How I turned my hustle into Air Jordans?

You are probably reading the title like huh?????

I grew up in a low income, single parent home and we didn’t have much. My mother did her best to make sure we had food, clothes, and shelter. So, asking my mother to buy me $150 Air Jordans was insane and if asked she would say, “Bunny, are you crazy?”

Nonetheless, I had a great idea during middle school that me and two of my friends would go trick or treating, collect all the candy, bag it, and sell it out of our lockers at school. Trick or treating is where you would go to houses or apartments and collect candy from the hosts.  So, we brought 360 plastic bags, dressed warm, had 5 pillowcases each and met at my house at 3pm on Halloween to trick or treat until 12AM. We lived close to many apartments & neighborhoods, so there was a massive supply of candy to collect.

Once we had our pillowcases full of candy, we went to my friend’s clubhouse to separate the candy into Fruity (Jolly Rancher, Starburst, Skittles, etc.) and Chocolates (Reese’s, Snickers, Twix, etc.) groups. Also, we separated the candy into 3 different types of candy bags:

• Chocolate Only – Selling Price $1
• Fruity Only - Selling Price $1
• Mix Bag (Chocolate & Fruity Candy) - Selling Price $2

After that, we split the bags equally and got 120 bags a piece. Then, for the next 2 weeks we sold the candy bags out of our lockers during our passing period which was 6 minutes.

As a result, we made $150 - $250 each and sometimes even more.  Additionally, my proudest moment was asking my mother to take me to the mall to buy those Air Jordan shoes then I would use the rest to take my mother & sister out to dinner.

Lastly, this is how I turned my entrepreneurship spirit into Air Jordan’s, and it taught me:

• No matter your situation, don’t let it control your creativity or thinking
• If I ever wanted anything then I would have to hustle, work hard and partner with others
• Find a need, build a product or service to supply that need then serve that market
• I love building & scaling MVP’s (minimal viable products) to help others
• I love to hustle, going out there and making it happen

Growing up what were some of your side hustles? How would you answer this question? Drop your insights, stories, and feedback in the comments.