I Made $30M With My Side Project
Starter Story
Mar 10, 2024
This is the story of how Kevin Espiritu went from trying 5+ hobbies and failing multiple businesses, to building a gardening brand making over $30M/year. Kevin talks about his childhood, how he grew the business, and what his days look like now running one of the biggest gardening brands in the world.
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When
I
graduated
after
that
I
really
had
no
clue
what
I
wanted
to
do
and
so
I
tried
a
ton
of
different
hobbies
2013
ish
or
so
I
started
gardening
with
my
brother
just
to
break
the
pattern
get
off
the
computer
get
outside
and
I
wasn't
thinking
it
would
be
anything
but
a
hobby
I
think
curiosity
as
an
entrepreneur
is
what
propels
you
and
if
you
innately
have
it
then
you're
sort
of
good
to
go
My
name
is
Kevin
Espiritu
and
I
am
the
founder
of
Epic
Gardening
which
is
the
world's
most
followed
gardening
brand
Bootstrapped
it
to
7
3
million
a
year
and
now
do
tens
of
millions
a
year
in
revenue
So
we're
here
at
my
homestead
I
call
it
in
suburban
San
Diego
It's
about
a
third
of
an
acre
The
house
is
1
000
square
feet
so
pretty
small
house
Live
here
with
my
girlfriend
and
some
random
cats
that
come
by
We
have
9
hens
and
probably
like
300
plus
plants
thousands
of
plants
I'm
not
even
really
sure
25
fruit
trees
But
this
is
Epic
Gardening
headquarters
This
is
where
we
film
all
our
content
this
is
where
we
test
our
products
this
is
where
we
grow
out
our
new
varieties
of
our
seeds
that
we
sell
and
just
kind
of
hang
out
I
grew
up
here
in
Southern
California
San
Diego
in
a
suburban
area
Was
really
into
science
really
into
math
was
being
sent
to
science
camps
as
a
kid
was
collecting
rocks
collecting
coins
And
then
something
that
threw
my
life
for
a
loop
was
when
I
was
13
my
dad
passed
away
in
an
accident
He
was
in
a
pool
swimming
he
loved
to
swim
and
he
passed
out
underwater
Something
caused
him
to
go
unconscious
No
one
was
there
watching
they
should
have
been
and
they
could
not
resuscitate
him
And
so
you
wake
up
one
day
and
you
don't
have
your
dad
So
after
that
I
was
very
independent
even
before
that
I
was
exceptionally
independent
after
that
And
it
was
that
sort
of
way
of
thinking
that
led
me
to
all
these
weird
hobbies
and
following
that
path
because
I
really
didn't
care
anymore
what
anyone
thought
I
should
do
So
what
I
did
is
I
left
college
graduated
The
problem
is
after
that
I
really
had
no
clue
what
I
wanted
to
do
and
so
I
tried
a
ton
of
different
hobbies
I
spent
a
whole
month
doing
night
photography
and
I
spent
a
whole
month
drumming
So
I
would
drum
for
like
six
to
eight
hours
a
day
on
like
an
electric
kit
with
headphones
on
But
yeah
there
was
just
this
whole
period
of
time
where
I
was
trying
a
bunch
of
random
things
meanwhile
probably
playing
some
video
games
and
stuff
at
the
time
and
just
like
exploring
all
these
different
hobbies
2013
ish
or
so
I
started
gardening
with
my
brother
just
to
like
break
the
pattern
get
off
the
computer
get
outside
I
fell
in
love
with
it
just
that
one
summer
I
wasn't
that
good
at
it
but
I
fell
in
love
with
kind
of
the
way
that
you
could
shape
a
plant
the
way
that
you
could
grow
it
So
I
registered
a
blog
and
I
wasn't
thinking
it
would
be
anything
but
a
hobby
To
me
like
having
curiosity
is
kind
of
what
gives
you
your
edge
at
least
for
me
I'm
trying
to
figure
out
how
everything
works
I
mean
how
to
grow
plants
how
an
e
commerce
business
works
how
do
you
