This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Welcome to Throwback Thursday slash Where Are They Now? We had two names for this segment, but we liked them both, so that's why you get two names. Throwback Thursday slash Where Are They Now? Where we take an in-depth look at someone whose story has evolved considerably since we first featured them. Recent features have included a guy who runs citywide scavenger hunts in multiple cities throughout the country, a Denver woman who leads food tours for up to 700 people a month, and more.
Today in our latest feature, we'll hear from someone who had an unusual idea. I actually remember when we first featured him, I think it's been more than a year now, I looked at some of the initial notes for the story, and I wasn't sure if it was a good fit for the show. That's because at the time I didn't quite understand the project. It seemed more like a fun thing to do, or a meaningful social experiment, but not necessarily a money-making business. Now it's great to do fun things and to have meaningful social experiments, but here on the program we're focused on for-profit projects.
It turned out that it was all of those things, actually. It was a fun thing, a meaningful social experiment, and a for-profit project. Now rather than tell you now what it is, I'm gonna step aside and allow him to do that. His name is Jesse, and I'll come back at the end to wrap us up. [Music]
My name is Jesse Weinberg, and I'm based between Seattle, Washington, and Thailand.
My side hustle is kindness and co, and my episode was number four, five, one. Kindness and co is a simple idea with a major goal to start a movement of kindness. We make innovative kindness kits that encourage and empower people to create their own ripple effects of kindness. A kindness kit consists of a greeting card that has a bunch of really fun and innovative ideas for people to commit random acts of kindness. And with the kit comes a few different fun and innovative tools and goodies to help sort of encourage this entire process.
The side hustle was sort of an inspiration from my grandfather who navigated his life with the ultimate kindness. So through his actions, not his words, he helped teach me and many others what true kindness means. And I got sort of obsessed with the idea of how powerful kindness as a concept is. And I think it's really interesting how little effort it takes to do something kind for someone else, but how powerful that can be and how it can really change someone's day or month or even life. So I think kindness is a concept that got me very excited.
And I wanted to figure out a way to empower others to commit more acts of kindness. My current day job is I run a digital marketing agency as well as a travel website. So that's what I spend most of my day-to-day doing, but I'm learning that my passion is revolving around this kindness project. And it's something that I really eventually want to sort of put all of my efforts into. So right now, this kindness and co-project is a side hustle, but I'm hoping to sort of transition out of my agency and into this full-time eventually.
Chances are, if you're passionate about something, you probably know a lot about it. And probably to a degree, you're an expert of some sort or a thought leader. From there, you can create some really special content around that subject matter that you know so much about. If you love cooking, you know, you could compile a famous recipe from every state in the USA and turn it into a set of 50 postcards and have that beautiful content designed and turned into a great product. If you love whiskey, you could create a whiskey kit containing all the essential whiskey-drinking products and recipes.
If you love marketing, you could create a marketing 101 kit with your knowledge. And from there, I'd recommend finding a great graphic designer to lay out all your content ideas in a beautiful way. And after that, you can turn that into some sort of physical product of some sort, like a postcard, a kit, an e-book, card. And the result is a beautiful, saleable product that would be appealing to anyone in the world who is also interested in that subject matter. So, fulfillment has been sort of a big headache throughout this whole process.
Originally, I was doing it all myself from my house, and then I would, I had friends doing it for me and family doing it for me when I wasn't around. And just as I've recently decided to take, to work with a fulfillment provider, someone who can handle all the receiving of the inventory and then send it out to customers in an effective way. - Awesome, thank you so much, Jesse, for those updates. And now listeners, Jesse actually has a special offer for you. It is the best kind of special offer.
It's actually free. At least it's gonna be free for the first 100 people. So here's how it works. The first 100 people that contact him by email, I'm gonna give you that email address in a moment, he's gonna send you five kindness kits, which sell every day on his website for $20. And all he asks is that if you find a kindness kit inspiring, that you share your story of doing something kind for someone else.
That's it. So if you're interested, the first 100 people, email info@kindnessandco.com to get your free kits. That is info@kindnessandco.com. So kindnessandco.com to get your free kits. I'm grateful to Jesse for helping us out with this segment and for that kind offer.
We're gonna keep doing these new segments throughout 2020. Let me know what you think and who you'd like to see featured from our archives of more than 1,000 stories. If you've got a question or to update us about your hustle, just come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. We're gonna feature all of these things throughout the year. In today's notes, all right, sidehustleschool.com/1139.
Thanks again and be kind. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Sodasleschool." [Music]
- From the "Onward Project."
