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siDe HusTlE SucCesS sToriEs Most part-time gigs simply supplement a full-time job, but these side hustles blossomed into major, life-changing enterprises for some savvy entrepreneurs By Mike Reddy
While side hustles start on the side, they don’t always stay there. After all, the driving forces that inspire side gigging are many—from meeting an economic need or practicing a unique skill to testing a burning idea or exploring an individual passion. As such, no two profiles in the following collection are the same. However, they do share similarities. Each story covers a founder or co-founder of a venture that started as a side hustle. And in every case, the side hustle became successful enough to scale into a full-blown business. Regardless of what inspires a hustler to start working on the side, with the right approach, what starts as a hustle could turn into a lucrative career.
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PlayiNgcardDecks.com This magician’s success is anything but an illusion Professional magician Will Roya began performing magic gigs in college and then graduated to his own stage show in Las Vegas. But he has since replaced pulling rabbits from hats with pulling big sales from his own playing card e-commerce business, playingcarddecks.com. What is now home to over 1,500 card deck designs and other merchandise (see Gift Guide p. 43) started when Roya was still performing magic. He told Luckbox his first foray into sales came when he sold instructional DVDs after his magic shows. “I knew there was a market for good instruction videos,” Roya said. “This was before the popularity of YouTube.” But Roya’s side hustle went through several transformations. What started with selling instructional DVDs for magicians expanded when he began selling his wares on eBay. Before long, his side hustle became his full-time gig. With only one full-time employee to handle shipments and several freelancers to help out, Roya’s site
processes about 2,000 orders a month and is on track to make $1 million in gross sales this year. For prospective side hustlers seeking advice, Roya suggested finding something that can scale and could make money in one’s sleep. Great customer service, he added, is probably the biggest factor to his success. “Make a plan and stick to it,” he said. “If you really want to be successful, I would say go all in on one thing once the concept is proven.”
Name: Will Roya Age: 43 Home: Henderson, Nev. Education: University of Vermont, B.A., Theatre
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