“Bee Man of New Jersey” Buzzes Into Money Hive

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

In today's story, a beekeeper puts his bees to work, turning a hobby into a money-making side hustle. Be smart and listen to this episode before it buzzes into the archives, where of course it will continue to be available for free forever, because you can listen to every single episode of "Side Hustle School" almost 1600 now, again, for free, @sidehustleschool.com. You can also access many of them through Spotify and Apple Podcasts and elsewhere, but some of them have a rule that you can only list 300 or so episodes there, just 300 measly episodes. So we have, of course, maintained that entire archive available for free. But today's story, "The Bee Man of New Jersey," that's what I'm gonna tell you about, and what a joy it is to make these stories for you.

By the way, I've been doing it all this time since January 1, 2017, for a global community of people out there who are interested in creating personal freedom, creating freedom for themselves, opportunity for themselves, creative projects, and all without going into debt or quitting their jobs, usually without doing something terribly stressful. I don't ever wanna say it's easy because lots of things in life that are worth doing are not necessarily easy, but there are multiple paths to entrepreneurship or even to, as I said, earning extra money. You might not even think of yourself as an entrepreneur, but there is something you can do. So because there are so many different opportunities, why not choose one that is relatively simple and it's not gonna be stressful. And again, it's not gonna require a lot of capital, right?

So it's very different from what you might see on "Shark Tank" or other shows, which are very entertaining. But one thing I don't like about, you know, reality TV kind of entrepreneurship is that it's all about gaining access to investors and you might not need investors. That's what I'm trying to say, that's what I've been trying to say all this time. So today, "Bee Man of New Jersey," that's the story. It's coming up in just 30 seconds after this quick shout out to our sponsor.

Thank you, sponsor, and thank you, listeners. [Music]

Frank Mortimore got his start in beekeeping the way a lot of folks do, with just one hive, a bit of research, and a lifelong desire to keep bees. Fast forward to today and he's a busy little worker bee with speaking engagements, a book, and naturally a sweet extra income. Frank had been interested in bees since he was a child. He set about learning as much as he could through books, meetings of local beekeeping clubs, and connecting with more experienced beekeepers.

After picking up hive number one, he quickly realized he could enlist his bees to offset the costs of this new hobby. How would he do that? Well, he would sell the honey they produced. Pretty obvious, right? Just one answer for that.

He also enlisted his five-year-old son to sell the honey from the front yard, lemonade stand style. In his second year of beekeeping, they moved 32 pounds of honey. Now, a number of years and 15 additional hives later, Frank sells more than 1,800 pounds of honey each year. He decided early on to not compete with mass-produced supermarket honey, and instead market his as a local quasi-luxury product. Frank's honey costs around $15 a jar and is sold at specialty stores and gift shops near his Northern New Jersey home.

But honey isn't the only product that has sweetened the pot for Frank. With the help of his wife, he branched out and began manufacturing lip balm and hand cream right in his own kitchen. They consulted online tutorials and found all the supplies they needed, and after a few weeks of tweaking the recipes, had two additional products to add to their revenue. Aside from the time he spent reading up on how to keep bees, Frank's initial investment was just $500 for that first beehive and some beekeeping equipment. Ongoing costs are low because bees are fairly self-sufficient, with the biggest expenditure being bottles and labels.

Now, before the pandemic, he was able to attend bee club meetings and festivals where he could sometimes sell up to $1,000 of product in a single day, which is possible with those $15 jars. Now, Frank relies heavily on Facebook and Instagram, posting in local groups and giving educational talks to help get his name out there. Wait, did I say educational talks? That's right, those talks have led Frank to become known as the bee man, and he eventually became the president of his local bee club. He also became a certified master beekeeper through a program at Cornell University, and with those credentials, has taught classes at the New York Botanical Garden.

Eventually, Frank's expertise and reputation even led to a book deal. That's right, check out "Bee People and the Bugs They Love," wherever you shop for books. This reputation helped him overcome the challenge of selling honey at premium prices. As Frank the Bee Man became somewhat of a local legend in New Jersey, people were happy to pay for that quality product. The other main challenge he's faced is one that all beekeepers struggle with, keeping their bees healthy.

All hives are susceptible to mites that can decimate a bee colony. And as Frank puts it, it's a matter of how many mites your bees have, not if they have them. From a childhood fascination with bees to that front yard honey stand operated by his son and his first sale to a specialty store to his cosmetic products and book deal becoming the bee man, Frank was able to harness the energy of his hives to turn a hobby into a reliable income. Which as the old timers might say, is just the bee's knees. [Music]

Here's a fun fact for you.

Bees must collect nectar from about 2 million flowers to make a single pound of honey. So to visit 2 million flowers, bees fly 55,000 miles, which is twice around the sun. I guess that's where the whole worker bee thing comes from. I had no idea it was that intensive, but I'm gonna really appreciate the honey I have next time I have some honey. Also Frank Mortimer's book, "Bee People and the Bugs They Love", he actually got a great blurb from Harlan Coben, who maybe is a beekeeper.

He's also an author of very popular thrillers. Harlan said, "Frank Mortimer's book is getting a ton of buzz. Be smart and read this unbelievably interesting look at the quirky world of beekeeping." Between that Harlan Coben endorsement and Side Hustle School, clearly Frank is going places. So Frank, congratulations. Thank you for letting us tell your story here.

And listeners, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better. There's something you can do too, I promise. To find the show notes for today's episode, including links to everything I mentioned, just go to sidehustleschool.com/1597, 1597. Thank you for joining me today. I hope you'll come back tomorrow.

Much more is coming up. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]

From the Onward Project.