What It's About
Two students use Facebook to sell their student studying care packages.
Business Model
Skills Required
Complexity
Profit Potential
Words of Wisdom
Along the way, Craig and Logan discovered that a major weakness of their business model was that sales were cyclical. Demand for StudyBox drops significantly during the semester breaks and increases during the exam season. This comes as a perfect opportunity for the two friends to improve their product and raise awareness and decide if they are going to scale up the business.
It goes to show that it is ultimately you who decides how big your side hustle will be—the business comes secondary to your needs and other commitments.
Fun Fact
Craig and Logan launched StudyBox only a month before finals week. They weren’t just hitting the books themselves, but helping others as well. A lesson in shipping, and not waiting.
Notes from Chris
Episode 273
Remember the days of college and high school when you were swamped with work and curricular activities? All you ever wanted was more time and the ability to focus without watching cat videos on YouTube every 15 minutes. What if you could get everything you needed to study in a box? That’s what Craig Lamb and Logan Foster set out to do. As students in college with demanding majors, Craig and Logan noticed that it was too easy to get distracted during study sessions. Not having the right stationery, feeling hungry, and being completely exhausted by the rigors of student life were all common reasons for being unable to focus on the task at hand. StudyBox was Craig and Logan’s answer to the needs of the student. They started by writing down items that would be beneficial to have nearby during study sessions like snacks, energy and sports drinks, highlighters, pens, pencils, post-its, flash cards, and Tylenol for that inevitable late night headache—or for the morning after. They took a number of trips down to convenience stores to get an idea of the costs of each item. After that, it was just a matter of testing the market, which they did by offering prototypes to students on their campus. StudyBox is still in its infancy, but so far they’ve received a ton of positive feedback from their customers, and have sold over 133 boxes! This may seem small, but their goal from the beginning has been to help students create a more productive college experience and in turn, achieve greater academic success. Even though their product has only been up and running for a couple months, Craig and Logan said that it feels really great to know that they’ve already made a positive impact!
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- StudyBox: Learn more about Craig, Logan, and StudyBox on their Facebook page
- How to Sell Products on a Facebook Shop in 5 Simple Steps: If you're interested in the idea of selling your products on Facebook, check out this handy guide from Fit Small Business (Fun Fact: written by previously featured side hustler, Krista Fabregas in Ep. 131)
- Instagram Calligraphy Project Earns $9,000 in Year One: A corporate employee in Texas enters the online world of calligraphy and hand-lettering, then changes along the way to suit her strengths
- Hip Hop Glitter Pendants Sell $60,000 on Instagram: A web developer and a faceless artist in Florida team up with celebrities on Instagram to promote hip hop glitter pendants. Thug life has never looked so shiny!
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Resources
CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE
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GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS
Social media is nice, but building an email list is still the single best way to get customers and clients for your hustle. It's not hard to get started—sign up for a 30-day trial and join the list-building challenge! You’ll be up and running in no time.
Quote of the Day
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To infinity and beyond,
