University Director Turns Draining Problem Into Profitable Power-Up

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

[Music]

Hey, side hustle school listeners, friends, community. Welcome back and power up. My name is Chris Guillebeau and today's story features a university director who panicked whenever he saw his phone's battery dying. Don't you hate that? Your phone gets to like 20% and you're like, "Oh my God, the world is ending.

"I'm gonna be out of contact." Well, it was a major frustration for this guy and he could never find the right power bank to fit his needs. So he decides to create his own. He ends up naming it after his Siamese cats, two of them apparently, fightingwithamazon.com, going out on his own and then making $5,000 the very first month he sells these chargers and he's just getting started. As I was saying the other day, if you wanna get something done, don't look for someone with a lot of free time. Look for a busy person determined to change the world or at least determined to charge his phone.

Here's a quick thank you to our sponsor. Stay tuned for the story of a university director who turns a draining problem into a profitable power up. [Music]

Chris Raymer's job means he spends a lot of time on his phone. As the associate director of new media at Maryville University, Chris is constantly swapping between both his personal and professional iPhones. If you have ever used an iPhone yourself for more than let's say 30 seconds, you'll be aware of the problem which drained much of his energy.

Just a few hours into his average work day, Chris would find his phones running out of power and in quick need of a recharge. Unwilling to tether himself to an outlet two to three times a day, Chris began to invest in power banks so he could charge on the go. With one of these power banks, you can simply connect your phone to the battery pack then you're free to use it in the way it was intended, mobile. At first he was enamored with these little power banks. They removed the stress of his phone dying and missing important calls or updates which the university expected him to answer.

But as time went on, he grew more and more frustrated with them. Although there were some good power banks on the market, there were none he considered great and none that had the right features he wanted, especially for the money he was paying. Some of them were big and heavy which made them uncomfortable or impractical to carry. Some began to lose their charging power after a couple of months and some of them had design flaws like an unnecessary built-in flashlight which was easy to turn on in your pocket and accidentally drain all your battery life. Thus began the search for a truly great power bank and this being Side Hustle School, it means it was a search for him to learn how to sell them.

That's right, Chris realized it was up to him to create the power bank he wanted to see in the world. After years of fumbling around, it was time to charge down this industry and power up the options for power bank users like himself. The first step was to develop his idea of what the perfect power bank would be. So he made a list. He wanted a product that was lightweight, could connect with up-to-date cables and would start charging phones instantly without the annoying little power button he almost always forgot to press.

Once he outlined his features, Chris set about looking for a manufacturer who could affordably bring his idea to life. He had only a budget of $1,000 which he earned by giving a speech that meant he had to find a way to bootstrap as best he could. So like many successful Side Hustlers before him, he turned his attention to overseas manufacturers. He tested a few prototypes until he found a Chinese company which would consistently produce the power bank closest to his initial vision. With this wonder working power bank in hand, it was now time to put a name to the product and he settled on Busa.

Now while Chris would like to pretend this was a stroke of marketing genius and a play on the word boost, it wasn't. Remember, we're always telling you the inside story here. Busa is the accidental nickname he and his wife have for both of their two Siamese cats. As to why they have the same nickname for both cats, I actually didn't get that inside story, but I don't think it's super relevant. In any case, he figured it was miles better than any other name he could come up with.

Now so far so good, but it was in getting Busa online where Chris hit his first business snag. He had originally planned on selling on Amazon where he could store and promote his products solely on their platform. After sailing through the approval process, Chris got to go ahead and sent him his entire inventory which was then shared out between all of Amazon's US warehouses. But just before his product was due to go on sale, they changed the requirements for the power bank category. Sadly, he was out of power before it started.

He had to request a recall of all his stock and began to look at other ways he could sell his Busas. He decided to create his own standalone Shopify store. He made a website, added some quirky copywriting and founded the Busa International Fulfillment Center, also known as his home office. When he finally released the Busa product to the world, Chris generated $5,000 in his first month, mostly to people in his network and in their extended networks. A lot of those people were local and since he couldn't rely on Amazon, Chris decided to jump in his car and hand deliver the power banks himself.

When he arrived at someone's door, he would take a picture with a happy customer and post it on Instagram. This created social proof and began to spread word of mouth marketing to people on the platform. His biggest achievement so far, he said, is not just the $5,000, it was getting his first stranger sale. This is a sale from someone who you don't know and who doesn't know anyone in your network, at least not directly. So you know that there's no favor being done, it's just a clear sign your marketing and outreach is working.

Like I said, that was just month one. Looking ahead, Chris is hoping to capture more of those sales from people he doesn't know, preferably, by using the income he's generated to venture into paid marketing. He also loves his job and has no intentions of quitting, but he's open to whatever opportunities come powering through. All right, there are a lot of these little chargers out there. I think I have a couple different versions in my desk.

For the world domination summit, maybe two years ago, we actually did our own custom version of them. I vaguely remember from the research process there that there were just so many options we could choose from. And of course, there are millions and millions of phones. So I'm not surprised that, even though there are so many of these products on the market already, I'm not surprised that someone who takes an interesting approach to them or creates some sort of differentiation is able to sell a lot. So this is definitely a market with room for a lot of sellers.

So hopefully Chris will continue to have success as he moves from that organic natural launch market onto marketing to people he doesn't know through SEO and Facebook ads and whatever else he's considering doing. Also too bad about Amazon, disappointing that he had to pull out just before he could actually launch there, but I'm glad he recovered in the true spirit of forging ahead in the face of obstacles. So good work, Chris. Thank you for sharing your story with us. Maybe we'll check out your Instagram so we can find out why you have the same nickname for both of your cats.

'Cause that just seems confusing. And now you have a product that has the same name too. So that's even more confusing. But hey, you do you, you're doing great. And listeners, I hope you enjoy this one.

If you wanna check out the show notes and see Chris's Busa, just come to sidehustleschool.com/593. That is 593. As always, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better. I hope you will take action on your dreams and goals. I will be here every day cheering you on.

So come back tomorrow. I'll be here. Once again, my name is Chris Guillebeau and this is Side Hustle School. [Music]