452
7 min 33 sec

Acrobatic Mom Jumps Through Hoops to Become High-flying Entertainer

It’s a bird, it’s a plane… or actually, it’s an acrobatic performance troupe that started as one mom’s side hustle, and now employs 14 people.
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What It's About

A side hustle that really takes flight!

Business Model
Arts & Crafts
Skills Required
Acrobatic & Organization
Complexity
Medium
Profit Potential
Medium

Words of Wisdom

As you can probably imagine, starting something like this takes a lot of work, but it's something that Emily and Brooks love. If you're looking to start a side hustle of your own, they would recommend beginning small and just doing what you love!

Fun Fact

Emily and Brooks invested in some seriously unique equipment as the business grew. Their big showpiece is a giant chandelier, which aerialists can fly from. A classy touch for a class act!

Notes from Chris

Episode 452

Emily Tiller had always been a dancer. She trained classically, before taking up fire dancing and then aerial acrobatics as a way to keep fit. During some time in China, she began training daily and loved being up in the air.

Then in 2013, she and her husband Brooks moved to Nashville. They were looking for ways to make extra money, so Emily sought out some aerial dancing gigs. It worked well—she could fit gigs around her job at a health company, where she worked as an executive account manager. She already had some basic equipment and outfits, and soon met other performers through local circus art communities who she could bring in to different gigs. Her act was called ‘Beyond Wings Circus’—and it had lift off.

She built a free website using Webs.com, set up social media profiles on Facebook and Instagram, and reached out to venues and potential clients. By the second year, Emily was doing a gig every other weekend and bringing on an abundance of new performers.

When she had her first baby, things really started to fly. She took maternity leave from her day job at the office and doubled down on Beyond Wings while rocking her son to sleep.

Now with an army of hula hoopers, fire breathers, jugglers, aerial artists and contortionists, Emily is hitting the big time. Having taken $5,000 in their first year, Beyond Wings now brings in $60,000 a year and employs 14 performers full time.

A few weeks ago, Beyond Wings ran nine performances simultaneously across four different states. Next, they hope to take their acrobatic extravaganza outside of Tennessee and expand across the US.

They’re off to a flying start—and it looks like it’s all up from here.



MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Beyond Wings Circus: Learn more about Emily and Brooks' high flying act over on their website!
  • Webs: Emily and Brooks used Webs to setup Beyond Wings Circus—learn more about it here
SEE ALSO:

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

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Resources

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

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GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS

Social media is nice, but building an email list is still the single best way to get customers and clients for your hustle. It's not hard to get started—sign up for a 30-day trial and join the list-building challenge! You’ll be up and running in no time.


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Quote of the Day
"Our growth has truly been organic. We provide over the top entertainment and great customer service, and focus on always delivering a great performance. Word of mouth along with organic social media has allowed us to be featured on local and national television."
—Emily Tiller #SideHustleSchool

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To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau