Porch Pumpkin Profits: Behind the Scenes with the Industry’s Founder. Ep #073

I think it's like five or six zip codes where I do 40% of my business.

You literally invented an industry.

Season one, I thought I was only going to do like 35 houses and I ended up doing nearly 250. I literally was putting pumpkins in my Yukon and delivering and designing them myself. This year, 1,034. Last year was 850. The year before was 750. Heather, who's going to buy $1,000 worth of pumpkins?

What does your average customer look like? That's a $10,000 a day. The number one question is, what are your margins like? Welcome to the Kerner office. I am so fired up right now with adrenaline, I can basically run through a wall. I just talked to Heather Torres of Porch Pumpkins. This is a very serendipitous meeting. On Saturday, someone tagged me on Instagram and said, kris, look at this. Someone gets paid a lot of money to decorate porches with pumpkins. And I immediately knew this was incredible. I found her on Instagram. I DM'd her Shel. She was busy and so I said, you know what, I'm just gonna make a video. So I made a reel. It went viral across all platforms. It's gotten over 10 million views by now. I tagged her, we started messaging and I just interviewed her. I've interviewed a lot of business owners. I've never interviewed one that invented an industry. We talked about what her profit margins are, what her gross revenue is, how many customers she has, how did she find them, what an average customer looks like, logistics info, strategy info, what happens when a recession hits. We talked about everything. I. I promise you I'm not overhyping this. Heather's amazing. Porch Pumpkins is amazing. This is an incredible industry and business. Please enjoy. Like subscribe and share with a friend that might be interested in starting a porch pumpkin business or in buying porch pumpkins from Heather. Enjoy. Okay, so first of all, I love the name Porch Pumpkins. It sounds like something I would name a business because it's just the domain's available. On the one hand it's like, how is that domain available? On the other hand, it's like, because no one's doing this. Right?

Right.

It's a great name. What inspired the name?

So what inspired the name is I have been decorating with pumpkins for a long time. So in 2013 when I stayed at home with my oldest son, he was a little seven month old and I went crazy with pumpkins. And actually that design, if I showed it to you, you would Be quite appalled. It's a bunch of orange pumpkins in different sizes. And I used to put them within my landscaping. And what I learned is that if you put pumpkins in landscaping, they will rot faster than if you put them on a porch. So I knew this because I've had years and years of decorating in my home, my own home experience. So I knew that I wanted it to be very clear that we would be putting pumpkins on your porch so they'll last longer. And so I just knew that porch pumpkins was concise and it got straight to the point.

And.

And it would allow for also a great logo because I wanted to incorporate my personal door into my logo of porch pumpkins.

Oh, I like that. Yeah. Obviously, I didn't realize that I've never seen your door, but you also have the alliteration, two P's. It's three syllables, easy to spell, nothing weird. Perfect name. I respect a good name.

Thank you. Thank you.

Yeah. So this all started with one Instagram post. Just kind of offhand. You did your own, someone loved it, you did it for them. Then you're like, eh, maybe there's something here. Let's see what the universe gives me, Right?

Yes and no. So it. I had people in my. When I was in Dallas, when I would do my own home, they always wanted me to do pumpkins for them. But I still had young children at that time, and I was not looking to take on anything more than decorating for my family. The yes part is I knew that once when we moved to Rockwell Heath, I was. My. My youngest was going off to school two or three days a week, and I was really wanting to start doing something for myself again. And I've always been, like, an entrepreneur at heart. My husband and I both are. And so I realized, like, people have always asked me to do this. And I started getting Christmas light quotes for Rockwell Heath, and I realized, wait, my friends are paying this much for Christmas light installations. Okay. Because in Dallas, we had a more narrow house. And my Christmas lights were $400. I was getting quotes out here for 1500, $2000 for that first year of installation. And so it all just like the X, Y, Z lined up. And I realized, like, you know, that's a great price point for someone else Christmas lights. I mean, I'm not going to pay that, but, yeah, it just made my. It made my wheel spin that, you know, if someone's paying this for one holiday. I've always loved decorating my own home with pumpkins. And that Actually takes care of two holidays, both Halloween and Thanksgiving. And that's when I worked on creating the packages. And so with my one post, which you hinted at there, my one post, I did posted it on Instagram and I started sharing it with my friends saying, like, this is the business I'm going to do. If this is something you're interested in, please let me know. When I started, I didn't have any photos except for the photos of my own home. So I offered my friends, you know, 50% off so I could get some photos of porches for my Instagram and then later website, of course. And then I asked them if they thought it was a great idea or something that they thought a friend would enjoy if they would just share it with them. And so I literally started in like old school ways, social sharing, because I was texting it to my friends and I was offering this, but then also Instagram. And so it did land into a few fun hands that shared on their Instagram platform that at the time, you know, there was someone with like 80,000 followers that shared my business and said, this is genius. I just bought my pumpkins, you should buy yours. And that's when my phone went from dinging to people I knew or I knew once removed, to complete strangers buying porch pumpkins.

