How She Was Ready To Depart Her Finance Job After Incomes $76,000 With Her Aspect Hustle
Ruta Drungilaite is the proprietor of A Twist of Date, a enterprise that helps {couples} discover new and enjoyable date evening concepts with digital choices. She shares with us how she was in a position to earn sufficient to depart her finance job and what she did to get 5000 orders from 80 completely different nations!
1. Are you able to inform us just a little about your self and what impressed you to start out your small business?
I’m Ruta, the proprietor and founding father of A Twist Of Date, serving to {couples} to combine up their date nights from the standard Netflix on the couch routine. I labored in Finance for 7 years, since graduating college, and began this enterprise as a ‘side-project’ whereas nonetheless at my 9-5.
The thought for A Twist Of Date got here to me again in one of many Covid lockdowns in 2021. We stay in London, so we’re often spoilt for selection of enjoyable issues to do. My fiance and I’ve performed all of it: hidden jazz golf equipment, secret cocktail bars, underground performs, wine and cheese tastings, comedy nights, horrible histories boat tour, escape room – type out of doors meals maze, indoor mountain climbing, quirky artwork installations, driving vary and plenty of extra.
Nevertheless, with lockdown all these decisions have been taken away. Consequently, my fiance was discovering it onerous to provide you with distinctive date concepts, whereas my very own creativity was solely propelled by it. It dawned on me that there should be different folks on the market for whom developing with artistic date concepts at house (not only a film and dinner) can also be a wrestle. So I began to consider how I may resolve that drawback for {couples}.
2. Are you able to describe the preliminary steps you took to launch your small business?
My first thought was to create date evening packing containers delivered to you, which might have every part set and deliberate for a romantic night at house. I’ve launched cocktail making packing containers on the first of February 2022 in time for Valentine’s day, adopted by pottery workshop packing containers in a while. The packing containers included playlists, all of the instruments to make cocktails/pottery creations, deep dialog starters and different actions designed to deepen the connection along with your companion.
{Couples} liked these packing containers and I had a number of good suggestions, however making the packing containers by hand has been extraordinarily labour intensive, revenue margins have been razor skinny/non-existent and the amount of gross sales was not as excessive as I had initially hoped for. In the end, the date field thought was not a scalable or financially viable one for me to proceed.
6 months into my enterprise, I began promoting a PDF of 110 date thought playing cards, which {couples} may obtain immediately and print out at house. As this concept went properly, I pivoted my enterprise away from bodily date evening packing containers towards digital merchandise, increasing my vary with romantic board video games, chilly case information, escape rooms, dialog starters and extra. That’s when my enterprise began to actually take off and I knew I used to be onto one thing.
Quick ahead to 2024, I’ve give up my 9-5 in Finance, after receiving over 5,000 orders from 80 completely different nations, giving me reassurance that my thought solves a common drawback for {couples}.
3. How do your digital choices improve date nights in comparison with extra conventional strategies?
Many {couples} have busy existence and demanding jobs, which makes it onerous to make time for planning date nights that aren’t simply reserving a restaurant or flicking on one other film.
I take away the ache of planning considerate and distinctive actions, as my digital merchandise are primarily near ‘zero-effort’ to arrange. {Couples} can obtain and print my date nights and have just a few hours of enjoyable actions at their fingertips in minutes.
4. What platforms or instruments do you utilize in your small business?
I take advantage of a number of completely different instruments, however the primary ones are:
- Shopify for my web site
- Capcut for modifying all of the movies
- Canva for creating digital merchandise
- Instagram and TikTok for advertising
5. Are you able to describe your advertising technique and the best channel you utilize to advertise your small business?
My core advertising instruments that drive nearly all of my gross sales are TikTok and Instagram, the place I create natural helpful content material for my viewers ({couples} in long run relationships/married {couples}). I present worth by sharing numerous distinctive date concepts which are usually in a roundabout way associated to the merchandise I promote. This manner, I place myself as a ‘go-to’ particular person for date concepts, which builds belief and credibility with my viewers.
6. How do you entice and retain prospects in a distinct segment market like date evening planning?
My saveable/shareable content material on social media performs a ‘high of the funnel’ position, attracting {couples} to observe my web page, discover out extra about my model and the superior date nights I create, main many to subsequently buy my merchandise. I supply a ‘100% happiness assure’ to my prospects and at all times go the additional mile to make sure every particular person has a 5 star expertise with my model, which performs a key position in getting repeat prospects.
7. What are some challenges you could have confronted with your small business and the way did you overcome them?
Constructing my first enterprise has most likely been the toughest factor I’ve performed in my life and probably the most rewarding one too. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster of a journey with numerous challenges. Listed below are a number of the important ones:
- 1. First product not being viable: As talked about above, my first thought of bodily date evening packing containers was primarily loss making and never financially viable/scalable. Even right this moment, our cabinets are full of lots of of mini alcohol bottles from the cocktail packing containers I used to promote! I may have given up at this level, however I made a decision to experiment and pivot, which has led me to digital date evening merchandise I promote right this moment, with 5,000+ orders throughout 80 completely different nations.
