576
8 min 56 sec

Rhode Island Mom Has Side Hustle In The Bag

A communications manager and mother of two young children manufactures an innovative solution for a common shopping problem.
Family Manufacturing Product Retail

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What It's About

A distaster at the grocery store leads a mother of two to a shopping problem solution.

Business Model
Manufacturing
Skills Required
Design & Experimentation
Complexity
Medium
Profit Potential
Medium

Words of Wisdom

One of the things that Kelly stressed more than anything is that you shouldn't wait for something to be absolutely perfect before you launch your side hustle. Because, if you do, you'll never get started. Products, services, and even prices and rates can be changed after you start!

Fun Fact

Several states in the US have laws that prevent retailers from supplying plastic shopping bags unless they provide a convenient storefront receptacle to ensure used bags are collected and recycled. At least 73 bills have been introduced in state legislatures during the 2017-18 session regarding the use of plastic bags in retail settings.

Notes from Chris

Episode 576
Kelly Santos, a busy working mom, was frustrated! As any parent can attest to, a trip to the grocery store with two kids in tow can be a chaotic affair. And it was during one of these trips to the store that Kelly had her “A-HA!” moment.

  On this particular shopping trip from hell, Kelly hurried to get the shopping done. Her rambunctious toddler, Jake, sat in the grocery cart seat. Her newborn daughter, Brooke, slept peacefully in the car seat carrier. Juggling Brooke—who dangled from Kelly’s arm in the car seat—while steering the cart full of items AND trying to keep Jake entertained was no small task. All the while Kelly tried to carefully navigate the store aisles, but she knocked over a display of diet pills when rounding a corner. Bottles upon bottles of pills spilled all over the aisle, and of course, Brooke woke up crying. After this stressful and humiliating experience, Kelly knew there had to be a better way to shop with her kids.

Kelly searched for a way to ease her shopping trip nightmares. It would really help if she could just find something to increase space for her groceries—then she could put the baby’s car seat carrier in the shopping cart. Kelly searched high and low online, but she came up empty-handed. However, one thing was clear as she researched social media and mom blog posts—her problem was one other parents shared—so she created Cart Mama!

What is Cart Mama, you ask? Kelly describes it as a saddlebag style product. Cart Mama is a reusable bag that attaches to the side of any style shopping cart to make more space for your items. But this is no ordinary reusable bag! This durable, large tote has two elastic pockets that can hold 30+ pounds of goodies!

Cart Mama’s annual profit for 2017 was $13,000 and growing.

What’s next for Cart Mama? In the coming months, this innovative product will be available online at select retailers. Kelly is now an approved seller for Walmart! She says the best experience so far was going to Walmart to pitch buyers at their annual open call. It was inspiring to be surrounded by others who shared a similar passion.

Who knew that a stressful trip to the grocery store would let such a great idea out of the bag!


MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Cart Mama: Say bye-bye to those nightmarish trips to the grocery store—snag yourself a Cart Mama over on Kelly's website!
  • Squarespace: The website building platform that Kelly used to create her website for Cart Mama
  • Stripe: The payment processing platform that Kelly used to process all of the payments made on her website
  • MailChimp: The email marketing platform that Kelly used to connect with those who had purchased her Cart Mamas
SEE ALSO:

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

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Resources

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Quote of the Day
"Don't delay—you CAN have a full-time job and a side hustle. It just depends on how bad you're willing to work for it. Don't wait for it to be perfect—JUST DO IT. And tell everyone so that you're held accountable."
—Kelly Santos #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

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Side Hustle School is brought to you by Uber—the company determined to improve the ridesharing experience for both riders and drivers.

I've seen a lot of these improvements firsthand, but don't just take my word on it! Read more about all of the ways Uber is moving forward—head on over to Uber.com.🚘


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To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau