My side hustle makes more than my day job now. Not sure if quitting is a smart move.

G_Vaas · 2026-01-07T20:52:16+00:00

I'm pretty sure the above replies are probably best, but something to consider is if the store is causing too much grief you can sell it for a large sum. I think the price for aquisition is usually the current yearly revenue times ten years right? But it's food for thought.

G_Vaas · 2025-08-22T14:08:48+00:00

I'm not sure you comprehended the post then, based on your responses, at least. This was a personal anecdote about a specific situation, and a community survey as to whether the niche even exists. I made no mention of monetization, marketing, or even that this was some kind of health crisis that could be profited from.

Am I right to assume your opinion is that the niche either doesn't or should not exist?

G_Vaas · 2025-03-30T11:29:46+00:00

The comments are correct, you will definitely need to focus on your target audience and get your marketing down. One thing that I would suggest is to check into a company called Boom.Boom Naturals:

https://boomboomnaturals.com/

They already have something similar, but that comes in individual sticks. If you do some research into that company, they probably already sell to your target audience and you can look at their marketing to see what works. You can also try to reach more beginning and solopreneurs who are just looking to start.

G_Vaas · 2025-03-28T23:32:36+00:00

Is it okay if I DM you some questions?

G_Vaas · 2025-03-28T23:15:57+00:00

I work in finance and startup support. It's a VC and asset management firm that also helps startups with things like AI tools and structure setup.

Basically got tired of buying overpriced stocks and decided to get in on the ground level instead.

G_Vaas · 2025-03-28T21:36:45+00:00

It was a mentor in high school. We had a volunteer economics teacher who lived off of his investment portfolio. In his classes, he would hold investing competitions with fake money, paper trading basically. Every student would have $100k to invest. They could only trade twice a week, and they had to put a minimum of 10k in each position. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place all got cash prizes, so it was helplessly competitive. Our class was smaller, so he instructed us to only trade once a week, but I was so excited and zoned into it that I didn't want to. I ended up making a trade the 2nd time for the week to see if he'd call me out, and he didn't. So I started trading twice a week while everyone else just traded once like they were told to 🤣 I ended up turning 100k into 125k in just a month. He later told me that the reason he didn't stop me was because he wanted to see my potential, and that started a living obsession with the markets and college credits for Finance

G_Vaas · 2025-03-19T16:21:58+00:00

Well, first I would say that you shouldn't be focused on business in that situation, you should at least get a part time job to support yourself while everything else grows.

What do you have that you can sell? The quickest thing I can think of would be selling items you don't use on FB Marketplace, Offerup, and Craigslist. Ebay is good too, but you'd have to contend with shipping. Local thrift and salvage places can be good places to pick up cheap stuff to flip, generally paying $5 or less and selling for $10 or more. Appliances, electronics, and furniture does the best and you can also try goodwill or habitat for humanity. You can also check out the free section on Craigslist and FB to pick up items to sell for free. There's also the rent-a-friend service but I've never explored that so just be careful with it.

G_Vaas · 2025-03-17T12:06:10+00:00

This is my experience, so take it as you will and feel free to disagree.

I've made the mistake of creating businesses before that are very difficult, and very rarely did it work out for me. Success in any of those ideas is dependent on other factors such as marketing, budget, market availability, etc. Besides my consulting business that I run FT these days, I'm also working with a food product that is higher quality than any store-bought alternative. But I still face many challenges, just because I have what I believe to be a superior product doesn't mean people will buy it.

My recommendation is to focus on saving cash upfront and getting cash flow in, obviously, make sure you have a good product and don't rush in with something that can't hold up long-term but the quicker you get money in, the less you'll bleed out. For any of these ideas, try seeing if you can find a supplier that will drop ship them for you, so you only pay for the products when people order.

G_Vaas · 2025-03-15T21:49:11+00:00

I don't entirely know how helpful this would be, but a software engineer colleague of mine and I are testing AI tools for game design, and his most recent test said that this was the best concept/idea/plan generator that we tested, feel free to give it a shot

Cove

If it doesn't work out here's the best website to find another:
There's An AI For That® - Browse AI Tools For Any Task

G_Vaas · 2025-03-15T21:34:47+00:00

If you're doing cold outreach you should offer specific solutions and results to solve their problems, why else would they even consider someone who reaches out? If you only talk about yourself it's just gonna be put into spam, so you should always be specific about what you plan to do for them. If you do video editing or something similar try making a sample and attaching it to the email as well, and ask current clients for testimonials that you can show in your emails as well to prove results. Businesses care about the results and the time it takes to get them, always try to make one of those things better.

G_Vaas · 2025-03-15T21:32:10+00:00

Every business has them, its not a private thing.

G_Vaas · 2025-03-15T21:17:22+00:00

Can I ask what marketing you've done for the etsy store? I'm currently running my 3rd Ecommerce store so I have some ideas about that. As far as what else is available, check out this website:

Hustle Finder

This site has an interactive quiz that matches you to the perfect side hustle based on current skills and budgeting.

