This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hello, hello, welcome back. We are on episode 106 of "Sidle School." I've been thinking about something this week. The other day we had this story about a woman whose Instagram photo was featured by Apple in one of their campaigns. And after she created a course to help other people with their iPhoneography, it turned into a consistent, reliable source of income for her. So at first I was thinking, wow, you know, she was really lucky.
You know, she was fortunate. Obviously she was a good photographer, but there are a lot of good photographers. So it's really great that Apple picked her. And then I thought, well, you know, if she was in the right place at the right time, how do you get to be in the right place at the right time? And the thing is, there is this characteristic of luck or good fortune, but in her case, her name was Cielo.
Cielo wasn't just randomly taking pictures and uploading them. She had a photography project of publishing one photo she was really proud of every single day. And it wasn't just for a year that she had that project. She had actually been doing it for seven years. So yes, it was great that Apple featured her.
That's not gonna happen for everyone. But I think the takeaway is these things don't just happen magically. You have to position yourself for the success you want and then be willing to take action on it when the opportunity comes around. So in that story, Cielo experienced this good fortune, but then she's the one who made a course and offered it for sale and then created another course. So ultimately her success doesn't come from Apple or anyone else.
She is responsible for it and she can take pride in that. So think about that and ask yourself that question, how can I get in the right place at the right time? What can I do to position myself for success? Well, over here, we have just finished week 15 of the show. I had a quick trip to Chicago and now I'm back in Portland, Oregon.
I have another trip coming up next week that I'll take you along for. But first today we have listener questions and a look back at the week we just finished. - Hi, Chris, my name is Isebo and I'm calling from Vancouver, Canada. Absolutely love your show and on the path of starting my own side hustle. My question is I've got a bunch of things that could be sold to kids' toys, books.
And I personally do not really have the energy or motivation to figure out eBay. And I'm wondering if you can recommend a service where there's essentially a middle person. And since you seem to know so much about all this kind of stuff, I'm turning to you for advice. Thank you so much, Chris, for everything you do. It has been just very inspiring and I am taking action.
- Hey, Isebo, thank you so much for listening. That is awesome about your side hustle. I look forward to hearing what develops. So for those who aren't familiar, Isebo references this exercise I have called Personal Finance Day, or I think in that book born for this, I called it the Mo Money Day, where you kind of take half a day and go through all your different accounts and see what you can do to either save money or make more money. I'm not sure we have a quick and easy link to that exercise, but if I can find one, I will put it in the show notes.
And so to Isebo's question, she's got some random stuff she wants to sell, clothes, toys, books, whatever. She thinks eBay might be the best source for that, which makes sense. And she doesn't want to mess with doing it herself, which I also totally get. Some people love everything about listing stuff on eBay or wherever, dealing with the communication and shipping. Other people, probably like Isebo, really don't want to do it.
So in this case, it sounds like what you need to do is connect with one of those people who is good at it and does enjoy it. Now here in the US, we have a service called TaskRabbit, where you can hire people on a very short-term basis to run errands for you or clean your house or do all sorts of other things. It's not really that complicated. It really is kind of basic administrative work, but you want to find somebody who's familiar with the process. Because if you haven't done it before, it can take a while to learn.
Now you're in Canada, of course. So it looks like the closest equivalent to me is askfortask.com. And it looks like the service focuses a bit more on handyman kind of things, fixing stuff around your house. But I see that they do have a category of general help, including organization, receipt filing, data entry. So I wonder if you couldn't find somebody through this platform who would work for a few hours and presumably be well worth it in terms of the money you get after selling your stuff and paying them, as well as just having that stuff out of your house.
So I don't know for sure if that's the best answer, but I would take a look at that. And maybe in Vancouver, there's some other specific service as well. Good luck. - Hi, Chris, this is Sarah from Wisconsin. I heard about your podcast through the Happier podcast that Gretchen Rubin does.
And I listen to you because I love to learn new things. I've also been involved in a few side hustles in the past and have had quite a few ideas and interests, but there's a particular side hustle that I happen to be very passionate about. And it's one that I tried a number of years ago, but with various obstacles, the biggest one being a very demanding corporate job that involved lots of travel, which I too love quite a bit and continue to do. But now that I'm in a much different place in life, I want to try that particular side hustle again. And my question is regarding the loss momentum.
How do you reignite that excitement? Have people root for you instead of just nodding their head and saying, "Yeah, yeah, we heard that long ago." Thanks so much and look forward to hearing your answer. - Hey, Sarah, thanks so much for listening. So my first thought is you sound pretty motivated. Like you've been able to start different projects in the past, you like learning new things.
So it's just a question of recovering that momentum, as you say. And there might be two aspects to this. There's that public aspect of people cheering you on that you mentioned. And the other aspect is maybe something is different in the industry or the field or whatever you were doing before for that hustle. So you might need to change your mindset and your approach a little bit as well, especially since, as you mentioned, it fizzled out before.
So I think it's helpful to go back to something with fresh eyes, with that different approach. And it's more important for you to be motivated about it than it is for anyone else to be. But I certainly agree having people cheer you on is great. So maybe as you approach it differently, as they see you're making this change, you've learned something and therefore the results are going to be different as well. Maybe you'll have a better chance of them coming alongside you with that fresh approach.
