This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey, what's up friends, listeners, community. I'm so glad you're here. This is episode 1375 for the past 1,375 days. Crazy how those two things coincide. I have been bringing you daily stories, tips, questions and answers, case studies of real people out there who are finding ways to create a new source of income without quitting their job, without going into debt, and often without stressing themselves out.
And on that last point, I feel like I don't talk about it often enough, I was reminded of it in working on today's story. Now today's story is about a professional development specialist who can't find just the right piece of jewelry. And so she goes on and makes it herself as one does. Six years later, she's mined a second income creating minimalist boho chic jewelry. And she's doing this every month, making a good second income from it.
And key point, she's doing it without stressing herself out. So just like journals and meditation apps, there is a seemingly endless array of ways to make money with handcrafted products. And in this case, the person in the story has another goal. That goal is to do all of this without expending too much energy on the process. Because like so many of us, she has a busy life and she wants her side hustle to fit into her life to accommodate the demands and constraints of her life as opposed to planning her whole life around this business.
So I very much admire that perspective. I know a lot of our listeners are in similar situations just trying to figure out how can I do this thing for myself? I believe in it, like I very much am aligned with those values, but time is limited and not just time, but my energy is limited. And maybe especially this year, my energy is limited. But just in general, there's only so many things we can focus on.
I don't know if I wanna give my best energy to my side project. So I respect that. Let's look at it in the context of this story. College curriculum developer makes minimalist jewelry. Stay tuned.
[Music]
Kristi Moore is a full-time talent development and e-learning specialist for a local university as well as a mother of two who finds space for me time by unwinding in front of Netflix with a soldering iron and some jewelers glue. Specifically, Kristi makes bohemian chic jewelry with a minimalist aesthetic. This me time ritual earns her a nice profit. Plus she enjoys getting to know individual customers so she can create meaningful, custom and personalized jewelry pieces just for them. How did this come to be?
Well, a few years back, she met an older woman with the most beautiful collar necklace made by hand with layers upon layers of beads. The woman told her jewelry can be more than decoration. It can be an expression, emotion and memory. Kristi started creating her own jewelry because she couldn't find that one perfect piece that perfectly expressed who she was. She had an image of her mind of precisely what she wanted but it didn't exist.
So naturally she made it. A few months after Kristi started making her own jewelry, her best friend opened a boutique and was looking for creators who would sell their items in her shop. This friend wanted to focus on handmade goods, not imports from overseas factories or anything else made in bulk. Kristi was intrigued. So she launched her brand, Simple Designs and started producing jewelry in her unique Less Is More design.
She spent $250 on basic items like pre-made pendants and chains. In the early days, she would simply string the pendants on the chains but Kristi constantly felt like an imposter because she was assembling jewelry, not making it from raw materials. She still made each of her pieces unique and did all of the work by hand but she felt less like a designer and more like a kid with a bead set. She pushed herself to work with raw materials so she could truly create pieces from scratch. She soon upgraded to jeweler's glue and started attaching gems to ring blanks.
Before long, Kristi had spent dozens of hours scouring YouTube, jewelry blogs and Pinterest to teach herself more techniques and skills like wire wrapping and soldering. She opened an Etsy shop after she started selling at her friend's boutique and soon other local brick and mortar stores started stocking her creations. Now, as we've seen in other stories like this, quality professional looking photos of her items are a must for selling online. Kristi has also found that variety is important as well so have several photos of each item. She also stresses the importance of SEO and targeting customers when opening an online shop.
She makes sure to constantly update her keywords, titles and product descriptions to reflect current trends and holidays. Simple designs by Kristi now brings in around $10,000 in net income annually and her style has maintained its no-frills simplicity. She loves a classic pair of studs, for example, but creating custom pieces is her favorite, including bold, beautiful statement pieces like clay beaded chokers or crystal earrings with a vintage feel. The best thing about the experience has been getting to grow in her skills. She never thought she would be working with fire to create pieces from raw materials, but now soldering is one of her favorite techniques.
She even made her own wedding ring. Right now, Kristi is trying to hold steady while she finishes her master's degree and maintains a balance that puts her family first while still working full-time. Her next goal is to teach herself how to create pave diamond jewelry, a technique of drilling holes directly into the metal and laying diamonds into the holes like cobblestones. That will require a lot of learning, practice, and of course, more tools and time. But she's excited to see how it goes.
[Music]
Beside us all does not need to be stressful. There are so many different ways to approach this process. I know we have a lot of listeners who are trying to make a lot of money, or we're trying to kind of work themselves out of a job or create a second income that actually equals the income that they have from their day job. And I totally respect that. But I also respect people like Kristi who are in a situation of, I'm not necessarily trying to have two full-time jobs here.
I like my day job, but wouldn't it be great to also learn a new skill and do something creative? And if I can do that in a way where I can watch Netflix and make an extra $1,000 a month, well, that's pretty awesome, right? So here's a final lesson from Kristi on this same topic. She says, "Make sure you're not spending "all your mental energy and time on your hustle. "Maintain balance, ensure that you still enjoy it "most of the time.
"Also, know how much time you spent on it, "how much effort you put in, the cost of materials "and overhead, and the standard pricing "of similar businesses. "And that way you can set your prices accordingly. "Do not undervalue yourself or your work." Seems like a good way to end today. Do not undervalue yourself. Also, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better.
Today's show notes, including links to Kristi's work, anything else I mentioned in the episode, will be at sidehustleschool.com/1375. 1,375, 1,375. If you've got a comment or question for the show, just come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. Thank you so much for listening today. I appreciate you.
I hope you're doing well, wherever you are in the world. And I hope you'll keep listening. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
