I’m 26 and my Etsy side hustle made £321k in 12 months – now I’ve quit my job to work just four hours a day
A 26-YEAR-old who lived at home with their parents has revealed how they started an Etsy candle shop last year and ended up making a staggering £321,000 in 12 months.
Francisco River, from Orlando, was desperate for a side hustle that could bring in some extra cash.
At the time, they worked as a teacher for an online-education platform but he didn’t like the strict schedule and wanted the flexibility to travel.
Speaking to Business Insider, Francisco said he had stumbled upon some TikTok videos of people using print-on-demand platforms, which is where items are made after an order is received and you don’t need to store your inventory.
He explained how he’d researched Printify, a print-on-demand platform, and discovered they were selling candles as one of their products.
He added: “I did some research into how well candles were selling on Etsy — it seemed like a good space. They make good gifts, and there was a market for candles with funny messages where I could replace the text to apply to different niches.”
More on side hustles
After researching keywords that were trending, he quickly created some jokes or slogans via Canva to be printed on the candles.
The best part of the side hustle was he didn’t need to spend any money to start or handle any inventory as it was handled by the third party site.
Printify allowed him to list 10 different candle scents, and customers could customise these with phrases from his page - or personalised ones.
It took a few months for sales to pick up and for him to receive some reviews on his items after he launched in January 2023, and at the start he was putting out two or three new products each day.
But by December, Francisco considered quitting his job due to how many sales he had made.
Between November and December he raked in staggering £108,772, and over the course of the 12 months he had made £320,922.
Of this sum, he retains between 30 and 50 per cent of the retail price, with the rest going towards Printify and shipping costs.
He added: “Quitting my job was scary, but I knew that even if this particular shop failed, I could set up another store on Etsy.
“At most, I spend 4 hours a day on my store — and usually a lot less.
How to start your own business
Dragon's Den star Theo Paphitis revealed his tips for budding entrepreneurs:
- One of the biggest barriers aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners face is a lack of confidence. You must believe in your idea — even more than that, be the one boring your friends to death about it.
- Never be afraid to make decisions. Once you have an idea, it’s the confidence to make decisions that is crucial to starting and maintaining a business.
- If you don’t take calculated risks, you’re standing still. If a decision turns out to be wrong, identify it quickly and deal with it if you can. Failing that, find someone else who can.
- It’s OK not to get it right the first time. My experience of making bad decisions is what helped develop my confidence, making me who I am today.
- Never underestimate the power of social media, and remember the internet has levelled the playing field for small businesses.
- Don’t forget to dream. A machine can’t do that!
“I spend between 20 and 30 minutes a day on custom orders. I can spend as much time as I want uploading candles. Once or twice a week, I spend around three or four hours a day working on that. The rest is passive income.”
His Etsy shop has enabled him to achieve his dream of travelling the world, and he’s been to Bali, Belgium, France, New York and the Caribbean in the last few months.
His next aim is to afford his own home in Orlando and travel whenever he wishes.