Okay, wow. So, first of all, people don't realize how big Halloween is, like, from a revenue perspective and how much for whatever cultural reason, it's been growing over the last decade or two. I have this, you know, Buc EE's business where we resell Buc EE's products and August 3rd, they drop all of their Halloween stuff and our sales go crazy and we just go nuts from August 3rd to, you know, early November, all because of Halloween. And it's not that much smaller than Christmas for us. And I've read articles about other, you know, big box retailers really raking it in from Halloween. And most people don't realize that. They think it's Christmas and then everything else but Halloween is.

It's huge. It's huge. I mean, even if you walk into Lowe's right now, like, they are putting up Christmas decor, but they're Halloween and like blow up things and mummies and all of those things. That section is just as large as Christmas right now because they realize there's a market for it. I personally think it's like two different reasons. One, like, almost everyone celebrates like Halloween or fall, right? It's not a religious holiday. Some people would say it's anti religious, but it's not A religious holiday where you're only getting this segment of people that are celebrating. And so it really opens it up. And then you add that if you have kids, you want to decorate.

Agreed. Now, when you first launched, did you take any inspiration from anyone, like, other than, like, seeing other people decorating their porches on Pinterest? Had you ever heard of or seen another business doing exactly what you were doing when you launched?

No, I had not seen anyone else offering, like, pumpkin services at their door. I lived across from the Dallas Arboretum when I started, like, playing with pumpkins in my own yard. And I was super inspired by all of their displays. I mean, they build houses out of pumpkins. They trail every walkway with those big 50.

We have a membership.

Okay.

So, you know, dozens of times.

Yeah, it is stunning. And that's where we would have our play date. We, my son and all my children and I, we went there one day a week at least, because we lived in East Dallas. We had a smaller yard. And so that place, you know, the kids could run wild. And so, I mean, I got inspiration from that all the time. And then also, they have this fabulous display each year, which I haven't been in a few years now. But they had, like, a pumpkin library. So they had different varietals just kind of spread, like, stacked up so you could learn the name of all these, which allowed me to then start adding on to the pumpkins that I wanted to use in my own display, because were teaching me something when I started creating my pumpkin packages, because I knew from another business I had that I wanted to do packages and something that you could select and that I'm going to point you to. So even if you send me the front of your home, I'm going to veer you into one of these, which I. When I started, I only had four packages. I'm going to veer you into one of these four packages, or I'll give you two options, and you can pick, like, what price point you want to come in at. But I knew that I wanted to do packages and not custom installs because I used to be a monogrammer. So, like, this embroidery, which I can do this. I outsource these things now, but I used to be a monogrammer, and I would spend so much time creating all these different custom designs for the client to choose. And so that is take like, that makes my monogram that dollar amount go down. And so that's the same thing, like my working dollar, you know?

Yeah.

So I knew that I wanted to offer Packages and not do custom, which I do offer custom. If someone wants to do something different, we absolutely can do that. Just yesterday in Houston, I did no orange pumpkins, and we substituted all white pumpkins. So it was just a different muted vibe and it was beautiful. But so we can do things like that that make your home feel more custom. But I knew that I wanted packages so I would be more efficient with my time. Once I started doing porch pumpkins in 2020, and I was, you know, out in University park and Preston Hollow, I was seeing pumpkins that were obviously not mine. I was seeing them on porches. And so I started paying attention a little bit more. Once I actually started working on the marketing piece, since it kind of blew up. And then, I mean, I knew that I wanted the aesthetics of, like, all the photos being on my Instagram and, like, showing the work and then my insta story. I wanted people to know me and, like, my joyfulness and how happy I am to bring pumpkins to everyone. And just kind of a little behind the scenes. I knew, like, once I got through my seat, my first season of porch pumpkins, like, it really dawned on me. You know, I'm a stay at home mom and I get to do this three weeks out of the year and I get to make some good money for this time. And if I'm going to grow, because I had. I still, like, when season one, I only. I thought I was only going to do, like, 35 houses, and I ended up doing nearly 250.

So. Oh, my goodness.

Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, I quickly, thankfully I had some friends that, like, heard about it, and they're like, well, I can drive a trailer for you. Because I literally was putting pumpkins in my Yukon and delivering and designing them myself. And I was doing like three to six houses during the day while the kids were at school. And then because of my customer service background, I just kept saying yes to people. Like, yes, I can take that order. Absolutely, I can do that. And so then my larger packages, I would have my husband pull a trailer when he got off work. And so then I could do, like, the bigger packages, the package ones. And so that second week when I was like, okay, I can't keep saying yes to all these people if I don't have a few more people working for me. And so we added that on. And so, you know, I had, at the end of my season one, I had five people on the payroll. And then the two volunteers, me and my husband. Right. And so. But at the end of the season like, we were just like brainstorming and I'm like, this is just such a great job. Like, I would have loved to do this when my kids were young, young, and they were in Mother's Day out, Tuesday, Thursday. So I really wanted to make a business model that would be wonderful for stay at home moms to be able to say, yeah, I can do that for three weeks and here's my availability. And that's what my designers do. I say, these are the three weeks we're delivering. Tell me what you're available and I make your schedule. And so they tell me like, I have some high school moms that have volleyball games and football games. So they're not available Tuesdays and Thursday nights. I have some moms that need to pick up at 2:30 for carpool, so they only work at a.m. shift. And so I, I'm not only marketing my business to the keeper of the home. Right. That wants to make her home beautiful. Women. Right. But I have several male clients too. Thank you. But, but you know, typically it is the wife that's ordering the pumpkins. So I wanted it to be beautiful and aesthetically pleasing to them. But I also knew that to grow, I was going to need a bigger team. And so I wanted to make my brand like something that people realize, like, these moms are working and they're having so much fun and they're enjoying using their like, skill sets of what they do in their own homes. But it's, they're getting a flexible job right now. And I have people that are paying for trips for their fall break. They're using all this money for their Christmas funds. Someone paid for Lasik. Someone, you know, put a whole new fence at their house. And they were so proud to be able to do that with the income they, they made with porch pumpkin.

So if this were Shark Tank and I knew that like this business was run by moms, I'm like, I'm in so fast. Like, I've always said, like, moms make the best employees. You have to work around their schedule sometimes, but it is worth it. But like, it's a huge net win. Shout out to Katie. Like, I've just. The best employees I've ever had have been not like former moms, but current moms. They're just rock stars. And you remind me a lot of my wife because she has like a bakery business and she sells real estate and she's all over the place and she's only content if she's doing a ton of stuff and just saying yes, to everyone and doing all these things. So I'm definitely vibing with what you're doing.

Yes, absolutely. I mean, and moms, we get things done. We just do. I mean, and not that other people don't, but we. There's just a. A plethora of things that every single day that we're having to manage, whether it's the schedule. So it just. When it comes to pumpkins, we get things done, you know, and there was some changes that happened to the schedules this morning, and I sent out those texts, and they said, got it. Okay, great.

Are you familiar with Parkinson's law? It's just the theory that, like, time expands or contracts to fill whatever you throw at it. So, like, basically give a busy person something to do, and they'll find a way to do it. Right. So I think moms are so hardworking because they have so much to do, and so they. All of the unimportant things just fall by the wayside, as they should. And so they end up doing the most, and they're all the important things. And I just think it's such a good lesson of Parkinson's Law, like, you put too much on your plate, and you only the best stuff, right? And moms are experts at that.

That's fantastic. I'm so glad you just put that to a specific law and, like, phrase out there already, because I have always said that I'm not a fan when people are like, oh, I'm busy.

You know, I'm like, oh, you're not busier than me. You're not. I promise.

I get it. You know, but that's in my other life in the spring when I'm focusing on my volunteer world. But, you know, yeah, I get that.

So was switching from, like, saying yes to everything and custom everything to packages, was that the major unlock for you and your business?

So I always had packages from day one. So, like, my second Instagram post is literally my original packages with my original pricing. It is not the same anymore. But I can't take it down because I just have to keep that, like, ode to, like, how I started. Like, I started with.

But if you're listening right now, don't go. Look at that. Look at her updated prices, please. Inflation is real.

Inflation is so real. And. And also, as, you know, like, as you build a workforce. When I was doing everything myself, I could charge this price because this was my profit margin. But in order to service more clients, I have to pay employees in order to have be able to do a thousand porches I have to have you know, three warehouse people in Dallas, I have two warehouse people in Houston. And so I need to make sure that my margins stay that of a well ran business. And so, you know, those prices do have to climb for inflation and scale. And so I think my big turning point though for like really being able to expand was going from taking every order via my phone or like phone call or text message or email to having my website which we created for year two. I mean I literally year one I, I had a Lily Pulitzer notebook that was so cute, hot pink, I couldn't lose it. I need bright things so I don't misplace them. And I was writing down every order. We would get home from delivering pumpkins at the end of the day and then we would be, my husband would help me like invoice all of these people from 9 to midnight and then I would create my routes. And so now with our website I'm able to take pre orders, see where we're at in the different weeks and the different zip codes and then know like, okay, like this year I had to turn off week two, but I was able to keep delivery for week one and three in Dallas. I was able to keep them open like another 10 to 14 days because they had more holes to fill. So the website allows me to take so much more business. And then realizing like I have a background in operations and training when I like out of college, like I worked for a major restaurant group here in Texas. And so I realized like I can grow because I have the skill set and I can teach and train other people to do just what I do. And I already, I know how to manage people because I used to manage like 200 people and now I'm managing 31 people. And so you know, that's all of those things go into why I, I'm able to, to grow this. So yeah, it's been really fascinating.

