She quit her finance job for a $65,000 side job

May 27, 2024

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In this Side Hustle Spotlight Q&A, we hear from Ruta Drungilaite, founder of A Twist of Date, a company that helps couples plan date nights with its digital offerings—cold case files, conversation-starter cards, romantic board games, and more.

Photo credit: Courtesy of A Twist of Date. Ruta Drungilaite.

What was your main job (or other sources of income) when you started your side hustle?
After graduating in Economics and Finance at the age of 21, I followed the 'textbook route' of a graduate program at one of the major banks in Canary Wharf, London. Since then, I have held seven jobs in different departments and business areas in the seven years I was there, and quickly climbed the 'career ladder'. I specialised in financial product management and most recently served as VP Senior Product Manager for Payment Innovations (new payment acceptance solutions for corporate customers).

Related: These colleagues-turned-friends started a side job at Amazon — now it's a 'full-time job' making over $20 million a year: 'Jump in with both feet'

When did you start your part-time job and where did you find the inspiration for it?
The idea for A Twist Of Date came to me during one of the Covid lockdowns in 2021. We live in London so we're usually spoiled when it comes to fun things to do. My fiancé and I have done it all: hidden jazz clubs, secret cocktail bars, underground theatre plays, wine and cheese tastings, comedy nights, a Horrible Histories boat tour, an escape room-style outdoor food maze, indoor rock climbing, quirky art installations, driving range and much more.

However, lockdown took away all of those opportunities. As a result, my fiancé found it hard to think of original date ideas, while it only fueled my own creativity. I realized that there must be other people out there who also struggle to think of creative date ideas at home (not just a movie and dinner). So I started thinking about how I could solve this problem for couples.

What were the first steps you took to get your side job started?
My first idea was to create date night boxes that would be delivered to you with everything prepared and planned for a romantic evening at home. In February 2022, in time for Valentine's Day, I launched cocktail boxes and later pottery workshop boxes. The boxes included playlists, all the tools to make cocktails or do pottery, deep conversation starters and other activities designed to deepen the connection with your partner.

Couples loved these boxes and I received a lot of positive feedback, but making the boxes by hand was extremely labor intensive, profit margins were razor thin to nonexistent, and sales volume was not as high as I had initially hoped. Ultimately, the date box idea was neither scalable nor financially viable for me to continue.

After six months, I started selling a PDF with 110 date idea cards that couples could instantly download and print at home. Since this idea was well received, I shifted my business from physical date night boxes to digital products and expanded my product line to include romantic board games, cold case files, escape rooms, conversation starters, and more. This is when my business really started to take off and I knew I was onto something.

Related: Her side business “Magic Internet Money” has just reached a turnover of one billion dollars: “We poured six-figure sums onto the counter. The looks on the bank clerk's faces were priceless.”

What were the biggest challenges you faced when setting up your side business and how did you overcome them?
Building my first business was probably the hardest thing I've ever done in my life – and also the most fulfilling. It was an emotional rollercoaster with countless challenges.

Here are some of the most important:

The first product wasn't profitable: As mentioned above, my first idea of physical date night boxes was basically a loss and neither financially viable nor scalable. Even today, our cabinets are filled with hundreds of mini alcohol bottles from the cocktail boxes I used to sell! I could have given up at that point, but I decided to experiment and refocus, which led me to the digital date night products I sell today and for which I have placed more than 5,000 orders in 80 different countries.
Knowledge gap: Most of the time, I didn't know what I was doing, but I was willing to learn and persevere. I didn't have a big budget, so I did everything myself: I coded my website by searching for answers on YouTube, clumsily used Adobe Illustrator to design my logo, wrote privacy policies, terms and conditions, and other legal documents for my website, created and designed all the products without any experience using Canva, learned how to make TikToks and grow on social media – all despite never having used TikTok before. Throughout my journey, I always tried to adopt the attitude: I have no idea how to do this, but I'm sure I can learn.
Trying to build the business with a full-time job: There's no magic or secrets here – it was very difficult to juggle my demanding job and a business. I tried to work on my business in the evenings and weekends as much as I could, but after a full day of “firefighting” at my job, I was often emotionally and physically exhausted, so it wasn't always possible for me to work on my business as much as I would have liked. I had to accept that I only have a limited amount of energy and time, and for this endeavor to be sustainable, I had to prioritize my health, mental health, and overall well-being, even if that meant things were moving slower than I would have liked in the short term. I had to be cautious and watch for any signs that my mental health was being affected by overwork, and prioritize rest breaks and things that give me energy and joy. My approach was to prioritize continuity of action – I tried to do at least a little bit every day to build and grow my business.

