This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey, hey, welcome back. This is Side Hustle School. I'm Chris Guillebeau here at the end of week number 18. Wow, now I'm actually coming to you live this weekend from Boston, Massachusetts. I've been here for a side hustle school workshop with lots of fun people.
And this whole week has been kind of fun. Been a very eclectic group of stories, ranging from a guy who was under house arrest, that led to the inspiration for his very successful project, to a woman who makes dog biscuits, feminist jewelry, couple other things. Do you hear this kind of range of stories anywhere else? I mean, come on. I was watching one of these entrepreneurship reality shows the other day, which I don't usually watch, but I was on an airplane.
I forget if it was Shark Tank or Dragon's Den. You know, those shows can be great entertainment, but that's really what they are. My annoyance or my frustration with them is that a lot of people watch those shows and they think, oh, that's what it's like to quote unquote be an entrepreneur or to have a small business. And it's really not. Like any reality TV show, those shows have a lot of manufactured drama, which makes for good television.
But if you ever see one of these shows where investors make a decision really quickly, like you hear about this person's business for two minutes, and then you're like, okay, I'm in for $300,000. Again, good entertainment, but you should know that the majority of those deals never actually close. Because the investors always have the option to do due diligence, that offer they make is not binding, and the person making the pitch also has the option to walk away later. And many times they do. So that's fine, as I said, it's good entertainment.
But what we're doing here with this show, Side Hustle School, you, me, the featured stories, our wonderful production team, like this is legit. This is real life. All of these stories are true. There's no false drama to create hype. And if you listen to these stories over time and you absorb the lessons, you begin to notice where Side Hustle ideas can come from and how to make them a reality in your life.
So think about that a little as you go about your day. What are you making? What are you building? What are you working towards? And it's my hope that this whole project can support you in that.
With that in mind, today we have listener questions and a look ahead to next week. So let's jump right in. - Hi, this is Sheila from the US, currently living in Nicaragua. First, let me say, Chris, I love the program. Excellent and inspirational.
I am finding a little bit of trouble as I try to research my saleable idea. I think I get a lot of momentum when I first start because there are a lot of great ideas, but then I see the competition and I get a little bit discouraged. And I think maybe my idea really isn't good enough. Is there any way to overcome that? - Awesome, Sheila, thank you so much for listening.
This is indeed a common question. I would encourage you to think of it like this. The fact that there is competition for your idea shows you that the idea itself is validated. In other words, if there's a competitor or multiple competitors and from everything you can tell, they're succeeding, well, that's good because it shows you there is this market. It's often a lot more difficult to be the very first person offering something because then you have to show people that they have this need that they may not have been aware of before.
So I know it can feel intimidating, but there really are some positive things about the presence of competition. And then for your idea, you just have to do it better somehow or differently somehow. And when I say better, it doesn't mean that each part of it has to be better, just some sort of differentiation. And to relate this to myself, I'm an author, I write business books. There are lots of other people out there writing business books.
And that's good because most people who want to read a business book aren't just gonna read one. Same thing with the podcast. There's lots of other podcasts out there. But in some ways it's not really even competition because if somebody buys my book and then buys someone else's book, there's no loss there. So I don't mean to say that competition is never a factor, but I don't think it should stop you.
[Beep] - Hi, Chris, this is Jonathan from Montana. I'm a long time fan of your books and I'm a big fan of your podcast. I'm starting my first business. It's a drop shipping business. My question for you today is I'm preparing to reach out to manufacturers, specifically manufacturers of fly fishing products.
Even more specific, the manufacturers of the flies themselves. What advice would you give to somebody who needs to reach out to manufacturers for the first time? Any help would be great. Thank you for your time. Love the podcast, love the books.
Talk to you later, bye bye. - Hey man, thanks for the question. I love the specificity, not just manufacturing, but fly fishing, not just fly fishing, but the flies themselves. Well, probably the first thing you want to figure out when you're contacting different manufacturers is what exactly do they do? Now, obviously they make the product, but what is their process for selling that product to distributors, to stores, to people starting something new?
Do they have a catalog? Do they have a price list? Do they do anything custom? Those are just some introductory things to find out on your fact-finding mission. And usually when you contact a manufacturer, they'll connect you with a salesperson, whose whole job, of course, is to sell.
