This Aspect Hustle Highlight Q&A options Nikki Seaman, the 29-year-old, Atlanta, Georgia-based entrepreneur behind olive model Freestyle Snacks. Be taught extra about her work trip, right here. Responses have been edited for size and readability.Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Freestyle Snacks. Nikki Seaman.
Wish to learn extra tales like this? Subscribe to Cash Makers, our free e-newsletter full of artistic facet hustle concepts and profitable methods. Enroll right here.What was your day job or main occupation whenever you began your facet hustle?I used to be on an externship from my administration consulting job at Bain & Co, main particular initiatives at Whisps Cheese Crisps.When did you begin your facet hustle, and the place did you discover the inspiration for it? The concept of Freestyle Snacks took place in 2021. I discovered inspiration throughout the pandemic, as olive bars in grocery shops shut down, and I used to be pressured to get my olive repair from the normal olive aisle. The “eyeballs” in a jar simply weren’t slicing it for me when it comes to high quality and comfort. So I made a decision to create a better, extra pleasing option to eat olives.
Associated: They Began a Aspect Hustle Producing an ‘Apparent’ Meals Merchandise. It Hit $300,000 Month-to-month Income Quick — On Monitor for Over $20 Million in 2025.What have been a number of the first steps you took to get your facet hustle off the bottom? How a lot cash/funding did it take to launch?I began by specializing in client knowledge. I lived in Mintel studies, and I ran a bunch of surveys to pressure-test if there was actual demand. I’d stand within the olive aisle on the grocery retailer and interview olive-lovers about their preferences. After calling over 200 co-packers, I used to be capable of finding a companion to carry my imaginative and prescient for Freestyle Snacks to life. Together with our packaging design, supplies and first manufacturing run, I spent round $50,000 in financial savings to get to market.Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Freestyle SnacksAre there any free or paid assets which were particularly useful for you in beginning and working this enterprise? Regardless of the trade, discovering a neighborhood and different founders to talk with is invaluable. Once I was first getting began, I’d stack my Fridays with conferences with different CPG founders to see what I might be taught from their wins and their errors. For my trade, the Startup CPG neighborhood is a good place to search out different like-minded people who’re keen to assist and help. In working the enterprise, one useful resource that has been unimaginable for us these days is TikTok — it’s free natural attain to thousands and thousands of potential clients, and we’re investing a whole lot of time on this platform.For those who might return in what you are promoting journey and alter one course of or strategy, what would it not be, and the way do you want you’d finished it in a different way? I’d have taken extra time to construct a stronger bench of part-time assist earlier. To start with, I used to be doing all the pieces from delivery samples to managing QuickBooks and answering buyer emails at midnight. It was, after all, scrappy, nevertheless it was additionally draining and unsustainable. Trying again, I might have introduced in inexpensive help sooner to liberate my time for the highest-impact work. A few of my finest hires are my digital assistants; they really save me a lot time, and the enterprise could not run with out them.
Associated: Bored with ‘Culturally Obtuse’ Merchandise, This 27-12 months-Previous Took His Aspect Hustle From $1,000 a Month to 7-Determine Income: ‘Choose the Proper Alternative to Pursue’In terms of this particular enterprise, what’s one thing you have discovered notably difficult and/or shocking that individuals who get into this sort of work needs to be ready for, however doubtless aren’t? Retail distribution sounds thrilling, however it’s extremely operationally intense. From logistics coordination to managing distributor deductions to planning for promotions, it’s a fixed problem. It may be costly to get your product on the shelf, and that is just the start. The actual enjoyable is available in ensuring the product is definitely promoting off the shelf.Are you able to recall a particular occasion when one thing went very unsuitable? How did you repair it?We had a number of operational hiccups very early on. One nightmare was once we acquired our newest packaging order from our provider, and there have been holes within the packaging close to the resealable zipper. We did not understand this till after we might packed hundreds of merchandise. Fortunately, we have been in a position to expedite a brand new order of packaging and examined it totally, and now we’re hypervigilant about all suppliers we work with.How lengthy did it take you to see constant month-to-month income? How a lot did the facet hustle earn? Since I did not go the farmers market path, we examined product-market match by placing the product on-line and seeing if it bought. Inside our first two days of launch, we bought over $10,000 value of olive snacks. I began seeing constant income solely after the primary 12 months, as soon as our merchandise landed in main retailers and demand was a bit extra predictable.Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Freestyle SnacksRelated: ‘You Can Go Viral In a single day’: This Faculty Scholar and His Brother Spent $5,000 to Begin a Aspect Hustle — Now Their Model’s Making Over $175 MillionWhat does development and income seem like now?Freestyle is now in about 5,000 retail areas, together with Entire Meals, Goal, CVS, Harris Teeter and Big Meals, and we’re simply getting began. We’ve seen robust retail velocity and six-figure month-to-month gross sales, with development pushed by expanded retail distribution and a excessive repeat buy charge in our current retail footprint.How a lot time do you spend engaged on what you are promoting on a each day, weekly or month-to-month foundation? How do you construction that point? What does a typical day or week of labor seem like for you?This began as a facet hustle however rapidly was a full-time job and extra. I now work on Freestyle full-time, typically from my house workplace and typically out of our storage, which has develop into overflow storage. I work just about seven days every week, with the weekends being lighter. I like to make use of the weekends for catching up on admin work or inner initiatives and conducting retailer visits. My days range however normally embrace a mixture of operations, gross sales outreach and technique, content material creation and staff administration. I additionally attempt to carve out time for artistic and strategic considering so I don’t get caught in execution mode.What do you get pleasure from most about working this enterprise? I like creating one thing from nothing and seeing folks genuinely get pleasure from it. It by no means will get outdated when somebody discovers Freestyle Snacks and shares what an important snack it has develop into for them, whether or not they’re diabetic, searching for a low-calorie snack or simply craving an excellent olive. The perfect is the entire people we have transformed to the darkish inexperienced facet, who used to hate olives till they tried Freestyle!
Associated: The ‘Hustle’ He Began Out of His Station Wagon Grew to become a Nationwide Enterprise That is About to Hit $300 Million: ‘Every little thing We Do Is Fairly Easy’What’s your finest piece of particular, actionable enterprise recommendation? With the intention to succeed, you’ll want to have grit, ardour and perseverance. You’ll face many rejections, need to navigate operational challenges and typically really feel just like the world is crumbling round you. Entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster. I like to remain grounded by specializing in being 1% higher every day. These incremental enhancements to the enterprise really add as much as one thing unimaginable.This text is a part of our ongoing Younger Entrepreneur® sequence highlighting the tales, challenges and triumphs of being a younger enterprise proprietor.Be part of prime CEOs, founders and operators on the Degree Up convention to unlock methods for scaling what you are promoting, boosting income and constructing sustainable success.
