Notes from Chris

Episode 1690

Devon Chulick makes his living helping people battle monsters, cast powerful spells, embark on fantastical adventures, and even slay the occasional dragon. But no, he’s not been cast as the new lead in a Netflix series—he’s a Games Master.

You see, Devon is a huge fan of tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons and Dragons. He’s been playing them on and off for most of his life. If you’re not familiar with the concept, these games are a little like board games … just without the board. When players roll the dice they move the narrative forward and have to cooperate with other players to get towards the end goal.

A game usually lasts two to three hours, with an average of four to six players. Games Masters like Devon are one-part storyteller, one-part game referee. They make sure the game moves along as it should. In his case, Devon got into it as a way to unwind from his busy work as a Product Manager. He quickly found he had a skill for it, and he wasn’t the only one who noticed. Soon, he was being asked to host games for other players who wanted an experienced Games Master at the helm. As his weeknights began to fill up with exciting adventures, Devon began to ask himself the all-important question: would people pay for this?

After nearly two years of hosting games, he made his move. With a budget of $100, he made a simple website with a booking form. He settled on prices of between $25 and $45 per person, depending on the demands of the game. It was enough to justify his time but also keep the games accessible to players. When the site was ready to go, he shared it on local forums.

It turned out lots of people were open to the idea of paying for a professional Games Master to run their games. In fact, the demand was so high, that within just a few months Devon was earning $2,000 a month from hosting them. After he built some initial momentum from referrals, many of his customers found him organically through Google searches. The owners make money by taking a 10% fee from each of the transactions, a figure they decided on by looking at similar business models from AirBnB and Fiverr. Accessibility remains important, as they didn’t want the price of using the service to get in the way of playing games.

So far, Startplaying.games has brought in a combined $500,000 since launch. Devon has also been able to quit his day job and focus on the project full-time.

 

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  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Learn more about Devon and join a role-playing-game online at his website, Startplaying.games.

SEE ALSO:

• Gamer Levels Up Life With eBay Side Hustle: This production supervisor always loved buying video games—but it wasn’t until he stumbled upon some of his favorite games on eBay that he thought about selling them.
• Spousal Birthday Gift Becomes $40,000 Card Game: It starts as a creative gift for his wife, but this tabletop game ends up making a lot of other people happy.
• Cards Against Humanity Inspires Six-Figure Party Game: Two friends in their twenties create a “nonsense” party game. Ten years later, they turn it into a side hustle that is now sold at Target.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

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