This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Welcome friends, listeners, community. Welcome to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau. We have just finished week number 45 of season three. This week featured a Walmart manager who cleans aquariums for fun and profit, a health scare that inspires an adventurous career change, and a guy in Spokane making his own simple syrup.
Among others, of course, good little mix there. So here we are coming to the end of 2019, at least for anybody listening as the episodes come out. You could be listening later, but if you're listening now, we're coming to the end of that year. And I have a feeling that 2020 is going to be a big monumental year for a lot of people. Just been hearing from a lot of people that they're kind of gearing up for this big change or they have a sense that change is coming, some kind of change in their life, something that they've been working toward for a while.
Sometimes they know exactly what it is. They're really specific about it. They're like, this is exactly how it's gonna work. Other times they just have this sense. So my challenge to you, or what I would suggest, let's say, is why not start thinking about that now?
Whether you believe 2020 is gonna be the biggest year in your life or not, why not start thinking about it now? Ask yourself, what do you need to do or put in place in order to be ready to go in January? All right, in terms of a big goal, in terms of a project. So a long time listeners know that every year in December, I do an annual review and I go away for a week, I reflect on the year that's ending, and I plan for the next. I've done some episodes about that in the past.
Perhaps this year I'll do that as well. Now that process is still a month away, but every once in a while I'm starting to make some notes. I always carry a notebook or journal with me. I'm just starting to outline, just starting to think like, okay, what do I want this year to look like? And I really believe that a big part of succeeding in your goals is creating a supportive environment for them.
If your goal is to climb Everest next year, you're like 2020, I'm gonna climb Everest. The thing is you should probably be training now. And even if your goals aren't quite that ambitious, just allowing them to settle or percolate a bit before you officially begin, it can be helpful. In doing so, allow yourself to think about what you might want to accomplish next year and do this without putting any limitations or pressure on yourself. So it's not just removing the limitations, it's also removing the pressure.
If you're not making any sort of commitment, you're just considering what you might want to undertake. So here are a couple ideas, a couple of examples for you. You might want to think about next year doing one thing a day. Something specific that you do every day that could be running. A friend of mine, Laura VanderKam, has this 1,000 day running streak that she has kept up with, which I think is just incredible.
Every day she runs at least one mile. Writing 1,000 words a day, I try to do that most days, but I don't have a streak going. Posting a photo could be as simple as that. Like every single day in 2020, 365 days, I'm going to post a photo. What about something for your side us all?
Making one sales call or sending one email to a potential client or customer every day. And then whatever this thing is, find a way to track the streak so that you know you're gonna be consistent with it. Another idea is to finally launch that project that you've been holding back on. Whatever that thing is, get specific about the timeline, figure out what your outcomes, your deliverables are, set some milestones and get to work. Commit to making it happen.
And as part of that or independent of that, you may wanna give yourself a countdown to a major change. You may wanna say, "Okay, by May 1st, 2020." Let's actually move it up a little bit 'cause that's May's a long time, right? Let's say by March 1st, I'm gonna have January and February. By March 1st, this particular project, this goal of mine, I'm either going to have accomplished it or I'm gonna reach this certain major milestone. And if you think about it now, you might even give yourself a bit of a head start, if nothing else, in terms of mindset, in terms of preparation.
I think about going to the gym. In the beginning of January, the gym is always packed out. That's fine, but I also know that exercise is a habit that gets easier with time and experience. So it helps to kind of build up to something. Meditation is like that too, creative writing, all kinds of stuff.
So again, it helps to let that goal or your idea settle, let it percolate. Just make sure you can give it space to succeed next year. All right, for me, I have a new book coming in April. I'll tell you about that at some point, but I'm really excited about it. It's very different from every other book I've written.
So I wanna do whatever I can to support it well. I really wanna kind of go all out with this book launch and I do a really big tour, meet a lot of people and just kind of spread the word about it. And so I'm spending some of this fall in my annual review and be thinking about, what do I need to do to create that foundation? What decisions do I need to make now that I can then implement in January, February, March, leading up to that, so that I give it the best possible odds of success. 2020 will be here before we know it.
So let's meet it on our terms. All right, in just a moment, we're gonna go to our audio update from a previously featured side hustler. This one features Sarah from Alberta, Canada, who's had a big success and is also now making a transition. But first, I wanna give a shout out to our sponsor, one of the companies that allows this program to be completely free to our listeners. I really appreciate them.
