This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
There is so much information out there, so much information both free and paid. Today's caller wants to know what's useful, what's worth paying for, and what you can safely ignore. So in my commentary, I'm gonna give you a list of a couple of tools and resources that I use, but I'm also gonna give you a cautionary note about not getting too sucked into the world of shiny objects. I really do believe that one of the challenges of the so-called information age is that there is so much information out there that it can be a real struggle to navigate. So it's both a blessing and a curse.
How do you figure out which online resources are worth paying attention to, which ones are worth paying for, and how can you just ignore all the rest of the noise and focus? Welcome to Side Hustle School. This is Chris Guillebeau, and I really appreciate this question from our listener. [Music]
Hi, this is Juan Johnson from Stone Mountain, Georgia, and I discovered your show in my podcast archives recently. Your side hustle profiles has helped me to think creatively, and it's given me the courage I need to start my own side hustle in 2020.
I am starting a side hustle related to web development and blogging. For web development, I plan to develop websites for local community businesses and organizations. My initial targeted clients will be related to education and training. For my blog, I will highlight my web development training experience and my transition from a job in education to a self-sustaining business with active and passive income. My question is this.
How do I figure out which information and resources online, like courses, blogs, and YouTubers, is valid and actually helpful? Also, how do I find the best resources and determine which resources are worth paying for? Thanks, Chris, for this opportunity to participate in this Q&A, and I look forward to hearing your advice. Have a nice day. - Juan, thank you so much for the call.
Really appreciate that. I'm excited to hear about your side hustle for 2020. And let me say first, it's just been great to hear from so many listeners, getting lots of emails from people who are enjoying the new format starting projects. So it's one of my favorite things. And now for your question, we could say a lot about this.
So let me start by acknowledging that this is just part of the answer for the sake of time, but hopefully a helpful one. So first things first, and I think this is actually the most important thing, almost nothing is absolutely essential. Almost no tool or resource, no educational structure, strategy, method, whatever, is absolutely essential. And so just remember this, because whenever you start to feel overwhelmed at all the different options, all those YouTubers, all those podcasters, all those authors, all those online tools and resources, those apps, et cetera, I wanna encourage you to slow down and just think about the core elements of running a profitable business, which are the same for running a profitable hustle. Okay, we're just trying to simplify and eliminate anything that's unnecessary here.
There really are just three elements. There's a product or a service. This is what you're selling. And there are a group of people who want to buy it. That's your target market, or as I often say, your ideal customer.
I like to think about one person sometimes more than just a big market. And a way for that person or a group or market to buy it. Okay, so a product or service, a group of people who want to buy it, and a way for them to do so. A way for them to actually exchange money for whatever it is you're selling. Now, no doubt there are many tools and resources that can make each of these things easier and better.
You can save time. You can create a better process for customers. You can improve your SEO and so on. I just mean, again, that when you feel overwhelmed, remind yourself that the basics really are kind of basic. Just this morning as I was working on this episode, I used a few different tools.
Some that I pay for and some that are free. In this case, I used Evernote. I used Google Docs. I used Zapier, which just by disclosure has been a sponsor of the show in the past. And I used Wufoo, which handles like form submissions, intake forms, that's how we get questions on the site, et cetera.
Now, there's a long list of other tools and resources that I use for other things. But again, the basics are basic. If I didn't have access to any one of these things, I'm sure I could figure something else out. And you can too. And the same is true with educational resources like YouTube videos or online courses.
And as to that part about when to pay for resources, whether it's software, like those applications I mentioned, or something more educational, like a course or a guide, part of it depends on your budget. If you have a $0 budget or a very, very low budget, then don't buy anything. If you do have some money to spend and you think something might be useful, well, in that case, if you were considering investing in a tool or resource, which as I said, can be valuable, I certainly have done that many times, just consider how it will connect to your primary goal in starting your project. Not a secondary goal because secondary goals could be almost anything, right? You can look at any kind of resource online and imagine some connection to what you're trying to do.
But because most of our side hustlers have really limited time, I want you to think about your primary goal. Like what are you really trying to achieve? And then how does this particular resource or personality or application, whatever it is, how does that connect to what you're trying to accomplish? [Music]
Finally, remember, life is short. Now if you try something and it doesn't help you right away, don't stick with it.
If you read 50 pages of a book and you don't love it, put down that book and move on. If you try using an app because everybody else says it's cool, it's like the hot new thing, but you can't figure it out or you just don't see the benefit yourself, delete it. Because time ultimately is your most precious resource. Thank you again, Juan. I look forward to hearing about your web development hustle.
And listeners, if you have a question, just come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. We'll be featuring them throughout the year in conjunction with the classroom series, where we go from idea to income from January through December. This has been episode 1133. Again, my name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the "Onward Project."
