AI Summary
5 min readKevin Espiritu built Epic Gardening from a hobby blog into a $7.3 million annual business by following his curiosity rather than a business plan. After his father died when he was 13, Espiritu became intensely independent, cycling through a series of hobbies—night photography, drumming for six to eight hours a day, gardening with his brother—before landing on something that stuck. Gardening began in 2013 as a way to get off the computer and outside. He registered a vlog without thinking it would be anything more than a hobby. The blog made $400 a month after a year. When it hit $2,000-$3,000 a month a few months later, he realized it could replace the accountant salary he would have earned anyway.
The transition from media to product
For the first few years, Epic Gardening was a media business. Espiritu made money through brand deals and ads on his content. But he noticed a pattern: brands would send him products to review, and he would effectively promote their goods to his audience. The strategic insight was simple: "Why would I not just be the brand who would sponsor my own content?"
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What you'll learn
- 1 (01:27) **From Hobby to Business: The Birth of Epic Gardening** - Kevin Espiritu shares how his father's passing led to a fiercely independent mindset, which later fueled his curiosity-driven exploration of hobbies and eventually gardening.
- 2 (05:23) **Revenue Traction and the Pivot to Products** - Kevin details the early revenue growth of his blog and the lightbulb moment that led him to launch his own product line.
- 3 (10:12) **The Real Business Model & Daily Life** - Kevin explains that the educational content was just the foundation, with the actual business being the products underneath, and describes his varied CEO days.
- 4 (11:47) **Action Over Perfection: Advice for Beginners** - Kevin shares his key advice for aspiring entrepreneurs: don't wait until you have a fully baked plan before testing if anyone wants what you're selling.
- 5 Standout Quotes
- 6 (01:43) "I think curiosity as an entrepreneur is what propels you. And if you innately have it, then you're sort of good to go."
- 7 (03:37) "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."
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Guests on this episode
Show Notes
I Made $30M With My Side Project
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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Follow Kevin 📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/epicgardening 🎥 YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@epicgardening 📱 TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@epicgardening 🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/KevinEspiritu
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Disclaimer: This podcast is published by a viewer using content from Starter Story's YouTube channel with the goal of making his valuable insights more accessible to those who prefer audio formats, helping more people discover and learn from the insights shared in his videos. It is not an official production of Starter Story. For any requests from Starter Story, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
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