I want to get to the 31 people in a minute. But first, the first year, 20, 20, 250 orders. What did the next three years look like till today? And what do you do this year?

I might have to work backwards. I should have polished that up. But so this year we're actually at 1034, which I wasn't even going to announce it and say those words out loud until I actually did it because that feels more celebratory like when they're done. But it's pretty exciting. And I've had the opportunity to talk to several people now. So I, I'd be Remiss if we didn't see. Right. So this year, 1034. Last year was 850. The year before was 750. It was 650, 500, 250. So I doubled my second year. But then I didn't double. Right. I didn't keep doubling. I would go up by like 20ish percent. That's really helped us be able to continue to do a great job because we're slowly growing those porches. So, yeah, at this point.

So not just a Covid phenomenon, clearly.

No. And that was interesting too, because that was something that was marketed a little bit my first year. And when different people had reached out to do an interview, they're like, this Dallas mom is bringing a pumpkin patch to your door since you can't go to one because it's Covid, you know, essentially. And it was more than that. It wasn't just so your family could enjoy it. It was like, oh, wait, this is actually something I enjoyed. I really, I like having this decor piece. I didn't do this before, but maybe they didn't do it before because it was dirty. It's a lot of work. It's hot. You have to go to a, you know, pumpkin patch and get all these things. And then also, if you're going to arrange them, it's an art to arranging them. Like, yes, I'm sure pumpkins on their porch. But when I'm teaching my designers, like, okay, and this is the porch pumpkin method. This is what, this is the look we go for. This is how I achieve it. And it's so interesting. Again, the moms, the women that have worked as, like, artists or creatives and whatnot, they like, immediately get it. And I could let them leave after 30 minutes and they would be designing.

Wow.

Like, right away. My employees that have not done something creative but really have a passion, they're like, oh, I want to decorate like this. This is enjoyable. I want to do this. I want the income. They might take a little bit longer. Like maybe, you know, call it three hours and like practicing on five or six porches to understand the method of the stacking. But then when once you do it enough, you know, again, moms are amazing. We figure it out and then, tada, they're ready to go. And so that part's been pretty interesting too. Like, the creatives just, they kind of get it immediately.

What an unlock. Like, that's like the perfect Venn diagram overlap is a mom that has some sort of creative background just makes your life so much easier, 100%. I'm just now realizing this. I don't know why I'm realizing this for the first time, but I've interviewed a lot of people, and I'm not trying to make your head too big, but you literally invented an industry. You are the inventor of this whole industry, and it is an industry like this will be a thing forever, in my opinion.

It's wild. My husband and I were talking about this just two weeks ago, before the season started. There are more and more pumpkin decorating businesses popping up, right? And my first year. My first two years there weren't. We didn't really see anything. But in 2022, there were even two porch businesses that started here in DFW. I knew them. So, like, I. I know that they saw it. And then I know that the other businesses that have started have seen the influencers that we all follow that help that have helped my business grow. And the. And people will ask me, well, they're copying you. And I'm like, well, no, I inspired them. It's just like a lawn care company or a Christmas lights guy. I can't physically do all of DFW in Houston. I certainly can't do all of Texas and all of the U.S. so, like, it's. So I actually feel honored and thankful that I car. I figured this out, and it is something like that people can duplicate in their own market. And, like, look at all these mompreneurs out there, like, crushing it. And their designs, some of them look similar. Some of them have a different, like, look and aesthetic, but they're all beautiful. They're all pumpkins. So it's. I'm pretty. I'm so thankful, and I'm proud. I'm proud that I was able to help inspire another, like, round of mompreneurs. I mean, you know, interior designers like all of these things. I feel like it used to be more of a stuffy. You went to an office. Here's the showroom. And look at all these amazing interior designers that work out of their home office or they're on mobile, you know, And I feel like that boom happened, like, in the past 10 years in that segment. And so this is like, a whole new segment of opportunity for people. So pumpkin farmers keep growing.

Pumpkin, please. We need them. And the thing is, like, you have proximity bias. Like, you're in the weeds. You see the competitors. But, like, the average American to this day has no idea this exists. And probably in 10 years, we'll have no idea this exists.

