This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Hello and welcome. You are listening to Side Hustle School, where we are beginning an all new week, every day on this daily series, bringing you a different story of someone who starts a side hustle, an income generating project, not just a hobby or something they do for fun without quitting their day job. And I've got some good ones coming up this week. My hope is that you'll learn from the stories and then take action on them. I want you to be able to have a side hustle.
I want you to have a second income, a third income. And the whole point of the series is to show you how different people have done that. And we've talked from time to time about earning commissions for different things. Episode 182, for example, is about a guy who earns $22,000 a year on the side by making real estate referrals to people he comes into contact with anyway. I've got another interesting story like that today.
It takes place not in the real estate business, but the wedding business. And as we know, so many things in the wedding business have very inflated prices along with a lack of transparency. And if you're buying an engagement ring, for example, well, this is kind of a racket because you have no idea how much something should cost, how you can compare prices, what you really need or what you even want. And you really need an independent professional, someone who's kind of like an agent to advise you. And you want that agent to be free of bias, unlike any jeweler.
So today's story is about someone in London who has created a free service that does exactly this. And you might wonder, how can you make money from a free service? Well, she actually makes up to several thousand dollars a month doing this. The answer lies in commissions. I'll tell you the whole story in a moment.
But first in some episodes this week, I'll be featuring shout outs from listeners, two people who've helped them along the way in their side hustle journey. So let's hear from someone who wants to say thank you. - Hey Chris, my name is Taylor and I'm calling from San Antonio, Texas. I'm actually launching my very first side hustle in a couple of weeks, yay. And I'd like to send a shout out to all of my family and friends who have encouraged and supported me on this journey.
You guys are absolutely amazing and I appreciate everything that you guys have done for me. But while having such a strong foundation has been crucial to getting this project off the ground, honestly, none of this would have been possible without you and Side Hustle School. These episodes not only inspire me, they've given me the strength and courage that I need to take action on my ideas. So thank you for all that you do and please keep hustling. [Laughter] [Music]
Rowena Cumner lives a double life.
By day, she's an international marketing manager at Moo, a custom printing and design company. You may have seen their miniature business cards. They're really fun. But by night, she's a secret agent. Rowena is Agent E, the driving force behind Agent Engagement, a secret British service, well, really a side hustle, that aims to assist anyone, no matter their budget, who needs help buying an engagement ring by connecting them with the best designers and jewelers.
The moment Rowena knew she was onto something was when she found herself on a train carrying a grocery bag that discreetly contained a load of diamonds. She was on her way to meet the gentleman who would be recognized as her first client at his office in Canary Wharf, the banking district of London. A friend of a friend, the proposer-to-be, had a diamond from his grandmother but was unsure if it would be suitable for a new ring. Rowena had been working for a jeweler at the time. She sat with him in the lobby of his building and realized there wasn't a truly independent, trusted service where you could compare and contrast all the different ways you could design, build, and buy an engagement ring.
Yes, you could go into a jeweler and they would provide a personal shopping experience, but they only saw what they specialize in. And naturally, even if they're honest, they're also biased. That's when Rowena saw a clear need and the idea for Agent Engagement was born. After registering her business, the first thing Rowena did was create a website. She wasn't a designer, so she decided to set up Agent Engagement with Squarespace because she liked the all-in-one aspect of the platform and it allowed her to get things up and running quickly.
So quickly, in fact, she actually built her entire website while sitting at the hairdresser. Now, here's something else fun. Before settling on a price for her service, Rowena took time to explore how people interacted with the idea, and that's when she decided that Agent Engagement should be free. Rowena is able to do this because even with saving her client's money, there's margin enough for her to receive a small commission directly from the jeweler, a commission that is the same for every client. So there's no incentive to upsell or refer to any particular jeweler.
