Trip to Europe Inspires Adventurous Blanket Biz

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

What are you thinking about starting your side hustle, your big idea, what may or may not become a big business, maybe just a small business, something to make money for you on the side? Should you start with what you know? Should you start with knowledge you have, perhaps an expertise that you have acquired through education, through previous experience, or just through research, investigation of your own? Well, often you should. I mean, that is often my advice.

That is a thread, a through line that you'll hear in many of the stories. But that said, it's also possible to start with a set of values and then work forward from there to figure out what kind of side hustle or business those values are best expressed by. And that kind of approach is what you'll hear about in today's story. So hey, welcome to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau.

This story is about a trip to Europe that inspires an adventurous blanket biz. After returning from an extended trip abroad, this digital strategist draws on nostalgia to source and sell heirloom throw blankets. The only problem, well, when she starts, she knows nothing about knitting or textiles. So she goes on an adventure to figure it out. Stay tuned.

That story is coming right up. What do design, travel, sustainability, and blankets have in common? They're all common elements of today's side hustle. Holla Smith Hughes has been working as a digital strategist for the past 10 years. Before that, she worked as a creative director for a group of food markets in Portland, Oregon.

But Holla knew for a long time that she wanted to launch a product business. She had plenty of good ideas, but couldn't decide on what product to make. After returning from an extended trip abroad to Europe, she was eager to make progress. She brainstormed product ideas by identifying what brought her joy and what kept her excited. For Holla, those things are, once more, design, travel, sustainability, and blankets.

Accordingly, Seek and Swoon is her new business. She sells heirloom quality knit decorative throw blankets that are made in America from recycled cotton yarn. The blanket designs are inspired by destinations such as Spain, Iceland, and Croatia. Perhaps even more of a catalyst for Holla to start her business was the concern of becoming obsolete in her role as a social media strategist. She felt that at some point, perhaps in the near future, her skills could be considered old and irrelevant.

She wanted to stay ahead of that curve and change her career on her own terms by doing something that was meaningful to her. You could say she was looking for a job security blanket. So she knew she wanted to design and sell cozy knit throw blankets with patterns inspired by places she traveled to. But there was just one minor roadblock. She knew nothing about knitting or textiles.

So she had to do a lot of research. First up, Holla needed to find a mill to make her throws. She knew there were other designers making similar blankets, so she started narrowing down where they were manufactured by regions of the US. She googled "American Knitting Companies" until she compiled a list of about 100 knitting mills. One by one, she contacted those mills, either by phone or email, to find out if they could manufacture knit blankets in small quantities.

At this point, she didn't even know what those blankets were called, so she sent them photos of ones already on the market. As some of the mills responded to her inquiries, she began to learn the more technical aspects of blanket design and manufacturing. This enabled her to reach out to knitters and be more specific about the type of knit blanket she wanted to make. She discovered that there are different types of knitting machines, and she wanted her throws to be done in a style that requires a flat knitting machine. As Holla went through her list of mills, one of two things would happen.

Either she received no response, or the response wasn't what she hoped for. Most did not have the equipment to make her type of throws. They were not made for flat knitting, or not large enough to make the size she wanted. Of the 100 mills she contacted, only five seemed promising. After some conversations about pricing and process, it was down to just three.

She requested samples using her designs, and long story short those samples did not come together. They just weren't right. It was important to her to feel like she was choosing the right partner, and none of these mills seemed like a fit. At this point Holla felt defeated. She put her project aside for nearly six months.

But one day, while snuggled on her couch with a throw, she felt a calling to give it another try. She knew the mill she needed was out there somewhere, she just had to find it. Because her attempt to find the mills directly hadn't worked, she thought she'd try again from another angle. She decided to go after the equipment instead of the mill, because if she could find someone who had the equipment, they could make her throws. After more dead ends, she ended up on a phone call with a guy who used to manage the office for one of the equipment manufacturers.

After that phone call, everything changed. He connected Holla to a mill, and they began discussions about pricing. Feeling good about the communications, Holla asked them to make a sample, and when she opened this new shipment, it was love at first sight. Holla knew she had found her mill. So what about the money stuff?

Well, startup costs for Seek and Swoon were around $10,000. This was used for inventory, packaging, and shipping materials, along with some custom coding for the website. Monthly profit or net income varies, but right now she's averaging around $1,500 each month. She knows it could be more, and she wants it to be, but right now she's just happy to be profiting in a product-based business, which is not always easy compared to a service. At days end, she wants her customers to feel better than good about their purchase.

She wants them to love it. So whenever she hears personal stories from buyers about how they fight over the throw with her husband, or they give a blanket at a baby shower and it ends up being the mom's favorite gift, it's the best she could hope for. Right now she's brainstorming ways to expand the business while staying true to her brand. Her ultimate goal is to get it to a place where she and her family can travel more and potentially even live abroad. Whenever her path leads, Hala will be sure to blanket herself with the comforts of home.

Okay so before we wrap it up, let's talk a bit about storytelling. Whenever I see somebody with a great website, I always try to pull it out and say here's what you should pay attention to, because here's why it's working. And if you're new or just as a reminder, the most important page on your website after the home page is the about page, because that is your story page. That's where you tell the story of your side hustle. Why are you doing this and why most importantly should somebody else care about it?

So I was not surprised to see that Hala's website is excellent. And on the about page, there's this whole like beautifully written thing which I'll link up in the show notes. But you know, again, she's selling heirloom throw blankets, okay? So here's how she just begins the whole about page. It starts with a section that says for all of us, there's something about a place that says home, a place that calls to us that makes us think I belong here.

This place could be an ocean away or our own living room in an overstuffed chair. That's where a sequence wound was created between a bone voyage and a bungalow. So really good copy there. It just kind of transports you to this place. And on the whole page throughout the whole site, you can see all these travel photos.

And there's the sense that if you buy one of these throws, then you are an adventurer. So pay attention because this is really critical, it would be easy to make light of this concept or to make fun of it. But remember that most value is perceived. Most value is perceived. A lot of people wear Vans sneakers who are not skaters.

Most people who buy clothes from REI or the North Face, they're not climbing Everest. It is much more about identity, both in terms of projecting or signaling to others. And also just for yourself. You want to look at that throw blanket in your overstuffed chair and say, I am a traveler who likes good design and sustainability. Whether you really are an active traveler or not.

Maybe you aspire to be an active traveler. Maybe you once were an active traveler. Maybe this is just a belief that resonates with you and therefore you're drawn to this product and it brings comfort and joy to your home. Lots to take away from that. I'm just going to stop now so I don't go on forever.

But as always, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better. Today's show notes are at www.cytussleschool.com/740. That's episode 740. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back again tomorrow with another story.

My name is Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School.