Barry Freeder was always interested in design but he ended up studying real estate because he was concerned about job security. However, on 2015 he was laid off.
After losing his job, Barry Freeder had to figure out what to do with his life. He decided to dust off his dreams to be a designer and started building his first product.
In a way, Barry Freeder regrets not starting working on his passion a lot earlier and only making a decisive move when his job was taken away from him. He suggest that people who have a dream, should work on their dream on the side, while they keep their full time job to pay the bills.
It’s not a big sacrifice to start a side hustle. The average British or American spends 28 hours per week watching TV. If they take half of that, 14 hours per week and invest them in their side hustle, they could have something going within one year.
Even though Barry was unemployed, he invested 20,000 to 30,000 British Pounds in research & development, consulting, and manufacturing of the first prototypes. He was afraid but he thought it was a risk worth taking and “now” was the perfect moment.
I had to put my friends and family to the side, they thought I was bonkers, to leave a stable career in real estate to develop a cup holder? It doesn’t sound very sensible.
He started approaching companies in Alibaba and Made-in-China (the two Chinese marketplace that help buyers connect with manufacturers and suppliers) until he found the right manufacturer, then he took a trip to China to visit the manufacturer in person and see his supplier eye-to-eye.
He started distribution from his spare bedroom, with one product, The CouchCoaster a weighted Silicon cup holder that fits over the arm of a sofa. Since then he has developed two additional products, The TableCosater a weighted cup holder to prevent spills, and the phonetag a mobile phone holder that doubles as both a phone stand and a ring that allows for a better grip of the device while doing things like taking selfies. Within five years of operation, Barry is hitting over one million dollars in revenue while operating solo.
We spoke about the importance of keeping expenses low. Barry use consultants, contractors, and freelancers to help him out but over all, he’s a one man band.
As far as distribution, Barry allows Amazon to do the heavy lifting. He lists the products in Amazon, send his products to the different Amazon warehouses and Amazon does the shipping for him. Because Amazon is a global platform, Barry can reach clients all over the world.
Commerce in the 21st century
The economy is shifting rapidly. Millions of people are losing their jobs and there are new jobs being created just as fast but in different industries. Not every one has the capacity to adapt to the new economy and some people fall through the cracks.
There are a myriad of opportunities our there. From do-it-yourself learning through thousands of free courses to offering new skills and services through freelance platforms such as Upwork and People Per Hour.
The important thing is to have motivation and discipline the good thing and the bad thing is that you don’t have a boss telling you what to do. You have to take initiative and responsibility for your own action. If you show up consistently and do a good job, your will thrive, if you don’t show up when no one is waiting for you, then you won’t survive.
Where to buy buy Barry’s products.
CouchCoaster
TableCoster
phonetag
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