This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Listers, let's get together and play Fortnite, or Minecraft, or Overwatch, or whatever your choice of online game is, you know, on Flex, long ago, long, long, long ago, you know, Galaxy, far, far away, my friends used to come over to play Halo. This was the original Halo and the original Xbox. I did, in fact, get the original Xbox the day it came out. I'm trying to think of what year that was now, but whatever it was, it was a long time ago, 2000, I believe, something like that. Anyway, my friends would bring up with their TVs.
We would hook up four consoles with 16 players. From time to time, we needed an extra controller, so we might, you know, go to Walmart and buy the controller and perhaps return it the next day. I cannot tell a lie. I did, in fact, do that, you know, 20 years ago. Hopefully Walmart isn't upset now.
These days, of course, millions of people do this online, not buy and return controllers to Walmart, but play games online at any given moment of the day. In-person experiences, however, are very different. I still have fond memories of them, you know, all these years later, as you can tell. So our listener today, our young listener, is taking up the mantle. He wants to host pay-to-play Fortnite parties in his basement.
Now, technology has evolved, you know, a great deal in all these years, and maybe his friends don't even have to bring over their TVs. However it works, let's see how we can help him level up. Quick shout out to our sponsor, and then we'll hear from Adi. [Music]
Hey, Chris, this is Adi from LA. My parents told me I should listen to Side Hustle School, as I've always been interested in making some money while being a student.
I wanted to see what you thought of my idea. I like to invite people over in church for Fortnite parties. I have pretty good broadband, and I can sell them snacks and energy drinks that I get from Costco. I'm also working on setting up a socially distanced area in my basement. Though, hopefully more people will have the vaccine soon, so that won't be a problem.
How much do you think I should charge for these parties? Also, do you play Fortnite? Thanks. [Music]
Adi, what's up, man? Thank you so much for calling in.
So cool to know that you're out there. And you know, Adi, I think you've done a better job than me, because 20 years ago I was just playing games. I mean, I actually did start selling on eBay at a certain point, but I never monetized my love of gaming. So I do love the idea of raising the standard of game parties, adding in some professionalization, and of course, getting paid for your efforts. So what might help Adi get this off to a good start?
I think what he needs to do is create demand. Okay, so rather than say something like, well, here's the price, you know, the price range, maybe it's $10, probably $5 to $20 is the price range. But rather than just focus on that, he needs to get people committed so that it's a desirable experience, week in and week out. This is something that people want to come to, right? 'Cause you can just sit in your own basement and play games, you know, online.
And maybe during the pandemic, you still need to do that, depending on your location and situation. But, you know, once it's safe, wouldn't it be so much cooler to, you know, hang out with like-minded people and have those snacks and, you know, play all in the same room? So I would say, you know, tell everybody that the first one is free and give them free energy drinks. Don't charge for them, give them free at first, right? Invite people who are popular gamers or connectors with a wide friend circle.
Post photos afterwards, tag some people you'd like to attend next week's. And then speaking of that, that word professionalization I used earlier, make it a regular thing. Like build some structure into it, call it, you know, Audis Gaming Den that hosts events every Friday night and every Sunday afternoon, whatever the time is, whatever name you choose. Make some business cards or flyers. Like I was thinking about that before I recorded this answer, I was like, does that make me sound even older than I already am?
Like saying, make business cards. And maybe it does, but I think it's also a little clever or it could be, you know, who makes a business card for, you know, a gaming party that you're hosting at your house, especially in this digital age. It's just something that kind of helps you stand out. Maybe it's not that. The point is to think about how you can make this a desirable experience so that people want to come.
Once you have the demand problem solved, then from there, it's easy. You can charge, you know, whatever that number is, $10, let's say. Maybe you can sell the energy drinks or whatever else, but it all is going to come from demand. So start with that. And of course, let us know what happens.
Send me a photo or something, tag me. I'd love to see it. Oh, and I don't play Fortnite myself. Like I've tried it, but I think these days I mostly like single player games. So I'm playing some PlayStation 4 games like Persona 5 and Uncharted.
That's what I've been playing. But thank you for asking. And listeners, if you have a question, come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. We will feature them throughout the year, along with updates from other listeners like Adi as they launch their projects. Thank you so much for listening.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the "Onward Project."
