The Best Side Hustle to Make Extra Money Before Christmas

Porch pumpkins might be the best seasonal side hustle. Why? Because half of every dollar earned is pure profit.

The package number one, it's $1,350.

This Dallas mom of three, Heather, makes over $100,000 of profit per month.

Our sales were just at $100,000.

Oh, my gosh. Not only that, but it's a very viral business. It sells itself thanks to social media.

My phone just kept going, ding, ding, ding.

And customers pay you up front. That's right. Your risk is close to zero because you colle money up front. Today, we're diving deep into the porch pumpkin business. How to find customers, how to find cheap pumpkins, and how to run this business without going crazy. So, without further ado, let's meet Heather. Okay, so that first year you officially launched, how did that go? What was that? Like? What were your sales and your order numbers?

So first year, I thought that I was gonna, you know, just do 30. That was my goal, and I quickly exceeded that in, like, four days. We ended the 2020 season designing and displaying 250 homes. DFW area. Our sales were just at $100,000.

Oh, my gosh.

Literally, I was just thinking, like, if I can sell $10,000 in pumpkins, like, this will be great. I'll make this Christmas money. Yeah, it'll be great. And just. Wow.

Yeah.

The wildfire started.

How much of that would you guess was profit that first year?

The first year, I mean, we. Because I was the labor. I was literally driving. I was loading the pumpkins myself in my Yukon. I was unloading the pumpkins myself at the home, and then I was designing. And so profit was like 50. Our profit margin was 50%. At the very end of the season, I did hire a new driver and then two designers because I did so much myself. I mean, my husband was loading. You know, and entrepreneurs, we don't pay ourselves until everybody else gets paid and all the job gets done. And, yeah, it was great.

So 50,000 of profit in, like, two months of work. Like, hard work.

Way less. This is. Entrepreneurs ask me all the time, is it too late? Is it too late to start this pumpkin business? And my answer is, no, it's not too late. Yes, it's too late.

If you wait, you won't do it, right.

If you wait to, like, the week before Halloween, maybe it's too late then. But even then, no. Get three homes under your belt. You know, I started September 27th. Like, now, yes. I start back in July collecting the orders. But year one, we started September 27th. And we wrapped the week before October 16th, because that's my youngest son's birthday. So, I mean, 22 weeks. Yeah, two weeks. We just.

And today you go. You deliver all the way until, like, October 17th or so.

Now we go through October 17th. So this is the first year that I've opened four weeks of delivery for DFW, which has been so great. It's allowed us to be able to take on so many more clients. And then in Houston, we do two weeks of delivery. And just based off of this year's numbers, I will absolutely do three weeks in Houston next year. So I'm really excited about that. And then Austin. It's our first year in Austin, and so we are doing. We offered two weeks of delivery, but when we really, like, looked at the numbers, it's going to end up being, like, a week span of time.

All right, so year one, 100,000. Year two, three. What do those look like?

2504-5065-0800-1000. 1200 50. Yeah.

Orders. So you. You basically grew 50 to 80% every year? Every year, 50 to 100%, yeah. That's insane. Okay, so would you say you're the fastest in the company at design?

Oh, 100%, yeah. Okay.

Because that took, like, 15 minutes, and you were kind of talking, taking your time.

So these, on average, take me 10 minutes.

So this is, like, a $400 job.

This is the package three. It just doesn't have the hay because of the steers. So this is $600.

Oh, this is $600 job. What would you say for this job, your profit would be roughly $300? Beautiful. 50% margin. Not easy. I mean, these pumpkins are heavy.

Not easy. And, you know, we started with a 50% profit margin. We dipped down, and we went back to a 50% profit margin because we know how to source pumpkins.

Yeah. So you're obviously not buying these at the grocery store. What is the big secret to sourcing these pumpkins?

The real secret is buying as many pumpkins as you need for your season. And so the more pumpkins you need, then you can get them direct from farmers.

When do you have to get that order into the farms?

So every farm is different, but for the most part, in Texas, like, we're doing pumpkin orders beginning of August.

