Outdoorsman Sees the Forest for the Trees, Finds Financial Freedom

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

[Music]

So hey there, what's up, side hustle school listeners? Hey, I'm Chris Guillebeau, this is episode 420. How about that, 420? Crazy how that works. You know, the other day I was having a conversation with a writer for "Runners World" magazine.

And we were talking about how being a runner can help with your side hustle, which is not as crazy as it sounds because most people who are active runners believe in setting goals. They also believe in trading off short-term sacrifice for long-term gain. You know, you wake up in the morning and you're like, I don't feel like going out to run, but you know, if you go, you're probably gonna feel better by the time you get back. You're probably gonna be glad that you went to run. So you go out and do it.

And I think there's some parallels there with starting a side hustle, especially if you're a busy person, like most of our listeners. It's not always the easiest thing to do, but you believe in it and you know, you know, if I just stick with it, it's probably gonna help me in the long term. Now there's a whole lot more we can say about that, but in that conversation I had with the writer, we also talked about how just because you like to run or whatever it is that you like to do, this is just an example, doesn't necessarily mean that should be your side hustle or you should make a side hustle out of that. I think sometimes you should and sometimes you shouldn't. If that thing you like to do is just something you like to do for yourself, then maybe you just wanna stick with that.

But if it's something that you like to do and like to share with others and you're kind of an evangelist for it, I think that's a good sign and it could be a side hustle. And that's what we're gonna talk about today. Today's story is someone who likes being outdoors so much that he does in fact make a side hustle out of it. It actually turns into a full-time gig, but that wasn't the intent at first. And again, the key point is that he's passionate not just about being outside, but he wants to show other people his part of California, essentially.

So this story comes to us from Long Beach, California, and I'll bring it to you in just a moment. [Music]

Since he was a child, Nelson Prieto has had an appetite for adventure, sometimes to the delight or dismay of his parents. Born in Columbia, his family immigrated to Long Beach, California when he was a child. In home, it remained. No matter where else he went over the years, Long Beach always ended up drawing him back in.

He loved everything about the area, the proximity to the water, how you could escape to the mountains with a short trip outside of town, and the weather is temperate year round, making it ideal for all different kinds of outdoor activities. As he got older, Nelson realized that while there were so many different opportunities for people to experience all the activities that Long Beach had to offer, many of them often held back for a number of reasons. Either they didn't have access to the sometimes expensive gear required to do some activities, they didn't have the knowledge to enjoy them safely, or they didn't have someone to go along with them and teach them how it works. As a lover of the outdoors and of adventures in general, to Nelson, this seemed like a missed opportunity. It also seemed like a major undertaking with lots of moving pieces, but he still couldn't help but think that someone should somehow create a business that allowed people to have more of these experiences.

Nelson's friends called him the most likely to survive in the wild with just a knife and a tarp, and they encouraged him to start that service business. After all, who knew more about the outdoors than he did? He had gone to school to become an outdoor educator, and had spent years teaching outdoor educational programs with at-risk youth. That was his day job. So he decided to give it a shot.

Nelson made a list of all the different kinds of adventures he would put together for someone who is new to the area. He already had a habit of purchasing gear in pairs so that whenever he went off to do something, he'd be able to take a friend with him. As a result, he had some lightly used excess gear hanging around, kayaks and paddles, snorkeling and mountain climbing gear, hiking and backpacking equipment. But he knew if he was really gonna do this properly, he needed to have access to so much more. And that's when a little help came in from his friends.

Those friends were happy to supply him with any extra gear that he needed so that he wouldn't have to purchase everything up front. Nelson stressed how important this was and how helpful this was in getting off the ground. He believes that people are your most important resource and you should never burn a bridge, even with someone you disagree with because you never know when they might be able to help you further down the road or when you can help them. He decided to start with offering local day trips with set prices for people interested in kayaking, hiking and waterfall exploration and snorkeling. And each of these activities would include all of the gear that they need.

