This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
A bedtime reading addict bends a paperclip into a page holder, then refines it into a soft touch clip and flips the ledger from red ink to a four figure profit. What am I talking about? I'm talking about the latest installment of our first $1,000 series. This one is titled "Cozy Reading Gadget Turns Pages and Profit." Of course, the series is about how somebody makes their first $1,000. How do they get to that point?
How do they have an idea? What steps do they need to take to produce income? But also, I guess before income, it's like, how do you make the product or the service? In this case, we were talking about a physical product. They actually dreamed this up and made it happen, went to actually shipping it out and getting paid.
I love highlighting stories from people who are just like regular folks, not going on Shark Tank, not draining their savings account. They are starting simply, they are starting without spending a lot of money, and they get to that point of profit quickly. So this e-reading tool, if you read Kindle or another e-reader, I suppose. As an author, I like print books, but I also do have a Kindle, and I enjoy both. So nothing at all wrong with using e-readers, and lots of people use them, millions of people in fact.
So let's hear about this story. Let's hear how it came to fruition, what the person learned along the way, perhaps an idea or a point of inspiration for you as well. That is the goal of Side Hustle School. I'm gonna pass the microphone to our storyteller. I'll be back at the end with a quick wrap up.
[Music]
My name is Ellie, and I review novels on a tiny YouTube channel, which means I read a lot, mostly after my toddler falls asleep. Holding a 500 page hardback with one hand while the other balances a flashlight phone is misery. And I really prefer to read books in print, especially in the evenings. On a whim, I sketched a clip that arches over the pages, grips gently, and flips forward in one motion. The prototype was a paper clip bent around a pencil, but it worked.
When I wasn't reading, Alibaba became my version of late night television. After a dozen chats, I found a supplier already molding adjustable plastic clips for music stands. I requested softer edges, matte finish, and a wider spring. Our first order was 500 units at $3.10 each, including door-to-door shipping. To make the product giftable, I added a black craft box and a satin IMS stamped night reader.
All in cost was just under $4. Listing on Amazon FBA took a weekend. I shot photos against a navy bed sheet, used warm lamp lighting, and placed the clip beside a mug of chamomile. Launch price, $14.99. At that rate, after Amazon fees, profit per unit was roughly $6 each.
The initial sales trickle was five to seven units a day. Enough to validate my idea, but hardly a big success. Then fate, or rather book talk, intervened. I'd mailed 10 samples to creators who focus on cozy reading spaces. One of them, @paperspines, posted a 30-second reel wearing pajamas with string lights in my clip snapping pages flat while she sipped tea.
The background caption read, "The little gadget I didn't know I needed." My orders spiked and Amazon's real-time dashboard looked like a slot machine. In 72 hours, I sold 85 units. Profit after cost and fees, about $560, which topped up the 460 I'd earned in the slow first two weeks. Customer feedback taught me two things. First, people love the eye mask almost as much as the clip.
A surprising number of them mention gifting the set. Second, left-handed readers wanted a mirrored version. The factory added a second mold cavity for a trivial upcharge, giving me righty and lefty variants, and effectively doubling the product catalog overnight. I got a few return requests, including one from a buyer who said the clip didn't fit their oversized art book. I gave them their money back, then added, "Not for coffee table tomes," in bold on the listing.
Today, the clip sells a steady 40 units a week without ads. I still post one slow-motion page-turn video every Friday and ship two sample boxes to new book talkers every month. When the next influencer hit arrives, inventory will be waiting. If you read in bed or spot any everyday annoyance, remember, sometimes the leap from paperclip prototype to first $1,000 is just one well-lit video away. Well, selling 40 units a week with no ads is definitely a real accomplishment.
This is also the kind of thing where sometimes the Amazon algorithm does weird things and just kind of highlights products, and all of a sudden, you go from selling 40 to selling a couple of hundred. I'm not saying that will 100% happen because you don't know. That's why it's a weird thing. But if your reviews are good, it is not at all unusual. Well done on making this happen.
As I said, I love stories of regular people who just have an idea and decide to try it out and turn it into a little business, and now it is working for them. So listeners, it's always my hope that you find an idea and take action on it, and it helps you achieve your goals as well. That is why we make the podcast. That's why we have made it, in fact, every day since January 1, 2017. That would be 3,243 days in a row.
The show is completely free as well. You can download or stream every single one of those episodes at sidehustleschool.com. New one's out seven days a week, wherever you like to listen. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School.
From the Onward Project.