They often have valuable trials and discounts and deals you might wanna take advantage of. So here's a message from them, and then we'll hear from Sarah. [Music]
Hey, this is Sarah from Cameros, Alberta, Canada. My side hustle is Letter Poet Letterboards, and it was featured on episode 446. Since then, my side hustle has grown to the point where it enabled my husband and I to fulfill a long-time dream, to take the better part of a year off of work and travel with our three kids all over the Western United States.
From the time I began my side hustle, it has been my goal not to buy myself another job, but to buy myself freedom. A few months after my episode aired, I began making my business something I could operate from anywhere in the world. Once I got all those details worked out, we packed up and embarked on our grand adventure. Interestingly enough, sales grew exponentially the month after we left, and in my best month around Christmas, I profited just over six grand. It was a phenomenal feeling to be earning money off of my side hustle while driving down the Oregon coast, sitting on the beach in California, and hiking in Sedona with my family.
Since being back home in the real world, I've been challenged to rethink my business and my product as letterboards are now a completely saturated market. One of the unexpected things I discovered with my side hustle was a love for marketing, so I'm starting a new gig doing marketing for other businesses. I'm excited to see what I can accomplish in the next chapter. My biggest piece of advice for those of you listening is to never think that these kinds of things only happen to other people. I was a stay-at-home mom of three with zero business background who happened to read $100 startup one day, and the rest is history.
Thanks for listening. [Music]
Awesome, thank you so much. Congratulations, Sarah on being able to take that year-long trip with your family, your three kids. I'm so happy that your business allows you to do that. I actually told Sarah's story at a number of stops on my last tour, and I mentioned how she actually shut down her website to sell directly through amazon.ca, the Canadian version of amazon.com.
And then now, as you just heard, it's become a bit of a saturated market, so she has evolved and is kind of changing and shifting into something new, which happens a lot in the side hustle world. And I think it's not so much that she had the wrong idea, she had an idea that worked for a long time. It worked for a while, it enabled her to do all kinds of stuff, and now she's moving to something new. So think about that whenever you hear, "Oh, there's no room for this," or, "This idea isn't gonna last forever." It doesn't have to last forever. It's okay, nothing lasts forever, in fact.
So that's why it's good to always be evolving and be open to new ideas. [Music]
If you have a question or comment, give me a call. We've been storing up some listener questions. I'm gonna do a whole special episode at some point, just kind of going through your questions, providing my responses. Give me a call at the Hustle hotline.
That number is 8449 Hustle, also known as 844-948-7853. Or if you prefer, you can use your phone to make a voice memo and email it to podcast@sidehustleschool.com. We have now completed more than 1,000 episodes. I've got some good stuff coming up for you next week, a Belgian blogger who gets paid to roam through Europe, something called the Knack Factory, something called Mega TV installations. I don't always get the notes myself until I start working on the episodes.
So these are just like the summaries I see on my little screen here. And I'm like, "Oh, okay. "I'll look forward to hearing what that's about." Along with you. Speaking of you, before I sign off for the week, I just wanna say thank you. Thank you, first of all, for making this podcast possible.
It is our audience first and foremost that I am thinking of. I know everybody who works on the show is also thinking of our audience. And I said in the very first episode, January 1, 2017, if you make the commitment to make this part of your routine, I too commit to supporting you in your quest, your goal to create that new source of income. Whatever that is, however that looks for you. Now, it's not just me.
I wanna say thank you as well to our producer, Chuck Reed, community liaison, Jed Chang, content manager, Tina Hart, and the official show cat, Libby Gillibow. All of us together were part of the Onward Project. That's founded and curated by bestselling author Gretchen Rubin. Be sure to check out her show, Happier, as well as Happier in Hollywood and the program from Melissa Urban, Do the Thing. This is a free listener supported show.
If you're enjoying it, I'd be super grateful for your quick little rating in Apple podcasts. It just takes a second and it helps other people discover it. And 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, is trying to build security for themselves or just needs to pay back some debt, whatever it is, send them to us and we'll do our best to take care of them. All right, I hope you'll join me tomorrow and every day next week for more inspiring stories and actionable ideas.
Consider this an investment in yourself, a short, easy daily 10 minute investment in yourself. Our episodes go online at 6 0 1 a.m. Eastern time. My name is Chris Guillebeau and this is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
