First Publish Date: August 7, 2020; Last Updated: December 20, 2024

If the idea of someday walking away from corporate life to a home-based lifestyle is alluring, here is an inspirational case study to help you envision your dream and start planning your own self-sustaining, home-centric business.

Our love of eating avocados and growing avocado trees from seeds, led us to an encounter with an affable, avocado farmer on YouTube, by the name of Tom Siddons. We had been vigorously searching for various answers on how to improve our avocado tree expertise.

Besides answering our emailed questions, Tom also generously gave us time on the phone, which allowed us to ask a myriad of questions on our garden challenges. Though he didn’t know us, he could tell from our emails that we were sincerely passionate about avocados, which was all that mattered to him.

As we found him to be highly knowledgeable, personable and passionate about his family and farm — the same on-camera, as in-person — we were curious to learn more about how he created this charming life for himself.

In short, Siddons is a former corporate sales executive turned avocado farmer and seasoned YouTube personality, who is pursuing his dream life on his own terms — not by accident!

Through our conversations, we discovered the intriguing backstory of Siddons’ farming business, Sleepy Lizard Avocado Farm. Since we instinctively recognized the unique value of Siddons’ venture, and that growing numbers of homeowners could benefit from his sage advice, we are grateful that Tom agreed to share his key lessons learned with our readers.

Lessons Learned on Starting a Home-Based Business from Tom Siddons

Also see:

Note: All photos, images and videos are courtesy of Sleepy Lizard Avocado Farm.

 

First Step: Start Dreaming

The inverse of a “Money Pit” is a “Gold Mine“, and over recent years, increasing numbers of homeowners have been discovering ways to turn their homes into revenue generators.

In many instances, disruptive business platforms have been the key for homeowners to start earning income from their properties. Popular categories of monetization partners have included: Short-Term Vacation Rentals (Airbnb; Vrbo); Storage Rentals (Neighbor; Stache); Parking Space Rentals (SpotHero; CurbFlip); and even Swimming Pool Rentals (Swimply). Certain home-based businesses can also enable you to write off property taxes, insurance, mortgage payments, renovation costs, in addition to providing a host of other advantages.

Sunset after a busy day at Sleepy Lizard Avocado Farm

Sunset after a busy day at Sleepy Lizard Avocado Farm

Largely fueled by technology, these emerging opportunities are making it easier for homeowners to follow Siddons’ first, and likely most important, piece of advice:

Start Dreaming!

The Story of Sleepy Lizard Avocado Farm

The circumstances under which Sleepy Lizard was launched, underscores the importance of contemplating the type of business you might someday want to own and manage — not thinking about it next week — or tomorrow — but today!

Sleepy Lizard Avocado Farm color circular logo on white background, large

Prioritizing a few strong candidates, while ruling out various misfits, will put you ahead of schedule. This is especially true when circumstances cause you to start your business sooner than anticipated, as was the case for Sleepy Lizard.

Siddons left his corporate career as VP of Sales for Siemens Healthineers, having been with the firm for over 22 years. As the manager for the southeast region he was responsible for$160 million in annual sales. Although he enjoyed his corporate career, he always had a 5-year plan of someday leaving corporate America to become his own boss.

Fortunately for him, a corporate buyout presented itself earlier than expected, which moved his timeline up significantly. Enthusiastically taking the deal, he abruptly found himself in the execution phase of his plan to launch and run his own home enterprise. However, he was more than prepared.

Based in Homestead, Florida, in the Everglades, Siddons launched Sleepy Lizard Avocado Farm in 2014.

The Sleepy Lizard YouTube Channel is further testament that Siddons’ intuition was right all along, as well. His growing collection of videos has documented how Siddons has developed and honed a natural affinity for his business, his new lifestyle, and his customer base. In the video below, Tom shares a contagious affirmation for his fellow avocadophiles:

“Seems like a lot of people are growing avocado trees these days. I think that’s fantastic! Because avocados make people happy, and happy people make the world a better place!”

Avocado Tree from Seed to Fruit

 

Choosing a Business Type

Prior to leaving his corporate gig, Siddons had studied and developed a financial plan that would enable him to leave corporate life to start his own business. His initial financial goals were for his business to cover his:

  • Home Mortgage
  • Property Taxes, and
  • Insurance

At the early stages of his research, he knew that he would choose one of two business types, either:

  1. An Agricultural Business, or
  2. An Innkeeper Business

For example, Florida allows residential land to have cottages, duplexes, and short-term, Airbnb rental units.

While listening to Siddons explain his choice, our initial assumption was that a rental business would have been more appealing. At first glance, we thought an innkeeper business would involve less physical labor and risk, while offering more free time. We were surprised at what we learned about the advantages of an agricultural business.

When we asked why he chose an agricultural business, which requires more labor, knowledge and money than an Airbnb setup, Siddons gave us three succinct reasons:

  1. Huge Tax Benefits
  2. Trees Don’t Complain
  3. Lower Cost Basis

 

1. Tax Benefits

While performing his due diligence, Tom learned that the state of Florida rewarded agricultural businesses with substantial tax incentives and that such breaks would be unavailable with other home-based businesses, such as an Airbnb property. A key part of Siddons’ financial plan was to focus on adequate after-tax profit, no matter the business type.

