This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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My friends, let's go on a buzz worthy adventure. I'm excited, I'm here to tell you about the stinging side hustle of a Minnesota couple. This couple makes a sweet six figure income for keeping bees, keeping bees. There's golden them bees, as they say. These are Minnesota hardy bees.
They go dog sledding in the middle of winter before shopping at Target. They are bred to survive and also bred to make a lot of money for their keepers. I enjoyed working on this story. Six figure beekeeping buzzes for Minnesota couple. These hardy bees aren't messing around.
Stay tuned for the story. [Music]
Common advice from some people is to follow your passion. And I kind of prefer a modified version which is follow the right passion. Follow the right passion, one that is valuable to other people. And as part of the process, you transform that passion into a valuable offer.
So today we're taking a look at two people from Minnesota who did just that. Travis and Kiara Bolton took their love of beekeeping and turned it into a successful business. One that eventually allowed them to quit their full-time jobs and earn a living doing something they truly love. So let's talk about the beautiful story of their business. Bolton bees, like beautiful, okay.
Bolton bees, neither Kiara nor Travis grew up around bees. I mean, who does? And they certainly didn't have any childhood fantasies about becoming beekeepers. But to see where it all began, let's buzz back all the way to 2005. In fact, where Kiara still in college moved to China to further her education in international relations.
She ended up staying several years. And while there, she was invited to help on a sustainability project in a mountainside town in the Himalayas. That project was all about beehives. Fast forward a few years, Kiara returns home with a lot more than a cultural experience. In her years away, she developed a passion for what would become her life's work, beekeeping.
And like a true worker bee, she didn't waste any time turning this passion into a real hobby. She bought her very first hive and convinced her grandfather to let her house it in his yard. It was a hobby that would soon consume not only her life, but that of her future honeybee and husband, enter Travis Bolton. At first, Travis had no interest in bees. That is, until Kiara decided to buzz off to Texas for a week to visit an apiary, kind of a bee city, leaving Travis in charge of her beehive.
Turns out the responsibility didn't sting Travis at all. You could even say he was bewitched. The absence of his queen bee had the positive effect of kickstarting his own passion for beekeeping. When Kiara returned, he had dozens of questions for her about the hive. And it wasn't just lip service.
A week later, they returned to Texas together to work at the apiary. Travis took a day job in construction to pay their bills. And instead of money for the beekeeping services, they asked to be paid in bees. Beehives are expensive. At the time, they cost up to $400 each and they took 20 of them.
When they returned to Minnesota, they had those 20 beehives in tow, quite the colony for an immature operation. And they hoped to turn these Southern bees into Northern bees, but the initial results were not promising. They learned quickly that bees bred in Southern climates couldn't handle the brutal Northern winters. They forgot to pack their winter coats and nearly half the bees didn't survive the first winter. To combat the problem, they began to breed the bees using a survival of the fittest.
The ones that produced more honey and showed they could survive the cold were bred with others who did the same. This resulted in what could only be described as super deluxe, casserole-eating, wood-shopping Northern bees. The bees were so hardy that by the next winter, only 7% of the bees didn't make it. A big improvement. It wasn't that same year that they felt more confident in their breeding operation.
They started selling some of the hives to other aspiring beekeepers in Minnesota. They figured this could be a nice little side business to supplement their incomes. Travis was still working in construction and Chiara had taken a job managing a nursing home. The income was welcome as they had spent about $10,000 setting up the hives and transporting those original bees up from Texas. While conducting all this breeding, they were producing a lot of honey.
So much so that they needed 55 gallon drums to store it in. While the original plan was to sell queens and hives, they quickly realized they could make more income from selling honey. They started with a few gift shops and the turnover was fast. The next year was when they finally decided to go all in on Bolton bees. Both Travis and Chiara quit their full-time jobs and became full-time beekeepers.
It was the culmination of years of work and passion, but things weren't slowing down. Bolton bees was becoming a hive of activity. The next year was the first six-figure operation for Bolton bees. They brought in a total income of $150,000. That's a lot of honey.
And what are they doing with this influx of income? Well, naturally they are buying more hives. I guess you should stay tuned for a future episode. Minnesota couple makes seven figures from bees. Travis and Chiara's success is proof that if you stick to your passion and be positive, fantastic things can happen.
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We first talked about Bolton bees many years ago and are they still up and running? Yes, they are. Go check out boltenbees.com. They describe themselves as a family-owned first-generation business striving to be the best source for high-quality Minnesota hardy bees and raw honeys in the Midwest. And they do it all themselves.
They are the beekeepers. They sell bees and honey only that they produce. Well done, guys. I'm so glad a beekeeping operation is still up and running. Buzzing along, we could say.
Oh, and these Bolton bees are also Minnesota nice. If you ever need to like borrow a cup of sugar, you just go over, bees will help you out. Listeners, I hope you enjoyed this story. Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better. The whole point of Side Hustle School is to bring you stories of relatable people who have done pretty incredible things by following a passion, but also following the right passion, as I said.
Following a passion and a skill, making something of value and creating a new life for themselves often along the way. I've been happy to make this show for you 3,200 plus days in a row. New episodes out every day, seven days a week. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School.
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- From the Onward Project.