Because isn't that Wild.

We're only like early or late in any industry once you look back on it and it's done right. So like E Commerce, for instance, it's been around since the 90s, but in the grand scheme of things, we're still very early. Like only 16% of our dollars are spent online today. Right. So you are like extremely early. And like there's so much room to run here. And it was really interesting with this going viral before our conversation because I was able to see like what the general public thinks and you've probably seen and heard all these things. But a lot of things people say are like, who has money for this? And it's like, okay, there's 35 million Texans. She serves a thousand of them. Like, certainly a thousand Texans have money for this. Like Highland park has 2,000 homes and that's one neighborhood in one city.

Yes, indeed. Exactly. Exactly.

What does your average customer look like? Is it a Highland park mom with a 5 to 20 million dollars house or is your average customer in a 700,000 1.5 million dollar house?

I think it's like 5 or 6 zip codes where I do 40% of my business is Highland Park, Preston Hollow Buffet, like that area, you know, just north of downtown between 75 and tollway. And so, you know, yes, most of those homes are at least $1 million, if not 3, 8, 10, 12. And so that is my average customer. Well, I wouldn't say my, that's my like number one market segment of customer. I think my average customer is probably in a 650,000 to $800,000 home that they're decorating pumpkins with. And the homes that aren't that much, they are the ones that see the business, love the idea, busy working, and they want to create memories and bring something for their families. And so they're getting that wonderful package four. And the package four is my cash cow. It is the lowest price point. It's $325. You get a design it, it is. I sell the most of them. And interestingly enough, I'll, I'll say a point. So it's $325. It's $75 for design and $75 if you want us to pick it up at the end of the season. But you have to remember some of these beautiful homes in University park that could easily purchase a package one that's 1350 if they wanted to. They're those beautiful homes in Dallas that are the narrow walkway with a single door and maybe one or two steps. Perfect they don't have room for a package one. Yeah, they have room for a package four. And if we tried to put a package one at their house, that would be a whole other thing. And so I do. I sell the most package ones. And with the add on design, you know, a lot of people still want to do it themselves and they just don't want to do the heavy lifting of the pumpkin. So I think it's like 420 package fours out of the 1033. So it's not quite half, but it's quite a bit. And so, you know, I sell a lot of those. And also. But when it all goes to the business aspect, people are like, oh, which package do you make the most money on? And I was like, well, it's interesting because obviously I make more dollar amount on my package one because it's more expensive, but it also takes up more room on a trailer. Yeah, I also, it takes my driver longer to unload it, who I pay hourly. And I pay my designer more because they're there longer for their. For the pumpkin design as well. So it kind of all. I wouldn't say evens out, but it's interesting how it all averages out for profitability.

The number one question is, what are your margins? Like, what are you willing to share about that? Think of it this way. If you do end up selling a course or something, this will inspire people to come to you for help. I want those margins.

Right, right, right. So my margins are really great because I have a, like all of the other background and I am willing to take on an insane amount of work. Right. So that viral video that you reposted showed me running and sprinting to a house. Right. Where I personally designed 21 houses that day. So that means I am not paying a designer for 21 homes. I only paid a designer for like 20 homes that day. I did 50 total. But some of those were DIY, so my margins are great. I also have a really hard.

That's a $10,000 day.

That's a $10,0000 day. Just in the design fee that I like, I earmark for myself. This is kind of funny. So my assistant helps me keep track of everyone's payroll and things like that. And so I always tell her, I'm like, pay me the most. I get paid $75 per design. Right. So just in design Fees, I made $1,500 on that one day. But you would think, you know, with a team of 31, I could just manage everyone and show up and do Instagram and social media, but I don't. I'm on a route every single day. Today I have two. So I'm on a mid and a PM where I will do 14 homes. And so anyway, I say all of this to say, like, my margins are really good. I run right at like 40 to 45%, depending on the season.

Gross or net.

Okay, this is when you're gonna laugh. I'm a brilliant business mind, but I don't know all these words, so that's.

Okay. So let's say you, like, gross would be like a million dollars in sales, and then your pumpkins cost 500,000. So that would be 50% gross margins. But net would be, after all of your other costs, paying your people, like, your true bottom line profit would be net.

My net is 40% profit margin.

My mind's. And that's floating.

That's low. That's low. But again, it's. Because that's.

That's not low by any.

Well, well, no, like, okay, it's not low, but like, once, my season one, it was a 50% profit margin because my husband and I were doing 90% of the work. And then I was just having a little bit of help, you know.

Yeah. A lot more work, more profit.

