Artistic Couple Juggles Parenthood and Hustling

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

In today's story, an artistic couple juggles parenthood and hustling. Their goal is to build a brand, but it takes a while to figure out what that brand will be. They follow their journey from Comic Con, to indie craft fairs, to selling online, and now in pursuit of writing and illustrating a book. This couple also makes a bold choice, it's a choice that we don't always recommend. This is the choice to go full time even before the project is earning a lot of money.

Like I said, not always the recommended strategy. In fact, I think it's often better to do it the other way. Make sure you're earning enough money before you make that big decision. But I also respect that you make your own choices and you have to do what's best for you. And I certainly believe in following a dream.

So maybe the time to take a calculated risk is when that keyword there, calculated, lines up for you. So we'll talk about that, including their timeline, their tactics, what they're trying to do, what challenges they've encountered, and what's next. I'm so glad you're joining me here for Side Hustle School. This story is coming right up. Newlywed artisans Eddie and Carol Sageben knew that they wanted to create a business selling their artwork.

Both came from humble beginnings as first-generation children of immigrants from Brazil. As Eddie shares, though times were simple growing up, they were happy. They now want to provide a similar life that allows their children to flourish. They share the responsibilities of running Sage Tribe Art, which offers original watercolor and ink commissions, graphic design, ceramic, and laser engraving services. However, this artistic couple didn't start off offering such a wide range of art.

In the beginning, they had little focus or vision of what they wanted their business to become. It began with a simple domain name and a business license. Eddie would create art in the evenings after working his day job in IT, and Carol, a homemaker, would find time in between household tasks and caring for their two young children. They posted some of their art online and made a sale here and there. It wasn't until they booked their first event at the 2017 Kansas City Comic Con that they really became focused.

The first items they took to that Comic Con were art prints for $10 and spirit animal totems for $50. The spirit animal totems are handmade ceramic animal necklaces with a place for a drop of essential oil. Carol designed this wearable art for use as aromatherapy. Their strength going into Comic Con was knowing which of their products would be attractive to this group of customers. Their weakness was having a gap in their product pricing.

Most people attending the event were young adults who had already spent a good chunk of their money on the ticket getting in. This left them with little spending cash left over. For Eddie and Carol, it was a learning experience. They realized they needed to have more options for lower budgets. They also needed to do something to set them apart and draw clients into their booth.

And that's when they had the idea to design an animal avatar quiz. Drawing on associations with their parents' homeland of Brazil, they researched indigenous cultures and the traits of each animal. Carol created a quiz of 11 questions that match an animal to each customer's personality. To take the quiz, the user must provide their email address. This created a way for customers to learn their animal avatar and Eddie and Carol to grow their email list.

To draw in attendees, they made a banner advertising the quiz. This also facilitates interaction with potential customers. The next learning experience was when they began attending indie craft fairs. They went to these fairs with a specific goal in mind to take notice of the type of people there and see which booths gathered the most attention. They then expanded their product line and started offering more Kansas City themed products, as well as more home decor items.

The year following their Comic Con debut, Eddie and Carol went through a period of intense growth and learning. Then came the next turning point for Sage Tribe Art. In January 2019, Eddie chose to leave his IT job and work on the business full-time. From the start, they've both been financially conservative, cutting costs wherever possible while also investing in their own equipment like a laser engraver in kiln. Although the shift to full-time came sooner than they originally planned, the business is still growing and now on track to make $30,000 in profit this year.

It's also not always easy to work alongside your spouse, but they've been able to pinpoint each other's strengths and successfully split the tasks of running a business. They find it meaningful to grow together as artists, business owners, and as a couple. Of course, there are still challenges to overcome. Juggling the ins and outs of running a business and raising two small children is no easy task. They use their basement as a studio and try to respect that as a designated workspace.

Building that space separate from their living area is an important part of their success in working from home. When one of them is working downstairs, they treat it as if they are away at a job. They also take advantage of the kids' nap time as well as after their bedtime to work together in the studio. Their next goal is to write and illustrate a book. For this couple, whatever project they take on is sure to be a work of art.

Here is an assignment for you. Don't worry. It's an easy assignment. It's kind of fun, actually. Ask yourself what your living expenses are.

When you ask yourself what your living expenses are, get out a piece of paper, write some stuff down. You could do it at your computer or just on your phone. This is not how much you actually spend each month. This is not your current salary each month. These are your actual expenses, the purchases that you absolutely need to make each month.

You probably have some housing costs, you probably have transportation costs, you probably have to eat something. If you have a family, then you've got expenses associated with that. Perhaps you've got some expenses for your health and well-being, any debt payments that you're making, anything like that. Basically your actual expenses, like what you need to spend each month, the bare minimum. The reason why you do this, this information can help you take calculated risks and make more informed decisions.

I'm not saying that you have to live on a bare-bones budget. I'm not saying that you should go and quit your job as soon as you reach whatever that bare-bones minimum is, but having this information is helpful because that way if you find yourself in a situation where your business or your artistic career, whatever you're trying to do on the side, is growing. It's not growing super fast, but it is growing. You kind of have an idea of, "Okay, well, if I can get to this point, I'm not replicating my salary necessarily, and I would like to have more because I don't want to just have the bare minimum." But this is the point where you can say, "Okay, I actually will choose to take that calculated risk. I know I'm going to be okay because at least I'm going to be able to pay my bills." Maybe perhaps with the additional time I have, with the additional focus, then I'll be able to increase that income.

Just even knowing what that is, even if you don't have a plan to quit your job, even if you're perfectly happy and content, knowing what your bare minimum living expenses are can really help you as you think about different kinds of life planning, maybe even looking to the future, to retirement/non-retirement, or whatever it is. And that way, as you make decisions, you're not beholden to anything that you don't really want to do, but you feel like you have to because, "Oh, I have to maintain this certain lifestyle," or, "I make X thousands of dollars each week, month, year," whatever it is. And anything I do from here on out has to be exactly that or higher. Perhaps it won't be for a while, and perhaps that can be okay, again, depending on your situation and your goals. So a fun little assignment, ask yourself what your living expenses are.

Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better. If you want to see the show notes for today's episode, including links to Sage Tribe art, just come to www.sidehustleschool.com/854. That is episode 854. I'll be back tomorrow with the weekly recap. Thank you so much.

My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. From The Onward Project.