This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
Well, this was a fun one to work on. 13 year old Australian creates schoolyard lollipop fortune. That's right. We've got all kinds of stories here on the podcast. This enterprising Aussie teen sells 50 plus lollipops a day, earning a hundred percent profit margin, drawing a crowd of happy customers that follow the sound of her jangling pockets. Welcome to
side hustle school. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This year I'm bringing you some remixes of our very best stories over the years, especially from the early years, which was a long time ago. If you were not listening back in 2017, these stories are completely new to you. And if you do happen to have an incredible memory, well, each one is being rerecorded and will also include some new updates in some cases. So as I said, this is a really fun one. One
of the beautiful things about side hustle school, we have a community of amazing people all over the world, even in rural Australia, where this story comes from. I love Australia. I've been there many times, but I usually tend to kind of be in the cities. This one comes from rural Australia, North Queensland. I think you're going to like it. It focuses
on the side hustle of reselling, which in some ways hasn't changed in a couple thousand years. People have been buying and selling with the goal of making a profit on the difference in price. So the internet has enabled all sorts of trading on a much greater scale. And we've got all kinds of stories about that. But today's story takes place completely offline.
In fact, it takes place in a schoolyard and in the hallway of that school in once again, rural Australia, it's about a 13 year old who's building a lollipop fortune selling to her peers. How does she do it? And what can we learn from her story? I'm not kidding. By the way, we can learn a lot from this story. So let's get to the bottom of this sticky
situation. Lucy, the lollipop princess of North Queensland, Australia. That's the story. It's coming right up. Lucy my Freddy is only 13 years old, but already has a second job in addition to her school duties. That second job is getting paid $20 a day driving tractors
and cleaning equipment on the family farm. But what's her first job? What's her side hustle? Lucy's family lives in a rural area of North Queensland. They spend hours in the car each week listening to podcasts. And guess what? Our show side hustle school is their
favorite. That's true. They said that I didn't make that up. They told me that now because homework and driving tractors is not enough for this enterprising teen. She has decided to make some extra money using startup capital from her farm gig. She purchased lollipops
in bulk, which she then resells to eager customers, also known as other students at her school. So how'd she get this idea? Well, the school canteen does not sell any sweets. So she understood that there was an opening for that kind of product. She lives on this family farm. It
is a rural area student traveled by bus from up to 50 kilometers away. So of course a delicious lollipop makes the trip home a little less boring. And the lollipop also lasts for a long time. So the kids feel like they're getting good value for their purchase. Let's talk about the economics buying lollipops in bulk. She can get them for around 19 cents each.
She then sells them for 50 cents, making a whopping 31 cents profit on each one. And she's selling between 50 and 75 per day with very little effort. Teachers apparently are aware that she's doing this. They've told her that if litter becomes an issue, she's going to have to clean it up. Otherwise they are supportive. Now, as you might guess, I
had a lot of questions. So Lucy and her mom, Melissa had some answers. I asked about competition. Is there any such thing? She says, well, a few of her friends were a bit jealous and questioned her about where she gets her lollipops from and for how much, but she said she's not going to give away her trade secrets. That's it. They're going to have to go ahead
and figure that out for themselves. But are they really going to do that? Are they going to be that ambitious? I think not. Lucy was the one with the ambition, the motivation, and also the means of making it happen. Does she ever offer credit to students who don't
have cash on them? That was my next question. Lucy allows some close friends credit, but she said most kids can borrow the 50 cents off somebody else and owe them the money. She doesn't want to be in the financing business. She sets a reminder on her phone whenever somebody owes her money, but she just tries to avoid it for the most part. And so far,
she said everybody who does owe her pays her back. After all, she's not going to get suckered. Right? Also fun fact, Lucy is very health conscious and rarely eats any of the lollipops herself. And if she does, she always pays for it. Like she pays 50 cents to herself.
She even makes her younger brother and sister pay for them as well. No freebies in this household. Now, of course I ask as well, what does she hope to do with her profits? Well, she puts all of her profits in the bank. She has chosen to not get a debit card for the account.
So she can't actually spend the money. And when she gets to $5,000, this is true, by the way, I know it sounds made up, but I promise it's true. When she gets to $5,000, she's going to put it in a Vanguard index fund. Don't you love that? She also plans to pay cash for her first car. Well done, Lucy. I'm impressed. In fact, she's got around $1,000 saved already just from
the past couple of months of work. Uh, and she's looking at purchasing some products like pencil cases and earrings that she can begin to sell as well. So there is in fact, an expansion plan in the works. She's also thinking about glow sticks. She's thinking about bubble solution and ones.
She's got all kinds of business ideas. I love it. I love the hustle. And last but not least, I want to give you a quote from Lucy's mother, Melissa, who reports in as her mother, I've seen a total change in her attitude towards everything. She has just become more focused and her school work has improved dramatically. She has struggled in the past, but her newfound confidence has seen
her become more involved and I couldn't be more proud of her. Well, I love that. I am proud as well. Melissa and Lucy, uh, you're both making my case for me about why everyone needs a side hustle. Congratulations to Lucy, my Freddy. Isn't that a wonderful story? And listen, it's,
it's not just a cute story. Like it is cute, but you also heard at the end what a difference this is making in her life. And you know, in a couple months, she saved a thousand dollars. A lot of adults, you know, struggle in figuring out how to make a thousand dollars, right? That's why we have that whole first $1,000 segment that we do, because that is the key to any kind of business expansion. Uh, so the principles of reselling, what she's talking about here or what she has
experienced that applies no matter the cost of the item. If you are selling lollipops for 50 cents, that you purchased for 19 cents, you can also then move on to reselling higher priced goods, which apparently seems like she's already working on. Uh, so just remember there is something out there you can do as well. Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better. That was the original tagline of the podcast. I like to revisit it with these stories. So much
fun to work on this one. Thank you for listening. Much more is coming up. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School.
From the Onward Project.
