This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
Hello, what's up? Welcome back. This is Side Hustle School. I'm your host, Chris Guillebeau. When you're trying to do something meaningful, something significant for you for your life, you don't always have the full vision right in the beginning.
Sometimes you have to take one step before you can see the others. Then as your experience expands, your confidence grows and your vision grows. So in the role of side hustling, you may start out with an idea to make a small amount of extra money each month, which is great. But then as you pursue and achieve that goal, you may realize it could actually do much more for you. So today we'll look at a passion project that made $65,000 last year, even as the husband and wife team who operate it, focus more on traveling and running their lives than they do on running their business.
I'll tell you that story in just a moment. Now our story. In 2012, husband and wife team Brian Scott and Jen Wantland quit their jobs to travel the world with a plan to be gone for one or two years. While working his full-time job, Brian in particular was constantly seeking ways to make money on the side. Sadly, none of them worked out, at least at first.
It was only after committing to a path of freedom that the puzzle pieces more naturally fell into place. Brian and Jen had a background in architectural design, and before they left for their extended trip, they converted their garage at their home in Portland, Oregon into a second living space. They were then able to rent out one of their spaces while still having a home base to return to. They say that that decision literally changed their lives and creating a path for not returning to the jobs they worked so hard to leave. The couple now designs and consults on small homes, and for people looking to build their perfect custom small house, which is usually called an accessory dwelling unit or an ADU, behind their existing large home, so that the bigger home can be rented out to pay the mortgage.
Now they believed passionately in this project, and they actually didn't accept money or even consider their first few jobs to be clients. It was more like neighbors sitting down to share experiences with one another. But there was also a lot of value they were providing to these friends and neighbors. So at some point, Jen pointed out that Brian was up at 3 a.m. and working for free, not because she thought that was a problem, but because it pointed to the fact that he was clearly having fun doing it, and he really enjoyed the whole process.
So that's when they decided to put a name on their business and test the waters with paying clients. The name that they chose was Zenbox, a design consultancy that allows Brian and Jen to share their experience with others, while also helping fund their travels and adventures around the world. When it comes to money, Brian and Jen live very intentionally. Instead of trying to make more money, they chose years ago, after what they call a lifetime of scraping and clawing, to attack the problem from the opposite end, to purge their belongings and reduce their needs rather than trying to earn more. And Zenbox, this new hustle, is literally a passion project, and not one that they do for money, but even so, they've been pleasantly surprised with the money that's come from it.
Even without focusing on income, that project brought in more than $60,000 with 20 clients their first full year in business. So that's pretty good for taking off as much time as they want, and being very deliberate in which projects they take on. I said they left for a trip of about one to two years. Well, it's actually been five years since they left. And when we last talked, they were in the middle of a several-month road trip to snowboard at least 14 different resorts across the west.
After that, they'll probably go seeking sunshine and dive into more Zenbox projects to allow the income to be replenished and the creativity to flow. However, Brian also told me I should ask again in a month, because the answer of where they're going next may have changed. The one thing I didn't mention is that at some point in their story, Brian and Jen acquired a new last name. At some point, their friends started calling them The Dangers. Brian and Jen Danger.
They think because they simply didn't fit in and they took risks and they were willing to pursue a dream. They would be the first to say that they're not actually dangerous. They're quite the opposite. But they like the name, and so they decided to run with it. They might even legally add that to their names at some point.
But they also know that what's really risky is not travel or starting a venture of your own, trying to create an asset for yourself while serving others. What's really risky is not following your dream. And what's really dangerous is not creating your side hustle. Your side hustle might not bring in $60,000 a year like we hear in this story, but Brian and Jen didn't know it was going to bring in that much either. And they still place other decisions, other values ahead of the goal of getting more clients or raising their prices or otherwise making more money.
So if you're trying to figure out, OK, what's next for me, I've got these ideas, maybe I've been working on something, but you still think a lot about risk, just remember that. You don't necessarily have to quit your job and go on this undetermined trip like Brian and Jen did. But when you think about risk, do remember that what's risky is not following your dream. And you've already chosen to invest in yourself. You listen to the show every day.
I hope it inspires you. But as you know, I hope you take action on what you hear and what you learn. And I hope that over time you'll have a story. Maybe not quite like Brian and Jen's, but your own story, your original story. Thank you so much for listening. You are awesome.
I'm Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School, and I hope to see you tomorrow.
