August 24, 2020 • 35 mins
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Side Hustlers podcast. I'm your host, Carla Marie,
and I am obsessed with small businesses. That's one of
the reasons why I started this podcast two and a
half years ago. It was also started because someone told
me that everyone has a side hustle, and I panicked
because I didn't. I started learning that a lot of
people around me did have side hustles, so I started
(00:20):
talking to them and interviewing them and just having conversations
about their passions and their dreams. And it's been an
incredible ride for me and I've learned so much from them,
and I didn't realize it was going to prepare me
for this moment of my life. I got let go
from my day job as a morning show host here
in Seattle, Washington about three weeks ago from when I'm
(00:42):
recording this, and it's been scary. But at the same time,
everything I have learned doing this podcast is helping me
right now, whether it's actual technical and logistical things to
just taking the time to find what you love and
diving into it. It's incredible what this community has taught me.
And if this is your first episode, you're probably what
(01:02):
she talking about. Go back and listen, because every single
human that has been on this podcast is inspiring and
their drive is incredible. You are going to be motivated
to dive into a passion. You don't have to make
it a business, but you'll be motivated to dive into
a passion. And before I tell you about the incredible
guests I have this week, I gotta let you know
(01:23):
what I'm about to do. I am in the middle
of a road trip, driving across America to go see
my family in New Jersey who I haven't seen in
eight months because of quarantine. And along the way, my
best friend and former morning show co host, Anthony and
I are doing a podcast and a video stream in
(01:44):
every city that we stop in. We could be coming
to your city, so check out our Instagram Carla Marie
and Anthony it's below. You may be able to find
us in your city, which will be super cool. But
we are streaming on Twitch, Twitch, dot tv, Slash Carla
Marie and Anthony also below, and we are podcasting with
our My Day Friday podcast, which I have been doing
for six and a half years at this point, also
(02:05):
linked below. It would be really cool if you can
support just by following along checking us out on Instagram
and doing all of that stuff. Because now I guess
that that's my side hustle to this podcast. Maybe who knows.
I appreciate your support. Thank you so much for being
a part of this crazy ride with me. This week's
guests are Brandon and Jeff. They are full time teachers
who are married, and their side hustle is a soap
(02:29):
lotion candle company called Jacob h Plus. Now. They have
a really cool reason as to why they started the
side hustle this year while in quarantine. They want to
make enough money to be able to adopt a baby
domestically and start their very own family together. So you've
got to listen to this episode because how they do
this and how they work together, it's just it's truly incredible.
(02:51):
This is Brandon and Jeff's story for a lot of people.
You know, why are you wait? Do you know what
you want to do and this is something you want
to do, you don't about and do it. I'm a
hustles sho do it. I'm a hut do it. I'm
a hustle. Come on ask about me, yo yo. It's
(03:12):
the side Hustless podcast we call at Root Okay, So
today I've got Jeff and Brandon here coming to me
from New Jersey. Hi, guys, I okay, before we get
into the house and the wise, tell everyone what Jacob
H Plus is as a company. Back of H plus
is a company that we named after our initials and
(03:33):
our pets initials. So we're Jeff and Brandon, and then
we have two dogs and two cats, so it's Jeff, Arthur, Coda, Ali,
Brandon Henry. And then the plus is plus a new baby,
which is the hopes for our business. So our business
is I'm a home and body business for products such
as soaps, candles, body butters, lip bombs, bath bombs, all
(03:56):
homemade in our basement, laboratory and everything. And we sell
everything on Shopify, Facebook, and Instagram. So people can go
to Jacob h plus dot com and I put the
link below so you can check it out right there
to see everything that we're talking about. You guys got
a blog up there. You've got a ton of different
things for people to look at. I'm a fan of
a good acronym, so I love the name. But let's
(04:20):
talk about your why. So the two of you decided
to create this soap lotion body business. Why yes. So
we decided to create this as a revenue stream to
help us in our adoption journey. So we are looking
to become parents, and we wanted kind of something outside
(04:42):
of like a traditional like quote unquote fundraising idea. So
and I'm always kind of one that is looking for
like a new project. So when I do, and I
don't know if you could see the face that Jeff
made me was like, well that's Brandon Love's projects. Like
(05:02):
during quarantine, our dining room became like a jungle because
he decided he wanted to get into planting. And I
was like, oh, and now he wants to learn how
to knit. I'm like, let's just stay one lane for listen.
I think, friend, and I get it. I I think
the way that you think. I have a lot of
(05:23):
failed hobbies collection around my house. This one has not failed.
This one has been amazing. Ye. And that's how I
got Jeff on board for that hobby was this, But
we wanted to do it instead of just like a
hobby and really try and push it into like a
business because it's not only our hopes to help fund
(05:43):
our own adoption. But when we were really kind of
thinking about adopting and kind of the resources that are
out there. It's still not an industry that is overly
filled with resources for lgbt Q plus families, so we
really wanted to be a resource as well. So our
(06:05):
hopes is after we found our own adoption, is to
continue that along and a portion of our proceeds will
go towards supporting that's incredible. Yeah, you often see go
fund means for heterosexual couples all the time. We spent
the beginning of Quarantine like doing a lot of research
with like how we wanted to expand our family, and
when we decided that we wanted to do you know,
(06:26):
domestic infinite adoption, like a lot of the grants and
everything we're for like Christian couples or through like you know,
Christian agencies, and we're like, oh, well, that's not gonna
help us. So we got to kind of help ourselves,
which amazing on your part for being able to do
that and then think of other people in the future.
But so the adoption cost, which when you guys texted
(06:47):
me and messuged me this number, I was like, what dollars?
Is that really what it calls? Yeah, that's the average.
That's the average, and that's honestly kind of playing it
a little bit safe even because something thing is kind
of can pop out of nowhere unexpectedly. But that's like
what they tell you to be prepared for. And most
of that is like, you know, the legal fees and
(07:08):
the paperwork and all that. So it's not like a
lot of times people think, you know, when you're paying that.
It's like people say like, oh, well, how can you
buy a baby, And it's like, not like that because
the birth mother and doesn't really get any money, Like
it's all the legal issues behind it. So you know,
in a sense, like at first we were kind of
(07:29):
overwhelmed by it, but then we were like, you know what,
like this is put in place to make sure that
these children are getting like the best possible, So if
we have to do that, then the better for our baby.
And to make sure that, you know, everything is done
legally and properly and everyone feels comfortable and safe and
all that. So this is eye opening to me because
I had no idea how much it costs. I had
(07:51):
never really thought about the fact that there were grants
specifically for certain types of people to adopt babies. So
for anyone listening right now, this is probab probably very
eye opening for them too, So thank you for sharing
your story with us. But you guys are both your
day jobs are being teachers. So Brandon you are a
high school teacher, Jeff elementary school. Correct, yes, yes, it's
(08:14):
no surprise. We know that teachers don't necessarily get paid
what they should be paid, so that I'm assuming is
what made you guys say, Okay, well we can't adopt
a baby. You can raise a baby with a teaching salary.
