Go Vote! Freelance Designer Sells Voter Turnout Postcards

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

Today's episode is coming to you on the sixth of November in the year 2018. I hope everybody out there in the United States is voting today, or has already voted, depending on how the system works in your state. As mentioned in the recap the other day, I am a resident of Oregon, which does exclusive voting by mail. So I actually filled out my ballot more than a week ago, but for those who actually go to the polls and stand in line to fulfill their civic duty, I extend to you a high five for democracy. Here are two quick, fun facts about voting courtesy of PBS and Mental Floss. First, voters in the US head to the polls

on Tuesdays, but much of the rest of the world prefers to save its votes for Sunday. Interestingly, countries in which English is the primary language tend to be the exception. In Canada, citizens vote on Mondays, while Brits vote on Thursdays and Australians and New Zealanders on Saturdays. Second fun fact, in 1758, George Washington, who was a young candidate for the Virginia House of Burgesses, that was the first legislative assembly of elected representatives in North America, he spent his entire campaign budget on 160 gallons of liquor, which was served to 391 voters. The custom of buying votes with alcohol was an English tradition imported to the American colony. Thank you Great Britain for that contribution.

Now, what about our story today? This is actually Seidelsul School. By the way, my name is Chris Guillebeau. Today's story features a freelance designer who sells voter turnout postcards. After handwriting hundreds of postcards herself, this freelancer designs her own sets for sale.

And in the first year, she does more than $60,000 in sales. So get out and vote, but also stay tuned for the story. Mary Hawkins believes everyone should have a say in the way their country is run. Last year she was looking for a way to encourage as many people as possible to go out and vote on election day. But she'd be the first to tell you she's no in your face political activist. As a self described introvert, the idea of cold calling or door knocking didn't

appeal to her. What she needed was activism for introverts, and she soon stumbled upon the perfect thing. Furthermore, what started as a way to encourage voters would turn into Mary's first successful side hustle. But before we reveal these results, let's take a quick look at her background, or let's call it her campaign trail. On top of her passion for democracy, Mary is also a talented animator and designer. She's been freelancing for over

10 years and has worked with brands like Viacom, L'Oreal, NBC, and many more. Now for those working a traditional office job, the life of a freelancer might sound glamorous. You can work from home in your underwear. You can only work the hours that you want. Everything is perfect in the freelancer life, right? Well, freelancing may have its benefits, but

it also has challenges. One of the biggest challenges is that you inevitably have periods without much work. That can be worrisome financially, especially when you aren't sure when the next job is coming through. In Mary's case, quiet periods tend to occur around mid-year when many people in the media take vacations. In 2017, it was actually a welcome break because she was just about to stumble across that perfect type of political activism, one that appealed to her introverted nature and allowed her to use her design skills to encourage people to get out and vote. You see, Mary was introduced to the world of postcards to

voters. This is a movement where groups of people write postcards to registered voters, reminding them to exercise their civic duty in the upcoming election. The postcards are handwritten directly to each individual, and data suggests they have a huge positive effect on voter turnout. Mary loved this idea. She immediately volunteered to write postcards in her downtime. Soon she was sending out more and more into the hundreds. She enjoyed

it so much she believed she could bring some artistic flair to the postcards themselves. Most people who send these postcards simply buy them from their local area, so if a New Yorker volunteered, they might send out postcards with the Statue of Liberty on them. Mary figured, "Well, that's nice, but if she's sending people postcards to encourage them to vote, she might as well make the postcards specific to that purpose." Her idea was to make generic "go vote" postcards to keep the message nonpartisan and on point. The design was the easy part. After all, that's what Mary did. She made a couple of cute postcards for voters

and then set about printing them up for her own use. It wasn't long before other volunteers and friends commented on her made-for-purpose postcards and suggested she try selling them on Etsy. She agreed and planned to launch her side hustle, "Mary Likes Postcards." She knew that the types of people who send these postcards usually do so in large numbers. Like her, they are passionate and active, so she decided to sell them in batches of $100, priced between $20 and $40. It was important to her that all the cards be printed in the US, so she teamed up with a printer that could supply them on demand. At this stage, she

had spent around $500 getting things set up, and it was time to make some sales. The first set of cards was purchased by someone in that group. It generated $5 in profit from Mary, enough for a coffee and a bit more determination to keep going. It turned out she needed that determination because it would be another month until her Etsy store would generate its next sale. That might seem like a long break between election cycles, but the pace increased significantly after that. As the fall elections drew near, more and more people

began buying. She also benefited by promotion from the postcards to voters' group. Since the beginning of the year, she can now claim to have sold over $60,000 worth of postcards. Since she does the work herself, her only real expenses are printing and shipping. Now, that's a lot of orders. How does she generate that kind of money, all while still

working a full-time job? Well, Mary understands this is a seasonal business. She can maximize profits from this side hustle during the voting season, and then increase her freelance hours the rest of the time. She hopes to grow it more next year, especially as the election cycle ramps up again, and then again in 2020 when it really ramps up with another presidential election. She's already added additional products to her store, including stickers and stamps that people can use to decorate the cards. Cast your ballot for freedom. My vote is in

favor of this project. Well, every election season, certainly including this one, I tend to get a ton of mail, including lots of flyers and postcards from candidates, as well as lobbyists and interest groups that are in favor of or opposed to whatever measures are on the ballot. Each state has a number of measures. But I don't think I've ever received a handwritten postcard from a stranger, and it would probably stand out. You know, I already talked, but if I didn't, maybe it would give me the nudge I need to register. These days,

more people in the US are becoming politically active in the form of phoning or emailing or writing letters to the representatives. It seems to have taken a huge jump recently, especially not just in response to various events, but also with the advancement of technology. So I didn't realize there was also as much activism in terms of writing fellow voters to encourage them to exercise their democratic rights. But it makes sense. So I was happy to hear about this project. Congratulations, Mary. Thank you for doing your part for democracy.

And doing something for yourself at the same time. I don't see any conflict in those things whatsoever. In fact, I think that's the goal for a lot of us to do something for ourselves while also making the world a better place. So listeners, I hope you enjoyed this one. And if you're in the US, again, I hope you have voted. If you have not done so, and it's

too late, I don't want you to feel guilty, like this time is already passed now. But do make sure you register so you can participate the next time. Today's show notes are at sidehustleschool.com/675. You can check out these fun postcards, anything else I mentioned, I will be back again tomorrow and I hope you'll join me for democracy and beyond. This is side hustle school.