This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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You know how whenever you go to install an app, like you download an app on your phone, it could be a number of other things these days, certain websites you go to visit, but particularly with apps, you have to agree to a lengthy list of terms and conditions. Like you get all the way to like the final installation stage and you're like, wait a second, before you can actually use this exciting app, you have to agree to, you know, sometimes tens of thousands of words that you're not actually going to read, right? Like you're never gonna actually read them because what's the point? And when I say tens of thousands of words, I'm not kidding actually, the PayPal contract, and that's what terms and conditions are, it's a contract. The PayPal TNC is more than 36,000 words long, which happens to be longer than Hamlet, right?
It's just crazy, it's insane. So today's caller wants to help brands improve their terms and conditions, also known as TNC. Can she design and license a template that companies will pay for? Interesting question here. And by the way, I should say, welcome to Scottsville School.
Thank you for joining in today. My name is Chris Guillebeau, your host. I am all about solving practical problems. So throughout the history of the show, we have often looked at topics that seem a little bit boring or basic, or you're like, can somebody really make money doing that? But at the same time, you also have to ask what problem does this solve, right?
So not everything that is basic or boring or logistical or practical actually has a problem associated with it. And that's part of the issue here. But we're gonna delve into it here in this question, can you get paid to help brands with their terms and conditions? Well, I don't know, let's consider it. And we'll hear from our listener after this brief message from our sponsor.
Brief message, no long terms and conditions, I promise. [Music]
Hi, this is Jackie, and I'm a longtime listener, first time caller. I'd like to help brands simplify their terms and conditions. No one ever reads those long pages of texts that were required to approve before downloading an app or joining a website. My idea is to make a series of templates that cover any important legal clauses, but written in a way that makes sense to regular people.
I will license the templates to companies for an annual fee, agreeing to make any reasonable number of updates a couple times a year. What do you think about this idea? And how can I market it? Looking forward to hearing from you. [Music]
Hey, Jackie, thank you for the question.
I don't think we've ever talked about this before, as thrilling as a topic as terms and conditions can be. I don't think we've ever considered the side hustle implications of it. I think it has a couple of challenges, like right off the bat. And one of those challenges is like, this might sound a little bit cynical, but brands don't always want their terms and conditions to be simple and easily understandable. In fact, it's kind of the opposite.
They're sometimes written in a way to be very favorable to the company. That's what the company's lawyers do, the people that write these things. So it's not like there's a neutral party somewhere saying, hey, how can we write the terms and conditions between company X and its consumers in a way that's fair to both parties? Instead, it's a company X that's writing the contract. And they just want users to click the accept button without raising a fuss.
That's how we end up with 36,000 words of terms and conditions for PayPal. And I read recently about Facebook, like Facebook's terms and conditions are, anything you post of any kind, any format, they claim ownership over, right? And they can even use that content in their own advertising without paying royalties. Also, if you delete the post, they still own it. Like they can still use it.
So as I said, that might be kind of a cynical answer, but I think it's not incorrect for a lot of companies to say that they don't really want to necessarily make their terms and conditions more easily understandable. So I guess my thought would be, might there be another answer somewhere? Like let's take this kind of approach or the idea behind it. Maybe instead of focusing on brands like companies, you should focus on consumers, educating them about the rights they give up on a daily basis to these brands. Like can anything be done?
I'm not quite sure what the business model is, but consumer reports. I thought about consumer reports. I did a little bit of research. I used to get the Consumer Reports magazine years ago and just looked up the numbers. Consumer reports took in $240 million last year with no advertising.
They don't take advertisers, they are unbiased. That's a primary value for them. They provide these product reviews and they found a way to create this very sustainable model by focusing on consumers and kind of eliminating some of the filters or barriers that often exist between consumers getting accurate unbiased information. So I don't mean to say it's a terrible idea at all. I just think it has some problems off the bat.
So I think you should pay attention to that before you move forward. Oh, and just as a side note, I recently read the novel "Terms and Conditions." Like there is a novel called "Terms and Conditions" by an author named Robert Glancy and I really enjoyed it. So if you're looking for something fun to read, go check it out. All right, thank you again, Jackie. And thank you listeners.
You are awesome. If you have a question of your own, comment, whatever it is, come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. I don't have slash comments, so everything goes at slash questions. We'll be featuring them throughout the year along with updates from other listeners as they launch and grow their projects. I'm grateful for you today.
Take care of yourself and come back tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
