- Americans launched a record number of businesses in 2021.
- Many started their businesses out of necessity while others wanted to become their own bosses.
- These 18 entrepreneurs offer a model for launching your dream business from a side hustle.
Having your dream career often begins with a side hustle before it blossoms into a full-time gig.
In 2021, more than 5 million business applications were filed, according to the US Census Bureau. Some people launched businesses out of necessity after losing their jobs, others left jobs that were causing burnout to become their own bosses. Entrepreneurship hasn't slowed this year. In the first three months of 2022, would-be business owners filed more than 1.26 million applications.
For those who want to chase their dreams, these 18 entrepreneurs offer a model for launching a business from a side hustle, from an at-home glamping service to an online clothing store.
Dominic-Madori Davis contributed to this article.
Author coaching
When Nikkie Pryce was still working her 9 to 5, she had just finished writing her first book. Then, she was fired. However, Pryce considers that day "the best day of her life" because it allowed her to take her publishing full time and start a business coaching other people on how to become authors.
Six years after she made her side hustle her full-time work, Pryce has self-published four more books and has taught more than 1,400 women how to publish through her author-coaching program. In 2021, she generated $124,050 in revenue, according to documentation verified by Insider.
Read more about Pryce's story and how she spends her day.
Graphic design
Alyssa Nguyen was a student at Princeton University when the pandemic began and her summer marketing internship was cancelled. Left without paid work, she launched a graphic-design business that aimed to work with companies owned by women of color.
Before launching the business, Nyguyen did graphic design work on the side and for fun. Now, she has booked $170,000 in revenue, according to documentation verified by Insider.
Glamping business
Kenny Young was a youth pastor for his local church until he burned out and got fired. His wife left her job at the same church and the two went on an RV road trip in California.
That sparked an idea to start a glamorous camping, or "glamping," business to deliver outdoor activity to people's backyards, complete with the amenities necessary for a family movie night or candlelit anniversary dinner.
In 2020, Young's company, Pitched Glamping, made more than $125,000 in revenue, according to documents reviewed by Insider. It operates in Minnesota and Arizona and employs seven people, including Young's wife.
Read more about how he built his glamping business.
Social media marketing and branding freelancer
Lexi Cherizol worked as a hospital Phlebotomist in Orlando, Florida, until she joined the millions of Americans who lost their jobs during the pandemic. She took it as an opportunity to find a new career.
She launched Pro Luxe Marketing at the start of 2021 and saw her business take off once she posted marketing tips and advice on TikTok. In her most popular video, which has almost 32,000 likes, Cherizol shared how she planned 30 days' worth of content in under an hour.
Learn more about how she built her marketing and branding business.
Selling collectibles in live auctions
Miguel Rivera collects and sells FunkoPop collectibles. In one night hosting livestreamed auctions, he can make between $1,000 to $4,000 and sells an average of 94 pops a show. According to documents reviewed by Insider, since his first auction in December, sales have totaled $40,648.
Whatnot, the app Rivera uses to host his shows, is just one of several startups popping up in the US as the live shopping trend becomes more popular. After becoming unemployed last year, Rivera took his business, Master Poppins, full-time.
Read about he advises other collectors can turn their hobbies into live-shopping side hustles here.
Online clothing seller
Tori Gerbig started selling clothes on Ebay and Facebook as a side hustle to pay off student loans. In 2014, she and her husband, Chris, launched an online shopping site called Pink Lily with the goal to hit $50,000 by year's end. They met that goal within four years and have been growing ever since.
Today their company, based in Bowling Green, Kentucky, employs 300 people, operates a retail store, and has 200,000 square feet of warehouse space. In 2020, the brand made $65 million in revenue, nearly double the previous year's total, according to documentation reviewed by Insider.
Read more about how the couple scaled their business and gained a loyal customer base.
Plant influencer
Christopher Griffin's Instagram account, Plant Kween, is devoted to pictures of the 200 plants living in their Brooklyn apartment, tips on caring for the greenery, and other useful botanical knowledge.
