Please, introduce yourself and your business.
Vince. Owner of Backyard Mangoes LLC
How did you start your business?
I'm a full time teacher but had a few mango trees. A friend encouraged me to sell some of my mangoes online. The local value of mangoes is quite different from the other 49 states and I did not realize the value of my mangoes.
The first season I sold about 11 boxes and made decent money for having fun. Fun defined as providing people with high quality mangoes they would otherwise not have access and making a little money. I loved the customer service and contact through mangoes vs the daily grind of middle school science. I used that profit to invest in more tree, consultations and a website.
I went from 4 trees to over 50. From 4 varieties to over 40 Yes there are hundreds of varieties of mango with unique flavors, think wine sommelier. I now have trees from India, Thailand and other SE Asian countries, the Caribbean and of course FL.
I also met a retired teacher that was doing something like me but he was older and not as tech savvy so he only sold locally to established customers. Since I had so few trees I told him what I wanted to do with his mangoes and I then offered to pay him above his asking price. He then helped supply some of the mangoes.
When did you notice traction when building your business? The “Oh S**t!” moment, what did that feel like?
from the first season to the second. 11 sales to 177. if my math is correct that is over 1600% increase. This upcoming season is my 3rd season and I already have repeat customers contacting me for orders.
What was your childhood like? Were you slinging candy on the playground?
I always worked but never had any vision as to job / career. In high school I did drive around the neighborhood on a riding mower and offered to cut lawns. I had quite a few regular lawns to cut.
What has been your best marketing marketing channel?
Still trying to find it. we all are. I did use 2 different small social media personalities and I was quite happy with the sales they generated. I will use more in the future but do a better job of aligning the SM personality with my brand. I will use someone that does more food related content.
How many attempts at building something did you make before you found what you’re working on now? Did you always have an entrepreneurial drive?
I haven't always had the entrepreneurial drive. I thought I was going to quietly finish my 30 years in teaching and slide into retirement.
What is your biggest overhead expense?
I purchased the trees. I already "owned" the land. I did buy some equipment and ferilizers to try and make the mangoes even better. Since I put the trees on property I already owned it is a pretty low overhead and very good ROI.
What’s the most important skill you’ve learned?
Dont know-I'm still learning. As owner you're responsible for it all. figuring out problems and solutions. You learn to try and figure out what is priority and deal with that. Learn to pivot, adjust and adapt. Don't be afraid to make a decision but revisit and revise as needed.
What do you spend the majority of your time doing, in a given week? (I think a lot of people hear entrepreneurs “work,” but may not understand what that means on a day-to-day basis.
researching: how to improve my growth methods, see what competitors are doing, in terms of pricing and offering.
Thinking about ways to improve my brand, brand awareness, customer experience, researching new trees I should add to my grove. Being active in different online mango related pages and groups. , creating Youtube, Insta, TikTok content about mangoes and growing mangoes
What do you know now that you wish you knew when first starting your business?
Don't know what you don't know. Always learning.
The world of entrepreneurship can be misleading. Many people think it’s always easy and always glamorous. What’s a big problem you’ve faced as a business owner and what were the emotions behind it?
Risk. investing in anything and wondering will that investment pay off and to what degree. This is the time of year I worry about fruit sets and development. Will I have enough supply to meet demand? Or the inverse: will I have an abundance of products that I can't sell?
With mangoes it is a very short window to pick and ship. I don't want to pick too early or the fruit would be bad like a grocery store mango.
Pick too late and it will go overripe too quickly. I do a pretty good throttling sales to match supply. There needs to be a delicate balance between supply, sales and demand.
Many people don’t know where to start in the business world, they feel stuck. They may want to start a business to become their own boss and create their hours. What is your best advice for someone who feels completely stuck?
Burn the boats. Some militaries burned the boats as they arrived so the armies had to succeed or fail. There was no pack up and go home plan B.
Some people become paralyzed by information and can't make a decision. Get info and make a decision but be ready to adjust. If you make a poor decision just be ready to learn. Often you can learn best from a mistake.
Check out Vince's Mangos, here:
https://youtube.com/@backyardmangoes4333?si=AWs1fupnblp3WxTJ
https://www.backyardmangoes.com/
https://m.facebook.com/people/Backyard-Mangoes/100083360575106/
