This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
What's up friends and listeners? Welcome back to Side Hustle School. I'm your host, Chris Guillebeau. We often talk about problems on the show. We talk about problems in need of solutions and people who come along just at the right time to provide just the right solution and end up creating a new source of income out of it.
And it's not just that new source of income, of course. It's a lot of other benefits as well. It can often be something that helps people and problems can be anything from annoyances or frustrations all the way up to some more serious things. With a side hustle, you can still address issues of community and create a sense of belonging among like-minded people or people who've been through a similar experience. You can provide support for emotional and spiritual needs, mental health needs, survivors of trauma and other kinds of hardships.
And as you'll hear in today's story, it's possible to provide these services from an authentic place. And in this story, it features a woman who went through the trial of a high-risk pregnancy and then draws on her experience to serve other women in that situation who might be feeling isolated and uncertain of where to turn for support. So it's a story that has a mission rooted in a personal experience that helps other people. And because it's a side hustle, it's also making money. And that's okay.
I'll tell you exactly how it works after this quick shout-out to our sponsor. [Music]
Parajat Deshpande's side hustle journey started when she was pregnant. What should have been one of the most joyous moments of her life ended up being one of the most challenging. Parajat's pregnancy was considered very high risk. With eight complications, 16 weeks of bed rest at home, and then another two at the hospital, she was understandably very concerned.
As a clinically trained therapist, Parajat assumed that there would be a strong online support system and resources for someone in her position. But after hours of fruitless searching, she came up empty-handed. She was also discouraged by a lot of generic pregnancy advice that didn't really apply to a high-risk situation. So she decided that if her and her baby made it out of this experience okay, she'd find a way to help others like her. And make it out okay, they did.
Despite the odds and sometimes the predictions of her doctors, she was able to have a healthy birth and take her infant son home. Parajat knew that she didn't have any special powers. She felt if she could do it, others could too. She thought back to her experience where she wanted someone with her that had been in her shoes. That's when it occurred to her that maybe the best thing she could do for other women in these situations was to show up for them, offering them the resources and support that she never had.
You could say it was almost a second birth, the birth of her side hustle. But Parajat's background was in clinical therapy. She didn't know much about starting a business. So she thought back to what she would have wanted when she was pregnant and she'd let that guide her in the development of the program she was building. One of her biggest struggles going into her high-risk pregnancy was the lack of control she had over what was going on with her own body.
So she wanted to give clients the information they would need to make informed decisions with confidence and in cooperation with their doctors. And while having control and confidence is important, Parajat is also an advocate for finding ways to overcome the stress and anxiety associated with a high-risk pregnancy. So she planned to offer guidance for how women can revamp their routines and de-stress without spending hours meditating. With the general idea of her program in place, she started reaching out to doctors. She hoped that by connecting with professionals in the industry, she would get referrals from the experts that work with her potential clients.
It seemed like a reasonable strategy, but she found it to be hit or miss. Some of the times she'd make a great connection with the doctor and they would love the idea of what she was offering, but much of the time, the doctor wouldn't understand it. One time on the phone, she even got hung up on. After a few of these experiences, Parajat decided she needed a different strategy. So she started looking online and realized that there was a subset of doctors that have an online presence and also understand the power of social media.
It was there that she made some great connections and actually started getting some client referrals. In fact, in the first three months of this new strategy, she got her first three clients. Not only did she get clients, but these tech savvy doctors also retweeted, shared her resources and told their clients about her on their social media channels, all of which helped to bolster her credibility and online presence. The efforts paid off. After a few months, Parajat began serving four clients a month, but what would she charge them?
How would she decide on a price? At some point, she talked with a business coach who asked her, "What do you do for people?" Parajat responded, "I help women have healthy pregnancies." Her coach said, "Well, you can't really put a price tag on that, but one way or another, it's a very valuable service." With that perspective in mind, Parajat decided to charge more than she had first expected. She settled on a range of fees from $1,200 to $5,000, depending on the amount of personalization the client required, and to her surprise, most of her clients didn't object. Over the course of her first year in business, she heard some recurring themes for other types of support that these women were looking for. So that's why, in addition to the personalized service, she created an online course that walks women through everything from how to survive bed rest to how to improve their mood.
She intended this to be in addition to her six-week personalized program, with a much lower price point of just $97, she's found that it's actually ended up attracting different clients. Also, after the initial time investment of creating the course, it's now a passive income source that she doesn't have to spend much time maintaining. Like many of our featured stories, Parajat bounces back and forth between satisfaction with her side hustle progress and impatience for the next big thing. But she's not just waiting around for that next thing, she's actively working on building her business and her profile. She wants to make sure that no one going through this struggle feels like they are alone.
And now, because of what she's created, they don't need to be. [Music]
So I mentioned community and a sense of belonging. I always love meaningful projects that are serving a felt need, something that was underserved before this person came along with this solution. And this solution is a win-win for everyone. So in this story, Parajat draws on her personal experience to relate to other women who are going through this struggle.
She's been there, she's walked in their shoes, she understands what the issues are. She also understands their frustrations with the traditional healthcare system. She knew what she was looking for when she had this struggle and it's not surprising that other women felt the same way. And I also like how she used value-based pricing in deciding how to charge for this service. Like she really focused on the core benefit and it's a pretty serious benefit to be able to walk alongside someone who's going through this kind of struggle and provide support, be available for phone calls and emails.
So it shouldn't be cheap, of course. But then she also created that low-price course, which as she learned ended up serving a different kind of client. Not everyone wants the personalized service, maybe not everyone can afford to pay several thousand dollars for it, but she's meeting people where they're at and providing resources wherever she can. And naturally, as I mentioned, that course is providing passive income. So the personalized service requires a lot of time and attention for which she gets paid more.
And the course is just kind of out there for anyone who wants to go and register for it whenever they need it. And as we wrap up, speaking of community and belonging, we have an all-new online community and training program called the Side Hustle Society. If you haven't had a chance to check it out now, I would love to show it to you. You can just come to sidehustleschool.com/society. It is essentially a gathering spot for people like you and other listeners who are going through this process, starting their side hustle, experiencing various challenges, but then overcoming those challenges, getting closer to that goal of a new source of income, more security, more options, all the good things that come with having a side hustle.
So come and take a look at that if you haven't already. And as always, remember, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better. Today's show notes are online at sidehustleschool.com/378. If you'd like to learn more about Partishot's work, you can see it there. Thank you so much for listening.
I'll be back again tomorrow. I'm Chris Guillebeau Side Hustle School.
