Side Hustler Spotlight: Eve Cale, Founder of Gift Wrapped by Eve
In the second of my side hustler spotlight series I’d like to introduce you to Eve Cale. Eve is mum to two children, a teen and tween and has been married to her husband Chris for nearly 15 years. She and her family live in Chippenham Wiltshire.
Eve studied psychology at university, focusing on business, which helped her to get started in marketing. After university she worked in a communications/advertising and branding role within the financial services sector for 12 years and obtained marketing qualifications along the way.
Like many women, after having her first child she knew that returning to her role full time was not going to suit family life. Her husband's role was not flexible and back in 2011 there was no way he could work from home. Eve was happy to take the role of being the primary care-giver for the children and to be flexible. This led to the decision to take a career break from her corporate role.
Although officially it was called a 'break' in actual fact when you choose this option you receive a P45 and so in her head she had left her job. How this change felt in reality was unexpected. Eve was happy enough being at home focusing on family but she did miss the purpose her career had given her.
Eve has always been someone who loves sending cards and gifts. Whilst she was at a baby group she came across a stall of lovely looking products. After taking a brochure home to browse and ordering some products she came across an ad on the back page. This told her that she could buy a kit and sell the products too. She had no idea that this was 'network marketing' but to her it made sense immediately. She loved the products and realised she would save money by getting the kit. A bonus would be if she actually sold some of the products.
This was all back in 2012 and social online selling wasn't like it is now so Eve started off slowly and it took her quite some time to see the full breadth of opportunity she had to build a 'side hustle' business. Over the next 12 years she built her business and became a team leader through in person events and networking. Later on she grew online too, particularly during the lockdown years.
Along the way she started to develop ways to show people how to use the gift-wrapping products she sold as most people just tended to focus on the cards. This was a way to stand out from the crowd and she loved delivering workshops. She had lots of ideas of how to do more with this side hustle within a side hustle, but it wasn't until the company she worked for announced it was going to close that she took the plunge and decided to set up independently.
Now her side hustle is her own business and although she doesn’t work on it full time it is her only work and the flexibility of it is still a strong value in how she runs it. This is one of the main things Eve loves about her side hustle, it’s flexible. It also hers and it gives her a sense of purpose and achievement; something which we all need in life.
Eve has found a great balance in life as she gets to work on her business AND do the things she wants to. She fits her business around her life not the other way around. This means she is able to prioritise being able to take and pick up her children from school and clubs; see and support friends and family, volunteer (she helps at the baby group that started her off on this journey and she is a local charity trustee). Eve takes the time to make sure she exercises each day and she does the majority of the household tasks. Work does get fitted in too but it's not about how much time she spends as to how effective she is. People are surprised when she tells them that she spends a lot of time NOT working!
When I asked Eve to share the strategies she uses to find time for her side hustle she told me that using her online calendar to plan in her work time is the best way to do this. She sets herself boundaries and time blocks. She uses downtime like waiting in the car or while waiting for the kettle to boil to answer messages. She loves setting herself challenges as to how much she can do in a certain amount of time!
Eve’s one struggle is the housework, which she finds is the biggest drain on her time and energy and it is the thing she would like to outsource the most to give her more space.
Eve’s story is a great example of how you can make your life and family a priority, but still find time for a side hustle. Here are my five key takeaways from Eve’s story:
It’s amazing how often serendipity, the occurrence of a chance event, can lead to something that you never imagined. If Eve hadn’t gone to that baby group she probably wouldn’t be here now telling us about her side hustle. There are opportunities everywhere when it comes to starting a side hustle.
Building a successful side hustle takes time. It has been thirteen years since Eve started networking marketing, which has now developed into her own gift-wrapping business.
What you might think of as a negative can turn into a positive. The closure of the network marketing business pushed Eve into starting her own business, setting her on the road to where she is today.
Time blocking is a great way to manage your time. As you know if you’ve been here before, this is my favourite time management strategy.
There are opportunities to work on your side hustle even in the small gaps in your day, such as when you’re waiting for the kettle to boil.
If you’d like to know more about Eve you will find her on Instagram and Facebook. You can also grab some great freebies to get started with eco gift wrapping here.