learn
how
to
find
a
product
how
do
you
lead
a
team
how
do
you
hire
all
that
kind
of
stuff
I'm
just
innately
curious
in
that
even
if
I
wasn't
going
to
use
it
And
so
sometimes
you
get
really
curious
You
go
down
a
rabbit
hole
in
something
that
you
don't
think
has
that
much
purpose
You
don't
know
what
it
is
don't
know
what
it
is
You
don't
think
it
has
that
much
use
or
application
And
then
lo
and
behold
a
year
later
two
years
later
there
it
is
I
think
the
blog
made
like
400
a
month
And
so
I
ended
up
moving
in
for
half
the
summer
with
my
mom's
ex
and
then
after
that
with
a
friend
of
mine
And
basically
all
I
did
for
like
12
hours
a
day
was
just
write
blog
articles
like
research
gardening
topics
I
was
trying
everything
I
was
like
in
forums
like
commenting
on
stuff
and
dropping
links
here
and
there
and
just
trying
to
get
some
traffic
And
so
yeah
in
about
two
or
three
months
I
think
the
blog
was
making
maybe
two
or
three
grand
a
month
Two
three
months
after
that
as
you
get
towards
later
that
year
in
2016
it
was
making
four
or
five
grand
a
month
month
So
when
you
start
to
get
to
that
level
on
your
own
project
you're
like
okay
like
this
is
maybe
an
accountant's
salary
It's
that
accountant's
salary
I
was
going
to
make
So
maybe
there's
something
here
That
is
the
birth
of
when
I
decided
Epic
Gardening
was
like
a
real
thing
After
years
of
trying
different
hobbies
and
side
projects
Kevin
finally
landed
on
the
right
idea
If
you're
anything
like
Kevin
and
you
also
dream
of
finding
that
one
idea
that
changes
everything
then
imagine
how
helpful
it
would
be
to
save
yourself
months
of
spinning
your
wheels
wheels
by
seeing
examples
of
million
dollar
businesses
started
by
people
just
like
you
Well
at
Starter
Story
we
have
a
library
of
over
4
000
case
studies
and
business
idea
breakdowns
where
you
can
see
exactly
how
regular
people
turn
side
projects
into
million
dollar
businesses
If
you're
serious
about
this
stuff
head
to
the
first
link
in
the
description
and
you
can
download
a
database
of
99
million
problems
we're
solving
that
might
give
you
some
ideas
Now
back
to
Kevin
and
how
he
actually
built
this
business
That
first
year
that
first
six
months
full
time
was
about
70
400
in
revenue
That's
revenue
That's
just
basically
I
didn't
make
any
money
The
next
year
2017
was
75
000
And
after
that
it
was
225
000
So
that
would
be
2018
2019
was
540
000
And
2020
was
2
8
million
And
2021
was
7
3
million
And
so
we've
roughly
tripled
or
more
every
year
up
until
that
point
And
there's
obviously
different
reasons
why
that
happened
as
the
business
kind
of
evolved
How
did
you
get
started
You
know
when
you're
a
creator
you
have
media
brands
or
product
brands
that
want
to
send
you
stuff
and
they
want
you
to
review
it
or
they
want
to
do
a
brand
deal
And
that's
how
we
made
some
money
at
Epic
Gardening
back
in
the
day
And
so
what
I
started
to
put
together
is
why
would
I
not
just
be
the
brand
who
would
sponsor
my
own
content
It
doesn't
make
sense
Nothing
is
preventing
me
from
offering
my
own
product
line
And
what
I
noticed
is
there
was
a
particular
product
that
everyone
kept
asking
about
in
the
content
This
weird
metal
corrugated
raised
bed
that
you
put
soil
in
and
you
put
plants
in
that
and
voila
you
have
a
garden
So
I
had
racked
my
brain
trying
to
think
how
do
I
build
a
product
that
people
will
really
like
that
I
think
is
a
really
good
gardening
product
And
all
of
a
sudden
I
was
just
like
they
want
this
product
You
have
it
