When 35-year-old Mandy Helwege’s TikTok video about her unique side hustle went viral, she knew she had to make a bold move: She left her sales job after 12 years of feeling burnt out. For three years, Mandy had been running Seeing Double Edits, a passion project where she photoshops pets beside their younger selves. Until then, it was just a modest side income on Instagram, bringing in only a few thousand dollars a year. Quitting her job to pursue it full-time was a leap into the unknown, but the potential was undeniable.
Fast forward to today, and that viral TikTok has racked up over 2.4 million views, with the Seeing Double Edits Instagram account amassing more than 95,500 followers. The real highlight? Her business skyrocketed from making $4,000 the previous year to pulling in $100,000 by June 2022 alone, with $120,000 in revenue by mid-year. This sudden wave of demand has pushed Mandy’s workload to the brink, a relentless 80-hour week that forced her to hire help.
Every month, Mandy releases 160 to 185 new slots for customers to book, and they sell out in a breathtaking 90 seconds. “It’s thrilling but exhausting,” she admits. Her daily commitment involves creating five custom pieces of art, which requires significant time and energy. Despite the booming interest, Mandy’s goal is not to scale up indefinitely but to sustain a pace she can manage without burning out.
From Fun to Full-Time Business
The seed for Seeing Double Edits was planted when Mandy first posted a photoshopped image of her Great Dane on Instagram. Friends were captivated, and word started spreading. But popularity doesn’t come without its lessons. When Mandy’s TikTok went viral, she was overwhelmed by the volume of orders. “I thought that if I get 25 orders, that’d be great. But Instead, I was drowning in hundreds of direct messages,” she recalls.
The chaos led her to invest $314 in a GoDaddy.com site to streamline her orders. Instagram DMs turned into a flood of requests, so she listed the first 350 respondents and realized some clients weren’t serious. To manage this, she introduced a reservation system: $10 to reserve a slot for next month, $20 for the current month. Capping orders to around 150 helped maintain her sanity.
Her operating costs are minimal, about $55 per month for her website and Adobe software. With each piece starting at $125 and taking two to five hours to create, she easily clears her monthly expenses.
Maintaining Balance Amid Success
By March, Mandy faced the challenge of scaling up or staying grounded. She tested her limits by increasing the monthly reservation cap to 230, generating $25,000 that month. The result? She worked 18-hour days and realized she was at risk of resenting her art.
Scaling back became essential. Friends and family urged her to raise prices, arguing that her services would still sell out. But Mandy’s heart lies in making her art accessible. Earning $45 to $50 per hour, she feels, is a fair living while keeping her work within reach for the everyday pet lover. “I’m not in this to charge as much as possible,” she says. “I know what it’s like to be an animal lover who isn’t made of money. My mission is to create something beautiful that pet parents can afford.”
Mandy’s story is a testament to turning passion into a sustainable career, balancing growth with personal well-being, and valuing community over sheer profit. In a $13.3 billion online art market, her approach carves out a niche that resonates with pet lovers everywhere.
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