What began as a facet hustle promoting greeting playing cards almost a decade in the past has was a fulltime profession for Kirstie Wang – one which’s allowed the Saratoga Excessive College graduate to remain actually near house.
Wang, a Sunnyvale resident, is operating her on-line retailer from workplace area within the the entrance half of her mother and father’ Saratoga house. She began A Jar of Pickles after quitting her company job in February 2022 and now sells every thing from stickers, pens and stamps to plushies, clothes and tote luggage.
The transfer is saving her hundreds of dollars each month. Bay Space retail and workplace area lease might be dear – and arduous to search out – making it a barrier for a lot of small enterprise house owners.
Wang began storing stock and packaging orders in her childhood house in Saratoga final month after she outgrew her personal storage area. Her mother and father, Johnson and Jennifer Lee, additionally constructed an attic area for further stock storage.
“To clear the area they bought our childhood piano, which is a extremely massive important illustration of the Taiwanese American dream,” stated Wang, whose mother and father immigrated from Taiwan to the US within the Nineteen Seventies.
Wang began A Jar of Pickles (“Pickles” was a childhood nickname) in 2013 whereas learning at UC Berkeley. The enterprise grew slowly and steadily over the following decade, then grew right into a sustainable enterprise after she invested extra time in it throughout the pandemic lockdown.
Every part on the web site is designed by Wang, who works with suppliers and producers to get uncooked merchandise shipped to her earlier than packaging and sending the gadgets to prospects. On common, A Jar of Pickles processes 250-500 orders every month.
Wang employed a product designer and some order success staff to sort out the inflow of orders and product expansions final yr.
“If the pandemic didn’t occur, I don’t assume I’d have been in a position to see and show to myself that this did have legs, to pursue it as a profession,” Wang stated.
Wang realized her digital media abilities at Saratoga Excessive College in journalism lessons taught by Mike Tyler. She stated she used what she realized within the classroom to design greeting playing cards, which was the primary product she bought.
Whereas she by no means acquired investor cash, she stated with the ability to lease out her mother and father’ house to make use of for product meeting was what made it attainable for her to broaden her enterprise.
“I invested $200 on this enterprise once I was in school, and from that I’ve grown every thing,” Wang stated. “I’m actually pleased with it. My mother and father are a big a part of it, particularly within the final couple of years.”