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. That's why we have this weekly segment here called Failure Friday. Failure Friday, on Sidal School, a collection of short stories about mistakes, missteps, disasters, and of course, failure. Always enjoy working on this segment. I hope you enjoy listening to it.
We have had a lot of great stories since we began this new segment at the top of 2022. And if you've been listening for a while, you know that there's a lot of great ones in the archives. So I really appreciate the case studies, side hustlers, entrepreneurs who've been sharing these stories, often just very candid, honest, sometimes vulnerable. And this is how we learn, right? This is what it's all about, kind of delving into all the things that don't go well.
So with that in mind, today's short story features Caitlin Rogers. Caitlin Rogers. She is the co-founder and chief storyteller of Next Day Animations. Now let's see here, first of all, chief storyteller, isn't that a great title? And also great brand name, Next Day Animations.
Like you totally understand what that is about, right? What a beautiful way to put the promise of your business directly in the name. Now, having said that, this is a really funny story about messaging and expectations because before it was Next Day Animations, it was, well, it was something else. Okay, so let's hear more about that from Caitlin. She'll tell you the details.
I think you're really gonna like the story. I'll be back at the end with a quick wrap up. [Music]
I'm Caitlin Rogers, and I'm co-founder and chief storytelling officer for Next Day Animations, where we make explainer animations, which are short persuasive videos for businesses and nonprofits. So 10 years ago, my business partner, Jesse Ostell and I were plunking around with what communications deliverables we could sell. We knew there was this growing demand for an alternative to PowerPoint.
And the tool that was trending at the time was called Prezi. It was basically PowerPoint on steroids, where you could zoom in and zoom out and tilt to different angles. So there's this diagram called the good, cheap, fast triangle. And if you haven't heard of it, the idea is that your clients can pick two. Something can be good and fast, but it won't be cheap.
It can be fast and cheap, but it won't be good. Or it can be good and cheap, but it won't be fast. We were dreaming of clients who wanted a deliverable for good and fast to avoid the pricing race to the bottom for creative services. We decided to try marketing our services for people who needed a Prezi quickly. We named the brand Next Day Prezi.
We got a website up, we set up some Google ads, and lo and behold, the phone started ringing. And it was always magical and hilarious when you get that first call. I think it was the very first call that I answered, which tipped us off to the fact that we had stumbled upon a market that we didn't actually want to serve. It was this nice young guy looking for help with a project. Maybe you can guess.
It was for a college assignment. And he wasn't the only one. We had multiple inquiries from college students looking for last minute help. So first of all, we had no desire to help college students cheat. And even if we did, they probably didn't have the money to pay for our services.
I think we charged like $800 for a presentation back then or something. So we did make at least one Prezi for an actual client. It was a presentation about extermination of bed bugs, why heat is the superior treatment to get rid of a bed bug infestation. And thinking back, we probably could have kept tweaking the ads and the website to screen out the students better. But it was around the same time that we tried a variation on the idea.
We tried a website for next day animations. The same idea, we just set it up to create awesome explainer animations quickly instead of presentations. And I remember getting the very first phone call for next day animations when I was over at my friend Alison's house. I was like, what do I do? What do I do?
And I ran into her bedroom. I took the call from the closet. I was trying to use my calm and professional phone voice and sound like I knew what I was doing. This guy wasn't a college student. He needed a marketing video for his very own real business.
We'd actually made explainer animation before. I was not flying completely by the seat of my pants, but I was also explaining the process to him as if next day animations did this every day and as if he wasn't the first potential client for this brand. I'm guessing it's probably how medical residents feel with their first patient trying not to reveal that it's their first day. We got to the end of the conversation and he asked how much it would cost. Uh-oh, we hadn't figured that out yet.
We were just testing the market to see if people would call. And we probably had set up the ad like that day. And so when I threw out a number, I was actually so nervous that I couldn't say it without stuttering. I said, "D-d-d-dollars." And the number that in my mind was very high to me was actually very reasonable to him. And he said, "Yes, how do I get started?" So we made him an animation.
And then we made someone else an animation and it kept going. It's been 10 years and we are still next day animations. We have 25 incredible staff members on the team. It's a thriving business. We've worked for all kinds of clients.
We're also a benefit corporation, which is like a certification about social impact. So we're getting to put our values to work every day. It's awesome. But we wouldn't have ended up here if we had given up after that first idea for next day Prezi had flopped. The other really big foundational lesson that I learned from all of this is that you're allowed to start things.
This was a revelation that you can come up with an idea for a service and let people know about it and then charge people money to do it. I knew theoretically that other people could start businesses, but I didn't believe that I literally could. And fortunately, Jesse, my business partner, he had that confidence and knowledge. So I learned that belief that something is even possible is really step zero to starting anything. I've noticed that a lot of entrepreneurs I know seem to come from families that owned businesses.
And I don't think it's a coincidence and it's not because they invested in their kids' businesses or anything like that. I think it's really just that they grew up with this paradigm where it's possible to start and run a business. This is why diverse representation of entrepreneurs is really important for young people. 'Cause if kids can see someone who looks like them owning a business, then they can imagine it's possible for them too. So lastly, at some point in the last 10 years, I've learned how to save prices without stuttering.
I'm just gonna share what works for me in case this is helpful for you. It's so much easier to confidently say a number if you are working off of a price sheet, or at the very least, write the number down. It will feel official, you'll be more confident, or at the very least, just say you'll email over a quote. That way you won't get stuck stuttering the word dollars like I did. My other advice would be just to go for it.
If you're waiting for permission, I would love to be the one to tell you, you are allowed to do this. I love the motto, bias towards action. Test your ideas, be brave enough to start doing that thing that you're thinking about doing. And the good news is that you only have to do something for the first time once. Good luck.
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Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat. That is the theme of Failure Friday. And congratulations, Caitlin. Well done on getting to 25 staff members. And what a simple project with a clear promise.
When I say simple, I mean that as an accolade, like it's a good thing to have a project that you understand right away what it's about. And if you are looking for an animation for your organization, nonprofit, business, and you need it quickly, what do you do? Well, you're gonna go to nextdayanimations.com, right? At least I would. I feel like I'm gonna always remember that.
Also, like it's very memorable going forward, whenever I meet somebody who needs animation soon, I know where I'm gonna send them. Anyway, I could go on. The point is, I love the story, I love the business. Listeners, check out her website. Guess what it is?
It is nextdayanimations.com. Or you can follow them on Instagram at, well, you probably know where that is as well. Next Day Animations. Okay, that's it for today. If you have a question or an update about your side hustle, let me know, sidehustleschool.com/questions.
Today's show notes, sidehustleschool.com/2029. Thanks for tuning in. Hope you'll subscribe, follow, come back tomorrow. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School.
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From the Onward Project.
