The goal of Hardly Hustle is to provide inspiration, drive and motivation in a 10 minute read or less. What you see is what you get. This is hot off the press without an editing team.
Devyn Zillmer is up.
Who are you and what do you do?
I'm Devyn Zillmer and I am an engineer and entrepreneur. By day I design automotive lighting products as an engineer and in the evenings my wife and I are building multiple side hustles/projects. For us, just the corporate 9-5 grind was not going to get us the life we want. So we trade in a few Netflix hours to build other income streams and soon to be an educational firm (MoreThan) to help others long term.
What did it take / how did you get started?
Honestly, we were cash strapped. Our first side hustles were launched in the ecommerce space for < $500 because it was practical and scalable. From there it's been a lot of sweat equity and skill building.
What does the future look like for you and your hustle?
Our goal is to be debt free in June 2022 and scale our ecommerce side hustles to a professional income in the same time frame. From there our goal is to scale MoreThan into an educational firm to help others with the lessons we've learned in entrepreneurship, finances, relationships etc.
What drives / motivates you?
Family. Be it my wife, siblings, parents, or future family, they drive me a ton. I'm a big believer that money is a tool that amplifies our values. Using money to amplify my family values pushes me daily.
What advice would you give someone interested in doing what you do?
Start with defining what you want out of life. Making sure you have a destination logged into your life GPS. The biggest crime is taking a path that actually won't get you the life you want. Then, humble yourself and be willing to learn new skill sets and seek new perspectives. Every successful entrepreneur I've met does this constantly.
What has been the hardest part of the hustle?
Shifting my mindset to be entrepreneurial instead of employee. Employee's expect linear outcomes. X = Y. Whereas, entrepreneurs know their outcomes are parabolic in nature. I essentially worked for free the first year as I was building skill sets, but that has changed quite a bit in the past couple years. Every entrepreneur has to go through that initial phase where it feels like nothing happens.
What are a few resources that you'd recommend?
A caveat to this question, as great as content is, you need to apply what you learn to get something from it. Books: Atomic Habits, The Go-Giver, The Compound Effect, The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster
The STATS
Side or full-time hustle?
Side hustle
List the founders
Devyn & Sam Zillmer
How many hours a week do you work on this hustle?
10-15
# of Employees?
2 Part-Time
When did you start?
June 2017
How much did it cost to launch?
~$300
What were your funding methods and ballpark amount raised?
Bootstrapped.
Annual Revenue?
Not provided.
Projected Revenue?
Not provided.
Any call to action?
My wife and I have met some great people along the way and we know we would not be where we are today without those relationships. Please reach out to us if there is any way you think we could help you on our journey. We love to pay it forward when and where we can.