This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hello, what's up and welcome. This is Chris Guillebeau, your host of "Saddestle School," here with the weekly recap. We have just finished week number 44 of season three. Approaching the end of the year, this week featured a trio of young brothers who turn frozen treats into a hot business. This is a trio of young brothers age nine, 11 and 13, if I'm not mistaken.
Also a poker playing Yale student who ends up building a $90,000 a month consulting firm, not by playing poker. He did something else. We'll talk about it here in this recap. And of course, much more. Over here in my part of the world, I'm actually going to another part of the world.
I'm excited to be going to Australia this week. Australia is probably my favorite country in the world. If I had to pick just one, like I like a lot of different countries, but if I had to pick one, I would say I've always had such great experiences in Australia. I'm looking forward to being back there on the second half of this week. Of course, I'll continue to bring you episodes.
I record wherever I go. And it's often fun to connect with different listeners and readers wherever I go as well. So if you're around, let me know. Also last week's recap focused on assets. I gave you the assignment to make a list of your assets, digital or otherwise, and consider how you can add to that list.
So today's audio update, we're going to build on this a little bit because today's audio update from a previously featured case study is a great example of the distinction between a low level side hustle and a real asset. So low level side hustle is just something you do to make some money, nothing wrong with that. But if you really want to create security for yourself, get ahead, work toward building wealth, actually pay off some significant debt, whatever it is, you need to think more about assets. And that's really what all of this is about here. Like I should have called it side asset school, but that probably wouldn't have been as catchy as side hustle school.
So now that you've been here for a while, like longtime listeners, if you've been around for a while, just think of it like that. It's actually side asset school, 'cause I want to help you build assets and get ahead, do something for your future, invest in yourself. So more on that in a second, but also let's go back to this episode at 1033, 1033, about that guy who played poker at Yale and then moved to California, eventually building an incredible business. He actually grew up in poverty. His high school lost its accreditation, all kinds of challenging circumstances that he overcame to build this really significant business.
And there are essentially two key reasons why it worked so well. So the first one is a matter of market fit, okay? He had the right product or the right service in his case. He had the specific expertise of gaining a job in management consulting. He got this job, this high paying job at a prestigious firm, which a lot of other people were interested in.
Everybody he met was like, how can I get that job? So for the side hustle, he outlined his process and coached people along the path of applying, interviewing, and ultimately getting a good job of their own in that field specifically. So again, that was the, what did I describe it as? The specific expertise, the specific topical expertise, let's say. So that's the thing that he knew about.
And for you, perhaps, in fact, most probably, the topic is likely different, okay? So your topic might be coding, it might be gaming, it might be baking or gardening. Doesn't have to be a high tech thing. It could be something quite basic, okay? But whatever it is, that's your specific topical expertise, okay?
Characteristic number one. Now, the second reason why his business really took off after having a good idea, and after that idea was validated, was that he became relentless about documenting his systems and then creating a process that future employees could follow. Okay, so this is a characteristic that a lot of people are gonna have in common who grow their business. The specific expertise is gonna vary, but this approach will not, or at least it'll be similar. So documenting his systems, creating a process that future employees could follow, and that way it was still his method.
It was his method, his process, but someone else could implement it. And that way he could essentially grow beyond himself. So this is next level hustling, okay? This is really and truly the long-term only way to grow in a manner that outpaces your abilities to just work harder, okay? And if you don't have a desire to grow, if you don't wanna scale a business, just I just wanna make that disclaimer or reminder that people do these kinds of projects for all kinds of different reasons, not everybody wants to go all in, et cetera.
But if your long-term goal is to grow, then you need to spend some time learning about documenting systems, creating processes, et cetera. So we talk about it from time to time here on the program, of course, but if you're interested in learning more, gonna refer you to a couple of resources. I think I mentioned at least one book in that episode. I'll give you a couple others here. In particular, a friend of mine named John Jantz.
He writes a lot about this topic. He's got a new book out now called "The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur," which is essentially a daily, kind of like a daily devotional for anybody who wants to grow their business. And his classic book, which might be a good starting place, his classic book is "Duct Tape Marketing." And not to overwhelm you, but if you really wanna go all in, you might also want to look at the work of Mike Michalowicz. I will link all that stuff up on the show notes page just in case you forget or you're driving or running or whatever it is you happen to be doing right now. So John Jantz, Mike Michalowicz, a couple of resources there about documenting systems and creating process that other people can follow.
Okay, in a moment, we're gonna go on to the audio update, that one I mentioned earlier or alluded to earlier. This one features Harry Campbell, also happens to be a friend of mine. And by the way, this whole show isn't always about like, here's all my friends. I just am fortunate to know a lot of people. We've featured a thousand people on the show so far.
I've been an author for 10 years. So I try to always bring your attention to other people out there who are doing really interesting things. But leaving that aside, this one features Harry Campbell. And first, I'll bring you a message from our sponsor. Really appreciate all these companies out there offering free trials, valuable offers to our listeners, allowing us to cover all the costs of a show, which are significant these days.
