This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Hey there friends and listeners, welcome back. This is Chris Guillebeau for Sautosle School. I hope you enjoyed the rabbit story from yesterday. I got a bunch of listener email about that one. And by the way, did you hear about the rabbit who refused to leave her house?
Apparently she was having a bad hair day. Well, we all have challenges we must overcome. Got another great story for you today. It's about a government analyst in Washington, D.C. who actually gets fired while she's pregnant.
Thankfully ends up with another job, but also starts a side hustle to create more security for herself. She actually ends up going to present at the BET Awards. I'll tell you all about her project. And I just realized as I was preparing for this, we've actually had a bunch of government analysts featured on Sautosle School. I'm not sure why that is the case.
Maybe government analysts are not feeling the security about their position that they once did. Maybe they just have a lot of free time. I don't know, it reminds me of when I was writing the $100 startup or born for this. And I was looking for different case studies to feature. I heard from so many lawyers.
I had to put a cap on the number of lawyers that I would feature in those books just because I don't want it to be monotonous. I didn't want every story to be like, oh, so-and-so was a lawyer and they were unhappy being a lawyer. So they went and did something else, et cetera. And then one day on Twitter, I was like, hey, like, are there any happy lawyers out there? Is there anybody out there who's like working in the law and likes their job?
I was like, somebody should write that book. But apparently it would be a pretty short book because I think I heard from like two people. Anyway, that's a side note. Government analysts and lawyers tend to be pretty good at starting other projects, or at least they're pretty motivated to do so. That story about a fashionista who starts a boutique after getting fired while pregnant is coming up right after this.
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Today's story comes from Keisha Nelson Harris, also known as Klasha. She works as an acquisition analyst for a government agency in Washington, D.C. And her side hustle is Klasha's Closet, a boutique selling custom apparel and accessories for the modern and sexy woman, including corset belts, faux leather rompers, bonded dresses, bodysuits, and more. She also designs custom clothing for both men and women. Klasha started her side hustle in a very stressful time in her life.
She'd just returned to work at the Department of General Services following bereavement leave after the death of her father. She was pregnant at the time and was fired from her job shortly after revealing her pregnancy. That is, of course, not just unethical, but also illegal in most cases. Her boss had a horrible reputation for his treatment of women and was himself fired three months later. Thankfully, Keisha eventually ended up in a better job, but for the purpose of our story, we're gonna focus on her side hustle.
And for that, it's probably good to mention that she has a background in fashion and entertainment. The idea of opening a boutique had been running through her head since she was 12 years old. And after losing her job, she took a flying leap into building one. She bought a domain and built her website on the platform Wix. She spent about $500 to get her LLC, commission a logo, and build that initial site.
She also bought a small amount of inventory with her savings and the last check from her job. She decided to mix her boutique with items from wholesale vendors all over the world, as well as her own custom designs. She found most of those vendors by searching for them online or by building relationships with budding designers. She was thorough in checking out their websites, reading their client reviews, and following up on referrals. She also discovered that she could order samples if she wanted to check quality.
Once she got the website, she uploaded a few items and designs and did a soft launch, marketing herself through social media, word of mouth, and vendor shows. For those vendor shows, she learned to bring a display mannequin and a live model to encourage people to come to her table. In fact, she got her first sale through a vendor show, and then more began arriving through social media. It took about two months to sell her inventory and make back her initial investment. After about six months, she was earning at least $500 a month.
Her current monthly side hustle income varies from $500 to $1,500 a month, depending on the season, but for the past few months, it's always been at least $1,000. Keisha recently presented her designs at the Stylist Suite for the BET Awards. This led to a lot of exposure and new connections with the stylists of many of her dream celebrity clients. Next up for "Clasha's Closet" are several shows where she's introducing new pieces and a brand new product line, "Clasha's Curvy Girl." Eventually, Keisha hopes to develop a fashion-related TV show as well as a fashion camp for young teens. [Music]
Awesome, congratulations to Keisha.
I wanna go back to something in her story. This idea of opening a boutique had been running through her head since she was 12 years old. Now, I want you to think about something. Is there an idea that's been running through your head for a while? Maybe since you were 12 years old, or maybe just recently, maybe in the time that you've been listening to side hustle school, maybe whatever your motivation was to start listening to side hustle school.
Like, why are you choosing to invest your time in this process? Well, I'm guessing it's because in one way or another, you want your own side hustle success story. And I often try to help people figure out what their best idea is, and of course, how to make it happen. And I still get emails every single day from people who are like, "Well, I don't know what my idea is." Well, if that's you, you might wanna think about that model, that concept of how there's been something in your head for a long time, but you haven't done anything about it. Well, if so, maybe you should look at it.
And also, when you experience a hard time, all of us have misfortune, we all have challenges that we go through. I don't ever wanna make light of someone's misfortune, but I would encourage you, when you experience something like that, losing your job, perhaps, like Keisha experienced, I would just encourage you to try to find a way to let your potential misfortune become an opportunity for positive change. So let me just say that one more time. Let your potential misfortune become an opportunity for positive change. Doesn't mean that you wanted the misfortune to happen.
Of course not, but since we can't control the past, I believe we should do what we can to influence the future, which is yet another reason why, you're never gonna guess what I'm gonna say, you need a side hustle. All right, that's my inspirational pep talk for the day, but don't just leave on the inspiration, I want you to do something about it. Let this story, let these words lead you to action. Keep your eyes on the prize, keep building something for yourself. Today's show notes are online at sidehustleschool.com/228.
Yesterday's story featured a rabbit tree, today's story featured a fashionista, tomorrow's story features a bearded man, who not only grows a beard, he also grows a grooming business. I'm excited to bring that to you tomorrow at 601 a.m. Eastern time. But of course, you can listen whenever you want. Have a wonderful day over there.
I'm Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School. [Music]
