Side Hustle School by Chris Guillebeau

In today’s story…

Serge Karnegie is an inventor. Just like Thomas Edison before him, he has a knack for coming up with novel ways to solve difficult problems. His friend, Solyman Najimi, is a business whizz. He has a wealth of experience in retail distribution and manufacturing. Together, they’ve created a highly successful side hustle with a one of a kind product.

Let’s start with the beginning of their partnership. Ten years ago, Serge and Solyman met while they were both working for an energy drink company.

The realized they were kindred spirits. Each enjoyed brainstorming product ideas, and they had skills that were different but complementary. Serge had more of an inventor’s touch, whereas Solyman was all about getting ideas out to market.

Serge’s first attempt fell short. He put a lot of work into something that just didn’t work. In fact, you could say it went down the drain… because drains are what came next.

Great inventors rarely strike gold the first time. When Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb, it didn’t happen right away. When he spoke of the process, he said, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.”

So in the spirit of Edison, Serge continued to invent. And here’s where that practical problem came in. As a husband and father of two girls, he noticed a lot of long strands of hair scattered throughout his home. Day after day, hair kept clogging up the drains. So, he created a small, mushroom shaped drain plug. It was filled with holes so the water could flow freely, but it also caught any excess hair and kept it out of sight. He called it the TubShroom!

He took the concept to Solyman, and they decided to partner up. Serge would be the inventor, and Solyman the business mind who would take the idea to market.

Since they already had a prototype, they decided to launch the product on Kickstarter before spending too much money. This time, they learned from previous mistakes and marketed the listing in message boards. Starting with a modest goal of $12,000, they ended up raising $59,267 from 2059 backers. A huge win!

They knew they had a winner on their hands. So, Solyman used his experience in distribution to build on that traction. He approached Bed, Bath & Beyond and convinced them to give the product a trial. Why would they say yes so quickly? Because they’d seen the Kickstarter success and knew the product had market validation.

The Bed, Bath & Beyond trial was a huge success, which led to them stocking the TubShroom in over 1,000 stores. But, the success wasn’t lost on would be competitors, and several similar products began to show up on the market.

In fact, knock-offs and counterfeiters have been their greatest challenge. As Solyman put it:

“I guess imitation is the greatest form of flattery. I always tell Serge that no one makes counterfeits of products that aren’t winners.”

Fortunately, patent law is an area that Solyman knew a lot about. In the United States, a patent is an official way of proving that you were the one who created something. It gives you legal protection if a competitor tries to copy anything unique to your invention. Solyman and Serge took the time to patent the TubShroom, which helped them ward off at least some of the copycats.

What started as a little invention between two friends, has now turned into a thriving business. One that’s allowed both Serge and Solyman to leave their jobs and go all-in with TubShroom land.

In the last year their little drain unclogging solution has generated more than a million dollars in profits. 35% of that came from retail sales and the other 65% comes from online sales. The online sales come through their own website, Amazon, and eBay.

Like any great inventor, Serge is always coming up with new concepts and that is how they plan to keep the business growing. In the last year they’ve launched a TubShroom for the kitchen (SinkShroom) and have other products for all other drains.

Their goal is for the TubShroom family of products to become synonymous with drain protection. They continue to tweak and improve their range of products to be better for their customers.

Although they deal in inventing products that make people lives easier, the profits they’ve unclogged through this side hustle turned million-dollar business could be their greatest invention of all.

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

Seattle Couple Creates New “Income LiveStream”: When a married couple runs into logistical problems at their wedding, it leads to an innovative service that other engaged couples need during the pandemic.

Role-Playing Pastor Rolls The Dice On $2800/Month Hustle: Listener success story! This Presbyterian minister turns to his lifelong interest in role-playing games to set up a sustainable second income source.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

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Chris Guillebeau

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