You know, plenty of teachers have kids, but you can't
be one big chunk. Is it's almost impossible. That was
the biggest thing. We were like, okay, like we know
(08:34):
we like we're both teachers, Like I've been teaching for
this will be my eighth year. This would be Brandon
second because it's his second career. But we have you know,
we're really good, like I'm really strected about bills and
making sure that we are on a budget and everything
like that, so we're really good with money. And then
just seeing that number that was like, oh, you need
to have x amount ready garry when a birth mom
(08:55):
picks you. We were like, oh, okay, well we have
you know, we have savings, but we don't have that
much saving. So we knew that like our support system
around us would help us. But doing it this way
through the business. I mean we have gotten orders from
all over the country, like people we don't even know
how are they finding you? I guess word of mouth
(09:16):
and social media. I mean we started this all on
June first, yea, so this is just like yeah, so
we do yeah. So literally, we we used the time
during quarantine to like research, like you know, what to
do and how to do it, and Brandon taught himself
how to make all these products. So we used that
(09:37):
time and then we decided, okay, let's start on June one.
Like so we started by just kind of posting a
picture of us and our pets with like a sign
saying that we were planning to adopt, and we wrote
like a little blurb about like you know, how we
came to the to the decision and what our business was.
And we started a website and a blog. And it's
that first day like exploded, like we living we living allingswo,
(10:00):
New Jersey, which is right outside of Philly, and there's
like a group on Facebook for the town, and I
had posted our story in there, and like in that
one thing, we got like a thousand likes, We got
like a hundred orders just from the people in our town,
and then you know, it just kept getting shared. Yeah,
and those people know people other places and then they
give them with things. And I've seen it happen with
(10:21):
plenty of people have been on this podcast or just
things that I've come across on my own. I'll give
it to someone as a gift and they're like, hey,
where'd you get that? I want to give it as
a gift and that, and it spreads. But obviously you
have to have a good product for people to want
to read gift. And you somehow have taught yourself how
to do this. I mean, it's crazy. What when you
(10:42):
actually focus on something like you I don't want to
I'm not dumbing down at all what I'm about to
say and what you guys do. But really anyone could
do this, but it takes someone who actually wants to
do it right. And I had Dreamy Sud's Missy on
this podcast. She's local here and I got to connect
you guys. She does and made her reasoning was a
friend who was sick and going through chemo, I believe,
(11:05):
realized there were so many different things in our regular
soaps that we're making her even more sick. So she
helped her friend and the same thing. People started saying,
I want this, I want it, and she taught herself
and now it's her side hustle. But it's the same thing.
There's so much to it. It's a little bit of
a science when it comes to soaps. And definitely it's
not just something that smells good. It has to feel
(11:26):
good and have a purpose. It has to clean you
and do all the things. So yeah, and that's we
get that a lot to like, oh, well, what's in it,
and we're like, like maybe three things, Like it's very like, yeah,
it's natural and it's good and we've we've got a
lot of positive responses. So and it looks great too.
When I see you guys on Instagram, which is below
for everyone to check out, there was a gold one
(11:47):
and I was like, oh, that was great. So we
name most of our products based on our two favorite things,
which are The Real Housewives and Ship's Creek and so
so like the gold one is are a little bit
a Lexus, okay, and then we have like a candle
that's called I'll tell you how I'm doing that well,
But I saw that. I love that, and I think
(12:10):
it's it's great to be able to put a little
spin off like of who you guys are into this
and have a personality and give your business a personality.
You guys are really having fun with it. But how
much did you research leading up to this, Like you said,
you know, once you got into quarantine, which I guess
was March ish and then you launch in June. I
mean there are people that sit on ideas for years
(12:33):
just because but you guys you jumped it in. I mean,
this is something that's always kind of been in the
back of my head of stuff that like I've been
that I like and like obviously like like Farmer's Markets,
I'm like sniffing every Frmer episode for me for me
and stuff like that. So like I mean, but I mean,
once it actually was like Okay, maybe we could do this,
it was probably still like a solid like month of research.
(12:59):
And then even again, like you said, it's kind of
a science, So even as much research as you put
in it, like literally my first batchup, so like turned
to like you, and I'm like, oh crap, Like what
did I just get myself into. So like there's still
that like trial and error of stuff too, So I
(13:19):
mean there was that, which is why we like only
certain stuff comes out at certain times because obviously sometimes
that doesn't work out as well as I would like
it to be. So Brandon, that happened in your first
batch and you were just like all right, we'll just
do another one, or were you like screw this, I'm
not gonna be able to do it so well, he
he was like that, and I was like, okay, it's
just your first I was like, it's your first batch,
(13:41):
like like a little bit way perfection. Yeah, like when
you do new things, you're gonna mess up. And I
was like, that's okay, just keep going and do the
next bat. That's the elementary school teacher and you're right there. Yeah.
So we really play off each other because like Brandon does,
he makes everything and then I do like all the
packaging and shipping and stuff like that. So you know,
(14:01):
I made sure that he doesn't overwhelm himself and then
he takes breaks and because you know, when we first started,
he would be in the basement for like twenty four
hours making soaps and that kind of stuff. Really like, yeah,
I was like, you need to take a break. I
was like, because if you don't take a break and
you go crazy, then the end results just gonna be
you being miserable. So I was like, we can't have that.
(14:24):
So we've kind of gotten into a rhythm now, and
you know, we do Facebook live sales and our our
moms come over and help us and you know, so
that yeah, so um, we've really like go on our
family involved and stuff. So it's it's been fun. But
like when you were talking about research, like Brandom would
watch YouTube videos on how to make soap like all
night long, Like I would be like I would be
(14:45):
up in bed and I would hear like the TV
soll on, Like he bought like a premium YouTube subscription
so we didn't have to watch the ads and like,
and would just spend hours watching these videos and and
they did. They are kind of addicting just to watch
the episode was made. I'm sure it's relaxing. But Jeff,
when it comes to shipping that side of the business,
(15:07):
I have heard from so many thought hustlers how it
is torture going whether you're going to the post office
or doing all of that at home. So what is
your process for labeling and shipping and packaging, Like, what
is that like for you? So we started the business
on Etsy and then right now we've moved to Shopify,
but both of them are good where you can print
(15:28):
the invoices that people order. So what I do is
like I usually like I'll print, you know, all the
new invoices that we get. If it's you know, a delivery,
I'll set up a bag. If it's shipping, I'll do
a box and then I'll put the invoice in each one.
And then I'll go around our basement which we have
set up like a little score, and I'll get you know,
whatever they ordered, I'll put it in the box. Um,
and then we have to weigh them and put them
(15:50):
with the packing peanuts and the printing. Um. So I'll
spend some time doing that and then yeah, the post
office knows me by name probably now I hear that often.
But even behind the mat yeah, like and with all
the with all the precautions coronavirus, like usually there's like
a long line. I just go right in. I dropped
them off, I'm like, I don't need a receipt, just
chipped them and I'm on my way. The shipping isn't
(16:13):
as bad as the delivering or like we have people
do like porch pick up, so like that's hard to
like negotiate with people, like oh, what time are you
gonna come over? Because you can't believe candles and soap
outside in the middle of And one time we were
going away for the weekend and someone said they were
gonna pick it up within an hour, and I put
it on the porch and then we got back after
(16:34):
the weekend and it was still there, and I was like,
oh my gosh, it's probably Welton. People have been really
awesome and we put like little handwritten cards in each bag,
like banking people looks crazy. For on all of our labels,
we put like all proceeds go towards adoption, and we
put like our website and our Instagram. So that's been
like pumping spread the word a lot too. So we've
actually also gotten quite a bit of people interested in
(16:58):
stuff for like showers, wedding showers and stuff like that,
so for like favors, which has been really helpful as
well because then that's like the people that have been
so generous in doing stuff like that. Like we just
had one yesterday that we did and she had message
just saying how happy people were and that she was
kind of telling people about them and stuff like that.
(17:19):
So that's another way that we've been kind of getting
the word out there as well, which is really cool.
That is awesome, especially like I know my niece is
pregnant and my sister is probably coming up with favors
for the baby shower, and how awesome would it be
for favors at a baby shower where you're helping fund
someone else's baby, And it's just it's a cool idea
to be able to give someone life while you're celebrating
(17:41):
that and in and of yourself, especially in the world
right now where it's hard to celebrate things and just
you know, yeah, small things like that put a smile
on someone's face. So it's cool that you guys are
finding different ways to spread the love and and get
the family that you guys want, all through a business
that you actually care about. I want to get back
to the business kind of things for a second. The labels,
(18:02):
they look great aesthetically, like even the website, your logo,
like I was drawn to it. I love it. I
love what you guys are doing. It doesn't seem like
you just slapped your standard label on anything. So the
aesthetic of the labels, where do you? How do you
do that? Who designed that? So I did that? And
so a friend of mine, actually another teacher, actually made
our logo for us. I kind of was like, this
(18:24):
is what I'm thinking, and I'm not that great with
like that sort of stuff, so, but you are so
again like reaching out to kind of those resources around us.
But then the labeling itself was through a YouTube video
and just learning how to set up like the template
and stuff like that within like a word doc and
(18:45):
stuff like that. But then we really wanted it to
feel like are fun with like our names and stuff
like that. But we wanted, uh, kind of like a
more rustic feel like it. We wanted a candle I
would sit in any environment and feel like it belonged there,
and then if you looked at it, you saw that
(19:06):
it had a fun name. So I felt like we
were really kind of conscious of like the colors and
stuff like that, of like the craft paper um that
we used and stuff like that. Thank you. Yeah, And
it's funny because you mentioned like the website, Like I'll
tell you when we first started, like I had a
nervous breakdown about the website because I also made the website,
and like we were using WordPress, and I was like,
(19:29):
oh my gosh, I've never used this before, like and
I'm usually pretty good at technology, but I was like,
oh my god. I was like, I can't figure this out.
I forgot a website and I can't do this name
do this. And now now I can like go on
in like ten seconds and you know, switch things around.
But that was definitely learning curve. It's a lot. I mean, listen,
if this were easy, everyone would do it, everyone would
(19:51):
have their own business. And yeah, and eventually that may
happen if we have enough time alone and quarantine. But
it's not easy. And that's why when you practicing and
keep learning, like your first batch of soap. I'm sure
plenty of people gave up after their first batch of
so I'm sure there are hundreds of people who did,
but you didn't, and you keep pushing through and you
keep teaching yourself. And I'm assuming your background also as
(20:14):
teachers and people who are teach are probably also great
at learning and when it comes to this kind of stuff,
even though you may have to remind yourself a few times, like, hey,
we can do this, but you started in June when
I'm assuming school was winding down. So we're getting back
to the school year. Now we're recording this, it's August.
What's going to happen when it's school again and your
(20:34):
day job kicks back in. It's more of an issue
as far as like production uh comes up because obviously
we can't do like we did when we were starting
and kind of overwhelmed by the orders and spend thirteen
hours in a basement making stuff. So we've been trying
(20:55):
to get better at making larger batches of stuff. So
my dad actually made us soap molds out of bigger one. Yeah. Yeah,
so we can do larger batches of that because that
was part of the reason to So it's really not
(21:16):
that difficult if you know how to use like a
saw and screwed, I'm not all that handy with a saw.
It looks like a breadpan, almost like a long bread
almost like a drawer, yeah, like some people use like
a drawer. Um, so yeah, he just made me ones
that like on three sides were secured and on one
(21:37):
side could tighten and loosen so I can get the
soap out of it once it is solidified. We've already
made stuff that will come out next month already Pumpkin spice.
Oh yeah, I'm labeling spice. I labeled it yesterday. Yes,
prum cake, which is like amazing, you heard here first.
(22:00):
I'm fun. I'm so excited. So we're also both really organized,
Like I am like a stickler about like a schedule
and being organized and like getting stuff done. Yeah, so
we're both like I think, you know, we're gonna say,
like okay, like Saturday mornings from this time to this time,
we're gonna do our shifting every week. And then you know,
(22:20):
Brandon already has all the stuff for fall made, so
you know, by the time September bowls around, we'll be
doing Christmas stuff. So you know, we're both really organized
in that aspect. We also get help from you know,
my mom will come over and sit in the basement
with us for like hours and she'll do a bunch
of stuff for us. So just relying on the people
around us and you know, asking for help and sticking
(22:42):
to like an organized schedule. We actually when we first started,
like multiple people would ask us like they thought we
were like outsourcing our products and they were like, where
did you get these like and we're like that's yeah.
But also them being like just because they were like
the labels and like even some of are like some
of our more fancy soaps, we like shrink rap before
(23:03):
we mail them out to make sure they don't like
nothing falls off of them. So my one good friend
lives in Vermont, she's like, oh my god, that's Sopain.
It was shrink wrap. She's like, you guys were really fancy,
and it's the little things that you'll start learning. Like
I know you guys did this. Your reason was you
wanted to raise money to be able to adopt, to
be able to start your family. But you aren't just
(23:24):
half asking this. You are doing the little things that
are so important from a business point of view. And
I commend you guys for that because it's not it's
not easy, and there is an investment that goes into
creating a business. Like I'm sure you're you were in
the red or probably could. I don't know. I don't
need to know the finances. That's not all this podcast,
but there's stuff that you have to buy to start
(23:44):
a business, and a lot of people expect the money
right away, but you have to invest in yourself and
that can be stressful too, because again, like obviously sympathize
with anybody who's listening to this and who's started a
small business or thinking of starting one. Obviously, Beside it's
like the learning that there are going to be tons
of trial and error stuff and that is has got
(24:05):
to be okay. It also is a really tough adjustment
to figuring out what you need and when you need
and stuff like that. And also yeah, like also like
at the beginning, like I was producing so much soap
and then it was like, okay, maybe we need to
scale that back a little bit, just because maintaining that
(24:28):
sort of a pace of putting out like so many
new soaps every week just is not realistic. And it
also they work like that, like how many bars of
soap can you go through in a day, Like, yeah,
it's it's not something you're you need new every week exactly.
So like also kind of learning that too is helping
(24:48):
us with obviously being able to scale up things appropriately.
I think is important to like um, and also paying
attention to what is actually sell Yes, that is what
you may personally have a desire to make. Like he
has the most fun making and designing the soaps, but
(25:09):
our best sellers are candles and our body butters, so yeah,
they're while they're easy to make. He gets bored making
and he's like, I want to just design is cute
soap And I'm like, yeah, but that candle is gonna
sell for fifteen dollars, so I'm just like, let's pour
out wax. I love you, guys, I love this. Okay,
So are you going back physically to school? Are you
(25:31):
going to be able to peace it right now? Yes
you are, Yes, yes we are. So the kids. The
kids have the option to be remote to do virtual
if they want, so we'll have smaller class sizes, um,
and our schools are taking like a lot of precautions
to make sure, you know, everyone's safe and all that. So,
so we will be going back and that and itself
will be an adjustment because it won't be like teaching
(25:51):
as we've ever talked, or you have to plan extra.
I feel just you know, your your day job also
isn't just a nine to five they're planning. That comes
with being a teacher. So that's the time that people
don't realize. Like a lot of people who I don't
know start to say, someone starts to soap business, but
their day job is just you leave it at work.
