Retro Hair Accessories Scrunch Up $4,000/Month

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

Breaking news, my friends, the humble hair accessory known as the Scrunchie is making a comeback. I know this is vital, critical, important news for you. Just the kind of thing you tune into Side Hustle School for. Well, listen, this daily podcast is all about showing you different ways to make money, different ways to start a side hustle or a second income, a third income, perhaps all without quitting your day job. So in today's story, you'll hear about a community college administrator who sells thousands of these scrunchies from her home. Even as a low cost item, she's earning up to $4,000 a month and has essentially replaced

her full time income. She does that even as she continues to work a day job. So if you're out there and you have crafting skills, pay attention not just to this episode, but also to trends that you happen to notice because that's how this particular story came to be. Now last but not least, how many times can I say the word Scrunchie in this episode? A lot apparently. I'll try to count them up at the end. Also a fun fact Scrunchie is not

in the online dictionary for Microsoft Word or Evernote or Scrivener, the program I use to edit my notes. So the whole time I've been working on this episode, I've been seeing Scrunchie just with a little red underline. And yes, I do realize that I can add that word to my dictionary, but I just don't think I'm going to do that because I don't really use it that much. Okay, without further ado, here is a shout out to today's sponsor. And then stay tuned for retro hair accessories scrunch up $4,000 a month.

Kristin Verhorovort grew up wearing scrunchies. Her mom made them for her when she was a kid in the 80s. And she had one to match every outfit, but fashions come and go and every child eventually grows up. scrunchies faded into history as a fact, just like bell bottoms, rain boots and velcro shoes before them. For Kristin growing up meant taking on responsibilities, a partner, dogs, and of course, working a full time job. The year of 2018 began with

Kristin being happily employed as a coordinator for a community college. It was her responsibility to aid students enrolling in continuing education courses. Like most day jobs, the work was fine, but also not the greatest passion of her life. Meanwhile, what Kristin really loved was anything to do with craft work. She could hand make items like crocheted scarves, blankets and candles, just to name a few. Occasionally, she'd earn a small amount of money selling

an item to a friend or family member. Kristin dreamed of focusing on craft work full time one day. Her part time crafting simply didn't earn enough to pay the bills. What it did do however, was build a reputation among her friends. When it came to sewing, she could make anything. In July 2018, that reputation was about to thread with the scrunchies of

her past to stitch an all new side hustle. In her job, she interacted with a lot of young people that were in touch with the latest trends, the type that are the first to know what's in or what the latest celebrity is wearing. Kristin learned that scrunchies were making a big comeback. One of her friends knew she was a whiz with a sewing machine, and that friend asked if she could make a few retro scrunchies. Never one to turn down a craft project, Kristin agreed and sewed up a batch of scrunchies using fabrics from her own personal stash. The friend loved them, wore them constantly and even paid her a few

dollars for the privilege. Kristin enjoyed making those scrunchies so much that she decided to make more. She had dozens of different types of unique fabric patterns and used the best ones for her new creations. A few more sales from other friends and colleagues followed. But the scrunchy revolution was just beginning and Kristin began to pay close attention. It

was a little like a cross stitch pattern. The more she sewed, the more the picture became clear. In just a couple of months, she'd already sold more scrunchies than anything else she'd made in the past. So it was time to test the waters and see if there were other scrunchy lovers out there beyond her personal network. She created both an Etsy store and an Instagram account for this new venture. She used her middle name Bryn and called the

project BrynBans. She opted for that word "Bans" over scrunchies because she thought it would allow her more flexibility in the future if she decided to sell other types of products. Smart thinking there. She spent almost nothing on startup costs. She already had the fabric in the sewing machine, posting on Instagram was free, and Etsy listings were nearly free. So there was literally nothing to lose by going for it. She began posting

pictures and directing people to her store. To attract attention, she hashtagged the post with things like #scrunchiesareback and #scrunchylife. She also began following other popular scrunchy accounts, which is a thing now. That was enough for BrynBans to get some initial traction. Perhaps it was the right designs. Perhaps it was simply the right time when these scrunchies

were making a comeback. But Kristen's little scrunchy side business began to snowball over the next few months. She made an effort to message and engage with each and every person that interacted with her posts. Kristen puts this almost obsessive customer focus as key to her success. It's made easier by the fact that she actually enjoys being a part of her customers' lives in some small way. As for design, it's no surprise that Kristen has

a good idea for what people want in a scrunchy. She understands they're for girls who want to look awesome, or for women who want to remember the fun they had wearing scrunchies as kids. She listens to their feedback and uses that as well as her own intuition when selecting new designs. Since scrunchies are a retro item, many customers are looking for just that in the design. They want a symbol of the 80s, a retro-style fabric. She's also

had lots of success with themes, like Christmas-themed scrunchies for the holidays and pink scrunchies for breast cancer awareness. These give existing customers an excuse to buy again, and is a great hook to lure in new customers at certain times of year. She also launched bunny-ear scrunchies, a scrunchie with rabbit ears attached, that have sold particularly well. So well, in fact, that Kristen's little side hustle has proved the hair accessory of the 80s is alive and well. In the last month alone, she sold almost $4,000 worth of scrunchies, which is crazy considering each one is priced between just $3 and $6. That's almost one thousand

scrunchies purchased, packed, and shipped from her home. And it should be all the more impressive because Brin Bands is a side hustle. Kristen is still working full-time as well. That last fact may not be the case much longer if the plan for Brin Bands comes to fruition. This month she's launching a line of headbands, and hopes to have a baby headwear line as well before the end of 2019. It's all coming together, one stitch at a time.

Some congratulations to Kristen. Way to go in repping the scrunchy market. Now, as I said, if you out there are a crafter, you should pay attention, not just to what Kristen is doing, but to what you see out there, what is popular, what is trending. The thing is there are a lot of people who can hand make a lot of things. Most people who are crafty in one medium tend to be able to apply that skill elsewhere. However, most of them aren't

making $4,000 a month on the side while they're still working a full-time job and within the first year actually of starting this project. So I think what you'll see as we go through this year, and probably every week or so, every seven to 10 days at least, we have another story of somebody doing something crafty. And I think what you'll see is the people who are the most successful are the ones who have found a way to stand out the most. So they're not just trying to make everything for everyone. They have really kind of specialized, even hyper-specialized to the point of doing something like this. And as you have heard,

it can work really well. Now, I did a little scrunchy count of this episode. A number of times I mentioned scrunchy, not counting the commentary. In the story itself, I believe it was 17. That is the most times in my entire life I have used that word. And I also googled

a little bit just to kind of do some research. And as soon as I typed in the word scrunchy, the autocomplete from Google was, "Are scrunchies coming back?" So it seems that this is in fact a real trend. I'm not the only person wondering about it. There's also a Wikipedia page for scrunchies. And I learned that the scrunchy was invented by Phillips E. Myers

in 1963. That almost sounds like a fake name for an inventor, but I'm guessing it was a real guy. And then it wasn't patented until 1987 by Ronnie Revson. Also, not a fake name. And Ronnie named the hair accessory the Scunchy after her pet toy poodle. But the name Scrunchie

was a natural evolution because the fabric scrunched up. See, just look at all the different things you can learn from Side Hustle School. So much out there. We are just getting started. Much more is on the way. Today's show notes are at sidehustleschool.com/737. Thank you so

much for listening. Be sure you're subscribed for more. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School.