Family Business Connects Household Cardboard to Geometry Lessons

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

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Well, my friends, it comes to this. Here we are, the last day of the year, at least for those listening in real time. If you're catching up later, well, this was 2018. And now, in the future, it must be 2019. Or maybe even sometime after that, who knows?

If you are around towards the end of the year, or perhaps the beginning of a new year, where were you 364 days ago? And where are you now? Now, my current status over here, I'm doing a little mileage run. I found myself several thousand miles short of re-qualifying for my Alaska Airlines status. And so I realized on these last couple days of the year, I needed to go and fly 5,000 miles.

So I am doing a single day trip to the island of Kauai. If all goes well, it will be there less than 24 hours flying from California and then back. So, you know, I got some time to do some riding on the plane. And then I thought I would run a half marathon to signify the end of an important year and the beginning of a new one. So I'll be sharing some of that stuff on my Instagram.

193 countries. I don't want to clutter up your podcast feed here because let's talk about making some money. Making some money and doing something meaningful. Our story today features a family business that provides a fun way to teach kids math. The family that hustles together stays together.

Here's the final thank you to our sponsors for 2018. I really appreciate them allowing the show to be free to you. And then to the story. [Music]

Community pediatrician, Marcy Klein, is no stranger to side hustling. A few years ago, she started a project called Modify Furniture, which enabled people to customize and order affordable furniture online.

The venture helped her earn a little extra money for her family. But more to the point, her success had a positive impact on her children, Ayanna and Ethan. Seeing what their mom had achieved, the kids felt compelled to become makers and innovators themselves. So the three of them, two kids and mom, embarked on a family business journey together. Ayanna took the lead role in developing the idea for their product.

After an architecture summer camp at Columbia University, she designed an interesting way to help kids learn the basics of geometry and engineering. The vision was to use simple plastic connectors that children could work with to build a range of objects. And these plastic connectors would come from common household packing cardboard. They would also come in a range of shapes, which would allow kids to create whatever their imagination could conjure. To develop the prototype for these connectors, Brother Ethan took the lead by making mock-ups using computer-aided design software, and then printing them on a 3D printer they bought at Home Depot.

Thanks to this home setup, prototyping the product was much simpler than it could have been. It took them only two weeks to generate a design they were able to sell. Once they developed the connectors, the team brainstormed some simple kit ideas, which would serve as a blueprint for the children who used them. All three business partners, mom, daughter, and son, chose a simple building to create, a house, a museum, and a fire station, and included pre-cut cardboard pieces for each of them. To test the viability of their product, which they would later sell under the name 3Dux Design, that's ducks with an X, 3Dux, they rented stalls at a local library in Farmer's Market, where they knew there would be lots of parents and kids.

They created bright packaging to make the kids eye-catching, and they wanted to see what happened when people walked by. These events served as free or nearly free focus grouping for the team. They listened to feedback and the conversations that took place around the product to inform their next steps. One thing they noticed was the interest of educators and parents from a learning point of view. They didn't see it as just another toy, but as a great way for their kids to explore their creativity while actively learning.

This led the 3Dux team to look at their business from two different angles. The first was selling direct to consumers. So to do that, they created a Shopify website where parents could buy products online. For this audience, they priced the products in line with other birthday gifts and toys with a maximum price point of $25 per kit. The second angle was educational.

To attract this market, they attended educational trade fairs to connect with teachers who would use them in their curriculum, as well as pitching their products to children's museums. This resulted in them creating a standalone educational pack, which comes with a large range of connectors, lesson plans, and materials to help children learn by doing. These two markets have enabled 3Dux to sell over 3,000 kits since launching in 2017, with these kits being featured in around 60 different educational programs worldwide. At this point, they're choosing to reinvest their profits back into the business. And Marcy says the best part has been seeing her kids become more confident as they encounter different situations, especially interactions with customers.

They're now looking to create an online subscription-based product called 3Dux University. The goal is to bring together engineers and designers and architects from all over the world to create challenges for children. Naturally, some of those challenges will use their products. [Music]

My friends, all I have to say at the end of this episode is, oh my gosh, thank you so much for 2018 once more. Tomorrow, we're gonna jump straight into something new.

I really do believe the best is yet to come. Two years of Side Hustle School have been amazing, but I wanna keep stepping it up. If you've been listening for a while and haven't started your project yet, I really wanna encourage and challenge you to make 2019 your year of the Cytosle. So much more to be said about that in the days to come. For now, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better.

Today's show notes, the last show notes of 2018, all right, sidehustleschool.com/730. That's for episode 730, what? I know, I can't believe it either, but there's so much more to come. Stay tuned, my name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School.

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