This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey there, Side Hustle School listeners. What's up? It's Chris Guillebeau here with the weekly recap. We have just finished week number 21 of the show. So awesome.
Now, as I promised you last week, we've got some new stuff that we are rolling out. Last week I asked you, what's your side hustle idea or what side hustle are you working on? Got a ton of responses. We're gonna start playing those responses tomorrow and every day for the rest of the week. And we're gonna do this again the following week.
And so for that week, you have a different question. So here's the question for now. New question, what has been your biggest side hustle failure, right? Little unexpected, not what is your success, but what is your biggest side hustle failure? I have had so many people ask about side hustle failure stories, and I think that's so interesting.
I have a lot of thoughts about that. But before I even share anything about that, I thought I would just ask you, what's your biggest side hustle failure? Please don't be afraid to share. Like this is how we all learn together. I'll share some of my failures as well.
There's a long list. The show is short, so I won't have time to share all my failures basically. But if you'd like to share, call the Hustle hotline and leave a response of about 30 seconds or so. That number is 844-9-HUSTLE or 844-948-7853. Or if you prefer, you can also use your phone, make a little voice memo, and email that to podcast@sidehustleschool.com.
So you can do this wherever you are. Like I said, starting tomorrow, we're gonna feature responses from last week's prompt. And then a week later, we'll play the answers to this one. So what has been your biggest side hustle failure? Let me know.
Today we have listener questions, a look back at the week, and a brief look ahead. And now let's have some listener questions. - Hey, Chris, Libby from San Diego here. Love your cat's name. I've been listening since the beginning, and it's really inspired me to get my passion side hustle off the ground.
I started on a platform that I heard about in one of your previous episodes, thinking that it would be a great idea to have some money in my business account for my passion project. But it's actually cost me more on this platform, and it hasn't really taken off. I'm not driven to do it, so I haven't really put as much effort into it to get money back. So my question is, should I stick with it? Give it a year to hopefully have money for my passion project, or should I just put it to the side altogether and move forward with my passion project side hustle?
Let me know. I'm excited to hear the rest of the episodes. Thanks, bye. - Libby, thank you for the question. Yes, you do have an awesome name.
Well, a short version of my feedback, a year is a long time for something like this. And it's certainly a long time to struggle with something that you don't know is gonna work and you're not that excited about. So I guess I would just say, consider it a learning experience. You didn't mention what platform it was. But regardless, one of the main benefits of it should be to hopefully bring other people to you.
And if that's not happening, and you're not excited about it, I think you should try something else. Good luck. - Hey Chris, this is Gavin from Victoria on Vancouver Island in BC, up in Canada. It's so inspiring to hear all of these really awesome side hustles. I'm trying to put my artwork and photography on T-shirts and mugs and mouse mats and things like that, canvas prints.
And I just don't seem to get started online. I always seem to be spending far too much time redesigning and perfecting a website. What would be a suggestion? What can I do to just get on out there and do it? Any hints would be very helpful.
Thank you so much, cheers, bye. - Hey Gavin, thanks so much for listening. Yeah, perfectionism can be tough. Fortunately, I don't struggle with it because obviously we'd never have an episode of the show if I did, like just gotta keep moving. But in regards to your artwork and photography, putting it on those branded items, it's actually an artist who lives on your island, which is just across the way from me, by the way, in Portland, Oregon.
So we are basically neighbors. And I don't know if you've heard episode 76. It was all about how that guy used a website called Society Six, which you might be familiar with, to distribute his art, mostly on iPhone cases, but probably some other items as well. That might be interesting to check out. Also, Shopify is a really easy solution.
I mentioned it on the show from time to time. Squarespace, et cetera. But it doesn't seem like you have a problem figuring these things out. Your problem is just kind of moving forward and taking the action. So on that, I will just challenge you and say that I would love to see this online.
So if you get something up in the next, I don't know, seven to 10 days, this is your accountability. Send me a link and I will first of all take a look at it. And second, I will help to share it a bit. So I will tweet it out or put it in my newsletter or something to give you a little nudge. But you have to do it soon.
So I hope you accept that challenge and I look forward to seeing what you do. [Music]
By the way, just back to the questions for a bit, I just want to say thank you so much to everybody who has called in. Obviously, we're not able to answer every question on the show, but it really helps to have a lot of different questions so that we can focus on different issues that are hopefully relevant, not just to you, but to other people who are listening as well. And as I said, we're gonna emphasize the community aspect of all of this much more as we go forward. But before we go forward, let's go back.
