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How We Encourage Side Hustles

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When creativity is one of your company’s core values, you get to work alongside some super-talented people. And when super-talented people have good ideas, things like Freddie’s Makers Market happens.

It all started with an email from Ashe, one of our Billing Coordinators. “I was thinking, as we get closer to the holidays, what if employees who have a side hustle could set up a table and bring in their goods for other employees to shop?”

Mailchimp is full of creators and craftspeople who make awesome stuff outside the office. You can find them selling their wares on Etsy, at neighborhood festivals, and in local boutiques. Sometimes, they just enjoy making things for their friends. Ashe was right. We have a lot of creative side hustles going on at our company. What better way than to show them off and help them sell some stuff?

So on the Wednesday after Thanksgiving we hosted our very first Freddie’s Makers Market. We had 15 employees set up booths in our Coffee Hour space where they sold things from kids shirts to bitters, custom illustrations to nerf gun accessories. The first market was a success, names were crossed off shopping lists and, best of all, no one had to leave the office.

We didn’t want to wait a year to have another market, so we hosted a Spring version just in time for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and graduation gifts. We realize our employees aren’t the only talented ones in the bunch, so we invited their significant others and family to sell, too.

Marketing Associate EQ invited her mom to sell her beautiful hand-woven sweetgrass baskets. Senior Talent Scout Chris assisted his wife Shauna, who designs jewelry for their Etsy shop The Lumen House. Art Director Ross sold enamel pins, while his wife Anna had some fashionable leather goods for sale. And you may remember Dorothy from The Cook Gallery—she was at the market selling the leftover prints from her solo show.

Now, we’re onto the next one. Freddie’s Makers Market will hold its third event on November 28. Wanna be a part of it? We’re always hiring.

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