What It's About
Facing a dull period, a designer colors her world and embraces a bright future.
Business Model
Skills Required
Complexity
Profit Potential
Words of Wisdom
Jen shares some important words of encouragement regarding a side hustler's journey: "Celebrate your successes. I didn't in the beginning and still need to remember to do it. Celebrate a new product launch, a new client, a new sale. Be grateful every day."
Fun Fact
Scientists have shown that we can see up to 10 million different colors which are all based on different intensities of red, green and blue. With that many colors to choose from, it’s no wonder there’s room in the market for a color stylist to help you select one.
Notes from Chris
Episode 1144
In 2012, Jen Thoden found herself going through a messy divorce. The night she moved out was one of the hardest of her life: everything felt dark and colorless! She sat alone in the townhouse she’d lived in for years, surrounded by moving boxes and wondering “What am I going to do?” But, like many strong women before her, it didn’t take long for Jen to start figuring things out and begin building a new life. One of the things she decided to overhaul was her wardrobe. Because she felt off-color a lot of the time, she investigated ways to make herself feel better—and eventually stumbled upon the world of color styling. It’s a concept that suggests everyone has colors they look especially good in and that can make them feel great. She decided to start a blog based on color styling. She registered the domain name Outfitideas4u.com and began writing posts on outfit ideas, color analysis, and how other women can go about selecting the perfect colors for themselves. Everything she’d learned so far she put down in black and white on the blog. From her day job as a User Experience (UX) designer, Jen had experience with both SEO and video production, both of which helped to bring traffic to her site. She soon began acquiring email subscribers, and had over two thousand people signed up a year later. On top of that, she was constantly being emailed for color and outfit advice. Jen realized this was a golden opportunity. She noticed a gap in the market she believed she could fill: the market of color fans. The fans would be similar to paint swatches, but all the colors ‘fan’ out, so you can easily compare them. That way, anyone could hold it up to their skin to see what looked good. Jen felt it would be the perfect product for her audience, so she looked into having them printed. This is where she told her first white lie. (It wasn’t really a lie, but we liked the pun.) The fans weren’t ready or printed yet so Jen sold them through a pre-sale link. What followed came completely out of the blue. She sold five thousand dollars worth of fans in just two days. The benefit of the sale was more than money—it also gave Jen the green light (sorry) to try and turn her project into a real business. After two years as OutfitIdeas4U, she rebranded to YourColorStyle.com and compiled her ebooks, blog content, and color fan product into a fresh new design. She wanted to focus more on the transformational power of color. Her goal was to help women everywhere who might be feeling blue to brighten their day and shine with confidence. All this success has certainly brought in the greenbacks. Your Color Style now turns over a tidy profit of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars per year. A fantastic success by any standard. Next up, Jen plans to offer a business training program so that stylists from anywhere can learn the science of color and offer that knowledge to their own clients. For her, the experience has led to a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- Learn more about color styling and get your own fan at Jen's website, YourColorStyle.com.
SEE ALSO:
- Fashionista Blogs Her Way to Career Success: A thirty-four-year-old fashionista in New York City finds a way to turn the economic crisis into an opportunity promoting affordable fashion while bringing in a profit to keep her flush in designer looks.
- Architect Designs Blueprint For Fashionable Online Shop: A childhood love of sewing comes in handy for this architect’s side hustle goals later in life.
- Vintage Clothing Shop Sells Retro Jeans for Modern Money: The daughter of Ukrainian immigrants turns a love of shopping into an e-commerce shop selling one-of-a-kind vintage clothing.
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Resources
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