Spousal Birthday Gift Becomes $40,000 Card Game

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

[Music]

Hello, hello friends, listeners, community. I hope you are well as we are heading into the holidays. I am now underway with my annual review, which I have been doing for about 10 years now. I think actually more than 10 years. Just kind of looking back over the year and looking ahead, setting goals in a number of different categories, creating a theme, a mission statement for the year that's to come.

And as I do this reflection, I just continue to be aware and grateful that you are out there and that I have the chance to tell you these stories every day. And if you're new to our community, basically what I'm doing is I'm telling stories of real people who find a way to create a new source of income for themselves. And sometimes they do it in kind of a crazy way or an unconventional way or just something that seems really off the wall. Other times it might be more normal, but the key theme is that most people are using a skill they already have, just perhaps in a different way. They're not spending a lot of money, or at least they're not going into debt, and they're not necessarily trying to quit their jobs.

So this is something that is truly unique to side hustle school. And once again, I'm glad that you are part of it. All right, so let's jump in. In today's story, a spousal birthday gift becomes a $40,000 card game or a tabletop game, if you will. It starts as a creative gift for this guy's wife, but the game ends up making a lot of other people happy too.

Now it's not an overnight success. There's a ton of work that goes into this and just about every other project that I tell you about, but this hard work is paying off now that the game is out in the world and being played, not just played, but also purchased, that is critical, by a lot of people. Last but not least, this is also a family story. Our protagonist realizes he can't go it alone, so he ends up hiring two of the people closest to him to work alongside him in the business. All right, let's say thank you to our sponsor.

I appreciate them allowing the show to be completely free to you. And then I'll tell you all about this spousal birthday gift that turns into a $40,000 card game. [Music]

Casey Hill's side hustle started as a gift to his wife. Every year, one of them makes a creative present for the other partner. In 2015, it was Casey's turn, and he wanted to see if he could create an in-depth tabletop game the two of them could play.

Enlisting the help of his dad, Casey set out to create a game many of us might recognize as being similar to Magic the Gathering. It would be set in a rich environment filled with folklore and stories, all channeled through a custom set of playing cards. The father and son team worked around their day jobs to put together the initial version of the game, which they called Archon, derived from the Greek word for ruler. Archon centers on the story of a once bountiful and prosperous land, which is now divided and at war with itself through four major factions. Players have to use their cards and the powers each faction possesses to obtain control of the land and become the new and rightful ruler.

The initial version of the game was easy to play and simple in design. When Casey finally gifted it to his wife, she absolutely loved it. So much so, she kept wanting to play. They eventually hosted game nights with friends so that they could experience the game too. It was during these game nights that Casey really began to feel he had a business idea, not just a gift.

That's when he began what would become a two-year journey to bring Archon to the wider gaming world. He knew he couldn't tackle this project alone while working his full-time job as a marketer. So he founded the Hill Gaming Company, you know, his last name is Hill, comprised of his father Doug and his brother Tyler. Now as a side note, I see here on my screen that Tyler is a professional Magic the Gathering player. And I have no idea how that works.

So we should probably do a story on Tyler himself at some point. But for now, we're focused on Casey. So the newly upgraded team began to test Archon on the smallest possible scale. They would take the game to local gaming stores, pitch it to the owners, and then run a small play through to gather feedback. They were looking for ways to improve the game, build credibility, and see if it had commercial potential.

This initial phase took a number of months but was critical to the long-term success of the product. Over time, the team began to refine Archon's gameplay and judge players' reactions. They loved the balance between the game simplicity and depth of possible strategy it enabled. It was when gamers were chomping at the bit to play again that the newly formed company knew they were ready for the next phase. It was time to look for a manufacturer to create and print the cards.

They used a company called Panda, which was recommended by many veterans in the gaming industry. I'll link it up in the show notes. It enabled them to produce initial samples they could send to reviewers and use for product photography. They knew they couldn't just go straight to market with a product. They had to first build a following and generate interest.

So Casey used his skills as a marketer to create a plan which would hopefully build to a successful crescendo. Archon would officially launch on Kickstarter in February 2018. The team's job was to build an army of followers so that when that launch happened, they'd be able to ship enough units that the love of the game would spread on its own. Casey spent a lot of time reverse engineering everything they could to make that happen. They built a blog for the website where they interviewed prolific game designers.

They sent samples to YouTube channels so people could see live action playthroughs and reviews. And they appeared on podcasts to reach people they otherwise wouldn't. The most effective strategy Casey found was partaking in discussions and offering solutions on industry message boards. This took a lot of preparation. It was months before he even felt immersed enough to mention his product.

But being an outstanding member of the community would do more to market Archon than any other channel. So hey, if you've been listening to this episode so far and you're thinking, "Wow, Casey must have invested a lot of time into this." Well, he did, but he did that over the course of two years. And during that whole time, he maintained a balance between his day job, his family life, and growing this project. He says he did it by sacrificing the other areas of his life. In fact, he says, if anything, it's important to focus more on your day job because that's how you pay your bills and support your family.

I think that's really good advice for somebody out there. When the launch finally arrived in February, 2018, it brought in $40,500 from more than 1200 customers in 15 different countries. They had invested $35,000 in the creation of the product and the artwork. So it was around a $5,000 profit, at least an initial profit. Now, of course, as long as demand remains strong, they can make much more money going forward.

And part of Arkon's high earning potential comes from its pricing. Casey priced a deck of cards, which is often called a tuck box, at $20, which is higher than normal. He wanted to position it as a premium brand, and he knew the high-level artistry they used would ensure they stood out. So far, it seems, the market has agreed. Looking to the future, Casey wants to take Arkon further and maybe develop some more games.

Now that he's got a track record of success, he wants to know if there are other magical worlds just waiting to be discovered. [Music]

Awesome, a strong story with lots of lessons there, especially about life-work balance, which I don't always like that phrase, life-work balance, I think it's kind of problematic. But the concept of having your life aligned, doing work that you believe in, while also maintaining healthy relationships, of course, that's important, and that's why it took him two years, 'cause he wanted to go slowly and deliberately. Now here's a fun fact about his day job. Casey actually works for a technology platform called Entreport, and his employer was actually really supportive of his side hustle.

They even saw the potential benefits it could have for their own in-house marketing clients. So I mention that because I often hear from people who have questions like, "What do all these people's employer or boss or company, what do they think about this project that they're doing?" And the reality is there is a range of outcomes, for sure, but hearing that his employer was supportive of his side hustle is not abnormal. Like I do hear that fairly often. I also hear from people who have to keep their project a secret from their boss, but that's a whole other thing. So hopefully whatever situation you're in is a more positive one like Casey's.

And if not, well, you're probably working on changing something anyway, right? Because nobody listens to side hustle school unless they want to do something for themselves, or they believe in these values of independence, of creativity, of finding a different way to express yourself, and ideally finding a different way to get paid through that expression. It is ultimately all about freedom and independence and autonomy. No matter what it is that you decide to do next. So my friends, I hope you enjoyed this episode.

As always, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better. My hope is that you like these stories, but they also kind of teach you something and get you thinking, perhaps in a way that helps with a project of your own. If you'd like to check out the show notes for today's episode, it got links to everything I mentioned. Just go to sidehustleschool.com/703. That is for episode 703.

I'll be back again once more tomorrow with, guess what, episode 704. I hope you'll join me. Be sure you're subscribed. Once again, my name is Chris Guillebeau, and this is Side Hustle School.