By day Shellie Brown is a 53-year-old registered dental assistant from the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee. But in her downtime, you can catch her hustling - selling baskets, or maybe even skincare or furniture – for home and lifestyle products company Longaberger.
Why the side job? “It gives me the independence to work as much and as often as life allows,” she says. "It’s offered my family opportunities that otherwise we would not have had, for example, travel, remodeling and decorating our home and giving back to the community.” Brown says working a side hustle allows her to live her life’s motto: “You get out what you put in.”
Shellie is not alone. 70 million Americans are side hustling. In fact, recent data reveals that 37% of all American working women have some form of side gig.
In addition to earning extra income, side hustles provide women the flexibility to balance work and home and the ability to pursue their passions. A survey by Side Hustle Nation revealed that, while half of respondents said they liked their primary job, more than three quarters said they loved their side hustle!
Attracting Female Hustlers with Technology
The Longaberger name goes all the way back to 1896 when J.W. Longaberger began making and selling maple baskets. More than 50 years later his son David Longaberger took over the business, growing sales primarily through “consultants” who showcased the company’s products at in-home parties.
Longaberger's iconic home office in Newark, Ohio from 1997 - 2016
Fast forward another fifty years. While the Longaberger name is still associated with quality craftmanship, the company’s product catalog has grown significantly and its sales model has gone high tech - thanks, in large part, to its community of female side hustlers.
Longaberger Stylist Suzanne Nichols drives traffic to her digital storefront where customers can ... [+]
“I think one of the greatest features of the Longaberger platform is that it’s entirely online,” said Suzanne Nichols. The 36-year-old wife, mother, hair stylist, salon owner and Longaberger “Stylist” explains that all members of the Longaberger salesforce are now provided a digital storefront - their own online marketplace from which their customers can shop 24/7.
“My personal dashboard provides direct links to shopping, live sales, trainings and more. So with the click of one button, I can share links to my website through social media and I can do this at work, from home or on the go.”
You may not expect to see the name Longaberger and digital storefront in the same sentence. But the century-old heritage brand has replaced its consultants with Stylists and its in-home parties with, well, digital storefronts and live selling events. The company now leverages technology and the power of social selling to empower female side hustlers - of all ages and backgrounds - to run their own small businesses, selling the brand’s home and lifestyle products right from their phones and laptop computers.
Longaberger’s modern makeover was the vision of Bob D’Loren, the CEO of Xcel Brands, the company that bought Longaberger in 2019. He saw an opportunity to leverage the loyalty, quality and community already associated with the brand and merge it with innovative digital technologies that would allow him to scale the business.
“Our customers still want a personal connection with our brand. It’s that relationship that helps them understand how best to use our products and engenders loyalty and deepens engagement,” D’Loren said. “Empowering our community of Stylists with our proprietary version of shoppable short-form video technology allows for this same type of relationship but in a much more modern, more efficient way.”
Longaberger’s digital tools allow the company’s more than 1,300 entrepreneurial side hustlers, (known in Longaberger parlance as Stylists), to run their own small businesses. Each Stylist controls her own digital store in which she can feature Longaberger products as well as access to curated live selling events that demonstrate how the products can be used and styled in real life. Stylists use their social channels and other marketing techniques to drive traffic to their site, earning commission on sales.
Longaberger’s digital-first side hustle allowed Barb Arnold to leave her career in education to care for her sick mother. “I was so fortunate to be able to make the choices I needed to. Longaberger provided me the flexibility to put family first, and still make a living.”
Longaberger Stylist Barb Arnold showcases the company's products during a "Longaberger Live" live ... [+]
The retired high school principal and college professor from Maine believes that Longaberger’s innovative tech platform is what differentiates the company. “Longaberger is at the forefront of live online shopping. Stylists have the ability to run their business from their own home using the technology they already have. This new way of online selling makes it possible for anyone to have a successful Longaberger business - you, your parents, even your grandparents!”
Heritage brands and technology may be an unlikely pair, but brands like Longaberger are finding ways to merge the old with the new. Leveraging the quality and reputation of an established brand but modernizing the sales channel by using innovative digital tools and live and social selling is a powerful combination, one that will help heritage brands attract the best female side hustlers who are, in increasing numbers, looking for that job-free income.
