Start Your Own Factory
If you build it, will they come? Maybe, but first you have to build it. The people in these stories learned about sourcing, manufacturing, or both. Even complex projects (a boat in a backpack?) can be done part-time, without quitting your job.
Corporate Employee Makes $350,000 Selling Anti-mosquito Wristbands
On-the-Go Mouthwash Gets Mini-Makeover
Fashion Buyer Creates Quirky Comfort Craze
Getting Investors Amped Just Takes a Little Jamming
Perfect Pillowcases Produce Dreamy Profits for Tech Worker
Outdoorsman Sinks Hopes into “Boat in a Backpack”
Engineer Designs Break-In Tool After Getting Locked Out of Apartment
CORPORATE EMPLOYEE MAKES $350,000 SELLING ANTI-MOSQUITO WRISTBANDS
NAME
LOCATION
TORONTO, CANADA
STARTUP COSTS
$200
INCOME
$350,000 PROFIT IN YEAR ONE
WEBSITE
When mosquitoes attack, this marketing manager creates a wristband to ward them off. The project is a swarming success!
Matthew Konstanecki has always had a knack for knowing what would sell. As a marketing manager at a software company, his responsibilities involve seeking out small businesses that would benefit from having a better inventory management system. In his previous job, Matt was responsible for sourcing medical supplies and equipment from China. These experiences gave him the exposure and knowledge he needed for running his own business.
He’d had several side hustles, but each of them ran their course and didn’t produce a ton of money. He kept thinking that surely he could launch something more substantial…he just had to figure out what it was.
The two problems Matt had to figure out were what to sell and how to sell it. The answer, at least in this case, was both strange and sensible.
In his extensive travels, especially in the Caribbean and other humid places like Thailand, he found himself struggling with mosquitoes. With the airplane restrictions on liquids and aerosols, he kept looking for an anti-mosquito product that would be easy to travel with, yet still powerful and effective. He couldn’t find such a product, so after much research, he decided to create a mosquito bracelet that would release geraniol oil, a substance that was proven to repel mosquitoes.
He didn’t invent the wristband idea—he simply branded it. Matt contacted potential suppliers through Alibaba, and hunted for one that was willing and able to produce what he wanted. He then purchased generic wristbands, slapping a brand name on them to differentiate the product from the rest. Invisaband was his name of choice.
The second challenge was figuring out how he would move his products from supplier to consumer. Searching for a distribution company, he stumbled upon Fulfillment by Amazon, a service that helps sellers store, pack, and ship their products. It even handled customer service and served as the perfect solution for Matt’s needs.
None of this would have mattered if Matt wasn’t able to generate some sort of demand for his product. As a marketer, he understood this, so he listed his new wristbands on Indiegogo before he even sold them. His hunch that Invisaband would sell was quickly validated, as he raised $12,315.
Being successful with crowdfunding can be an art by itself, but the gist of what Matt did just came down to hard work. He says that the most common mistake people make is simply publishing their creation and hoping for an audience to come. Unfortunately, this isn’t usually how it goes.
Among other strategies, Matt was successful in searching for journalists and writers who had covered similar products, and then reaching out to them with a special angle. For him, that angle was underpromising and overdelivering. Backers of Invisaband could expect to receive a batch of five bracelets within two weeks of making a pledge of just $19. He had committed to manufacturing two thousand wristbands before launching to ensure that they would be instantly ready to ship when backers placed their order.*1
How did it go? Well, apparently a lot of people are annoyed by mosquitoes, because the business grossed $647,244 in the first year. With profit margins of around 50 percent, Matt made over $350,000.
For such a huge profit, startup costs were minimal. His first batch of product cost just $200 to manufacture, and he only scaled up production when demand for Invisaband was validated.
Matt’s worst experience was having a $10,000 shipment seized at the border because of documentation issues, which almost crippled the business at that point in time. He had to fly down to the United States from Toronto and negotiate with border agents for them to release his goods. It worked out in the end, but it made for a stressful few days.
True to the spirit of side hustling, Matt has now gone on to create two more brands in completely different niches. Both have since generated enough profit to replace an entire full-time income. In addition, he’s expanded to consulting and helping other clients with product launches.
His new winning streak has taken the sting out of those previous misses.
“The best part of this side hustle is the ‘safety’ of knowing that even though I still work in my full-time job, I don’t need to if I don’t want to. There’s something super empowering when you’re in control of your life.” —Matt
FUN FACT One customer bought one hundred Invisibands to keep mosquitoes away from their horses. They chained the bracelets together and put them around the horses’ necks.
