I gave up my 9 to 5 when my side job made me $7,200 a month with just 5 clients a week – I’m now making 3x my old salary

A full-time dental hygienist began earning $7,200 a month in what has since become her full-time job.

After just three months of balancing both jobs, Erin Jump decided to take a chance when she quit her full-time job and started her own permanent makeup application business at the age of just 25.

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She founded Columbus Cosmetic Ink and now applies semi-permanent makeup for a living.

Jump, had an annual salary of $34,500 while working as a marketing coordinator for a dental office CNBC.

During the pandemic, she began to really notice the eyebrows of dental patients as people’s faces were covered by masks.

Jump began “reading people’s emotions, particularly through their eyes and eyebrows.”

This was the trigger for her to explore microblading or semi-permanent cosmetic eyebrow tattooing.

Jump took classes to learn the technique and practiced for months at a time.

From her hobby, she began “seeing five clients a week” and “making at least $7,200 a month.”

In her third month of completing both gigs, she quit her job at the dentist to devote full time to her side job.

She estimated her current monthly income at $8,750, including her tips, and that’s reportedly “triple” her income at the dentist’s office.

For those looking to follow in her footsteps, Jump has a few tips she recommends.

First, a business plan is essential: “You don’t need a degree to get one,” she said.

This plan should focus on key elements such as customer demand, start-up costs, expected income, marketing ideas, competitors and trends.

“Taking my side hustle full-time was a risk, but this business plan has helped me feel more confident and prepared,” Jump wrote.

Going full-time with my part-time job was a risk, but this business plan made me feel more secure and better prepared.

Emily Leap

Another thing new business startups should focus on is to start working for free.

“I knew I was a talented microblading artist, but something else People didn’t know that,” she said.

“So in order to gain their confidence in my craft, I had to build a portfolio.”

If you can work for free, Jump highly recommends it — but you can also charge a small fee for your product or service just to cover the necessary costs.

When their customer book was full, Jump finally started charging customers premium prices.

Inevitably, times can get tough when you’re running your own business, and say that you love what you do—and constantly strive to get better at it—that makes the difference.

“I’ve always been passionate about everything to do with beauty. I’ve been a freelance makeup artist since I was in college,” she wrote.

“My clients are the main reason I look forward to work every day. Believe it or not, good eyebrows can give you confidence and change your life.”

Hoping for the best but expecting and planning for the worst can also make or break a business dream.

“When I had my full-time job at the dentist’s office — and Columbus Cosmetic Ink was still a part-time job — I worked 60 to 70 hours a week,” she recalls.

“Sometimes I’ve had to sacrifice my social life, sleep, lunch breaks and free time,” Jump said.

Diligently saving by avoiding expensive food and shopping trips also helped her to make her business dream come true.

Nevertheless, Jump firmly believes that anyone with enough motivation and will can make their dream come true.

“For me, the silver lining of the pandemic was that it made me realize that life is too short not to do something just because it ‘sounds like a lot of work.’

“Sometimes you can’t just wait for an opportunity to come along – you have to create it.”