All right, so, Heather, what first inspired you to start decorating porches with pumpkins?

So we used to live across from the Dallas Arboretum, and they do this amazing display every year. It's called Pumpkin Village. In fact, I was Just there yesterday with our designers.

We love it.

The amount of pumpkins they use is insane. So before I ever stepped into Dallas Arboretum, I would have, like, two pumpkins on my doorstep to represent Halloween and all the fall things. And then I saw what was possible. What is possible, how beautiful it can be, all the different colors and textures. I was a one orange Jack o lantern girl. The Dallas Alberta just really inspired me to start buying and bringing home additional pumpkin varietals. So my first year that I decorated at my home, I actually used all orange Jack o' lantern. It's really tacky. I should get you the picture so you can see it. I went like crazy. I probably had 50 orange Jack O lanterns in my yard. And then I had, like, probably another 50 pie pumpkins.

And you would never dream of doing that.

And I would never do that now, But I loved it then.

Yeah.

And I even got yard of the month, and my neighbors and my friends, and they were like, oh, my gosh, the mini arboretum over here.

Yeah. Yeah. Did you just buy all those at the grocery store?

I would just pick them up from different places. Like, if you go to arboretum, you can get some pumpkins. The grocery store would have some pumpkins. You know, I was never a pumpkin patch person. In Texas, it's really hot, so we didn't ever go to the pumpkin patch and do that. Yes. I was not buying them from a patch. I just started getting more varietals and bringing them to my porch. And my displays got a little better. A little better. I had some trial and error. I learned that pumpkins in landscaping will rot faster. They'll still love, last a pretty good while. Then there's some tricks that you can do to help them elongate through the season. I started putting most of my pumpkins on my porch. Porch pumpkins.

Yeah. Not touching the ground.

Not touching the nature ground.

Yeah.

Yeah. So I started decorating my own porch. People definitely noticed how, like, cute and pretty it was and how festive it was. And so they asked, like, can you do this at my house? And back then, I had two young children. You know, they're 18 months apart. And so the answer was no. But once my youngest was in, like, preschool. I just thought, you know, maybe it's time to do something. I've always done something. I started thinking about, like, well, this pumpkin business. How can I think that is scalable and easy? Well, I love pumpkins, and people have always asked me to do pumpkins. I wanted them to be in the packages. From there, I just Created packages. I created a flyer and kind of the rest is history.

And I think that's important because if you left it up to them to choose what they wanted, like, they don't know and that's confusion and that's friction and that's like them just ultimately saying, nevermind.

Right.

But if you're saying choose this, this, this or this, then they kind have a good direction.

Right. And also as a business owner, your time, you know, so they're like, oh, I want this and this and that. And then you're, you're going to have to like stop and cost that specific thing out, which takes more time. And now do I do custom packages? Absolutely. They start at $3,500 and they go up from there. But I'm happy to do a custom package for anyone at 3500 or more. And that's just what I figured out. Like, that's the price point that I need it to be for my time to not just take the packages that I've already created.

Well, coming from the restaurant world, imagine if there was a restaurant that didn't have a menu and people just walked in and they're like, I don't know, maybe some tacos, some pizza, like, what would the kitchen do? So you have four packages now. Did you start with four?

Well, I actually have the five packages, but yes, I started with four. Package one, which is our largest. The biggest. It has the two grand prize pumpkins, 10 large pumpkins, eight medium pumpkins for each of our specialties. It comes with gourds, mini pumpkins, and two big bills of hay to create like.

Yeah.

Monstrous display.

That's. That's the Highland park display.

That is the big daddy Highland park display. And you know, people ask me all the time, like, what package should I get? So, like, even like looking at this front porch, they could do any one of my packages here. You can't really like. So I'd be like, do you want to pack? Like, are you hosting a party? Do you have something special going on? Let's do the package one this year. But then the typical this year could be the package three. And it's perfect. It's going to have plenty of pumpkins to fill up the porch.

Yeah.

