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From Side Hustle to $650 Million Annually
Who knew beanbags were stuffed full of cash?
Shawn Nelson’s Lovesac as a company was born in 1998 a full three years after he created his own beanbag chair from scratch in 3 weeks in 1995 — in 2023 they recorded $650 million in annual revenue.
Lovesac was Shawn’s side hustle in college and he created the comfortable beanbag chairs in his parents’ basement with his college buddies. They sold them at car shows and other events to keep afloat. But they were almost broke.
Shawn went to a Chicago furniture show as a last shot and received an order for 12,000 Lovesacs.
After this win they tried to open up brick and mortar stores, appeared on an entrepreneur challenge by Richard Branson and expanded online. Every company has ebbs and flows in their timeline. Shawn’s perseverance kept the company afloat even through restructuring and bankruptcy.
After all of these challenges this disruptor of a company is as strong as ever and expects to have over $700 million in annual sales in 2024.
Do you have the stamina to take a side hustle to a cash flowing multi-million dollar business?
I can’t thank you enough for reading. Please leave your comments and thoughts. For more articles from my prefrontal cortex — please follow me on Medium.