We got a lot of people working on it, doing different stuff, but it's all free to you because of these sponsors. So here's a message from them, and we'll go straight into Harry's update. [Music]
Hey, all you side hustlers out there. This is Harry from Los Angeles, California. And my side hustle is the Rideshare Guy, and it was featured on episode 375.
So what started off as just a blog is now what I like to call a multimedia business. On the content side, we're publishing six to seven articles a week, four YouTube videos a week. We have two different podcasts, a course for drivers, and a book. And on the personal side, I added a mini Rideshare Guy to the mix when my wife and I welcomed our son last year. So being able to run the Rideshare Guy while spending quality time with my son and branching out into new and exciting business opportunities has really been incredible.
I'm actually recording this podcast right now from Oahu, as my wife is doing a one month rotation at the local boss hospital, and my boss allowed me to tag along. So since the episode aired, I've continued to grow my personal brand, and I think everyone in the Rideshare industry knows who I am and what we do, but I'm looking to go beyond just Rideshare and find other areas of mobility, work, and technology that we can work with. So basically things that are tangential to Rideshare. So my advice for listeners is to really go out there and create your own luck and just be open to new opportunities. There were a lot of people who gave me funny looks when I told them I was leaving a career as an aerospace engineer to start a blog for Uber and Lyft drivers, but I suspect a lot of them would trade places with me right now.
[Music]
Awesome, thank you so much, Harry. Listeners, this is really an incredible success story. I wrote about it a bit more in the "100 Side Hustles" book. Harry's also just a really nice guy who's worked for his success, and he did indeed leave his job as an aerospace engineer to write a blog for Uber and Lyft drivers. It turned into a six figure, then multiple six figure, and I believe it's seven figure and beyond now.
So a great example, as I said at the top of the episode, of the distinction between a low-level side hustle, which would be driving for Uber and Lyft, and a real asset, okay? So Harry is contributing well to side asset school. So also just in case you didn't catch that part about how he's spending a month in Hawaii because his boss gave him permission, like he is his own boss, right? So he gave himself permission to work from Hawaii. All right, if you would like to follow along with Harry, keep up with what he's doing.
Just go to therideshareguy.com, or I believe his social media is also the Rideshare Guy. We will link that up in the notes as well. [Music]
All right, as we head into November, coming up on the holidays, final months of the year, I'm really excited about some of the things that we have prepared. We've been working ahead. We actually have most of our calendars sorted out for the rest of the year, which is no small miracle.
If you are curious about the inner workings of side hustle school, we usually work about a week or two out maximum, and we're still working a week or two out, but we have a lot of other stuff identified for the rest of the time. And so that allows us to be a little bit more strategic and intentional about where everything is placed. So just all that to say, things are getting better, and I'm so glad you're out there listening. Before I wrap up for the week, in fact, I do wanna say a thank you to everybody who makes this possible. I mentioned our sponsors earlier.
They do allow the show to be completely free, but of course, we wouldn't have sponsors if we didn't have an audience, and we wouldn't have an audience if we didn't have listeners. We wouldn't have listeners if we didn't have you, that listener, that one listener out there. You are the reason I make this show. I've been doing it now for 1,037 days in a row, and I've said from the beginning that if you commit to make this part of your routine, you listen like 10 minutes a day, you think about what it means to you, does it give you an idea? Does it just kind of nudge you along or provide some motivation, help you understand that you're not alone out there?
If you make that commitment, then I too commit to helping you however I can, supporting you in your quest to create that new source of income for yourself, which will ultimately become an asset, just like we've been talking about. I also wanna say thank you to our producer, Chuck Reed, our community liaison, Jed Ching, content manager, Tina Hart, and the official show cat Libby Gillibow. All of us together are part of the Onward Project, led by, founded by, curated by my friend, best-selling author Gretchen Rubin. I mean, Gretchen's my friend too, but like she's been my friend for a long time, I'm not just making this up, okay? Check out her show, "Happier with Gretchen Rubin," as well as "Happier in Hollywood," and the program from Melissa Urban, "Do the Thing." All these podcasts are free.
All of them are listener supported. If you're enjoying them, and especially this one, since you're listening to it right now, I'd be grateful if you'd leave a quick rating and review for me in Apple Podcast. Just takes a second, helps other people discover the show, and if you don't listen to an Apple Podcast, well leave me a rating or review somewhere else. Like, you know, I'm not trying to be biased, it's just like that's where most people listen, but if you like something different, that's totally cool. All right, you can also tell your friends, or even better, show them how to subscribe.
If you know somebody else who needs another source of income, send them to us, we will do our best to take care of them too. I often say inspiration is good, but action's better. That's because I hope you won't just be inspired, I hope you'll actually do something about it. That's my greatest hope, it's why I make the program. And I look forward to hearing about you doing that.
I hope you'll join me tomorrow and every day next week for more stories and ideas. Episodes go online at 601 a.m. Eastern Time. My name is Chris Guillebeau, this is Side Hustle School. [Music]
from the Onward Project.
