This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
Well, I've got a fun one for you today. It's titled Itchy Honeymoon Shaves Way to Pubic Oil Kingdom. And if you think that's weird, I assure you the story is itself weird, but also logical. It's one of those fun mashups in the side hustle world where from the beginning of the podcast, almost 3000 episodes ago, we kept finding all these quirky, interesting stories where people were like, "You can actually make money with that?" And the answer was, "Yeah, actually, you can sometimes make a lot of money with that." And if you think about it, which we'll go into the details here, it's actually a very practical, personal thing that makes total sense. Now first, I should back up a bit and say this year, we're bringing you some remixes of some of our best stories from year one and year two. That was all the way back in 2017.
So those stories are completely new to lots of listeners. And if you do happen to have an incredible memory, each one is being re-recorded and will also include some new updates. So in today's story, I already told you the headline. We are not afraid to talk about personal things here because everyone's got needs. So my friends, it is in fact the six figure pubic oil hustle.
These guys in Canada that have built a brand around this personal product, anything can be a side hustle, anything can be a business. You can make money from the most personal of needs and the most unusual of sources. That's all I'll say by way of setup, but you want to stick around and hear this story. It's coming up after this quick shout out to our sponsor. David Gaylord was traveling with a good friend in Canada when the side hustle of this story was born. His friend who had recently returned from his honeymoon was excited about a personal
discovery and just had to share it with David. The discovery, he had been using beard oil in his pubic region and it was working wonders. All right, now before you cringe, just remember the benefits of beard oil on a man's face or imagine them. If you don't know them personally, it reduces irritation and redness after shaving. It sues the often sensitive or dry skin. It reduces
the risk of ingrown hairs and not to mention it makes you smell nice. Now those discomforts don't just apply to faces, they exist in the pubic area as well for both men and women. And the thing is nobody talks about these issues except on this podcast apparently because they have to do with a more private area of the body. Now after dispelling the weird feelings that came with this news from his friend, David caught on to the opportunity because for them, the silence around this issue was all the more reason to turn the idea into a business. The silence translated to just about no competition and to be among the first in the pubic oil space, they had no time to beat around the bush. Hey, if you think that was bad, just wait. Okay, their product is called Bush Bomb,
but I'm getting ahead of things again. Let's stay on track. David and his friend returned to Ottawa and brought on a third friend to join the team. And the trio began researching nutrition and essential oils. The beard oils worked all right, but they knew they could refine the recipes to be even more suited for the pubic region. And of course, to be relevant for both men and women.
They continually worked up better recipes, but each step closer they got to a sellable product, the more hesitant they became their families and friends didn't understand why they were pursuing such an odd idea. They had almost no support beyond the three of them, but they couldn't let the pubic profit potential go. David and the partners eventually rounded up some friends who were willing to try out the product. They invited them over to have a testing party or they narrowed down their recipe options through feedback. And just to be clear, I didn't ask how that worked.
But after having a chance to actually try it, family and friends were on board. This was further confirmation to David and the group that they could convert skeptics into customers if they could get samples into their hands. With a couple oils ready to sell, now it was time to figure out manufacturing. They were able to source everything for their products from their native Canada, except for one small thing, those little glass bottles that they needed to store the oil in, those came from China. There was just no affordable local alternative. Each of the three partners
threw in $250 that covered the bill for their Shopify store packaging and a hundred bottles worth of oil, their first 100 bottles. Finally, and by the passion of three men with no outside support, Bushbaum officially launched. So yeah, I told you that's the name of their product. And guess how it started. It started slow. There was a sale here, a sale there. They didn't invest any money
into advertising, relying only on word of mouth, which was pretty close to non-existent. But then two popular blogs responded to David's cold emails. He decided to email a bunch of places and this worked, dude, I want that.com and incrediblethings.com. And side note, I went to look at both those websites. One of them is still up and running. The other one is kind of spammy now. I'll let you see
which one is which if you care. But the point is Bushbaum saw a major boost in sales from the press and before long, those 100 bottles were sold out. And then the orders kept rolling in. The wait time of over a month was clearly displayed on their Shopify store, but people were pre ordering anyway. It was clear that they had something special. David and his friends reinvested all
the income back into the business, purchasing 500 bottles. With the extra money, they also began experimenting with ads to drive traffic and sales more consistently. It took about $500 to find a groove with the ads. They eventually found the right terminology and visuals and that worked. As they got going, just spending $20 a day with ads on Instagram would bring about four or five orders to the Bushbaum website. That's not a huge amount of revenue, of course, but it is sustainable.
It is proven ROI and it allows them to ramp up. They also tried Facebook ads, but those kept getting flagged as inappropriate. So they decided to focus much more on Instagram. They also tried to get several videos to go viral, but as they quickly realized that wasn't so easy either. Next, they launched a sampler package that was three cents, two milliliters each for 10 bucks included in the sampler is a discount on the next purchase. This is a lost leader. They actually
lose a couple of dollars on each sample package, but it is an effective way to acquire customers who return a few weeks later for a larger order. Bushbaum then stepped out of the experiment phase. The three friends started spending more money on better ads. They began reaching out to spas and other retail partners. They upgraded their packaging. They revised their website. They prepared their
inventory for retail sales. They even worked on getting a celebrity endorsement. What started as an exciting yet odd side hustle grew into a six figure business in less than two years. There's just no word on if they're going to have an initial pubic offering. Well, my friends, Bushbaum was bootstrapped by these three guys. They all invested just $250
each in the beginning, as you heard. So less than $1,000 total. And they grew that business by reinvesting rather than raising any money. That is, of course, the side hustle school way. It was fun to check back on these guys. I went to look at their website. They are still up and
running all these years later. So that was fun to see. I don't know if they ever had that IPO, but, you know, seems like a pretty cool business. Remember, there are so many different things you can do. There is something specifically you can do. And as always, inspiration is good,
but inspiration with action is so much better. I love bringing you these stories, including these archival remixed episodes. So many fun things in the archives. So many more fun things to come. I hope you'll take one step today to get closer to a goal you believe in.
And I also hope you'll join me again tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. From The Onward Project.