And so. And that's why it's like, okay, on a. And we've learned how to source the pumpkins, and we know how to be the most efficient. And, like, all of these efficiency pieces are so helpful. So, you know, two years ago, we were probably a little bit under 40 at more. Maybe more like 35% profit margin. And so because we had that big growth of sales and people and employees, and so we had to finesse some things out. And so that's. Yeah, that's part of why when I do the course, I'll be a plethora of information. And, you know, so many people are like, oh, do you have a few minutes? I'd like to pick your brain. And that's so. No, you get this. Like, that's like, thank you for the kind message of how I've inspired you, but no, 10 minutes. I don't have time for you to pick my brain. And I worked really hard, and I have a lot of inside information that could save you. I mean, I went through. I've worked now this is five seasons, and that's just in the business. The pumpkins alone, the previous nine years were like a whole nother. Well, that math doesn't work. My son's only 11, so the previous six years and just those pumpkins and learning what I learned there. Like, I mean, that's a whole nother. Like that's one class. And then running the business is another class. And growing and scaling could be another one, you know, And I could talk all day about pumpkins. I love it. I love the business. I love my people. My people are amazing. Amazing. I could not do this without my team. My team is incredible. And they all like want to make people just as happy as I do. So like, you can't. You just don't get better than that.

Well, you've instilled that culture. That's a top down culture from you. You hire people that are like you. Right, so then the company is a representation of Heather.

Yes, yes.

I love that your profits are good because you deserve for them to be good. And I just want to go to all the haters in the comments and be like, you're wrong, you're wrong. You're like, this is just not a type of business where you should have low margins. It's just not because it's not something that people have to pay for. Therefore, like, it's a, it's kind of a, it's a nice to have. Right.

So you should enjoy it.

And it's hard. Like people like, oh yeah, I could do that. And it's like, have you ever list, lifted 30 to 70 pound pumpkins all day long? Like hundreds and thousands of pumpkins all day long for 16 hours straight. Like, be my guest.

Right? Come on, we. Well, we're not really hiring, but come on, I'll take an extra trainer next year. Come check it out.

Do you think that a recession would negatively affect you or since because of the fact that you're growing so much year over year, you might just grow less.

I was concerned about this year, to be fair. Not that we're in a full recession right now, but the average American is not spending money that they used to. They have less money to spend as everything is higher. And I still service some lovely average Americans. And so those, my package for some of my package for clients in my suburbs, you know, I was preparing for those numbers to fall off. And with my growth, my planned growth that I wanted to succeed and hit this year, I, in July, I took headshots with a 1 and a K because, you know, I have to do that then to celebrate later. And so that was the goal. I think due to the current even status of the economy, I did not sell out as fast as I did last year. So last year I sold out on my. With 850 porches on August 15th, 15th or 14th. And this year I quit taking orders on September like seventh. So it took two and a half, three weeks more longer of growth of time to hit that. Right. Versus yeah. Last year I probably already had 200 people on the wait list a week after I closed. So I do think it's already like it's slowing some people down from this more lavish luxury thing to do. And then the other interesting analytic is watching people's package fluctuations because the way my website captures like my data is it. I can see like what they ordered this year versus last year. And I really thought that a lot of people would package down this year and so therefore my sales wouldn't be quite as high because you know, I'd still have so many porches. My average has stayed about the same, but it's been kind of a flip flop. A lot of people did package down, but just as many people packaged up. So I thought that it would affect me. So do I think like moving forward in a year or two, if we are in a recession, I think it'll go back to very similarly, like I will have to change my business style and model, which I like to sell out on August 15th. That gives me five weeks of planning before my season starts. This year I had to do things differently in order to hit my goal. I would even say it go as far to say I had to do things the way I don't like to do them to hit my goal. And I had to stretch my own self and comfort zone. And so, you know, I did that because there's so much that goes on the back end that is not Instagram worthy. You can't make a reel out of it. It's me looking at Excel spreadsheets all day.

Right.

So yeah, I just, I think that's interesting. I do think that it would, it would taper. I think the growth would taper down. I think I would stay consistent during a recession because I'm still going to have that top two.5% of people and.

Income earners, they're less affected by a recession.

They're less affected, you know, and so with it being more of a luxury business, I mean, sure, Neiman Marcus's sales go down slightly in a recession and you know, I, I likely would as well.