CRITICAL FACTOR
Anti-mosquito wristbands have been around for a while, but Matt branded his and created a strong marketing campaign combined with “above and beyond” customer service.
ON-THE-GO MOUTHWASH GETS MINI-MAKEOVER
NAME
MIKE BRACCIALE AND NICK TELFORD
LOCATION
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA
STARTUP COSTS
$20,000
INCOME
$35,000 IN THE FIRST SIX MONTHS
WEBSITE
Two Florida State grads create a mini-mouthwash empire, selling thirty-five hundred bottles in less than a year.
Until two college students decided to rinse, swish, and repeat, the world of mouthwash hadn’t seen a major innovation in the past one hundred years. And it all started with a potentially embarrassing moment.
Mike Bracciale found himself in the starring role of this moment while cramming at the library for an organic chemistry test. As most college students do, he was pulling an all-nighter, which involved copious amounts of coffee and food that should only be consumed with caution after age twenty-five.
He could have braved the storm. But as fate would have it, in walked his sophomore-year crush. Since tables are in short supply around midterms and finals, she opted to share his. At any other time, Mike would have welcomed such an opportunity, but with the lack of a breath mint at hand, things were just a little too close for comfort.
Feigning a desperate need to visit the restroom, Mike dashed home to freshen up before heading back to the library.
We’re not sure how Mike did on that chemistry test, and he didn’t end up getting the girl—that’s a story for another book—but he did walk away with a big idea.
Around this time, students all over campus were walking around with small bottles of a concentrated flavored liquid that they used to spruce up water. While the bottle contained only about 1.62 fluid ounces, that was enough concentrated flavor to add to twenty-four 8-ounce servings of water. With the struggles of bad breath fresh in his mind, Mike couldn’t help but wonder why no one had thought to do the same with mouthwash.
Being on a premed track with several terms of chemistry under his belt, he knew that the average bottle of mouthwash was mostly just water. If he could find a way to take the water out of mouthwash, he could create a product that didn’t yet exist.
He’d also be able to save a ton of money on shipping, reduce the amount of plastic needed per unit, and target a group of people who might be thrilled to take advantage of a mouthwash that was capable of being on the go as much as they were.
Despite his excitement about the idea, Mike didn’t end up acting on it right away. Instead, he spent the next two years getting as much feedback as possible from friends, family, and fellow students on campus. After he graduated, he moved to south Florida for graduate school, and then quickly realized that he wanted something different. That’s when he started looking at his fresh breath idea with fresh eyes.
Just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither is an innovative mouthwash empire. Enter Nick Telford—Mike’s fraternity brother and fellow mouthwash enthusiast. Nick was one of the people Mike had approached for feedback back in his fraternity days. He loved the idea of advancing the cause of fresh breath. They divided responsibilities, with Nick working on financing and brand development, while Mike focused on the product itself.
The goal was daunting: it needed to taste at least as good as most mouthwash in the market, it had to have a major cleaning effect on your mouth, and it also had to be capable of being produced in a concentrated form. With each test run, they were able to get feedback, take it back to the lab, and pump out a new and improved version for testing. Swish, rinse, repeat!
After months of testing, tasting, and revising, Mike and Nick ended up with a concentrated formula that actively fought bacteria, plaque, and tartar for up to eight hours, and would be able to pack sixty uses into a single 1.62 ounce bottle. And, of course, it tasted fantastic.
Since they were transforming oral care by making it accessible on the fly, they decided to call their product Fly Mouthwash. The name is also a nod to the fact that it’s a TSA-approved product and perfect for those who fly often.
Once they finally found the winning compound, it was time to locate a manufacturer. This seemed like it would be the easiest part of the process, since they had a clear vision for packaging—a small bottle similar to the one that inspired the product, along with a narrow opening at the top.
The search turned out to be harder than expected. They couldn’t afford to purchase orders in the large numbers the manufacturers were asking for. Eventually, they found a company in Ohio that would let them start with seven thousand units—still a big commitment for them, but one that was manageable.
All in all, $20,000 of their hard-earned cash went toward getting Fly Mouthwash to the masses. It wasn’t pocket change, but when they had the physical product in their pocket, they knew it was worth it. As for the pricing, they figured that since each of their mini-bottles contained sixty uses, it made sense to price them around $10 each, or $0.16 per use.
Within the first six weeks, they’d already sold fourteen hundred bottles—all with spending only a few hundred dollars on ads.
