This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey, hey, what's up? Welcome to a brand new week, episode 1535 for you. Coming out on the 15th of March, guess what that is? Beware the Ides of March. It is indeed the Ides of March.
I also want to give a shout out to Chris Christensen, longtime listener of Sada School School, longtime podcaster himself. Check out his website amateurtraveler.com, amateurtraveler.com, or his podcast, The Amateur Traveler. He actually started that podcast back in 2005. I think of Chris today because a while back, I said something, I think it was in September, the middle of September, I was like, is there an Ides of September? Is that just a March thing?
You know, I'm only familiar with the one from Julius Caesar. And he actually wrote in to say, well, you know, every month had an Ides in the Roman system, although it was more often the 13th for some strange reason. But in March, the Ides fell on the 15th day. So fun fact for you today, every month has an Ides, but normally on the 13th. Thanks again, Chris.
And in today's episode, speaking of fun facts, a listener recently learned Morse code. And they learned actually that Morse code could do more than just send an SOS signal, which is what most of us might think of if we think of Morse code, you got those little dots and dashes, but what can you do with that besides, you know, send the SOS signal when you're on a deserted island? Might there be a resurgent interest in old skills? That's our question. It's always interesting what comes back into fashion or what generates renewed interest over time.
So we use this question to consider how someone might bring together people with this kind or any other kind of shared interest. So essentially it's about community storytelling and how to monetize that, of course. So I also have a real world example in mind that could be helpful to consider. All that's coming up in this episode, how can a listener attract new interest in old skills and get paid for it? [Music]
Hi, Chris, this is Julie.
And I've been following your projects for a couple of years now. Thanks for all the helpful advice you've shared. I recently started learning Morse code and it's the coolest thing. This is how sailors and armies communicated way back in the day before the telephone, though it might not have a tremendously practical use these days. I definitely think more people should know about it.
And it just seems like a geeky skill more people want to learn. Then I thought about other skills that might be similar and that they were useful at one point, but fell out of style with new technology. Writing shorthand maybe, or navigating by the stars. Could there be some way to bundle these things together into some kind of course or program? Looking forward to hearing from you.
[Music]
Hey Julie, thank you so much for the question. Thank you for listening. And it is so cool that you have been learning Morse code. I don't know a whole lot about it, but I went to do some research and saw that there's an app you can download to help you learn Morse code. I actually did download that app, so I'm working on it.
Not sure how far I'm gonna get, but pretty cool. And geeky skills definitely don't need to be practical for sure. So like that phrase that Julie used here, geeky skills. Well, just witness the great interest in tabletop gaming or Pokemon Go or geocaching. I mean, maybe that last one is sort of practical, but mostly it's just fun.
It's about having fun and connecting with like-minded people. And so I think that is what Julie needs to keep in mind or anybody else who's like, I've got this weird kind of skill. I think she mentioned what, navigating by stars or shorthand, or a resurgent interest in something that is from another age. How can you focus your efforts on those two values, fun and community? And the real world example I wanted to give you is called the art of manliness.
Now maybe you've heard of the art of manliness, maybe you haven't, but they've been going strong for more than a decade now. It was originally a blog. Now it's a podcast with 680 episodes at last count, a whole community, a membership site, lots of other formats, they've really kind of branched out. And this was just started by a guy in Oklahoma who wanted to create, in his words, so I'm pulling this from his website, the art of manliness is a one-stop resource for actionable advice that covers every aspect of a man's life, character, career, relationships, fitness style, skills, and much more. Art of manliness differentiates itself from other men's lifestyle media outlets in providing content that is intelligent, thoughtful, imminently useful, and clickbait free.
So if you look at any of their branding, for example, it's a really old-timey kind of style, it is focused on this sense of nostalgia, a little bit geeky, focused in particular on men in their case, but again with those two values of fun and community. So interestingly, if I think about them, I think, well, this is the kind of thing that could have been confined to a certain internet time span, and it could have been around for a couple years and went away, but it's been able to evolve. And so to Julie's question, could there be some kind of interest in this? Could there be a way to bundle these things together into some kind of course or program? Absolutely, for sure.
And there's lots of different ways to go about that, so that's something we can explore in other episodes, but I do think it's a good direction, it's a good way to think. How can I focus on fun and community rallying around a specific topic? Julie, good luck, listeners, good luck. If you have a question, let me know what's on your mind. Come to sidehustleschool.com/questions.
I will be featuring those questions throughout the year. I'll be cheering you on every single day. I hope you'll continue to join me. You can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. New episode every morning.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
- From The Onward Project.