Tax incentive programs are also a signal that a state government actively wants your type of business to be successful. Agricultural businesses, in particular, generate a large percentage of revenue from out-of-state markets.

Conversely, other business types that lack state encouragement may face challenging obstacles in the form of:

  • Licenses & Fees
  • Regulation
  • Restrictions
  • Competition, and
  • Less-Favorable Tax Treatment

 

2. Trees Don’t Complain

The amount of actual continuous labor that one must invest on a daily basis was a crucial variable for Tom in choosing his business. Counterintuitively, agriculture can actually be a passive way to make money that does not require working 24/7, as being an innkeeper would require a greater time commitment.

Sleepy Lizard Avocado Farm Trees

Siddons likes to refer to his trees as “ghost workers”, as they do their thing morning, noon and night, without needing a 24/7 on-call staff. Trees also offer risk diversification, as only a little work is required per tree, but combined they represent many revenue streams.

Tom explained that an Airbnb set up would require dealing with all types of people as they passed through his property:

  • Different Personalities
  • Different Tastes, and
  • Different Needs

He knew that a good innkeeper would be required to satisfy all of these unrelenting demands. As he looked back at that approach, he realized that being an innkeeper can be pretty exhausting and subject to more unknowns. Agriculture, on the other hand, has more controllable and predictable variables, and most importantly:

“Trees don’t complain, or talk back!” – Tom Siddons, laughingly.

 

3. Lower Cost Basis

Compared to starting an innkeeper business, his startup costs for an avocado farm were significantly lower. By purchasing an existing agricultural business, Tom would be able to generate revenue in his first year of operation.

For an innkeeper business, he would need to make outlays for renovations, home décor items and supplies, plus marketing. He also knew that an avocado farm could be financially sufficient to meet his core financial goals.

 

Starting vs. Buying a Business

Through detailed research on finances, agriculture and real-estate, Siddons was able to parlay his knowledge into the purchase of a multi-acre, working, avocado farm. He found his future home that came with a farm in similar fashion as most homebuyers do: he drove around a desirable area and inquired about properties that looked promising.

Sleepy Lizard Avocado Farm House

Interestingly, Siddons admits that he knew nothing about agriculture prior to purchasing the land and the farm. However, he knew of others in the Redlands that had invested in properties and were able to outsource the operations for hired hands to work the land. Basically he was confident that it was possible to make a living on a business that was 100% agriculture.

Another critical variable in Siddons’ decision was his choice of crop. Avocados tend to have more seasonal stability than other fruits and vegetables that can have variable and unpredictable outcomes depending on the weather patterns for the region.

Additionally, competition from foreign growers is less for avocados than say, mangoes or bananas. Wearing his corporate hat, Siddons remarked:

“Avocados are like holding a low-risk mutual fund — very stable and predictable!“

Sleepy Lizard Avocado Tree with Fruit

 

Planning for Setbacks

Siddons does, however, warn that entering into an agricultural business is not without risk. He cautions potential farmers to:

“Expect setbacks and set aside reserve funds for fixes. Know the possible things that can go wrong and their possible costs.”

He gives an example of a $50 per tree repair cost, plus the opportunity cost of loss sales over the first and second years, as the tree rebounds to full output. Expanding on his warning, he states:

“You need to have the right and realistic expectations.”

Having watched videos of his experience dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, we can attest that Tom believes in himself and can handle whatever comes his way.

UPDATE:

Siddons recently shared with us an unusually challenging type of setback that the company experienced during the summer of 2024, with his previous shipping partner, USPS. A shipping pallet —  representing approximately 100 orders — was lost, but was then later delivered — well-past the shelf life of the ordered produce! Thus, Sleepy Lizard incurred compounded, amplified financial and customer service woes:

  • No feasible financial recompense from USPS (e.g. due to overwhelming bureaucratic morass)
  • The absolute worst kind of customer experience (e.g. late, spoiled produce)
  • Double financial loss due to losing the original inventory, plus the cost to refund and re-fulfill the original orders
Monroe Avocados 8 to 10 lb order from Sleepy Lizard Avocado Farm

An 8-10lb order of Monroe Avocados from Sleepy Lizard Avocado Farm

The good news from this debacle was that this situation forced Sleepy Lizard to “up their shipping game” immediately to restore the faith of their customers. They did so by:

  • Partnering with a significantly more reliable shipping partner, in UPS
  • Improving the quality of their packaging (e.g. stronger boxes, enhanced branding materials, etc.)
  • Proactively communicating with impacted customers, publicly and privately, with prompt resolution
  • Improving fulfillment efficiency (e.g. faster times) by taking advantage of UPS’s longer open hours (e.g. closing at 8PM instead of 5PM)

As a result, Sleepy Lizard has seen an increase in repeat customers and referrals, and a decrease in refunds — a tremendous validation that they turned a negative into a positive! Siddons mentioned that setbacks of this kind (i.e. “Non-Insurable Risks”) cannot be fixed with insurance or capital reserves. This was a stark reminder on how important mutually-aligned partnerships are to maintain high standards of reliability and quality.

