This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey, what's up, welcome to Side Hustle School and welcome to the world of music bingo. That's what we are talking about today, music bingo, something I haven't heard of before, at least this variation. Although I am aware that bingo itself is having a bit of a moment. Apparently popular with the kids these days. Music bingo reminds me of trivia night, also known as pub quiz, which we have featured a couple of times in the past.
And music bingo is similar to regular bingo, except instead of calling out numbers, the host plays clips of songs. A quick little clip like a snippet and you have to identify what the song is and then of course, if you have it on your board, you can put that piece down. And we're talking about music bingo because in this story today, a digital marketer starts music bingo at several different bars and breweries in South Carolina, originally just trying to help out one place that wanted to bring back events post pandemic. Now it turned into something she does several nights a week now, earning a good side income and especially key, she is thinking ahead to how she can expand through a membership model. So a couple of good lessons here, a fun story and also a good lesson or two, digital marketers playlist skills pay off.
That's our story coming up in just 30 seconds. [Music]
When Chelsea Terrone was in college, she was always the one who would make the playlist, you know, for a night out, a road trip or a workout. Now she's a digital marketer who also gets paid to create playlists for her side hustle, beats, brews and bingos. It started last year when Chelsea was doing social media marketing for a local brewery in Charleston, South Carolina. The owner wanted to bring events back once COVID restrictions lifted.
They had been hosting regular bingo nights prior to the pandemic, but the host had moved away. Chelsea was somewhat familiar with music bingo, so she suggested it. The owner agreed to try it for one night with Chelsea doing the hosting and the music hasn't stopped since. Now here's how it works. Music bingo is basically like regular bingo, but with songs.
There is a different bingo pattern each round, such as five in a row. If an attendee completes the pattern, they yell bingo really loud and they get a free beer. Chelsea admits she was super nervous the first time she hosted, since she wasn't confident in her public speaking. However, she quickly gained confidence. In fact, it went so well, she decided to offer the experience elsewhere and she now hosts musical bingo at five breweries and bars in Charleston.
Beats, brews and bingos has a loyal following of people who come every week and she earns a profit of $1,750 a month. That doesn't count the tips she gets from people who've had a fun night out. From the beginning, she felt it would be even more fun with curated playlists rather than just something random. With that in mind, two of the first playlists she made were '90s classics and one-hit wonders. To do this, she searched on Spotify, found songs from each category that people would know or recognize, made the playlists and printed out bingo cards.
Pretty simple. And from there, she was hooked. She found herself thinking of new playlist ideas all the time, such as songs that start with A, B or C, or Good versus Bad, which are all songs about good or bad. The only startup costs were a one-time $15 fee for a service called Bingo Baker. They made the bingo cards, plus printing out the sheets at Office Depot and buying packs of pins for $6 each.
She's also spent around $50 on promotional items like stickers, pins and coasters. Chelsea gets paid by the venue, the bar or the brewery, wherever it is, and if she could turn back time, she says she would charge more per night. Her events have been so popular, there are some nights where there's a two-hour wait list to get inside. Clearly, this project has struck a chord. The growth has largely been from word of mouth.
A group or a couple will come in, have a blast and then tell their friends. However, Chelsea does use Instagram and Facebook to let people know where she'll be that day. And the venues put the event on social media too. Chelsea says she's met some amazing people and made friends in the process. Having a side hustle has benefited her because she spends the majority of her day at home sitting in front of her computer.
Now she has a reason to leave the house, interact with people and get paid for something fun. Next, she plans to create a monthly music bingo membership for other venues outside of Charleston. This membership will include four curated playlists per week as well as social media templates and everything a host needs to get the party started. She's even going to find a roster of local hosts so that all the venues have to do is supply the prizes, typically free drinks. The best part of the journey so far has been watching families and friends come in week after week.
After 2020, that sounds like something we could all enjoy. [Music]
Okay, so what can we take away from this story? I think the key point is, one, you can make money doing something fun, but if you want to make a lot of money, if you want to grow this business, you're going to have to model it somehow. In other words, you're going to have to turn it into a membership site, which is exactly what Chelsea is working on. If we go back to this pub quiz story, I just want to look up the notes.
It's episode 746, "Bartenders Turn Trivia Night" into $1.2 million business. You're not gonna make $1.2 million just by working harder or hosting more nights. One way or another, you have to create a sustainable model to where your role is to curate those playlists and to find those hosts. And you're essentially providing this turnkey process so that other people can do the same thing. And that's a key part of developing your side hustle if you really want to make money.
And it's also okay to just say, you know what, I have a busy job and I sit in front of my computer all day and this is something I do for fun and it's active and it's great that it brings in extra money. That's totally okay. But if you want to grow the business, then it has to turn into some kind of model that others can replicate. So pretty cool that Chelsea is doing both, hosting those nights as well as thinking ahead and asking, how can I turn this into something more? Chelsea, good luck.
Thank you for sharing your story with us. Listener's inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better. If you'd like to see the show notes for today's episode, including links to Beats, Brews and Bingos, anything else I mentioned in the episode, what was it, Bingo Baker, the company that makes bingo cards, just come to sidehustleschool.com/1648. Thank you for joining me today. I hope you're doing well wherever you are in the world.
I hope you'll come back tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau. You are listening to "Side Hustle School." [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
