This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey there, what's up? Welcome back to Side Hustle School. I am your host, Chris Guillebeau. Really interesting story for you today. Now for some reason, a lot of people are interested in immigrating to Canada recently.
It's not just because of Tim Hortons. Although for years, I've been saying that's a totally valid reason. I always try to pick up a pack of Timbits when I'm visiting friends up north. And if you don't know what Timbits are, you're missing out. Well, anyway, today's story is about an American couple who took what was their biggest struggle of recent years and then created an e-book to help other expats forge a new life abroad in the great white north.
But first, all week we are featuring listener calls about your side hustles or your side hustle idea. Next week, it's all about failure stories. But for now, what are you working on? - Hi Chris, this is Ginny. I am speaking to you from Guatemala City.
I moved here last year with my cat Goose and soon realized that there are really no good options for healthy cat food here. So I started experimenting and came up with my own recipe. And I really think there's a market here for healthy homemade cat food. However, I have no experience in business or haven't had a side hustle before. So I'm open to any and all suggestions or pointers for how I can get from concept to execution with my side hustle idea.
Thanks so much for all you do. Appreciate it. - Hi Chris, my name is Juliette Riley. I'm from San Diego, New Jersey. And I'm a social media director and a music teacher.
But on the side, I have a Patreon page where I sell merch and music for free and something we'll pay for, phone calls, can't see me in person and that's my side hustle. I've been listening to you for a long time and it's super inspiring just hearing about the ways people can make income and I'm always looking for new ways. But Patreon has never really been a great source for me as a musician because it's so hard to make money as a musician in today's market. So yeah, that's my side hustle. Thank you so much for creating the show.
Yeah. - Thank you, Jenny. Thank you, Juliette. Thanks as well to Goose the Cat with a little cameo role live from Guatemala City. Jenny, it definitely sounds like you have identified a need and Juliette, I love how you highlighted Patreon.
That can be a great resource for a lot of musicians, artists, independent writers and other folks. So if you haven't seen that before, it's patreon.com, P-A-T-R-E-O-N.com. We'll have more call-ins tomorrow. Today's story is coming up right after this. [Music]
In 2015, Corey Carl and her wife Casey were trying to navigate the murky waters of immigration from America to Canada.
And while on paper, their hometown of Brooklyn is only 500 miles from Toronto, the amount of bureaucracy and paperwork that stood between them and their new home meant that even one mistake could turn that short distance into long months of waiting. What Corey really wanted was a simple guide that explained how to work through each step and check all the right boxes to ensure a quick and painless move. But unfortunately, everywhere she looked, she could only find outdated, poorly written, or overpriced guides that didn't help much at all. Somehow, Amazon.com has 536 books on maple syrup, but not a single good book on Canadian immigration. That meant that Corey and Casey were gonna be forced to tackle the entire process or process themselves.
Well, it was either that or spend thousands of dollars on an immigration lawyer, which considering all the other costs of moving across borders, wasn't an option they wanted to pursue. So like true hustlers, they devoted their spare time to finding the best information they could for free. And what they learned was there is a lot of free information out there, but it was all hard to find or worse, it needed translating, not from French to English, but from legalese into English. If you've ever actually sat down to read the terms and conditions before you check the box, well, nobody's actually ever done that, but just imagine someone did. If so, you would understand their struggle.
Thankfully, with a keen eye for detail and lots of patience, Corey and Casey were able to immigrate to Canada, relatively unscathed by the process/process. After they'd moved and settled in, they realized that they had hundreds of hours worth of documented research, just sitting there not being used to help anyone. You only moved to Canada once, they thought, so they decided to write up their research and share it on their travel blog, 15 miles. Not long after, the post they wrote became the site's biggest driver of traffic, and they knew they had something interesting. You may have heard this old saying about writing a book, "Write the book you want to read, the one you cannot find." Well, there was no other couple in the world that knew a good book on immigration didn't exist more than Corey and Casey, so they decided to expand on that blog post and self-publish all their research as a book.
Corey had previously worked in publishing, so she had some skills, and she also had some experience as a designer, so the only real investment they had to make in the process was time. Now, speaking of time, the launch of this project was also Time Lee, in the sense that it was very relevant to a lot of people, because they published this book right before the US election of November 2016, and they were already making sales as the results were announced. Personally, they were a little bit too shocked by the results to be able to sit down and savor their success, but in terms of their side hustle, this shock election result ended up providing a great experience for them. While receiving panicked phone calls and emails about how the new administration would impact their lives, Corey and Casey realized they'd become the go-to people in their circle for immigration to Canada. They were also able to honestly let people know what their options were, should they need a change.
Since then, the book has gone on to consistently make at least $500 a month, which means they won't be quitting their day jobs anytime soon, but that's okay, because they love their day jobs. Corey runs a nonprofit for caregivers, and Casey is a business analyst, so the immigration book fits one of those definitions of side hustles that I use of being an asset that produces extra income for you outside your day job. And while it never gets any easier, telling people that they aren't eligible to move to Canada for whatever reason, knowing that their book is able to help people who can move save thousands of dollars in fees and hundreds of hours of confused research, for them, it's definitely worth it. In the near future, they're looking to create a second book that simplifies the process even more and prepares people for living in Canada, but mostly they'll be using the extra side hustle money to help them continue to travel the world and write about it on that travel blog, 15 miles. [Music]
Well, if you've ever wanted to check out the land of moose or maybe even move there permanently, now you know how to do it, or at least you know where to find that information.
By the way, fun fact, the plural of moose is moose, which can get a little bit confusing. Just remember, one moose, 10 moose, same deal. Whenever someone says moose, you're gonna have to look for a contextual clue to understand just how many moose we're talking about. Or is it just one moose? Well, either way, I hope you enjoyed this episode.
Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action, so much better. If you'd like to find the show notes and plan your own immigration to Canada, go politely to sidehustleschool.com/151. This week, we are looking for side hustle failure stories. I have many of them. I've tried so many things that haven't worked.
If you have two, there's nothing to be ashamed of. It can actually be really fun to look back on things that didn't go well. So if you've got a side hustle failure story, give me a call at 8449HUSTLE. Or just make a voice note with your phone and send it to me at podcast@sidehustleschool.com. You are awesome.
Thanks for listening. I'm Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. We stand on guard for thee and I'll see you tomorrow. [Silence]
