This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey, hey, welcome back. It is a new week here on "Sawderskull School". I'm Chris Guillebeau. I have the privilege of bringing you a new story every day of someone who starts an income generating project without quitting their day job. It's all about helping you create more freedom and opportunity for yourself without taking a ton of risk.
Now I have a fun story for you today. It is a bit unusual, but if you've been listening for a while, you know that there are all kinds of creative ways that people can make money. And in fact, did you know that you can earn money through the act of physical touch? Now I know what you might be thinking. You're thinking, "Chris, I never thought you'd talk about something like that on Sawderskull School.
That's not really what I have in mind for my income generating project." Well, you don't need to worry, but you might be surprised. I'm not talking about what's known as the world's oldest profession. I'm actually talking about a profession that is very new. So in today's story, you'll learn how a New England engineer earns a part-time income of more than $1,000 a month by helping people reconnect through personal touch. [Music]
Samantha Varneran's personal website is called mylifeisneverboring.com, and it's a well-chosen domain name.
She has a background as a construction project engineer, fixing logistics problems related to hospitals, large residential projects, and retail stores. She's also been a writing tutor for MBA students, among other projects. But it's her latest endeavor that is perhaps most interesting. Samantha is a professional snuggler. Now, before we go on, let's just clarify, we're not talking about any kind of sexual service.
This is all about platonic touch therapy, or snuggling, as it's popularly known, which is considered an alternative therapy that is specifically good for coping with various mental, physical, and emotional conditions. There is now a small but growing industry of platonic touch providers, or once again, professional snugglers. And there's also real science behind the snuggle. Researchers and anyone who's ever cuddled knows that it can be good for you. Physical touch releases chemicals like oxytocin and serotonin.
And these chemicals are associated with stability-inducing effects, as well as keeping depression at bay. So that's what it's all about. But how do you actually do it? I don't mean the snuggling, I mean the side hustle part of it. Well, Samantha read an article about this new industry and was intrigued.
She then started Googling and found an agency that works with snugglers across the country. Indeed, there are in fact multiple agencies that work with people to provide this service. And Samantha chose one that described themselves as a professional cuddling service working with masters of platonic touch who offer a personalized experience. After she applied and was approved, she then made a profile on the agency's website. And here Samantha has some tips for us.
She says if you wanna be a professional snuggler, don't just say you're kind, gentle, and soothing, 'cause everyone says that. Think about what makes you interesting. So her profile mentions her full-time job as a construction project engineer, her personality type, some of her hobbies, like dancing, board games, anime, and who she gets along with the best, which she lists as creative types, as well as people with a background in science, technology, or engineering. And by the way, this is actually really good advice for all kinds of profile making, not just your snuggling pitch. So whether it's updating your LinkedIn profile or your dating profile or anything else, well, you have to stand out somehow, and it really helps to be specific.
Samantha started with the agency. She was nervous at first, but then she found she actually enjoyed the work. She felt like she was really helping people with this platonic touch therapy. So she eventually left the agency to strike out on her own. She created a website called snugglewithsam.com.
She charges $80 an hour, and clients can also book for overnight sessions, which cost up to $500, depending on the total time commitment. When she first started with the agency, she made about $600 a month. And once she left to go out on her own, that income quickly rose to somewhere around $1,500 to $2,000 a month. And that's not all. Her friends were fascinated with her new side hustle, and several of them mentioned over drinks that she's really good at teaching people.
Maybe she should consider cuddle coaching. So then the idea of training snugglers and creating her own agency came about. On that website, you can now book a session if you live in New England. You can request a referral if you live elsewhere, or you can apply yourself to go through some training and perhaps become one of those people that Samantha sends referrals to. Samantha's biggest challenge is that not everyone understands that the platonic touch is not, in fact, a euphemism for something else.
Her website and most others in this industry try to make that very clear, but sometimes she still gets unwelcome inquiries. She has also set up a few different measures to make sure she always remains safe, especially when meeting new clients. Her ultimate goal is to position herself in a way that prevents people from associating a bad stigma with this profession. She feels that some agencies don't do the best job of marketing themselves, so she's trying to change that herself. All you need is love and maybe a good snuggle session.
[Music]
I hope you learned something new today. Even if you don't wanna become a professional snuggle or yourself, I hope you find it interesting and perhaps it will help you think of an idea for your own hustle. As always, inspiration is good, but inspiration combined with action is so much better. If you wanna find the show notes for today's episode, learn more about professional snuggling, just come over to sidehustleschool.com/107. I hope to see you there on social media or if nowhere else, right here on the podcast tomorrow.
Thank you for listening. I'm Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School.
