When Michelle Hensley, now founder and CEO of the luxury gift basket and packaging company Nifty Package Co.lost her husband, a pastor, to cancer in 2014, she was 50 and “had a complete identity crisis,” she says.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Nifty Package Co.
Hensley's husband had handled them FINANCES while she ran a non-profit organization, and although she received a year's stipend from the church after he died, she had to find another way to they succeed. At that time she still had two children at home.
Hensley had to start from square one. She had been out of the workforce for over a decade; she didn't know how to pay a bill online. She trusted some money to an advisor who didn't understand her needs as a widow and lost thousands of dollars.
After that, Hensley hired a financial coach to help him determine next steps. The coach suggested that she draw on her counseling experience and start her own businessbut Hensley was not interested in that route. “I had already been through my grief,” Hensley explains, “and I just wasn't ready for it.”
However, Hensley was intrigued by DRILLbeing “side by side with someone, helping them move forward with purpose.” So she got her certification in finance, life and pain, eventually landing a job in the financial services space. At one point, she considered a position as director of a rehab center, but it required 60-hour weeks, and Hensley didn't want to spend that much time away from her children.
“I was just in a hurry like everyone else, but I had no idea how much a commodity cost.”
Hensley was determined to find a way to work when and where she wanted—and she wanted to lift up other women entrepreneurs along the way. When she shared her goal with her sons, they suggested she revisit a business she had years ago: gift baskets. Hensley liked the idea and asked her daughter-in-law and several other women if they would be interested in joining her business and working from home.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Nifty Package Co.
They were: Nifty Package Co. was born in 2015. Hensley went on to work in financial services and build the Nifty Package as a side hustlelearning a lot about entrepreneurship along the way. “I was just in a rush like everyone else, but I had no idea how much a commodity cost,” says Hensley. “I didn't understand EARNINGS. I gave it everything. But I learned to go out and start talking to people even though I was terrified. So, I would just go and show that I have this gift basket company.”
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It didn't take long and Nifty Package Co. was developed to offer luxury baskets to meet the demands of its clientele. Hensley kept her day job and got through it all side hustle profits back to business. Then, a few years later, during the 2018 holiday season, inspiration struck again—Hensley discovered a new way to increase her lateral hustle.
“I would wake up every day at 3:45 in the morning, praying and reading my Bible and looking out the window,” Hensley recalls, “and I see my van sitting there, and it's not being used, and so I thought, God, that van is sitting there, it doesn't create any incomeand I wonder if I can drive around and close people's presents. I already give gifts. I wonder if I can wrap them.”
“I was very tired, but I had a business, another addition.”
Hensley immediately created a website advertising the gift-wrapping service, and within four days, a current client who didn't like gift-wrapping wanted to hire him. So Hensley loaded all her supplies into the van, left and went to work, excited to get the job done until she realized her mistake — “I didn't label the gifts,” Hensley recalls. “I had to open and rewrap every present. I was very tired, but I had one BUsINEssanother addition.”
At the time, Hensley didn't know much social media marketingbut she experimented with sharing her side hustle on Instagram and eventually, her photos gained traction on the platform. In 2019, Too Faced Cosmetics sought out her design services. It was Hensley's first big quest: 400 presents to wrap.
Then one day, Hensley got a call from the Kardashians' property manager. She wondered if it was a prank and didn't really know who the Kardashians were, she says. Her boys filled her in, and then Hensley and her team were in Calabasas, appearing Kim Kardashian their gift wrapping designs. Some ideas missed the mark – until Hensley introduced a style with a Furoshiki, a Japanese wrapping cloth, which was a hit.
These projects helped launch Hensley's side hustlewhich was quickly becoming a full-fledged career, in the corporate and celebrity spheres. Nifty Package Co. continued to focus on domestic and high-end products to stay away from competitors and add to its impressive client list, which includes Justin Bieber and Hailey Bieber, MetaVan Cleef & Arpels, Mont Blanc, Hugo Boss, Versace and Coach, among many others.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Nifty Package Co.
“They're all treated the same, whether it's a $20 gift package or a $100,000 gift package.”
Last year was a pivotal year for the business, says Hensley. Nifty Package Co. doubled in size and its gift wrapping services accounted for 68% of all sales – worth more than $316,000. Not surprisingly, Nifty Package Co.'s biggest quarter yet. happens during holiday seasonwhen you see about 50% of the annual income.
About three years ago, Hensley started exploring franchise the possibilities. Nifty Package Co. now there is one licensing program that “provides the tools, support and guidance (licensees) need to thrive in the world of personalized gifting experiences.” Today, the business boasts over 20 people on its local team and 60 across the US
“These are contract staff,” Hensley says, “that's what they're doing side hustle. They are single mothers. They are older mothers. They are old women who have never married but need work. Maybe they're retired, or they're a gift basket (business) owner and they want to add wrapping.”
Image Credit: Courtesy of Nifty Package Co.
These days, Nifty Package Co. is no longer one side hustle for Hensely, but a full-fledged business and career — one that she credits her family and support network with helping her make.
And while Nifty Package Co. continues to grow, Hensley plans to keep the company's “whole premise” of “bringing joy.” “(We have) a system that (ensures) every gift, every person who orders a gift, every person who has us come out and wrap a gift, they're all treated the same, really well, whether it's a $20 gift pack or a $100,000 gift pack.”
This article is part of our ongoing Women Entrepreneur® series highlighting the stories, challenges and triumphs of running a business as a woman.