This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Welcome, welcome. Thanks for tuning in today and happy 4th of July. Happy Independence Day if you celebrate such a thing. And of course you can celebrate your independence wherever you are in the world, no matter what day it is. But you know, special day to commemorate freedom, independence, all those things that we talk about in one form or another through side hustle school, making extra money without quitting your job, et cetera, et cetera.
Now today's episode is part of a new feature we're doing called Your First Thousand Dollars. And as you might surmise from the title, or you might know if you've been listening this year, it's all about how someone made their first thousand dollars. How did they get to their independence day? Maybe not even their full independence day, but how did they get started? How did they make that first paycheck?
Today, in fact, you'll hear about a literal paycheck, a literal check in the mail that years later, our featured case study still holds onto because it's so special. Who is that case study? It is Amy Barnhart. Amy Barnhart from Seattle, Washington. She is now a full-time freelance apparel designer specializing in menswear.
We first featured her back on episode 1683, but what about her first thousand dollars? Again, how did she make it happen? What did it feel like? And what did she learn? She's got a great story and some great advice for us as well.
So let's hand it over to Amy. [Music]
- Hi, my name's Amy Barnhart and my business is Amy Lens Design. I'm a freelance menswear designer and I help growing menswear startups organize their development and get from a design into a production-ready proto. I was featured on Side Hustle School in episode 1683 talking about how I got started as a freelancer. And today I'm gonna talk about how I made my first thousand dollars freelancing.
So when I first got the idea to freelance, I was working full-time and I was a new parent. And I wanted to quit my job to freelance and have more flexibility in time with my family. But I had no idea where to start. No one that I knew worked in that freelance space in my industry and most people I talked to didn't think it was even possible. I did know one person who had successfully freelanced as a designer, but she was my boss.
So I did know it was possible. I knew someone who had done it, but she didn't seem a great person to ask for advice. Eventually I did find a how-to guide specifically for freelancing in my industry. Most advice that I was finding for freelancing at that time at least was for graphic designers. And that probably would have translated.
But for me, someone who never felt like she had an entrepreneurial bone in her body, I really wanted advice that was specific to the apparel industry. So I did find that guide. I found it really helpful. I tried working full-time and kind of trying to drum up freelance work on the side before I quit. But that was really hard with everything else I had going on and it was taking too long.
And I just decided to take a leap and I quit before I found any work. So it was terrifying. It was very scary, but I got started. I cold-pitched, cold email pitched, small and medium-sized men's wear brands whose designs that I liked. And I just reached out and I said how I found their brand, what I liked about them, what I do, and how I thought I could help them.
And then I would ask if they would be interested in looking at some work samples. I was super surprised that I got responses. I think I was expecting people to be annoyed that I was bothering them, but they weren't. People were really nice. So I sent them about 10 emails and I pretty quickly got my first two clients.
One was actually a fairly well-known brand that I liked for a while. And so I was pretty excited that one of my first clients was this brand that I really liked right off the bat. I made my first thousand that first month after I quit my job and I was shocked. I got my first payment by check in the mail, which was nice to have that like tangible thing to touch. And it really felt unreal.
I still have the check. It was, I was amazed not knowing anything about this world. Previously, most people that I knew didn't think it was possible. And yet I was pretty successful right away. So if you're thinking of starting up a side hustle or you're still trying to make your first thousand, I think my advice is come up with your game plan and your goals, just like, I mean, you want specific goals, but like a high level game plan and just get started.
You could spend your entire life thinking it through and trying to get it perfect, but honestly, you're never gonna get it perfect the first time. You have to do it imperfectly. And for me, I had to do it imperfectly and I was terrified. I mean, I quit my job and even sending those emails was really nerve wracking. The first emails I sent make me cringe to read them now.
And even at the time, I didn't think they were very good, but I still sent them and I got work from them. So you learn as you go, you get better and it gets easier. And honestly, it's a lot of fun. Never having wanted to do my own thing. I've been really surprised at how much fun it is.
So good luck and enjoy your journey. [Music]
Amy, thank you so much for sharing. Really appreciate that story. I enjoyed listening to it a couple of times as I was working on this episode. I especially liked how she talked about, I feel like she didn't have an entrepreneurial bone in her body.
That's like so many of our listeners, but obviously Amy moved forward and discovered that it gets easier as you go along. It's also a lot of fun. And the check in the mail just felt unreal, as she said. Well done as well with cold pitching, sending 10 emails and getting two clients from it. Inspirational story for me, as well as no doubt, many of our listeners.
And hey listeners, check out Amy's website, amylensdesign.com. That's Lynn with an L-Y-N-N, amylensdesign.com. We're gonna link it up on the notes page as well. sidehustleschool.com/2011. That's right, more than 2,000 episodes in.
We make this show for you, our listeners. So I hope you'll subscribe, follow and come back tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