Looking back on this week, a few things stand out. Got some good feedback about episode 143, the Savvy Sleeper pillowcase hustle. And also the next one, Orthodontist spends $500 in Facebook ads, produces $65,000 in new revenue. Jen Cross commented on my LinkedIn and said this is exactly what I do. So I know there are several of you out there experimenting in this world and building up a hustle, helping other people with Facebook ads, et cetera.
By the way, if you're on LinkedIn, feel free to connect with me. I pretty much accept all invitations there. You just type in my name and you'll see it. If you don't know how to spell it, nobody does, just go to Google and type in something that sounds like Chris Guillebeau and you'll probably figure it out. Now, my favorite episodes this week, there were two of them.
Now, I personally enjoyed the episode about the IKEA delivery service. The operations manager manages to make heavy furniture light. And I think because IKEA is like a love hate thing or maybe it's a thing you do for some time in your life and then you're like, get this out of my house, maybe someone should start a D IKEA service where they like bring you a better bookshelf and they take away your old bookshelf that is the same one that a billion other people own and then maybe they give that to a shelter or something. I don't know, just a thought, feel free to take that idea. And I also really liked episode 146 about a mom and son who create an athletic cup for young male athletes.
And like I said, in that episode, it was an eight-year-old Kyler who came up with this idea. Kyler is now 11 and this is not a pretend side hustle. This is not like a, hey, Kyler, learn about entrepreneurship. This is Kyler and his mom doing $5,000 a month in sales from this product that they learned how to make. So that is pretty awesome.
And as I said as well, I would love to feature more kid stories, teenage stories, family stories, anybody just doing something different. That's what this show has been about from the beginning. Like I wanted to do something that was unique and specific. And I feel like together with you and all the other people who've been part of it so far, we really are making that happen. So cheers to you.
Coming up next week, a bunch of fun things in the mix. Story of a software engineer who learns about the jewelry industry, initially for personal reasons, but then spots a gap in the marketplace, something that he's frustrated by, something that he realizes no one is providing and decides to apply his engineering skills to creating a really interesting solution. There's also a balloon artist who makes $1,000 a month on the side, as well as two Americans who immigrate to Canada and then write a guide about it for other people who for some reason are interested in immigrating to Canada now. Several other stories as well, of course, and also featuring your responses to what your side of the idea is and what you're working on. I am especially looking forward to that.
As I said, cheers to you. If you're listening, you are the reason I do this. If you make the commitment to make this part of your routine, I commit to being here every day and supporting you fully in your quest to create that new source of income. I want to help make this happen for you, and it's not just me, by the way. I'm not the only person working on this show, so once a week, I want to say thank you to some other folks as well.
We record Side Hustle School on location at World Domination headquarters in Portland, Oregon. It is then sent through the night on a dreamy, savvy sleeper pillow to Brooklyn, New York, where it's produced at the Panathlete Studios. My production team is led by A.C. Valdez. Special shout out to date to new producer Odilia Rubin.
Odilia, welcome. She may have actually mixed this episode, thank you. Show notes and other assistance are by Whitney Karinek. My cat Libby Gilbeau is on strike this week, demanding more benefits. Like Libby, where do you think this is?
This is not Europe, this is America. You have to work for your one meal a day. Life advice this week, knowledge is realizing that the street is one way, but wisdom is looking both directions anyway. Think about that for a moment. We, Side Hustle School, are part of the Onward Project, curated by bestselling author and my hero, Gretchen Rubin.
The Onward Project is a collection of podcasts full of actionable ideas for how to make your life happier, healthier, more productive, more creative, just more awesome in general. Check that out at theonwardproject.com. And be sure to subscribe to the new show in the Onward Project, Happier in Hollywood. You can find that in Apple Podcasts, formerly known as iTunes, or wherever you listen to podcasts. This show is a free, listener-supported show with just a single sponsor for episode.
Thank you for supporting those sponsors. They allow us to do this every day, feed the cat, et cetera. It would also be very cool if you could leave a quick rating or review in iTunes. Wait, did I say iTunes? Man, it's Apple Podcasts.
It's gonna be so hard. If you leave a quick rating or review, I mean, five stars is great, but you can say whatever you want. That will help other people discover the show. In every episode, I always say inspiration is good, but I don't want you to just be inspired. I want you to do something with this.
I want to feature your story here. So I look forward to hearing about your story, and I hope to see you tomorrow and every day next week. Episodes go online at 6.01 a.m. Eastern time every day. I'm Fiskel about "This is Side Hustle School."