Teachers don't do that. Teachers not and sure where you
(26:13):
leave and that's it. You do have to come home
and you plan and prep and and everything that goes
into the next day or a week or months. So
there's a lot of time that you do have to
spend at home and people don't realize that. But it'll
be very interesting for you guys, I think just going
back to school aside from owning your own business. Also, yeah,
I've been teaching fourth grade for about eight years now,
so I really know the curriculum and all that, so
(26:36):
I spend a lot of time, Like even this week,
I've been spending a lot of time like creating like
a virtual classroom for those kids who are going to
be at home and adapting everything you know that I
do to make sure it can be done on the
computer because even in the classroom, like we want to
use as little paper as possible, um, you know, to
reduce transmission or anything like that. So I think it's
(26:56):
just again, it just goes back to making sure that
we know how to manage our time well, which is
something that like, I really pride myself on. I you know,
a lot of times, I have so many friends and
our teachers, and you know, they are like, we don't
know how you don't. We don't know how you like
stay sane and you know, manage your time well. And
I don't really know how I do it either. I'm
just like a siler making sure that I, you know,
(27:18):
set aside time for things and that I get my
stuff done in that time. For me, so, I had
had a business previously, so I kind of have an
awareness of the value of my time, even though I
still want to kind of people please um, But I
think that it's important for people to understand too, there's
more value in you doing less better than there is
(27:41):
doing more half acts. Yeah, I'm in the middle of
learning this myself right now. I actually just got the
book The Joy of Missing Out. I haven't heard of that,
so I've literally just read like the intro and it's
about being like this word productive and what's the difference
between busy and productive and if it kind of in
the same tune of what you're saying. Just because you're
(28:02):
busy doesn't mean you're getting anything done. You have to
be productive, And like I suck, So I'm like envious
of you guys. This whole thing everything's happening in the
world sucks. But Quarantine actually let us like slow down
and really realize, you know what using our time well,
And like Brandon said, you know, he used to own
a CrossFit gym. The amount of busy that he was
(28:22):
before is like nothing compared to because his gym used
to be in Pennsylvania, so he would have to drive
from here in to Pennsylvania every day like four in
the morning before going to work. I feel like this
almost seems like a piece of cake. Yeah, now down
to my base. Yeah, how do you go from a
CrossFit like slinging weights to making so I mean, we
(28:43):
all have to happen. I love that we travel about everything. Hey,
it's amazing, Brandon. This really has nothing to do with
the side hustle. Before we started recording, you started telling
me about your curriculum for the school year, And I
think this is so cool as a podcaster, as someone
who has a love for podcasts. I think what you're
(29:05):
doing as a teacher is incredible. So explain what your
curriculum for the school year is with your freshman year
literally in your students, I have Freshman English. I feel
like education can be a little behind the times and
as enlightening as Shakespeare can be, and even why one
(29:25):
of my favorite books is Tequila Mockingbird and I have
the pleasure of teaching it. But um, we've started pairing
that sort of stuff with more modern texts and even
different mediums of storytelling like podcasts. So last year was
my first year, so I trialed pairing the Toe Kill
(29:46):
a Mockingbird book with Cereal the podcasts, and the students
loved it, and it was just like again, And I
mean it happened to be before all of the stuff
that we're talking about with the justice system. Now, Um,
it's fit right in because we were looking at them
as two different types of injustices whether and both obviously
(30:11):
involving race and the justice system, so looking at it
through a couple of different lenses. So I mean, it
really was kind of amazing how it fit into today's
society as well. So just kind of in incorporating those
modern things. It helps the kids connect to it too,
because yeah, so I remember even when I was in
(30:31):
high school reading to Kyleen Mockingbird, I was like, I
don't I don't get this, like but now like him
like teaching it that way, like the kids were so
invested in for obsessed and he even got parents into it,
like it was really cool. Yeah, my parents were listening
to it and everything too, So it was really cool
because like they would have conversations at home and it's like,
(30:51):
think about how much you prepared those kids for right
now without realizing it. And we need that because we
like we're as a world right now, we are relying
on this next generation to not suck. So thank you
for doing that and preparing them. And it's amazing that
you were able to do it before. And I'm curious
to see how they react this this class reacts now
(31:15):
after going through all this stuff and your point of
view as a teacher, what their feedback is like and
do they are they going into it knowing, oh, I
get what injustice is now without you having to fully
explain it and diving into it differently. It'll be very
interesting as a teacher to see what it's like comparing. Yeah,
I know's nothing to do with the podcast, but you
(31:35):
guys are incredible and I want I wanted people to
know about that. But going back to your business and
your website, I was on there and I noticed you
guys are doing something with a puzzle. So j k
H plus dot com for people to check it out again.
Link is below. What is this puzzle that you guys
are doing? So a common adoption fundraiser that people do
(31:55):
UM is called a puzzle fundraiser, So we thought it
would be a fun thing to do next to our business.
Kind of maybe if there was someone who didn't want
to buy any soap or anything like, you can still
help us this slack. We took a picture of our
pets with a sign saying planning to adopt UM and
we got it made into a puzzle from Shotterfly. We
are like selling each piece as kind of like a fundraiser.
(32:18):
Whoever purchases the piece, we put their name on the
back of it UM and then once we sold all
the pieces, we're gonna put the puzzle together. We're gonna
put it in a double side and clear frame and
hang it in our future babies room so that they
know bring a piece of that who helped bring a
piece of them home? That is so It's like putting
all the pieces together is so cool. I also need
(32:40):
to know how many dogs did you say you had?
We have two dogs and two cats. How is it
so quiet right now? Is your recording this? They're all
sleeping Okay, they're all around us, next to us, and
I got one here and when we right there, I
get it when you held it up like, how it
so cool? I hope I hope you get all the
(33:01):
pieces to your puzzle. And obviously the most important piece
of the puzzle is we'll get a baby home to
you guys. And I'm excited that the side Hustler's audience
gets to be a part of this with you and
help support all. The link is below to everything and
I want everyone to support. And they can't don't want soap,
Maybe they hate soap. I don't know. They can buy
(33:21):
a piece of the puzzle, so that is really cool.
And just spreading the word and sharing our story is
really important to us. And I'm glad you said that
because I do preach that often in the intro and
outro of this podcast. I don't necessarily talk to people
about it, but sharing and liking and following on social
media when you maybe can't afford to do something right now.
It's huge. It is so huge, so go follow them
(33:44):
on Instagram. Um like all the photos, share them with friends.
You guys do a great job on Instagram. I love it.
I see you each modeling things on your own so
it's great. So I saw I thought that five as well.
Brandon Jeffrey, thank you both for being here today. I
appreciate a good luck with everything. Thank you so much
(34:05):
for listening to side Hustlers. All the links are below
on everything you need to support. Go to their website
so you can buy some soap or a puzzle piece.
Follow them on Instagram, check out their YouTube channel. It's
all below. Go support them and they're amazing reason for
starting this business. I've also got all the links below
on how you can support me and my best friend
(34:25):
and Cole with Anthony on this crazy journey as we
road trip across America and then back again across America
because after we stay in New Jersey, we're coming back
out to Seattle. So it's gonna be a wild ride.
Probably going to be in a city near you, but
you can watch our road trip, and you can listen
to our road trip, and yeah, it's gonna be chaos,
but it's all below. Thank you so much for your support.
(34:46):
I appreciate you being here and supporting all of these
small business owners and their dreams. This podcast has been
produced by Houston Tilly And until next week, keep hustling
and be a good human
Welcome to the Side Hustlers podcast. I'm your host, Carla Marie,
and I am obsessed with small businesses. That's one of
the reasons why I started this podcast two and a
half years ago. It was also started because someone told
me that everyone has a side hustle, and I panicked
because I didn't. I started learning that a lot of
people around me did have side hustles, so I started
(00:20):
talking to them and interviewing them and just having conversations
about their passions and their dreams. And it's been an
incredible ride for me and I've learned so much from them,
and I didn't realize it was going to prepare me
for this moment of my life. I got let go
from my day job as a morning show host here
in Seattle, Washington about three weeks ago from when I'm
(00:42):
recording this, and it's been scary. But at the same time,
everything I have learned doing this podcast is helping me
right now, whether it's actual technical and logistical things to
just taking the time to find what you love and
diving into it. It's incredible what this community has taught me.
And if this is your first episode, you're probably what
(01:02):
she talking about. Go back and listen, because every single
human that has been on this podcast is inspiring and
their drive is incredible. You are going to be motivated
to dive into a passion. You don't have to make
it a business, but you'll be motivated to dive into
a passion. And before I tell you about the incredible
guests I have this week, I gotta let you know
(01:23):
what I'm about to do. I am in the middle
of a road trip, driving across America to go see
my family in New Jersey who I haven't seen in
eight months because of quarantine. And along the way, my
best friend and former morning show co host, Anthony and
I are doing a podcast and a video stream in
(01:44):
every city that we stop in. We could be coming
to your city, so check out our Instagram Carla Marie
and Anthony it's below. You may be able to find
us in your city, which will be super cool. But
we are streaming on Twitch, Twitch, dot tv, Slash Carla
Marie and Anthony also below, and we are podcasting with
our My Day Friday podcast, which I have been doing
for six and a half years at this point, also
(02:05):
linked below. It would be really cool if you can
support just by following along checking us out on Instagram
and doing all of that stuff. Because now I guess
that that's my side hustle to this podcast. Maybe who knows.
I appreciate your support. Thank you so much for being
a part of this crazy ride with me. This week's
guests are Brandon and Jeff. They are full time teachers
who are married, and their side hustle is a soap
(02:29):
lotion candle company called Jacob h Plus. Now. They have
a really cool reason as to why they started the
side hustle this year while in quarantine. They want to
make enough money to be able to adopt a baby
domestically and start their very own family together. So you've
got to listen to this episode because how they do
this and how they work together, it's just it's truly incredible.
(02:51):
This is Brandon and Jeff's story for a lot of people.
You know, why are you wait? Do you know what
you want to do and this is something you want
to do, you don't about and do it. I'm a
hustles sho do it. I'm a hut do it. I'm
a hustle. Come on ask about me, yo yo. It's
(03:12):
the side Hustless podcast we call at Root Okay, So
today I've got Jeff and Brandon here coming to me
from New Jersey. Hi, guys, I okay, before we get
into the house and the wise, tell everyone what Jacob
H Plus is as a company. Back of H plus
is a company that we named after our initials and
(03:33):
our pets initials. So we're Jeff and Brandon, and then
we have two dogs and two cats, so it's Jeff, Arthur, Coda, Ali,
Brandon Henry. And then the plus is plus a new baby,
which is the hopes for our business. So our business
is I'm a home and body business for products such
as soaps, candles, body butters, lip bombs, bath bombs, all
(03:56):
homemade in our basement, laboratory and everything. And we sell
everything on Shopify, Facebook, and Instagram. So people can go
to Jacob h plus dot com and I put the
link below so you can check it out right there
to see everything that we're talking about. You guys got
a blog up there. You've got a ton of different
things for people to look at. I'm a fan of
a good acronym, so I love the name. But let's
(04:20):
talk about your why. So the two of you decided
to create this soap lotion body business. Why yes. So
we decided to create this as a revenue stream to
help us in our adoption journey. So we are looking
to become parents, and we wanted kind of something outside
(04:42):
of like a traditional like quote unquote fundraising idea. So
and I'm always kind of one that is looking for
like a new project. So when I do, and I
don't know if you could see the face that Jeff
made me was like, well that's Brandon Love's projects. Like
(05:02):
during quarantine, our dining room became like a jungle because
he decided he wanted to get into planting. And I
was like, oh, and now he wants to learn how
to knit. I'm like, let's just stay one lane for listen.
I think, friend, and I get it. I I think
the way that you think. I have a lot of
(05:23):
failed hobbies collection around my house. This one has not failed.
This one has been amazing. Ye. And that's how I
got Jeff on board for that hobby was this, But
we wanted to do it instead of just like a
hobby and really try and push it into like a
business because it's not only our hopes to help fund
(05:43):
our own adoption. But when we were really kind of
thinking about adopting and kind of the resources that are
out there. It's still not an industry that is overly
filled with resources for lgbt Q plus families, so we
really wanted to be a resource as well. So our
(06:05):
hopes is after we found our own adoption, is to
continue that along and a portion of our proceeds will
go towards supporting that's incredible. Yeah, you often see go
fund means for heterosexual couples all the time. We spent
the beginning of Quarantine like doing a lot of research
with like how we wanted to expand our family, and
when we decided that we wanted to do you know,
(06:26):
domestic infinite adoption, like a lot of the grants and
everything we're for like Christian couples or through like you know,
Christian agencies, and we're like, oh, well, that's not gonna
help us. So we got to kind of help ourselves,
which amazing on your part for being able to do
that and then think of other people in the future.
But so the adoption cost, which when you guys texted
(06:47):
me and messuged me this number, I was like, what dollars?
Is that really what it calls? Yeah, that's the average.
That's the average, and that's honestly kind of playing it
a little bit safe even because something thing is kind
of can pop out of nowhere unexpectedly. But that's like
what they tell you to be prepared for. And most
of that is like, you know, the legal fees and
(07:08):
the paperwork and all that. So it's not like a
lot of times people think, you know, when you're paying that.
It's like people say like, oh, well, how can you
buy a baby, And it's like, not like that because
the birth mother and doesn't really get any money, Like
it's all the legal issues behind it. So you know,
in a sense, like at first we were kind of
(07:29):
overwhelmed by it, but then we were like, you know what,
like this is put in place to make sure that
these children are getting like the best possible, So if
we have to do that, then the better for our baby.
And to make sure that, you know, everything is done
legally and properly and everyone feels comfortable and safe and
all that. So this is eye opening to me because
I had no idea how much it costs. I had
(07:51):
never really thought about the fact that there were grants
specifically for certain types of people to adopt babies. So
for anyone listening right now, this is probab probably very
eye opening for them too, So thank you for sharing
your story with us. But you guys are both your
day jobs are being teachers. So Brandon you are a
high school teacher, Jeff elementary school. Correct, yes, yes, it's
(08:14):
no surprise. We know that teachers don't necessarily get paid
what they should be paid, so that I'm assuming is
what made you guys say, Okay, well we can't adopt
a baby. You can raise a baby with a teaching salary.
