Notes from Chris

Episode 506

Brett Linderberg in Southern California has always been interested in business opportunities that are low in cost and can be run flexibly. His moneymaking hobby started in 2011 when Brett started a blog on remote control airplanes. When that didn’t work out, he started a drop shipping e-commerce site that sold adult diapers to senior citizens.

That worked well… until his supplier cut him off because he started competing directly with their company.

Searching for the next business idea, Brett decided to try something a little different. His initial thought was to start a food truck business. But as Brett researched the logistics of starting his new idea, he realized that he didn’t really know how to do it. Online information was scarce. That’s when he thought—hey, what if there were other people looking for information on food trucks as well?

The best way Brett could think of getting information was to call up food truck owners directly. Getting into contact with these owners was not difficult because most of them were on Facebook or Twitter. Brett tracked them down and sent them a quick note asking if they’d be willing to have a phone call with him. Most were quite happy to give him the lay of the land!

Brett was a fan of podcasts such as John Lee Dumas’ Entrepreneur on Fire podcast and thought to himself that maybe he could start one too. Coupled with supplemental blog posts, this could be his next side hustle!

He called it Food Truck Empire. In his conversations with truck or cart owners, he focused on specific, detailed plans of action. For instance, he would spend an entire session talking about how someone could come up with their business plan and then provide listeners with detailed show notes. But even then, Brett didn’t get much traffic to his podcast or blog for the first six months.

After 5 years of hard work, Brett now has over 30,000 subscribers on his Food Truck Empire mailing list. In the past year alone, he’s made $60,000 from his blog, with the revenue coming equally from course and ebook sales, affiliate partnerships, and advertising. The best part is that he’s still able to hold down his day job while putting in upwards of 15 hours a week into his blog. As Food Truck Empire grows, Brett aims to scale his content creation and increase the number of partnerships he has.

Brett attributes much of what he has accomplished to podcasting. He also operates on the principle of giving what you can, and teaching what you know. That’s how he created Food Truck Empire. Maybe it’s also the way you can carve out your own empire, without quitting your job.

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MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• FoodTruckEmpire.com: Wanting to serve up your own unique spin on the grilled cheese but aren't too keen on the logistics? Get the skinny over on Brett's website!

• Google Adsense: Brett decided to try and monetize his blog initially using click through ads via Google Adsense
• Entrepreneurs on Fire: An entrepreneurially motivated podcast produced by my friend, John Lee Dumas, that ended up inspiring Brett to start his own podcast

SEE ALSO:

• Married Couple Goes From Crashed Drone To Soaring Side Hustle: A sky-high success story of a six-figure drone coaching business that begins after a man crashes a drone into a parked car in New York City. Look out!
• Former Construction Inspector Earns $200,000 Helping Students Pass Exams: A teacher-turned-construction inspector aces his exams and creates a series of courses to help others entering the field
• Musician Turns Drum Lessons Into Six-Figure Podcast: It starts with a drum set that his brother’s band left at his house for a month when he was a teenager—and it develops into a lifelong love of percussion and a major moneymaker
• Woman on Food Stamps Earns $86,000 Teaching People to Bake Bread: In the face of adversity, a woman creates a series of online courses teaching the art of baking sourdough bread. Stop loafing around! If she can do it, you can too

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

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