{"id":36196,"date":"2025-10-23T10:21:37","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T10:21:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/usa\/after-my-double-mastectomy-i-turned-my-side-hustle-into-a-full-time-business-we-did-60000-in-one-month\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T10:21:37","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T10:21:37","slug":"after-my-double-mastectomy-i-turned-my-side-hustle-into-a-full-time-business-we-did-60000-in-one-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/usa\/after-my-double-mastectomy-i-turned-my-side-hustle-into-a-full-time-business-we-did-60000-in-one-month\/","title":{"rendered":"After my double mastectomy, I turned my side hustle into a full-time business. We did $60,000 in one month."},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/68f7a159cc993f9955d09222?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Bette Bentley holding a box of Skimpies against a pink background.\"\/><figcaption>Bette Bentley went all-in on Skimpies from her hospital bed after her double mastectomy.<\/p>\n<p>Skimpies<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>Bette Bentley invented Skimpies, an underwear alternative.<\/li>\n<li>She was hand-delivering the product to acquaintances and barely breaking even.<\/li>\n<li>After undergoing a double mastectomy, she fully committed to the business, and sales soon followed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with <\/em>Bette Bentley<em>, founder of<\/em> Skimpies<em>. It has been edited for length and clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>My grandmother died of breast cancer at 40, so I went for my first mammogram at 36. I found out that I had a pre-cancerous growth. Because of my family history, it was very concerning. My doctor told me if I were her daughter, she&#039;d be operating tomorrow. Within weeks, I had a double mastectomy and reconstruction.<\/p>\n<p>When I woke up in my hospital room, I thought about the things that made me happy: God, my husband, my kids, and Skimpies, my business that I&#039;d so far only been running as a side hustle. I was surprised that Skimpies made the list, but I knew then I should take it seriously.<\/p>\n<p>Before then, I was hand-cutting Skimpies, single-use cotton underwear alternatives, at my kitchen table and delivering them to women I knew. I would say, &quot;I can&#039;t wait to be in your pants,&quot; and we would laugh and hug. Connecting with these other women was pure joy. I knew, lying in my hospital bed, that I wanted to grow that feeling into a real, full-fledged business.<\/p>\n<h2>Making a major medical decision gave me confidence<\/h2>\n<p>I put down the deposit on a mold that would allow us to manufacture Skimpies on a larger scale, all before being discharged.<\/p>\n<p>I had just made a massive decision for my health: getting the mastectomy and giving up my dream of having and breastfeeding a third child. I&#039;d lost my breasts, which contributed to my femininity and self-worth, but I&#039;d made it out the other side. Now, I had the confidence to dive into my business wholeheartedly.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/68f7a0ed1c1f80efbec5f5d9?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Bette Bentley smiling while wearing pink leggings and cutting a pair of green underwear.\"\/><figcaption>Bette Bentley wanted a solution to underwear lines and created Skimpies.<\/p>\n<p>Photo by Mandee Johnson Photography<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>The idea for Skimpies was personal<\/h2>\n<p>I&#039;d come up with the idea for Skimpies years before. I&#039;m in leggings all the time. I love working out, and being a mom is a workout in itself. And yet, I had an underwear problem anytime I put my leggings on. I didn&#039;t want visible panty lines, but no one wants to do yoga in a thong!<\/p>\n<p>Most women I talked to were going commando, but that creates its own issues for grown adults. To cope with moisture, I tried using a panty liner in my leggings, but it always just balled up.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, I struggled with urinary tract infections (UTIs), which can be made worse by synthetic underwear. I wanted a cotton product that could give me coverage &quot;from beep to boop&quot; as I like to say, and keep up with my active lifestyle.<\/p>\n<p>I had no background in manufacturing \u2014 I was a comedy writer who had most recently been a stay-at-home mom. But I&#039;m the type of person who solves a problem when I see it.<\/p>\n<h2>I&#039;m celebrating second chances<\/h2>\n<p>I officially launched my business in September 2024. I started promoting the product on TikTok. It reminded me of the early days of hand-delivering Skimpies to a few acquaintances. I felt a strong connection with my customers and community, and started selling on TikTok live. My comedy background was a great help in engaging the audience, and sales took off. Last June, we did $60,000 in sales in a month.<\/p>\n<p>During the past year, I&#039;ve also completed my undergraduate degree and a business certificate at Stanford Graduate School of Business. For a long time, not having a degree was a source of embarrassment and pain. It turns out I only needed to take one more class. Now I&#039;ve healed that wound and grown from the challenge.<\/p>\n<p>Today, my company has eight employees. I focus on hiring moms who have been out of the workforce while raising their families. They remind me of where I was when I first had this idea. Whether it&#039;s returning to a career after having babies or getting a new lease on life after a health scare, I want Skimpies to be a place where second chances are celebrated.<\/p>\n<p>Read the original article on Business Insider<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bette Bentley went all-in on Skimpies from her hospital bed after her double mastectomy. Skimpies Bette Bentley invented Skimpies, an underwear alternative. She was hand-delivering the product to acquaintances and barely breaking even. After undergoing a double mastectomy, she fully committed to the business, and sales soon followed. This as-told-to essay is based on a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36197,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36196","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}