They got started by selling on Amazon, which was a fantastic way to prove their concept—but it also came with challenges. Crucially, there was no way for them to collect any data on the people who were purchasing their product, making it virtually impossible for them to narrow down who their ideal customer was. And for the few ads they did pay for, there was no real way of telling whether a click-through led to a sale, or which of the ads did better than any other.
The second and third months of operation were dedicated to building a website and e-commerce platform. By the time we featured them on Side Hustle School a few months later, they’d sold more than half of their stock of Fly Mouthwash…all within their first six months.
Next, they tried shifting to a subscription model, offering a club where frequent buyers get a new shipment each month in exchange for a small fee. To their surprise, fifty people signed up over the first weekend they offered it. Mike says that for every individual sale, they’re now bringing in five new monthly subscribers to their “Fresh Breath Club.”
They’ve also been able to give back. Fly Mouthwash has partnered with Water.org to provide safe water for people in the developing world. For every bottle sold, they make a donation that allows local nonprofits to provide safe water to one person for one month.
These days, the mouthwash mavens are looking to move away from marketing their product as merely a “portable” option and are instead looking to replace traditional mouthwash entirely. With funding recently secured from an outside investor who was interested in their product, mouthwash greatness seems to be inevitable. They’re restoring confidence and freshening up the world, one mouth at a time.
“Your product can be great in theory, but if you can’t produce it at scale, you’ll never be able to bring it to the mainstream market.” —Mike
FUN FACT Before mouthwash was invented, people chewed on peppermint, eucalyptus, or vanilla beans. The original manufacturers had a hard time getting their product to stick. It was only when they invested in marketing that people began to buy it.
CRITICAL FACTOR
Mouthwash hadn’t seen much innovation in more than a century. Mike and Nick are creating a fresh-and-clean, portable alternative to existing products.
FASHION BUYER CREATES QUIRKY COMFORT CRAZE
NAME
LOCATION
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
STARTUP COSTS
$25,000
INCOME
$24,000 IN YEAR ONE
WEBSITE
He always had a unique and edgy taste in fashion. Thanks to a BuzzFeed article forwarded by a friend, he’s been able to create a brand that appeals to other people like him.
Kyle Bergman never anticipated that reading BuzzFeed on his office computer would have an impact on his life beyond passing the time. But, thanks to the recommendation of a friend, it gave him the idea for a most unusual side hustle.
Around the Bloomingdale’s offices where he worked as a men’s fashion buyer, Kyle wasn’t afraid to take risks. He was the guy who would turn up on casual Fridays in a Hawaiian shirt, when everyone else wore button-downs and jeans. Because of this quirkiness, one of his colleagues forwarded him a BuzzFeed article she thought he would appreciate.
The article was all about a new fashion craze that combined sweatpants and overalls—and Kyle was sold on the concept as soon as he saw it. But he was also disappointed. The entire article featured women’s sweatpant overalls, and he wanted a pair for himself.
When he got home from work, he spent the entire evening scouring the internet trying to find a pair of these overalls for men. But to his dismay, there were none.
As a last-ditch effort, he decided to look on Alibaba, where he found a single factory drawing of male sweatpant overalls. But because the factory was targeted at retailers, he’d have to order at least three hundred units. It seemed he was out of luck.
Over the next eight months, Kyle kept the unconventional overalls at the back of his mind, but never did anything about them. It was only when he started studying for an MBA at NYU that he decided to take action.
He logged back into Alibaba and sent a message to Mandy, the Chinese supplier who first told him he’d need to order three hundred units. He asked about ordering a sample, and when she quoted him $150 for a single pair, he felt disappointed yet again.
It would be another six months before Kyle finally responded to that quote and bought a sample from her. He managed to negotiate her down to a lower price of $111, merely by jumping on the phone and asking for it. He put in an order…and a few weeks later, he received his prototype.
That prototype exceeded his expectations. The fit was good, and it looked like a premium product. Altogether, the experience gave him the resolve to move forward with his business idea.
He called up Mandy the supplier again, asking for some changes to make the product look “more manly” with thicker straps, a more masculine bib, and a jogging-pants cuff. He also gave her a sizing guide based on his measurements, because he was the typical “large” size for a male. She made these alterations for free, and six weeks later he received a finished product that met the requirements.
Then came the biggest step of all: putting in an order of five hundred units at a per-unit cost of $16.40. Combining this with his other expenses brought his total startup costs to around $25,000—not cheap, but he believed in the product.
