Q&A: How do you turn a hobby into a business?

After a childhood “filled with art,” 25-year-old Ruby Gold says she studied nutrition and chemistry in college because the creative path didn’t seem like a realistic career option. As someone who now makes a living designing and selling clothes, she ultimately proved herself wrong.

Gold runs Orchard, an indie NYC brand specializing in collage-style printed garments and accessories, with pieces broadly ranging from $45 to $115. She spoke with Morning Brew about how she turned her passion project into a business.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

How did you get into clothing design?

I got a job at a textile-dyeing studio—we would do screen printing and fabric dyeing. It changed my whole perspective. I started making upcycled vintage pieces.

I would get slip dresses and print on those, pull up a rack to a park and be there from 6am to 9pm. I would make like $1,000 in a day and sell out of my stuff. I really wasn’t expecting it to turn into a business, but there was a desire for it, so I ran with it. I was able to start doing this full-time after my first year.

What were the early days like?

I was working three other freelance jobs, so I’d come home and sometimes be up until 3am doing physical production and working on social media posts for Orchard. Then I would street vend the next day.

I started making collage tank tops, and my Instagram Story sales would sell out in 10 minutes. At that point, I had around 1,000 followers. Then an influencer bought something from me. I had never gotten that many notifications before.

How have you expanded since then?

I don’t do street vending anymore. I started traveling to sell at craft markets. Recently, I started dipping my toes in production and manufacturing because I’ve been making everything myself for the past three years. I hired my first assistant, and I got a studio two months ago for production, teaching classes, and shopping appointments.

What advice do you have for turning a hobby into a career?

Don’t compare yourself to anything that you’re seeing on the internet, or to what your friends might be doing. There’s a market for everyone.

A lot of this has just been me teaching myself and learning from my mistakes. But I’m so happy. I feel like a kid in a candy store.—As told to ML