Nurse Doubles Income By Becoming Eyelash Artist

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Here's a fun fact. While eyelash extensions have gained popularity in recent years, the idea of lengthening eyelashes isn't new. In fact, it goes all the way back to the 1800s, where fashion publications encourage people to cut the ends of their eyelids off or wash them with a mixture of walnut leaves and water to promote growth. Well, what does this have to do with cytosol school? By the way, welcome.

My name is Chris Guillebeau. In today's story, when a nurse goes in search of something to keep her busy on her days off, she learns how to apply eyelash extensions. And it's not just a fun hobby. It ends up doubling her income. She's able to buy a new car and finds a new confidence.

The story is called "Nurse Doubles Income by Becoming Eyelash Artist." I'll tell you all about it after this shout out to our sponsor. [Music]

Four years ago, Cambria Wingard's favorite hobby was going to Target. She was working as a registered nurse three days a week. And when she was bored, she decided to hit them all. This routine quickly got old and it was also driving a hole in her bank account.

She wanted to find a part-time job. That way she would be less bored and she would be making money instead of spending it. But Cambria didn't want just any job. She had some specific criteria in mind. First, her hospital shifts switched every week, so she had to be able to make her own schedule.

Ideally, this would also allow her to work from her home. Finally, she didn't want to do something related to the medical field, since she wanted her other job to feel different. Unfortunately, this unicorn job wasn't the easiest to find, but then she made a discovery in an unusual place. Soon after identifying her goal, Cambria decided to get her eyelashes done for an upcoming event. She learned that the lash artist was making almost twice as much money as she was, even though she had a four-year degree.

This got her thinking. Doing lashes would fit all of her qualifications. She could work from her home, spend as much or as little time as she wanted, and it was something she had never tried before, so it was interesting. Cambria quickly began to research how to become an eyelash artist. Now, this took a while because she had a hard time finding people to learn from who were both experienced and in her area.

It wasn't until two months later that she was finally able to attend a class. The day after she finished, she dedicated herself to practicing eyelashes every day for a week. She gave all of her friends free applications, and when she ran out of friends, she even convinced her brother to let her practice on him. Once Cambria was becoming skilled at her new craft, she needed to find clients. She began to think about her target audience and knew that she'd be catering towards people who spent a lot of time on Instagram.

So she set up an account called Love Lashing, Love Lashing, L-U-V. She liked the alliteration and wanted future clients to easily remember it. She dedicated herself to posting on the account every day and using plenty of hashtags related to the business. Once she began to build up a following, she started doing giveaways on the account. In order for people to be entered in the giveaway, they had to share a Love Lashing post on their Instagram story and tag three of their friends in the comments.

After that, the names would be put into a raffle and one lucky winner would receive a free pair of lashes. This was an excellent way for Cambria to build engagement and increase her following. And once she'd achieved a larger following base, she began to reach out to local Instagram influencers. She offered to give them a free pair of eyelashes if they tagged her in a post. The influencers landed her an extra sense of credibility and drove more visitors to her page.

She initially priced her lashes at $60 for a full set and $30 for a filling. She based the price off of her skill level and what she thought she might pay. But after the first three months, she raised it by $20. And now Cambria charges $120 for a full set and $60 for fills. Within six months, she built up a solid clientele.

In fact, as time has gone on, Cambria has found no shortage of clients. She realized that a lot of people prioritize getting their lashes done over other beauty expenses, simply because they're on the face. Not only that, but many of her clients come back to get a touch up every two weeks. Unlike hairdressers, whose clients come back every three to six months, Cambria's clients are very consistent, which means, of course, she can rely on some providing recurring income. She makes almost twice as much per hour from her lash business than she does from nursing.

Much to her delight, lashes now pay for many of her expenses, including her phone, groceries, and gas. She's also used the extra money to buy a car and even go back to school. Now, almost four years after starting Love Lashing, Cambria has created her own online course. After seeing how transformative this business has been in her life, she wants to help other people find their own lash cash cow. The digital class will give people who want to do lashes a chance to start immediately, rather than waiting for two months like she did.

She says that so many people don't make money apart from their jobs, simply because they are afraid of being amateurs. By allowing herself to learn an experiment, she stumbled across the perfect side hustle for her. [Music]

So it's always good to define the criteria that you need, or the criteria that you're looking to find for your side hustle. And for Cambria, she chose flexible schedule, the ability to work from home, and a different kind of work than nursing. It's always good to separate your needs from your wants, not that your wants are unimportant, but just to know what is essential.

And in this case, she needed to have the flexible schedule because her nursing work required it. So this was a non-negotiable. The other things were still important, but not essential. I think you always start from the top and say, okay, what has to happen? And then what would be nice to have?

So for your idea, what is essential for you? What are the essential criteria? When you know what that is, you can ignore anything that doesn't adhere to the criteria. You can just say no, or not even think about something that doesn't work. And then you can focus on your wants, your wish list.

What's essential for you and what's important? What would you like to have? And by the way, how's it going? This is our year of interaction. We're hearing from listeners about all kinds of projects they're starting.

I would love to know what you're working on and what your greatest struggle is. Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better. You can always give me feedback or ask a question or anything you'd like by going to sidehustleschool.com/questions or just anywhere on the site. There's a link at the top that says, ask Chris. Today's notes.

All right, sidehustleschool.com/1158. I also want to give a shout out to my friend, Mike McCalowitz. He's got a new book coming out next month called "Fix This Next." Make the vital change that will level up your business. I have enjoyed reading Mike's books, especially "Profit First," which I recommend often, but really all of his stuff. He has a wonderful style.

Very approachable. So you might want to add this to your pre-order cart, "Fix This Next" by Mike McCalowitz. All right, I'll be back tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to Side Hustle School.

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From the Onward Project.