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My daughter that used to make decent money with her B&B products seems to be giving up. She told me she is taking off at least 6 months, she is frustrated with the competition and all the DIY sites.

This is the daughter that had to have so many teeth extracted and implants. Grandma paid for the implants and extractions but now she needs to earn at least 17k for the crowns. With hubby still out of work she is panicked with sales only trickling in these days. B&B product sales are really slowing down these last couple of years.

On the brighter side, she has turned to selling Painted Lady Caterpillars, Lady Bugs and will be adding in Praying Mantis, and Swallow Tail Butterfly caterpillars. LOL, my 7 yr old granddaughter was up-selling the Lady Bugs!! My daughter said, "every time she talked them into the larger container of Lady Bugs". Well last night she had a fantastic night at the market. Her booth was 10 deep with people and she sold almost $400 in butterfly kits, and has teachers booking demos. Her first week which was last week was also good but this week was fantastic. She has also added in some spectacular Fairy houses she makes. I am so praying this works for her.
 
It's always scary to change business or career paths but it sounds like its going well. I had no idea the butterfly business could be so profitable, lol! I'm happy to hear she's on the right path to getting the dental situation taken care of too. This is exciting news and I hope the new business continues going well! :)
 
It's always scary to change business or career paths but it sounds like its going well. I had no idea the butterfly business could be so profitable, lol! I'm happy to hear she's on the right path to getting the dental situation taken care of too. This is exciting news and I hope the new business continues going well! :)
Thankyou, now if everyone could maybe say some prayers maybe we can get her hubby back to work. Dental work is not exactly there but we are trying. Grammy just cannot help anymore
 
Best wishes for your daughter on her new business venture! I'm really sorry to hear that the B&B business isn't going well for her. I cannot imagine how tough it must be with the tiny margins and each week's newest DIYer selling below cost.

I actually had a butterfly release at my wedding (instead of birdseed). Each butterfly was in individual cardboard packets. Guests opened their packet and out crawled a butterfly that stretched its wings then fluttered off. It made for a lovely end of the ceremony.
 
Best wishes going out for continued success in the butterfly business. Your daughter has been through so much and I really hope this works out for her. It sounds like she is a hard worker, and really deserves it. Things beginning to go right is maybe a sign that her husband will be back at work soon.
 
I'll add my prayers in to everyone else's and hope this business takes off and flies along with the butterlies:) She really deserves the success, and so do you :)
 
Thankyou everyone. Her sales last night went up from the week before. It is amazing, she had people 10 deep lined up at her booth. My sales doubled last night also from her sending them over to check out our "other business". It was a great night. Hopefully we get to stay at the market, as I mentioned in my Needing Karma thread. She even had a customer order an exotic Mantis to the tune of $50. We took a picture of the amount of customers and visitors to her booth to send the city. Oh yeah, I am getting a Ghost Mantis to put in a Bio Bubble I am setting up tomorrow! :) Don't ask what the hubby thinks about it....

Darned kid she just made my love of critters re-emerge. Mom taught her well. We won't talk about how much money I spent raising tadpoles to little froggies. My darling kids collected the tadpoles from a puddle and brought home a bucket full. I was told it was not possible to raise them to full frogs. Wanna bet, we had at least 100 babies we transported back to their natural habitat. Shhhh....don't tell fish and game
 
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That is wonderful news! I certainly hope you both get the karma and success you deserve.

Ghost mantis? Exotic mantis? Gotta google those...I love praying mantis (manti?)
 
You know how it is at fairs and markets, a lot of the same type of vendors over and over. To have something that's so unique will surely be good for business. I can see them now, lined up at her booth! Best of luck to you both. :)
 
The Manti that are indigenous to our area can be released but she is really selling them as a pet. The Exotics are pet only not to be released. She has a disclosure for them to sign that purchase the exotic ones. The Hornworms can be released as can the Ladybugs. Next week she is taking out some type of snail that will eats the destructive garden snails. These she is not raising at the moment. Will probably start after she finds more info about raising them. A local nursery gets the snails for her

Also when someone pays $50+ for a Manti I doubt they would release it :)
 
Ha, I wasn't thinking about $50 for a single mantis buddy. Hehe...

I was wondering since I hope to start a vegetable garden after we move sometime this year (no point in trying up where I am now - I'd need to build a fortress first). I love the idea of releasing beneficial critters to give to give me a hand. I'll remember about your daughter's business and hopefully can place an order with her next year (if she ships to North Carolina)!

Mantis are so much fun to watch - unless they are eating one another... <cue Circle of Life song>
 
Wow, that sounds like great fun. You'll have to do markets together every time now! Just going off to look up orchid manti:)
 
Ha, I wasn't thinking about $50 for a single mantis buddy. Hehe...

I was wondering since I hope to start a vegetable garden after we move sometime this year (no point in trying up where I am now - I'd need to build a fortress first). I love the idea of releasing beneficial critters to give to give me a hand. I'll remember about your daughter's business and hopefully can place an order with her next year (if she ships to North Carolina)!

Mantis are so much fun to watch - unless they are eating one another... <cue Circle of Life song>

Actually, that's one of the things I find so fascinating about them. They're cute as all get out, but vicious little buggers, too! There's something fascinating about cannibalistic animals. One minute they're having a nice little convo and the next, one's biting the head off the other sucking its brains out the neck. Who does that?
 
Actually, that's one of the things I find so fascinating about them. They're cute as all get out, but vicious little buggers, too! There's something fascinating about cannibalistic animals. One minute they're having a nice little convo and the next, one's biting the head off the other sucking its brains out the neck. Who does that?

Ladies do... to their mates! I think the phrase I read was "she eats the male during copulation... putting to good use an otherwise wasted amount of protein".:twisted:
 

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