🧑🌾 Kid EntrepreneurMarch 1, 2026•⏱ 5 min read
💰 Our First Sale: What We Learned Selling Worms to Neighbors
Three dollars, a cardboard sign, and a dozen nightcrawlers. Our first sale taught us more about business than any book…
Read More →The honest story of BuBi Worms starts with the fact that Bilal was terrified of worms. He's the COO now. How did that happen? Let us tell you.
Where the Idea Came From
We went fishing with our dad at Brushy Creek last summer and we ran out of bait halfway through the day. The nearest bait shop was 20 minutes away. Dad said, "You know, we could just raise our own worms." He probably didn't mean it as a business idea. But we heard it differently.
That night, Burak wrote a list on a napkin:
- Get worms
- Make them make more worms
- Sell the extra ones
- Get rich
He crossed out "Get rich" and wrote "Get fishing money." More realistic.
The First Box
We spent $12 of our birthday money on 100 nightcrawlers from the garden store and put them in a plastic storage bin with damp newspaper and coffee grounds (we looked it up on YouTube). Two weeks later: we still had about 100 worms. They hadn't multiplied yet. We were confused.
💡 What We Learned: Worms need the right temperature, food, and moisture before they'll reproduce. It took about 6 weeks before we saw our first egg capsules (cocoons). Each cocoon hatches 2–7 baby worms!
The First Sale
Three months in, we had too many worms for one bin. Burak made a sign on cardboard: "WORMS FOR FISHING $3/dozen" and we put it at the end of our driveway. Our first customer was our neighbor Mr. Patterson. He took two dozen, came back the next weekend for more, and told his friends. Word spread through the neighborhood faster than we expected.
Naming the Business
Our names are Burak and Bilal. "BuBi" came naturally — first two letters of each name. And since Wiggles (our original worm, the one that started the whole thing) was still alive and running the show, we added "Co" to make it sound professional. BuBi Worms Co. was born.
A Year Later
We now have 6 bins, ship worm castings to gardeners across Central Texas, and have a website (which you're reading right now). Bilal is no longer afraid of worms. He says they're his "colleagues." We think that's the funniest thing anyone has ever said.