Kyle began looking at different ways he could sell his new all-in-one apparel item, and settled on the Fulfillment by Amazon program. By choosing this option, he could send his product to one of Amazon’s warehouses directly, where they’d store it and deal with orders, shipping, and any returns. He’d pay a 15 percent commission and a $5 flat fee on each unit he sold from the warehouse. It seemed like the most viable option for Kyle to keep his potentially high up-front investment down.
In order to use this system, he had to be an official business, not just a sole proprietor. He discovered that registering his business as an LLC (limited liability company) was as simple as contacting his state’s small business registry, giving his company a name, and paying a fee of $250. Kyle called it The Great Fantastic, after a phrase his mother had used. He chose an equally hipster-esque name for his product, calling them Swoveralls.
He set the price for a pair of Swoveralls at $85. In making this decision, he factored in the costs of making the product and storing it with Amazon, which came to $37.15, and looked at the competitive market for other on-trend products. This meant he was selling at a competitive retail price, but still making a 56 percent profit margin on his product.
To get to market, Kyle created a tongue-in-cheek style of branding that he modeled on the Chubbies swim shorts brand. It’s playful and funny, adding to the quirky nature of the Swoveralls themselves.
He applied this style to his online communication to try to bring in new customers to his business. He also reached out to people in his network, including friends who played lacrosse and their extended network, to find models who would pose wearing his product.
The major portion of Kyle’s first sales came from his mailing list. However, this wasn’t a mailing list in the traditional sense. Instead, he manually compiled a list of over seven hundred people he had personally met who he felt might be interested in his new product.
He reached out to them (all of them, one at a time) on the day that he launched the product. This intensive outreach effort was met with a strong response, bringing in a few thousand dollars in orders before the day ended.
However, Kyle’s biggest break was when one of his friends got the product featured in an article in Thrillist, another popular news site. The article about his overalls went viral and began getting picked up by local media and blogs all over the world. Luckily, by then he had set up a website using Shopify to refer all of these people to.
This combination of networking, branding, and reaching out to his old contacts helped Kyle to make over $65,000 in year one, ending up with $24,000 of profit. Who said men’s sweatpant overalls were a risky proposition?
“Having an idea, and then a few months later being able send an order to someone in Whitehorse, Yukon, is special sauce that fuels my entrepreneurial spirit. Yes, I like sweatpant overalls, but the real driver for me is the ability to produce ideas and concepts and get sh*t done.” —Kyle
FUN FACT Early in the project, Kyle attended the Comedy Cellar in New York and took a pair of his Swoveralls with him, on the off chance he bumped into a celebrity. He ended up giving a pair to Amy Schumer, who posted a photo to her online followers. Not bad for his first piece of big exposure!
CRITICAL FACTOR
Whoever would have thought of a men’s overalls-plus-sweatpants combo? No one but Kyle, apparently.
GETTING INVESTORS AMPED JUST TAKES A LITTLE JAMMING
NAME
LOCATION
TORONTO, CANADA
STARTUP COSTS
SUBSTANTIAL
INCOME
$250,000 IN PREORDERS
WEBSITE
A Toronto science teacher and musician creates an attachable guitar amplifier that pairs with a smartphone for improvised jam sessions wherever you are.
Anyone who teaches kids how to make LEGO robots and plays in a band called Death Valley Yacht Club is going to be an interesting and curious person. So it’s not surprising that Toronto science teacher Chris Prendergast created the JamStack, a lightweight, easily attached guitar amplifier that works with a smartphone. The JamStack gives musicians a simple way to practice while incorporating custom sounds and tracks from smartphone apps into the mix.
Chris had grown increasingly frustrated with the effort and hassle of setting up amps and other equipment whenever he wanted to play electric guitar. And because of his teaching duties, where he helps kids with those LEGO robotics, he was comfortable tinkering with electronics.
The tinkering led to a side hustle worthy of the greatest hair bands: Chris created a modular amp that fits on the bottom of guitars. The amp includes a mount for a smartphone and all the necessary cables. At less than two pounds, the setup is nothing like carting a bulky amp around, and it allows for playing along with other tracks, loops, and effects through a smartphone app. When you’re finished jamming, you can also share the tunes online.
But wait, there’s more! The JamStack is portable enough to fit in a guitar case (for all your busking needs), it runs up to eight hours on a charge, and it works with all major smartphones. At 10 watts, the speaker has plenty of power and fidelity to sound great at high and low volumes. It can even double as a portable Bluetooth speaker.
