Managerial Accountant Earns $1,000/Month Hosting Poetry Slams

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

Hey, Side Hustle School listeners. Welcome back, it's Chris Guillebeau. 10 days out from the Side Hustle book launch. And did you ever hear that old saying about how the road to riches is paved with spoken word poetry? No?

Well, I don't think anyone's ever said that, but today you'll hear about a managerial accountant in Dubai who earns $1,000 a month hosting poetry slams. Now, Dubai is kind of a strange place. I've been going there pretty much every year since at least 2008, I think. I don't know any other place in the world where you can go to an indoor ski lodge at a mall when the temperature outside is more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. And it's such a weird thing because you can literally walk into this mall and see people skiing on artificial snow and other people are sitting around drinking hot chocolate.

I guess it makes sense because it's like the Arctic when you walk into the mall. It's bizarre because outside you leave your hotel, you walk outside, you start sweating immediately. And then you walk into a mall, which you pretty much do in Dubai since everything there is a mall. You need a sweater, you need a scarf, and you need some hot chocolate. Well, anyway, today's story takes us to Dubai, but there isn't any skiing there.

Instead, there's poetry. We'll meet that guy, the managerial accountant who sets up a series of workshops and poetry slams earning $1,000 each month doing something he cares about, not really trying to make a living from it, but pursuing a hobby that happens to pay him. In other words, a side hustle. I'll bring you that story right after this quick message from our sponsor. [Music]

Jamil Adas is a managerial accountant at Quorum Business Group, which specializes in staffing solutions in various industries.

He's originally Palestinian, born in Canada, but has lived in Dubai most of his life. Dubai Poetics is the name of his side hustle. He's building a community of poetry lovers in the Middle East by organizing poetry workshops, both written and spoken word, as well as performances. This originally came about when Jamil had written some poetry himself and wanted to start a poetry blog. However, he felt shy and wasn't confident about his work, so he created that blog under an anonymous name.

He realized that there are probably a lot of other people with mutual feelings about their work, so he set out to create an intimate, safe, and fun platform for people to express themselves. He says that a lot of people are interested in feeling part of something noble and authentic. Poetry is an art form that has a lot of roots in the Middle East, but it hasn't been taken seriously there recently, so he's working on changing that. He believed that if something like Dubai Poetics existed, people would want to express themselves more with poetry, so working with a partner, he set up a series of workshops, and through these workshops, they've seen students go from literally shaking as they read out their piece during rehearsal to rocking their poetry on a stage in front of an audience of more than 100 people, which is all very meaningful, but this is, in fact, an income-generating project, so how do they get paid? Well, Jamil and his partner charge both organizations and individuals.

When charging organizations, they usually work around what the budget is for the program. For example, a marketing agency approached them to do a program at Dubai Mall, not the same shopping mall where you can go skiing, but close by. Dubai Mall wanted to produce a cultural experience, so they paid Jamil to offer the workshop directly there, but when charging participants, they look at the underlying value of the workshop plus the amount of time it would take them to set up, promote, and run the workshop. Jamil also asked himself, "What would I pay for this workshop?" And for now, they've ended up at $15 for a simple poetry and writing class and $70 for a more intense spoken word workshop. Between the organizational commitments and the individual registrations, this is adding up to $1,000 a month on a regular basis, not enough to retire on, but definitely real money built on a meaningful mission.

Jamil has plans to keep developing Dubai Poetics. He wants to create a poetry book club, a poetry social mixer, a poetry podcast, an anthology of the best poems his students have written, more contracts with arts and cultural hubs in the city, and perhaps even horizontal growth into other cities in the Middle East. But at least for now, he's found a winning spoken strategy. Next time you're in Dubai, be sure to visit the indoor ski slopes, get some hot chocolate, and check out a poetry slam. [Music]

I count it by day, poet by night.

This is a great combination for a side hustle. I'd encourage you to ask yourself, is there something creative you like to do or that you might like to do, but you never thought you could earn money from? Well, just to be clear, I don't think everything you do in life should be for money, especially something like poetry. But since this show is focused on income-generating projects, I do think it's interesting when someone's been able to take a creative art, something like poetry that you don't usually think about making money from, and then actually going out and doing that. [Music]

I hope you enjoyed this story.

As always, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better. Today's show notes, including links to Dubai Poetics and Ski Dubai are at sidehustleschool.com/252. I'll be back with you tomorrow with the weekly recap. I'm Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School. [Music]