Lifestyle Change Leads Two Brothers to Open Leather Shop

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

Friends, listeners, community, what's up, welcome back. This is "Side Hustle School," and I am your host, Chris Guillebeau. Now, two days ago, episode 417, we had the epic story that tied together French Bulldogs, the LGBTQ community, print on demand, and drinking an entire box of red wine. In that story, the person we featured, Liz Bertorelli, went on to make six figures from her print on demand side hustle. But the initial motivation was just to save enough money to acquire that French Bulldog.

We know that people have all kinds of motivations for starting all kinds of projects. One of the motivations you'll hear about today is something we haven't discussed before, at least not quite like this. It's the story of two brothers in Canada. One of them had been working in the construction industry, but then wasn't able to continue because of some health issues. So together with his brother, he opens a high quality leather shop, selling goods locally and online.

But the story is as much about his brother as it is him because it's the brother actually who has the idea to pitch in and help out in a creative manner. Stay tuned, I'll tell you all about it in just a moment. [Music]

Today's story comes from two brothers, Luke and Jake Goodridge in Ontario, Canada. Luke works in retail, a job that comes with inconsistent hours. For a number of years, his older brother Jake had a small construction business, but due to some health problems, he had to reevaluate.

Jake didn't wanna stop working with his hands, but he also wasn't sure what he could do. It was Luke who had the idea to start a leather shop, making custom leather dog collars, personalized camera straps and belts. They also grew to sell dog leashes, key chains, book covers and guitar straps. Basically all things leather accessory wise. They called it old country leather and opening it up allowed Jake to work at his own pace and energy levels, still using his hands, but without having to do any heavy lifting.

Luke and Jake had both noticed that the leather items they'd seen in stores were low quality and the options were limited. So they already had an idea of what they wanted to do differently. As someone who's always enjoyed art and being a maker, Luke does the design for the shop. He sketches out images and then transfers the pattern to leather. He then uses a special knife to cut it slightly, which is how it holds the impression, and then a hammer and nails to finalize the artwork.

Meanwhile, Jake uses strong high quality hardware to put the items together. He does the sewing with thick thread. They both want to plan for their products to last a long time, not like the poorly made goods they'd seen in the shops. Old country leather started by selling to friends and family, which was a good way to get honest feedback and iterate. Then they sold at a local market, which was promising because they made $1,000 in a weekend.

However, one small problem, they live in a rural area, so that market is only open once a year. They knew they'd have to focus on online sales if they wanted to have any chance at making a sustainable profit. That's what they did, and they're on track for that sustainable profit, currently averaging around $1,500 a month. So far, they're investing much of that money in equipment that will help them produce more quickly without cutting corners on quality. They say that time management has been their biggest challenge, but once they get more equipment, they should be able to be more efficient.

In addition to buying that equipment, the brothers plan to use Jake's construction background to make a wooden mobile market stand that looks rustic, can fit in a trailer, and then be easily reassembled. And it's not just for that once-a-year market in their town. There are also some nearby weekly markets in the summer they may try to go to if it works out. Sometimes side hustles can serve a deeper purpose than just making money. In this example, it allows Luke to work in a peaceful setting with his brother, who he says is his best friend, and it gives Jake a chance to work with his hands at his own pace and energy level.

Luke is able to use his artistic side while Jake deploys his construction skills. Maybe this example is also a reminder that when you experience a challenge, perhaps ask yourself, is there an opportunity here as well? What can I learn from this? What can I take away? How can I apply this experience or this challenge to something else that might end up actually being better?

That's what the Goodridge brothers are finding in their small town in Ontario, Canada. There's one other thing I wanted to point out from this story. In talking with them about challenges, they also mentioned that educating customers about genuine leather can be a bit of an uphill battle. Because so many people in companies are selling cheap leather belts and accessories. Some $10 belts say genuine leather, which is actually a low quality version of leather.

Meanwhile, old country sells full grain leather, which is much stronger and lasts much longer. They expect their belts to last for 20 years, whereas the cheap belts crack and peel and last maybe a year. So obviously they have a much higher quality product. They do all the cutting and dyeing themselves. They basically do everything from scratch.

But like I mentioned, sometimes it's hard to educate your customer or your prospect, 'cause they don't know the difference. So usually as part of your messaging for something like this, you wanna highlight why your product is so much better. And you wanna talk about that $10 belt that's gonna peel and crack within a year, whereas the product you could go home with might last 20 years. It's something you can be proud of. It's something you're gonna enjoy putting on or whatever the case may be depending on the product you're selling.

So if you are selling something that is significantly better than other things on the market, and if it naturally comes at a higher price, you just have to be prepared to present that difference and highlight it, like right from the beginning so people understand, "Oh, here's why I should pay more." Okay, that makes sense. It's not a fair comparison to take the really cheap belt and compare it to something that is much higher quality. But if I don't know as a prospect, as a potential customer going to look for a belt, I'm probably gonna choose the $10 option or whatever the cheaper one is. So don't forget, sometimes we can get caught up in being in our own world, our little world of making belts or whatever it is we do. And we forget that most people don't have the same background.

They don't have the context. Like we're the expert in the thing that we're making. So we need to simplify, we need to clarify, we need to focus on benefits, and educate the customer about why our product is better. Well, I hope you enjoyed this story. I liked how these two guys are working together and have found a way to do something creative.

And for you over there, remember, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better. If you wanna check out Old Country Leather or see the show notes for today's episode, just come to sidehustleschool.com/419. That's 419. Tomorrow, I'll be bringing you the weekly recap where we look back on some of the highlights of the week, as well as respond to listener emails and voicemails. Until then, be well, have a wonderful day.

I'm Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School.