This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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A listener has an idea to create a sober happy hour taking place on Zoom. What's the best way to structure it? And is this a money-making project or perhaps just another kind of project, like something you do because you believe in it, you think it could be helpful, et cetera. Welcome to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau.
I love getting all these different listener questions. In some ways, it's easier than ever to set something like this up. That's what we're gonna talk about here. But it's not necessarily easy to get traction, okay? And that's what I'm seeing in the world of online communities these days.
If we go back a year or so, like over the past year, there has been more and more interest in online communities, but at the same time, a ton of online communities have sprung up. And so I hear a lot of people complaining about Zoom fatigue or online overwhelm. Like I did a Zoom meeting the other day with my WDS team. And we have like about 10 people on the team. And I was like, "Hey, how many Zooms have you been on today?" And I was surprised at the number of people who said they'd been on more than five calls, like more than five video calls already that day.
So that is a factor. Like if you have tried to start a live streaming series or online meeting or other community or membership site, and you haven't seen great results, I just wanna mention that because you're not alone out there. This is something that a lot of people are navigating and trying to figure out. So whenever you start thinking about creating some kind of online community, I do think this is something to consider at least or kind of to factor into the process. But let's talk about it here specifically.
The question is about an idea for a non-alcoholic or sober happy hour. And that question is coming up after this quick message from our sponsor. Thank you, sponsor. And thank you listeners. [Music]
Hey Chris, this is Connie and I've been listening to the show for a while now.
I've been sober for two years now. And one thing I've learned is that it's important to have a plan for social gatherings. The happy hours in my office, I used to skip them or plan to touch base with a friend for accountability sake before and after. You might think that COVID would make this easier, but in some ways it does. But lately my work has been doing online happy hours twice a week.
It's a lot of fun, but most people are drinking. It made me think maybe other people in recovery all over the world might be interested in a social hour that isn't an AA meeting, but just a chance to hang out with people who understand that you can deal with workplace stress without drinking. How could I set this up to reach the most number of people? Thanks. - Connie, thank you so much for the message.
And of course, congratulations first and foremost. Congratulations on being sober for two years and also for recognizing an opportunity to be helpful and provide a different space for those who are in recovery, as you mentioned. So I think the question here is because with side hustle school, we're looking specifically at for-profit projects, right? So the question is, is it a money-making project or is it more of a community project, a social good, something that you just do because you believe in it? And my overall sense is it's probably more of the second.
That's my overall sense. The path to an exception, I think, like if you were like, no, I really want it to be a money-making project, then I think what you do is you focus on the corporate wellness world. Like, is there a way you can partner with companies, organizations to offer this to their members? And here I'm thinking of an example, a business we featured a couple of times called Mindful Return. I wrote about this in 100 Side Hustles.
And of course, we've had her on the podcast a couple of times. I believe her name is Lori. Lori was an attorney in Washington DC and kind of struggled a bit with the birth of her second child in terms of going back to work and feeling overwhelmed because she'd always identified as someone who was very productive at work. She enjoyed her work, but she also, of course, enjoyed her family. And this was just kind of getting difficult.
And so she created a course specifically to help working moms transition back into work. And one of the ways that she was most successful over time, like at first, she was primarily marketing to individuals, if I'm not mistaken. And more and more over time, she began marketing to companies, typically through the HR department or training department, the wellness department, anything like that. And that way they are paying for it. So the company is paying forward to the organization and the employees are receiving it for free.
I think that's the way to do it if it is monetized. But absent that approach, then I kind of go back to thinking it's more of a social good and one that still requires you to think hard about that question of critical mass. Like where will the first users come from? How will it grow from there? Given what I mentioned about the huge growth in online communities and meeting fatigue, it's good that people are interested in online community.
They're also starting to feel overwhelmed with so many choices. So just a couple of things to think through, but those are my first thoughts on it. Again, thank you for sharing the idea. I'll let us know how it turns out. Listeners, if you have a question, come to sidehustleschool.com/questions.
I'd love to know what you're up to, what your ideas are, what your struggles are, successes, failures, mistakes, missteps, things that you think are a mistake that turn out to be awesome or the opposite. We will continue to feature them throughout the year, along with updates from other listeners as they launch their projects. I'm so glad you tuned in today and I hope you'll listen again tomorrow. All right, my name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
