Tasmanian Insurance Manager Sells Reusable Cutlery Holders

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

[Music]

As we begin today, I want to give a shout out to another podcaster, one who I have been fortunate to be on his program several times. His name is Mike Carruthers. The podcast is "Something You Should Know." And this actually began as a very popular radio format for many years. I think he did something like 8,000 episodes, 8,000 episodes of this little feature. Here's some fun facts.

Here's something that you didn't know, presented in an interesting way. Now it's a podcast with more than 400 episodes. Check it out wherever you get your podcast. He is a thoughtful interviewer. Also, in a personal shout out, yesterday was my sister's birthday.

Happy birthday, Mary, I love you. And I love you too, listeners. Let's talk about today's story. An insurance manager sets out to sell reusable cutlery. This is a hard thing to get right in terms of making it profitable.

And there's several objections she has to overcome, some obstacles, some challenges, et cetera. But she learned some lessons and is now bringing in $2,000 a month from the project. So it is environmentally friendly. She's setting a good example for her kids. We'll talk about that.

And of course, she's making money. So Tasmanian insurance manager selling reusable cutlery holders. That story is coming right up. [Music]

Living in Tasmania, Australia, Nyree Burgess always believed that the world has enough of everything already in it. So when this insurance manager and mom of three went out on a weekend with the kids, she would bring along a few forks and spoons in the car.

See, the family hated using plastic takeaway cutlery. And by the way, for my fellow American listeners, cutlery and silverware are the same thing. Not only was it unsustainable, it was also not comfortable to use. Metal utensils were just better. And as Nyree would say, if you paid good money for a gourmet plate of food at a food festival, why not enjoy it as much as possible with quality cutlery?

But carrying those metal utensils around can pose challenges of its own. That was when Nyree started to fashion holders, cutlery or silverware holders, by sewing together some fabric scraps she had at home. Soon enough, friends noticed and started asking for one as well. From there, she decided she would try selling them as products. Having some previous experience flipping items on eBay and renting out a room on Airbnb, she was curious to learn how this new idea would play out.

The extra income would come in handy. And Nyree loved shopping at thrift stores, where she sourced all that scrap fabric. Cutlery wraps weren't a new idea, making them didn't take advanced sewing skills, but it did require patience and time. Looking up basic patterns on a website, Nyree modified and tweaked them to various sizes in order to cater to every need. Over time, she even came up with her own designs.

The first place she decided to sell her products was at a school fair. She saw this as a small and risk-free step that might give her the courage to continue on. She also had a name for the project now. She called it Pocket Picnic. Sitting at her stall, she dreaded someone walking past and laughing at what she had to offer.

Worse, she didn't invest in a tent and had to sit under an umbrella out in the open, cold and miserable. But whether an imposter syndrome aside, Nyree ended the day with $350 in revenue and was more than satisfied. It did give her that courage to keep going. From there, she continued selling her wares at different markets and festivals. It took a while before she landed on a good spot.

One of her earlier stops was the Taste of Tasmania, a seven-day food festival held every summer. Nyree expected that this would be a goldmine since there were thousands of people eating gourmet food with takeaway cutlery. But it turned out she was completely wrong. As she slowly realized, food at the festival can be quite expensive and people often arrive with the budget in mind that can't accommodate an unexpected purchase. Most people who bought her products did so thoughtfully, whether buying it as a gift or for their own future use.

She now knew she wouldn't do well at locations where most people bought things on impulse. Another problem she faced was a psychological barrier experienced by potential buyers. One of her main selling points was how her products came from salvage materials and were therefore environmentally friendly. But some of her customers were concerned about hygiene when using secondhand items. To counter this concern, Nyree began reminding potential customers that whenever they dine out, they would be eating with utensils that others have used countless times.

When she explains this, people often chuckle and feel better about the product. One final challenge, her branding may have also hindered sales as the name Pocket Picnic suggests that the products were only useful for picnics, when of course, she has a wider array of uses in mind. But Nyree also had some luck on her side. She managed to secure a stall at the popular Salamanca Market, which is frequented by thousands of tourists, most of whom were looking to buy something local. That market was the right one and things have worked out since she's now generating over $2,000 a month selling cutlery holders.

Looking back, the best part of starting Pocket Picnic has been setting an example to her three kids. They are proud of her for starting a business and also proud that it is eco-friendly. By the way, I saved another best part for last. Nyree startup costs were just $5. You don't need to reinvent the wheel to launch your business.

It turns out that ideas, like utensils, are reusable. [Music]

Awesome, what can we take away from this story? First of all, congratulations, Nyree. I love how she took a product that has been done before, that is fairly basic, but found a way to put her own twist on it. And also spent some time, and I think this is the key lesson, also spent some time figuring out where her ideal customer would be.

And her ideal customer, as you heard in the story, is not somebody who's attending the Gourmet Food Festival. It's somebody who's attending the tourist market where people buy souvenirs. So people kind of go into each event with a different expectation in mind. So you might be able to apply this in some way to your business or to your idea, your side hustle, whatever it is you're working on. And even if it's not something that has to be sold in person, like obviously these days, we're doing more and more online, virtually, digitally, et cetera, when people are coming to connect with you, or when they first hear about you, or when they're referred from a link on another website, or from a social post, or whatever it is, what mood are they in?

What expectation do they have based on their previous experience? What I mean is, if they're referred from a blog that says, "Hey, this thing is really cool, you should go and sign up." And then when they come to your site, they're gonna be thinking, "Oh, maybe I should sign up, "or I should at least learn about this." Whereas if they stumble upon you kind of randomly, or through some search term that brings them to your website, but isn't really related to what you're selling, then your conversion rate is going to be much, much lower. I always think it's good to think about your ideal customer, or even if you've been doing this for a while, we often talk about it in the brainstorming stage, or in the early planning stage, but it really is something that is always worth revisiting. All right, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better. Today's show notes are, at sidehustleschool.com/1219, 1-2-1-9.

You've got a comment or question for the show, you can do that at sidehustleschool.com/questions. And thank you so much for listening, I hope you have a wonderful day, wherever you are in the world, be sure you check up on somebody. My name is Chris Guillebeau, you are listening to "Side Hustle School." [Music]

From the Onward Project.