But as part of that, they can answer questions, inform you of the process. If there's something specific you're trying to get, like a lower minimum order, a better price, you might want to try to feel out how much authority that person has. Is it kind of take it or leave it, or is there flexibility at all? I mean, those are the first things I think of. But remember, manufacturers are like any other company, and that their goal is to make a profit.
So anytime someone calls them and says, hey, I would like to give you money, potentially, they're usually happy to talk. So good luck with that, Jonathan. Let us know how the fly fishing hustle works out. [Music]
Looking back on this week, a few things stand out. As I mentioned, a very eclectic group of stories.
I do try to mix it up. From the dude who was under house arrest, ends up starting clean slate catering, which then became a food truck and a restaurant, with half a million dollars in sales last year. Bruno's Barkin Biscuits, the organic dog treat that every dog loves. Of course, every dog loves processed dog treats too. But who can blame them?
A story about a blogger who shifts tactics. That was two days ago. This guy Preston had less than two hours a day to work on his project while he was riding the train. He actually built his blog to the successful level of making something like $50,000 a year, but then he noticed a downward trend. And so he adapted, changed business models entirely, from creating products to pursuing corporate sponsorships, and now makes even more money, still just working less than two hours a day.
That was one of my favorites, as well as the bang out Betty feminist jewelry. And then yesterday's episode, the guy who has a sign hustle. A very low tech project that brings him $25,000 a year, as well as $25,000 a year to his son, who's now a partner in that business. Now, despite these stories being eclectic and being very different, they actually have things in common. Each of these people in one way or another, use the power of observation to kind of ask why and to explore a question.
For the most part, they use the skills they already had. The guy who was under house arrest, he had been a chef at several French restaurants. It's not like he's starting completely from scratch. The catering business was new to him, but not the cooking. Same with the guys in episode 123, Uber for lawn care mows down the competition.
The co-founder for that business came from the lawn care world. So he was very familiar with both the problems of that industry, as well as the opportunity presented by those problems. As well, all of these stories focused on meeting in need or otherwise serving people. And they all started quickly with low investment. All of those characteristics are part of the side hustle way.
And I hope to keep bringing them to you every day. Got another good set of stories coming up this week. A six figure scavenger hunt. A couple of college buddies who decide to create bow ties. They don't end up making six figures, at least not yet.
But so far they've done something like $15,000. A dessert lover who starts a London chocolate tour. And of course, so much more. By the way, if you'd like to submit a story, if you have an existing side hustle, I would love to hear about it. About 20% of the stories on the show these days are actually coming from listeners, which is great.
I would love to get that even higher. So on the sidehustleschool.com website, if you click the about tab and scroll down to my contact form, on the left, there's a link that says submit a side hustle story. And that's our little intake form. Should we ask a bunch of questions there? And if your story is a good fit, we'll probably follow up with more questions.
But that is the first step of the process. I'd love to hear about it. Also, if you know somebody who should be featured, help us out and help them out potentially by sending them to that page. Before I wrap up for the day, I want to say thanks to a few people who make this possible. Side hustle school is recorded on location at World Domination headquarters in Portland, Oregon.
It is then produced in Brooklyn, New York at the Panoply Studios. My production team is Jason De Leon and AC Valdez. Show notes are by Whitney Karinek. My cat Libby Gilliboe is in charge of our catering service, but she does not like Bruno's Barkin Biscuits. Fun fact of the week, the original Boston cream pie is found at the Parker House Hotel in Boston on 60 School Street.
It is a bit touristy to go to this hotel and order a Boston cream pie, but I'll be honest, I did it and it was pretty good. Pro tip, they serve it in the main restaurant, but you can also just go to the bar and order it. It's $10 there. Life advice this week comes from M&M. I try to treat all the money I'm making like it's the last time I'm gonna make it.
Side hustle school is part of the onward imprint curated by bestselling author Gretchen Rubin, who is also the cohost of the very popular Happier podcast. You can learn more at GretchenRubin.com or theonwardproject.com. Last but certainly not least, I wanna thank you, the listener, wherever you are in the world, however you listen to the show, you're the reason I do this. This is a free listener supported show with just a single sponsor per episode. If you're enjoying it, I'd be super grateful if you'd leave a quick rating or review in iTunes.
We have more than 600 of those so far from you guys, which is awesome. It really helps other people discover the show. That's all from me this week. The best is yet to come. New episodes go online at 6.01 a.m. Eastern time
every single day. I'm Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School. [Music]
