What It's About
A UK man goes from eBay to his own seven-figure e-commerce shop.
Business Model
Skills Required
Complexity
Profit Potential
Words of Wisdom
Ed encourages anyone looking to start a side hustle to look into e-commerce. He says that it has never been easier to break into than it is now with such an abundance of free guidance online from various sources.
And once you start, he says that you should test your ideas. Push harder on the ones that work, and drop the ones that don't!
Fun Fact
Having perfected a process that easily scales, Ed likes to help other brands who are starting out and need to keep their production costs down, by offering his advice and warehouse services at a lower rate than many of the larger services.
As he put it, it's important for him to give back to the industry that helped him realize his own dream of working for himself before he was 30.
Notes from Chris
Episode 971
Many people dream of working in the aerospace industry—if you aren’t in the clouds, traveling to your next destination, the next best thing might just be creating the machines that get us there. But for Ed Snelson, who landed an apprenticeship at Airbus UK with a year left at university, flying dreams were simply not enough. Ed had also participated in a UK program called The Young Enterprise scheme, which aims to teach young people the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and career advancement through real-life practice. After learning what could be possible, Ed knew that he would work for himself one day. From his childhood bedroom at his parents’ house, after he spent 8-10 hours during the day at his apprenticeship, he would come home and spend 1-2 hours a night learning everything he could about selling online. He soon decided that the easiest way to enter the e-commerce space would be to start selling products on eBay. But what was he going to sell? He noticed that many sellers on eBay were listing items they found around the house, at flea markets, or shopping vintage thrift stores. Since Ed was already working a demanding full-time job, he didn’t have the time to source items from so many places. Instead, he focused on a market that was mostly for hobbyists and small businesses. He began selling printed t-shirts, which he designed, with a unique twist. The shirts included funny one-liners and engaging sayings that could be personalized for the purchaser, by adding their name or a distinguishing feature. This made his inventory immediately more interesting than the bulk purchased graphic tees. At first, he sold them individually off his personal eBay account, and he even surprised himself when he made sales on Day One. Within a few months, he knew he was on to something. As demand grew, so did his confidence to invest a few hundred dollars into branding an official eBay store. This gave him a more professional look, in a sea of other sellers doing something similar, which boosted sales even further and allowed him to reinvest more. He also realized that he was missing out on a large part of the potential profit by paying screen printers so much since each personalized item had to be custom produced. Once he was able to put all his attention on his eBay store, his monthly revenues increased from a few thousand dollars a month to up to $10,000 per month. He was able to offer more designs, produce larger orders with a faster turnaround, and reply to queries more quickly. It was all the same work he had been doing before, he just had more time to do more of it. In 2017, he won an eBay Business of the Year award after growing at a rate of 20-45% per month. By mid-2019, he had cleared £1.4 million pounds, with a forecast to sell £2.1 million pounds in 2020. That’s $2.5 million dollars! As he’s continued to grow in sales, the business basics have remained the same. Providing high-quality personalized apparel and gifts to customers who want something a bit more special than generalized bulk items. Having perfected a process that scales, he also likes to help other brands who are starting out and need to keep their production costs down. He does this by offering advice and warehouse services at a lower rate than many of the larger services do. It is important for him to give back to the industry that helped him realize his own dream of working for himself. This former aerospace apprentice has come a long way from selling t-shirts in his childhood bedroom.MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- Signature Printing UK: Learn more about this highly successful retail side hustle over on Ed's website!
- Young Enterprise & Young Money: The U.K. program called The Young Enterprise scheme, which aims to teach young people the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and career advancement through real-life practice
- Louisiana Oil Worker Creates Premium Duffel Bag: This born-and-bred oil worker didn’t need to strike oil to create his profitable, “badass” side hustle
- Aussie Cyclist Shifts Into Gear With Online Shop: After a painful breakup, an account manager becomes a new spokes-person for side hustling by reselling bicycle gear
- Line Chef Makes Millions Cooking Up Apron Empire: A chef sets out to reinvent the humble apron, growing it to a multi-million-dollar company while still working in restaurants at night
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Resources
CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE
Create your online store with Shopify using an exclusive discount for Side Hustle School listeners. For a limited time, get a free 21-day trial and a 10% discount for a whole year.
Many Side Hustle School listeners are building sites using Shopify's easy-to-learn platform. Try it free today!
Learn More
GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS
Social media is nice, but building an email list is still the single best way to get customers and clients for your hustle. It's not hard to get started—sign up for a 30-day trial and join the list-building challenge! You’ll be up and running in no time.
Quote of the Day
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