This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey, everybody, what's up? Welcome to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau. Now, if you have been listening at all in 2020, you know very well that one topic more than any other has overshadowed much of this year. And of course, that's not just in the case of this particular podcast, but so much of our lives, right?
And one of the many consequences of the pandemic, 'cause that is what that topic is, shocking. One of the many consequences is that a lot of people are afraid. And this is a tricky subject because some fear is rational and some is irrational, right? Like it's perfectly reasonable to be afraid of a, you know, global pandemic that has, at least at the time of this recording, you know, killed more than a million people. Of course, that is, you know, beyond devastating in so many ways, and it's also affected so many other people's lives in so many ways.
At the same time, we're kind of now in this stage of, okay, the pandemic is going to continue for some time, obviously. This isn't just like a couple of weeks thing or a couple of months thing. We've kind of lived through that, we've learned a bit. And something that I really believe is you have to consider your mental health in addition to your physical health. Like it's all embodied, it's all integrated or aligned.
And like, I don't mean to go on too much of a side note here, but I had a friend who is very, very anxious about doing anything. And, you know, my suggestion to them was, you know, you have to make smart decisions, of course. I'm not encouraging anybody to take, you know, unreasonable risks, but at the same time, as I said, this is going on for a long period of time. So you have to look at your whole behavior, I believe. And so when it comes to events, that's what we're talking about here with this episode, I'll try to stay on track.
When it comes to events, planning and marketing them is extremely complex. And there can be a big range of events. You know, when I say events or activities, like an outdoor wedding with 30 people is very different from a stadium concert with 10,000 people. And you've got all kinds of stuff, you know, in between those two extremes, right? You could even say, you know, a social gathering with five of your friends where you're all seated apart and, you know, it's also outdoors or something, you know, I would say that's pretty safe, you know, in most parts of the world.
Whereas that stadium concert with 10,000 people, not so safe. So again, for a side hustler out there, this is our question today. If you are producing a safety conscious event where you do feel confident that you can do this safely, now your challenge is how can I market this event? Like how can I market it in a way that overcomes or at least acknowledges the fear that many people have during this time? So I know that was a bit of an extended introduction, but I wanted to give some context for the question.
That's what we're gonna dive into in this episode. How can I produce those in-person experiences in a safe manner when people are afraid? Stay tuned for that detailed question and hopefully a helpful response. [Music]
Hi, Chris, this is Kevin from Pullman. I've been listening to the show for a couple of years now.
Thanks for the helpful advice. Speaking of which, how can I produce in-person experiences when people are afraid? A friend and I are hoping to host a ghost tour. We live in a college town that has lots of historical secrets and these tours are popular elsewhere, but there's not one in our area. Of course, the elephant in the room is, how can we get people to come to an in-person tour these days or even in the near future?
We think we can do this safely with small groups where everyone wears a mask, but I know a lot of events are on hold indefinitely. Meanwhile, you have other people who don't believe the virus is real and they're happy to show up and do anything, but I'm not necessarily trying to cater to those people either. How should we handle this situation? Is it just a bad idea to think about it now? Thanks and I look forward to what you have to say.
All right, there's a very interesting scenario here. There's a lot we could say about it. I know I had a lot to say in the introduction already. So I will try to be concise and oh, first of all, by the way, I do believe the virus is real just to kind of get that out of the way in case it was not clear from all my other comments in the introduction and elsewhere. It's not really whether I believe the virus is real or not.
If anybody out there doesn't believe it's real, it's not so much about belief, the virus is real. I mean, it's killed a million people, like I said. So let's be real here, first of all, and let's also do whatever we can to keep people safe. Now with that in mind, as I also said, most people understand now, now that we've been in this for a while, that there are different levels of risk. Some activities are not as risky as others.
And if you put your entire life on hold for six months now going on a year, who knows how long, then there's risk to that as well. So it's a spectrum of behavior and activities. And I would say to Kevin, this is probably not the greatest time in the world to launch an event-based business. Let's be real with that as well. But if you can safely produce this experience, if it's what you really want to do, then I also say go for it.
But to consider his question specifically, how do you deal with the perception of danger? I think first of all, you promote the exclusive nature of these tours. Presumably there are not hundreds of people going on these tours. So you say as part of the marketing, like we only have eight people, six people, whatever the number is per tour. As part of that, you also mentioned specific actions you're taking to keep people safe.
If it's a ghost tour, I'm imagining a lot of it takes place outside, which is good, you mentioned that. Maybe you even do some temperature checks or anything like that. Some of that is, I read this phrase recently, hygiene theater. So a temperature check doesn't necessarily keep people safe, but it encourages the perception of safety to counter the perception of danger. And then interestingly, the more people do those kinds of things, then the more safety conscious they are elsewhere.
Like if you do temperature checks, then it's more likely that people will wear their mask for the duration of the event. So that's interesting. And then lastly, maybe also just empathy is at the heart of all of this, like practice empathy wherever possible, encourage togetherness, encourage connection, understand that some people are not ready to go on a tour like this. So it's not really about trying to convince people to participate in something they're not comfortable with, but just encouraging that sense of like, hey, this is a scary time in the world, but there are still things that we can do to have fun, to connect, to learn about the world, to learn about our town, to learn the ghost history of our town or whatever else it is. So a few thoughts from me there, Kevin, of course, get some other feedback as well.
I know these are complicated situations and people are navigating them in all kinds of different ways. And for our listeners who are also trying to figure this stuff out, well, you're not alone. Like we're all in that place of rewriting things and trying to understand what is possible and what is not. So I am thinking of you as I make this show every day and we're all in this together, even from afar. If you've got a question of your own, come to sidehustleschool.com/questions.
We'll continue to feature them along with updates from other listeners as they launch or reconfigure their projects. Thank you so much once again. You're amazing. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
