In 2011, a Kentucky couple Tori Gerbig and her husband Chris put $300 into an eBay clothing side hustle called Pink Lily; 10 years later, sales hit $141 million

Tori Gerbig and her husband, Chris started a simple online clothing business that had begun with about $300 and eventually grew into Pink Lily, a women's fashion platform that produced $141 million in gross sales in 2021 as per the CNBC report.

From eBay Side Hustle to Pink Lily

Gerbig was 24 when she and Chris started selling women's clothing on eBay in 2011. Their original objective was to generate an extra amount to help pay off student loans.

The duo worked from their living room and kept their costs low. They used almost $300 to purchase clothing and accessories from a wholesaler and started selling the products online.


In the early years, the business produced between about $300 and $1,000 each month. They made use of those earnings to minimize the student debt and to reinvest in making business developments.

The venture started receiving momentum after Gerbig created a Facebook page for marketing and later introduced a website for direct sales.

Rapid Growth of Business and a Full-Time Career

Within a few years the business started growing considerably. Less than three years after the primary launch, Gerbig was generating over $100,000 in monthly revenue. By May 2014, the company was regularly reaching around $100,000 in monthly revenue, enabling Gerbig to leave her job and work on Pink Lily full-time.

Writing for CNBC, Gerbig described how she and Chris approached the uncertainty of establishing a business without getting a outside backing:

"Without funding or assurances of what was ahead, we took the risk and set ambitious goals. I focused on leveraging my sales and social media knowledge to grow our outreach while Chris incorporated his finance expertise to structure operations."

The organization continued growing over the following years. By 2019, Pink Lily had reached $70 million in sales. In 2021, its gross sales reached $141 million as per CNBC.

Gerbig’s Business Lessons

Gerbig credits part of Pink Lily's development to maintaining a consistent business approach. The company concentrated on clear branding. They used social media to feature customers wearing its products.

She also recommended aspiring entrepreneurs to reinvest profits into their businesses and find gaps in the market.

For Gerbig and Chris, the journey started with a modest $300 investment and with an objective of paying down student debt. Through continued reinvestment, social-media marketing, online sales and business development, their side hustle grew into a company that reported $141 million in gross sales a decade after it began.

Source: UNILAD