This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Hey, hey, what's up? Welcome back to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau. Every day, a different story, someone who starts a side hustle, how they got the idea, what happened along the way, how much money they made from it, what went well, what did not go well, that's what it's all about. And yesterday, I told you that today's story is pretty good.
So when I tell you it's good, in this case, I don't mean that this is something you should necessarily go out and do yourself. I just mean it's fun and interesting to learn about. And it also highlights the fact that you can make money doing all sorts of crazy things. So today's story is about how a woman created a specialized product business in a very unusual industry with almost $0 in manufacturing costs. Now I gave it away a bit in the headline, but you're not gonna wanna miss this story.
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Have you ever had a beloved pet? [Music]
Maybe a dog or a cat. Well, personally, I'm more of a cat person. I have a cat named Libby who works the 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. night shift with me.
Maybe I'll introduce you to her at some point. But more relevant to our story, Jill Bong from Colorado had a beloved pet and it was named Spec the Chicken. Spec the Chicken greatly enriched the lives of Jill and her family until one sad day, as happens with all pets, Spec the Chicken went on a long walk. Well, let's just tell it like it is. Spec the Chicken died from a molting injury, leaving the family in mourning.
So just like fish and astrology and lots of other topics that you'll hear about on Side Hustle School, I know very little about chickens. But apparently a lot of domestic chicken deaths are caused by molting or mating injuries and they can be completely prevented with a special kind of chicken saddle or vest that is worn by the chicken. But before we go any further, I should just assure you that this is in fact a true story. Today's not April Fool's Day. This is all leading to a real hustle that makes real money.
And there really is such a thing called chicken saddles. In fact, if you Google it, you'll likely find Jill's side hustle at the top of the rankings. That side hustle is called Chicken Armor, chickenarmor.com of course. And Jill developed her product after a year's worth of testing on her own flock of more than 80 chickens. The existing chicken saddles on the market all had a fatal flaw.
They had to be laundered on a regular basis. So again, maybe you know more about chickens than I do, but from an outsider perspective, it sounds like a pretty awful task to have to take clothing items off 80 chickens and put them in the washing machine. Then do you have to dry them? Can you hang them up? Just like a dry clean situation?
Nobody wants to do that. So because of the difficulty, most chicken owners just don't use saddles, which means that their hens are susceptible to the kinds of injuries that cause spec the beloved chicken to become injured and die. Well, the mission statement of chicken armor is to solve this problem and to help chicken keepers save time and money with an innovative design that makes the saddles very low cost to produce. Using a vinyl material means they no longer have to launder the saddles. You just wipe them down or hose them clean, which by the way, would probably make for a great YouTube compilation video.
And the other innovation of chicken armor saddle is that it has a no-sew design. Other saddles had to be hand sewn, which obviously takes a lot of time. So this advancement allowed Jill to price her product much lower than all the other saddles on the market. Now, in fact, the costs for Jill's hustle are so low, they're nearly non-existent because all she pays for is the vinyl material, which is extremely cheap, and then the packing and shipping charges when someone places an order. Chicken armor now brings in between $500 and $3,000 each month, depending on the season, or if they've had any recent major media exposure.
Since launching the hustle, Jill has sold saddles to proud chicken owners in all 50 states and to four continents around the world. She's been featured in the Denver Post and mentioned in the New York Times, the Associated Press, ABC News, and now, of course, Side Hustle School. I'm sure there's gonna be a rush on chicken saddles right after this episode airs. Jill, I hope you've stocked up. And if you think this sounds kind of funny, well, it is, but remember, she's meeting a need and she's also making up to $3,000 each month.
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All right, so let's talk about what we can learn from this true story. Now first, this is definitely a niche market. The great thing about a niche market is it's really obvious who's part of it, especially one like this. You don't have to do any sort of customer qualification. You never have to wonder, hey, who's interested in buying a chicken saddle?
Obviously, it's only people who own chickens. So these kinds of markets are very specific, but they do exist. Second, there's also not a ton of competition. I just did a little quick peek to see who else is selling in this market. And there are some competitors.
One is called mypetchicken.com. Another one is hensaber.com. But there's not a ton of them. And it's usually good to have at least someone else in the same market because that shows that people are already familiar with your concept. If you have to educate every one of your customers, that can be tough.
And now lastly, it's also a market with a recurring need. Most people who keep chickens don't keep just one. They tend to have a whole flock or at least half a dozen. A single chicken saddle costs just $2.50 and Jill sells a hundred pack for $75. Remember her costs are extremely low and she brings in at least $500 every month in this hustle up to $3,000 a month when she has media mentions.
Perhaps like this one, we'll find out. Now I often say that your story might be different from this one. Well, in this case, I'm almost sure that your story is gonna be a little different from Jill's. Let's leave the chicken fashion industrial complex to her. But the lessons of identifying a need, creating a unique solution, they really are replicable no matter what you're doing.
So as we pack our way forward with the year, don't wait to experiment with your side hustle. Like Jill in chicken armor, you may just need to wing it until that first sale comes in. I'm Chris Guillebeau and this is Side Hustle School. [Music]
