This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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I believe we can learn as much from failure as we can from success, if not, in fact, more. And that's why we have this segment called Failure Friday. By the way, welcome to Side Hustle School. My name's Chris Guillebeau. Failure Friday is a collection of short stories about mistakes, missteps, disasters, and of course, failure.
Now these stories tend to vary, but often they start with an idea or a plan, a plan of attack. And you think the plan of attack is gonna work out and be amazing, but of course it doesn't always go that way. And that's why we try to actually just delve into that moment and what does it feel like? That moment or that process sometimes, it can take a while, when you're in that space of, I thought this was gonna be amazing, but it actually turned out to be something different. And eventually I'm gonna get to amazing, but I have to go through that other part first.
So today's short story features Chelsea Rail. We told the first version of her story. I'm gonna call it the first version for a reason. The first version of her story on episode 1198, nurse relieves stress, earns cash from custom cookie cutters. She actually made 3D printed cookie cutters.
It's not a cookie cutter business. Wait a second, it actually was a cookie cutter business. Normally that's an insult, but in this case, she was selling actual cookie cutters. It wasn't that she was copying someone else's business, but I digress. And I called it the first version of her story because actually this update you're gonna hear from her now, it's one of my favorites of the year so far in the failure Friday series, because you're gonna hear how she has made a transition, how she actually struggled a lot, how she took on too much, how she was unfocused, even how her mom had to bail her out of some business debt, but also how she unraveled herself from this position.
And so such an inspiring story. As I said, I really enjoyed it. Without further ado, I wanna turn it over to Chelsea and I'll be back at the end for a quick wrap up. [Music]
- Hi, my name is Chelsea Rael. When I was first featured on Side Hustle School, my business was Sweet Sugar Star.
And the story was about designing and selling 3D printed cookie cutters. What they didn't tell you was how unfocused I was in that business. When I originally started Sweet Sugar Star, I was trying to do everything. I sold all kinds of decorating supplies, sold a monthly subscription box, and taught local decorating classes. In theory, it should have all worked together, but it didn't.
Because I sold supplies on a national level and also taught local in-person decorating classes, it was extremely difficult to market under one business because my audiences were different. I also racked up a bunch of debt in inventory, thinking it would sell easily and quickly. It didn't. My subscription box was doing okay, but I wasn't making any money outsourcing the supplies. So I decided to invest in 3D printers and use my artistic abilities to draw cutter designs.
I learned a 3D modeling software and went through a steep learning curve of 3D printing cutters, which was much more challenging than I had anticipated. However, this allowed me to start taking in a small profit and pay down some of the debt. But it still wasn't enough. I became pregnant with my daughter in January, 2020, and with it came extreme fatigue. I had an emotional breakdown one day because I felt too tired and burned out to continue running the business that still had several thousand dollars in debt to pay off.
My mom actually bailed me out of my business debt, which allowed me to close up shop for a while to focus on my family and having a healthy pregnancy while working my regular full-time job. I rebranded to Minted Print's cookie cutters and reopened in January of 2021 with a focus on selling only cookie cutters. Being limited in time between my full-time job with part-time childcare for my new baby helped me stay focused on doing one thing in my business, which helped my marketing and helped me make smarter decisions on how to run and grow my side hustle business. Since reopening, I have run my business in cash and have grown an average of 30% per month over the year. I follow the Profit First financial plan by Mike McAlwits, which helps me keep my materials and operating expenses within a reasonable budget, save for taxes and profit, reinvest in my business as well as finally pay myself.
I have always heard that as a business, you need to be focused and cut away on all the extras when developing your offer, whether it's a service or a product. I honestly thought I was doing that in the beginning because everything I did was centered around professional cookie decorating. I have since learned that if you cannot speak to one person about your offer, you are doing too many things, and it not only spreads your efforts then, it's confusing to your followers. It was only when I was forced by time constraints to hone in on only selling cookie cutters that I was able to grow my business, be profitable and start paying myself. I would challenge any business owner who is feeling burned out or struggling with your messaging to focus on doing one thing really, really well.
Once you have proven systems in place for selling and fulfilling orders, then you can expand to additional offers if that's what you wish to do. To all my fellow side hustlers, I wish you the best in 2022. [Music]
Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat. That's the theme of Failure Friday. And so many lessons, so much insight from that brief update from Chelsea.
Man, in just a few minutes, you can be inspired, entertained, and go away feeling motivated, having learned something. So what a great update. I love some of the things she said about how in theory, it should have worked, but it didn't. And that's how it is sometimes. When I heard that, I was like, oh yeah, I can think of a lot of times myself where I'm like, it should have worked out.
This idea I had in theory, it seemed great. But theory and practice are sometimes different. Also, she mentioned Mike Michalowicz. Mike is a good friend of mine. I spent some time with him recently in Nashville.
So I'm a big fan as well of his Profit First model. There's a book called Profit First. He's got a whole business behind it as well. So I definitely recommend that to our listeners. And then lastly, what she said about focus on doing one thing really, really well.
I wrote that down. I put it in all caps in my notes here. Focus on doing one thing really, really well. Thanks so much, Chelsea, for sharing this transparent, truthful story. Listeners, I wanna encourage you, check out her updated website, newly updated, minted-prints.com.
Minted-prints.com. She's also on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, everywhere @mintedprintscutters. Maybe not everywhere, but just look for her wherever you go on social, minted-printscutters. We'll link it up on the show notes page as well. And if you have a question or an update for us about your hustle, sidehustleschool.com/questions.
Thank you for tuning in today. There's something out there you can do. I believe there's a business for you as well, some kind of idea that you can take action on. So I hope you'll get closer to it today. And I hope you'll join me again tomorrow.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