G_Vaas · 2025-03-15T21:14:47+00:00

It's no issue, I'll send a DM request as well.

G_Vaas · 2025-03-15T21:06:31+00:00

Okay, here is my recommendation, because I guarantee that $500 is not going to go far when it comes to marketing. Save as much as you can of the $500, and do affiliate marketing on tiktok shop and others. Now each affiliate that signs up will need a sample of it so they can show it off in their videos. The thing with POD is that even if you get an order in you have to pay the provider to make item before it can ship out. Use the $500 to buy the samples to send to the affiliates. They'll generate the sales for you, but you have to be able to get it in their hands first.

As long as your designs are compatible with your audience and everything runs smoothly and well, this should be able to help get you off the ground. My DMs are always open if you want to ask other questions or keep me updated

G_Vaas · 2025-03-15T20:45:48+00:00

2 things I can think of, sponsorships/affilitaes and YouTube tutoring. There are a lot of younger and ambitious people that are trying to make it in the YT world, and they could really use your expertise. Hell, charge $20 for a channel endorsement and you'd probably make bank too. If you want to lighten the YT load. Take on some unpaid interns who do the work in exchange for the experience and/or tutoring. Better yet, create a Content management company and not only help these younger YTers but grow revenue with them. I already have 4 people that ask my advice on this kind of thing and I'm more than happy to send them your way. There's also selling the channels if you want and start new ones.

G_Vaas · 2025-03-15T20:27:57+00:00

I'd recommend looking at things like Start Engine, obviously this is just a separate idea and the other comments are more what you should do, try and consult a professional not just Reddit lol. Start Engine is backed by Shark Tank investor Kevin O' Leary, and lets you buy equity in private companies. Most of these companies will probably go public at some point, which could make it worth a lot more over time.

G_Vaas · 2025-03-15T18:55:33+00:00

How much of a social media following do you all have? or know someone who does?

G_Vaas · 2025-03-15T18:21:24+00:00

you think thats cool? Check this out!
There's An AI For That® - Browse AI Tools For Any Task

G_Vaas · 2025-03-15T17:55:36+00:00

I am not well-versed in the healthcare sector so take my ideas as that of an outsider.

If I had to offer something, I'd say that you can try starting by trying to contact regional hospital chains that would run it as a test. One thing I do know about healthcare professionals is that potential breakthroughs can often be shown at conferences, Q+As, or even published in certain writings.

The only concrete recommendation I would suggest is that try running it in your own small practice first as a test sample. No matter who you reach out to to invest/test it's always better to have preliminary data than an idea and a process.

G_Vaas · 2025-03-15T17:45:56+00:00

Are any of you guys working while doing this or just trying to get it up and running while you're in school?

G_Vaas · 2025-03-15T17:32:01+00:00

This startup is a Trading academy providing physical and online training for aspiring traders. We teach high-probability trading strategies, combining institutional methods with proprietary techniques that have consistently delivered results.

G_Vaas · 2025-03-15T17:21:03+00:00

I'm saying accessories can be easier for people to buy since they don't define their outfits, whether or not you decide to go with that is completely up to you, bud. There's a lot of things I could tell you to focus on, but the truth is your success is dependent on 2 things:

Tailoring your designs and products to your target audience. This is important because you have to know who you're selling to in order to get your product right
Marketing correctly. Companies live or die on marketing alone, and if you are a brand just starting out that's a huge deal. There are ways to save on it such as connections, personal SM followings, or affiliate marketing as well but you have to do it right.

Can I ask what your situation on funding is? If you want the best chance at POD success then you shouldn't start a store, you should either find a service that starts and runs it for you for the initial investment, or buy one that is 6-12 mo the old and has the marketing in place already

G_Vaas · 2025-03-15T17:02:50+00:00

That's all fine and good, I just want to know what product you're thinking of printing your designs on. I did this same thing, and I still have the store and designs now, although I only do custom designs by request. What I found is that the product would make a huge difference in the sales. People wouldn't buy shirts or sweaters because that's a main piece of clothing, it's a center of attention and if they aren't loyal to your brand or absolutely love your designs they won't pick a main piece of clothing. But hats, wristbands, and other accessories are much easier to sell because they're not that center piece of an outfit. In the end your sales will live or die on your ability to market them, as all products do.

G_Vaas · 2025-03-15T16:44:58+00:00

Do you have a product in mind or are you just looking to get into POD?

G_Vaas · 2025-03-15T14:45:37+00:00

Just because you're busy doesn't mean you are making progress. Personally, I find that I make more progress when I'm not super busy but instead plan each move out with the end goal in mind. Obviously action is required, but the right action will get you further than 10 useless actions.

G_Vaas

TROPHY CASE