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8 min 21 sec

Tour Guide Sells Astronomy Books to Tourists

How a British software engineer moved to the Canary Islands, started working as a tour guide, and wrote her own guidebook to accompany her tours.
Book International Photography Writing

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What It's About

British software engineer moves to Spain, changes careers, writes a book, and becomes a tour guide.

Business Model
Product
Skills Required
Writing & Photography
Complexity
Low
Profit Potential
Medium

Words of Wisdom

A lot of people have misconceptions about the amount of knowledge you need in order to start a successful side hustle. Often in hustling you have one thing you’re pretty good at, combined with a couple of other things you’re able to figure out. You don’t have to be an expert in everything.

Here, the mashup is an engineering background that she had put to use at the observatory, an expertise in tourism gained from living on the island for many years, and the skill of writing, which led to the creation of the tourist guides.

Learn more about Sheila and her books on her website!

Fun Fact

Here’s something that she and I have in common: she likes both the writing work and the guide work and wouldn’t want to choose between them.

She says, “As much as I love writing, it's sedentary and solitary. The tour guiding gets me out meeting people. And much as I love the tour guiding, it's highly irregular work and not very creative. Together they're just about right.”

This is how I feel about the writing I do, compared with the events I produce (like WDS) or going on tour for my books—I wouldn't want to choose between them! Often a side hustle can help to compensate for what you’re missing in your work. Most jobs are not designed around your personality and what’s best for you, but when you’re creating at least one of your sources of income, that’s exactly what you can do.

Resources

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Quote of the Day
"I've found just the right blend of my skills: people skills, where I tour them around, and writing skills, where I offer my knowledge in the form of guidebooks."
—Sheila Crosby #SideHustleSchool

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To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau