This Facet Hustle Highlight Q&A options New York Metropolis-based buddies and co-founders Millie Blumka, 31, and Taylor Borenstein, 31. The pair began a aspect hustle in 2021 referred to as Stakt, an adaptable exercise equipment model.
Blumka was a director of brand name partnerships at Showfields and Borenstein was a product implementation supervisor at Bloomberg after they invested about $50,000 of their private financial savings into the enterprise. The co-founders have since grown it from a two-person operation to a profitable enterprise on observe for $10 million in income in 2025 because it scales throughout Amazon, DTC and B2B.
Learn precisely how they did it, right here.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Stakt. Taylor Borenstein, left, and Millie Blumka, proper.
Responses have been edited for size and readability.
When did you begin your aspect hustle, and the place did you discover the inspiration for it?
Blumka and Borenstein: We had the thought for Stakt again in 2020 when dwelling exercises turned the norm and our previous yoga mats simply weren’t reducing it. We would have liked extra assist and flexibility for the number of exercises we had been doing like sculpt and pilates, and we could not discover a mat that might sustain. We discovered inspiration by means of our personal private want and noticing many trainers we seemed as much as had been rolling their mat in half to get further assist…we knew there needed to be a greater method.
What had been a number of the first steps you took to get your aspect hustle off the bottom? How a lot cash/funding did it take to launch?
Blumka and Borenstein: Neither of us had started a business earlier than, not to mention created a product, so step one was a variety of networking. We spoke with buddies of buddies to attempt to perceive the way you even go about making a product. We additionally did a variety of surveying to grasp if this was an “us” downside or if different individuals had been scuffling with this, too. We every invested $25,000 of our personal financial savings to get the enterprise off the bottom and have invested earnings ever since.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Stakt
For those who may return in what you are promoting journey and alter one course of or strategy, what would it not be, and the way do you want you’d carried out it in another way?
Blumka: If I may return, I might most likely set up our lanes a lot earlier. To start with, we each tried to the touch all the things and be fingers on for each facet of the enterprise. As soon as we outlined who owned what, issues turned a lot smoother. Having these roles in place earlier would have saved us a variety of time.
Borenstein: I most likely would have employed customer service assist sooner, as we spent a variety of our time on buyer expertise once we may have spent it constructing the enterprise.
On the subject of this particular enterprise, what’s one thing you’ve got discovered significantly difficult and/or shocking that individuals who get into one of these work must be ready for, however seemingly aren’t?
Borenstein: Earlier than beginning a consumer brand, I had all the time thought, How onerous may or not it’s when you have product? It seems the product is simply step one: Rising a enterprise takes a ton of self-discipline, onerous work, networking and efforts throughout all verticals to actually make it profitable.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Stakt
Are you able to recall a selected occasion when one thing went very mistaken — how did you repair it?
Blumka: We as soon as had a complete container of stock arrive broken, and we did not really feel snug promoting it. As a substitute, we donated the mats to native organizations and used them for neighborhood occasions. It left us out of inventory for some time, so we leaned on pre-orders and reframed the problem as a marketing alternative.
How lengthy did it take you to see constant month-to-month income? How a lot did the aspect hustle earn?
Blumka: We did not pay ourselves till we determined it was time to make Stakt our full-time jobs as a substitute of only a aspect hustle.
Borenstein: It took a couple of yr earlier than issues leveled out and we noticed constant month-to-month revenue. For the primary yr, there have been good months, nice months and dangerous months — finally it turned extra constant and simpler to foretell.
What does development and income appear like now?
Blumka and Borenstein: We’re on observe to do $10 million in income this yr — doubling what we did in 2024.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Stakt
What do you get pleasure from most about working what you are promoting?
Blumka: The mix of creativity and neighborhood. I like taking an concept and turning it into one thing individuals genuinely join with. That stated, the true reward is seeing our merchandise out within the wild, with individuals truly utilizing and loving them. Building community round motion and wellness has been essentially the most fulfilling half. Plus, doing it alongside my finest good friend is the most important bonus.
Borenstein: Sooner or later, this actually stopped feeling like work. Stakt is an extension of me and my household, and each day I get to work with my finest good friend and my husband (whom we employed final yr). I like that I could make my very own schedule, my hard work is rewarded with the expansion of my very own enterprise, I meet superior individuals, and I get the chance to design new merchandise and see them come to life.
“Chaos is a part of the journey.”
Primarily based in your journey to this point, what’s your finest recommendation for aspiring founders?
Blumka: There’ll by no means be an ideal time, good product or good plan, however it’s important to begin someplace. There’ll all the time be a motive to attend, however the true progress begins when you launch. That is when you’ll be able to adapt, study and develop.
Borenstein: Everybody can have recommendation, however belief your intestine — there isn’t any single playbook. And bear in mind, nobody has all of it discovered; the chaos is a part of the journey.
This Facet Hustle Highlight Q&A options New York Metropolis-based buddies and co-founders Millie Blumka, 31, and Taylor Borenstein, 31. The pair began a aspect hustle in 2021 referred to as Stakt, an adaptable exercise equipment model.
Blumka was a director of brand name partnerships at Showfields and Borenstein was a product implementation supervisor at Bloomberg after they invested about $50,000 of their private financial savings into the enterprise. The co-founders have since grown it from a two-person operation to a profitable enterprise on observe for $10 million in income in 2025 because it scales throughout Amazon, DTC and B2B.
Learn precisely how they did it, right here.
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