The Side Hustle a Mom Started in Her NYC Apartment Hit $50K in 3 Days, Then Surpassed $1.7M in Sales: ‘A Power Move’

This Side Hustle Spotlight Q&A features Alexandra Rutkay, 43, a New York City-based composition creator who plant on movie and tv sets. Currently, she is Mariska Hargitay’s individual composition creator for Law & Order: SVU. Rutkay additionally runs a side hustle out of her apartment: citymouse, which sells a minimalist crossbody diaper bag for parents. Her flank hustle, launched in 2022, hit seven figures inside a brace of years — and equal surpassed $50,000 in three days complete one weekend. Responses have been edited for dimension and clarity. 

When did you commencement your flank hustle, and anywhere did you discover the inspiration for it?
I launched citymouse at the end of 2022 out of our New York City apartment, and 2023 was our archetypal genuine year. The night I realized the brand needed to be was whenever my husband, son and I were heading to meal post-pandemic. I reached for a adorable small bag and realized I couldn’t fit my son’s sippy cup, diapers, baby wipes and a few of my things inside.

I couldn’t discover a diaper bag geared toward those in-between years anywhere you don’t need everything but motionless need several things. Especially a transitional bag that a female would desire to catch or deteriorate equal if they didn’t have kids. The baby equipment industry offers what I call “single-serve items” since so many of them never get touched again following a few months. I really wanted to alter that.

Investing concerning $8,500 to commencement the flank hustle: citymouse

What were several of the archetypal steps you took to get your side hustle off the ground? How much prosperity did it obtain to launch?
I invested concerning $8,500 from my own funds to start the flank hustle. I began alongside a coarse diagram of a crossbody-style bag that could clasp a beverage inner and keep everything organized. Then I sent it to a provider I established on Alibaba, got a example made and formerly that arrived, jumped correct on Tiktok (which I had been avoiding until that moment), and it changed everything. Women were extremely interested, and I launched on preorder, which helped to prosperity several of the first run. We are motionless completely bootstrapped. 

Are there any liberated or paid resources that have been particularly helpful for you in starting and operating this business?
Social media was a must, not an option. I additionally hired a publicist who worked alongside my prosperity correct off the bat to assistance build credibility. I utilize the app Intro, which is an amazing asset — basically paying for direction and mentorship of established entrepreneurs. Through that, I established out concerning Newbook, which I’ve used complete and complete again for models who I can employ inside my prosperity as well.

Set up systems for inventory, fulfillment before you go viral

If you could go rear in your endeavor journey and alter one procedure or approach, what would it be, and how do you desire you’d done it differently?
I’d have set up systems for inventory and command fulfillment before we went viral, not during. When orders spiked, we were scrambling and packing out of our living area and counting inventory by hand. We’ve sold out additional times than I can count, and all period we do, we have to go rear onto preorder, which kills the momentum. 

When it comes to this particular business, what is item you’ve established particularly challenging and/or amazing that group who enter this category of activity have to be prepared for, but apt aren’t?
How accelerated you get copied. We kicked off the small diaper bag trend in 2022, and now Target has basically duped us, as fine as random Amazon dropshippers. Both ample and small brands saw the trend we started and made their own knockoffs. If your merchandise works, assume person volition copy it inside a year. Your brand and your association alongside customers are what they can’t copy, so allocate and concentration there early.

Can you recall a particular case whenever item went extremely incorrect — how did you fix it?
The archetypal type of our bag isn’t what we market today. We printed a rubber logo onto the regenerated nylon, and it was a catastrophe from the start: The logos kept peeling off. Luckily, that didn’t power how the bag worked, but it taught me that a scheme choice can appearance awesome and motionless not clasp up to mundane use. Sometimes you have to create concessions. Now we stitch the logo onto our Classic bags, and honestly, it looks fair as cool.

Hitting $50k in 3 days, afterward $1.7m in total sales

How lengthy did it obtain you to see accordant monthly revenue? How much did the flank hustle earn?
Sales became accordant duration to duration in 2024. Our archetypal complete year, 2023, brought in concerning $135,000. Then TikTok shop took off in fountain 2024, and we had our finest three months always — equal a weekend anywhere we sold $50,000 in 3 days. Across our website, TikTok Shop and wholesale, we hit seven figures in income inside the archetypal 18 to 24 months.

What does growth and income appearance akin now?
Tiktok virality isn’t a endeavor example you can financial institution on, so during the spikes are great, we’ve reached additional normal baseline growth. We’ve surpassed $1.7 myriad in total revenue and have complete 20,000 customers. My hubby remaining his occupation to run operations for the endeavor complete time, and this year, we launched on the two Nordstrom.com and Maisonette.com. We fair placed our biggest holiday command yet and are expanding the row alongside new bag styles.

Keep your day job and bootstrap as lengthy as you can

What do you bask most concerning operating this business?
It’s honestly an amazing imaginative outlet for me, but connecting alongside another moms have to be the finest part. Hearing how it’s stated them additional confidence and made them awareness fine in a susceptible postpartum duration anywhere nothing feels akin you. Running into women on the streets of New York City wearing it is the biggest trip ever. I additionally affection that it’s a endeavor I built alongside and about my family, and equal my 6-year-old is extremely invested in the brand and products.

What is your finest part of specific, actionable endeavor advice?
It’s not a sexy answer, but if I’m being real, it gets old scrolling on social, and all another video is a kid in personal equity quitting their cushy job to start a brand. I built quarry during operating additional than 50 hours a week from set. It wasn’t “sexy” or easy, but it let me obtain risks and try things during motionless paying my bills. Keep your day job, and don’t obtain investors until you really need them. My regulation is simple: Don’t measure before you can oversee to, and if item isn’t necessary, don’t buy it. It power be slower, but we’ve never answered to anyone, and all decision is motionless mine. Bootstrapping isn’t the fallback plan. It’s a power move.

This Side Hustle Spotlight Q&A features Alexandra Rutkay, 43, a New York City-based composition creator who plant on movie and tv sets. Currently, she is Mariska Hargitay’s individual composition creator for Law & Order: SVU. Rutkay additionally runs a side hustle out of her apartment: citymouse, which sells a minimalist crossbody diaper bag for parents. Her flank hustle, launched in 2022, hit seven figures inside a brace of years — and equal surpassed $50,000 in three days complete one weekend. Responses have been edited for dimension and clarity. 

When did you commencement your flank hustle, and anywhere did you discover the inspiration for it?
I launched citymouse at the end of 2022 out of our New York City apartment, and 2023 was our archetypal genuine year. The night I realized the brand needed to be was whenever my husband, son and I were heading to meal post-pandemic. I reached for a adorable small bag and realized I couldn’t fit my son’s sippy cup, diapers, baby wipes and a few of my things inside.

I couldn’t discover a diaper bag geared toward those in-between years anywhere you don’t need everything but motionless need several things. Especially a transitional bag that a female would desire to catch or deteriorate equal if they didn’t have kids. The baby equipment industry offers what I call “single-serve items” since so many of them never get touched again following a few months. I really wanted to alter that.