Here’s the next installment in our side hustle case study series, where real people share how they make extra money in their spare time!
I am really excited to bring you this interview with Charlotte from the blog Simply Money Savvy.
Charlotte and her sister run a business importing craft products from China and selling in the UK.
In the first 10 months of their side business, they reached an incredible turnover of £100k (approx $137,000)!
Let’s learn how they did it:
Making money with a wholesale business with Charlotte
Please tell us a little about yourself and your side hustle.
We import craft blanks (items crafters can personalise for resale) and sell them as a wholesaler to UK crafters.
How long have you been doing your side hustle? How did you get into it?
My sister and I created the business in March 2018 as we found that there was nowhere in the UK that could supply us the items we wanted for a decent price, so we became the supplier!
What does the work actually involve? What does a typical day/work session look like for you?
It varies greatly depending on what is going on. Natalie (my sister) runs the day to day side of the business liaising with suppliers/factories, organising couriers – the logistics side of things, and I handle the website and technical side around my full time job.
When we get a delivery in it’s all hands on deck to get it out as quick as possible, if it’s a really big delivery (10,000+ items for example) then we bring some extra staff in to help.
How much can you make doing this side hustle?
I think this is very much dependent on the effort you put in with this one!
Our turnover for March – December 2018 was £100k (around $137,000 USD).
We have worked really hard the last few months to build the business, we’ve outgrown working from home and the small storage unit we rented (that lasted 3 weeks before it was too small!) and are now in a mini workshop/warehouse and even that is starting to become too small so it is slowing us down a little bit growth wise at the moment.
Are there any start-up costs and/or ongoing expenses with this side hustle?
We work on a pre-order basis for a lot of our items so we actually started the business up with less than £100 ($127). We just made sure to reinvest our profits for the first 8-10 weeks and then we were away.
There are no recurring costs with the actual business, just the day to day running of it (so premises, accountant).
What advice would you give to somebody who wants to get started?
Start small and build up slowly, if you’re careful with your money then it won’t all come crashing down if you make a mistake, always have a buffer of money kept to one side and be prepared to put the work in.
As with most things, ‘it only works if you do’.
Any recommended websites or resources?
Not for info on how to start because there isn’t any really (although I am looking at writing a ‘How To’ type guide). In terms of where to buy from then AliExpress.com or Alibaba.com are good places to look.
Where can we find you?
Blog: Simply Money Savvy
Store link: Bang On Blanks
Thank you Charlotte!
You can check out the other posts in the side hustle case studies series here.
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I was very interested in this article as I’m thinking of starting an importing business myself. I’m just a tad confused about one thing – why would crafters buy from Charlotte when they could go directly to AliBaba or AliExpress and buy the products wholesale from them?? It would really help if you could explain this as I’d like to understand this business model. Thanks very much