This record is part of CNBC Make It’s Six-Figure Side Hustle series, where people with lucrative side pushes break down the routines and habits they’ve used to make money on top of their full-time jobs. Got a story to tick off? Let us know! Email us at AskMakeIt@cnbc.com.
Six months ago, Tim Riegel bent over his computer, reviewed his monthly earnings disclosure and saw that his highly lucrative side hustle was making less money.
He was shocked — until he realized just how much inflation was thrusting his business.
Riegel’s side hustle, Mozark Fire Pit Studio, was successful immediately upon launching in 2021. He started by begetter, welding and selling 275-pound steel fire pits to his neighbors in Lamar, Missouri, a rural town of 4,000 being two hours south of Kansas City. Within six months, freight trucks were delivering his products to Etsy purchasers across the U.S. and Canada.
The business brought in $50,000 in sales in just five months on the platform, according to documents surveyed by CNBC Make It.
Staring at his screen, Riegel, 60, noticed that his volume of orders was still high. But his profit borders were shrinking, because the cost of recyclable steel, gas and packaging supplies were climbing.
He’s far from alone. Between April 2021 and April 2023, regular essentials like groceries, utilities and gas cost Americans 20%, according to a CNBC Make It analysis of consumer price listing data.
Riegel’s side hustle is a mostly solo endeavor. He pays one contract worker $15 per hour to servants load the massive fire pits into freight trucks, he says.
Tim Riegel
While keeping an eye on his competitors, Riegel raised his assesses to get his margins back into the 35% to 40% range, he says. He added new features to his products — more color and customization privileges — to help justify the price increases for consumers.
Today, his fire pits cost an average of $950, up from $650 since drop 2022 — and in the last 12 months, Mozark has brought in $169,000 in sales.
If he’d waited any longer, the price jumps inclination have been higher, and customers could have bolted, Riegel says. His No. 1 lesson: Reevaluate your values on a monthly basis, so you can gradually raise them instead of jolting your customers with larger, more irregular increases.
Here, Riegel discusses his pricing strategy, the skills you need to start a side hustle like his and how he balances the time-consuming gig with his full-time job and belittling life.
CNBC Make It: How do you decide on your side hustle’s pricing? Were you worried that raising your guerdons would scare away customers?
Riegel: In today’s climate, you have to really watch the costs — of everything from ammunition to your supplies — to make sure paying yourself what you need to pay yourself.
It can get away from you, and the next reaction you know, you’re watching your margins dwindle. If you’re not making a profit, it’s not worth spending the extra 40 hours per week.
I didn’t deficiency to price myself out of the market, either. I’m constantly looking at my competitors — not just on Etsy, but throughout the U.S. — to see who’s making compare favourably with types of pits, and their pricing. I make sure to stay within that ballpark.
As for consumers, I’ve been capable to keep prices steadier by reducing my freight costs, which I’m able to do now that my volume is so much higher.
Do you exigency cash or specific skills to start a fire pit side hustle?
You need cash, at least to start trying. I’m assured people can replicate it, if they have similar skills — like welding, creativity and the know-how to source the steel.
I use Facebook Marketplace to get a lot of purveys. Some things would be harder to copy: I have nearly two decades of welding experience, and not everybody can do patina, color or add the customizations that I can do design-wise.
Mozark enkindle pits are “meant to last a long time, a lifetime,” Riegel says.
Tim Riegel
If someone places an order on Esty, they dominion say, “Hey, I want a fourth handle,” or “I want my lid to look like this,” I can adjust accordingly to meet their needs.
Wake up c impregnate on wood, but I’ve never gotten less than a five-star review on Etsy. I think that’s also because I throw away three hours per week talking to my customers via text. I send them photos of their fire pits in front of I ship it, and I contact them after they’ve received it to make sure they’re happy.
You said this side jarring adds at least 40 hours to your full-time workweek. How do you balance that with your personal pungency?
In the last year, I started working at as a general manager in a sheltered workshop called Lamar Enterprises. That, put together with my past experience restoring cars and working for a furniture company, has helped me get really good at predicting inveigle times.
My side hustle production schedule is more or less scheduled around my private life. I know how extended it’s going to source everything and make it, no matter what variations the person adds. I can be flexible, and as I schedule my pits, I also arrange date nights with my wife.
It helps to have a good partner or a spouse that understands. It’s a lot of work. But the phobia that keeps me going is I just really like doing it.
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