You know, plenty of teachers have kids, but you can't
be one big chunk. Is it's almost impossible. That was
the biggest thing. We were like, okay, like we know
(08:34):
we like we're both teachers, Like I've been teaching for
this will be my eighth year. This would be Brandon
second because it's his second career. But we have you know,
we're really good, like I'm really strected about bills and
making sure that we are on a budget and everything
like that, so we're really good with money. And then
just seeing that number that was like, oh, you need
to have x amount ready garry when a birth mom
(08:55):
picks you. We were like, oh, okay, well we have
you know, we have savings, but we don't have that
much saving. So we knew that like our support system
around us would help us. But doing it this way
through the business. I mean we have gotten orders from
all over the country, like people we don't even know
how are they finding you? I guess word of mouth
(09:16):
and social media. I mean we started this all on
June first, yea, so this is just like yeah, so
we do yeah. So literally, we we used the time
during quarantine to like research, like you know, what to
do and how to do it, and Brandon taught himself
how to make all these products. So we used that
(09:37):
time and then we decided, okay, let's start on June one.
Like so we started by just kind of posting a
picture of us and our pets with like a sign
saying that we were planning to adopt, and we wrote
like a little blurb about like you know, how we
came to the to the decision and what our business was.
And we started a website and a blog. And it's
that first day like exploded, like we living we living allingswo,
(10:00):
New Jersey, which is right outside of Philly, and there's
like a group on Facebook for the town, and I
had posted our story in there, and like in that
one thing, we got like a thousand likes, We got
like a hundred orders just from the people in our town,
and then you know, it just kept getting shared. Yeah,
and those people know people other places and then they
give them with things. And I've seen it happen with
(10:21):
plenty of people have been on this podcast or just
things that I've come across on my own. I'll give
it to someone as a gift and they're like, hey,
where'd you get that? I want to give it as
a gift and that, and it spreads. But obviously you
have to have a good product for people to want
to read gift. And you somehow have taught yourself how
to do this. I mean, it's crazy. What when you
(10:42):
actually focus on something like you I don't want to
I'm not dumbing down at all what I'm about to
say and what you guys do. But really anyone could
do this, but it takes someone who actually wants to
do it right. And I had Dreamy Sud's Missy on
this podcast. She's local here and I got to connect
you guys. She does and made her reasoning was a
friend who was sick and going through chemo, I believe,
(11:05):
realized there were so many different things in our regular
soaps that we're making her even more sick. So she
helped her friend and the same thing. People started saying,
I want this, I want it, and she taught herself
and now it's her side hustle. But it's the same thing.
There's so much to it. It's a little bit of
a science when it comes to soaps. And definitely it's
not just something that smells good. It has to feel
(11:26):
good and have a purpose. It has to clean you
and do all the things. So yeah, and that's we
get that a lot to like, oh, well, what's in it,
and we're like, like maybe three things, Like it's very like, yeah,
it's natural and it's good and we've we've got a
lot of positive responses. So and it looks great too.
When I see you guys on Instagram, which is below
for everyone to check out, there was a gold one
(11:47):
and I was like, oh, that was great. So we
name most of our products based on our two favorite things,
which are The Real Housewives and Ship's Creek and so
so like the gold one is are a little bit
a Lexus, okay, and then we have like a candle
that's called I'll tell you how I'm doing that well,
But I saw that. I love that, and I think
(12:10):
it's it's great to be able to put a little
spin off like of who you guys are into this
and have a personality and give your business a personality.
You guys are really having fun with it. But how
much did you research leading up to this, Like you said,
you know, once you got into quarantine, which I guess
was March ish and then you launch in June. I
mean there are people that sit on ideas for years
(12:33):
just because but you guys you jumped it in. I mean,
this is something that's always kind of been in the
back of my head of stuff that like I've been
that I like and like obviously like like Farmer's Markets,
I'm like sniffing every Frmer episode for me for me
and stuff like that. So like I mean, but I mean,
once it actually was like Okay, maybe we could do this,
it was probably still like a solid like month of research.
(12:59):
And then even again, like you said, it's kind of
a science, So even as much research as you put
in it, like literally my first batchup, so like turned
to like you, and I'm like, oh crap, Like what
did I just get myself into. So like there's still
that like trial and error of stuff too, So I
(13:19):
mean there was that, which is why we like only
certain stuff comes out at certain times because obviously sometimes
that doesn't work out as well as I would like
it to be. So Brandon, that happened in your first
batch and you were just like all right, we'll just
do another one, or were you like screw this, I'm
not gonna be able to do it so well, he
he was like that, and I was like, okay, it's
just your first I was like, it's your first batch,
(13:41):
like like a little bit way perfection. Yeah, like when
you do new things, you're gonna mess up. And I
was like, that's okay, just keep going and do the
next bat. That's the elementary school teacher and you're right there. Yeah.
So we really play off each other because like Brandon does,
he makes everything and then I do like all the
packaging and shipping and stuff like that. So you know,
(14:01):
I made sure that he doesn't overwhelm himself and then
he takes breaks and because you know, when we first started,
he would be in the basement for like twenty four
hours making soaps and that kind of stuff. Really like, yeah,
I was like, you need to take a break. I
was like, because if you don't take a break and
you go crazy, then the end results just gonna be
you being miserable. So I was like, we can't have that.
(14:24):
So we've kind of gotten into a rhythm now, and
you know, we do Facebook live sales and our our
moms come over and help us and you know, so
that yeah, so um, we've really like go on our
family involved and stuff. So it's it's been fun. But
like when you were talking about research, like Brandom would
watch YouTube videos on how to make soap like all
night long, Like I would be like I would be
(14:45):
up in bed and I would hear like the TV
soll on, Like he bought like a premium YouTube subscription
so we didn't have to watch the ads and like,
and would just spend hours watching these videos and and
they did. They are kind of addicting just to watch
the episode was made. I'm sure it's relaxing. But Jeff,
when it comes to shipping that side of the business,
(15:07):
I have heard from so many thought hustlers how it
is torture going whether you're going to the post office
or doing all of that at home. So what is
your process for labeling and shipping and packaging, Like, what
is that like for you? So we started the business
on Etsy and then right now we've moved to Shopify,
but both of them are good where you can print
(15:28):
the invoices that people order. So what I do is
like I usually like I'll print, you know, all the
new invoices that we get. If it's you know, a delivery,
I'll set up a bag. If it's shipping, I'll do
a box and then I'll put the invoice in each one.
And then I'll go around our basement which we have
set up like a little score, and I'll get you know,
whatever they ordered, I'll put it in the box. Um,
and then we have to weigh them and put them
(15:50):
with the packing peanuts and the printing. Um. So I'll
spend some time doing that and then yeah, the post
office knows me by name probably now I hear that often.
But even behind the mat yeah, like and with all
the with all the precautions coronavirus, like usually there's like
a long line. I just go right in. I dropped
them off, I'm like, I don't need a receipt, just
chipped them and I'm on my way. The shipping isn't
(16:13):
as bad as the delivering or like we have people
do like porch pick up, so like that's hard to
like negotiate with people, like oh, what time are you
gonna come over? Because you can't believe candles and soap
outside in the middle of And one time we were
going away for the weekend and someone said they were
gonna pick it up within an hour, and I put
it on the porch and then we got back after
(16:34):
the weekend and it was still there, and I was like,
oh my gosh, it's probably Welton. People have been really
awesome and we put like little handwritten cards in each bag,
like banking people looks crazy. For on all of our labels,
we put like all proceeds go towards adoption, and we
put like our website and our Instagram. So that's been
like pumping spread the word a lot too. So we've
actually also gotten quite a bit of people interested in
(16:58):
stuff for like showers, wedding showers and stuff like that,
so for like favors, which has been really helpful as
well because then that's like the people that have been
so generous in doing stuff like that. Like we just
had one yesterday that we did and she had message
just saying how happy people were and that she was
kind of telling people about them and stuff like that.