In short, the JamStack is the Ginsu knife of portable amps.*2
Because the phone is mounted right on the guitar, players can set up loops and perform samples on the fly, whether they’re jamming by themselves, practicing with other band members, or performing in a small setting. Using the right apps, the device can re-create virtually any guitar sound without the need for bulky and expensive computer gear. The JamStack can also be used just as a small amplifier without a smartphone—though it won’t play that perfect “Stairway to Heaven” solo for you.
Less than a year after developing the concept, Chris built a prototype and launched crowdfunding projects on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. The Indiegogo campaign surpassed $250,000 in preorders, and the device is now being shipped to backers after being manufactured in China.
Just before Indiegogo, he won $10,000 in the Canadian Music Week Startup Launch Pad pitch competition, granting him one-on-one access to lawyers and record company officials who work with licensing. Finally, he pitched JamStack on Dragons’ Den, the original Shark Tank. Although he didn’t end up taking the offer they made, he says he learned a good deal about how investors think.
As for what’s next, his future seems harmonious. Even though he’s busy with robots and rehearsals for Death Valley Yacht Club, he’s also twanging out ideas for new hardware and software.
Keep your ears open for the next big thing.
“If you’ve got a great idea you can really defend, people will believe in you and want to help you. I started touring innovation hubs, visiting design firms, and entering pitch contests. I found partners that supported my dream.” —Chris
FUN FACT Chris installed a plug-in on his site that tells visitors whenever another customer makes a purchase, along with their first name and location. This simple tool is powerful: “watching” other people buy can help you feel more confident in making a purchase of your own.
CRITICAL FACTOR
The JamStack comes ready to rock, allowing musicians to jam, practice, and even perform without the need to cart a bulky amplifier everywhere they go. It also brings new meaning to the phrase “plug and play.”
PERFECT PILLOWCASES PRODUCE DREAMY PROFITS FOR TECH WORKER
NAME
LOCATION
DALLAS, TEXAS (ORIGINALLY SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA)
STARTUP COSTS
$11,000
INCOME
$100,000+/YEAR
WEBSITE
Tired of battling split ends and hair breakage, an exhausted tech employee switches to satin pillowcases. She then learns to make and sell her own, earning six figures annually.
For nearly a decade, Dale Janée worked for a commercial real estate company in San Francisco. It wasn’t a dream job, but it met her basic needs.
To pursue other interests, Dale started a fashion and lifestyle blog featuring clothing reviews, tips on getting legs like JLo’s, and lessons in making classic Italian cocktails. This project was fun and somewhat profitable—she got paid for occasional sponsored posts—but she mostly considered it a form of mental escape.
The long days and stressful city life, along with some dating drama, led to her feeling frazzled…and her hair was frazzled too.
Dale’s aunt was a hairdresser. During a visit, she noticed a lot of split ends and breakage, and recommended sleeping on a hand-sewn, satin pillowcase. After just a single night on the new pillowcase, Dale noticed a difference in her hair and skin. Satin really was the miracle fabric.
But it was hard to find a high-quality satin pillowcase—so, as one does, she set out to make her own.
She called her idea Savvy Sleepers. Through a friend, she met a woman from Shanghai with multiple connections to factories producing high-end bedding brands, including Pottery Barn.
A month later, she flew to China with her sister and best friend, who was fluent in Mandarin. They went to factory towns and tested over two hundred satin blends to find the best quality and shades of color. They then designed the pillowcase, complete with a secret pocket embroidered with her new Savvy Sleepers logo.
Initial startup costs, including ordering inventory, building an online store, and that in-person scouting trip, were around $11,000.
Dale expected sales and orders to roll in like a flock of sheep ready to be counted. Unfortunately, some of those sheep must have taken a detour on the way to dreamland. Within the first six months, she’d had just under $10,000 in sales. In a lot of our stories, those results would be stellar. But for Dale, they were discouraging.
Yet she persevered, and things began to turn around in the second and third years. Savvy Sleepers was featured in a beauty subscription box, which brought more attention. In turn, that feature led to more press coverage, causing additional spikes in sales. Sales continued to grow over the next eighteen months, and in year three, she hit six figures—a baseline she’s stayed at ever since.
As this side business continued to grow, Dale considered making a big change. Her employer was bought by a competitor, and a number of her coworkers were leaving. She had enough savings to last up to a year even if Savvy Sleepers failed, so she made a careful plan to transition.
