How Jimenez Siblings Earned $105K In 2021 By Selling Home-Made Candy

How a side-hustle went into a full-blown business

Last year, when the world was put under Covid restrictions, various businesses saw a downward spiral because they couldn’t think out of the box to keep themselves afloat.

However, people like Jimenez’s siblings turned Covid restrictions into opportunities. Very few people take advantage of adversity, and they were one of them.

JJ, 26, and Rudy Jimenez, 19, thought to make home candies and sell them to family, friends, and social media followers to earn some extra bucks when they faced lockdown.

They didn’t know their side-hustle would make them an annual $105K profit.

Chilitos or dulces enchiados, the candy they made, followed a traditional Mexican spices pattern that gave a sour-sweet taste at once became a quick success.

Upon asking, Rudy said, “We kind of looked at each other and had that first little bite, while JJ said,’ we can do something with this. Let’s start trying to sell it to our friends and family and just locals if we possibly can.”

They also made their intentions cleared about being side-hustlers as;

“It started off as a side hustle. Our goal was not to make a lot of money or even get big. It just did it on its own. Once you try them, you just fall in love.”

How they started their side hustle

Rudy got her passion for making things herself from her parents, who were Mexican immigrants. Rudy and her brother grew up in Southern California with their parents and saw that they added Mexican spices to food and even fruits they would consume.

They did this to their food to combine Mexican and American food. They also advised Rudy and her brother to make things themselves to give it a good taste.

“The way we grew up, our parents always kind of told us to make [things] ourselves, if we were able to,” Rudy says.

When Rudy wanted to make candies that could blend American and Mexican and sell them for earning more money, JJ wasn’t sure his sister’s ideas would work, “I thought it would just not work out.”

He thought Mexican candies wouldn’t compete with the American candy flavors.

But when they made their first batch of candies coated with Gushers and other spices, it surprised JJ when he said, “it was delicious.”

However, the sibling went on the business venture and set it up in a small apartment in Brenham, California. They bought the necessary ingredients from a local grocery store and made their first paste that would go into candies.

They also took to Instagram to advertise their candies, and after a day, they had 100 followers and orders for bags of candies. Their follower grew more rapidly that has now crossed thousands of followers.

JJ had already worked online on eBay as well as a delivery guy for GrubHub and various other jobs; he had saved about $10,000 for these jobs and invested the money in his sister’s candies.

He also made a website to handle the customers’ orders more efficiently and made their brand of packaging and shipping materials.

They also contacted the social media influencers and secured the deal with Mexican-American Yasim Maya, who runs her beauty vlog as “BeautyBird.” She promoted the candies to her 1.1 million followers, really kicked up Jimenez’s sibling’s business, and got an influx of candies orders from social media.

Within a few months of their business, they progressed rapidly and would get up to 60 orders on good days. As the orders increased, JJ and Rudy focused much of their time making candies and delivering them.

The increase in orders also forced JJ to quit at a manufacturing company to keep up with the influx of orders. JJ quitting his full-time job also pressured Rudy, but then they risked working hard on their side hustle to make it a success, and they did it. Rudy says about her brother’s decision of quitting his job,

“It was a big moment where I was like, ‘OK’ if you already did it, let’s just go for it, then. And we have to put all our effort into this little business that we just started.”

Their business paid off a year later

A year later, Enchilositos Treats grew into a six-figure business. They also moved into a bigger house with a much bigger kitchen that provided enough space for the candy-making materials.

The business provides for their expenses and pays their bills. They expanded their business and now offer a variety of candies such as Fruit Roll-Ups, Jolly Ranchers, Nerds, and Gushers, many others.

“Now we’re able to sustain ourselves with it and pay off our bills and things like that. And we’re hoping to continue to grow bigger and bigger.”

According to JJ and Rudy, they get online orders from all over the US and even from Canada and Mexico. The success of their side-hustle made them confident enough to decide on opening a physical location and expanding the business more.

Rudy is quite optimistic about her business growth and says,

“It’s time for us to be able to do that, so we’re ready to be able to open up a location very soon here in Texas.”

What business lessons do we get from Jimenez’s sibling’s success story?

There is no small or big business, and a business is a business, whether on a small scale or expanded.

But that doesn’t matter a lot in the business world.

I learned a few things from Jimenez’s and other business success stories that are awe-inspiring and valuable. Here are the lessons I learned:

• It’s not the width or breadth of your business that makes you a success, but your passion and dedication to what you do.
• You have to take the risk of failure and money loss to get the maximum dividends.
• Focus on what you do to get real growth fully. There is nothing as a side hustle.
• New ideas are always scary to implement, but the right promotion strategy and maintaining the quality of your product can take your business to the next level of success.
• The best business strategy is believing in yourself, committing yourself to what you see fit, and working.