They started the account in 2016 — as a means of learning about something new after graduate school — and grew it to almost 370,000 followers. They also collaborate with brands like Spotify on curated content.
Read more about how Griffin built their Instagram side-hustle.
Independent moving company
Chuck Kuhn founded JK Moving Services as a one-man, one-truck operation in Fairfax County, Virginia, when he was 16. Today, JK Moving Services is the largest independently owned trucking company in the US.
In 2021, the company, based in Washington, DC, announced its plans to hire 100 drivers and raise drivers' annual salaries to $100,000 — nearly double the national industry average of $56,483, according to Glassdoor.
Read more about Kuhn's plan to raise salaries at his company.
Website flipper
Chelsea Clarke is the founder of Blogs For Sale, a company that flips little-known websites into desirable online businesses that can generate nearly $17,000 in a year.
Clarke said her startup took off in 2020 as more people sought online revenue streams during the pandemic. That year, she earned $127,000 from flipping 13 websites and brokering sales for 50 more sites, documents reviewed by Insider verified.
Read more about how Clarke built her website-flipping business.
Hair-care brand
Lulu Cordero was a pre-med student when she formulated a homemade remedy for her receding hairline. Her friends and family noticed her hair growing back more lush than ever and soon requested bottles of her blend, which she called Forbidden Oil.
That began her hair-care brand, Bomba Curls, which she started out of her kitchen 10 years ago with just $5,000 in savings. She took her side hustle full-time in 2019 and in 2021 she saw 123% revenue growth and amassed a restock waitlist of 2,000 people.
Read more about how she started her business here.
Quarantine party kit
The pandemic hit the event industry hard as in-person gatherings largely stopped. In their place, video-conferencing apps like Zoom gave rise to virtual parties. Event planners Jared Reichert and Robbie Zweig saw opportunity within the "Zoom boom" by creating a party-in-a-box.
They started their company The Kiki Kit while in quarantine and sold out 18 days after their launch. Within the first five weeks, the cofounders created their online business and generated $32,000 in sales.
Read more about how they started their business here.
Hand-dyed yarn business
In January, Jake Kenyon left his full-time job as a speech pathologist to pursue his side hustle: a hand-dyed yarn business called Kenyarn. The pandemic drove many consumers to take up crafts like knitting and crocheting, which helped boost Kenyon's business.
Kenyarn's gross sales jumped from $33,000 in 2019 to $125,000 in 2020, according to documents viewed by Insider.
Read more about how Kenyon built his hand-dyed yarn business.
Beauty brand
Stormi Steele used to make hair care products in her kitchen while working in salon in 2012. She'd mix over-the-counter ingredients, such as flaxseed oil and vitamin E, in an effort to create a solution that would help her hair grow.
Today, Steele is the founder of Canvas Beauty Brand, which booked nearly $20 million in revenue in 2020, documents reviewed by Insider verified.
Read more about how Steele built her hair-care business.
Art nonprofit
In 2013, Mo Ghoneim and his cofounder started Arts Help as just an Instagram page reposting and highlighting the work from lesser-known artists around the globe. As the page became more popular, Ghoneim and his cofounder saw an opportunity to help make a real impact for people.
They self-funded and launched it as a nonprofit in 2018. Arts Help since won $5 million in funding from billionaire Chris Larsen to address the climate crisis.
Read more about how Mo Ghoneim built his non-profit here.
Celeb-loved cakes
Brittni Popp likes to help people commemorate their important life moments, whether that's a bridal party, divorce, or even an expunged DUI. Her business, Betchin Cakes, sells highly customized baked goods that come adorned with decorations like Barbie dolls or empty nips.
In the three years since she launched her side hustle, she's landed high-profile customers like Paris Hilton and Khloe Kardashian. Betchin Cakes saw sales more than double from 2020.
Read more about how she started her business here.
Marketing firm
At 16, Sherane Chen started her first job at Steak-n-Shake as a waitress. By age 21, she'd launched a business specializing in restaurant marketing. Today her company has 17 clients and generates annual profits of more than six figures, according to documents provided to Insider.
Read more about her business and morning routine here.
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