Benzinga - One entrepreneur figured out how to turn a part-time passion into a mammoth e-commerce business, and she got started with just a few hundred dollars.
What To Know: 36-year-old Tori Gerbig is the co-founder and CEO of Pink Lily, an online fashion platform for women. What started as a hobby, has bloomed into a sales machine that generated $141 million in 2021, according to a CNBC report.
Gerbig, who is also a CNBC contributor, has a passion for shopping online, but when she got started in 2011, there weren't many options specifically made for women. That's how the idea for Pink Lily blossomed.
It all started as a side hustle on EBay Inc (NASDAQ: EBAY). She and her husband worked out of their living room, kept overhead low and put $300 toward buying clothes and accessories from a wholesaler.
In the early stages, Gerbig generated up to $1,000 per month in profits. The business accelerated when she started a Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META) Facebook page to help with marketing and built a website to sell from.
Less than three years later, she was bringing in more than $100,000 per month. So she quit her job and started working on Pink Lilly full-time.
"Currently, we sell more than 11,000 products on our site every day, have a brick-and-mortar store and ... 250 full-time employees," she said.
Tips For Success: Gerbig has identified five things that helped her grow the side hustle into a flourishing business.
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