This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
What's up? Welcome to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau. We have just finished week number 49 of season three. That's right, week 49.
The final countdown begins. End of year is approaching quite soon. Related to that, over the past week, I've been undertaking my 2019 annual review. This is where I go away for a few days. The better part of a week, actually.
And kind of reflect on the year that has just coming to a close and make some goals, set a plan, determine a theme, all this kind of stuff for the year ahead. So I'll share more lessons about that in my newsletter, which you can sign up for on my personal site, chrisguillebeau.com. But the short version is like, wow, this has been quite the year. All kinds of stuff has happened. Lots of stuff this year.
Lots of good things in particular. And of course, I've had some challenges as well, but I always like noting when something good has happened. So I'm also excited to jump into next year, which will include a lot of other change and other new things for me. So I don't want to spend all of our time here talking about that. I know that's not why you listen.
So just to focus on Side Hustle School, I hope you heard the announcement last week about our big 2020 plan. We are calling it the Year of Interaction. It will be featuring your questions and updates throughout the year, along with a brand new series called Classroom, where we start in January and go through the year each week, building an income project together. I am really excited about this. It's one of the things I am most looking forward to when I think about the year to come.
So let's see, how do you make sure you're part of this? Well, just two pretty quick action steps, and one of them is totally optional. First one is to make sure you're listening, starting on January 1, because next year is gonna be much more thematic and you'll notice some changes right away at the top of the year. Now second, and this is optional, but if you have a question you'd like to contribute in advance, because as mentioned, we're gonna be using your questions and updates throughout the year. If you'd like to be part of that in advance, go to sidehustleschool.com/questions.
You can fill out a little form there, and many of those will be used on the show during the first month of the year. So can't wait to share that with you coming up in just a few weeks. Now in episode 1062, which was pretty recent, I think just about 10 days ago, we had the story of an engineer who stumbles into a custom cartography business. He found this business after a few previous attempts at e-commerce failed, and instead of trying right away, he began volunteering at a local maker space. And it was there that he learned a new skill.
He surrounded himself with some creative people, and then got the idea that became his new business. So I was thinking about this in the context of taking an annual review or otherwise regrouping, looking at something from a different perspective. And I thought of the phrase active pause. I don't remember if it came from him or if it's something I thought of myself, but regardless of where it came from, the active pause. It's often helpful to step back and get another perspective on a challenge.
I was working on a book manuscript a while back, and it wasn't going so well. So I just kind of put it aside in hopes of returning to it a few weeks or maybe even a month or two later, and just kind of seeing it with fresh eyes. Now with exercise, if you're on a serious training program, you need to plan for recovery days. And what I had to learn is that recovery, much of the time, doesn't just mean sitting around. It doesn't just mean, you know, sitting around watching Netflix, eating ice cream.
It might mean stretching, like active dynamic stretching, or cross-training, or walking two or three miles instead of running or doing some totally different form of exercise. So in other words, it's an active recovery, even though your body needs to recover, just sitting isn't always helpful. So we go back to your side hustle. If you're like Curtis, which I believe was the guy in that episode, and you find yourself struggling to make headway, perhaps you've tried something that hasn't worked out, consider what an active pause would look like for you. How can you change your routine or put yourself in new situations like Curtis did?
So it is like taking a break of sorts, but it's not just a passive break. It's an active break and therefore an active pause. All right, speaking of change and putting yourself in new situations, let us go to the audio update in just a moment. This one features Andrew Taylor, who has probably one of the most creative businesses we have featured in the entire archival history of the show. I don't think he talks a lot about the specific project that started this all in his update.
So I will come back at the end and share a bit more about that. But first, a message from our sponsor. Really appreciate them allowing us to bring this program to you completely free. And by the way, it's gonna be free in 2020 as well. So a big thank you to our sponsor and then we'll hear from Andrew Taylor.
[Music]
Good day everyone. This is Andrew Taylor from Melbourne, Australia. My side hustle is Spud Fit and it was featured on episode 481. Since then I've continued to grow my business. I've written a cookbook called Spud Fit, a whole food plant-based guide to eating and living, which is available wherever you get your books.
The biggest change in my business is that I'm now doing individual food addiction coaching. I really reluctantly tried this at the urging of a friend and it has now become the main part of my business from a financial point of view. And it's also the thing I enjoy most of all. I love it because it's really rewarding to personally help someone through a tough time rather than just hear from them after they've followed a course or read a book or watched a video. Since my episode aired, my earnings have increased from around $1,500 per month to around $7,500 per month.
