This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey there, greetings from Side Hustle School headquarters. I hope your holiday season is going well. I'd like to welcome you today, first of all to the program, second to Throwback Thursday, our weekly segment of taking a look at someone whose story has evolved since we first featured them. And we've had all sorts of topics in this segment recently, just in the past month, magic mushrooms, standardized test tutoring, tap dance, and a self-described recovering attorney who now operates a seven-figure podcast service. Last week in particular, we heard from Dave Green, founder and chief mysterious officer of Mystery Trip.
Today, in our latest feature of exciting and wide-ranging topics, we'll hear from Julie Sanchez. We first featured Julie in episode 1284, Office Manager Cleans Up with Etsy Soap Store. So Julie sells soap. It was a sudsational story, if I do say so myself, but what's happened since? Well, let's hear directly from Julie.
She's got some updates for us. I'll come back at the end with a quick wrap up. [Music]
Hi, my name is Julie Sanchez and I live in Denver, Colorado. My side hustle is the Adventurous Soap Co. And that's where I sell travel-inspired soaps, perfumes, and more.
I was previously featured on episode number 1284. My side hustle was inspired by my love of travel. I've lived and traveled all over the world. I taught English in China for a year. And that is actually where I learned how to make soap while I lived in China.
I also love the power of fragrance and how it can evoke certain memories, feelings, and places. My Etsy shop grew slowly but steadily in 2018 and 2019. However, my Etsy shop really grew during the pandemic. Since people had to cancel trips, a lot of people bought my products to get that sense of wanderlust. I had a lot of people buying my products as gifts to make up for canceled trips.
For example, I had people buy my Iceland soap as a way to make up for not getting to go on that trip to Iceland. So my side hustle has actually recently become my main hustle as I recently left my day job. I used to work for a nonprofit full-time, but I've been feeling a sense of needing to move on. A lot has happened since I was last featured on the show. So I registered my business as an LLC back in April.
I also have my own website now and I have started to expand into wholesale. The biggest challenge I'm currently facing is trying to market my business and scale it and try to make a full-time income from it. Since my side hustle is now my main hustle, I have to really make this work. I'm trying to become more consistent with my marketing and find ways to branch into more revenue streams and continue to grow. My advice to someone who wants to follow in my footsteps is to treat your side hustle as a business from the beginning.
Get your LLC, learn about taxes, be good about finances. Do all that in the beginning. Also, I would say when you start out, like keep things simple. Don't try to make like a million different products. I know it's tempting to want to introduce so many different products.
I am so guilty of that, but I'd say focus and keep it simple. That is actually easier to scale in the long run. Also learn about marketing. Create a marketing calendar, learn about email marketing. There are just so many good resources out there that can help.
And if you want to make your side hustle your main hustle, prepare for it. Have a cushion of money saved up and be all in. You can even be a little foolish like me and take a leap of faith and get out of your comfort zone. You know, leave a day job that's not fulfilling anymore and be all in. What's next for me and my side hustle is to try to continue to grow it and get my products into more stores and increase brand awareness.
You know, 10 years down the line, I'd actually love to start my own nonprofit where I can teach others, you know, how to grow and scale micro businesses, you know, the way to promote financial empowerment. But yeah, in the present, I just would love to grow the Adventurous SoCo as much as I can and see where it goes. You know, it's an adventure itself. [Music]
Wanna say a big thanks to Julie, the squeaky clean soap adventurous for sharing her updates with us. Check out the adventuristsopeco.com or the adventuristsopeco on Instagram.
Go get that soap. Okay, we do these updates every single week, every Thursday. We have an episode every day, but these updates every Thursday. Let me know who you'd like to see featured from our archives of more than a thousand stories. If you've got a question or an update for us about your side hustle, just come to sidehustleschool.com/questions.
I always love to know what you're working on, what's going well, and what you're struggling in. Most of us have at least one thing in both categories. All right, that's it for today. I hope you'll subscribe. Come back tomorrow.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to "Side Hustle School." [Music]
from The Onward Project.
