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She built a $33K/month side hustle in only 4 years 👀
Welcome to a fresh edition of eBiz Insider, my free newsletter packed with tips, insights and opportunities to build your online business.
Today...
She Built a $33K/Month Side Hustle in Only 4 Years
Launch a VA Business From Scratch in 30 Days
$12K/Month Editing Shorts in the Brazilian Countryside
From Failure to $100K/Month in 5 Years
The Scrappy Origins of a $200K/Month Business
$2000/Month Watching Horror Movies
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She Built a $33K/Month Side Hustle in Only 4 Years
Chisom Okwulehie is the co-founder of Juntero, a productised interior and graphic design company 👍
Per a recent interview, she started the business with her husband and in 2021…
I made about $55,000 that year and over $200,000 the next. Then, in 2023, I exceeded $400,000.
Back in 2017…
I started working at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, where I design and manage infrastructure projects.
She's still working that 6-figure job while running Juntero as a side hustle 🤯
Chisom's motivation for starting her own thing…
At the height of the pandemic in 2020, I'd had my first child and was told we wouldn't receive a merit-based pay increase at work, so I wanted to find ways to supplement my income.
🧐 How she decided what to focus on…
I watched a lot of YouTube tutorials to prepare and experimented with my different talents — web design, photo editing, graphic design, architecture design and interior design. People gravitated towards my architecture and interior design services.
Initially for traction…
it all started with me taking on small projects on different platforms and charging as little as $20…
I kept my prices low to build a portfolio and accumulate strong testimonials. That credibility is the greatest currency and helped me increase my visibility; for every 10 pieces of positive feedback, I'd raise my hourly rate by $20. Eventually, I learned not to trade my time for money and switched to fixed rates.
Then 👇
Near the end of 2021, I realized that I couldn't help as many clients as I wanted, so I had to put my ego aside and trust other people. I started hiring other designers on a project-based model. They're not employees; they're contractors. So, since 2022, I've outsourced more than 90% of the work.
Juntero now charges from $4-10K per month for their interior and architectural design services.
Pretty incredible that Chisom has been able to build such a business while still working a day job and being a new mom 💪
She mentions 3 things that seem to be the keys to her success…
If you have the patience, due diligence and organization skills, you should figure out ways to monetize your talents.
My key takeaway here though is how she started out charging $20 per project, and now just a few years later she's pulling in $400K/year 💰
Big things can come from small beginnings.
Launch a VA Business From Scratch in 30 Days
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$12K/Month Editing Shorts in the Brazilian Countryside
🇧🇷 Erick Ulrich describes himself as…
…an 18-year-old boy from southern Brazil - imagine like farms, lots of forest, and nothing to do lol.
He's also the co-founder of Conect, a short-form video content agency 👀
In a recent interview, he says…
Our [monthly recurring revenue] is around $12K
Back in 2021 Erick was working in a video editing agency but the boss made them work long hours…
It was HELL. But that's where I met my partner Gustavo, who was Head of sales at the time.
😕 Their boss kept screwing the employees…
he promised views & quality & turnaround times to clients which we never delivered on. And he knew that. He did it on purpose just to close the deals.
Erick and Gustavo eventually got fed up and started their own business doing the same thing…
I set up a website using my mom's company name… the domain was being paid by my mom but it was like $5 a year…
Then…
– December 2022: Design website, socials.
– Started cold dm-ing clients from the boss' agency that had dropped him.
– On the 28th of December I closed 2 clients and made around $500 rev that month.
So, they basically reached out to the unhappy clients at their old job, offering them a better solution 👍
Also…
In January, we kept sending cold DM-s on instagram, and made around $2800 of rev. Profit was a bit low due to the costs like design, videos, and etc.
What worked…
Cold-Dm a list on instagram / Asking for referrals / Google ads…
With the "worked" methods, we went from 0 to 20 active clients in 3 months which made us $16k (in that 3rd month) - now we have around 35 clients, half of which are active.
To find more clients, they've been scaling up to 500 DMs per day, which I assume they are automating somehow 🤖
Anyway, I reckon a lot of people could emulate this kind of service business.
Demand for short-form video production only seems to be increasing 📈 with lots of bloggers getting into it nowadays and seeking help.
You don't need expensive tools for this either. AppSumo has lots of lifetime deals on video editing software that you could use to get started.
Could you give this a go? 🤔