Hopefully in the next few months, we'll be able to transition from this being our side hustle into a full hustle. Is that why you call it? Some advice for other listeners. I think the main lesson I've learned from this is to not be afraid to try something new, especially if you get advice from a trusted source. Sometimes others can see things more clearly from a distance than you can personally when you're in the thick of it.
So don't be afraid to get advice and just go with it and see what happens, even if you're afraid of it. Right now, I'm working on a new course called Mega Foods, which is nearly ready to go live. It's for people to follow when they're finished with their Spud Fit Challenge. It's more of a maintenance program aimed at being a sustainable way of eating for life rather than a short term intervention. So that's ready to launch soon and maybe you'll check it out.
Thanks for listening, everyone. I hope you've enjoyed the update and thanks to Chris for having me on Spud Up. [Music]
So just some quick notes on Andrew's project. If you didn't catch it, the name of it is Spud Fit, okay? And when we first featured this on episode 481, the title was Aussie Man Eats Nothing But Potatoes for 365 Days.
So that is exactly what happened. This guy went on an all potato diet for an entire year, which is just incredible right by itself. It sounds like a gimmick. He got a lot of viral attention for it. It was all over, you know, all sorts of news media.
I actually got a chance to meet him at my Melbourne event when I was there and we talked about it some more. So it sounds like a gimmick, but there's a deeper meaning behind it because when he started it, he mentioned food addiction in that update. When he started it, he was dealing with anxiety and depression. He had been overweight, even obese, and wasn't able to kind of overcome that challenge, you know, through lots of different attempts and approaches. So this extreme experiment that he conducted led him to all sorts of personal, deeper life changes.
And so now, as you heard in the update, he is transitioning to individual coaching, something he was skeptical about, but has turned into his main income source as he moves toward full hustle mode. I love that phrase. And as you heard, $1,500 to $7,500 a month in income. So maybe this is why you need to take an active pause or regroup or otherwise ask yourself maybe the answer to whatever problem I'm facing is found in some solution that I never before considered. So how can I put myself in a situation where I encounter different ideas?
Okay, follow along with Andrew@spudfit.com. Tremendous success. Thank you so much, Andrew, for sharing your story. [Music]
Three more weeks to go in 2019. Got a bunch of great stories coming up, including one that I really enjoyed working on.
This one's coming out tomorrow, actually. I'll just give you the title. And you're gonna be like, "What is this about?" Well, it's about what the title says, but you know, still you're like, "How does it work?" Product manager profits from carnivorous plants. Okay, we've covered a lot of stuff on the show, but you know, it just kind of shows me all the time that we're still keeping it fresh because, you know, episode 1073, 1,073 is about carnivorous plants. And this guy who's very passionate about them and has found a way to make a solid income from them.
So you never know what you're gonna hear. I never know what I'm gonna find out as I work on the show from day to day, week to week. And I'm so grateful to be able to do this. So before I sign off with three weeks left in the year, I wanna say thank you. You're the reason I make this show.
I have been saying now for 1,000 days plus, that if you make the commitment to make this part of your routine, I too commit to supporting you in your quest to create that new source of income. And my hope is that as we move to this new format, we're gonna try in 2020 that I'll be able to help you more directly and we'll be able to actually make some progress if you've been stuck for whatever reason, which I understand 'cause I get stuck too. But sometimes when you're stuck, you need to take a different approach, a different perspective, like I just mentioned. I also wanna say thank you to our producer, Chuck Reed, Community Liaison, Jed Cheng, Content Manager, Tina Hart, and the official show cat, Libby Gillibow. All of us at Team Sadosle School are part of the Onward Project.
That is led by best-selling author Gretchen Rubin. Check out her mega popular show, "Happier with Gretchen Rubin", as well as the other two shows at the moment. Maybe more to come, we'll see. "Happier in Hollywood" and "Do the Thing". This is a free listener supported show as we look toward a new year, the year of interaction coming up.
I would love it if you'd tell your friends and show them how to subscribe. If you know anybody out there who needs another source of income, that's what we're all about. So send them to us, we will take care of them. I often say that inspiration is good, but action's better. It's because I hope you'll take action.
I wanna feature your story. I wanna hear about your updates. And I hope you'll join me tomorrow and every day next week for more stories and actionable ideas. Consider this a short daily investment in yourself. Episodes go online at 601 a.m. Eastern time.
My name is Chris Guillebeau, and this is Sadosle School. [Music]
From The Onward Project.