Usually when people do ask me about which pumpkin package to get, I give them like two options. And then I say like, and if you want to go really big, you know, this, a package one will fit on your porch.

If you are looking for that package one. 1350.

1350.

Okay.

Includes design.

Okay.

Clients can add on for us to pick up the pumpkins at the end of the season and take them. We take them to a pumpkin. Excuse me, to a pig farm.

Okay.

The package two is $800. The grand prize pumpkins, like, if you. We sell those individually at 185 each. So if you think about two of those, that's just under $400. Which. That's kind of the. About the price difference.

Yeah.

Minus the few extra pumpkins that you do get with the package one. And then the package three is priced at 525. And our package three and four, I wanted to create a package where we could just drop off the pumpkins for our clients to create their own display. Had I had that option back before I started this business, I absolutely would have paid for someone else who just dropped the pumpkins off and let me be creative. I love being creative, and so it was just important for me to always keep that. So the package three is 525, but then you can add design for $75. And then the package four is the smallest, which is 325, and you can add design for $75.

Okay.

95% of my clients do add design for the package three and four.

I was thinking we were talking about designers, and like, you should. For people that elect not to pay for your design, you should say, hey, send me a picture of what you do, and maybe I'll hire you. Right. Because that is kind of a bottleneck is having good designers. Right?

Yes. Yes.

Have you ever found a designer from a customer?

Actually, yes.

Really?

One of my designers that joined the team last year, I was messaging her to remind her to order, and she's like, are you hiring designers this year? And I said, I sure am. She's like, I love getting my pumpkins from you, but I like displaying myself. She sent me a picture, and I was like, you're hired.

Done. Yeah. One picture.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it was. It's been Great, guys.

It's 93 degrees right now. I spent thousands of dollars to film and edit this video, and my only goal in life is for you to start a business. So if you want to say thanks, all you got to do is subscribe and. Or maybe share it. A friend. It would mean the world to me. When you're doing it, how is it done? Are you the driver and the designer?

No, I used to be. Years one and two. I was literally loading these pumpkins in the back of my white Yukon xl, laying all the seats down, putting as much in as possible. And I could do a whole package two in the back of my car. Or I could fit four package fours.

How much does a package two and four cost?

Package two cost $800 and a package four, the base price is $325. If you add design, it's 75. That's an additional $75. So for a total of 400.

Wow. So in one Yukon, you could fit $1,600 worth of revenue.

Yes.

Wow, that's amazing. Backing up. It's 6:30 in the morning. Your days always start this early during season?

During season, I get to the warehouse every morning at 6am that way we can leave as early as possible. So we work really hard to get as much done during the daylight hours.

And you're losing daylight every day?

Every day. But it's still better than year one.

Yeah.

Year one, we didn't have a website, you know. My goal initially was to do like 30 homes. And so I had no idea the wildfire that was about to happen. I would be driving around with my car full of pumpkins. It was the third day I was in business. My phone just kept going, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. And I was like, what is happening? We're driving out to Fort Worth. And he was like, yeah. And he's like, oh, it's this person wants pumpkins. And I'm like, what's their name? What's their address? I don't know. I don't know anyone over there.

And that was a big unlock. Like, I'm selling to people I don't know.

I'm selling to people I don't know. This is so exciting. And so we got to where we're going. We did all of our designs for the day. And then like, I responded back like I got the information I needed and then I would be done for the day at like 7 o' clock at night. I would then go home, reach back out to these people, send them an invoice. They would venmo me or pay online with a credit card. Like old school, like QuickBooks.

So you expected 30 orders. You hoped for 30. And what did you get the first year?

250.

Oh my gosh.

I know. I was just in the business saying yes. I was like, you want to buy pumpkins from me? My answer is going to be yes. Let me figure it out. And so I just kept saying yes. And I quickly, like, I had Jackson that came on to help me. I found a driver that could actually pull a trailer and so I could do more than like three houses. Of pumpkins at a time. And I even found, like, two designers that could help me in that first year.

Okay.

And then, you know, we just built from that.

