Welcome to our very first Side Hustle Saturday! We thought of this idea after we did our Easter basket giveaway and filled the basket with books to encourage kids to read. Today we’d like to introduce Kari Pavlenko and her side hustle Usborne Books & More. We asked Kari a few questions to get the scoop on why and how she decided to focus on Usborne.
1. Why did you decide to start a side “hustle”?
I decided to start a side hustle because I wanted to provide some financial contribution to my household. Children are expensive and I figured if I could help offset the cost of preschool or sports that would be amazing. Going from being a part of the workforce since age fifteen to being a full time stay at home mom at age thirty four was difficult for me. When I say “difficult” I don’t mean being able to stay home with my daughter because I have absolutely loved that and feel incredibly blessed to be able to do so! It was difficult in the sense of me feeling like I wasn’t contributing financially, hence my side hustle.
2. Why did you choose Usborne?
I chose Usborne because I immediately fell in love with their unique, one of a kind, books! My family loves to read and I have exposed my daughter to books since birth. After I hosted my first Usborne party I immediately started thinking “This could be fun to join and financially rewarding at the same time”, a win win right?! So, I pondered it for a while and finally jumped in. Sharing Usborne with friends, family and strangers has been so wonderful. I love spreading literacy and encouraging families to read with their children.
3. How do you balance your side hustle along with your marriage and raising your 4 year old daughter?
The balancing act between my marriage, being a mother to my four year old daughter and my side hustle has really been pretty smooth for me. The beauty of Usborne is that I can work as little or as much as I want to. There is no monthly minimum sales to meet or minimum party bookings so if I want to have five parties one month and none the next, that is totally up to me. I do a majority of my parties online and in the evenings after my daughter goes to bed. If I need to do a party before she is in bed, my husband is extremely supportive and will handle all of her bedtime routine. I plan my parties around my family schedule, so my family will always come first!
4. What advice would you share with someone who is thinking about or may have just entered the side hustle scene?
My advice to anyone who is thinking about starting a side hustle is to make sure it is something that you are one hundred percent passionate about! That is crucial, you have to truly believe in whatever you are selling and promoting to be successful. Find your “thing” that you love to share about and the rest will fall into place.
There are two additional tips that I have, the first is to is to familiarize yourself with the social media world. Social media has become a huge tool in today’s society and I have found it to be extremely helpful for my business. My second tip is to set goals and share them with someone who will not only hold you accountable to achieving those goals but also encourage you and perhaps give you some pointers. For example, when I have goals for my book business, I share them with my team leader. She provides encouragement, strategies and checks in with me to see how I am doing with reaching my goals.
5. What was the initial investment to start your side hustle?
Usborne Books & More runs consultant enrollment specials periodically. When I joined, it cost me just $89 and that included a box full of books, (fifteen to be exact including two of their best sellers), twenty five catalogs, a pack of order forms, guides for hosting successful parties and a sixth month subscription to their business site. They give you the opportunity to earn that start up fee back by hitting certain sales goals within your incentive period, which I did, so essentially it cost me absolutely nothing to start my side hustle!
Facebook VIP link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/387552518400628/
Usborne website link: Usborne Books & More
If you’re interested in being a part of our Side Hustle Saturday series, please e-mail us at [email protected] or direct message us on Instagram: @sharingtwocents.
