vivid a part of my childhood that I all the time treasured.
While I all the time desired to be an element of the citrus nursery industry, I desired to contribute another way that not only brought value to the corporate, but additionally brought intending to me. The distance from my roots combined with the eager for the familiar scent of orange blossoms gave rise to the concept of sharing this piece of home with others. That’s when I spotted I could teach others easy methods to grow citrus trees – irrespective of where they were – by opening a web-based store.
Photo credit: courtesy of Via Citrus
What were the primary steps you took to interrupt away from the sport? What were the challenges?
At the start, I faced the difficult task of establishing an e-commerce platform. Since I had no experience working with web sites, I had to start out from scratch, learning the ins and outs of online commerce, from design to development.
At the identical time, I began the necessary step of defining our product line. Given the massive number of citrus varieties, starting from oranges, lemons, limes, tangerines and grapefruits, I had to make your mind up which of them to decide on. This involved researching citrus growing habits and the unique advantages of every variety of citrus to pick out a range that may appeal to a large audience.
Equally necessary was determining the dimensions of the plants that Via Citrus intended to supply. This decision was a fragile balance. On the one hand, offering plants which can be too small may result in disappointment for the client, who may not immediately appreciate the wonder and potential of their purchase. On the opposite hand, larger plants, while more visually appealing and closer to fruiting, would incur prohibitive shipping costs, making them less accessible to most people. This required careful consideration of citrus plant growth stages, transportation logistics and customer expectations to pick out sizes that may offer the most effective value for our customers and the corporate.
How long did it take for you to attain stable monthly income? How much did the side hustle earn?
Thanks to family and friends who supported the launch of Via Citrus, lower than $1,000 was earned per person in the primary few months. However, soon our average monthly revenue was around $7,000, with May (Mother’s Day) and December (Christmas) being our busiest months.
What do average monthly revenues appear like now?
We see that sales are $36,000 per thirty days. May and December are still our greatest sales months.
What do you enjoy most about this side hustle?
Working on this project with my dad keeps me in contact with my roots – pun intended. Growing up around citrus, which my dad devoted over 40 years of his life to, profoundly influenced my appreciation for growing and caring for citrus. Now, because the person chargeable for Via Citrus, I’m able to take care of and strengthen this bond, although I’m six hours away from the farm. Via Citrus is a very important connection to my father and the work he continues to do. It’s not only the grower – he selects and packages every citrus plant we ship to our customers. Thanks to his practical approach, each plant we deliver can be an element of our family’s dedication and love for growing citrus.
Photo credit: courtesy of Via Citrus
As you think about the longer term of the corporate, what are you most enthusiastic about?
I’m excited in regards to the booming plant-based industry and the numerous steps we’re taking to advance it. As our world becomes an increasing number of digital, persons are turning to gardening and houseplants, each for hobby purposes and for interior decoration, to take a break from screens. This trend represents a promising opportunity for Via Citrus, as our unique range of citrus plants is consistent with growing interest.
Our recent purchase of recent land to construct additional greenhouses is especially exciting. These recent greenhouses will have the option to extend our diversity of citrus offerings, improve our growing process and be sure that we will meet the growing demand from our customers.
What is your advice for others who want to start out their very own successful side hustle?
Don’t worry that every thing can be perfect, implement your idea and listen fastidiously to your customers. In my case, I desired to get every thing right the primary time: perfect looking website, perfect variety, size, packaging, images, etc. I spent an excessive amount of time perfecting it. Perfection is somewhat of a double-edged sword. No one visited my website or bought my citrus plants. Therefore, my pursuit of perfection limited my ability to acquire consumer feedback to enhance anything. Finally, after years of planning and refinement, I launched the web site. The few customers who did get entangled became a useful source of feedback. Their insights helped us improve our offerings in ways I didn’t expect.
It is essential to get your product to market, even whether it is a limited run of the product. Early feedback provides incredible insights and might steer your efforts in a direction that higher suits market needs and preferences.