This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
Hey, hey, what's up? Welcome. This is Friday. At least today's episode is going out on a Friday. And I believe that we can learn as much from failure as we can from success. That's why we
have this new segment called Failure Friday. It is a collection of short stories all about mistakes, missteps, disasters, and of course, failure. Things that go wrong. Sometimes things that go very wrong. Okay, so just like our Throwback Thursday segment, you get to hear directly from a side hustler who has struggled in some fashion. And these stories tend to vary,
but often they begin with an idea, an expected course of action, something that they think is going to happen, perhaps an assumption. And then of course, assumption meets reality. And of course, what they learn through the process. So today's short story features Chris Cavallari from a small workshop on the coast of Maine. We told a successful story of his handcrafted goods business on episode 1089-1089. Boy Scout merit badge leads to leather working lifestyle. He actually references that Boy
Scout work ethic in the story you'll hear now. So let's hand it over to him. I'll come back at the end for a brief wrap up. My name is Chris Cavallari, the founder and lead craftsman at the Acadian. We're handmade luxury brand that creates heirloom quality fine writing instruments, leather goods and everyday carry accessories for people seeking an honest and timeless piece that's going to endure for years. Our mission is to inspire people to find a joyful pride in
American craft and embrace sustainable investment in the things we own. Now my failure story begins just after the Acadian was featured on side hustle school in episode 1089-10-19. When the episode landed I was in the midst of our regular holiday season hustle with loads of orders to fulfill. By January I was able to take a bit of a break before I started getting ready to achieve a big goal for 2020 to attend our first wholesale trade show. Now things were going well as I gathered supplies and displays for my booth. I'd spent well over a thousand dollars for the booth fee alone and
another thousand or so for supplies displays order forms and postcards to hand out to buyers at the three-day show that would be held in mid March 2020. March 12th 2020 is a day that will live on in my memory forever. It was on that day one day before the scheduled load-in for the trade show that everything fell apart. That day I received notice from the show's organizers that it was now canceled due to the rapid spreading of COVID-19. I'd later learned that we weren't even getting refunds of the booth fees. This was a complete and utter disaster. I was devastated. Maine's
governor shut down the state that day as well and many other governors were following suit. That meant that any shops that would potentially carry my products would be closed for the foreseeable future. Regular customers were afraid too so the Acadian retail sales dropped like a rock almost immediately. I no longer had any income to support my family during a pandemic that's still raging to this day and I had no plan on what to do next. The entire year hinged on getting new wholesale customers and expanding in the Acadian's reach regionally. With everything shut down I had a
lot of time to think about the things I did wrong and how I had left my business on the brink of shutting down. I mean sure this was an unprecedented emergency but as an Eagle Scout be prepared was a motto that had been drilled into my head since I was a kid. Suddenly I had to confront the fact that I was anything but prepared. After a few days of self-pity and recovering mentally I sat down and began writing out a plan that I should have had from day one. Our emergency continuity and crisis management plan. Now among other things this plan lays out how to effectively
communicate with our employees and customers during a crisis and gives instructions on things like types of emergencies, protocols for work, and even marketing during a crisis. Now I also started a Facebook group with some fellow business owners so we could offer each other support during what was a really difficult time for all of us. Weekly Zoom calls helped bring us closer together during the lockdowns. I also learned another lesson during this time that every business owner and side hustler should keep in mind. Never ever put all your eggs in one basket. Make sure you
have diverse streams of income so that if one or more goes down the others can pick up the slack. 2020 was a struggle both fiscally and mentally for me as a small business owner but thanks to a good support system and the ability to be flexible and think on my feet I've been able to push through the ups and downs of this pandemic and keep the Acadian running strong. Hey, thanks so much Chris for sharing that transparent and truthful story. I always say never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat. So I'm happy to see that Chris's business is largely back up and running. Check out his website at theacadian.me or follow him on Instagram also
at theacadian.me. If you've got a question for me, an update for us about your side hustle, anything else just come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. I'm so glad you could join me today. I hope you'll subscribe or follow. Take care of yourself as well during this holiday season and come back tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau. You are listening to Side Hustle School.
From the Onward Project.
