#29: Grave Tending: The Side Hustle You've Probably Never Considered

Betsy Block (0:00)

Hi friends, Betsy Block here, and welcome to The Blooming Solopreneur. This is the podcast for both women who are considering starting a side hustle, as well as those who are looking to grow or pivot a business they already have. I have had a side hustle since 2018, and while I have expanded and pivoted that business over the years, Serene & Green is still my primary side business. And note, I still have an office job as well. And my original offering, Grave Site Beautification, remains one of my primary offerings. If you are listening today and thinking, Ugh, I have no interest in a business that includes visiting cemeteries, I'm just going to skip this one. Please stick around. While this might not be the business for you, I'm going to bet that if you listen until the end, you might think of someone who might actually have interest. And I would be so grateful if you would share this episode with them. Gravetending is for sure a niche business, but I am committed to growing this industry for loads of reasons, which I'll be sharing in today's episode. Today, I want to share a couple of things. I want to share what gravetending is, why people hire gravetenders, why it works as a business, and who is best suited to do it. Because I'm the first to say it is not for everyone. And to help you determine if this might be something you'd like to pursue, I created a free resource. It's a self-assessment that walks you through a couple of prompts, and by the end, you should have a pretty good idea of whether this business is a strong fit, a possible fit, or something that's likely not for you. At least not in this particular stage of life. There is a link to the fit check in the show notes, or you can go to betsyblockblooms.com/fitcheck.

So, Betsy, what is gravetending anyway? I've never heard of it. This is a question I am asked over and over again.

And back in 2017, I hadn't heard of it either. But a series of events led me to learn the term gravetender, and I became fascinated. I shared a bit about that story in episode 27, Don't Waste the Waiting. Gravetenders are essentially cemetery visitors for hire. They are individuals who are paid to visit a grave site on behalf of a client for some specific service. That service might be just doing general tidying tasks, such as weeding the area around a grave site and edging the marker, planting seasonal annuals in the spring or the fall or both, designing and installing a mini garden in front of a headstone with a mix of maybe perennials and annuals and some bulbs. Perhaps it's placing a pot of blooming bulbs. Easter is particularly popular for that, or a floral arrangement or a wreath, or it could be cleaning the headstone itself, whether it's marble or granite, using safe solutions and the appropriate tools.

Right off the bat, I want to address the question that you may be asking yourself. Doesn't the cemetery already do tasks like these? So cemeteries generally maintain the cemetery itself. That is, they mow the grass, maintain the roads in common areas, manage the burials, of course. But that does not mean they are pulling the weeds around your mother's headstone or planting your grandmother's favorite flowers or placing a wreath on the headstone at Christmas time or sending you any photos afterwards. This is where a grave tender comes in. Also, there are different rules and maintenance responsibilities that vary considerably depending on the cemetery, which is really one of the reasons a grave tenderer needs to learn all the local rules in their area. Grave tenders are truly filling this gap in the marketplace, which leads me to why do people hire grave tenders in the first place? You know, I've alluded to some of the issues at cemeteries and what is covered and not covered, but many families care deeply about looking after the grave site of a loved one, whether it's a grandparent or a parent, a spouse or even a child. But they do often struggle to do it themselves and there are a lot of reasons. They may have moved out of the area and just no longer be in proximity to do these tasks. They may just simply have busy lives struggling work or kids or caring for their parents or all three. And they may just want to be able to visit a grave site as time allows without the burden of maintenance tasks. They could be seniors who are no longer able to visit the grave site themselves. There are others who are just uncomfortable visiting a cemetery, but they do find comfort knowing that their loved one is being visited and remembered. Or they just want to know someone can place flowers on a meaningful day like birthday, the anniversary of a death or holiday like Easter or Mother's Day and send a photo. Individuals can carry a lot of guilt when for whatever the reason, they just aren't able to keep the grave site looking tidy and cared for. And when they do visit, what might already be an emotional moment for them can really worsen if the grave site is covered in weeds or the marker has dried grass all over it from the mowers. What I've come to realize having now done this for eight years is what my clients are really paying me for isn't the flowers or the weeding. They are paying for that peace of mind that comes from knowing that someone has showed up. I sometimes think of myself as an envoy. The person who hired me can't be there, so I am showing up on their behalf as a substitute. I have clients who live hundreds of miles away and haven't been able to visit the cemetery themselves in years. After I visit and do my tidying or place flowers, I'll take a photograph and text or email it to them. And sometimes I'll get a quick response, just as simple, thank you, it looks beautiful. Other times, I'll get a whole story. My visit will peak some memory and I'll get a story about their mother or their husband or their grandparent. These are those moments that remind me I'm not just tending a piece of ground. I'm helping someone continue to care for a person they loved and keep those memories alive. One offer I've added recently is doing readings at the sites and a couple of recent examples. I read a very, very sweet message from a woman to her deceased husband on the anniversary of their first date. It was just the sweetest message, I can't tell you. And the other was a note from a mom to a son she had lost when he was a young adult on his birthday. I realize that sounds really heavy. It was, it is. That mom now lives across the country and she's no longer here, but she is incredibly comforted knowing I'm able to visit her son's resting spot and share her messages with him. And I am comforted knowing I can do that for her. So why is this such a great business to dive into? I've narrowed it down to four top reasons. Number one, it's flexible and part-time friendly. You get to decide what exact services you want to offer. Maybe you love flower arranging and just want to focus on delivering florals or maybe you don't have a green thumb and simply want to go all in on cleaning markers. You get to decide exactly what your offers are and what your business looks like. And you can schedule your visits around a job or other family commitments quite easily. I do most of my visits before or after my office job as I try to keep my weekends open. That said, in busy seasons, that's not always possible. I'll work on a Saturday, but that's been my goal. Number two, it is meaningful, service-based work. I understand the appeal of having perhaps an online business. It seems like that's all I see on Instagram now. And especially I think that's true if you have young children. You want to be able to work from home around naps and school pickups. But in my opinion, an in-person, service-based business really does feed your soul in a powerful way. Looking after a sacred place on behalf of a client is deeply meaningful to me.