He Used 401k Cash to Start a Side Hustle With $1M+ in Sales

This Aspect Hustle Highlight Q&A options Michael Pan, who constructed his facet hustle, Pan’s Mushroom Jerky, right into a full-time enterprise over the course of a decade. So far, Pan’s Mushroom Jerky has seen more than $1,000,000 in sales.

^{Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Pan’s Mushroom Jerky}

What was your full-time job and/or main supply of revenue previous to beginning your facet hustle? Did it change over the course of your facet hustle journey?

I earned {an electrical} engineering diploma from the College of Illinois, and I spent most of my profession at Motorola/Continental Automotive in Chicago.

Alongside the way in which, I launched a tech startup with pals till we offered the enterprise in 2016.

These full-time jobs allowed me to test the market, be taught and iterate alongside the way in which. Lastly in 2016, I used to be ready to dedicate all the things to Pan’s, and I made the transition to work on the enterprise full-time.

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When did you begin your facet hustle, and the place did you discover the inspiration for it?

I took a visit to go to household in 2006 in Malaysia, the place I met a vegetarian cousin who had been making our household’s mushroom snack for years. As vegetarians, they’d hassle discovering meals that not solely tasted nice but in addition had nice texture. And so they discovered that mushrooms had been very satisfying and wholesome.

This opened my eyes to an incredible tradition with innovative meals that mimic the feel of meat. I fell in love with the product and its historical past, and I knew our household had a snack that wanted to be shared with the world.

What had been a few of the first steps you took to get your facet hustle off the bottom?

I first realized learn how to import the product from my household in Malaysia. I sampled the product as usually as I may to check demand and collect consumer feedback. I rapidly came upon that many forms of folks, together with non-vegetarians, cherished it as a result of it was a wholesome snack that tasted nice.

I began promoting on our web site (which we powered by Shopify) and Amazon for direct enterprise. I began to cold email, name and go to as many shops as I may to get extra gross sales and distribution.

In the meantime, I additionally did some product development and labored on transferring manufacturing to the US. I rented small kitchen areas, made merchandise, examined, iterated and repeated that course of incessantly. I used the money from on-line gross sales and sampling occasions to reinvest again into the enterprise.

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What had been a few of the largest challenges you confronted whereas constructing your facet hustle, and the way did you navigate them?

It is laborious to keep away from the quantity of capital it requires to get began from scratch. Fortunately I had some 401k money together with debt I may leverage to assist get the enterprise off the bottom.

How lengthy did it take you to start seeing constant weekly or month-to-month income?

It took about two years.

When did it surpass the revenue of your full-time job?

After about 12 months three, I began making sufficient revenue to match my earlier full-time job.

When did you resolve to go all-in and transition from facet hustle to full-time enterprise?

After wrapping up one other startup enterprise in 2016, I made a decision to go all in on the enterprise.

Fortunately at the moment, all of the developments had been aligning. Mushrooms had been trending; wholesome, on-the-go snacking was nonetheless gaining reputation; and plant-based meals had been booming. I felt assured that we had product-market match and a top quality product that may succeed.

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What’s your recommendation for different facet hustlers who hope to show their ventures into profitable companies?

Being mentally prepared for challenges forward is essential. Having the mindset to develop and be taught is crucial. The best mindset will put together you to embrace challenges as stepping stones to success.

Be taught and iterate as rapidly and cheaply as potential! Push to be taught and iterate rapidly as an alternative of ready for all the things to be excellent earlier than transferring ahead.