Rustic Tiki Bars Turn Into Pallet-able Career

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

At nearly 1,800 episodes in, we continue to hunt down unique and interesting ideas that we haven't previously featured. Now a lot of that is thanks to our listeners who send us all kinds of good ideas and stories. So thanks if you've been part of that, but if you're just enjoying, that's okay too. Thank you. Now, sometimes we have a twist on something, you know, like one of our listeners has found a creative way to buy and resell products, for example, or somebody has a cool approach to selling on Etsy.

And you know, all that's awesome, but I especially love entirely new ideas, because here we are in the so-called great resignation, or the great reshuffle, if you prefer, where so many people have been making bold and brave choices, sometimes restructuring their entire lives. And I just think this is so interesting to see so many people making changes in their lives. So if you're making a change or thinking about it, I'll be thinking of you. And today's featured case study is an idea that we've never talked about before. Instead of heading to the elementary school classroom, this teaching graduate makes custom tiki bars, custom tiki bars for homeowners.

That's right. We have never talked about this before. Rustic tiki bars turn into palatable career. Why not? You know, you can do what you want.

So that's the story. That's coming up after this message from our sponsor. Ben Corkery was partway through Teachers College in Canada when he realized he didn't want to enter the traditional workforce. Why should he? You can do what you want these days.

Searching for a business that would provide him more freedom, Ben decided to double down on a promising project he'd started the previous summer. Finding rustic backyard bars. You've got the idea from his best friend who built a bar out of wooden shipping pallets to use at his own farm wedding a couple years back. The rustic farm look was still in vogue, and Ben already had experience with framing and carpentry. So he decided to build a similar structure.

He picked up some free pallets from Home Depot and built the bar, which he rented out once on Facebook Marketplace for $120 and then promptly sold it for $250. Not bad. The next summer, during his break from college, he built a few more bars and raised his prices. And they still sold. When one customer asked him to add a roof, he did.

All while raising the price again. And then he had a customer who wanted something more high-end. So Ben built the bar to the customer's specs. It looked great. He now had a taste of entrepreneurial freedom, and the timing couldn't have been better.

More than a year into the pandemic, people were still going all out on home improvement projects. Ben tweaked his rustic bar designs to suit what customers wanted, and he began making cabanas too. He earned more money that spring and summer than he ever had before. GreatWorks Custom Bars continues to be a solid seasonal business, and customers are placing orders for next year. Ben gets most of his customers through Facebook Marketplace and Facebook Groups.

He's also collecting Google reviews to help build his business. Since he began by using free pallets and the tools he already had, this was a zero-cost business to start. He's now averaging $8,000 a month in the summer, and at least $1,000 a month in the winter. Building tiki bars isn't really Ben's passion. It wasn't his life goal, but the thrill of the hustle certainly is.

He loves making money. He loves closing a deal. He loves discovering opportunities. And he really likes the freedom. One of the reasons this project has worked is because his products have a high perceived value, yet they're fairly easy to build.

So there's demand and a good profit margin. The logistics, however, can be tricky. Ben once drove over an hour to deliver a finished structure, only to discover he couldn't get it in the backyard. Luckily, there were six guys hanging out in the garage across the street, and they offered to help him lift the large tiki bar over a seven-foot archway to get it into the yard. Lesson learned, always plan ahead for deliveries.

Also Ben once sold a bar to someone who liked it so much, he was interested in becoming a distributor. The customer was that confident he could make a profit, even on top of what Ben was charged with. They didn't end up working together, but it was great feedback to get and confirmed he'd found a good thing. Ben is passionate about creativity and doing work that matters to him. He wants to help other people do it too.

Since he has a teaching background, just not one he used actually teaching, he has created a course and coaching program to help others start building and selling tiki bars and other unusual DIY craft projects. On the side, on the side side, he also writes a weekly newsletter on Substack called Society for a Wondering Mind. Ben's course is called Craftsman for Cash. We're going to link it up in the show notes of course. You can also check out his website just in case you need a custom tiki bar in your backyard, or you want to learn more about the project, his idea.

As always, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better. To find the show notes for today's episode, including those links and more, just go to www.sidehustleschool.com/1788. Thanks so much for tuning in today. Thanks for joining me. I hope you will subscribe or follow and come back tomorrow.

New episode every single day. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. From the Onward Project.