This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Let's talk today about pierogi. Are you familiar with pierogi? They are delicious snacks, delicious foods. They are Polish. I think they're actually from a few different parts of Eastern Europe.
But today we'll hear specifically about Polish pierogi in Boston. This is the segment known as First $1,000. We're gonna hear how somebody made their first $1,000. Specifically today, we'll hear from the co-founder of Jaju Pierogi, a line of delicious Polish snacks, now stocked in hundreds of New England grocery stores. This is a fun episode.
I remember we first heard from Casey White, episode 1137, 1,137 long ago. Polish American sisters cook up pierogi profits. So you can hear the whole story in that episode if you'd like. But let's go to the specific origin point of the first $1,000. How did Casey and her sister get the idea, go from idea to income and we'll eventually build this huge business.
So I'll mention something about the huge business at the end. But let's focus on the point of origin because I want you to be able to make $1,000 and more. All right, gonna pass the microphone to Casey. [Music]
Hello, my name is Casey and I am co-owner and co-founder of Jaju Pierogi. We specialize in the production of handmade Polish dumplings, which are called pierogi.
Every culture kind of has their own. We're based in Lynn, Massachusetts and we started our business about six years ago. We started our business because we realized there was an opportunity in the market for pierogi. No one in the Boston area could find a good pierogi, a handmade pierogi that tasted just like their grandmothers. So my sister and I took it upon ourselves to take our grandfather's recipes, tinker around on our kitchen table for a few months in the winter of 2015.
And when we were doing that, we were having all our friends taste test the products and we're getting feedback and we were getting some pretty good feedback. And we realized at that point in time, like what's the worst case scenario? What can happen here? We have to go back to our corporate jobs if this doesn't work out. And so we kept tinkering around and we kept our corporate jobs while we were tinkering around which I think is a very important thing to mention because you want to prove a concept and you want to see it succeed before you kind of jump all in.
So in January of 2016, we attended our first farmer's market after getting permitted at a local deli to make the product on weekend days. And we went to a farmer's market, didn't know what to expect, brought 50 bags of pierogi, and within an hour we sold out. So then because we had no idea we would go this way, we started taking people's phone numbers and addresses down and we're telling everyone that we would hand deliver pierogi. So within the first few weeks of getting permitted, we went to our first farmer's market and we made our first thousand dollars and quickly realized that people are excited about pierogi. If they don't know pierogi, they're intrigued because it's a different unique product.
You don't see that every single day at a farmer's market or on the store shelves. And we also realized that it's a very nostalgic product. So people walk up to your booth and they tell all their stories, how their family made them, how their friend from college brought them one day and they've been hooked ever since and it's done 30 years and they haven't had a pierogi. Everyone seems to have a story and a nostalgic tie to the product. So after that first market, we signed up for a few more and also added additional farmer's markets that season.
And now we are in over 500 specialty grocery stores throughout New England and for supermarket chains and are working to increase our distribution. But what I will say, looking back at 2016 and that first thousand dollars, we really did not know how it was gonna go. But if you don't try, you'll never know and we kept it not as risky as it could have been because we kept our full-time jobs and we tested this on the side and it was successful. But we didn't dive completely in initially, which I would recommend now looking back that we kind of went the right way about it. But the first thousand dollars was pretty sweet.
And I think our grandfather, Jaju, sort of in the arc company was named after our grandfather. Jaju is J-A-J-U is the phonetic spelling of grandfather in Polish. And I think he would be rolling around in his grave for sure. I'm pretty proud of us at this point. [Music]
Well, I love that story.
Thank you so much, Casey. As I said, listeners, her original story on the podcast was episode 1137. You can find that on sidehustleschool.com. I think she's had some good advice there on keeping your day job at least at first. And also check out their website, jajuparogi.com.
Jaju is grandfather in Polish. And Jaju, J-A-J-U, pierogi, P-I-E-R-O-G-I, jajuparogi.com. And if you're in the New England area, 500 plus grocery stores, pretty cool. Flavors include spinach and feta, cabbage and mushroom, sweet potato, caramelized onion, and more. I'm getting hungry just describing it and also looking at their website.
Listeners, if you have a question and update about your hustle, anything else, sidehustleschool.com, you can access all of the episodes from the archives of the show. 3,400 plus episodes for streaming, download, whatever you like to do, however you like to listen. And of course, the new episodes come out every day, seven days a week, wherever you get your shows. Thanks for being out there. My name is Chris Guillebeau.
This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