He also offered the option to completely customize a trip or even create a new one from scratch. You might be asking yourself, how does someone figure out what to charge for something like that? Well, Nelson has a pretty efficient system in place. He uses an Excel spreadsheet, which calculates the number of hours that he or one of his guides will be working, the cost of insurance and permits, whether he'll need to acquire any extra gear and how many clients are coming on board. Because generally more people means cheaper rates, which then encourages them to bring more friends.

On average, many of his locally based customized trips now cost about $400 to $500 a person. But he's also been brought on to take groups of people backpacking in the Grand Canyon. He's currently preparing for a guided ice climbing trip in Illinois. So the man does get around. His most popular package is called Astro kayaking, also known as kayaking at night.

I guess Astro kayaking sounds better. And this Astro kayaking package is a huge hit with groups. So much in fact, that he's currently looking for sponsorship to help him secure a larger number of kayaks. There were all kinds of places doing kayak rentals in Long Beach, but nobody was willing to do it at night. He believed there's no better way to see the lights of the city than when you're out on the water at night.

So this became a market that he completely owned for himself. The startup costs for this project were pretty reasonable. It costs about $400 to file with the state of California and a bit more than $4,000 for insurance and rentals over the first year. Now, speaking of insurance, this was by far the biggest challenge that Nelson faced. When he was just starting out, he kept getting shot down because nobody wanted to insure him without any prior experience with an adventure company.

That was frustrating because how can you have experience without having insurance? How can you have insurance without having experience, et cetera? He kept getting turned down until a friend jumped in with a referral and that was good because at that point, Nelson had just scored his first real client. So he wanted to make sure they were insured before they went on their first trip. It came down to the wire with him securing that insurance the day before they left on the trip.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Nelson said that if he could do that part over, he would have started looking for insurance much sooner. So he recommends that anybody who wants to do something like that start there first. All right, so what does this all mean for Nelson? Well, Long Beach is not a cheap place to live, but just one year in, this new side hustle is completely paying his bills and giving him the freedom to take on new projects. He began on January 1, 2017, just like side hustle school.

How about that? And last year's net income was $52,000. Prior to starting this project, Nelson had to maintain three different jobs in order to pay the bills. There was that so-called full-time job, but also two part-time jobs as well. Now he has the chance to be completely self-sufficient.

He's building for the future, even though last year was great. He's hoping that this year's net income will be much higher. Perhaps the best thing is that with this new side hustle, he no longer has to hustle quite as much as he did before. It also gives this devoted outdoorsman an opportunity to see the forest for the trees. [Music]

So what can we take away from this story?

Well, it's not just that Nelson was passionate about the outdoors, although he was, and that matters, that's important. If you're gonna visit a new area and you want to go on an adventure, you kind of want to trust that your guide or the founder of that company, whoever you deal with, actually cares about what they're doing. But beyond that, he was passionate about sharing these experiences with others. That's why he bought two sets of all the gear he acquired. So whenever he went on a backpacking trip or a kayaking trip or whatever it was, he could take a friend with him.

That's almost a good clue that this kind of side hustle would be good for him. So to go back to running, where we began at the top of the show, I like to run, I'm a runner, but I'm a very solitary runner. I actually don't like to run in groups. I don't do a lot of races. For me, running is as much mental health as it is physical.

So some kind of running side hustle would definitely not be a good fit for me. And the other thing I liked about Nelson's story was this whole astro kayak thing. I don't know why no other company wanted to do it at night. Maybe they perceived it as unsafe or something, but clearly it's okay. He was able to finally get that insurance.

So in a crowded market where there are lots of companies and tour agencies offering similar experiences, it really does help if you can come up with something that stands out just like that. And interestingly, when you have one service that stands out, people tend to look to you to fulfill the other services as well. So it can actually help you in multiple ways. Well, again, congrats to Nelson. If you're in Long Beach or just the Los Angeles area, you might want to check it out and go on an astro kayak tour, sounds fun.

And whatever you're working on, remember, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better. Today's show notes, including links to everything I mentioned are at sidehustleschool.com/420, that is 420. And if you have a comment or question for the show, give me a call on the Hustle hotline. That number is 844-9-HUSTLE, 844-948-7853. Thank you so much for listening.

I'm Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School.