2. Data hole. More often than not I didn’t know what I used to be doing, however I used to be keen to be taught and persevere. I didn’t have a giant funds to start out with, so I’ve performed every part myself e.g. coding my web site by trying to find solutions on YouTube, clumsily utilizing Adobe Illustrator to design my brand, writing privateness coverage, Ts&Cs and different authorized documentation for my web site, creating and designing all of the merchandise with none expertise with Canva, studying to make TikToks and develop on social media, by no means having even used TikTok earlier than. All through my journey, I’ve at all times tried to embrace the mindset of “I do not know how to do that, however I’m certain I can be taught”.
3. Making an attempt to construct the enterprise with a full time job. There’s no magic or secret right here – balancing my demanding day job and a enterprise has been very robust. I attempted to work on my enterprise as a lot as I may on the evenings and weekends, however after a full day of ‘firefighting’ at my day job, I did usually really feel emotionally and bodily depleted, so it wasn’t at all times potential to work on my enterprise as a lot as I might have appreciated to. I’ve needed to settle for that I solely have a lot power and time and for this enterprise is to be sustainable, I needed to prioritize my well being, psychological well being and total wellbeing, regardless that it meant that issues are transferring slower than I might have appreciated to within the brief time period.I needed to be cautious to look at and see any indicators of my psychological well being taking a toll on account of overworking and prioritize taking relaxation in addition to doing issues that deliver me power and pleasure. My method was prioritising consistency of motion – attempting to do at the least just a little bit day by day to construct and develop my enterprise.
8. How lengthy did it take you to see constant month-to-month income?
Within the first 6 months of launching my enterprise, my whole income was lower than £3k. 7 months in I’ve had my ‘Flirty Cube’ printable board recreation go viral on TikTok, which introduced in over £700 in simply 3 days, which is after I knew I used to be onto one thing and began to see extra development from leveraging natural social media to drive gross sales.
As my gross sales have been principally pushed my movies going viral, the revenue ranges various considerably from month to month e.g. 7k one month and solely £1k one other. I’m nonetheless engaged on diversifying my advertising methods and income streams to realize extra consistency in income e.g. using electronic mail advertising, rising my presence throughout different social media platforms, engaged on paid model partnerships.
9. When did you understand you could possibly give up your job and go all in with the enterprise?
I’ve had 5,000+ orders from 80 completely different nations and made round £60k in gross sales earlier than quitting my company 9-5, which reassured me that my thought solves a common drawback for {couples} all internationally. With the enterprise idea verified, I felt that I may make this enterprise work, if I devoted my full consideration to it.
I’ve constructed up my private financial savings to maintain myself for at the least the following 12 months, after which I’m hoping to be driving sufficient income to pay myself a wage that’s much like the one I had with my job in Finance. Leaving my well-paid job in Finance is the largest danger I’ve ever taken, however I completely love the enterprise I’ve constructed and imagine that with consistency, self-discipline and a development mindset I’ll be capable to make it work.
10. What recommendation would you give to different aspiring entrepreneurs trying to begin a enterprise?
Discover a ache level. There’s a sensible e book referred to as ‘Competing in opposition to luck’ by Clayton M Christensen, which I like to recommend for each aspiring entrepreneur to find out about figuring out and fixing actual issues.
Validate your thought. Each entrepreneur thinks their thought is improbable, however the one technique to confirm it’s to see if anybody is keen to pay for it and if it may be worthwhile. For those who’re trying to give up your company job for a aspect hustle, I believe it’s important to show your idea earlier than you do.
Prioritise motion over perfection. Be taught to be snug with releasing your concepts into the market and testing them earlier than they’re excellent. The extra messy/scrappy motion you are taking, the faster you’ll get the suggestions you want and be capable to be taught from it. No level engaged on perfecting your product for years simply to seek out out nobody desires it.
Do one thing you’re actually focused on. Ask your self whether or not the concept you select for your small business is one thing you actually care about. For those who do, the setbacks and disappointments that you simply’ll encounter alongside the best way will likely be value persevering via.
Embrace the expansion mindset. It’s simple to fall into the sufferer mentality, blame the circumstances and really feel sorry for your self, when issues don’t go to plan, nevertheless it received’t serve you properly. Take possession of the failures and concentrate on what you possibly can be taught from them. Domesticate the mindset of curiosity and infinite studying.
Keep true to your values. We see the stereotypical high-flying entrepreneur going with no sleep for weeks, working all hours of the day and having no time for social life or relationships. Whereas this may work for some, I’m a giant believer of deliberately defining what ‘success’ means to you personally and consciously selecting ‘the worth you’re keen to pay’ within the completely different features of your life to get there, as a result of I believe you are able to do something, however not every part. I do know my well being, and relationships with household, mates and fiance at all times come first and I’m not keen to ‘drop the ball’ on these features of my life, even when it means my enterprise may develop slower.
11. The place can we discover you, as we’re all followers of you now?!
Web site: https://atwistofdate.co.uk/
Instagram: @atwistofdate
TikTok: @atwistofdate
Thanks a lot Ruta for sharing all of this with us! You shared some actually nice stuff!
Make sure that to take a look at A Twist Of Date to seek out extra info.