Okay, well, I'm going to have to ask you later about how you find these customers, because that. It wouldn't work with any of that.

Got to have the customers. And I am so thankful for all of our customers. And it's just. It's amazing.

Yeah. Okay, so we were just, like, up in the front. That's today's deliveries. Right. And this is like the back stock where they pull it all from.

Yes.

Okay.

Yeah. The quick rundown is there's some here, and then on the backside of the cooler, there's a whole nother huge section. I don't like to run out of things.

Yeah.

This is, again, like, that's a very.

Like, advanced business tactic is over ordering to not run out. Because, like, if you think of a donut shop, we'll give away donuts at the end of the day because it costs, like, 5 cents to make a donut. They sell it for a dollar. And so if they sell out, then that's free money that they just left on the table. But if they have 300 left, and that's like 6 bucks worth of donuts.

Right. You know, and so doing that math, it's important.

Yeah.

And then I also know what you can no longer get from a pumpkin farm mid season.

Oh, yeah. So it's funny because I just noticed, like, as we're filming all the pumpkins to the ceiling, I thought we were just looking at this. You've got a lot of pumpkins going on pie.

Pumpkins come sacked by the pound. And so you don't ever know exactly how many you're gonna get. And so, like, in our packages, package four and three get a half sack. In a package one and two, get a full sack. And when we're out designing, like, you don't know exactly how many you're going to have, because, like, right now, at the beginning of the season, they're bigger. And as the season goes on, they'll get a little bit smaller.

How does that affect your margins? Or does it at all? Like, do you put less pumpkins on a porch if they're bigger?

No, I don't, because I still go by the each. And the other thing is, is we pay by the bin. So if you have smaller pumpkins, like.

We did last year, you get more per bin.

You get more per bin. So then I just use a few more per home.

Okay. So it affects Your design choices, but not your margins. Really? So if you do, I mean, when you over order, because you over order strategically, do you just send those all to the pig farm with the old pumpkins too?

No, that's not the goal. The goal is to sell them all.

Okay.

And, like, if I have to use this, like, in a display display, it's just like a bonus, you know, it's not like, as a grand prize.

So will you start to do more bonuses as the season gets later? If you kind of look at your inventory levels?

If I need to, yes. But usually when I'm looking at my inventory levels and aside from grand price pumpkins, if I'm looking at my inventory levels and I still have enough pumpkins, like, we'll have. We'll have a wait list of 200 or 300 people. We'll look at that wait list and we'll just pull additional trailers at the end of the season. So right now we are scheduled through October 15th, but I've already planned on. We'll have a full route day on October 16th.

Also, do you do discounts for those late days or. No, it's just like, no, they wouldn't have a chance to order anyway.

Right.

That's all.

They got to charge more.

They should have been earlier to place the order. Right. Well, how long do they usually keep.

Them out here in dfw? It's pretty interesting. Like, people either want their pumpkins gone on November 1, the day after Halloween, because they're ready to roll into Christmas. It's like they're hosting Thanksgiving. They want their pumpkins there through Thanksgiving, and then they really want their pumpkins picked up the day after. But it doesn't work that way because we have so many clients that pick pumpkin pickup guarantee that we'll have the pumpkins picked up by the Thursday after Thanksgiving.

Okay.

So within seven days, we'll have them picked up, and we just pick them up in a dump trailer. Just loads and loads of pumpkins, and then we take them to the pumpkin farm. Yeah, Pumpkin farm. Pig farm.

Pig farm. Pig farm. Would you say that people underthink the design aspect of this?

Yes.

Like, like, oh, yeah, I'll just. I'll just throw them up and I.

Think people don't realize, like, how much goes into designing.

Yeah.

And you know what? It's okay. Like, if that's someone else's aesthetic is to just, like, do their own thing, then great. But when it comes to, like, the porch pumpkin method, there's a lot that goes into it. And then, like, Even just when we're training our, our new designers, which we've, we've been blessed with like, really great creative people. And then, you know, they've done pumpkins at their own house, but it's not necessarily the porch pumpkin way. And then like just teaching them some of those methods.

