If you’re looking for a comprehensive worm farming business course, your search is over.
With over 32 (and counting) detailed video-based lessons from me plus PDF resources, the Urban Worm U Business Course gives you the information I learned from growing the Urban Worm Company into a side hustle generating over $1 million in sales and growing from sales of worm castings, the Urban Worm Bag, soil thermometers, coco coir, and of course, composting worms.
I created this course for two reasons:
I was unable to give one-on-one help to everyone who asked. I needed a way to help multiple people simultaneously that recognized the demand on my time.
And more importantly, I believe most people take the wrong approach to starting their business and create unnecessary risk and generate unprofitable labor for themselves.
Urban Worm U Business Course Walkthrough
This course is video based with dozens of video-based lessons grouped into 8 different modules covering business basics, marketing, worm breeding, commercial vermicomposting & more.
Course navigation is simple and regardless of which lesson you’re in, you can see where you are in the overall course.
You’ve also got the option of bouncing around to whichever lesson you like.
See below for the Urban Worm U Business Course outline!
Module 1: Intro to the Worm Business
Lots of folks get into attempting commercial worm farming with a false or incomplete understanding of the road ahead.
I wanted to get out front of that quickly.
These introductory lessons cover the opportunities and challenges of vermicomposting and vermiculture businesses.
We have a lesson on why sales (and not production) is the key to business success and the mechanics of reselling, drop shipping, and affiliate sales.
Module 2: Marketing Basics
If you can’t sell your product, nothing else matters.
If you have the best, most efficient production techniques but can’t get anyone to part with their money, your business is doomed.
This module has lessons covering the basics of marketing, why excellent images on a white background are crucial for any small business, and how to communicate benefits of your product in a way that sparks sales.
I also show you examples of “one pagers” we use to communicate our products’ benefits in a succinct, aesthetically-pleasing way
In-person, local marketing is also likely to be the source of your most profitable sales. So we cover some of the ways you can reach the customers nearest to you.
Module 3: Online Marketing
Online marketing is the special sauce of the Urban Worm Company and is well-represented in this module.
Creating engaging content in blogs, videos, and social media creates trust within your audience and gives your business free exposure on a recurring basis.
Not only do I introduce e-commerce, I give you my choice of web platforms and the 3 main metrics any business needs to concern itself with; traffic, conversion rate, and average order value.
And we discuss how to maximize all 3!
I also show how you can nudge all conversations towards an automated marketing process to allow for truly scalable marketing efforts.
I also have a “Deep Dive” video showing you exactly how I approach content creation for Urban Worm…and how you should too!
Module 4: “Boring” Business Stuff
From LLC formation to S Corps to business insurance to bookkeeping, I show you why handling these things early on can save you a lot of heartache later.
I have a lesson about the need for organized record keeping and documentation of processes to help onboard employees and make your business more sellable in the future.
I also offer up the online tools I use to document processes and organize my documents and media.
We also have a banger of an interview with Zach Brooks, owner of the 10-acre Arizona Worm Farm just outside of Phoenix.
Zach’s an accountant/consultant-turned-worm farmer who dishes out some amazing advice to would-be commercial worm composters or worm breeders.
With over $2mm in revenue in 2023, he’s got some authority.
That interview with Zach is worth the price of the course by itself.
Module 5: Vermiculture
This is our first truly “wormy” module.
The best part of this module is the first lesson, a step-by-step worm breeding process employed by my supplier of pure red wigglers.
And a successful business owner probably needs to know how to harvest, pack, and ship them.
Over the course of 18 weeks, you can use this process to produce a 12-fold increase in your adult worm population – and then deliver them safely to your customers.
I also discuss the one piece of equipment any worm farm needs.
Module 6: Vermicomposting
Making commercial-scale levels of worm castings may seem easy on the surface, but it can be a tough process.
These lessons detail feedstock selection, and which potential food source I’d avoid in your shoes.
We discuss pre-composting and have a great interview with my friend Peter Moon of O2 Compost who advocates using forced air to oxygenate compost piles.
And of course, we detail large-scale vermicomposting methods and harvest that “black gold.”
We also have extensive experience with the WormGear (formerly Michigan SoilWorks CFT) and have a Deep Dive video on using continuous flow through bins to produce worm castings.
There are some hidden landmines to avoid when using continuous flow and you’re going to want to learn from our mistakes.
Module 7: Alternative Income Streams
Not everyone is well-equipped to simply sell worms or worm castings on a commercial scale.
And there are quite a few ways to make alternative streams of income. Whether it’s manufactured products, advertising revenue, soil analysis, or consulting.
This module should open your eyes to ways to ways to build a business outside of the obvious stuff.
8) Business Nuggets
I love the concept of what I call “nuggets,” those pearls of wisdom that can have an outsized effect on your personal and business development.
Over the course of 10 years, I’ve collected a few nuggets that drove me towards the most rewarding and profitable business activities and away from doing things that would just require lots of effort for very little reward.
I’ll pass these nuggets on to you.
Worm Farming Course Levels
I wanted two pricing tiers; one which addresses course members’ advanced needs with business development, project design, and periodic consultation and another which gives customers a bare-bones course at a lower price point.
Course Only
The Course Only plan gives course members lifetime access to all Core Lessons, Deep Dives, Interviews, and Business Nuggets.
Course Only members can of course e-mail us with any administrative help they need navigating our Business Course, but this is definitely a go-it-alone approach to your learning.
Advanced Plan
The Advanced Plan is a no-brainer for people who want more personalized help access to used equipment and a more community-based source of information, whether from me personally or from other students.
The Business Course Advanced Plan tier includes Course access plus:
- Access to a Secret Facebook Group
- Monthly Office Hours Q&A Videoconferences
- Access to Recorded Office Hours Calls
- Notice of Used Equipment Sales
- Premium 15% Affiliate Rates for most Urban Worm Products
- 15% Discounts on aerated static composting packages offered by O2 Compost.
- 45% off Larry Shier’s Elite Worm Breeding Course
- This course details a different but effective worm breeding process
- Discounts on WormGear Vermicomposting Equipment
- Your entire course fee applied to a custom large-scale project design by Aldea Verde’s Francisco Niembro
Summary: A Comprehensive Commercial Worm Farming Course for You
Here was my goal with this course.
Let’s say I had to rebuild Urban Worm from zero into a business grossing over $1mm annually and do it in a way that was sustainable year after year and not reliant on low-margin deals with big box stores.
I wanted to create a course that walked through how I’d do it all over again, leaving no stone unturned. And believe me, it’s not like I followed a road map, a “formula,” or a tried-and-true process to grow the Urban Worm Company.
But that doesn’t mean I can’t tell YOU how to do it. This brings up a great question, by the way.
Why wouldn’t I hide this information?
I mean, why teach a potential competitor?
Well I have an abundance mindset. And I think the world of composting, vermicomposting, and vermiculture is a growing pie. If you win, that doesn’t mean I lose.
But the abundance mindset doesn’t extend to my time.
I have a “real” job and a family.
And I need to fit my business around my lifestyle and family needs, not the other way around.
So I found that I had less and less time to help folks start their own business.
I didn’t want to stiff arm requests; I simply HAD to recognize the value my time by creating this course.
But I knew that if I was going to create a fairly high-ticket course like this, I needed to deliver the goods.
And I think I’ve done that.
With over 5 hours of no-fluff lessons and a 30-day money-back guarantee, this is a safe bet.
And with a ton of money-saving benefits plus access to me and other course members via e-mail, our Facebook Group, and monthly Office Hours calls, the added cost of the Advanced Plan is well worth it.
So whattya say.
Why don’t we get started?