Man Buys 100 Animal Skulls from Bali; Turns $10,000 Into $60,000

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

Hello and greetings and welcome. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. I am out and about in Indonesia and Thailand this week. It's actually my last international trip before September 19th when the Cytosil book comes out.

Then I do a major tour all throughout the US and Canada, eventually followed by many stops further afield as well, of course. But for now, this is my last big trip until that process. And for three days this week, I am in Bali, a place I've been to several times, but not in several years. I've been to Jakarta recently, which is a much bigger city, much different part of Indonesia. And I'm usually kind of a city person myself, but it is fun to come to the more chill side of Indonesia as well.

And it just so happens that today's episode is all about Bali. Or more precisely, it's about a man in San Francisco who takes a vacation here, sees something that he likes, and stumbles on a side hustle that he starts when he gets back home. And it's just getting going right now, but it looks like it's gonna make a pretty significant profit before the year is up. So I'll tell you all about that, of course. And by way of context or setup, just ask yourself what if you could go to Bali or somewhere else in the world, doesn't have to be here, but wherever you go, you come back with something to sell, or you come back with some kind of side hustle idea, and that idea ends up paying for your trip.

Maybe it even funds future trips. And maybe, who knows, you can kind of turn this into a lifestyle where you are traveling around the world, probably not as much as me or not all the time, but in whatever rhythm suits your schedule, your preferences, your job, your other commitments. And as I said, you find a way to pay for the travel, and not just pay for the travel, but even make money on top of it. Well, I know from all the comments I get that a lot of listeners are interested in this kind of business, particularly buying one thing from one part of the world and then reselling it elsewhere. Long ago, when I was just getting started, I was really attracted to this kind of stuff too.

Like how can I find something to purchase in one place, that people in another place might be interested in purchasing, et cetera. Well, one interesting and detailed example of that is coming up for you today, right after this brief message from our sponsor. [Music]

For San Francisco account executive, Michael Sendesich, his vacation to Bali was a way to take a break from a stressful 70-hour work-week schedule and to find a little corner of the world where he could relax. And one night, taking a stroll amongst the Indonesian markets and boutiques, he happened upon a stall filled with Balinese carved skulls, and he instantly fell in love with their unique and intricate designs. At $80 a piece, he thought this high-quality artwork was a real bargain, but he also realized it came with a lot of problems.

Because of their size and delicateness, you couldn't just pop them into your suitcase and head home with them, or at least it would be a challenge. And doing some further research, he discovered that some people who had tried had been stopped at customs and had the items removed, even though it was perfectly lawful to export them and bring them to the US. So Michael went back to his vacation and decided he'd wait until he got home and try to order one off the internet instead. Well, upon his return and after a few Google searches, he found that the skulls were retailing for over $300 in the US, a whole $220 more than he'd seen in Bali. And immediately he was struck with an idea for his next side hustle.

He knew he couldn't be the only traveler in the world who'd been to Bali and wanted to bring back a skull, but had been unable to. And he figured if he could make a good profit helping people solve that problem, why not try? Michael was busy with those 70-hour work weeks, but once in a while he would take a little time and do some internet research, trying to find a company or a manufacturer in Bali to help him import the skulls. But he couldn't find anything or anyone. In one last-ditch effort, he turned to YouTube to watch videos of an artist carving the skulls.

In the descriptions of one of the videos, he found a blog, which led him to a company, and then using LinkedIn, he tracked down the owner of the company and sent him a message to propose a new partnership. After a few messages back and forth, Michael ordered 100 hand-carved skulls for $10,000, saving himself at least $200 each on buying them in the USA. And then he began to play a nervous waiting game. See, Michael admits that paying such a large amount of money with PayPal to someone he barely knew on the other side of the world was scary and perhaps a bit reckless. He also had to share copies of his passport, his social security number, and sign a power of attorney document to a shipping company so that they were authorized to take possession of the skulls and bring them across the ocean.

Michael was able to track the container ship online, and each time it would get stopped along the route to California, he would feel even more nervous. Still, after a few months of waiting, the shipment arrived unscathed, and he had his first batch of stock ready to sell. Although he did have to pay a bit extra for external storage because the mothballs that came with the skulls began to make his dog sick. It wasn't a Balinese curse. It was just an allergy.

At least that's what we think. Now, before we go on, you might wonder a bit about these skulls. These are animal skulls from cows, and Indonesia is predominantly Muslim, but Bali is where the majority of the Hindu minority lives. And in that culture, cows are sacred, so the skulls are taken from animals that have died of natural causes or have been raised for meat by other populations. So in other words, they're not killed in order to use their skulls for art.

Instead, it's a process of using every part of the animal. Anyway, over the next few weeks, Michael began to create a marketing campaign for his new skulls. He put together a website using the brand name Bali Skulls and also created an Instagram feed. After just a few weeks of getting his first batch in, Michael had made his first sale for $300. Even though he'd already paid for the skulls, he sent 10% of the proceeds back to the family in Indonesia that had made them.

He says that seeing their reaction was one of the most amazing parts of the process for him so far. And since that first sale, Michael went on to do $3,000 in sales in just one week. And while there's still a bit to go until he recoups his first investment, he predicts that he'll make around $60,000 in total over the next 12 months. Remember, that was a $10,000 initial investment, so $60,000, pretty great return. Next steps for him are to increase the visibility of his online store through social media and spreading the word through local markets in San Francisco.

He's also targeting interior decorators and retailers to try to get his products featured in future designs. Even though it sounded like a crazy idea, it now looks like this skull-rattling side hustle has got off to a good head start. [Music]

Well, congratulations to Michael. It is indeed a skull-rattling success. And just like I say, whenever I feature products like this or stories like this on the show, I try to describe them the best I can, but it really helps to have a visual of this.

So if you wanna see what this unique art looks like, come check out the show notes on the site or just head over to Bali Skulls on Instagram. Check out his account and see more about how it works. Like I said, I'm actually in Bali today. I think I've seen these before myself, but I've never paid a lot of attention to them. So now when I head to the market this afternoon, I'm gonna be on the lookout for some Bali Skulls.

Now, either fortunately or unfortunately, I don't check luggage when I travel, so I'm probably not gonna bring back 100 skulls. But then again, you never know. I just realized, you know, I'm going to 100 cities later this year for the side hustle book tour. Maybe each city should get a custom Bali Skull, or perhaps not. I suppose not every idea I have is a good one.

Those show notes are at sidehustleschool.com/222. That's for episode 222. I'll be heading to Thailand this weekend, but I'll still be back with you tomorrow and every day. Thank you for listening. I'm Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School.