Answered by Julia Shem, entrepreneur
Working as a software developer, I spent two years, sitting in a cubicle writing code, and at some point I started paying the attention more to my hobbies. Tried to sell a few handmade cards and a few other items online, until I stumbled upon metallic temporary tattoos.
I sourced a manufacturer and created a better version of the existing product. My initial investment was $500 for printing my own metallic temporary tattoos and a basic Etsy shop page (free).
Since I was the very first to sell these on Etsy and the product was serving the same customers as regular color tattoos but in a new and exciting way since it was metallic - sales took off. When my revenue from selling tattoos exceeded my salary of software developer - I thought that if I wanted to try to work for myself - it's either now or never.
The scariest thing was to change a mindset from having a stable paycheck every two weeks to being completely on your own, with a salary depending on your sales. I knew nothing about marketing, sales, biz automation but I decided that I'll figure it out along the way.
I signed a lease on apartment that I had no idea I'll be able to afford all year long, but instead of designing a lifestyle around my income - I did the reverse, had a vision of what I want my life to be and worked on making my income support my lifestyle.
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