Though technically not a setback, Siddons also mentioned that the business concept of “break-even” can be challenging to manage when your company is always in growth mode (i.e. pouring profits immediately back into the business).

 

Be Entrepreneurial & Always Be Learning

Siddons has learned that farmers are naturally resourceful, as the need to get the most yield out of one’s land fuels ingenuity.

For example, many farmers in his area invest in beehives to improve pollination. What is left are the bees in their hives that can now be used to produce honey for additional sales and revenue. This is a by-product of the primary investment. Other examples of this type of resourcefulness include purchasing chickens, goats and cows, and selling excess eggs and milk as a “side hustle”.

Avocados and exotic fruit selection from Sleepy Lizard Avocado Farm

The breadth of avocados and exotic fruit available from Sleepy Lizard Avocado Farm

Though avocados represent the bulk of Siddons’ business, his farm also produces a variety of tropical fruits that are available for harvest throughout the year.

Florida Everglades near Homestead, Florida

Additionally they have dabbled in agrotourism and guided Everglades day tours, including: bass fishing, cycling, hiking, and kayaking.

South Florida has a bustling agriculture community that works in conjunction with the University of Florida Tropical Research and Education Center (IFAS) in Homestead. This meeting of “like minds” fosters entrepreneurism to learn improved practices and collective problem-solving when grappling with problematic issues such as invasive pests harmful to local crops.

 

Parting Words of Advice

Siddons’ parting words of wisdom for home-based entrepreneurs is simple:

“At different points in your life be sure to come up for air and set a direction. You don’t just wake up and do it. You have to dream and plan. Sit down and think about it. What would be your ideal scenario? What would you do if you won the lottery? Write it down on paper, plan and execute”.

When Tom asks himself what he would do differently if he won the lottery today, he wouldn’t change anything, except maybe buy a nicer car. He is currently sixteen years into his journey.

Tom Siddons Owner Sleepy Lizard Farm

Tom Siddons, Owner of Sleepy Lizard Avocado Farm

Reflection on Success

When asked what his most memorable or proudest moment was in pursuing his dream, Siddons responded seeing one of his Sleepy Lizard stickers on someone’s car “out in the wild”. He assured us that it was not his mother’s car, which made it all the more fulfilling. He also gets a thrill when he is recognized in public as “that avocado guy on YouTube”.

Summary of Tom’s Tips for Launching a Home-Based Business

  1. Come Up for Air & Start Dreaming
  2. Make Financial Plans & Goals
  3. Research
  4. Choose Wisely
  5. Plan for Setbacks
  6. Be Resourceful
  7. Always Learn & Innovate

 

Updated Information on Sleepy Lizard Avocado Farm

We recently reconnected with Tom to find out what Sleepy Lizard has been up to since we were last in contact. This information is current as of December 20, 2024.

Here are key highlights Siddons shared with us:

  • Sleepy Lizard (SL) now sells all of their produce inventory directly to retail customers, as they are no longer reliant on wholesale partnerships
  • SL has expanded their acreage by an additional 17 acres through lease agreements
  • SL has elevated their shipping reliability by switching to UPS
  • SL has been growing their line of exotic, rare and specialty fruits (e.g. Mamey Sapote, Sapodilla, Soursop, Monstera Deliciosa, Exotic Russell Avocados, etc.)
  • SL will be providing promotional incentives in 2025 to entice customers to try less familiar kinds of fruit
  • SL will continue to leverage Siddon’s innate gift of making avocados and exotic fruit fun and interesting through social media platforms
  • SL’s financial capabilities and production have far exceeded the company’s original goals

Tom Siddons Shares His Joy on the Many Ways to Eat Mamey Sapote

How to Eat Mamey Sapote

Sleepy Lizard cultivates five varieties of Florida avocado. Four varieties mature in November: Monroe, Choquette, Hall, and Lula. Their early season cultivar is also their largest. The Simmonds avocado matures in late spring and some can exceed three pounds!

They also grow rare varieties of mango and banana, as well as exotic tropical fruit such as Jaboticaba, Monstera Deliciosa, Loquat, Longan, Mamey Sapote and Sapodilla. Trees from their nursery can be purchased by those who prefer to grow fruit on their own at home.

Here are their current fruit seasons:

  • Monroe, Choquette, Hall, and Lula (In-Season Avocados): June-November
  • Simmonds (Early-Season Avocado): Late Spring
  • Exotic Russell Avocados: August
  • Mamey Sapote: February
  • Mangos: May-September
  • Monstera Fruit: August
  • Fruit orders are shipped on Mondays and Tuesdays

To make purchases from Sleepy Lizard, such as avocados, tee shirts, stickers or guacamole maker kits, go to Sleepy Lizard’s website.

Siddons’ YouTube channel has continued to create a lot of buzz owing to his onscreen, avuncular personality and his double entendre wit. Viewers can learn the History of Avocados, as well as learn how to grown various fruits from seed in his short but highly informative videos. Tom has also expanded his video presence to TikTok, which, unsuprisingly, has been well-received.

 

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