Can you imagine trading your unsatisfying office job for a business that provides you with residual income while you sleep? For Rachel Jiménez, a 36-year-old mother, this has been her reality. What started as a small way to make money in her spare time ended up becoming a source of passive income of no less than $14,000 per month.
It all started with a small idea that she turned into a side business. Rachel is not a finance guru who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth; she was a higher education administrator with a normal 9-to-5 job. Richard Jiménez was dealing with a lot: job frustration, postpartum depression after the birth of her second child, and the dissatisfaction of knowing she didn’t like what she was doing at work. She just wanted to feel good and have the freedom to do what she wanted. Thanks to a few strategic formulas, Rachel managed to become a millionaire. This is her story.
Rachel’s innovative side hustle
Starting a new business puts a lot of pressure on founders. Rachel started in May 2020, just when she was on maternity leave. She faced a challenge: starting a business while having two children under the age of four at home. As if she didn’t have enough on her plate, she was also studying part-time for a master’s degree in Psychology. But what was the idea that allowed her to earn so much income?
One of the keys to Rachel Jiménez’s success is that she didn’t sell merchandise or physical items; she focused on digital products that were marketed through the Etsy platform. Digital products are files that are created only once but can be sold over and over again without requiring physical inventory. This saved her from having to deal with a lot of storage space and shipping physical merchandise by mail.
Rachel focused on an initial inventory that included business templates, downloadable party games, and what made her the most money… budget planners. However, it wasn’t an instant success or a bed of roses, as many people believe when they start any company that ends up being profitable. At first, Rachel only made a few dollars sporadically. Needless to say, she felt frustrated and exhausted, as the initial effort to create all those products was not paying off. However, thanks to her perseverance, after nine months of constant focus, her income skyrocketed enough to allow her to quit her full-time job. From then on, she focused solely on her business through Etsy.
Running a company and a household
Juggling your own business, a master’s degree, and two young children seems like an impossible task. But Rachel and her husband focused on effectiveness. They stopped wasting time on things that didn’t make money and focused on what they knew would grow their Etsy shop.
Smart with her time: she spent money on a course to learn how to promote herself on Etsy, and hired a cleaning assistant to reduce the burden of household chores. Her husband was also very active, taking on a more prominent role in maintaining the house while she focused on the business that was bringing in so much money. It was a short-term sacrifice that paid off in the long run. She is now a multimillionaire with passive income, but she spent a long time dedicating her evenings and weekends entirely to the business.
Outside help and family support were crucial in building these foundations.
Rachel Jimenez tips for a successful business
After establishing herself as one of the best niche sellers on the platform, Rachel has been generous with her advice. She advises sellers on this and other platforms to focus on data, not their passions. Although Rachel started out creating products she really liked, she soon realized that they had too much competition. Instead of trying to compete with others in a totally saturated market, she began researching products that were in high demand but had low competition.
For example, she moved away from generic planners and into specialized niches, such as planners for ADHD. Her advice is to be a big fish in a small pond.