This story is part of CNBC Make It’s Six-Figure Side Hustle series, where people with lucrative side hustles break down the routines and habits they’ve used to make money on top of their full-time jobs. Got a story to tell? Let us know! Email us at [email protected].
Francisco Rivera doesn’t even like candles — but he brings in six figures per year selling them on Etsy.
In February 2023, Rivera was living in Orlando, Florida and working part-time for online tutoring company Outschool. Demand dropped when after-school activities resumed post-Covid, so he started looking for more income elsewhere.
He found a YouTube video about print-on-demand side hustles, where sellers create designs for products like T-shirts or mugs. They list their designs on marketplaces like Etsy or Amazon, and when a customer places an order, a manufacturer prints the design onto the product and ships it out.
For his product, Rivera chose neutral-colored organic candles with “witty” labels, he says. He creates his designs on Canva, lists them on Etsy and uses a service called Printify to connect with manufacturers.
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His Etsy shop brought in approximately $462,000 in sales last year, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It — enough for him to quit his tutoring job in December 2023. (Rivera says he’d prefer not to name his shop, to prevent potential copycats.)
About 30% to 50% of each sale is profit, Rivera estimates. His expenses include Etsy fees, nearly $55,000 last year, and money he spends on marketing and Printify’s services.
Often, he works only 20 minutes per day, he says. Some days, he works extra: up to two hours, researching trends and designing new candle labels. With the rest of his time, he’s pursuing a music career, he adds.
“I’m making more than I ever have, doing less than I ever have,” says Rivera, 26.
Here, Rivera discusses the side hustle advice he thinks actually works, the biggest downside to his…
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