So yeah, two things I want to just go on the record and say like in, in the viral reel that I made about you, you had never told or posted about having a thousand orders. All I knew is that you did 900 last year. From an entrepreneur.com article. And I just knew, I know she's gonna break a thousand, so I'm gonna put it out there because she probably already has. And so now I found out that I'm right. I didn't lie. That's number one. Number two is I think especially you should not worry about a recession. You specifically, because A, you invented the industry. B, you have an Instagram following where you can teach people how to do this. And in a recession, the middle class moms are going to be looking around thinking, how can I make extra money to pay for Christmas? Maybe I can decorate some porches. Maybe I could go to Heather and buy her course. Right? Like, I think a recession could really help your course sales. And because of the fact that most of your customers are higher end thousand homes in Dallas, you could sell 5,000 of these in Frisco alone. Right. Like if you really saturated the market. So that's incredible. Well, I know your time is very valuable and you literally have pumpkins to deliver today. It's October 1st, so it's a big day. Any parting words you'd like to leave with people? I'm also curious on about, like what chips you have on your shoulder, like what drives you, what kind of haters drive you or comment or. I love talking about people that just have a chip on their shoulder. They don't really think about it actively, but it's there.

I love this. I have two tips on my shoulders. One for any entrepreneur that's out there starting, this is just for anyone. Don't listen to the naysayers. If you have a great idea and you want to price something somewhere that someone else doesn't agree with.

Oh, people never pay for that. People never pay for that.

They just don't understand, you know, I can't tell you how many people were like, Heather, who's gonna buy $1,000 worth of pumpkins? Who's gonna buy $750 worth of pumpkins? I was like, I don't know. But I think there's a market for it because I just found out that these three Christmas light guys are trying to quote me 1200, 1400 and $1600 for my house. So someone's paying that much money for Christmas lights. Someone's going to pay this much money for pumpkins. Someone would pay that much money for X, Y, Z, whatever your business. So don't cut yourself short because you're afraid to price what your business is. So that's my one like tip, because you will. And there are like, you Know, I actually have, like, a really positive following. Most of people on my personal Instagram are like, here for it and they're excited and they like to see the pumpkins. It's when they kind of get their reshare. That's sometimes when you get the haters, if you will.

It goes to a broader audience.

But. And that's fine. I get it. This is not for everyone. And also, not everyone lives in DFW and understands, like, our city is not often affected by a lot of recessions. Our city is very wealthy, you know, overall. So I understand that. My second chip on my shoulder as a business owner. It's. I love, like I said earlier, like, I love that people have been inspired by this business model and it is popping up. I've seen different ones. Some places I've even had people, like, I've had the kindest women reach out to me, send me a photo of their logo with their website and just saying, like, I just wanted to share that I found you, you know, a year ago, two years ago. And I was just in awe. And I'm just so thank for this business. And look, this is what I have created and I just wanted you to see it. And I love when people share that with, like, I literally have goosebumps right now. Like, I love that. Right? Like, that is so cool that this has all happened this way. But what I do have a large chip on my shoulder on is when, like, we went through all of the right channels to like, trademark and copyright, like, my logo. And that, that covers, like all of my intellectual property, which are my photos. Like, my photos are my intellectual property. And so when people are like, oh, this is a great idea here, let me screenshot these and act like they're my work, you know, and they'll post them on their Instagram or their website.

Oh, no, that part.

That is like a dagger in the heart, you know, of course we move forward with a nice little legal letter. And I've actually had to get a lawyer involved a few times just because one. Well, one is my intellectual property 100%. And you are lying if you're trying to use that photo saying that this is what you're offering. But two, like, I worked so hard my first year, I discounted things to get those. And other people can too. There's, like, ways to go about it. So that would be my business ownership on my shoulder. And I don't think about it often until some sweet person in Columbus, Ohio, who's been following me since 2020 and we're like, porch pumpkins family sends me a website saying, I found this, and I just. It hurt. It hurts my heart that someone's stealing your things. And so, I mean, that's how I find out I'm not out actively looking for it.

Right.

My porch pumpkins family is, like, extremely, like, loving and protective. What they know I have created. And so I think that, I mean, I think that's pretty amazing too. I'm, like, so thankful and there. I just. I feel so loved. I feel so loved. So that's amazing.

Well, most entrepreneurs don't realize that a large portion of their success is driven by those people that are ripping off your images and talking crap. Like, so in a way, we got to be grateful for them, right? Because we wouldn't be as driven without them. But I always say, only listen to the haters when they know more about your industry than you, which is almost never the case. Right? So if you had talked to a mentor like, I did, the porch pumpkin business. And honestly, the price point is very sensitive. Once you get above $500, it's like, okay, that's valid. No, you invented this, right? People will pay for it. And the vast majority of business owners are much more likely to underprice themselves. And it comes from fear, comes from insecurity, like, oh, I don't want to. And that is a mistake. Like, that is a mistake. Raise your prices. Absolutely.

