The Most Profitable Side Hustle You've Never Heard Of

I mean, that's almost $1,000 an hour in profit.

February, we did about $21,000.

That's incredible.

We'll probably do about $25,000 this month.

This is one of those rare businesses that you can start without any money.

Exactly. We already have several venues that are once a month. We sold out our first event in like 4 or 5 days. Every bar, every restaurant has trivia once a week already. Yeah. To happily do plant bingo on another night. If you made $3,000 profit at every event, that's a million bucks a year.

And you don't have a ton of followers, I imagine?

No, I have like 200. I don't even really use Instagram, so maybe just friends and family.

So if people want to do something like, like this, they don't need to be influencers, they don't need to have a big following.

No, exactly. Anyone could do this. They want people to come out to their event as well. They have 20,000, 30,000 followers, so they're sharing our content. So already from the start, we're getting a big reach.

Oh, genius. The piggyback, the classic piggyback. What business out there makes $30,000 of profit its first 2 months and has $0 of startup costs? Plant Bingo, of course. I found a couple that owns a Plant Bingo business. $30,000 of profit in the their first 2 months right here in Dallas, Texas. We're going to ask them, hey, tell me about your business. How can we copy you? And why is the plant bingo business so dang good? Let's go play plant bingo and find out for ourselves. Okay, so what gives you the idea for plant bingo of all things?

So it actually started— I was watching a TikTok video and I saw a group in California doing it first and instantly, like, just light bulb clicked that, like, this is such a visual thing. Like, I saw it on TikTok, so other people could see it on TikTok too.

Was it like a viral video? Like, was it clear?

It was a viral video. Yeah. I mean, it had to have been if I saw it because I don't really follow anything that plant-related to start with. I mean, I looked through their TikTok and they had several million-view videos. I checked their website and they had 10 events next month and half of them were sold out already.

Oh, wow.

So I was like, okay, so there's already proof of concept.

So what, like, what immediately gave you confidence that this was your idea?

So we have a greenhouse in our backyard that we converted from a shed. To a greenhouse. So we love plants, but we're really good at collecting them.

So you're clearly entrepreneurial. You check that box. You like plants already. You saw the demand in the form of a lot of TikTok views. You saw the demand in the form of 10 events, half were sold out, and then you're just like, I'm doing this, right?

Kind of. I pitch ideas to my wife probably 3 times a week, and usually it just, it's on to the next thing. Yeah. And then the next day she came back and said, I was thinking about plant bingo a little bit more. And like that moment I was like, all right, we're doing this. 'Cause she never says yes to ideas.

Yeah. Yeah.

And I knew she would be perfect for this because she's so outgoing and bubbly.

Keep in mind, this is during my maternity leave too. So I was okay, like give me a second. I just been taking care of our kid for all day long. I need to rethink all this.

Well then just to add some context to the viewers, you own two businesses and you were pregnant at the time and you have a full-time job. Yeah. So it's like, all right, this is a fourth full-time thing.

Basically. Yeah.

Yeah. If I saw this idea and I liked it, which I would, my one concern is like, all right, how do I get all these people to show up in person? That feels intimidating. So how did you do that?

Yeah. So, I mean, we started with our first event at my own venue because I have an indoor soccer facility. I was like, okay, let's just do a really cheap one. So we did it for $10 a person. We brought out free pizza. I was like, everyone already goes home with a plant. They're getting free food, like it's $10, people will easily pay that. And half of it will be our friends and family. And so we just did a couple TikTok, Instagram videos, and eventually it just ended up being almost all strangers and only like 4 friends and family.

And how many people?

We had 25 for our first one. Okay.

And that's— $10 a pop?

That's been our smallest event. Wow. That we've done.

And everyone got a free plant just for attending?

Yeah.

What was your cost on that plant?

So plants typically average about $10 per person. We'll usually do some plants that are $5 to $10, and then we'll do some plants that are $25 to $50.

Okay.

So it'll be a range, but we try to average around $10 to $12 a person.

Okay. So you lost money on this first event.

Yeah, we definitely—

You knew you were going to do that. You're trying to work out the kinks, prove the model, gauge the reactions. Do people even like this? Yeah. Is that kind of the thing?

Yeah, it was like, okay, let's see if this actually can work. Let's see how the logistics work. Let's make sure Steph's comfortable.

