This Aspect Hustle Highlight Q&A options Gia Mezz, 28, who is predicated in Los Angeles. Mezz taught herself graphic design and began trend model LEAU as a aspect hustle. Now a full-fledged enterprise, LEAU boasts almost $10 million in lifetime gross sales. Responses have been edited for size and readability.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of LEAU
What was your day job or major occupation if you began your aspect hustle?
After I first moved to LA, I started working at a small quick trend firm the place I shipped orders and counted stock.
When did you begin your aspect hustle, and the place did you discover the inspiration for it?
After working in trend for a few years, I grew more and more pissed off with how prevalent quick trend was changing into because of the rise of social media.
I launched LEAU in June 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, with small, restricted batches of thoughtfully designed items.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of LEAU
What had been among the first steps you took to get your aspect hustle off the bottom?
In my free time and off nights, I taught myself graphic design to start out drafting my dream wardrobe. However I could not afford the prices of sampling and bulk manufacturing on my wage alone, so I began utilizing my newfound design expertise as a freelancer for different firms. I’d assist with designing advertising supplies or packaging belongings.
Each cent of my aspect revenue went into funding my enterprise, masking every part from sampling and bulk manufacturing to advertising my very first launch.
What had been among the largest challenges you confronted whereas constructing your aspect hustle, and the way did you navigate them?
Launching my enterprise in the midst of the pandemic was one of the difficult experiences of my life. Factories had been shutting down, provide chains had been disrupted, and timelines that had been already tight turned almost unattainable to foretell. I needed to consistently pivot my technique to preserve issues transferring — particularly at such an early stage of the enterprise.
At first, I examined every part, from completely different design ideas to advertising methods and varied methods of connecting with my viewers. Some concepts failed, however when I discovered one thing that labored, I doubled down and targeted all my vitality on constructing off that momentum.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of LEAU
How lengthy did it take you to see constant month-to-month income? How a lot did the aspect hustle earn?
Our first month after launch, we generated $10,000 in income, which I instantly reinvested again into the model. From there, we skilled speedy progress, growing by 50% or extra within the following months. After six months, I used to be in a position to give up my full-time job after incomes extra in a single month than my whole yearly wage.
Inside our first 12 months and a half in enterprise, we generated $2 million in income, and it nonetheless feels surreal once I look again on how it began.
Do you’re employed full-time on the model as of late? What does progress and income seem like now?
Sure, I have been engaged on my model full-time, although “full-time” hardly begins to explain it. Working this enterprise has been a relentless dedication, however I would not commerce it for anything on this planet. It is a true labor of affection. Each piece, resolution and late evening has been pushed by my ardour and imaginative and prescient for what this model represents.
By the top of 2025, we’re on observe to attain $10 million in lifetime gross sales. I personal 100% of the enterprise, which has been utterly self-funded with no money owed or traders. We have bootstrapped each step of the best way and intend to proceed doing so sooner or later.
What do you take pleasure in most about working this enterprise?
Turning my ardour into my profession has been a dream come true, however what’s been most fulfilling is encouraging extra considerate consumption round trend.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of LEAU
Clothes can and ought to be an funding: items which can be thoughtfully designed, well-made and timeless sufficient to be cherished for years to come back. My aim is to redefine how individuals take into consideration their wardrobes, inspiring them to maneuver away from the wastefulness of quick trend and embrace the thought of high quality over amount.
What’s your recommendation for others hoping to start out profitable aspect hustles or full-time companies of their very own?
Take impressed motion. Your ideas can develop into issues, however provided that you act on them. Desires and concepts are only the start; what really brings them to life is the trouble and vitality you place behind them. One among my favourite quotes is, “Achieved is best than good.” You need not have all of it found out. Launch with what you’ve and embrace the method. Spend money on your self, belief your imaginative and prescient and be keen to adapt. My complete life modified in underneath a 12 months — and yours can, too, in case you take motion and imagine in your self.
This text is a part of our ongoing Younger Entrepreneur® collection highlighting the tales, challenges and triumphs of being a younger enterprise proprietor.