This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Good morning, afternoon, or evening, wherever you are in the world. Thank you for tuning in today. My name is Chris Guillebeau. You are listening to Side Hustle School. We're all about creating economic empowerment, helping you make extra money without quitting your day job, perhaps eventually going full time, or perhaps just paying off debt or creating more savings.
Otherwise, just creating more autonomy and ownership for yourself, all those good things. And today our segment is Failure Friday. The principle with this segment is that we can learn a lot from failure, just as we can from success. And in fact, often success comes through embracing failure, kind of working through something, gotta get to the other side of something. You gotta go through something that's difficult in order to find that, whatever that thing is that you're looking for.
Most likely in our case, it's some kind of business or income generating project. So just like our Throwback Thursday segment, you get to hear directly from Side Hustlers they're gonna tell you a quick story. And these stories tend to vary a bit. Today's features Nyree Burgess from Hobart, Australia. Hobart, Australia.
I've been to Australia many times, but I have not been to Tasmania. I believe Hobart is on the island of Tasmania. In fact, I'm sure of it because we told the successful story of her project on episode 1219. And that story was titled, Tasmanian insurance manager sells reusable cutlery holders. Reusable cutlery holders, you might call it silverware, depending on where you are.
So this is her business. It's going really well. And as awesome as her story is, Nyree had some challenges in the beginning, including an initial farmer's market experience that was, shall we say suboptimal. She describes it as having an enormous feeling of imposter syndrome. Things did not go well at all.
It wasn't a great experience. But as I said, sometimes you have to go through things to get to the other side. So let's hear it from Nyree. [Music]
Hi, this is Nyree from Hobart in Tasmania, Australia. And I have a small business called Pocket Picnic.
I sell straws, metal straws, bamboo chopsticks. And my main product are handmade wraps that contain the sets of cutlery for people to take with them and use in the car or on the go as they're out and about and eating outside of the house. So I started my business two and a half years ago and just started out with a few friends, made them for myself and then a few friends wanted some for them. And before you know it, I've got a queue of orders. So I thought there was something in this and I made a whole batch and thought that I would sell them at markets.
And I went to my first market and it was a complete disaster. I sold one set of four, a four person set Pocket Picnic to someone who'd spoken to my parents earlier that day and bought it out of pity. Undeterred though, I kept with it and kept refining the product. And I was successful in securing a spot at Salamanca Market, which is in our state, a really huge tourist attraction and locals alike. It's a really big market on every Saturday, right on the waterfront down in beautiful Hobart.
And again, my very first market, I was so nervous. I just walked in there with such an enormous feeling of imposter syndrome. And I was expecting all the other stall holders and the customers to walk past and laugh, but they didn't, but I didn't sell much either, a couple of pieces here and there. But for some reason, I just kept persisting and my products got a little bit better. The layout of the stall continually improved and also the sort of pitch that I would do to explain how the products came to be and what purpose they're good to be used for improved.
And before you know, in less than 12 months, I'd had my first $1,000 a day, which was a real milestone for me to sell that many in one day. And I continually put my prices up for a while until I felt I'd hit a really fair price point. And yeah, that's pretty much a standard day for me at the market these days. So leading up to Christmas is always really busy. They make such good Christmas presents, particularly for people who have an environmental bent or are unable to use cutlery in their workplace now.
Since COVID, a lot of workplaces have taken cutlery and crockery out of the communal kitchen. So more people are forced to taking cutlery around with them. So it's been a bonus for my business. But being on the side hustle school was a real thrill for me. I'd listened to every single episode of your show and I was just so happy to be featured on there and I'm continuing my business and enjoying every minute of it.
Thank you. [Music]
Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat. That is the theme of failure Friday. Thank you Nairi for pushing through. Thank you for getting through those difficult times to find success.
And of course, thank you so much for sharing that story with our listeners. I think it's awesome by the way that Nairi has listened to every episode, amazing. Listeners, I wanna encourage you, check out her website pocketpicnic.com.au. Pocketpicnic.com.au. She offers free shipping throughout Australia.
I think she offers shipping elsewhere for a fee. But you can also just kind of see what she's doing, follow her story and so on. If you've got a question for us or an update for us about your hustle, sidehustleschool.com/questions. And of course, we'll have a show notes page with links to Nairi's website and some other resources as well. You can always find that on the website.
And 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. [Music]
[Birds chirping] [Music]
From the Onward Project.