Cuz they might have a beautiful design, but it doesn't fit your brand, it doesn't fit what you want. And that's important.

Yes. It should look like I was at any home.

What percentage smaller would you say your business would be if you had crap design?

This is a luxury product because the.

Way you've positioned it, positioned and priced.

It, and like, you have to order ahead. Like, luxury products require, like, really great service and like a really great aesthetic. And so if we didn't have good designers, I would only say still be a single woman show.

Yeah.

And so that would be great. And there's still a great profit margin in that, but it's even better because I was able to scale it. Okay, this is Gustavo, my number one drive man.

All right, so we're sitting here on a flatbed trailer, and you've got six orders on this.

Six orders? Yes.

Okay, and this is a package three, right?

Yes.

We've got, I don't know, 15 pumpkins in here, plus a bunch of small ones.

Well, no, we have about like 30 pumpkins in here.

Yeah, I'm not good at counting, so.

Yeah.

All right. And what does the package three cost?

Package three costs $525 to be delivered. If the client wants the pumpkins designed and set up by us, they add an additional design fee for $75. So for a total of 600, what.

Percentage of customers roughly add your design fee?

95%.

Okay, so 600 bucks. Most of the time.

This, because I know where this is going today is 600.

Okay.

Yeah.

And then what does it cost to.

Have them pick back up for a package 3? It costs $100 for us to pick them up at the end of the season.

And what percentage of people choose. Choose that.

90% of our.

Okay, so $700.

Yeah. Nice dollars. Here it is.

Okay.

You give people the option.

What are all the packages you have?

So you have a package four. That's $325. You can add design for that one. For 75, you have a package three for $525, which you can add design for 75. DOL. Package two comes with design. It includes design, and that's $800. And then the package number one also includes design. And it's $1,350. Lastly, we have an oh, my gourd package that I have. Oh, my gourd. We have three different colorways that you can choose from on that. So they have, like, a few different number of amounts of pumpkins. And that one's 750 and includes design.

Okay.

We just got an increase in popularity of, like, people that don't want the orange pumpkins. And so that's a way for them to. To order those.

Is that just, like, a trend? Like, the trends are changing. Yeah.

You know, they have, like, all neutrals. Also, if your home gets full sun, the oh, my gourd package does last really well.

Yeah. So, okay, roughly how much revenue is represented on this one?

Roughly, we have six. And the averager package? Three. $3,600.

Okay. And this will take, like, half a day to deliver?

Oh, no. Like, two and a half hours. Three hours.

Wow. How are you unloading these?

Well, I have Gustavo.

I mean, we'll see.

He's gonna unload them, and so he will use a wheelbarrow for most efficiency.

All right, so four. Six hay bales. Six orders. Is it one per house, or does it not go like that?

The package fours don't include hay. People can add that on. But the package threes include two bills pay. So there's some threes and some fours on there. So something like.

Okay, how long have you been doing hay bales for?

From the very beginning.

Okay.

I've always had a front porch that had no steps. So our front porch is super flat. And so I always use hay to create height in my displays. And so when I actually have clients, they'll be like, oh, I don't want any hay. I don't like it. I'm like, I really use it for height to create, like, a nice.

So you do it anyway?

Well, I can. Like, if they say, like, oh, no, but I really don't want hay, then I'm like, okay, I can take it off. If you have steps on your porch, you don't need the hay.

Okay.

So then at that point, that's when I ask, like, oh, do you. Do you have steps? Do you not have steps? I don't.

And. But this is a different supplier, I imagine.

Yes. It's also from Texas, and they actually grow hay just for us.

Really?

Yes.

That's cool.

I can't remember the exact number right now, but I can get that for you. Yeah, we go through a lot of hay.

What does a bale of hay cost.

For the client, $35.

Okay. What do you pay for something like this?

I think we paid $12.

Okay. Solid.

Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. So aside from buying pumpkins, what are your costs in this business?

