What It's About
Three friends create a side hustle sharing the magic of hammocks with the world while helping others.
Business Model
Skills Required
Complexity
Profit Potential
Words of Wisdom
Stephanie had great advice for anyone looking to start a business with a friend:
"Have a very clear business agreement that includes what each of you is going to do, what percentage of equity you will each own, and what happens when someone is carrying more than their weight (or if someone wants to leave). Inevitably if you run a business like this long-term these situations will come up."
Fun Fact
Color Cloud Hammocks actually launched on Stephanie's 37th birthday, so to keep with the theme, they created 37 color combination hammocks with fun names for a special launch price of $37. They promoted the sale across their personal social media accounts...and waited. They sold out within a couple of hours, and this ended up being enough to cover their shipping costs and all the rest of their minimal, out of pocket start up expenses.
Notes from Chris
Episode 262
Today’s story features three friends who become business partners with the sole purpose of spreading the joy of colorful hammocks to all seven continents. One of these three friends is actually MY close friend Stephanie Zito, who works with me in my travel hacking side hustle, Travel Hacking Cartel. But today we’re not talking about that; we’re talking about hammocks! It all started in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Or was it Washington, D.C.? In any case, this story begins 15 years ago when Stephanie Zito was living in D.C. after moving back to the U.S. from Africa. She had a bright yellow and orange hammock she’d bought while traveling overseas, and she’d often hang it up in front of her row house on Capitol Hill. She told one of her friends that they needed to make their own brightly colored travel hammocks and sell them in the weekend art market, but after weeks spent searching for fabric and teaching themselves how to sew, those happy hammocks were consigned to the “well, that could have been nice…” department. They realized they didn't have a business model that would let them sell hammocks cheaply enough to cover their costs. After two years, Stephanie took a full-time job working for a humanitarian organization in Cambodia. She was walking through the market one day and found some brightly colored nylon. She drew a picture of the hammock she had tried to make in D.C. two years back. The next day, she had an amazing hammock, and the idea to start a hammock hustle returned. She contacted her friends, told them that she had found a more feasible method for launching their hammock side hustle, and before she knew it, they were shipping their very first batch of Color Cloud Hammocks to the U.S.! To date, they’ve sold over 5,000 hammocks and have continued to support the local women who make the hammocks.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- Color Cloud Hammocks: Find a magical hammock of your own on the Color Cloud website!
- Honeymoon in Nepal Becomes Fashion Accessories Business: A multinational love affair turns into a global side hustle in the fashion world that also raises money for charity in Nepal
- Detroit Women Make Jewelry for Profit and Social Good: In need of some routine before returning to her job as an Ultrasound Technician, a new mother creates a side business focused on self-care coaching
- Introvert Builds Networking Experience to Help Women: A Denver transplant learns new skills and creates a networking group that now includes a podcast, magazine, and $30,000 in side income
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