Tuscan Vacation Inspires Leatherworking Hustle

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

[Music]

Welcome to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau. In today's story, a Tuscan vacation inspires a leatherworking hustle. When an engineering company manager books a vacation to Florence, Italy, he figures he'll come back with limoncello and olive oil. And he does, but he didn't expect he'd also return with this new leatherworking project.

It's actually a hobby, at least that's how it begins. And when you start your income generating project as a hobby, there's no guarantee you'll make money, because not every hobby does, but you will almost certainly enjoy yourself, okay? Because it's a hobby, it's something you wanna do. And there's also no pressure, because you're not expecting it to be your financial future. You're not trying to quit your job and pursue your hobby.

And if it works out to exceed your expectations, just like you'll hear in this story, well, consider it a bonus. It's my privilege and honor to bring you these stories every single day. I'm excited to share this one with you, and that story is coming up in just 30 seconds. [Music]

Ritesh Shrestha remembers booking the plane tickets to Italy for him and his wife back in 2015. They were especially thrilled to visit the Tuscan hills of Florence.

As they explored colorful walkways, wandering from shop to shop, Ritesh noticed something. There was an abundance of leather workers selling handmade premium leather goods. They walked into one shop and were greeted by a man paying careful attention to his product and progress. They admired that attention to detail, his precise handiwork, and his patience. Ritesh was hooked.

He had been in search of a hobby, and this was it. So upon returning to the US, he started watching YouTube videos on how to learn about leatherworking, dozens and dozens of videos. He ordered around $500 worth of tools and supplies, then another $400 of leather. That was his total cost. Ritesh then began crafting after working on weekends.

He started by following those YouTube tutorials, learned how to make simple handbags, which he would use for himself or pass on to his wife. It was challenging, but the pride of making something by hand motivated him. Ritesh likes to joke that he should have made some Pinterest versus real life memes, because pictures of those early projects now make him cringe, but his life was gracious. She still used the handbags he made, even if they were a little funny looking. As his skills grew, he began getting requests from friends to make bags for them.

Each new piece turned out better than the last. He finally made a handbag that was completely of his own design, and that's when people really started noticing. Ritesh's wife would get stopped in public by other women wondering where she had gotten that bag. A few months later, he made a second improved version of that same bag, and all of a sudden, she began getting requests to buy the bag. Now, quality leather doesn't come cheap.

Ritesh finally sold a handbag to one of his wife's friends for $275, which covered the material and some of the time cost, but didn't offer a real profit. At that point, he was more surprised than thrilled. He knew he was making this high quality product, but he assumed there was little to no market for upscale handmade items, especially with so many factory produced items available for 20 to $50. But it turned out there were people who wanted that high level of craftsmanship. Ritesh just needed to find them.

He made an Instagram account called RPS Leatherworks, the RPS being his initials, and his first few posts didn't get much engagement, just a few likes from friends and family, but he realized he didn't actually need as many followers as your typical aspiring influencer. Random strangers who found his Instagram account and followed weren't there for inspiring lifestyle images. They were there to see his work, which meant they were already somewhat interested in buying handmade high end bags. So between a small amount of new followers coming in, referrals from previous customers, and just by using his products out in public, Ritesh was able to stay busy. Besides, with only weekends and the occasional evening available for hustle work, he wasn't really looking for tons of orders.

Rather than pursuing volume, he went after quality and customization. He would allow customers to pick their own leather and accent colors, sizes, any custom requirements, and then he could sell at a premium price while making the item more tempting for potential buyers. This led to some fun projects, including one of a kind wallets and bracelets, even bands for Apple watches. Most pieces sold somewhere between 75 and $200 with a profit margin of 20 to 30% after materials and labor. Some bigger designs, like that very first bag he sold through his wife, would sell for up to $350.

He sold four of them at that price so far. For the most part, Ritesh grew his hustle as a hobbyist, not really focusing on marketing, just working when he could, and not trying too hard to expand. Growth was slow and steady, but that's what he could handle with limited time. In July 2019, Ritesh broke $1,000 in orders in a single month for the first time. He's now looking at around $7,000 of income for 2019, and as the numbers climb, so do his sites.

He's now looking to standardize a few product designs so that he can start selling them directly on his website and at craft shows without customization. Since he's made wallets and handbags dozens of times over the years, he knows he can turn them out quickly, which means he can lower prices slightly without sacrificing a healthy profit margin. He's also investing in tools that will enable him to do more complex, unique work. Finally, he's trying to find a standard way to price his customized projects so that he doesn't have to take so long at that stage of the sales process. But Ritesh isn't desperate to grow rapidly.

In fact, he largely still considers himself a hobbyist. It's a hobby that brings in money while making him and his customers incredibly happy. [Music]

All right, this is a model perspective to have when going from hobby to hustle. There's no pressure, no risk, and modest expectations. Now, toward the end of the story, you heard how he's working toward basically what we could call stage two, where he starts as a hobby and then realizes he could sell to friends and family while doing something he really enjoys, and then begins to understand, hey, I've got something here, and I might have to make some small changes, but if I make those small changes, then I might potentially be able to sell to a lot more people.

So that's what he's doing in terms of reducing the complexity of the custom pricing and finding a way to make some items without customization, to be able to sell those at craft shows while still making the higher end stuff. And his time is very limited, right? So he's doing this kind of slow and steady, but potentially, as I said, it could grow to a lot more. And if not, it's a hobby, something he likes to do, and he's making money from it, which of course are two good things. All right, I hope you enjoyed this episode.

The show notes are at www.sidehustleschool.com/1060/1060. We will link up his Instagram account, anything else I mentioned in the episode. And of course, much more is on the way. So be sure you're subscribed. I'll be back again tomorrow.

My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]

From the Onward Project.