This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
What's up everybody? Welcome to Sada School School. Thank you so much for listening today. My name is Chris Guillebeau. I've been putting together this daily program every day without exception since January 1, 2017.
And I'm so glad to be able to reach people who are interested in finding ways to make extra money. Extra money without quitting their job by using a skill they already have and without going into debt. That is our mission here at Sada School, our one and only mission. We have lots of different strategies, tactics, ideas, tips, case studies, stories, et cetera, but it's all oriented around that value, creating freedom for yourself so you can do more of what's important to you. It's all about you, you make those choices.
Now today's listener, today's caller, is good at complaining to big companies when something goes wrong. He's got a knack for it. He'll tell you more about it in his message. Is there a way he can profit from teaching this skill? This question is helpful in a couple of ways.
We'll talk about the specific topic of course, but also I think it can give us a quick primer on business models. You might've heard that phrase at some point. Well, what does it actually mean? Why is it relevant to this question and so many others? We're gonna dive into that.
Can I get paid to help people learn to complain better after this message from our sponsor? Stay tuned. [Music]
Hey Chris, this is Jake from Pittsburgh. I recently found your podcast and I have been enjoying all of these side hustles, stories and puns. My question is, can I get paid to help people to learn to complain better?
I've always been good at complaining to companies, not just to be annoying, but like whenever something goes wrong and I'm looking to get a refund or some other compensation. Most people I know aren't nearly as good at it as I am. They often ask me for advice. Someone said I should charge for this service, but how would I do that? I was originally thinking of just writing down a few tips, but if I could get paid for it while helping someone who's been frustrated with a big company, that would be great.
What do you think? Thanks Chris. - Jake, what's up man? Thank you so much for listening. Hope you are keeping safe in Pittsburgh.
I love the enthusiasm and you're absolutely right that complaining is a skill. Complaining well to a company when something's gone wrong. Companies are used to getting a lot of complaints, especially on social media, but elsewhere, and there's a right way and a wrong way to do it if you wanna get a good resolution. Oftentimes when we're frustrated, we express that frustration, it becomes very emotional, and the reality is that presenting a company with some facts and saying I had this experience, it didn't go well, and here's what I would like in terms of a resolution or a recovery effort, that sort of approach is often much more helpful than the emotional, like I'm just so upset kind of approach. And Jake knows that of course, and he probably is much better at complaining than I am, 'cause he's got this skill.
So I was thinking about this a bit. Listeners, what do you think? I guess that's the first thing. Let me just kind of throw it back to our community. On these calls I've been doing, doing these monthly calls for The Third Way, which is a free group anybody can join, just go to sidehustleschool.com and you can get some information.
I often ask for other opinions. Like I say, well, you wanted my feedback, here's my feedback, but this seems like a question I think could be debated a bit, like to go back and forth. Could this be a good service or not? And there are arguments both ways. I think for me that there needs to be some kind of systematic process to it.
For example, like there are apps that help you dispute parking tickets, and those have done really well. There are medical billing consultants who can help you reduce large hospital bills in exchange for a percentage of the savings. So that kind of thing makes sense to me because it's like a high ticket item. If it's something that's relatively low cost, it's gonna be hard to make it worth it at the right price point. If somebody is upset over a purchase of $50 or something, you're gonna help them navigate that process of communicating with the company, or they might get a refund, or they might get some kind of credit, but then what is your fee?
You have to be able to do this with a high ticket item like a medical bill, like I said. We also had an episode at some point, this is a case study or a question, I forget what it was, of a former car salesperson who's helping negotiate the purchase of a vehicle for other people. So it's not quite the same model as dealing with complaints, but it is like being that go-between or that mediator between a consumer and a company. So I think the problem with doing it as a one-off thing is that most resolutions are going to be relatively minor, so it would be hard to charge a good price for it. Now, I'm sure that people have written eBooks on how to complain.
I think Jake also mentioned writing some stuff down. Maybe there's a way that could be done differently or better, some kind of written information or other information that is for sale to help people complain, not just the service of doing it for them. So Jake, there's a lot of thoughts there. I hope something is helpful. As always, take what works for you and discard the rest.
I always encourage people to try different approaches and do what is good for you, right? Because people have different goals for why they want to have a side hustle, they have a different approach, they have different personality, different skills, and all that stuff matters. So take what works for you, discard the rest. Listeners, if you have a question, come to sidehustleschool.com/questions, or if you've got a response, perhaps, to Jake or anybody else that you've heard on the show. We're gonna continue to feature them throughout the year, along with updates from other listeners as they launch their projects.
Thank you so much. I hope you're having a good day, wherever you are in the world. If you're having a bad day, I'm sorry about that. And I hope tomorrow is better. Do come back tomorrow as well.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
