If At First You Don’t Succeed, Tarot Again

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

[Music]

Today's featured side hustler thought she was going to make chocolate, and she did for a while, even getting her treats in local stores, attracting press, and building a detailed website. But then she completely changes focus and ends up making tarot cards instead. She goes on to fund a successful crowdfunding campaign and is earning thousands of dollars a month from the sale of those cards. Welcome to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau.

There are multiple lessons in this story. I often say don't be afraid to stop doing something that isn't working. It's because I want to encourage you that life is short. There are a lot of different opportunities out there. You don't just have to do one thing.

And also it's okay to stop doing something that is working. In fact, this is a case study and just that. It's also a lesson in the Pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, which results in her deleting her Instagram account. The person I'm gonna tell you about today, she actually decides that Instagram isn't working for her. So instead of outsourcing it, instead of putting it on autopilot, she goes and completely deletes it.

A bold decision. Lots of lessons here, as I said. Here's a shout out to our sponsor and then on with the show. If at first you don't succeed, tarot again. [Music]

Bryn McMurdo had a challenging dilemma.

A full-time content specialist for an ethical skincare brand in Scattle. She had also started a side hustle making chocolate confections. She developed a recipe for herb-infused dark chocolate coconut patties. And soon they were stocked in local stores. But she found herself dreading the arrival of new orders.

Not a good situation to be in. She realized that she didn't especially enjoy the work of being a chocolatier. She liked creating the recipe. She liked designing the product, getting it into stores. But being a chocolatier also involves making the chocolate, fun fact.

Bryn spent a lot of time in what she refers to as less than appealing commercial kitchens. It was a lot of work and she was too particular about her product to pass production off to a co-packer. As part of the process, she had designed a series of little illustrations to slip inside her chocolate treats, which were called Dark Days Moon Patties, inspired by the dark moon phase of the lunar cycle. The cycle is considered by some as a sacred time for rest and reflection. After a delirious night of frustrated patty dipping with little rest or reflection, she looked at those illustrations and realized that they were perfect for a tarot deck.

This epiphany eliminated a new idea. Abandoning her chocolate making, Bryn decided to focus instead on making tarot cards with that same Dark Days theme. And rather than designing the traditional rectangular shaped tarot cards, she chose to chart her own course and create square shaped cards. After completing the artwork for her first deck, she was encouraged by friends and former customers to launch a crowdfunding campaign to support her manufacturing the decks. She utilized Kickstarter's marketing resources and spent $600 on hiring a small marketing agency.

The agency sent out emails to people who backed similar projects, which in turn brought in several backers. Through her connection, she also received a prominent mention from a well-known tarot card reader who promoted Bryn's campaign on her site. At the end of the campaign, Bryn had fully funded her project, more than $13,000, and was able to move forward with finding a printer. Through Alibaba, she found a tarot deck supplier called WJ Playing Cards. Once she received those cards, it was time to start fulfilling orders to all the people who backed her campaign.

Then after the initial run, Bryn utilized Instagram, her blog, email marketing, and word of mouth to market her new product. She was so excited to see her vision come to life that she spent an obsessive amount of time promoting the new product on social media. But once again, she felt her energy beginning to tank. Now, as we've learned already, Bryn is not afraid to take risks. She had already made a big change in closing her first project to start something totally different.

And now she decided to completely delete her Instagram account. She had found herself spending too much time posting and checking it. She felt like she spent 90% of her time trying to get the perfect post, trying to get the most likes or comments. And when she did an audit, she discovered that Instagram was only bringing in 8.9% of her sales, despite her having thousands of followers. She then applied the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, where 80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers.

She hit the delete button on that account and celebrated with a glass of champagne. Again, she didn't just put it on autopilot, she completely deleted it. A bold decision. It wasn't an easy move to make, and she did feel some guilt in leaving her followers. But she also believed she was more authentic and aligned by choosing something different.

Today, she focuses her efforts on email marketing through Wix, posting daily on Pinterest, and building relationships with retail stores. Interestingly, her sales have tripled since letting go of her Instagram. In 2018, Bryn grossed $60,000 in sales and profited $25,000 after production costs. She currently brings in about $2,000 in profit each month. Bryn attributes her risk-taking to the success she's experienced recently, but also to mindset.

When it's a side hustle, she says you can take more risks. Since she has a full-time job, she's not relying on the side hustle for primary income. She recommends that anyone launching a project like this take a step back and review your social media, review all your marketing efforts, and assess what they are actually doing for you. If a certain outlet is not performing well or pulling too much of your energy, even if it's working, it may be time to reconsider. Coming up next, Bryn is creating a new Earth-inspired deck called Mother Tarot, which will be launched in winter 2020.

She hopes it will complement the sales of the moon cards, launching the business into a new phase of orbit. [Music]

Well, let this be a reminder, you don't have to be on Instagram or anywhere else. You don't have to do anything, really. Any tactic that I tell you about, any strategy that you hear about, anything that you notice that somebody else is doing, and there's definitely some practices you can follow, all kinds of stuff you can learn and apply. But again, you don't have to do any of it.

And honestly, the 80/20 principle is so powerful in lots of ways. And it's not just about sales and customers. I think the whole principle is that 80% of our outcomes are derived from 20% of our inputs. So if we can figure out, okay, what is actually driving sales or what is driving profit, which is not always the same thing, or whatever else is driving the outcome that we're looking for, that's where we need to put our efforts. That's where we need to maximize not anywhere else.

It doesn't matter what anybody else is doing. I also think it's good to pay attention to how you feel, which is not something that you just hear about in a tarot card episode, but in general, the way that you feel is data. The way that you feel matters. It's a variable, it's a factor. It should not be overlooked.

So if you're feeling burnout, if you're feeling unenthusiastic, if you're feeling uninspired, maybe you need to do something different, even if what you're doing is working. So don't take it from me, take it from Rin, take it from the phase of the moon. Wherever you take it from, make sure you're doing something that matters to you. Make sure you're working on those goals. Make sure you're working on something that you believe in.

I'm looking at my notes here. I see that Rin also said, put the most effort into what feels best in your business, but at the same time, also stay on top of analytics and accounting because those things will give you the most information as to how to proceed. Really, really great advice there. Lots of stuff we could take away. And I'm so glad her new restructure project is going well.

I hope that you are doing well, wherever you are in the world. Don't forget, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better. If you wanna see the show notes, including some of Rin's beautiful art, check out her tarot cards and also check out anything else I mentioned in this episode. There was a number of resources about building websites, et cetera. Just come to sidehustleschool.com/817.

That is episode 817. All right, the month of March is drawing to a close. We've got a lot more coming up for April and beyond. Do come back, be sure you're subscribed. It's completely free.

And by the way, thank you so much. You're awesome. Once again, my name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Sidusleschool." [Music]

from the Onward Project.