Notes from Chris

Episode 598

Back in 2016, May Najafabadi was a hard working mom looking to start a side hustle. She wasn’t new to the entrepreneurial lifestyle—in the early days of e-commerce, May ran a business reselling phone accessories on eBay and Amazon. But after eight years and a lot of other sellers entering the market, her business was no longer profitable. She and her husband were also flipping security cameras, but this market quickly dried up too.

Because of her experiences with the ups and downs of business, May wanted to diversify. She was reluctant to be totally dependent on one source of income. By this time, her son was in the third grade, and she wanted to start a new business that had a low startup cost and wouldn’t take up too much of her time.

While considering her options, May remembered that her son enjoyed taking after-school enrichment classes. These classes are offered for one hour, immediately after school dismissal. They range from sports like basketball and tennis, to less physical activities like chess or “mad science.” The courses are offered by private vendors who came to the school, and the kids stayed after school to participate because they were fun.

This was also ideal for parents that couldn’t pick their children up right away. They would pay a fee directly to the vendor and could rest assured knowing their kids were safely entertained while having an extra hour in their day before the kids needed to be retrieved.

When May’s son was in preschool and kindergarten, he really enjoyed making crafts. However, the elementary school stopped making crafts with the kids after first grade. This was May’s inspiration—she says starting a crafts after-school enrichment class at her son’s school seemed like the perfect new project! She called it Creative Kidz Crafts.

May kept her expectations low for enrollment in that first class. She thought to herself that she would be happy if 6 students enrolled. Much to her surprise and pleasure, she had 18 kids sign up! She charged $120 per child for a one hour class held one day a week for a total of eight weeks. She made over $2,000 from that first class—working a total of approximately 8 hours (if you do the math, this equals $250 per hour).

After that, she decided to expand and offer her class to other neighborhood elementary schools. May now offers two classes: in addition to her “Crafts” class, she has a “Jewelry Making” class. Each class is one hour, one day a week, for an eight-week session.

At the moment, May holds class at 5-10 schools per week, and she's started experimenting with pricing. She now charges $140 per student - $120 sign-up and $20 for supplies. The price increase didn’t seem to affect enrollment. In eight weeks time, she made $12,000! Pretty impressive profit for working only one hour a day! You could say making money using this model is child’s play.

---

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Creative Kidz Crafts: It's not just macaroni necklaces and popscicle stick turkeys—learn more about the side hustle May is crafting over on her website!

SEE ALSO:

• Afterschool Alliance | Starting an Afterschool Program: If you're looking for a free resource on starting a program of your own, this is a pretty comprehensive guide!
• Teachers Join Forces To Launch Nerd Summer Camp: Three teachers create an alternative camp for kids who aren’t interested in sports. The school keeps the profits the first year, but they get creative and find a way to pay themselves in year two
• Two Teachers Launch Summer Camp After Listening to Side Hustle School: In need of funds for an adoption, two married teachers consider teaching summer school—but instead of working with the school system, they create their own “brain camp” and earn more than $15,000

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

Yours in the revolution,

---

Download Episodes By Months:

Season 8 (2024): JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC |

Season 7 (2023): JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC |

Season 6 (2022): JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC |

Season 5 (2021): JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC |

Season 4 (2020): JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC |

Season 3 (2019): JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC |

Season 2 (2018): JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC |

Season 1 (2017): JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC |