This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Our first trade show was canceled with no refund. That doesn't sound good. Well, that is in fact the setup to today's Failure Friday segment. Welcome to Sadduce School. Chris Guillebeau, your host here.
Every other week, we take a look at a story in which something did not go well. So it's not about successes, it's actually about what happens when there is a misstep or a disaster, a mistake, and of course, failure. Again, Failure Friday. So just like our Throwback Thursday segment, you get to hear directly from a side hustler, in this case, someone who's struggled, in some way struggling to get something going or otherwise just encountering a situation in which they were not prepared. And the whole reason we do this is because side hustling is not all about nonstop success.
Sometimes not everything works out. And I want you to understand that it is through perseverance that you develop your skills and you are able to develop resilience and sometimes you have to iterate and sometimes you have to adjust to things, right? So rather than just tell you that, I like to show you that through these stories. We're gonna hear today from Chris Cavallari. He sells high quality products with a main vibe.
We just recently talked about Whoopie Pies, a woman who is owning the market, maybe not completely owning the market, but has a lot of market share in the world of main Whoopie Pies distributed in grocery stores, shipping across the country, et cetera. So another main business from the state of Maine. We first told this guy's story, Chris's story, his handcrafted goods business. It was episode 1089, Boy Scout Merit Badge leads to leatherworking lifestyle. He actually references that Boy Scout work ethic in the story you're gonna hear now.
This story is gonna go back, or at least this failure story is gonna go back to March, 2020. You might remember something that was happening in the world then. I know it's been a little while, but that was the time in which we all had to adjust. And in this case, Chris had to adjust more than a lot of people. So what happened?
How did he adapt and so on? Gonna pass the microphone to him. I'll come back at the end with a few words of wrap-up. [Music]
My name is Chris Cavallari, the founder and lead craftsman at the Acadian. We're a handmade luxury brand that creates heirloom quality, fine writing instruments, leather goods, and everyday carry accessories for people seeking an honest and timeless piece that's going to endure for years.
Our mission is to inspire people to find a joyful pride in American craft and embrace sustainable investment in the things we own. Now, my failure story begins just after the Acadian was featured on "Side Hustle School" in episode 1089, December, 2019. When the episode landed, I was in the midst of our regular holiday season hustle with loads of orders to fulfill. By January, I was able to take a bit of a break before I started getting ready to achieve a big goal for 2020, to attend our first wholesale trade show. Now, things were going well as I gathered supplies and displays for my booth.
I'd spent well over $1,000 for the booth fee alone and another thousand or so for supplies, displays, order forms, and postcards to hand out to buyers at the three-day show that would be held in mid-March, 2020. March 12th, 2020 is a day that will live on in my memory forever. It was on that day, one day before the scheduled load-in for the trade show that everything fell apart. That day, I received notice from the show's organizers that it was now canceled due to the rapid spreading of COVID-19. I'd later learned that we weren't even getting refunds of the booth fees.
This was a complete and utter disaster. I was devastated. Maine's governor shut down the state that day as well, and many other governors were following suit. That meant that any shops that would potentially carry my products would be closed for the foreseeable future. Regular customers were afraid too, so the Acadian retail sales dropped like a rock almost immediately.
I no longer had any income to support my family during a pandemic that's still raging to this day, and I had no plan on what to do next. The entire year hinged on getting new wholesale customers and expanding the Acadian's reach regionally. With everything shut down, I had a lot of time to think about the things I did wrong and how I had left my business on the brink of shutting down. I mean, sure, this was an unprecedented emergency, but as an Eagle Scout, Be Prepared was a motto that had been drilled into my head since I was a kid. Suddenly, I had to confront the fact that I was anything but prepared.
After a few days of self-pity and recovering mentally, I sat down and began writing out a plan that I should have had from day one, our emergency continuity and crisis management plan. Now, among other things, this plan lays out how to effectively communicate with our employees and customers during a crisis and gives instructions on things like types of emergencies, protocols for work, and even marketing during a crisis. Now, I also started a Facebook group with some fellow business owners so we could offer each other support during what was a really difficult time for all of us. Weekly Zoom calls helped bring us closer together during the lockdowns. I also learned another lesson during this time that every business owner and side hustler should keep in mind.
Never, ever put all your eggs in one basket. Make sure you have diverse streams of income so that if one or more goes down, the others can pick up the slack. 2020 was a struggle both fiscally and mentally for me as a small business owner. But thanks to a good support system and the ability to be flexible and think on my feet, I've been able to push through the ups and downs of this pandemic and keep the Acadian running strong. [Music]
All right, I appreciate Chris sharing this transparent and truthful story, and as always, never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.
Chris went on from that experience to continue operating the Acadian for a number of years, but then he also had some other challenges which we didn't get into here in this episode. And after a while decided to close the Acadian, which was his main website, at least for this business. So sometimes with side hustles, they don't last forever. It's okay to close things or to move on. It can sometimes give you a better vision for your future to be like, okay, now it's time to do something else.
And also that's a key point. Not every side hustle needs to last forever. It was a success for a while, and now it's time for something new. Again, thanks to Chris, and thank you listeners for being out there as well. If you have a question or an update about your hustle, sidehustleschool.com.
We've got notes pages for every single episode available for free on the website. Notes pages, download or stream every episode. Some other resources there as well. And everything, of course, is free. Everything on the site, everything now with the daily episodes, seven days a week.
Subscribe wherever you get your shows. Much more is coming up. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