We have pumpkins, we have umbrella insurance. We rent a forklift, we pay for warehouse space. I personally own a lot of trailers now. Now, we do require our drivers to come with a truck and trailer and a dump trailer, because a dump trailer is really efficient.

Is that for picking them all up for pumpkin? Okay, so if someone wanted to start this, like, cheaply, could they just get away with a trailer or finding a driver that has a trailer?

Yes, absolutely.

Can you store them outside?

You could. You would want to cover them.

Okay. Okay. What about fuel costs? Is that a big expense? Or.

Our drivers and our designers are responsible for that.

Interesting.

99 employees.

Okay. How do you pay your drivers and your designers?

So drivers are paid hourly, and designers are paid by the designers.

Okay. Usually the businesses we create are. We're solving our own problems. Right. So you're your own customer, and you're the business owner. So you've approached everything in this business of, like, how would I think of it? What I want to be paid to do this? Would I want to do design? Would I want to outsource that? People might think at first, well, like, I'm just one person. Like, why should I build my business around my needs or preferences? But that's the demand. Like, even if it's a sample size of 1, you're proving that there's a demand. Whereas a lot of times people approach business and, like, they're just guessing from theory. Like, what do they want? They probably pay $150 for porch pumpk. Be, like, they would pay a lot more.

More, more. Higher, Higher. Right. I am the average consumer. There are people that spend a lot more. There are people that spend less than I do. So when I created these package sizes, I was really thinking about, like, what do I do? What do I think my friend Gara would do? What do I think this person would do? And you kind of go from there, and then it is trial and error, but specifically, like, charging what you're worth.

Yeah.

That is so important for me as a female business entrepreneur. I'm going to make sure that I am being paid adequately for the time away from my precious family, my precious children.

Exactly.

And I really think anyone should, because everyone gets 24 hours in a day.

Yeah. Sometimes people approach it like, well, I know I could go get this job for 18 an hour, so I'll charge 20 an hour. But the question is like what you said, how much would I need to be paid to spend time away from my children? Probably way more. Right. So if you can't build a business at that price, then maybe you shouldn't build a business.

I'm on your very first season. You could easily do $30,000, maybe even $40,000 if you got started now and got yourself out there and really marketed yourself and follow some specific strategy to get clients. So.

And half of that being profit? Roughly, yes. So two months of work, 10 to $20,000 of net profit first season.

Right.

That's, that's not like pie in the sky. Passive income, sexy YouTube numbers. That's realistic.

That's a realistic number. And it is not passive income because you need, in order to make that percentage, you need to be working it, you need to be doing it. But yes, it is absolutely attainable.

Well, passive income is a four letter word on this channel. So we don't believe in it. Like it's, you know. Yeah, I'm like, like gurus will sell the dream of passive income to sell courses, but I don't promise anything is passive income. I don't think true passive income exists if you get to that point and you're investing in stocks or bonds. It took a lot of active income to get there. But this is not that. Yeah, yeah. Customer acquisition, that's like the hardest part. What are your go to tactics tricks, secrets of Instagram, short form video and all of that?

Instagram, I follow what is trending now. And so on my Instagram I don't do silly, I don't do ridiculous, I don't do all the funny trends which. But you know, right now carousels are really hot. And during my sales season I made sure that I was using a lot more carousels than I would previously. Last year I would just do a single static photo because that's what was doing better.

Yeah.

And then also reels like. So you have to follow what Instagram algorithm is putting out there. And if you just follow some different marketing people on Instagram, Instagram, they will literally give you that information for free. You just have to do a little bit of homework.

Yeah.

So that's one big thing.

Time lapses.

No, I mean I, especially during cell season. I'm not making time lapses now.

You're too busy.

I'm too busy. And sell season. Like I don't have new pumpkins to create the content with, so I'm using some old content. But. So Instagram follow the current trends. But If I'm just starting out, you can use social media. But the fortunes and the follow up. And they say a comment on your Instagram or they leave a message in your inbox. Yeah, you have to follow up with them. I mean, especially as a brand new entrepreneur, you need to follow up and make sure. Like, oh, coming back to make sure that I can help you place your order. I haven't seen your photo come through yet. Like, you have to do the work, get those orders.