[Music]
So when we look back on this week, a few things stand out. Now, first of all, I was thinking about that question of the iPhone photo from episode 102, I believe it was. But also before that, we had this story of a renegade museum tour, or a guy who goes on a museum tour with a date and falls in love, not with the date, that didn't work out, but with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and goes on to create this series of unconventional kind of rogue museum tours. And it turns into not just a side hustle, but really a big business, earning something like $2 million in just a few years. Let this story be a reminder to you that your hustle can be something that is actually already existing and even freely available elsewhere.
So he wasn't the first person in the world to think about doing a museum tour. You can walk into the Metropolitan Museum of Art and there are tours happening. There are other people who've done tours. Some of them, as I said, are free. But Nick, that guy was able to be successful because he put his own twist on it and he created some differentiation.
So that's what it's really about with a lot of these projects. It needn't be the most original idea in the world, something you've never heard of. It can just be about value, which means helpfulness, and differentiation. What do you do that makes this project your own? Now, I also like the story of episode 101.
That was about Candy Japan, the subscription service. Actually went and ordered two gift sets myself. So I'll be curious when those show up. I just think it's such a fun idea. If anything, I was surprised that the price was just $29 a month because he's actually sending out two different shipments from Japan to anywhere in the world.
I might've expected just one shipment for that price, which is what most subscription boxes are. But anyway, the benefit with that kind of project really is in sticking with it for a while, building to a sustainable foundation, a certain number of recurring subscribers, and then nurturing it over the long-term. Those kind of projects don't usually succeed right from the beginning. But if you can get them to work, then that's great because you know exactly how much money you're gonna make each month and what you need to do for it. And the last highlight I want to mention, we had this episode number 104 about Nicole in Texas, and Nicole is a beekeeper.
This episode was entitled Show Me The Honey, Houston Beekeeper Buzzes to $4,000 a Month. I heard someone say, you know, it was a good story, but you don't have to overdo the puns so much, you know, tone it down. And I totally agree. What I would say to that person is, don't get your bee in a bonnet. You know, we're just trying to have some fun on the show.
Didn't mean to surprise you. This is not a sting operation. So if that episode wasn't the bee's knees for you, maybe you'll like another one. I'm definitely not telling you to buzz off. I'm just saying I think that story really hit the sweet spot for a lot of people.
So maybe just let it be. So on that note, a whole other set of fun stories to look forward to coming up next week. I'm gonna tell you about another subscription model like Candy Japan, but this one focused on a meal planning service. We've got something in the fitness space, something in the woodworking space, and several others. We are pretty much publishing in real time here.
So I try to work ahead wherever possible, but the show really is constructed week by week based on your feedback, the stories that come in from listeners, what I notice in the workshops that I'm doing. So I'm really excited about what we're building together. And I think you'll like it too. So stick around. Now, before we close things out, I would be remiss if I did not think some of the other people working to make Side Hustle School possible.
The show is recorded on location at World Domination Headquarters in Portland, Oregon. It is then taken by Horse and Carriage to Brooklyn, New York where it is produced at the Panoply Studios. My production team is Jason de Leon, A.C. Valdez, and Laura Mayer. The show notes are by Whitney Kerinek.
Jobe and friends did the beautiful design of the Sada School identity and website. This week, I have a thank you on behalf of Libby. Whenever you send out a newsletter, you have to include a physical mailing address and next to mine at the bottom of my newsletter, which you can subscribe to and receive for free on sidehustleschool.com. I have the address there and it says, send postcards and cat treats to this address. Well, I get a lot of postcards, but I don't think I've ever gotten any cat treats in the mail until this week.
So I want to say thank you on behalf of Liberia, the Livster, Gillibo, to Alison Carminkie in the UK who mailed some cat treats all the way across the Atlantic Ocean. So I thought that was pretty cool. Thank you, Alison. Our life advice this week comes from Drake, better late than never, but never late is better. And we, Sada School, are part of the Onward imprint curated by bestselling author Gretchen Rubin.
Onward is a collection of podcasts full of concrete, actionable ideas for how you can make your life happier, healthy, more productive, and more creative. Check it out at the onwardproject.com. And last, I want to thank you, the listener. Thank you for being out there. Thank you for telling your friends about the show.
Thank you for supporting the sponsors. One small and easy thing you can do to help, if you haven't already, is to just take a moment and leave a quick rating and review of the show on iTunes. And that will help other people discover it. Wherever you are in the world, you are the reason I make this show. It's not just for the cat treats or those buzzworthy honeybee episodes.
I told you when we started on January 1, if you make this part of your routine, I commit to supporting you however I can. I will be here every day. I want to make sure you can create that new source of income. Whether you're doing it for the first time or your second time or your fifth time, know that I am cheering you on from day 106 and beyond. You can always send me a note directly at sidehustleschool.com.
You can also call the new hotline at 8449-HUSSELL, leave a message with your comment or question. And in every episode, I mentioned that inspiration is good, but action is even better. So I look forward to hearing about the actions you're taking. I hope to see you tomorrow and every day next week. The new episode goes online every morning at 601 a.m. Eastern Time.
Until we meet again, I'm Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School.
