This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hello, hello, what's up and welcome to Throwback Thursday slash Where Are They Now? In these segments, we take an in-depth look at someone whose story has evolved considerably since we first featured them. We have had recent segments, including someone leading urban hiking tours in San Francisco and a woman who quits her job to go all in with her side hustle selling monogram scarves, but then feels isolated and ends up getting another job while still selling scarves on the side. Hey, remember, there's more than one way to make this work for you. This is not about what works for somebody else.
This is about hearing stories, examples of other people and then asking, hey, how can I apply this to my situation, my life, my goals, whatever it is that I'm trying to create for myself. And that's why I make this show for you every single day. My name is Chris Guillebeau, and I'm glad you're here. Now, today in our latest feature, we'll hear from Stacy Bowers, who we first featured long, long ago, episode 124, I believe. She makes handmade jewelry and was doing something like $25,000 a year when we did that story, but has come a long way since.
Now, Stacy describes her work as subversive, subversive and snarky, I believe. It has a lot of personality and therefore stands out from a lot of other sellers with similar items. And that's what attracted me to it in the first place. That's why I thought it was a good side hustle school story. So I'm glad to hear, you know, a couple of years on, she's still going strong.
Let's hear it directly from Stacy, and I'll come back at the end to wrap us up. [Music]
I'm Stacy Bowers, and I started Bang at Betty, a small handmade jewelry business in Little Rock, Arkansas. You heard about me on episode 124 of side hustle school. For five years of Bang at Betty, up until February of 2019, I made jewelry as a side hustle in the mornings before work, on my lunch breaks, and into the witching hours after my day job as the marketing and communications director of a nonprofit. Bang at Betty is snarky and subversive hand stamped jewelry, lapel pins, bumper stickers, and gift items.
Most of what I designed is a little edgy, but I love making custom items for clients too. Since I was first featured, I took my side hustle full time. I also partnered with a local shop owner on a storefront called Stiff Station Gifts in Little Rock. I work out of the shop two days a week and feature my full collection there, as well as host fun artsy workshops where people can get creative and hands on. Ever since starting at Stiff Station Gifts, I've really been focusing more on the local aspect of my business.
It's given me a way to really connect with my clients that I didn't have before. So when I first took Bang at Betty full time, I kicked it off with a trade show, which is a life goal of mine, and I really wanted to do, just to kind of have that experience. And I learned that I hate doing trade shows. So ever since then, I have been trying to find reps and a better way to sell my jewelry to gift shops and boutiques around the country. So if anyone has great rep recommendations, please let me know.
One Christmas about six or seven years ago, I can't keep track of it. I taught myself how to stamp metal so that I could put funny and cursory phrases on bracelets to give my friends. And I shared them online and people really liked them, so I just kept making more. It was a very gradual business. I grew up very slowly over a few years before I felt comfortable doing it full time.
People think that it's gonna be fun and easy and man, is it messy? And you bash your fingers up a lot. And they're probably the first couple of years of me doing it. If I wouldn't share that on social media now, that's me, I'm like, oh, that is subpar stamping. It takes a long time to really get a rhythm and to make it look really clean and neat.
If someone were wanting to start a creative business, sort of like mine, I always tell people to really be yourself. Put yourself into your work and your personality and don't be afraid. But most importantly, put yourself into your work. Don't just take what other people are doing and do it because one, you're just gonna oversaturate the market. And two, you're just not gonna love doing what you do if you're just doing something that someone else is doing.
So try to be unique and original and just share your personality and people will love it. I've had a lot of time to sit here and design in my social isolating. So I am constantly coming out with new designs. I just launched several new lapel pins. I've got new stickers coming.
There's new jewelry pretty much every day. So be sure to tune in on social media to see all the new things coming out. [Music]
Thank you so much, Stacey. Just a couple of comments here. I think Stacey's project has succeeded because of her message.
Now she describes it on her site as funny, snarky, and feminist handmade jewelry, shirts, stickers, and more designed in Arkansas. So really clear mission statement there. One of her most popular designs is a necklace with a tiny hammer and a little plaque that reads smash the patriarchy. Again, you know what it's about. You know who it's for.
If you are buying a gift for someone, you don't have to wonder like, are they gonna like it? Like, you know, if there's somebody in your mind, like I'm actually thinking of my sister right now. I think she would love this necklace. So maybe I won't get it for her. Hopefully she's not listening to this episode.
And not all of Stacey's products are in the same vein. She also has like, for example, she has a heart shaped pendant with the word tacos on it. So that's just more kind of funny. You know, like you see a heart shaped pendant, you think it's gonna have somebody's name on it and it's like tacos. That person loves tacos.
I mean, who doesn't, right? So again, I think this is a big part of why it does well. That, and of course, what she mentioned, that consistency over time, improving her skill. You want to be able to look back, like she said, and look back at your early days and say, "Oh wow, that doesn't look so good." And it's because you have evolved and improved along the way. It's not because it was fundamentally bad back then.
It just means that you have gotten better. That's what you want. And then lastly, what she is doing in terms of diversifying international distribution. So thank you again, Stacey. We're gonna link this up in the notes.
bangupbetty.com is her website. We'll have some other links in the show notes page. 2020 is our year of interaction. If you have a question, if you'd like to update us about your hustle, and if you love tacos, because as I said, who doesn't? Come to sidehustleschool.com/questions.
We're gonna feature them throughout the year, along with updates from other listeners. And today's notes in particular are at sidehustleschool.com/1223. That's for episode 1200, 1,223. Thank you so much, my friends. I'll be back tomorrow.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