I mean, entrepreneurs like us, we're eternal optimists. Right. And so I even still, I fall into the trap of I got 10 leads, I have 10 people that want my porch pumpkins, I have 10 customers. No, no, not even close. If you follow up with them maniacally, you might have seven or eight. Like, if you do everything right, if you just like expect them to just remember a week later and follow through and start ordering, you might have one or two.

Right.

So the follow up is everything.

Everything. You can't just send an email out like, oh, I know so many people. I'm on this organization, I'm in this. Like, sure, you can send an email blast out of 200, you'll probably get three or four orders and then everyone else you need to follow up with.

Yeah, personally, one on one.

Personal.

Yeah. It doesn't seem scalable, it doesn't seem efficient, but it's much more effective.

It is.

What about, are you in the comments? Like all over the comments all the time?

And that again, that's because Instagram guru someone told me that the first, I don't remember the exact minutes, but it's like the first 30 minutes that you post something, you should be prepared to sit there and reply to all the comments. And so I do that.

Yeah.

You know, increase my reach beyond what we'll even see over the next week. Because we are on a wait list now, but we potentially go on a wait list so we can make sure that we're filling our routes that aren't completely full. So I can add more Lakewood homes or University park homes, etc.

So, okay, so season one, you did 250 homes.

Yes.

And I just think it's interesting that you're saying 20 to 50 is realistic and I love that because you're conservative and you're not trying to. But like you did 250.

That's right.

And people watching this now have a blueprint. Right?

True. I think I'm so conservative because my goal was 30.

Yeah.

You know, my goal was 30. I thought that was a realistic number. I am in DFW where we have 8 million people. Yeah, 8 million people. And then I once had someone tell me in a sales position that I had is like, right. Like a 200 order. And so that's always stayed in my mind. And that's why I said yes to prosper. That's why I say yes to Fort Worth. That's why I say yes to Lucas. I just have to put a dollar amount on it. We go there, like, how far are you in your area from each population? Say yes, go there and you can grow.

Yeah.

And just because I was the first, like six years ago to kind of create this model, doesn't mean that there's not more room for everybody.

Oh, yeah. People don't understand how much the pie grows. Like, as more people see Porsches on pumpkins, they want it.

Right.

In a sense, more competitors is more business for everyone. Right. Whereas if you were always only the only person doing this, your ceiling is somewhat capped.

Right. You don't have as much reach because not as many people are seeing it.

Right. So from 250 orders to. You're creeping up on 1300 this year.

Yes. Yeah.

That's incredible. And this is like the beginning of year six, right? Season six.

I call it season six.

Yeah. Yeah.

It's tricky, but.

Okay. How much, like profit do you think you'll make this year?

I think our percentage margins will be anywhere from 50 to 55%.

That's incredible. Hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Yes.

That's incredible.

Two months of very concentrated work, September through the end of October, and then there's another, like month and a half of part time work.

Yeah.

That goes into it.

Okay.

At this scale, at this level, that's.

Like, that's what's so interesting about this business is season one, $10,000 profit a month for two months. Right. Season six, not saying results are typical.

Right.

Over a hundred thousand per month of profit. That's. That's incredible. It's not often that I meet people that didn't just start a business, but started a whole industry. A pumpkin movement, if you will. How does. How does that feel?

It feels incredible. At first I didn't really understand the magnitude and like really feel the magnitude, but especially this year with some of the conversations we've had and so many pumpkin entrepreneurs, like, just across the US that truly have like tagged me or sent me a DM to like say, like, I started my business because of you. I saw that you were doing this in dfw and I wanted to Bring this to my own city or town. Thank you.

Yeah.

And so I realized like I did create an industry. Yeah, it's, it's exciting and I'm, I'm thankful for it. And it's just, I think it's so great for so many people to be able to have a flexible income and do this. And there's some people that are doing it beyond pumpkins and they're doing, they're going to plan and do Christmas and holidays and that's wonderful. That's another option.

