Who knew holiday cards could make so much money?

GM. This is Work "After" Work, the newsletter that quenches your business thirst like a Capri-Sun on a hot summer day.

It’s Taco Tuesday! Let’s boogie:

• 🤖  AI holiday cards

• 😂 Meme of the day

Have you always wanted to start investing in real estate, but don't have $100k lying around? Don’t worry you’re not alone…

I recently came across this company called “Arrived” -  they allow you to invest in real estate for a fraction of the cost. (Think $100 and you can own real estate!)

• They do all the work on finding profitable properties 

• They deal with all the maintenance, upkeep, cleaning, etc.

• They take care of all the legal jargon

All you have to do is buy shares of a home… kind of like a stock. And every quarter they’ll pay you on your investment!

It’s a great way to get exposure to real estate without having to put a lot of money down.  

Even if you’re not ready right now at least subscribe to their emails that way you can see potential deals that become available! (It’s completely free)

AI HOLIDAY CARDS

Last week I went to the store to grab a couple Easter cards for some of my friends. I don’t celebrate as I’m Muslim and observe Ramadan, but I’m a good friend.

When I got to the store to look at my options I was immediately taken aback. 

Notice anything interesting about these 3 cards? 👀

Yep, they’re all fake - made with AI.

Just one year ago this wasn’t possible.

Initially I was thinking “Cards only cost 3 to 4 dollars. How big could this industry really be?” The answer: really big. Globally $19 billion and in the US $5 billion.

A lot bigger than I thought. And somehow it’s been increasing in size over the years. 

I assumed since we moved more and more online this industry would start to die. Guess not. It’s set to grow by about 1% per year or decline slightly depending on where you read.

There is one big con though - the margins. On average it’s 10-30%. A lot lower than say, a software business’ at  75%. 

And getting contracts with the big boys (Walmart, Marianos, Meijer, etc) is not easy. According to Reddit, these stores usually want a huge discount and since cards are already so cheap it decays your margin pretty heavily. 

But guess where else people buy cards from? Etsy and Pinterest.

This Etsy store, PineandIsle, is a one woman show.

She sells cards for any occasion. And her easter ones are amazing.

She started in 2019, and if you have a keen eye you’ll notice she’s had 19,259 sales 👀

With some back of the envelope math I’d guess this store makes ~$10,000/yr.

How’d I get here?
With 19k sales, each is around $4-$5. That’s roughly $90,000. 

She probably takes home around 40-50% of that since she doesn’t have to answer to any of the big retailers that take her margin.

She’s been doing this for ~4-5 years. So ($90,000/4.5 yrs) = $10,000/yr, or $833/mo.

Not bad for a business that doesn't require heavy capital upfront. 

But how can you start a successful Etsy store making $10,000/yr?

Here are the 6 steps:

MEME OF THE DAY

anyone else yesterday? 😂😂 

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That's all I got for ya today folks!

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.