This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey there, what's up? Welcome back. This is Chris Guillebeau First Side Hustle School. I've been thinking about this word authenticity. This is a word that you hear often in advice about how to engage on social media or how to present it yourself, your message, your offer, whatever it is to the world.
So you hear this advice, be authentic. I think this is one of the most misunderstood concepts in this day and age, in this world we live in, where people are trying to figure out how to translate offline concepts into the online world or the podcasting world or whatever it is. So obviously it's good to be authentic, but what does that actually mean? I think first it means don't be false. Like don't be someone that you're not.
Don't try to do something because somebody else does it, even though it doesn't feel comfortable to you. Don't try to take on someone else's voice, figure out what your voice is, et cetera. So many years ago I was an aid worker and the first rule of international development or really of helping anyone anywhere is to do no harm. Like whatever else you do, make sure you're not making the situation worse. So when it comes to being authentic, maybe the first rule is don't be false.
But then beyond that, surely it means something else. And I think whatever that thing is, is something more positive. And it means to tell your story in a way that's true to you. Like you're not using someone else's voice, but once you've found your voice, it's about being true to that story and that message. And if you're wondering how that works or how to apply that, maybe it's easier to understand in the form of a story.
So that's what we'll do today right after this brief message. [Music]
Before our side hustle turned into our main job, Michelle de Vella was working as a graphic designer in Los Angeles while writing on her website, Pushing Beauty on the Side. It started toward the end of 2012. And she began by writing about what felt most important to her. She didn't do any research about what would go over best or get the most traffic to the website she had created using Squarespace.
She just surrendered to the process. She trusted her intuition and she wrote. That intuition led her to start by writing about things she was curious about and things she's learned along the way that have shaped her life. She described it by saying, it felt like something I had to do. It was more about satisfying this deep longing to express something rather than creating an idea in my head.
Once she had a few posts on that website, she started reaching out to blogs that took guest submissions as a way to get a bit more exposure. So she wrote posts for sites like Elephant Journal, Tiny Buddha, and Mind Body Green. And this helped her hone her writing voice and help more people discover her website. Still, this website was just a side project and it wasn't a money-making one. She finally set up a mailing list where people could get a 10-page ebook entitled "How to Find True Happiness" in exchange for signing up.
This was the beginning of pushing beauty, having the potential to be more than just a fun project, but also a fun project that helped to pay the bills. All along this time, Michelle kept working her day job and pursuing things that interested her. And that's how she discovered breath work. Now, breath work is kind of a form of meditation. It's not so much about breathing to relax as it is a specific practice to create healing in your life or learn more about yourself or guide you through difficult times.
And Michelle really liked breath work. Soon after she discovered it for herself, she took a training so that she could lead sessions for other people. When she started writing about this, people started asking her to do those sessions and they also asked her for mentoring. This was a couple of years after she had started that blog for fun. So in 2015, she focused on offering one-on-one sessions as well as the mentoring that people were asking for.
Then a friend of hers asked if she would teach a virtual workshop with him. She accepted and successfully led her first six-week long workshop working with people around the world. By the end of the year, that mailing list she'd started, which she manages through MailChimp, had about 200 subscribers. Now, that may not sound like a ton, but from the session she did, as well as that virtual workshop she collaborated on, in 2015, the side hustle brought in $10,000. This additional income allowed her to move out of an apartment she shared with her roommate and move into her own place for the first time.
Michelle felt validated that she was now able to live alone because of something she created and offered to her community. Teaching a virtual workshop for her friend made her realize that she could do a similar thing under her own name. So in 2016, she launched a series of virtual workshops as well as a self-led course that people could go through at their own pace. And this was when she realized her side project wasn't just for fun, and it also wasn't just for extra income. It was something that had the potential at least for her to do full-time.
She realized that the self-led course she was making was scalable. It was something she made once and then she could spend more time marketing it. And those virtual workshops could of course be taken by anyone anywhere in the world. So during 2016, she became more active, began focusing on building a profile on Instagram, and by expanding her offerings and continuing to grow her mailing list, in 2016, Michelle made $50,000. Now here we are in 2017, and Michelle's work continues to evolve.
She's been working on offering more workshops and services, and so far she's on track to make about $80,000 this year. She's still surprised and grateful that this little seed of an idea she kept nurturing has turned into one of the most important things in her life. The advice that she has for anyone interested in doing something similar, maybe even you over there, is to make sure that what you're doing is something you can feel good about. She says, "When we create from joy, people can feel it." Human beings are attracted to abundance, but we run away from desperation. So make sure the thing you're doing is something you believe in.
[Music]
So I wanted to open this episode with that question about authenticity, because Michelle's story feels very authentic. It feels very true to herself. She didn't have a strategic business plan. She started writing about what she was interested in. She learned something new.
She shared about that process. And then over the course of about three years, she's built that into a very successful income that has allowed her to stop doing graphic design for companies and just build her own business. Now, I know that a lot of people listening to the show are not necessarily trying to quit their jobs, and that's totally cool. But I think whatever it is you're trying to create, those lessons of being true to yourself, taking the time to find your voice and understand what your story is, 'cause it doesn't usually happen overnight, those lessons are only gonna help you no matter what you decide to do next. So as you heard, Michelle started by not making money, and the first year she kind of opened for business, she made $10,000, last year was $50,000, year two, and now she's on track for about 80,000.
So obviously it's working out for her. And the question for you, or at least for a lot of people listening to the show, is what's your voice? What message do you have to share? What can you create from a place of joy? And by the way, this sometimes begins more as a feeling or an intention than a well-developed concept.
So don't be discouraged. If you feel like you don't have the full answer yet, it took Michelle several years in this story. And obviously she's still learning about herself and about this practice, just as I'm learning every day. Lots of other people listening to the show are learning as well. So we're all on a journey, but somehow I do think the answer relates to that voice, that message, that thing that is unique to you that other people eventually need to hear about.
And I hope that's helpful. I hope you enjoyed this. If you listen to these stories and you begin applying them to your life, I really do believe you'll see results not overnight, but over time. Inspiration is good, but inspiration combined with action is so much better. If you wanna see the show notes for today, just come over to sidehustleschool.com/115.
That's 115. And of course, if you have a comment or a question for the show, give me a call on the Hustle Hotline. It's 8449 Hustle. Thank you for listening. I'm Chris Guillebeau.
This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
