What It's About
A weekend warrior discovers more than she bargains for and builds a six-figure side hustle.
Business Model
Skills Required
Complexity
Profit Potential
Words of Wisdom
Brittany hasn’t really worried about copycats because they generally end up fizzling out because, as she puts it, this is 100% a relationship business. If you don’t have a strong relationship with your vendors, there’s no way to keep something like this going. You have to really care about the people you work with and their success.
And if someone wanted to do something similar, Brittany says that that is the key to making something like this work—forming a strong connection with your local, creative community.
Fun Fact
Brittany hails from a unique little city called Orange. While most of the surrounding areas of LA were tearing down older establishments in lieu of building something modern and new in the ’60s, Orange dedicated its time to restoring them. As a matter of fact, Orange has the second largest concentration of historic buildings in the State of California and their Historic Town Center is even listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Notes from Chris
Episode 879
Although half of her life has been spent in Dallas, Texas, Brittany Cobb hails from a little city called Orange—appropriately located within Orange County, California. While most of the surrounding areas of LA were tearing down older establishments in lieu of building something modern and new, Orange had dedicated its time to restoring them. With their love of “the old ways,” there was never a shortage of open-air shops, swap meets, and flea markets in their old-timey city square. And since her mom ran a booth at many of them, Brittany spent most weekends rummaging through the stacks in pursuit of treasures while her mom was occupied with decorating her booth. One of her earliest memories involves convincing her mom to buy her a funky iron and crystal lamp at one of these that found a home in her bedroom until she went off to journalism school in Texas. She ended up stayed a few extra years working for local publications before relocating to New York City. Once there, she began to feel a little bit of home. Living within walking distance from the Brooklyn Flea Market, she happily filled her home and closet with one-of-a-kind items. When it was time for her to relocate back to Dallas for work, she did so somewhat reluctantly. Although the city boasted plenty of shopping opportunities, a local flea market was conspicuously absent. There was a serious lack of the vintage, antique-y goodness that Brittany had come to know and love. At the time, she was working as a journalist for a company called DailyCandy, and her main focus was highlighting the unique work of artisans and creators local to the area. Every day presented a new opportunity for her to connect with bakers, crafters, and collectors. Before long, she realized that she had a well-rounded collection of potential vendors right under her fingertips—quite literally! So in true maker form, Brittany decided to put together an event. She cobbled together a simple vendor application using Microsoft Word, sent it out to her contact list, and started looking for a venue. What seemed like an immense undertaking was quickly falling into place little by little. But then, disaster struck … or was it an opportunity? Mere days before the launch of her first show, DailyCandy was bought out by another company and Brittany suddenly found herself without a job. Luckily, that first show was a smashing success! It provided her with a bit of support while she was transitioning into the role of a freelance journalist, and she planned to run three more shows the next year—one in March, one in June, and another in September. A lot has changed since then. After running a handful of shows each year in Dallas that were starting to bring in out-of-state visitors, she saw an opportunity to expand to new cities. She’d already changed her name to Flea Style, allowing her to be more flexible, and then a call from The Dallas Cowboys set things in motion. They said that they loved what she was doing and wanted her to extend her show up to their headquarters in Frisco. It was a no brainer. They had over 12,000 shoppers come to that first show, and she now runs three of these each year as well. In addition to expanding to a new city and opening up a retail shop, Brittany also added a handful of makers workshops out of her retail space that would allow the makers she partners with to share their skills with others, an e-commerce shop so that people could purchase items out of state, and even a podcast! And when all of the facets of Flea Style come together, Brittany brings in over $500,000 a year. In 2013, she started working on Flea Style full-time. Brittany has a lot in store for Flea Style—there’s another retail shop opening up in Frisco in August, and she’s even adding a restaurant to one of her shops. The passion project now employs more than a dozen people. And it's a side hustle that's truly one of a kind!
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- Flea Style: Learn more about this unique, one-of-a-kind side hustle over on Brittany's website!
SEE ALSO:
- “Dessert Goals” Team Creates Sweet Success: Two New York City event planners and dessert fiends create a festival series focused on their love of sugary goodness
- PR Consultant Launches California Restaurant Week: A PR consultant in Long Beach, California, earns an extra $20,000/year producing an annual “restaurant week” that brings together chefs and new diners
- Interior Designer Starts Boutique Airbnb Alternative: She’d stayed in her share of iffy and icky Airbnbs, and wondered why there wasn’t a better service for boutique, well-designed homes. Now there is
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Resources
CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE
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Quote of the Day
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To infinity and beyond,
