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Side Hustle School

Ep. 3216 - Q&A: “How do I avoid a garage full of unsold kits?”

Side Hustle School

Chris Guillebeau / Onward Project

Business, Entrepreneurship, Careers

4.83.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 October 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Should you spend months growing followers or risk cash on inventory right away? Today we outline a “test-then-preorder” strategy that proves demand in weeks, pays for production up front, and builds your email list as you go.

Side Hustle School features a new episode EVERY DAY, featuring detailed case studies of people who earn extra money without quitting their job. This year, the show includes free guided lessons and listener Q&A several days each week.

Show notes: SideHustleSchool.com

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

You know that customer reviews can have an enormous impact on your business. And you probably know this as a customer as well. When you go shopping for something, don't you look at the reviews? You might even filter them by star rating. You might see what people like, what they don't like. So if you want to have good reviews, if you want to have great reviews, it really helps to automate your process. And that's something our longtime partner, ShipStation, can help with.

0:21.5

They can grow with you.

0:22.6

They can help you deliver five-star customer experience with industry-leading scalable

0:26.7

features.

0:27.7

Wow your customers and get rave reviews with cheaper, faster, and better shipping.

0:31.8

Upgrade to ShipStation today to get a 60-day free trial at Shipstation.com.

0:35.8

Just use Code Hustle.

0:36.8

There's no credit card or contract required.

0:39.4

You can cancel any time. Shipstation.com code hustle.

0:46.0

Lemonada.

0:50.7

How do you avoid a garage full of unsold inventory? If you are selling a product, should you spend

1:00.8

months growing followers or risk your cash on inventory right away? Might there be a test-thin

1:07.0

pre-order strategy that can actually prove market demand, which allows you to pay for production

1:12.0

upfront, builds your email list as you go. That actually might help you avoid the situation of having a

1:18.2

garage or a living room or a closet full of stuff that you can't sell. That's what we're going to

1:22.5

talk about today. Manufacturing can be unforgiving. You have to pay up front and then hope for buyers later.

1:28.1

And meanwhile, if you're like audience first, like if you're thinking, let me build the audience

1:31.5

first, that's great. But, you know, the audience by itself doesn't actually bring in any income.

1:37.7

So if you're trying to make income, which is good, how do you manage this?

1:41.6

So we're going to hear from a caller in Jacksonville, Florida today.

1:44.7

He's navigating this situation in real time. His product is a bike repair toolkit.

1:51.2

So he'll explain that a little bit. But then also he's like, okay, you know, how much inventory do I

...

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