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Features of this Side Hustle Spotlight Q&A alchemy goods Owner Greg Carr was a musician when he started selling custom pins in 2015. Today, Alchemy Merch is a full-time business creating custom products for companies including Apple, Nickelodeon, National Geographic, Nike, and more, as well as independent artists looking for new ways to monetize their artwork. .
Image credit: Courtesy of Alchemy Merch. Greg Carr.
When did you start your side hustle and what led to it?
I run a literary-inspired clothing brand, Miles to go, and in 2015 I started making enamel pins as one of our product offerings. Several friends started asking me to help them make enamel pins because overseas production is very confusing. can. Around that time, my wife and I decided to try having a baby, and on the day we found out we were pregnant (Father’s Day 2016), we bought the Pingame Strong domain. Seeing the need for help within the artist community, I initially thought that if I could put a few hundred dollars into my daughter’s 529, I would be a winner. The original goal was to keep the clothing brand running and help people make enamel pins on the side. I quickly realized there was a huge gap in the market for retail quality products. Everything was focused on promotional products, but from my experience running brands, I thought it was important to focus on products that people could be proud to bring to market. It needed to go beyond promotion and be fully customizable.
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What was the first step you took to get your side hustle off the ground?
I saw a post about the episode. design adventure A podcast about how someone should help people create pins. At that point, I had created thousands of pins for myself, but had no intention of offering them as a service. I offered to help anyone who was interested and got a response right away. Word of mouth spread and we realized people were looking for a safe outlet to make pins. Knowing I was going to have a baby soon led me to purchase a domain and consider pricing. I was very aware of how promotional products companies priced their products, so I decided to try and beat it. Once the site launched, things started moving quickly, and within a few days he had an order for 1,000 enamel pins from someone with no link at all.
Image credit: Alchemy Merch
What was the biggest challenge you faced when building your side hustle and how did you overcome it?
As things started moving quickly, I struggled a lot with how to balance my time with the brand that had been paying my family’s living expenses for the past few years. I went from $0 to $1 million in sales in 18 months, and it was just me. I did everything: manage the business, process all orders, communicate with the factory and all the art. It was tough to deal with. During his first two years he did not spend a penny on advertising. Word of mouth spread and I got as busy as I could. My first step was to get help processing the art files so I could continue communicating with customers. I wish I had asked for help sooner, but finally getting it freed me up to focus more on sales.
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How long did it take you to start earning steady income every month? How much money did you earn from your side hustle?
Within 6 months, I exceeded the monthly income of the brand I had been working on for 8 years and continued to grow. After seeing how quickly it was progressing, supplementing my wife’s income by the time I had to decide whether to go back to work after our daughter was born became a secondary goal. . We achieved that goal and continued to run upwards.
After that, Alchemy Merch turned his side job into his full-time job. What has been the key to that growth, and what are the current revenues?
I reached a point where I had to let go of my old business so I could focus all my time on building products for other people. We started as Pin Game Strong and continued to add new products like patches, acrylic keychains, and washi tape, but we felt the name was too limiting. Although we had built a solid name recognition, we knew it was time to grow beyond Ping. Growth has been difficult in recent years. When the coronavirus hit, we were knocked back twice. First, there was a delay in restarting factories and a flood of refunds for scheduled events. Then in March they returned and the US went into lockdown. Much of our business is driven by events.Artists sell at fairs, concerts, and other events, and businesses sell [make items] For conferences and team events. Before COVID-19, we were just staying awake, but since then we’ve been working hard to focus on enhancing what we do and how we make ourselves visible. . We’ve been growing over the past two years, but it’s only this year that we’re seeing the energy of people coming back to create again. For the past two years, our annual revenue has hovered below his $2 million mark, but we hope to eventually break through and continue to grow.
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What do you enjoy most about running this business?
I enjoy helping people create. Creating not just a product, but a complete product for retail can present many obstacles for creators. Our goal is to help remove them and guide them. Working with other creative people throughout the day is always inspiring. Our goal as a team is to work together to advance your projects.
What are you most looking forward to when thinking about the future of your business?
We’re excited to expand the types of products we offer and continue to support creators. We don’t have many direct competitors in our field and size, so it’s unlikely that someone will try to buy us. I want to continue building a company that supports my family and employees and continues to help people.
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Image credit: Alchemy Merch
What advice would you give to people who want to start their own side hustle and be successful?
I didn’t actively think about it at the time, but Alchemy Merch combines all of my skill sets and fits into what I really want to do with my time. It’s hard to run a business outside of business hours if you’re open from 9 to 5, but if you really want it, you’ll have to put in the effort. If you’re thinking about starting a side hustle, think carefully about what you want to do, whether there’s a need for it, or whether there’s space to improve on what’s on the market. The market told me how much alchemical products were needed, and I responded. When I found out this thing had legs, I never looked back. I have been self-employed for the past 20 years. It made it clear to us to run with momentum and recognize that there was real value in what we were doing.
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