(17:19):
So that's another way that we've been kind of getting
the word out there as well, which is really cool.
That is awesome, especially like I know my niece is
pregnant and my sister is probably coming up with favors
for the baby shower, and how awesome would it be
for favors at a baby shower where you're helping fund
someone else's baby, And it's just it's a cool idea
to be able to give someone life while you're celebrating
(17:41):
that and in and of yourself, especially in the world
right now where it's hard to celebrate things and just
you know, yeah, small things like that put a smile
on someone's face. So it's cool that you guys are
finding different ways to spread the love and and get
the family that you guys want, all through a business
that you actually care about. I want to get back
to the business kind of things for a second. The labels,
(18:02):
they look great aesthetically, like even the website, your logo,
like I was drawn to it. I love it. I
love what you guys are doing. It doesn't seem like
you just slapped your standard label on anything. So the
aesthetic of the labels, where do you? How do you
do that? Who designed that? So I did that? And
so a friend of mine, actually another teacher, actually made
our logo for us. I kind of was like, this
(18:24):
is what I'm thinking, and I'm not that great with
like that sort of stuff, so, but you are so
again like reaching out to kind of those resources around us.
But then the labeling itself was through a YouTube video
and just learning how to set up like the template
and stuff like that within like a word doc and
(18:45):
stuff like that. But then we really wanted it to
feel like are fun with like our names and stuff
like that. But we wanted, uh, kind of like a
more rustic feel like it. We wanted a candle I
would sit in any environment and feel like it belonged there,
and then if you looked at it, you saw that
(19:06):
it had a fun name. So I felt like we
were really kind of conscious of like the colors and
stuff like that, of like the craft paper um that
we used and stuff like that. Thank you. Yeah, And
it's funny because you mentioned like the website, Like I'll
tell you when we first started, like I had a
nervous breakdown about the website because I also made the website,
and like we were using WordPress, and I was like,
(19:29):
oh my gosh, I've never used this before, like and
I'm usually pretty good at technology, but I was like,
oh my god. I was like, I can't figure this out.
I forgot a website and I can't do this name
do this. And now now I can like go on
in like ten seconds and you know, switch things around.
But that was definitely learning curve. It's a lot. I mean, listen,
if this were easy, everyone would do it, everyone would
(19:51):
have their own business. And yeah, and eventually that may
happen if we have enough time alone and quarantine. But
it's not easy. And that's why when you practicing and
keep learning, like your first batch of soap. I'm sure
plenty of people gave up after their first batch of
so I'm sure there are hundreds of people who did,
but you didn't, and you keep pushing through and you
keep teaching yourself. And I'm assuming your background also as
(20:14):
teachers and people who are teach are probably also great
at learning and when it comes to this kind of stuff,
even though you may have to remind yourself a few times, like, hey,
we can do this, but you started in June when
I'm assuming school was winding down. So we're getting back
to the school year. Now we're recording this, it's August.
What's going to happen when it's school again and your
(20:34):
day job kicks back in. It's more of an issue
as far as like production uh comes up because obviously
we can't do like we did when we were starting
and kind of overwhelmed by the orders and spend thirteen
hours in a basement making stuff. So we've been trying
(20:55):
to get better at making larger batches of stuff. So
my dad actually made us soap molds out of bigger one. Yeah. Yeah,
so we can do larger batches of that because that
was part of the reason to So it's really not
(21:16):
that difficult if you know how to use like a
saw and screwed, I'm not all that handy with a saw.
It looks like a breadpan, almost like a long bread
almost like a drawer, yeah, like some people use like
a drawer. Um, so yeah, he just made me ones
that like on three sides were secured and on one
(21:37):
side could tighten and loosen so I can get the
soap out of it once it is solidified. We've already
made stuff that will come out next month already Pumpkin spice.
Oh yeah, I'm labeling spice. I labeled it yesterday. Yes,
prum cake, which is like amazing, you heard here first.
(22:00):
I'm fun. I'm so excited. So we're also both really organized,
Like I am like a stickler about like a schedule
and being organized and like getting stuff done. Yeah, so
we're both like I think, you know, we're gonna say,
like okay, like Saturday mornings from this time to this time,
we're gonna do our shifting every week. And then you know,
(22:20):
Brandon already has all the stuff for fall made, so
you know, by the time September bowls around, we'll be
doing Christmas stuff. So you know, we're both really organized
in that aspect. We also get help from you know,
my mom will come over and sit in the basement
with us for like hours and she'll do a bunch
of stuff for us. So just relying on the people
around us and you know, asking for help and sticking
(22:42):
to like an organized schedule. We actually when we first started,
like multiple people would ask us like they thought we
were like outsourcing our products and they were like, where
did you get these like and we're like that's yeah.
But also them being like just because they were like
the labels and like even some of are like some
of our more fancy soaps, we like shrink rap before
(23:03):
we mail them out to make sure they don't like
nothing falls off of them. So my one good friend
lives in Vermont, she's like, oh my god, that's Sopain.
It was shrink wrap. She's like, you guys were really fancy,
and it's the little things that you'll start learning. Like
I know you guys did this. Your reason was you
wanted to raise money to be able to adopt, to
be able to start your family. But you aren't just
(23:24):
half asking this. You are doing the little things that
are so important from a business point of view. And
I commend you guys for that because it's not it's
not easy, and there is an investment that goes into
creating a business. Like I'm sure you're you were in
the red or probably could. I don't know. I don't
need to know the finances. That's not all this podcast,
but there's stuff that you have to buy to start
(23:44):
a business, and a lot of people expect the money
right away, but you have to invest in yourself and
that can be stressful too, because again, like obviously sympathize
with anybody who's listening to this and who's started a
small business or thinking of starting one. Obviously, Beside it's
like the learning that there are going to be tons
of trial and error stuff and that is has got
(24:05):
to be okay. It also is a really tough adjustment
to figuring out what you need and when you need
and stuff like that. And also yeah, like also like
at the beginning, like I was producing so much soap
and then it was like, okay, maybe we need to
scale that back a little bit, just because maintaining that
(24:28):
sort of a pace of putting out like so many
new soaps every week just is not realistic. And it
also they work like that, like how many bars of
soap can you go through in a day, Like, yeah,
it's it's not something you're you need new every week exactly.
So like also kind of learning that too is helping
(24:48):
us with obviously being able to scale up things appropriately.
I think is important to like um, and also paying
attention to what is actually sell Yes, that is what
you may personally have a desire to make. Like he
has the most fun making and designing the soaps, but
(25:09):
our best sellers are candles and our body butters, so yeah,
they're while they're easy to make. He gets bored making
and he's like, I want to just design is cute
soap And I'm like, yeah, but that candle is gonna
sell for fifteen dollars, so I'm just like, let's pour
out wax. I love you, guys, I love this. Okay,
So are you going back physically to school? Are you
(25:31):
going to be able to peace it right now? Yes
you are, Yes, yes we are. So the kids. The
kids have the option to be remote to do virtual
if they want, so we'll have smaller class sizes, um,
and our schools are taking like a lot of precautions
to make sure, you know, everyone's safe and all that. So,
so we will be going back and that and itself
will be an adjustment because it won't be like teaching
(25:51):
as we've ever talked, or you have to plan extra.
I feel just you know, your your day job also
isn't just a nine to five they're planning. That comes
with being a teacher. So that's the time that people
don't realize. Like a lot of people who I don't
know start to say, someone starts to soap business, but
their day job is just you leave it at work.
