A WOMAN earns more than £187,0000-a-year by decorating porches with pumpkins – and says the side hustle has grown by 4,000 per cent since launching.
US-based Heather Torres, 42, has decked out 1,300 porches this year alone.
Clients pay her between $325 (£243) and $1,350 (£1,011) to decorate their gardens with pumpkins for the spooky season.
Since starting Porch Pumpkins in 2020, Heather has decorated thousands of houses – earning more than $250,000 (£187,000) a year.
Her business has grown by 4,000 percent since she launched and Heather expanded operations to deliver pumpkins in Austin, Dallas, and Houston.
Heather, a business owner and stay-at-home mum from Dallas, Texas, said: “Business is absolutely booming for us.
“This year alone we did more than 1,300 porches in the three cities that we operate in.
“It makes me feel so thankful and grateful. I truly love decorating for my own family, but to do this for other people is remarkable.
“I have a gift for this, and to be able to share that gift with 1,300 other homes is special.”
Heather says her first attempt at a display was “tacky” but improved over the years to the point where her neighbors started asking her to decorate their yards.
She said: “October 2013 was the first time I ever did a pumpkin display.
“I had them all spread out in the yard. After that, my designs got a little more defined.
“I started creating designs and using different varieties of pumpkins.
“That is when my friends and neighbours asked if I could do it for them.”
In September 2020, Heather launched Porch Pumpkins, where she uses pumpkins to design a display for the spooky season.
She said her biggest design can take her 35 minutes to arrange, and her smallest will take her around five minutes.
Heather said: “I love the holidays. I think October and pumpkin season mark the beginning of the holiday season and the start of festivities.
“I think it makes people so happy and brings joy – it makes the home feel nice.
“People enjoy a Christmas tree in their home; our pumpkin displays mark the beginning of fall.”
Heather will start taking orders for pumpkins in July and spend four weeks delivering them between September and October 16.
After Halloween on November 1, Heather and the team will collect the pumpkins – if requested – and donate them to farms.
Heather said: “We spend around four weeks delivering the pumpkins to houses.
“At the beginning of November, we will go and collect pumpkins from those who have requested that service.
“We have partnered with a number of organisations who will use our pumpkins to feed their livestock so they don’t go to waste.”
How to start your own business
Dragon’s Den star Theo Paphitis revealed his tips for budding entrepreneurs:
- One of the biggest barriers aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners face is a lack of confidence. You must believe in your idea — even more than that, be the one boring your friends to death about it.
- Never be afraid to make decisions. Once you have an idea, it’s the confidence to make decisions that is crucial to starting and maintaining a business.
- If you don’t take calculated risks, you’re standing still. If a decision turns out to be wrong, identify it quickly and deal with it if you can. Failing that, find someone else who can.
- It’s OK not to get it right the first time. My experience of making bad decisions is what helped develop my confidence, making me who I am today.
- Never underestimate the power of social media, and remember the internet has levelled the playing field for small businesses.
- Don’t forget to dream. A machine can’t do that!
