This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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A Canadian caller is wondering how to start an engineering CAD or computer aided design hustle while working full time. You'll hear his question in detail, but just a quick reminder, these kinds of questions can be helpful to you, even if you don't relate to the specific situation. In fact, that's the whole reason we introduced them in 2020 or started featuring them more because I kept hearing from listeners who enjoyed hearing about other people's situations, but then hopefully they can also take something for themselves. So, you know, in this case, you know, this guy's question is about a specific kind of business, which I will talk about a little bit. I do have an idea for him, but more important is the general principle behind it.
How can you start any business while working full time? There are a lot of considerations and characteristics that are pretty similar. Like a lot of people have the same kinds of questions, the same kinds of struggles, or it's not always a struggle. It's just like, how do I figure this out? You know, what do I need to know about?
What do I need to do? What is a pitfall I should be aware of? Or what is an opportunity I should look out for? So I always try to consider both the specific question, like whatever it is we're talking about on any given day, as well as how it might help other people doing something different. So that's my goal anyway.
Let's see if I can succeed in this one. You will be the judge. The question is how to start this specific engineering side hustle while working full time. My question's coming up in just 30 seconds. [Music]
Hi Chris, this is Joe from Toronto, Canada, and I've been listening to your podcast for a little over seven months.
I'm thinking about side hustling and opportunity that I was presented with where I can sell mechanical CAD services to small firms who do not have design teams in house. In summary, companies contract out a lot of engineering design work that is either repetitive or do not have the resources to perform the task. This is a similar model with the technical work that is going to be done overseas and I won't be a sales extension of that firm. My question is, is it really possible for this opportunity to be a side hustle because I do like my full time job and there's no pay for no sale. Also, where are some possible avenues where I could find leads of such firms that I can help with their work?
And how can I make this operational by only being available before 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m. and on weekends? Thanks, and I really appreciate for the knowledge and inspiration you give in your podcast, it surely impacts people's lives just like Howard did mine. Thanks again for the wonderful work and best wishes for the holidays.
- Joe, thank you so much for the kind message and it's exciting to hear about your idea. So you had several questions here. I wanna focus on two of them. One specifically related to the idea of starting those mechanical CAD services and then to the part about the, how do I do this with my full time job? So first, I think the question you have to answer here is, is there a gap or might there be a gap between what these companies prefer to do in-house and what they prefer to outsource overseas?
So when you think about these firms, in other words, for whatever reason, they have determined that there are some things it's better for them to do themselves in Canada or the US or wherever they are with their own engineers, or if they do have a design team, I know you mentioned they don't all have a design team, but their own employees, however it works. And similarly, they've determined that there are other things it's better to outsource overseas. So you have these two groups of tasks or responsibilities. The interesting question I think is, is there anything that might fall in the middle, perhaps something that they would like to outsource, like in their ideal world, they're like, we would like to have somebody else do this, but they have some fear of doing that for whatever reason that could be. Maybe they are concerned about quality, maybe they just need to have more oversight, maybe there is some concern about sharing intellectual property.
I'm not sure what it would be, but is there something they would like to have off their plate? What falls into the middle there? Because ultimately Joe here is looking for some sort of competitive advantage, right? He needs to be able to say, I can do this better than you're doing it currently and also better than your existing outsourcing solution. Now, as for doing it part-time, I think that's just something you have to factor into this same analysis, right?
So this is true for a lot of our listeners. Joe can't be available in the nine to five hours during the workday. So his competitive advantage couldn't be something like, I'm gonna be super available for you. Like you can call me anytime, I'll respond within 15 minutes. That's not a promise he could make.
So instead of promising timeliness, the promise has to be something associated with quality or another improvement of some kind. Now, normally it wouldn't be cost savings either because like how can you compete with outsourcing, right? But I would say like just as one more comment, the promise could be associated with cost savings as long as the comparison you're making is based on the local costs instead of outsourced costs. That's what I'm thinking of when I ask, might there be something these firms would like to outsource overseas, but don't currently feel comfortable with? So in this case, the promise is maybe I can save you money, based on what you're paying now in terms of your engineering hours and all that kind of stuff.
It's not gonna be as cheap as overseas outsourcing, but you already know that you can't do that. So I've come up with a better solution for you. So that's just my final note. Maybe cost saving has nothing to do with it at all. But regardless, I think the question is that competitive advantage.
What can I do that might fall in between what they're currently doing and what they're currently outsourcing? All right, that's my two cents. Thank you, Joe, for the question. Thank you listeners. I hope that's helpful to you in some way as well.
I think you always have to be thinking about what is your competitive advantage. And if you have a question of your own, well, I would love to help, or at least take a shot at it. Just come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. We're gonna continue to feature them throughout the year. There's a whole global community out there, people who are all trying to create something for themselves in the midst of a busy time.
They all have jobs. They've all got other responsibilities, but we're all just trying to move forward. So hopefully I can be helpful with that. And I hope you'll subscribe and keep listening. My name is Chris Guillebeau.
This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