You know, and that's so fascinating that you said that too. I have a cousin that's a hairstylist, right? And she works for herself. She said something years ago. When her books get full, right? When she's 100% booked all the time, she goes up on her prices because that will clear out the bottom tier. 85 to 90% of people will continue on, and it opens up 10% of her books for people to pay the higher tier. And that fascinating, too. And that's what made that conversation probably seven years ago. She's had her business for like, 15 now. That conversation, when I realized that as I was scaling and I was needing to hire more people, I. I did need to go up on my prices because I needed to be able to supply and demand, supply and demand. And it gave me that conversation, gave me the confidence to do it. And so that's why if you do go back to my very first, my very second post on Instagram and you see a package, four used to be $250, it's now $325. And that's because price pumpkins went up and labor, et cetera, is a part of that dollar amount now, so that's amazing.

Well, yeah, we don't have time for any of this, but I'm gonna give you some homework I want you to look into. ComfyUI. It's this new AI software that will enable your customers to upload a picture of their porch and then AI will automatically show them what's possible with it. Right. This wasn't possible six months ago.

So the AI. Wow.

Ui. Comfy ui. Yeah. So look into that. And then I'm sure you're already thinking about Christmas. Like, I. I've got another revenue line for Christmas. Are you already kind of thinking that way?

So the thing about me is I absolutely love Christmas, but I reserve Christmas for my family. I do six Christmas trees in our home. Our house is the, like, epitome.

You're that mama.

I am. And I love Christmas. And so where I've had people again since I started. Please come decorate my tree. One one of my Christmas trees takes me six hours to decorate. Right. And so I know that, like, the Christmas decor, like, proper, like, being a decorator is not where I'm going to go, but I am working on something for the holiday season that is interest, that is kind of a similar business model of pumpkins being dropped off. I'm actually working on partnering with someone.

Oh, awesome. That's smart.

They have a great product already, and it's something that North Texans especially use in the holiday season. And so I'm working on partnering with him to offer something very smart for Christmas season. So, yeah, I'm excited about that.

Yeah. Yeah. You don't want to be more frazzled than you already are for Christmas.

No. And I do need a season of rest because then, you know, I quit. My last day of pumpkin delivery, in theory, is October 11th. We might have a few trickle downs October 12th, just if there's some delivery snafus. And so then, like, I go on a solid pause. But then on November 1st, we, you know, we offer pickup. And so a lot of people that have already had their pumpkins sitting on their porch for five weeks, that November air hits and they're ready to decorate for Christmas. So they're like, heather, can you come pick up my pumpkins? And so we actually start routing to pick up pumpkins. And we do that all the way from November 1st. And typically I say that we pick up our pumpkins by December 1st. But this year, Thanksgiving falls the latest it ever does, which is November 28th. So I'm going to need a Few more days than three days to pick up all the pumpkins. But by December 3rd, I would say we'll have all the pumpkins picked up and then punctuated. I'm done. So even, like with my business, if I wanted to do a proper Christmas something, I mean, I would have to have things really in place ahead of time because my season goes until the last set of pumpkins are picked up.

That's interesting. The 1st of December, you have no break. Yeah. You would go crazy.

No, no.

What percentage of your customers opt for a pickup in November?

You know, I didn't run the numbers this year yet, but my best guess is about 65 to 70% of my client base.

Yeah. And can you do anything with those pumpkins other than throw them away?

Yes. So we wait. The customer or me, you like, once.

You pick them up?

Yeah. So when we pick them up, we actually. We pick them up in dump trailers, like big, huge dump trailers, and we drop them off at a local farm and we. They use the pumpkins to feed their. I don't remember the type of pig it is, but it's a pig that's raised for slaughter, for bacon. And then it's actually a charity farm. So then they use that revenue to help pay employees, and it's incredible. And then the hay, well, our hay is actually straw, but the straw they use for their chicken coops and their goats and things like that. And so all of the things that we pick up are going to say, I mean, they're going to feed farm animals and things like that. So we're so proud of that and we're so thankful for that partnership as well.

That's awesome. Well, Heather, thank you for your time. Where can people find you? Like, what should I link to?

You can find me on my Instagram. I do have a TikTok, but I'm not gonna lie, I hadn't checked it until I went viral with you.

You should.

I know I'm gonna be better at that, but Instagram's where to find me. You can email me@heatherorchpumpkins.com I've had a lot of business inquiries. We will get to those. And the beginning of January is when I will kind of. I'll turn Porch Pumpkins off about, you know, off figuratively. December 3rd or so. I will enjoy the holiday season with my family, and then we'll get going on the. On all the business inquiries in January. So, Heather, @pchornpumpkins.com and then Instagram follow along and be a part of the porch pumpkins family.

Okay. Well, did I overhype it? I don't think so. Please share it with someone that could find this interesting, helpful, or useful. I want to empower entrepreneurs. So you sharing this will help me empower entrepreneurs. And I'll help you empower entrepreneurs, too. We'll see you next time on the Kerner Office.