‘My maternity leave side hustle makes $35,000 a month'

“It made breastfeeding and holding my baby asleep so much easier,” the chuffed Sydney mum reveals.

A midnight accident with their newborn baby inspired a Sydney mum and her partner to find a clever solution to a daily problem - and now they’ve raked in a whopping $175,000 in less than 12 months.

Lou was breastfeeding her then three-month-old son, Archie, in the wee hours of the night when she suddenly heard him scream at the top of his lungs.

The first-time mum from Sydney had nodded off just seconds earlier, and when she looked down, a wave of guilt swept over her.

“In my sleep-deprived state, I dropped the Kindle I was reading from on Archie’s head,” the 42-year-old tells Kidspot.

“Luckily, he was all fine, but it did give me a little scare.”

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Lou's idea came after a night time accident. Image: Supplied

A clever idea was born

Little did she realise at the time that this unfortunate accident would completely change her family’s future.

Rather than search for a solution online, that same week, Lou’s partner, Ben, got creative in the garage, and came up with a simple idea that made using the e-reader more functional during long feeding sessions.

“He made a silicone strap that was stapled together which I could slip on the Kindle and just slide my hand in and have it secure,” Lou explains.

“It was great. It did the trick. It was amazing when I was breastfeeding while lying down, too.”

After friends agreed the couple was onto something ingenious, Ben - who has a demanding full time job as a creative director - went full steam ahead and designed a prototype while Lou began using every free moment during her maternity leave to get their first business together off the ground from a spare room in their apartment.

Five months and $10,000 later, Strapsicle was launched in June, 2022.

The silicone strap, which comes in three sizes for Kindle and Kobo e-readers, retails for$22.90.

Lou's strap idea for devices is very clever. Images: Supplied

“We are the only silicone strap that moulds to your hand,” Lou says of the Strapsicle’s point of difference to the multitude of other e-reader handles on the market.

In the first few months of retailing solely from their website, Lou and Ben were excited just to be selling around five Strapsicles per day, making almost $3,000 per month.

“Right after the launch, we actually gave them away for free with just payments for postage,” Lou laughs.

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Taking care of business. Images: Supplied

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Hard work paying off

Lou worked tirelessly for months to set up an Amazon store, which she hoped would boost sales.

Soon after it launched in November, however, the couple was completely blown away by how popular their invention really was. In its first month on US Amazon, $18,000 worth of Strapsicles were sold.

The online portal has boosted sales for the new company so much that Lou and Ben’smonthly earnings between the US and Australian Amazon websites, as well as their own now ranges from $35,000 to $40,000 per month. Yes, that’s every single month.

In just one year, Strapsicle has raked in a whopping $175,000.

And that’s all while the busy parents manage to keep the business as their side hustle while ben continues to work full time and Lou works on it during every spare moment while 23-month-old Archie is at daycare or napping - all at the same time as juggling her role as an advertising project manager three days a week.

“To say to Ben that we were a six figure business, we were astounded,” the mum-of-one smiles humbly.

“It’s done so much to accelerate my mindset in the business. I love it so much that it doesn’t feel like work. And I know the more I work on it, the more it will grow.”

The entrepreneurs aren’t stopping at e-readers.In the works are Strapsicles for iPad minis, then phones, as well as screen protectors and cases.“There are so many different models of phones, that’s a much bigger investment,” she says.

“The sky’s the limit for us.”

The strap is also good for kids when travelling. Image: Supplied

Originally published as ‘My maternity leave side hustle makes $35,000 a month'