110 7:22

Social Worker Turns De-stressing Hobby Into $2k/Month Hustle

A lifelong crafter who makes jewelry to cope with day job stress launches an Etsy store and gets her items featured on several major TV shows.

7:22

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What It's About

A jewelry side hustle makes its way onto popular TV shows and brings in around $2,000 a month.

Business Model
Arts & Crafts
Skills Required
Jewelry Making & Networking
Complexity
Medium
Profit Potential
Medium

Words of Wisdom

When she got pregnant, Ruthie decided to see if she could turn her hustle into something bigger. She spent more of her time creating and listing new pieces and soon found her niche in the wedding market. This strategy was so successful for that she was able to step down to part-time at work because she was making $2,000-$3,000 per month from her Etsy shop.

Fun Fact

Ruthie previously had a side hustle that involved hand-painting Dr. Scholl’s sandals for her “Love Your Soles” Etsy shop. While looking for things to decorate her sandals with, she discovered the sparkly beads and crystals that inspired her to create her “Love Your Bling" jewelry shop on Etsy.

Notes from Chris

Episode 110
Not every hobby should be a hustle, and vice versa, but sometimes something you do to develop your creativity can lead to an income-generating project. Today you’ll hear a classic story of that. It’s all about a social worker who turns a de-stressing hobby into a $2,000/month side hustle.

The best part about her project is that it started out by being something she just really enjoyed doing. All things being equal, why not try to have both? For a lot of people, that’s the goal: finding something that you love to do that's also profitable.

That’s why you should always ask yourself not just “What do I like to do?” but “How can I identify profitable ideas?” as well.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
  • Love Your Bling: Check out more of Ruthie's blinged out, made-for-tv jewelry on her Etsy page
  • Etsy: The world’s largest homemade marketplace is ideal to help you get started selling your products today
  • The Artisan Group: An invitation-only organization that focuses on introducing celebrities to handcrafted products.
SEE ALSO:
  • SHS Starter Platforms: Sometimes it can be difficult to know where to start with your side hustle. To get you going, here are some great starter sites and platforms!
  • Elementary School Teacher Pans for Gold in New Zealand: After changing continents multiple times, an elementary school teacher finds true love, settles down in NZ, goes panning for gold, and ends up making $40,000/year working mostly on the weekends.
  • Detroit Women Make Jewelry for Proft and Social Good: An attorney starts a jewelry company with purpose, employing disadvantaged women in Detroit to help them transition from a life of dependence into one of self-reliance.
Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

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Quote of the Day
"A lot of people are willing to share their experience and knowledge, but you have to seek them out and ask questions."
—Ruthie Youngman #SideHustleSchool

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