Speech Pathologist Sells Turkish Tea Towels By the Seashore

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

[Music]

Is there something missing from your life? Even if you have a good life, good health, and a good job, you can still find yourself feeling dissatisfied. If you have a sense that something is missing, I think it's important to ask yourself, hey, what could that thing be? Could it be adventure? Could it be challenge?

Could it be fulfilling relationships? Could it be something in your personal life, your spiritual life? Maybe a sense of purpose and meaning, or maybe it's just something small. Maybe it's just some sense of awareness or enjoyment, something that you'd like to do that you're not doing right now. Well, this is "Saddestal School." My name is Chris Guillebeau.

And if you've ever had that sense or something similar, I think it's important to look for that thing, that missing thing, whatever it is, in big and small ways. In fact, sometimes it's a lot easier to look for it in small ways. Because when you have that sense of dissatisfaction, you think, oh, I've got to make this huge change, but I don't know exactly how to do it. I don't even know perhaps what that change should be. Well, many years ago, I started writing about the concept of life experiments, just doing some small things differently, asking yourself what you'd like to learn about, asking yourself, like, how would you like to spend your free time, instead of just kind of jumping into what you normally do?

Asking yourself about that question of challenge and adventure. Is there something out there that you want to do that you haven't tried, maybe because you're a little bit afraid, maybe because you don't know exactly what the first step would be? Well, the woman in today's featured story begins that search, that search of her own, and it leads to her making a big change, even though she starts with some small choices. But the big change involves her opening an online store, a series of events, and even a physical store in her South Carolina hometown. I'm calling it, "Speech Pathologist" sells Turkish tea towels by the seashore.

And believe it or not, I only had to say that once. Stay tuned, that story is coming right up. [Music]

Liz Martin's mom always told her, "You should have something to look forward to every day." A few years ago, Liz realized that this something was completely absent in her life. Although she had a rewarding job as a speech language pathologist for a nursing home in Charleston, South Carolina, she also felt a creative void in her life. You see, like many of us have done at one point or another, Liz was working for the weekend.

When things got rough, she tried to convince herself that everything was okay. She had a good salary, she felt like she was lucky to have the job she did. But still, when something is missing from your life, it's hard to forget about it. Liz decided to focus on adding little happy things to her daily routine. A new journal from a shop she loved, or some fun straws that would add a little color to her drinks.

Basically anything small that could bring a little pizazz or joy to her day. Something she could look forward to when the hours at work started to get to her. Her mother's words became a mantra, an idea she tried to live by every day. What does this have to do with starting a side hustle? Well, around this time, Liz had a cousin who lived in Turkey.

And this cousin sent over a set of Turkish cloth towels to the family in the States. Now these Turkish towels were extra special. They were no ordinary towels. They were richly dyed, handmade cotton creations. They'd been produced on a loom and they had many uses.

Picnic on the beach? Well, bring a Turkish towel to sit on. Wiling away the evening on your front porch with a mint julep at hand? As the sun sets, there's no better way to stave off a chill spring breeze than by wrapping yourself in a stylish Turkish towel. Liz decided to try selling these extra special towels.

Using Squarespace, she built herself a website and she named it Charleston Weekender. And the end goal was to sell more than towels. She was going for a vibe of colorful home decor and gifts with the goal of selling many small items that would bring smiles to faces. In the beginning, a Turkish towel cost her roughly $8 each. And she began selling them for $34 each.

This price also gave her some leeway to put them on sale from time to time. She also offered them wholesale to local boutiques at double what she paid for them. So she paid $8, she would sell it to them for $16. And this way the stores could also double the price so that they would profit too. Over time, her new online shop filled out to include hand felt soap, canvas bags with weekender and escape on them, pencils with Charleston phrases on them and even a map of Charleston that was a collaboration with a local artist.

Not wanting to limit herself to strictly online sales, Liz began to attend markets and popups. She found it much easier to sell products like those Turkish towels in person. As her sales increased, Liz felt more and more comfortable weaning herself out of her day job at the nursing home. She first dropped down to four days a week, then three, but by late 2016, she was working just two days a week while dedicating the rest of her time to developing Charleston Weekender. When the nursing home was acquired by a new company, that new company wasn't thrilled with this arrangement.

They told Liz she was welcome to work for them full time again, but instead it was exactly the push she needed. It was a great job for a while, but it just wasn't what she wanted to be doing. Had this push not occurred, Liz said she'd still probably be working there part time and never truly taking the leap with her side hustle. The change brought her the perfect opportunity to expand. To start, she focused on two things.

Number one, building her Instagram following, something we talked about a few episodes ago in episode, I believe 5.15. And then number two, adding more content to her website, including a blog. Liz knew that Instagram was essentially a free way to market her products. So she began to pay attention to what she liked on the platform and what seemed to be working. She realized that professional photos were far and away more successful than phone camera pics.

So she had some photo shoots done for her products and then doubled up by explaining how she did them in a series of posts on the new blog. Charleston Weekender has evolved considerably in two years of part time work and now one year of full time focus. These days it's bringing in anywhere from five to $7,000 a month. In addition to product sales, Liz also gets paid for sponsored social media posts and Instagram classes that she started to help others market their items. She even decided to open up a retail shop of her own.

So what about that sense of something missing? Well, the side hustle turned small business has brought Liz the freedom to travel and reclaim more of her time for herself. Best of all, she no longer feels like she's working for the weekend. [Music]

So I am probably the worst person in the world at meditation, but it is something that I'm trying to work on. I'm not very good at being still in general, but something I'm learning or trying to pay attention to is the art of paying attention, which is something that I talk about a lot in terms of spotting business opportunities or potential side hustles.

But for all kinds of things in life, like something I'm learning in meditation is just to notice and to note, to kind of like take note of something. If you feel a certain way, if you feel dissatisfied or alternatively, if something actually feels energizing, gives you a sense of excitement and enthusiasm, just by paying attention to those things, like change can come simply from observing. Like as you kind of notice, oh, this makes me feel this way, this makes me feel another way, you tend to kind of naturally and logically, begin making a series of small changes. And it sounds cliche, but like over time, you make a lot of small changes, they really do add up. You can kind of look back to a period of weeks or months or years ago and say, you know, at that point in my life, I began paying attention to something, I began noticing or noting it.

And as a consequence, I started doing some things differently. And maybe I didn't have the whole vision at first, I didn't know like what the full strategy or outcome was gonna be, but I just kind of walked toward that thing. I just started asking myself, like how can I have more of these moments where I'm not working for the weekend, where I am enjoying the day, where I am enjoying the present moment, and I also have a sense of building something or working towards something that I believe in. I'm gonna leave you with that thought, that encouragement for today, pay attention wherever you can. Don't forget as well, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better.

Today's show notes including links to Charleston Weekender's online shop and Instagram are waiting for you over on the website. That website is sodustleschool.com/518. Thank you for listening today, wherever you are in the world, be back tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School. [Music]