That was three years ago, and she hasn’t looked back. Dale’s satin pillowcases are now available in the world’s largest blow-dry bar chain, and also in hair salons and spas nationwide. Her next step involves international expansion, and her long-term goal is to make $1 million in annual sales.
Was it all just a dream? No, this six-figure income is a reality that exists long after Dale wakes up from her savvy satin sleep.
“I knew I had enough savings to last me at least six months to a year if my business failed. I would never recommend quitting your day job until you have a full plan of how you will support yourself, and pay for health insurance and living expenses.” —Dale
FUN FACT Dale chooses playful, pun-worthy names for her pillowcases, like Nappuccino, White Russian, and Pinot Greige—more fun and memorable than calling them brown, white, and gray.
CRITICAL FACTOR
It works! Many people who try sleeping on a satin pillow notice an immediate difference in healthy hair and sometimes even their quality of sleep.
OUTDOORSMAN SINKS HOPES INTO “BOAT-IN-A-BACKPACK”
NAME
LOCATION
HOLLY SPRINGS, NORTH CAROLINA
STARTUP COSTS
SUBSTANTIAL
INCOME
SUBSTANTIAL (EVENTUALLY)
WEBSITE
A passion for the great outdoors leads a project manager to design and manufacture highly portable kayaks.
Pete Flood has always enjoyed traveling, especially when it involves nature. Getting away from the crowds and up to the mountains, lakes, and rivers is his refuge from everyday life. He’s spent many a trip camping, fishing, and scuba diving—from the Bahamas to Alaska—and he wanted a boat that could make exploring these hard-to-reach places a little easier.
For years, he would wake up in the middle of the night, thinking of a slightly different way to design this boat. It would have to be light, versatile, and easy to assemble. And it would help if he could carry it like a backpack. Unfortunately, this boat of his dreams existed only in those dreams.
After years of living with an active imagination, Pete took a trip to the hardware store. He purchased PVC pipe, glue, and some fittings. Then, he began what turned into a long process filled with trial and error. Fortunately, he was patient.
Since Pete has a full-time job as a senior project manager for a software company, he spent his nights and weekends, off and on for a couple of years, building over twenty prototypes until he was happy. Before he showed it to anyone other than his wife, he made sure to get it patented.
With his patent filed and a prototype in hand, Pete headed to the Outdoor Retailer Market in Salt Lake City. While at the event, he landed an important meeting with someone who helped him see that, even after all those revisions, his design was problematic and needed more work.
Another inventor might have given up, but Pete ditched the design he brought to the show and started over. Completing another twenty-plus revisions, he invented an even better design for what he calls his K-Pak folding boat. This new design allowed the boat to go from completely packed to ready for the water in four minutes.
After patenting this new design, Pete needed to find a manufacturer who could bring the prototype to retail reality. This led him on a three-year quest around the country, from New York to California to Virginia. Pete eventually made three trips to China, trying to find a manufacturer that would work with him.
Ultimately, he ended up going with a Chinese manufacturer. After more than five years of dreaming, the first round of K-Pak boats was shipped to Pete back home in North Carolina.
The end of one successful chapter meant the beginning of another. Now that he had a product in hand, it was time to market it and get these boats into the hands of adventurers. Pete started by creating a website that included lots of photos and videos demonstrating just how easy the boat was to set up. He set up the usual social media channels and a way to process payments.
He also approached some outdoor stores about stocking his boats, but soon realized that it wasn’t a good fit. Unlike other boats, Pete’s boat-in-a-backpack requires a bit of explanation. The average consumer in a store would see a black backpack—and then an assembled boat—and have to make a mental leap to connect the two. And since it sells for just under $900, it’s not exactly an impulse buy.
Not only that, but Pete’s boats don’t require anything other than a paddle and a life jacket. Any other boat usually requires a variety of other products, including a bailer pump, a skirt, a cart, and a lift system to help store it. Outdoor stores would miss out on these additional sales with Pete’s boat, so they were resistant.
With this knowledge in hand, he focused on selling direct. Pete hired a marketing manager to help him beef up his online presence. They also started to narrow down their potential markets by doing some focus groups. One of their first target markets came as a surprise to Pete: urban women who head to the outdoors on the weekend became some of his most active buyers.
When it comes to finances, this hasn’t been a $100 startup or cheap side hustle. Getting it going required more than $200,000, spread out across many years. About $100,000 went toward the first production run, and the rest went toward the patent process, materials for his dozens of prototypes, sourcing all the different materials required, traveling around the country to find a manufacturer, and creating a setup for outdoor shows.