Teachers don't do that. Teachers not and sure where you
(26:13):
leave and that's it. You do have to come home
and you plan and prep and and everything that goes
into the next day or a week or months. So
there's a lot of time that you do have to
spend at home and people don't realize that. But it'll
be very interesting for you guys, I think just going
back to school aside from owning your own business. Also, yeah,
I've been teaching fourth grade for about eight years now,
so I really know the curriculum and all that, so
(26:36):
I spend a lot of time, Like even this week,
I've been spending a lot of time like creating like
a virtual classroom for those kids who are going to
be at home and adapting everything you know that I
do to make sure it can be done on the
computer because even in the classroom, like we want to
use as little paper as possible, um, you know, to
reduce transmission or anything like that. So I think it's
(26:56):
just again, it just goes back to making sure that
we know how to manage our time well, which is
something that like, I really pride myself on. I you know,
a lot of times, I have so many friends and
our teachers, and you know, they are like, we don't
know how you don't. We don't know how you like
stay sane and you know, manage your time well. And
I don't really know how I do it either. I'm
just like a siler making sure that I, you know,
(27:18):
set aside time for things and that I get my
stuff done in that time. For me, so, I had
had a business previously, so I kind of have an
awareness of the value of my time, even though I
still want to kind of people please um, But I
think that it's important for people to understand too, there's
more value in you doing less better than there is
(27:41):
doing more half acts. Yeah, I'm in the middle of
learning this myself right now. I actually just got the
book The Joy of Missing Out. I haven't heard of that,
so I've literally just read like the intro and it's
about being like this word productive and what's the difference
between busy and productive and if it kind of in
the same tune of what you're saying. Just because you're
(28:02):
busy doesn't mean you're getting anything done. You have to
be productive, And like I suck, So I'm like envious
of you guys. This whole thing everything's happening in the
world sucks. But Quarantine actually let us like slow down
and really realize, you know what using our time well,
And like Brandon said, you know, he used to own
a CrossFit gym. The amount of busy that he was
(28:22):
before is like nothing compared to because his gym used
to be in Pennsylvania, so he would have to drive
from here in to Pennsylvania every day like four in
the morning before going to work. I feel like this
almost seems like a piece of cake. Yeah, now down
to my base. Yeah, how do you go from a
CrossFit like slinging weights to making so I mean, we
(28:43):
all have to happen. I love that we travel about everything. Hey,
it's amazing, Brandon. This really has nothing to do with
the side hustle. Before we started recording, you started telling
me about your curriculum for the school year, And I
think this is so cool as a podcaster, as someone
who has a love for podcasts. I think what you're
(29:05):
doing as a teacher is incredible. So explain what your
curriculum for the school year is with your freshman year
literally in your students, I have Freshman English. I feel
like education can be a little behind the times and
as enlightening as Shakespeare can be, and even why one
(29:25):
of my favorite books is Tequila Mockingbird and I have
the pleasure of teaching it. But um, we've started pairing
that sort of stuff with more modern texts and even
different mediums of storytelling like podcasts. So last year was
my first year, so I trialed pairing the Toe Kill
(29:46):
a Mockingbird book with Cereal the podcasts, and the students
loved it, and it was just like again, And I
mean it happened to be before all of the stuff
that we're talking about with the justice system. Now, Um,
it's fit right in because we were looking at them
as two different types of injustices whether and both obviously
(30:11):
involving race and the justice system, so looking at it
through a couple of different lenses. So I mean, it
really was kind of amazing how it fit into today's
society as well. So just kind of in incorporating those
modern things. It helps the kids connect to it too,
because yeah, so I remember even when I was in
(30:31):
high school reading to Kyleen Mockingbird, I was like, I
don't I don't get this, like but now like him
like teaching it that way, like the kids were so
invested in for obsessed and he even got parents into it,
like it was really cool. Yeah, my parents were listening
to it and everything too, So it was really cool
because like they would have conversations at home and it's like,
(30:51):
think about how much you prepared those kids for right
now without realizing it. And we need that because we
like we're as a world right now, we are relying
on this next generation to not suck. So thank you
for doing that and preparing them. And it's amazing that
you were able to do it before. And I'm curious
to see how they react this this class reacts now
(31:15):
after going through all this stuff and your point of
view as a teacher, what their feedback is like and
do they are they going into it knowing, oh, I
get what injustice is now without you having to fully
explain it and diving into it differently. It'll be very
interesting as a teacher to see what it's like comparing. Yeah,
I know's nothing to do with the podcast, but you
(31:35):
guys are incredible and I want I wanted people to
know about that. But going back to your business and
your website, I was on there and I noticed you
guys are doing something with a puzzle. So j k
H plus dot com for people to check it out again.
Link is below. What is this puzzle that you guys
are doing? So a common adoption fundraiser that people do
(31:55):
UM is called a puzzle fundraiser, So we thought it
would be a fun thing to do next to our business.
Kind of maybe if there was someone who didn't want
to buy any soap or anything like, you can still
help us this slack. We took a picture of our
pets with a sign saying planning to adopt UM and
we got it made into a puzzle from Shotterfly. We
are like selling each piece as kind of like a fundraiser.
(32:18):
Whoever purchases the piece, we put their name on the
back of it UM and then once we sold all
the pieces, we're gonna put the puzzle together. We're gonna
put it in a double side and clear frame and
hang it in our future babies room so that they
know bring a piece of that who helped bring a
piece of them home? That is so It's like putting
all the pieces together is so cool. I also need
(32:40):
to know how many dogs did you say you had?
We have two dogs and two cats. How is it
so quiet right now? Is your recording this? They're all
sleeping Okay, they're all around us, next to us, and
I got one here and when we right there, I
get it when you held it up like, how it
so cool? I hope I hope you get all the
(33:01):
pieces to your puzzle. And obviously the most important piece
of the puzzle is we'll get a baby home to
you guys. And I'm excited that the side Hustler's audience
gets to be a part of this with you and
help support all. The link is below to everything and
I want everyone to support. And they can't don't want soap,
Maybe they hate soap. I don't know. They can buy
(33:21):
a piece of the puzzle, so that is really cool.
And just spreading the word and sharing our story is
really important to us. And I'm glad you said that
because I do preach that often in the intro and
outro of this podcast. I don't necessarily talk to people
about it, but sharing and liking and following on social
media when you maybe can't afford to do something right now.
It's huge. It is so huge, so go follow them
(33:44):
on Instagram. Um like all the photos, share them with friends.
You guys do a great job on Instagram. I love it.
I see you each modeling things on your own so
it's great. So I saw I thought that five as well.
Brandon Jeffrey, thank you both for being here today. I
appreciate a good luck with everything. Thank you so much
(34:05):
for listening to side Hustlers. All the links are below
on everything you need to support. Go to their website
so you can buy some soap or a puzzle piece.
Follow them on Instagram, check out their YouTube channel. It's
all below. Go support them and they're amazing reason for
starting this business. I've also got all the links below
on how you can support me and my best friend
(34:25):
and Cole with Anthony on this crazy journey as we
road trip across America and then back again across America
because after we stay in New Jersey, we're coming back
out to Seattle. So it's gonna be a wild ride.
Probably going to be in a city near you, but
you can watch our road trip, and you can listen
to our road trip, and yeah, it's gonna be chaos,
but it's all below. Thank you so much for your support.
(34:46):
I appreciate you being here and supporting all of these
small business owners and their dreams. This podcast has been
produced by Houston Tilly And until next week, keep hustling
and be a good human
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