Well, and then a few days before that, we went to another brewery where they had just normal bingo. Saw they had like 200 people and like you won free beer and that was it. And it was like, oh, we definitely can make this work. If there's 200 people here, people are going to want free plans. This is going to work.

Yeah. So you saw a different bingo concept where the only prize was free beer?

Yeah, but those are also free, free games to play. So like most breweries will have trivia nights, they'll have brewery nights. Yeah, yeah.

Gotcha.

Just to get people in the door.

To support that, like the hardest part is getting 200 people to show up. It's not getting people to 200 people to pay $30. It's getting them to show up. So even though they didn't have to buy a bingo card, 200 people to show up for bingo, that's proof of concept. That means that you could get that many people to show up, especially if they, there was like the allure of a prize to win, right?

Yeah. That was our whole thought. Like if we're already giving them a prize to take home, we're providing a fun entertainment night for them and they get to go home with something. So it's a win-win for them. So actually that first day when we decided to do it, we started an Instagram account. We started a TikTok account. We started a website. We started our got our logo set up. So we got everything all set up to use the brand.

So what's stopping you from bringing a bunch extra and selling these things to your attendees?

We thought about that. One thing you do need if you want to sell plants, you have to have a license for it.

No way.

Yeah.

Really?

Yeah, it's regulated by Texas government.

The plant police.

The plant people.

The plant police.

So we could get it. It's not that difficult to do.

Okay. The last thing you want to do if you start a business is not incorporate. You got to get an LLC. You need a tax identification number. And you need a registered agent, Bizee can take care of all of that for you. I use Bizee. Don't use the other guys. I've started over 80 businesses and my life was a nightmare until I discovered Bizee. It is the best service out there for helping you incorporate, stay legal, stay compliant so you can focus on what you do best, and that's growing and running your business. Check out bizze.com. That's B-I-Z-Z-E-E.com. How many views did those first videos get?

So our first ones probably didn't get Too many. I mean, maybe 500 to 1,000 at most. I mean, mostly friends for those first few videos before I actually had content of our events.

Yeah. So these were like just your personal Instagram and TikTok pages?

Yeah, it was shared through our personal accounts, basically.

Okay.

And you don't have a ton of followers, I imagine?

No. At the time I have like 200. I don't even really use Instagram. Steph probably has 1,000, maybe just friends and family.

So if people want to do something like, like this, they don't need to be influencers. They don't need to have a big following.

No, exactly. Anyone could do this. We made Facebook events for it. The fact that when we're partnered with a brewery, they want people to come out to their event as well. So they have 20,000, 30,000 followers, so they're sharing our content. So already from the start, we're getting a big reach.

The piggyback, the classic piggyback. That's what you're— is that kind of like the big quote-unquote secret to this, is piggybacking with someone that's going to co-promote you?

Yeah, definitely. I mean, there's no reason to try to do it all ourselves when there's plenty of people that want to share. And that was like, that's what drew us to it the first time. Yeah, it was how visual it was. We know breweries and restaurants, they're going to want as many people to come in through the doors. We usually use times that aren't very busy for them to start with. So it's just a win-win for them. If they get people in the door, then they're selling more drinks and food.

So how does it work with a brewery in this case? Like, do you pay them? Do they pay you? Or is it just an understanding?

Yeah, exactly. We pay zero to them. They pay zero to us. Okay. We do all the work. We market it, and then we just— hopefully they want to share it with their people. But otherwise, we collect the money, we do everything on our side. So for the brewery side, they don't have to do anything, and they just have 100 people, 50 people walking in through their door.

Yeah, so they're hoping that A, they can make extra money that night, B, a small percentage of those people will convert to regulars for them, right?

And some of the people that come out to our events are regulars at their venues already. People typically go once a week to some of these places, so they want to look for something new to do at the same place they already like.

So aside from breweries, what are some other types of venues that are receptive to something like this?

So our first target was always breweries. Um, just cause I knew they did bingo trivia nights already. Uh, we've got into Chicken and Pickle because again, it's similar concept. Basically anywhere though that has, you know, enough seating for it. We've had PTA groups reach out to us. We've had HOA associations reach out to us. So. It's literally anywhere that you can get people together.

And I would imagine your target customer is like 39-year-old like me that probably goes to breweries. I don't, but I'm an exception and likes plants.

I'd say 85, 90% of our audience is women between 25 and 55. You know, they might like plants, but they just looking for something fun to do. Yeah. I mean, you have the groups that are out there for date nights. It's girls night. But yeah, it's a pretty wide range. There's probably like only 10% of people that actually are plant enthusiasts.