in
your
garden
So
why
wouldn't
I
just
offer
it
directly
to
my
audience
The
problem
is
I
didn't
have
a
product
development
background
So
the
way
I
started
was
distributing
a
product
that
already
existed
It
just
didn't
exist
in
America
So
that
was
the
really
clicking
moment
I
slapped
up
a
really
crappy
Shopify
store
because
I
had
never
done
e
commerce
before
Went
on
Instagram
put
an
Instagram
story
up
and
then
in
two
weeks
we
sold
all
of
them
You
know
250
was
media
sort
of
revenue
revenue
and
another
250
was
product
revenue
in
2019
And
that's
when
I
went
oh
actually
I've
been
building
the
start
of
a
business
business
but
the
actual
business
is
beneath
the
educational
material
that
I
was
putting
out
And
that
was
kind
of
the
light
bulb
moment
So
these
days
the
days
are
pretty
varied
It
really
depends
on
the
day
I
mean
some
days
it's
making
a
lot
of
content
and
making
a
lot
of
videos
for
the
people
that
love
what
we
do
and
want
to
learn
how
to
grow
plants
Some
days
it's
in
meetings
might
be
a
product
development
meeting
might
be
an
executive
meeting
might
be
a
company
that
you
might
want
to
work
with
in
some
fashion
So
call
it
like
the
CEO
type
of
things
Some
days
I
literally
have
to
block
my
schedule
off
so
that
I
can
just
actually
be
in
the
garden
doing
the
thing
that
I
was
trying
to
do
all
those
years
ago
to
get
off
the
computer
and
to
get
into
nature
And
as
you've
built
a
business
around
it
it's
obviously
hard
to
find
that
time
sometimes
like
just
true
gardening
time
Cause
even
even
if
I'm
out
in
the
garden
I'll
be
like
Oh
man
I
could
like
that'd
be
a
cool
video
That'd
be
a
cool
concept
Ooh
that
that
product
So
you
can't
turn
the
brain
off
sometimes
So
I've
scheduled
time
to
just
garden
no
agenda
I
can
think
but
I
can't
really
whip
the
phone
out
and
start
making
a
video
or
something
like
that
So
it's
it's
pretty
varied
these
days
I
think
um
a
lot
of
beginners
will
start
and
they'll
say
like
I
need
to
know
stuff
before
I
do
stuff
And
that's
of
course
true
to
a
degree
but
you
don't
need
to
know
as
much
as
you
think
you
need
to
know
You
certainly
don't
have
to
have
like
a
fully
baked
business
plan
with
you
know
perfectly
formatted
and
you
get
your
business
cards
you
have
your
registration
on
your
website
and
all
this
It's
all
in
place
before
you
even
figure
out
if
anyone
wants
what
you're
selling
So
I
think
consume
some
knowledge
like
try
to
figure
out
specifically
I
want
to
start
a
YouTube
channel
Okay
There
are
there
are
some
channels
that
I
could
go
watch
and
learn
how
to
do
that
but
I
would
really
try
to
immediately
put
it
into
action
after
you
consume
Cause
I
spent
so
many
times
just
spending
my
cycles
on
I'm
going
to
learn
about
this
I'm
going
to
learn
about
this
Well
what
about
this
business
Oh
I
can
well
but
I
could
do
this
one
And
you
just
get
stuck
there
and
you're
really
just
treading
water
doing
pretty
much
nothing
in
the
real
world
Hey
guys
Pat
here
If
you're
trying
to
build
something
but
struggling
a
bit
on
where
to
get
started
or
how
to
stay
motivated
then
I
have
something
for
you
I
host
a
free
workshop
on
how
I
built
a
million
dollar
business
on
just
two
hours
a
day
And
I
go
over
the
exact
blueprint
of
how
I
found
the
idea
and
how
I
built
it
while
maintaining
a
full
time
job
You
can
reserve
your
seat
in
the
workshop
by
clicking
the
second
link
in
the
description
but
there
are
limited
spots
I'll
see
you
there
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