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What It's About
An investment banker finds a way to have it all—one bite at a time.
Business Model
Manufacturing
Skills Required
Recipe Development & Marketing
Complexity
Medium
Profit Potential
High
Words of Wisdom
When you're planning on starting a product-based side hustle, it's important to ask yourself where your ideal customer is making purchasing decisions. Also, keep market saturation in mind—grocerie stores are flush in 1lb. bags of granola, but there are not many places selling single servings of granola for when you're on the go. The switch was a hit!
Fun Fact
Cindy’s facility is powered by renewable energy. All food scraps are composted while things like plastic and glass are recycled. A plan for using compostable, biodegradable packaging is in the works for next year.
Notes from Chris
Episode 719
Cindy Poiesz was an investment banker in the energy sector on Wall Street. It was a demanding job, consisting of 12+ hour days. Never having enough time to snag a meal outside the office, she ate lunch in the office every day. But, sometimes, she’d want a snack. This proved difficult because of her dietary restrictions. Cindy adhered to a strict paleo diet in order to maintain a pain-free gut and an improved quality of life. No dairy. No grains. Nothing refined or processed. The snacks available at work just weren’t an option, and none of the nearby coffee shops and vending machines provided her with anything close. So Cindy started experimenting with different combinations in her kitchen. Eventually, she found one she liked. It was the perfect asset allocation of seeds, nuts, and spices. She named her creation, Supernola, and started bringing it to work. Like James Brown’s song “I Feel Good”, her paleo-friendly snacks were a hit! Which is fitting because that’s exactly how her snacks made people feel—good. It wasn’t long before her friends suggested she start selling Supernola at farmers’ markets. So she did. Her first sale was in the amount of $30. She framed the twenty and ten dollar bills to celebrate and has kept to this day. As Cindy put it, “small beginnings lead to bigger things.” Supernola has come a long way since its creation two years ago. In Cindy’s first year, she sold 4,000 units and this year-to-date she’s sold over 300,000. One of the freedoms Cindy has found in being her own boss is having greater control over the taxes that are taken out of her paycheck. It’s no surprise she loves deductions—after all, she did used to work on Wall Street. What’s next for Cindy? She’s in the process of expanding the Supernola brand nationally. Her first step is a round of external funding to help accelerate growth. The brand is in the throes of a bull market with no market crash in sight.MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- Supernola: If today's episode piqued your interest (and your appetite), head on over to Cindy's website
- Shopify: Cindy used Shopify to set up her site for Supernola, and they're offering a 21-day trial and exclusive discount for all Side Hustle School listeners!
- EVOLVE Brands & Gorilly Goods: The two additional snack brands that Cindy created
- Food Lover Sells Granola to Hungry Google Employees: From the local farmers market to the kitchens of major tech corporations—this granola recipe isn’t good, it’s grrrrrrr-eat!
- Avocado Queen Earns $45,000 Selling Spreadable Granola: After sharing about her recovery from unhealthy eating, this health tech worker leverages an Instagram following and turns a kitchen experiment into a growing business
- Hungry, Hungry Hustlers Earn $25,000/Month Selling Paleo Bars: Frustrated by the lack of real food bars devoid of added sugar and weird ingredients they couldn’t pronounce, two hungry fitness enthusiasts create their own tasty paleo bars and hustle their way to multiple six-figures
Quote of the Day
"Network, network, network. Other professionals are generally willing to share advice—save yourself some time and learn from other's triumphs and mistakes!"
—Cindy Poiesz #SideHustleSchool