Related: These college friends started a 'fun' side hustle that got them on 'Shark Tank' — now the idea is helping dozens make extra money: 'Start saying yes'

How long did it take you to start earning regular monthly income? How much did you earn from the side job?
In the first six months of starting my business, my total revenue was less than £3,000 (approximately $3,800). After seven months, my printable board game, Flirty Dice, went viral on TikTok, earning me over £700 (approximately $890) in just three days. That's when I knew I was on the right track and was able to see more growth by using organic social media to increase sales.

Since my sales were primarily driven by the distribution of my videos, income levels fluctuated significantly from month to month. I am still working on diversifying my marketing strategies and revenue streams to achieve greater sales consistency.

Why did you decide to turn your side job into a full-time business? What does growth and revenue look like now?
I had over 5,000 orders from 80 different countries and made around £60,000 (around $65,000) in sales before quitting my 9-to-5 corporate job, which reinforced my belief that my idea was solving a universal problem faced by couples around the world. Once the business concept was validated, I felt I could make this business work if I gave it my full attention. I've built up my personal savings to keep me afloat for at least the next 12 months, and after that I hope to make enough sales to pay myself a salary similar to what I had in my job in finance. Leaving my well-paying job in finance is the biggest risk I've ever taken, but I love the business I've built and believe I can make it work with consistency, discipline, and a growth mindset.

What do you enjoy most about running this company?
Although I have a background in finance, I am a very creative person by nature. I love coming up with new concepts for date ideas and bringing them to life.

What brings me the greatest joy is knowing that all my hard work is helping countless busy couples around the world spend quality time together. The heartfelt client messages and reviews I receive always make my day. Couples have told me that they have used my date nights to bond after the arrival of a newborn or to learn new things about each other even after 18 years of marriage.

Related: The fun side job she started at an old CVS store earned her $800,000 in one year. Now she's repeating the success with her daughter — and they've already crossed eight figures.

What advice would you give to others who want to start a successful side job or their own business?

Find a pain point. I recommend the excellent book Jobs to Be Done to any aspiring entrepreneur to learn how to identify and solve real problems.
Validate your idea. Every entrepreneur thinks their idea is fantastic, but the only way to verify it is to see if someone is willing to pay for it and if it can be profitable. If you want to leave your corporate job for a side hustle, I think it's important to prove your concept beforehand.
Prioritize action over perfection. Learn to launch and test your ideas before they're perfect. The more chaotic and ruthless you are, the faster you'll get the feedback you need and learn from it. There's no point spending years perfecting your product only to find that nobody wants it.
Do something you're really interested in. Ask yourself if you really care about your business idea. If so, the setbacks and disappointments you'll experience along the way will be worth persevering with.
Develop a growth mindset. It's easy to fall into a victim mentality, blaming circumstances and feeling sorry for yourself when things don't go according to plan, but that won't do you any good. Take responsibility for your mistakes and focus on what you can learn from them. Develop a mentality of curiosity and endless learning.
Stay true to your values. We see the stereotypical successful entrepreneur who goes weeks without sleep, works around the clock, and has no time for a social life or relationships. While that may work for some, I'm a huge believer in consciously defining what success means to you personally and consciously choosing what price you're willing to pay in the various aspects of your life to get there – because I believe you can achieve anything, but not everything. I know that my health and my relationships with family, friends, and fiancé always come first, and I'm not willing to lose control in those aspects of my life, even if it means my business grows more slowly.