This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
Friends, listeners, amazing people of the internet, amazing people who are subscribed to Side Hustle School or tuning in today at least, I want to say happy Thanksgiving to you. I am very thankful for you. Very grateful for you. Here in the US, we are celebrating the holiday known as Thanksgiving. It gets it a few weeks earlier, other countries don't get Thanksgiving, but as I always say, I encourage you to eat some pie.
Pie is one American export that I think we can actually be proud of. So I wish you a wonderful holiday weekend and of course you might be familiar with Black Friday no matter where you are in the world because that is a shopping holiday, another American export, perhaps of more questionable value than pie, but I will try to stay on track today. Of course, we have a regular episode. This is Throwback Thursday, Thanksgiving. Happens to fall on a Thursday pretty much every year, every year in fact.
And in Throwback Thursday, we take a look at someone whose story has evolved since we first featured them. So let's see. We heard from a car parts reseller in Missouri last week. He's been growing his side hustle all the way to six figures. So well done.
That was great, Tom. Today because we are a global community, we're going to hear from someone in the UK. So her name is Fiona. Fiona has been selling high quality cashmere blankets from Malaysia and Nepal. She's been doing this for several years now, blankets and scarves, I should say.
So we talked about the origin of her business before. Let's look at how things have developed, how has it grown, what's going well, any particular challenges and changes and such. That's the whole point. So I'm going to hand it over to Fiona. I'll be back with a little wrap up for us at the end.
Hi, everyone. My name is Fiona and I've been running a business selling high quality cashmere blankets and scarves important from Nepal and Malaysia. It's been a few years now and what a journey it's been. Let's talk about the middle stage of my business because that's where the real magic happened. When it started, it was all about sourcing and quality control.
But by the middle stage, my focus shifted towards scalability and sustainability. I was already established with a small but loyal customer base. My initial customers appreciated the attention to detail and quality. But now the question was, how do I reach more people without sacrificing that quality? Inventory management was the first real challenge I tackled in this middle phase.
There is not cheap material and overstocking could cripple my cash flow. I invested in more sophisticated inventory tracking software that gave me real time data on sales patterns. This allowed me to order just enough to meet demand without going overboard. One day I received an email from a customer who was so impressed by our winter maple scarf that they bought 10 more to give to their families for Christmas. This simple yet powerful gesture made me realise the untapped potential of gifting in my product range.
So I introduced gift bundles and gift cards during the holiday season. The response was astounding. Sales went up by 30% and across my first five figure month. The next leap came when I decided to introduce customisation options. This was a direct result of customer feedback.
I collaborated with local artisans to offer embroidered initials or even small designs on the blankets and scarves. It was a hit. Personalisation options contributed to an additional 25% in overall sales and gave my brand a unique selling point. Another major change I implemented was becoming more environmentally conscious. After doing some research, I shifted to eco-friendly packaging.
It resonated well with my customers and even attracted a new demographic that was willing to pay a premium for sustainable products. All this while I kept optimising my website and analysing customer behaviour through various analytical tools. I observed that most of my customers dropped off at the shipping fee section. To resolve this, I tested out offering free shipping over a certain amount and absorbed the cost into the product pricing. The result? Can't abandonment reduce by 20%?
So if there's anything you take away from my journey, it's this. Keep evolving and watch those numbers. Whether it's listening to your customers, adapting to market trends or just trusting your gut. The middle stage of your business is where you fine-tune your operations and set the stage for long-term success. Thank you for letting me share this update on my ever-evolving cashmere journey.
It's a balance of passion, strategy and constant learning. Fiona thank you so much for sharing the updates with us. So glad the business continues to sell, grow, evolve, change such as life. Listeners, let me know what you think and who you'd like to see featured from our archives of more than a thousand stories. If you have a question or an update for us about your hustle, www.sidehustleschool.com/questions.
Of course we are beyond episode 2,500 now. We have made it 2,500 episodes and counting. This is 2,518. So not just because it's Thanksgiving, but because you're awesome in general. I do want to say thank you for your support and for listening to the podcast.
If you have a moment to give us a quick little five-star review that helps a ton, just helps to bring new people to the show and also demonstrates to advertisers that you are in fact an active community, which I appreciate. All right. That's it for now. Of course, Black Friday is coming out tomorrow. I'll have some quick comments on that, but I hope you have a wonderful day wherever you are in the world.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. From the Onward Project.
