This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
The pre-launch strategy produced $1,000 on day one, and then it just kept going. It just kept rolling out. Hey friends, what's up? Welcome to Side Hustle School. My name's Chris Guillebeau, your host in this week's first $1,000 segment.
We're gonna hear from the founder of BraveCount. BraveCount is a subscription box for military spouses. Love that specific market. Obviously a big market and an engaged market. And it's also, I don't wanna say easy, but you know how to reach that market, especially if you are one, which is basically what we're gonna hear about in today's story.
This is part of a feature we call your first $1,000. Comes out every Monday typically. And as you might surmise from the title, or as you might know already, it's about how somebody makes their first $1,000 and then beyond. How do they get to that point? How do they go from idea to creating a specific service or product that they then package in the form of an offer that somebody out there can purchase?
Those are the steps to take to start your first or your fifth or your 20th side hustle, whatever the case may be, you need to package your idea in the form of an offer. So let's hear today from Becky Hoy. I think we actually told her full story in episode 1261. Many years ago now, military spouse starts subscription box mission. But again, what about her first $1,000?
How did she make it happen? What it feel like? What did she learn along the way? She's also gonna share how she earned that money before the product actually launched, which is pretty cool. So I love that.
Let's turn the microphone over to Becky. I'll come back at the end with a few words of wrap up. [Music]
Hi, my name is Becky Hoy and I'm the founder of Brave Crate, the deployment countdown box for military spouses. I was featured on Side Hustle School episode number 185. And today I'm sharing the story of the first $1,000 that I earned through this subscription box business.
More importantly, I'm sharing how I earned that first $1,000 before my product had even officially launched to the public using a pre-launch strategy. So when I began Brave Crate, I was working a regular nine to five job. I'm a military spouse myself and I noticed that there was a need to support military spouses during deployment countdowns. I was really passionate about doing this, but I also knew that I had to do it in the margins and I needed to do it in a way that didn't require a ton of investment upfront. So I decided to use a pre-launch strategy to build my business before I had to really expend any additional money.
I started by drumming up excitement through social media. So I created social media accounts for my business and I shared our vision for Brave Crate. I shared spoilers to show our audience what they could expect when our box was available. And I engaged with military spouses online who were counting down deployment whenever I had spare time. And as a side hustler, that usually meant I was engaging with my audience in the morning over coffee, during my lunch break, or even on an Uber ride.
The next thing I did was I created relationships. So I started connecting with bloggers, podcasters, influencers, who were also supporting military spouses. I shared my vision. I told them what I was doing with Brave Crate, that I was creating a monthly deployment countdown box. And I ended up having quite a number of invitations from my new friends to write guest blogs or join them for podcast interviews.
And we even did a number of shared social media giveaways to help grow both of our audiences. Then a few weeks ahead of our pre-launch sale, I created a digital download. It was called 10 Conversations to Have with Your Partner While They're Deployed. And it was just a list of 10 conversation starters that couples could use during a deployment season. I shared that in groups on Facebook that supported military spouses.
And I also used a few low budget Facebook ads to share as well. My newly found content creator friends were also happy to share with their own audiences and that really expanded our reach as well. In exchange for receiving this free digital download, users shared their email address and subscribed to a pre-launch email list to stay updated about Brave Crate so that they could know when it was ready to launch. As users were added to that email list, they were automatically delivered a flow of emails that shared a behind the scenes look at all I was doing to start Brave Crate. And they were given a heads up that they would receive a special opportunity to subscribe and join us with a fabulous deal of course, before we were open to the public.
Finally, on the day of our pre-launch sale, I invited everyone on my email list to join as a founding member with a special discount available only for two days. And that day has really been one of the highlights of my journey as an entrepreneur. The entire day I was receiving alerts that new customers had subscribed and we actually saw $1,000 in earned revenue within the first six hours of going live. I felt so incredibly proud, so relieved and if I'm being honest, a little bit shocked, it can be so easy in the early stages of our business to start wondering whether all of the work that we're putting in will actually pay off. And when it does, when you see revenue begin to grow, when you see customers who are excited about what you're offering, it is just such a confidence boost and it's a reminder that all of this work is really to serve whatever your mission is.
So if you are just getting started, I hope that this strategy is helpful and I hope that this story inspires you to know that all of the work you're putting in will be worth every effort. [Music]
Build your business before spending money. I love that advice. I have given that advice myself, but I'm glad you got to hear it from Becky as well. And I was just taking a look at her Instagram.
I think Becky has moved on from the Brave Crate business, but she's still serving military spouses. So her new website is simplyresilient.net or you can just see Brave Crate on Instagram. She's got a podcast, the Simply Resilient podcast, doing some other stuff as well. So well done, Becky. Congrats on the Brave Crate business, your transition to something new.
And listeners, thank you for listening. Thanks for being out there. If you've got a question and update about your hustle, sidehustleschool.com. We've got notes pages for every single episode, 3,300 plus. So far, you can download or stream for free.
You can also subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcasts. So we've got a new episode coming out every day and I hope you will join me. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
