What It's About
An entrepreneurial teenager now runs a full design studio as a college student.
Words of Wisdom
When it comes to starting a side hustle, Hedy has a unique perspective as a young entrepreneur, “Just go for it. Don't think about how ready you are, it's more about learning through the process. As a teen who was really brand new to entrepreneurship and business, I know what it's like to have imposter syndrome thinking ‘who am I to be doing this?’. But if you really stick to it, and show the value you can bring, people will hire you.”
Fun Fact
About 77% of internet users read blogs, 61% of consumers in the United States have purchased something based off of a blog.
SOURCE: 20 Interesting Facts about Blogs
Notes from Chris
Episode 1627
When Hedy Zhou {head-y Joe} was just 15 years old, she had already been running her first side hustle as a piano instructor for about a year. For her second, she saw an ad for Wix that said she could make a website for free. At the time, Hedy figured that if she made the website, people would simply come to her. Surprise! It didn’t happen. She only got about five visitors, and none of them wanted to give her any money. After a break, she created a second blog. This time, she was determined to make all the right moves. She took a much more business approach, and decided to interview entrepreneurs from different industries. She also had a few guest posts on the blog. A year later, she came across a classmate who had her own website and it inspired her to try once more. Third time’s the charm, right? She decided it would be an authentic, online space with a diary-like feel called Happily, Hedy. This blog was indeed more popular than the first two. Moreover, as she connected with other bloggers, Hedy noticed that she kept getting comments about her website design. It got her thinking. Could she offer design as a service? If nothing else, she would try. She soon added a “Services” tab to her blog, where she offered to do basic graphic design projects for a low price. From there, she created a portfolio with all the designs she’d made in the past—at least all the ones she was proud of. Not only that, but she started to post in various Facebook groups advertising her website. After a couple of weeks, Hedy got her first inquiry. After that, Hedy began to reach out to brands for sponsored posts and collaborations. It didn’t take long to realize that she needed to refocus her blog. While she loved writing about whatever she was interested in at the moment, she knew that writing more specifically about design had more potential for her business. Once she began to focus, interest picked up. Hedy joined a program that was sponsored by her city, and through that she made connections. Eventually, one of them found out about her studio and hired her to do a design initiative. Hedy is now a student in college working towards her undergraduate degree. She makes at least $1,000/month working her own hours. While the money is nice, it’s also given her valuable skills. She has knowledge in SEO, marketing, sales and of course, has improved her design ability. Once she graduates, she plans to make it her full-time career or maybe even start a new company.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- Learn more about Hedy and her services at her website, happilyhedy.com.
- Jealous Designer Starts Popular Art Blog: Jealousy leads to opportunity when a bored graphic designer channels her love of artwork into an online masterpiece.
- Lifelong Superfan Gets Paid to Write Disney Blog: A Disney superfan goes from journaling about the happiest place on Earth in a private notebook at age ten to sharing it with the whole world a decade later, earning $1,000/month from her passion project.
- TBT: New Jersey Blog Grows to 25+ Team Members: In this week’s “Throwback Thursday / Where are they now?” segment, we hear from a New Jersey school counselor turned blogger who now has six employees and twenty contractors.
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Resources
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Quote of the Day
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