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Side hustles for summer: Make accessories like Theia earrings
[Welcome to summer! Let's try to kill boredom with cool activities at home, awesome travel itineraries, and TV and movies! This week, let's talk about side hustles and trying to earn some extra cash.]
Ah summer, that time of year when most of us make a little more time for our personal lives. We can always do the cash-burning usual: go on a trip, go to the beach, go visit lola in the province.
Or we can turn time into tangible gold, step on the gas of your passion projects and perhaps make some extra cash.
We've told you about popular Pundesal stickers, which gives creator Lance an additional P7,000 a month, how homebaker Ila Sison makes somewhere between P5,000 - P10,000 by just baking cakes, and how Remind bamboo straws were born.
Today, allow us to share the story of Theia PH, a new brand of earrings and accessories, which is the passion project of multimedia producer Jannie Bigtas.
[Ed's note: Jannie is a staffer at GMA News Online]
"At first, I wanted to learn how to make tassel earrings so I could wear them. But then, I thought, ‘Why not make a batch and sell them or give them as Christmas gifts?'," Jannie says.
She quickly told her boyfriend Angelo Ong, who in turn quickly pushed her to pursue her little idea. The day after their conversation, the couple went to source materials for the tassel earrings, spent just P500, and then Jannie turned to YouTube to learn how to make them.
Jannie works on the earrings on weekends or after work, squeezing in a few pairs before bedtime, and relies on her boyfriend Angelo for their shipping needs and another friend Michelle Yu for the brand's social media presence because like most hobbyists testing the market, Jannie also turned to the social media marketplace to see and feel the interest levels.
She says resourcefulness, patience, and creativity are essential in running a side hustle. Buying the materials in bulk and spending an additional P300 for package printing are proving good business decisions.
"We haven't run out of materials since we bought them in bulk. The package printing also lasts for months, so out upkeep is small." She was the one who designed the logo and Theia's packaging removing the need to outsource to a graphic artist.
The only real challenge? Juggling her day job and her side hustle. “When I was actively promoting Theia, we’d earn about P4,000 to P5,000 a month. But now that we’re laying low, we only get about P2,000.” — LA, GMA News
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