Yeah.

That really know what they see when they look here.

Yeah.

Everyone else is just like, oh, that's fun. I love plants. I want to have some more in my house.

Yeah. Yeah. And the men that are there usually just come in with their wives, I imagine.

Like typically, I mean, we'll have, you know, a handful of men that are really interested and excited to win more plants. We had one that actually scared me and Steph the other night because he screamed so loud when he won bingo because he was so excited to win some plants. So yeah, it's such a wide array of different people.

Yeah. Bingo Loco.

Yes.

Are they like a pioneer in this unique bingo space?

100%. We've actually talked about trying to go out to Bingo Loco just to see what it's like.

My wife went and she loved it. Yeah.

Bingo has always been just dark room with a bunch of grandmas essentially. And so like trying to find a fun way to make it more unique. Like people love winning things.

Yeah.

So bingo is just perfect for anyone, but it needs to be, you know, updated and has more incentives to come out versus just your typical, you know, win a couple dollars.

Yeah. Now, are you paying about the same for plants today?

Usually the prize plants now range from $20 to $60 retail. Okay. And the consolation prizes are $5 to $10.

So your first event, you charged $10. What do you charge today per person?

So now we charge $30 per person. We also started selling extra bingo boards. Oh. So we typically average, if we have a 50-person event, we'll sell an extra 30 boards or so.

$30 gets you in the door, How many bingo cards or books?

I'll get you one sheet with 10 boards. So basically we'll do 10 rounds of bingo. Okay. You'll get a board for every round.

Any food anymore?

No food, no drinks. That's kind of up to them with the venue. We try to make sure we have places that have those options.

You're probably hoping for, without any employees, like a 60 to 70% gross profit margin?

Basically, yeah.

Okay. And then after your prize plants, what does your net profit margin end up being?

Depends on the event. We typically range about 75 people per event. So if we're doing that times 30, I mean, yeah, we're probably taking home 50% at least. It depends, like, we have hosts that we can hire to help run the events, so if we are bringing them in, it obviously drops a little bit. But yeah, the margin still range pretty high, probably with setup and takedown.

Are you here for like 3, 4 hours?

Yeah, for a small event, we could be in and out in 3 hours. Okay. If it's a bigger event, like this past Sunday we had 150 people, we were there for about 4 hours just because we wanted to make sure. It was our first time at the venue, want to make sure we know how this setup goes. Once we go back to venues, it's pretty quick and easy.

Kind of like everyone's paying like $33 on average, give or take. Yeah, I mean, a big event would be $5,000.

Yeah, I think we did about $5,300 for the Sunday for 150 people, because the benefit is we also have— we figured out we have no-shows, so we can actually oversell our events, or we can do walk-ins. So I actually probably sold 160 tickets to a 150-person event. Yeah. And then we sold, yeah, another $500 of bingo boards.

Yeah. What has you been your best event ever? Your biggest event?

That was it this past Sunday. So that was our 5th event. Tonight will be our 6th.

Okay.

So every event before that was 50 people. Wow. Besides our very first one.

This is brand new. I mean, you're 2 months old.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

So $5,300. What was your take-home profit after that?

We probably took home about $3,000 and that was after paying 2 hosts, 200 each. Wow.

But you were here too.

Yeah. So me and my wife were both there helping run it. We just didn't know how— what it would need. So you could easily run it with 2 people. It's just nice to have a little less stress for the event.

Yeah.

We don't run it because we need the money. We run it because we enjoy it. Yeah. I like the money.

Yeah.

So like, I don't mind making a little bit less to make it easier.

I mean, it's almost $1,000 an hour in profit. So month 1, how many events did you do?

Month 1? Well, I count January, February, March. So January, we had 1 event.

Okay.

That was our very first one. February, I think we had 4 events.

Okay.

And what was your revenue and profit from those roughly?

So it's a little hard to say because all of our revenue comes so far in advance of our events.

Yeah.

So January we did about $2,700 in revenue. Okay. February we did about $21,000. March will probably do about $25,000 this month because April alone we have 9 events planned. Yeah. And yeah, the events sell, you know, weeks, months in advance, which is great for our cash flow.

So $27,000 your second month.

$21,000 our first month. Second month.

Second month.

Yeah.