Here’s the key point: by keeping his day job throughout the ten-year startup process, Pete was able to invest in his boat dream without stressing over how he’d pay the bills. The job enabled the side hustle to get started—and eventually became profitable.
Pete is a perpetual inventor and tinkerer. He’s already come up with a new butterfly design that will shave minutes off the already quick setup. He’s recently been hitting the outdoor shows again, trying to find partners so that he can sell his boat in as many channels as possible.
But first, he has another adventure trip booked. When we last spoke with him, he was heading off to Norway with his wife to celebrate thirty years of marriage. Naturally, the boat-in-a-backpack was going with them.
“Getting these boats made was no simple task. I spent years trying to source production. I got close several times, but then something would happen and we’d have to start over.” —Pete
FUN FACT One time, when Pete was out paddling around with the camouflage covers on his boat, a beaver swam right up to it and was about to climb on board. The beaver realized just in time that it wasn’t a log.
CRITICAL FACTOR
This wasn’t a quick, cheap, or easy success. But by remaining at his job, Pete was able to build his invention and see it to market without the pressure of depending on the income
ENGINEER DESIGNS BREAK-IN TOOL AFTER GETTING LOCKED OUT OF APARTMENT
After being locked out of his home one too many times, this curious engineer develops a tool to carry in a wallet. In year one, he sells fifty thousand units.
Nate Barr’s hustle began after he locked himself out of his apartment. Again. He had just run out to pick up something at the corner store when he realized he’d brought his wallet but forgotten the keys.
As he was waiting in the cold for someone to come let him in, an idea came to him. If he only had some sort of metal shim, he thought, he might be able to get the door latch open.
He also thought how convenient it would be if he had a bottle opener on him at all times—because a man never knows when he might be called upon to open a bottle. And of course, having such a tool available at all times meant that it would have to fit in his wallet.
Once he got back in his house, he immediately started thinking about what this tool might look like, and what other things he could fit in there. He wanted it to be super thin and feel like a credit card, so that he would carry it with him by default.
With the general idea in place, Nate made a list of all the things that would be cool or useful to have on this tool. He knew it wouldn’t necessarily be a replacement for a pocket knife, but he wanted it to be super functional.
He used free, open-source software to work on the design during evenings and weekends. A couple of weeks and about one hundred iterations later, Nate came up with a design that packed as many tools as possible into one tiny metal card. It had that metal shim and bottle opener he’d thought about the night he was stranded in the cold, a pair of screwdrivers, a hex wrench, a phone kickstand, a headphone wrap…and about a half dozen other features.
At the last minute, he’d added a stenciled monkey into the design, which served a couple of purposes. First, it looked pretty cool. Second, it made the product protectable under trademark law. He called his new tool the PocketMonkey.
With a functional yet aesthetically pleasing design completed, he was ready to test it out. For the first trial, he just cut the design out of cardboard and made sure that it felt right in his hands while doing each function. From there, he sent the design to a group that does laser cutting in metal so that he could test it on a material slightly closer to the end product. Once he’d refined the metal prototype to the point that he was confident it would work, it was time for a Kickstarter campaign.
Nate decided to try crowdfunding the product for a couple of reasons. First, it would give him some capital to create the product in larger quantity. But just as important, he wanted to make sure there was really a market for his idea. Asking people to put down their money in the form of advance commitments seemed like the best way to test this question.
Since the end of the year was drawing near, Nate hurried and launched his Kickstarter before he felt completely ready, knowing that the PocketMonkey would be perfect for holiday presents. The campaign launched on November 30, and by December 14, it had over nineteen hundred backers. Nate raised over $27,000 on Kickstarter and an additional $20,000 on his own newly created website.
Nate was encouraged by the enthusiasm for the campaign. His enthusiasm slowed, however, when he realized he had been overconfident in the time it would take to produce the tool in bulk. He’d promised that the finished product would be in customers’ hands by Christmas—a promise that proved impossible to keep.
As he called factory after factory, he heard the same story. Each manager would politely hear him out, and then tell him that it wasn’t the right fit for the type of metalwork they do. Almost everyone gave him a referral to another manufacturer that might be able to help him out—so he kept calling around.
The project continued to stall even when he thought he’d found the right partner. Whenever someone was willing to work with him, he’d get them the design files and then spend more time going back and forth about various details. But then he wouldn’t hear anything for a while.
Finally, they’d admit that they had hit a roadblock and wouldn’t be able to deliver. This happened multiple times, where he spent hours modifying his design thinking that he’d found his manufacturer, only to learn that his new partner couldn’t handle the job.