Now, this aspect of business is important because it allows her to build a trusted relationship with the clients. To secure her services, a client or engaged couple will contact Rowena, most often through referral from one of her friends or from a previous customer. She takes a secret engagement ring brief from the client, getting details on timing, style, budget, and the person the ring is for. And once Rowena has determined her client's needs, she connects them with a jeweler or team of jewelers that she believes are the best option. But it doesn't end there.
She supports her client through the whole process, lining up other helpful resources, like insurance or a ring box, or tips on how to get the ring through security at an airport without a security person opening it up and giving away the secret. And although her basic services are free, Rowena also offers some add-on options for a nominal fee. For example, if a client wants to spend a day exploring options by visiting luxury brand showrooms, Rowena will set up the private appointments and go around with the client to show them. In a good month, especially in the run-up to summer and Christmas, Rowena's side hustle can generate a few thousand pounds in profit or four to $5,000. In a quieter month, it might just be a few hundred.
But that's okay because she's not relying on this for her primary income. It's just something that's a nice bonus for something she enjoys doing anyway. The greatest part of it for her has been helping people, and she really wants the side hustle to grow organically rather than scaling too quickly and amassing overhead. Now, speaking of overhead, Rowena keeps her cost extremely low. Her career experience in marketing has allowed her to trade knowledge and advice for business services she requires.
For example, by assisting her accountant with partnerships for his business, Rowena saves 900 pounds a year in bookkeeping services. She estimates her total monthly costs are just 18 pounds, or about $30, because for travel, she cycles or walks everywhere. For marketing, she's used free resources, like networking through LinkedIn contacts, along with free business cards from her employer, Moo. And her phone service is the same contract she would have had whether she had a side hustle or not. She's also just as passionate about her career in marketing as she is about agent engagement, and that's why she's building a lifestyle that can balance the two.
In the long term, she'd love to see an agent engagement representative in every major city. These agents would spread the word sourcing and discovering the best jewelry makers for their area, but for now, it's a side hustle that provides many of the benefits you hear about every day on the show. Extra income, sometimes substantial extra income, something to fall back on, and something that's both fun and meaningful. [Music]
So, what can we learn from the agent engagement story? Well, the first part should be pretty obvious.
Marwena has found a clear solution to a clear problem. As I said, the engagement ring business is kind of a racket. Even if you're not working with someone who's dishonest, like I said, they have their own bias. Every jeweler has their own stock they want to sell, so she's found a way to be an independent agent, work for free for consumers, but get paid a commission for referral. So, that works really well.
Free is a pretty attractive price. When you offer something for free, as long as it's legitimate, it has value, it tends to lower people's defenses, especially if you can explain why it's free. That's because most of us tend to be skeptical when we hear something's free. We're like, "What's the catch?" But then you kind of figure it out and say, "Oh, actually, this works for everybody." Like, she's been able to craft this interesting business, and if I use her business, I'm gonna make a better decision, I'm gonna get something that I'm happier with, and hopefully the person I'm proposing to is very happy with, and I'm also gonna save money doing it. Like, it's a very compelling proposition.
And Rowena has also done a great job with her branding. If you check out her website, which we'll link up in the show notes, she has really pushed this whole thing about the British Secret Service really far. Kind of runs throughout the whole brand with the social media, everything else. So, it's not surprising that it's worked so well, and I also appreciate the fact that she likes her day job, she's passionate about that too, and she's found a way to build that lifestyle that supports both. So, what a great story.
If you're interested in learning more about agent engagement, come and check out the show notes for today's episode at sidehustleschool.com/198. As always, inspiration is good, but inspiration combined with action is so much better. Oh, and one more thing, if you've ever wanted to have your own online store, yesterday I mentioned a free 20 lesson video series produced by our friends at Shopify. You can check that out at sidehustleschool.com/onlinestore. They also have a free trial for their service.
You can actually participate in the video training and watch it without registering at all. I'll include a link for that as well. So much more good stuff is coming up this week. Thank you for listening. I'm Chris Guillebeau for Sidustleschool.
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