Which is really like your first full month. Like your first when you're really rolling. Yeah, exactly. That's incredible. Half-ish profit, a little over half.

Yeah, probably, especially 'cause the first, I mean, we've only started bringing in hosts recently.

Yeah.

So yeah, I mean, there wasn't really a whole lot of costs besides the plants and some initial equipment.

So initially more than half.

Probably more than that.

And as you scale, that percentage will drop, but the real number will increase.

Yeah, exactly. And like to start with, all we bought was a speaker, a microphone, bingo boards, some daubers.

Few hundred bucks in plants, some daubers, some boards that you can print out, a speaker, a mic. Is that about it?

That's basically it. Yeah. We have a fold-up table. We bought some stickers.

Yeah.

But yeah, there's really not much. And then even like half the venues we go to have speakers and microphones there to do trivia.

You just need to buy plants and prints and papers.

Yeah, exactly. Are you going to advertise an event a month in the future, collect the money already, and then use that to buy your plants, use the supplies? So you really don't even have to start with any money.

So this is one of those rare businesses that you can start without any money.

Exactly.

Because you can, you presell the event. Oh man, this business just has everything. But like, if you just wanted to put everything else aside and go all in on this, like, what can the market handle? How many events could you do if you really wanted to scale it?

We're trying to stick around 8 events per month. You know, one during a weekday, one during a weekend. And we've seemed to be able to fill that so far. And then I think we can mix in another 3 to 4 private events per month. Okay. So that way you're not actually having to sell those. They're bringing the revenue already to you with the people. And that's kind of where we're looking to do, you know, the max per city.

Mm-hmm.

But we've already had people from 50 different cities reach out to us. How do we do this in our city? Wow. So we're trying to figure out, okay, do we want to try to help people in other cities? Yeah. What does that look like? We'd love to go to Austin because we think it'd be great down there. It's a short drive. We could easily host ourselves.

Especially in a metroplex like this, you could do them if you wanted to every night.

You could. Yeah, you absolutely could.

You could just do the same venue like twice a month or something. 15 venues and you could do one a night.

Yeah, we already have several venues that are once a month. We have one venue that we haven't even hosted at yet that I already wanted to do once a month for the rest of the year. Why? Because we sold out our first event in like 4 or 5 days.

Yeah.

Every bar, every restaurant has trivia once a week already.

Yeah.

To happily do plant bingo on another night.

If you made $5,000 or sorry, $3,000 profit at every event, not saying that's realistic, and you did an event a night, that's $1 million a year. You're probably like stressing out just thinking about all the logistics because you're buying plants and you're moving things and your food and calling and networking, marketing. Like, I'm not saying it's easy, but like, this could be a million-dollar business in one area.

In one city, for sure.

Is there another type of bingo genre that you kind of have your eyes on or some, like if people are watching this and they're like, I love the concept of a bingo business, plants aren't for me.

We've thought about that because we want to do different theme nights. So we actually have like a mystery plant night coming up. I pitched the idea of book bingo, but I'm not a book person. Steph is.

Oh yeah.

And she was like, I don't know, maybe it could work, maybe not, but I don't see why not.

Yeah.

I think anything that's like cost-efficient and you can get a bunch of easily. Yeah, like I think you could do with anything.

Yeah.

So if someone is watching this and they want to start a business like this, what advice would you give them?

First thing, just reach out to your community. Like, there's so many different Facebook groups for plants in literally every single town, city, and they're tight-knit communities. So if you find a fun event or plan a fun event for them, they'll help support you. As long as you're kind of— you're not just marketing yourself, you're like marketing plant community. You're learning, teaching people about it, and just do videos. TikTok, Instagram has worked amazingly well for us. Yeah, it's very clearly correlated to our views on TikTok to our sales of tickets.

So to find customers, post organically to Instagram and TikTok. You don't have to have a ton of followers. Yep. Pick up the phone and call restaurant owner, brewery owner, events owner, Chicken and Pickle, pickleball, like anywhere that hosts people. Yeah, of at least 50 people.

You can even do this in your backyard. Like, I've seen other people that literally just set up tables and just host it at their own place.

Yeah.

If people want to reach out to you or your business or find you, where can they find you?

So we're The Social Greenhouse. Uh, you can find us on our website, thesocialgreenhouse.com. You can email us events@thesocialgreenhouse.com. TikTok, Instagram.

Okay, thank you.

Thanks, Chris.