This Facet Hustle Highlight Q&A options Gia Mezz, 28, who relies in Los Angeles. Mezz taught herself graphic design and began vogue 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 main occupation whenever you began your side hustle?
Once I first moved to LA, I started working at a small fast fashion 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 vogue for a few years, I grew more and more pissed off with how prevalent quick vogue was turning into as a result of rise of social media.
I launched LEAU in June 2020, in the course of the pandemic, with small, restricted batches of thoughtfully designed items.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of LEAU
What have been a few of the first steps you took to get your side 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 and marketing supplies or packaging belongings.
Each cent of my aspect earnings went into funding my enterprise, masking every part from sampling and bulk manufacturing to advertising and marketing my very first launch.
What have been a few of the greatest challenges you confronted whereas constructing your side hustle, and the way did you navigate them?
Launching my enterprise in the course of the pandemic was one of the difficult experiences of my life. Factories have been shutting down, provide chains have been disrupted, and timelines that have been already tight grew to become almost not possible to foretell. I needed to consistently pivot my technique to hold issues transferring — particularly at such an early stage of the enterprise.
At first, I examined every part, from totally different design ideas to marketing strategies and numerous methods of connecting with my viewers. Some concepts failed, however when I discovered one thing that labored, I doubled down and centered all my power 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 side 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 fast progress, growing by 50% or extra within the following months. After six months, I used to be capable of give up my full-time job after incomes extra in a single month than my complete yearly wage.
Inside our first yr 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 nowadays? What does progress and income appear to be now?
Sure, I have been engaged on my model full-time, although “full-time” hardly begins to explain it. Operating this enterprise has been a relentless dedication, however I would not commerce it for the rest on this planet. It is a true labor of affection. Every bit, determination and late night time has been pushed by my ardour and vision for what this model represents.
By the tip of 2025, we’re on monitor to realize $10 million in lifetime gross sales. I personal 100% of the enterprise, which has been utterly self-funded with no money owed or buyers. We have bootstrapped each step of the best way and intend to proceed doing so sooner or later.
What do you get pleasure from 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 vogue.
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 return. My objective is to redefine how individuals take into consideration their wardrobes, inspiring them to maneuver away from the wastefulness of quick vogue 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 turn into issues, however provided that you act on them. Goals and concepts are only the start; what really brings them to life is the hassle and power you place behind them. One in every of my favourite quotes is, “Achieved is best than good.” You needn’t have all of it discovered. Launch with what you will have and embrace the method. Put money into your self, belief your imaginative and prescient and be willing to adapt. My entire life modified in beneath a yr — and yours can, too, in case you take motion and consider in your self.
This text is a part of our ongoing Younger Entrepreneur® sequence highlighting the tales, challenges and triumphs of being a younger enterprise proprietor.