It took him five months after launching the crowdfunding campaign to find a partner who would actually produce his PocketMonkey. This meant his promised Christmas delivery turned into the next year, with PocketMonkeys going out in batches as he received them from his manufacturer, extending all the way into June. He still delivered the goods, but the timing wasn’t ideal.
The experience got Nate thinking about two things: first, how he could control more of the manufacturing process himself, and second, what other products he could make that would fit into this brand. He knew that making just one product and launching it in a campaign wouldn’t change his life overnight, so he wanted to keep expanding the brand. But before he could do that, he needed a steady stream of revenue.
Nate took his remaining revenue from the Kickstarter campaign and spent it all on getting himself to a trade show in New York City. Including the rental and staging of a pricey booth at the show, the trip cost more than $10,000. It was a risk, but the decision turned out to be a wise investment. At that one show, retailers from all across the country placed orders.
With some predictable income in place, Nate was able to hire a couple of employees to run the business while he was still working his 9-to-5 job as a software engineer. It wasn’t until two years later that he felt comfortable enough to quit his day job and devote all his energy to growing further. Part of this was because he did everything he could to control his own manufacturing process.
As he described it, “We slowly started swimming upstream in our supply chain and began acquiring more and more machines: first the polisher, then the laser engraver, and on up until we had everything we needed to make the products in-house.”
Having the ability to do almost everything himself made it much easier to launch new products, because he could do the bulk of the work himself. This innovation helped Zootility, the name of his new company, begin making real money. Nate was able to continue to bring on more people while sticking to his ideals: manufacturing and creating jobs in the United States while creating a high-quality, functional product at a competitive price point.
And he’s managed to keep doing this. He’s now up to eighteen employees and dozens of products. To date, Nate has sold over five hundred thousand PocketMonkeys alone, and he has no plans to slow down. He recently launched a line of tool jewelry called Tülry, and has more ideas in the prototyping and percolating stages.
Looking back, he’s glad he didn’t take his keys with him that cold November day in Maine. He’s also glad he followed up on his crazy idea.
“By controlling our entire supply chain, we can tell the difference between something that is actually hard to do versus someone trying to create hype to justify a high price. Since we’ve done it all ourselves, we’ve learned about each step along the way.” —Nate
FUN FACT Nate’s inventions may have saved at least one person’s life. A customer was hiking in Moab, Utah, when they stopped to watch a rock climber as she was rappelling down an arch. When she was 30 feet from the ground, her hair got stuck in the belay device. She didn’t have a knife on her, and her hair was getting more stuck the longer she tried to fix it. The customer happened to have a WildCard in his wallet, which has a small knife built into it. He managed to throw the card up to her so she could cut herself free.*4
CRITICAL FACTOR
Nate’s tiny tool can accomplish dozens of tasks, but it all fits in your wallet or phone case. He also sells them in bulk on his website—a smart move, since the price point is so low.
If you’re ready to take the plunge—or just dip your toe in the Pacific Ocean of reselling—you might want to take a look at the behemoth of factory listings, Alibaba.com. Upon visiting Alibaba, you’ll encounter thousands of product listings, complete with prices, terms of purchase, and reviews of the manufacturer from other customers.
The simple and easiest way to get started is to select some kind of product line to experiment with. Yoga mats? Remote-controlled tractors? Adjustable cat furniture? It’s all there on Alibaba—just be aware that browsing the site is an easy way to lose an entire afternoon.
You’ll likely be more successful if you find some way to “brand” the items you buy. Matthew Konstanecki’s anti-mosquito wristbands were made to include the name Invisiband on them. Another popular Side Hustle School story featured a guy who made $300,000 reselling manual coffee grinders on Amazon. The only physical difference between his product and other, generic ones was a line of text that included his business name. (The real value came in the way he interacted with his customers.)
Finally, you can also hire a manufacturer to custom build a product for you, just like several of the stories featured here. Download a list of questions to ask potential partners at the site below.
For more, visit SideHustleSchool.com/factory.
*1 “Delivering what you promise” may not sound like a radical strategy, but the world of crowdfunding products is filled with skepticism after too many campaigns have let down their backers.
*2 The only question is, can you turn it up to 11? Perhaps Chris will add this feature in a future version.
*3 Amount raised through Kickstarter campaign
*4 No good deed goes unpunished: after all that, the good Samaritan’s WildCard got confiscated by the TSA on his way home.