This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
How a print-on-demand shop landed a licensing deal. Welcome, friends. Welcome to Side Hustle School. It's Chris Guillebeau here. Welcome as well to Throwback Thursday, where we take an in-depth look at someone whose story has evolved since we first featured them.
Last week in this segment, we heard how one side hustler created themed bundles of thrifted pop culture items, turning $10 Goodwill Halls into $60 nostalgia packs for superfans. Today in our latest feature, we'll hear how an independent artist who launched a small print-on-demand store eventually landed a licensing deal with a major retail brand. This brand has stores all across the country. She doesn't want to name the actual brand. She's gonna talk in some detail about the process, but trust me, it's a big brand, and what the experience has been like so far.
I like to get out of the way for these stories. Let's hear directly from the side hustler. I'll have just a few words of wrap-up at the end. [Music]
I opened my print-on-demand shop about five years ago. I wasn't famous, and I didn't have a following.
I just wanted to see if people would buy my weird little designs. Mostly it was quirky animal art, slightly sarcastic quotes, some offbeat patterns. I put them on mugs, tote bags, t-shirts, stickers, the usual kind of things people do with POD. For the first couple of years, it was slow, but steady. I made maybe $300 to $600 per month, mostly passive.
I'd upload designs, publish Instagram posts, and let the marketplace algorithms do their thing. Then, out of nowhere, I got an email from someone who worked for a large retail brand. I won't name them. I can't contractually, but they reached out asking if I'd be open to licensing some of my artwork. At first, I thought it was a scam, but after checking their credentials, it was legit.
The deal they offered wasn't massive, a low four-figure upfront fee plus small royalties per unit sold. But for me, it was huge. It meant my designs would appear in stores across the country, on products way beyond what my little POD shop could handle. Things like backpacks, phone cases, stationery, the good part, exposure, credibility, and real passive income. In the first six months, I earned just under $8,000 from royalties without lifting a finger.
Plus seeing my designs in major stores felt surreal. But here's the thing people don't always tell you. Working with a big brand means giving up a lot of control. I couldn't veto how they adapted the design or which products they put them on. I saw things I would have never have made myself, like notebook covers with color schemes I hated or slogans I'd never use.
Also, the legal side was intense. Negotiating the licensing contract took weeks. With back and forth over details I'd never considered, like international distribution rights and product categories, I ended up hiring a lawyer to help review terms, which cost me $750 upfront. Would I do it again? Honestly, yes.
But a lot more cautiously now. I'm more protective of which designs I license and which I keep exclusive to my own shop. I've also learned that licensing isn't a golden ticket. It's just one part of building a sustainable creative business. That said, the feeling of walking through a store and seeing something you dreamed up on a shelf, I can't lie.
That's pretty amazing. I learned a lot along the way, but I also have no regrets. [Music]
Awesome, thanks so much for sharing that story. Sounds like pretty good results. Six months, $8,000 in royalties, hopefully more to come.
Hopefully worth the challenge of negotiating the contract and so on. And why do we share these stories? Because there's something you can do as well. Listeners, I hope you hear these different stories and ideas, questions, and so on. And go away thinking, what is my next side hustle?
What is the thing I can share with the world that people will find value in and be willing to pay for? And how can I go from idea to offer, get that offer out to the world, or at least out to the right people? And then see where I can take it from there. Just like in this story, how we started with one thing, but ended up going into something else, started with print on demand, went into licensing. Sometimes your side hustle evolution will be more like a transformation.
Whatever the case for you, let me know what you think, who you'd like to see featured from our archives of thousands of episodes. Of course, if you have a question or an update about your side hustle, you know where to go, sidehustleschool.com. You can also access and download the entire archive of the show, more than 3,000 episodes so far, and much more is coming up. New episode every day. My name's Chris Guillebeau, this is Side Hustle School.
[Music]
From the Onward Project.