Yeah.

But the pumpkin porch, like decorating.

Yeah.

Started here in Dallas.

Yeah, it did with you. I think a lot of people are watching this and they're go getters and they're going to go out and try it. Maybe they'll fail, maybe they succeed. Some people want a little more help, more hand holding. So support. What do you offer people?

So I offer two different things. One is I offer business coaching. Business coaching happens in the spring. So obviously I'm really busy taking care of my own business right now in the fall. But January 2026 business coaching courses are available online. They're in person, they're zoom, they're very socialized to the unique person. And there are two hours, so two one hour sessions. Those will be on my website starting January and I do those through June on porchpumpkins.com on porchpumpkins.com and then the most exciting part is we are going to be offering franchise the spring.

Wow.

And so we've done 90 of the leg work was ready this past year. But we are going to do the finishing touches and getting that ready. And we cannot wait to see how many towns will actually have a Porch Pumpkins in it. Operating under the Porch Pumpkins brand and with all of our training and all the resources and all the information that we've learned along the way, we can't wait to share that with other people.

Well, people will have like protected territories if they are franchise, right?

Yes, absolutely.

That's incredible. And that'll be ready by 2026 season?

Yes, that will be ready for the 2026 season.

Okay. And they can learn more@pinchpumpkins.com there as well.

Porch pumpkins.com yes.

Okay. I meant to ask you, when you're talking about Instagram, do you ever put paid ads behind your organic stuff?

I don't know how to do that.

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Oh, paid like what I do like you boost it? Yes, I do that.

Do you boost it to like a specific zip code and that works?

Yes, I tell that in my business visual that's.

Are there any farms that you like or prefer?

Oh, I love a farm. Pumpkin pile in West Texas employee data. They are amazing. They're a family, multi generation family working together and they put out beautiful pumpkins. They do a great job. Their communication is great. Their website's easy, but they do a great job and we, we love them.

Pumpkin pile. P Y L E. Right.

P Y L E. Okay.

And this is not an ad. We're not being paid by them to say this is the. Do you recommend someone starting with a farm or starting with like a distributor or.

There's just different ways to go about it. I mean you can purchase pumpkins from a nursery. They are going to be like the bottom level of ease where to get pumpkins and get quality and variety. And then you could pick like a middleman type person that would be like a produce distributor.

Okay, let me just see if I get it. So the very, very like the worst but most accessible option is just going to the grocery store. And that's not scalable. You're not really going to be very.

Profitable and you're only probably going to be able to get three or four varietals from that.

Okay. And then one up is the nursery.

A nursery pumpkins are gonna be a little bit more expensive, but you're gonna have likely really great quality and you're gonna have a great option of pumpkin variety.

Okay. And then up from there is like a grocery distributor or a broker or is a broker one up?

Yeah, no, like a pumpkin broker. They're still, they're a middleman, they're not the farm.

Yeah. And they're gonna mark it up.

And they're gonna mark it up. They're gonna make money for helping you get those pumpkins.

Yeah. And that's how you started.

Yes, absolutely.

Okay. And then up from there you go directly to the farm.

Directly to the farm. And then this year we brought in 2018 wheelers or we will bring in 2018 wheelers directly from farms.

Yeah, that's a lot. That's a lot of pumpkins.

It is, it is.

So what percentage of like all of the secret sauce would you say we covered today? Because I think people are like us entrepreneurs. We're over optimistic, we're overconfident sometimes of everything there is that you know about this business. What percentage did we cover in this video?

I mean we haven't been together that long today. I don't know, like 10%, maybe 15 max.

Okay.

There's just so much, there's so much that goes into it and like yes, astute smart people that have the brain for it in the eye they can kind of pick apart some pieces and I was happy to share but there's so much more.

Yeah.

To making this business work. Make it easy and make it flow from the very beginning.

Okay. Porchpumpkins.com.