Wondering how to start a side hustle that can make a great addition to your main source of income — or replace it completely? Don’t worry, because Rodney, our today’s guest, has a thing or two to share from his personal experience!
Hi, please introduce yourself!
Hi, my name is Rodney T. Peaks Jr., I am a 35-year-old husband and father of two, a boy and a girl — crazy lovable kids!
I’ve studied at Tesst College of Technology in Towson, MD in Networking Systems for about two years. And that was it for me. Computers became not just a job, but a lifestyle. In fact, my education started from home with my family inspiring me into computers. I still remember dialing up just to get onto the internet!
Has this interest influenced your ideas on how to start a side hustle?
Oh yes! Like any new student getting out of school, I was spending time looking for that great dream job that just never seems to come. But alongside working on that big dream, you have all these student loans and new bills as an adult.
And that’s how ecommerce became a learning tool to that dream job that would help me and my family achieve the happiness we all are looking for in life. Who would think in their mind that you could stay home and make more money than you’d earn working for the man for 8+ hours?
How did you stop thinking of how to start a side hustle and just made it happen?
I guess the pandemic played a great role. I had a pretty much good career gained throughout a number of years, but then the whole layoffs thing started happening, people started losing their jobs… What I had to do was to start searching for passive income.
I began looking it up online and found the Sellvia offering of a ready-to-go online store: this is where my experience with ecommerce started.
Can you tell us more about your business with Sellvia?
Sellvia has been a great new learning tool for my marketing team. Basically, my whole business team is my family. My brother, my wife, and my 14-year-old daughter — she single-handedly runs my second store! It’s THAT simple.
This is because all the knowledge is there for you to apply to your own website. Sellvia has things like marketing guidance, ecommerce tips, and free consultations with the team’s advisors. We personally never had any technical issues with using it. But most of all, we love all the research that was put into the marketing. This really helps with discovering new money-making opportunities. This has helped deliver smiles to my customers and my team members.
How are your stores performing? How many of them do you have?
I launched my first store about 8 months ago and got another one 2-3 months after. Now, my third store is in progress!
In 28 days, two of my already running stores made over $12,000.
With my first website that houses over 34,000 products my team has taken the time to explore and import just about all product types from Sellvia stock: Made in USA, Fashion, Gadget, Pet Products, Kids & Baby, Sport, Home, Health, and Auto. And we started to see sales go up with Facebook and Instagram like crazy: about 247% growth over time!
Let’s talk about that in more detail. How do you promote your stores? What can you recommend?
As always, working on your SEO and backlinks really helps to ensure long-term sales & store ranking.
When it comes to right off the bat sales, Facebook alongside Facebook Marketplace can do the trick. Tagging all products that you post will help to get free insights, in other words — free sales. Just don’t forget to use Facebook pixel to track your work progress. Also, remember that both your Facebook and Instagram accounts need engaging posts to keep people hooked.
With paid ads, start with a small daily budget like $10-$12: this equals to something about $84 for only one week. Pay attention to the time when your ads should be posted. Find out when your customers are in front of their computers or phones to get better results.
Some people don’t know this but yes, Facebook has free services to help you with your ads in up to 3-4 calls. Trust me, if you use Sellvia Facebook tools with Facebook free service, you will make money. Please start with Sellvia Facebook tools and how-to videos. And then email Facebook for better understanding of what you are about to do.
How, do you think, can Sellvia help those interested in how to start a side hustle?
Truth is, during my time searching for a service like Sellvia I could not find anything superior to this service at all online. As you might know, most companies need you to buy bulk products and order for you to offer your customers faster shipping options and lower prices.
Sellvia now plays a big part in our daily operations as we have seen an increase in sales and less returns. Our preference is clear because of Sellvia’s great customer service and lots of other benefits like fast shipping, great products, low product prices, free marketing tools, how-to guides, and of course perfect online stores for ecommerce.
Giving us more happy customers is the only thing that really matters at the end of the day and we believe that Sellvia is looking for the same thing.
How has your life changed thanks to this side hustle?
This business is a full-time thing for me and it’s paying my bills and my mortgage now — I left my job because of the pandemic and never returned to my career.
If you want a change of life, if you’re tired of your old life, if you’re looking for that passive income to sit home with your family and get more freedom, check out Sellvia right now. Try it for one month — trust me, it will change your life.
That’s surely an inspirational story for everyone wondering how to start a side hustle. The key is to grab your own online store for $0 and start making money! We are beyond grateful to Rodney for his in-depth story and advice, and wish him and his family even more exciting milestones to achieve!
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