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“Practice makes progress — not always perfect, but practice makes progress.”
In this week's Throwback Thursday segment, we hear from Renee Gutzwiller in Charleston, South Carolina, whose side hustle is a watercolor stationery brand called Island House Co. It started as a hobby after she and her husband moved to Charleston without much family or friends nearby — and he's the one who pushed her to turn it into more.
She opened an Etsy shop, did a lot of local markets, and it took off. Since we last spoke, Island House Co has become her main hustle: she left her job at a technology company and has been full-time for six months. Her retailer list has tripled, and she even has a retail space now — something that was never on her roadmap.
Her sales have grown exponentially. When we first featured her she was making about a grand a month; this past November and December she was doing $10,000 a month. She's now growing strategically — looking at fulfillment centers and part-time help so she can spend her time where it matters most: creating new products.
Her advice: put yourself and your work out there, even when it feels uncomfortable, and be consistent with your look and feel. When she started, she had a list of retailers she wanted to reach; now retailers reach out to her on Instagram because of the content she puts out.
