This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Welcome to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau. Thank you for tuning in today. This podcast comes out every single day. It's all about how to find an opportunity that can help you make extra money without quitting your job.
And not just a little extra money, but hopefully even a sustainable income so that you can quit your job or keep doing your job if you like your job, but be able to pay off debt, save for the future and do more of what's important to you. And I use that word opportunity there. Well, opportunities come and go, but some business models stay around forever. And that's what we're gonna talk about here today. Aside from reselling, which we do cover from time to time, what are these business models that are somewhat evergreen?
And that's what our listener is asking. And I'm really glad she is because it's a simple but important question, especially as the world continues to evolve rapidly. And so I don't wanna miss the forest for the trees. I don't wanna chase too many rabbits, whatever your preferred metaphor is. I'm often talking about trends and something that's new and here's this cool shiny thing.
But the reality is a business is just a product or a service, someone who wants to pay for it and a means of making a transaction. For example, if you're selling cookies on my street, you have a product. I will happily buy them. I am a customer. I will pay you by Venmo or cash app or maybe even cash.
If I still have some cash in my pocket these days, who knows? So product or service, customer, means of payment, that's it. Let's look at some business models that will stay around for a long time. That's the question. The detailed form is coming right up along with my answer.
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Hi, Chris. This is Kelsey from Chicago. Lately, you've had a number of episodes on trends, including NFTs, cryptocurrencies, and businesses related to the pandemic. I'm wondering if there are any business models that are tried and true in the sense that it doesn't really matter what's happening in the world. They're still in demand and there's still a market for them.
Maybe I should clarify and say, what kind of business model is Evergreen that isn't selling a commodity? Since I know it's hard to make money doing that. Aside from reselling, which I know you also talk about, does anything fit that description? Looking forward to hearing what you have to say about this. - Hey, Kelsey, thanks for calling in.
Thanks for the question, as well as the clarification. That definitely helps to get a little bit more specific. One of the things I believe passionately is that if you build your business around helping people, you will always have plenty of work. So I think first things first, let that be the guiding value. And that business model is not going out of style anytime soon.
And from there, you have many Evergreen models to choose from. And yes, I agree as well. Let's forget about NFTs and cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence and everything else like that. For now, I tend to get caught up on stuff like that sometimes. And it's probably much more helpful to look at these Evergreen business models.
So what stands the test of time? Well, simple question. The answer is pretty simple too. You've got manufacturing, which is making something. It could be making something of any kind.
There will always be products. It could be a service, doing something for someone. There are all kinds of services. There will always be all kinds of services. Could be consulting, giving advice to someone about something, broadly speaking, lots of different forms of consulting, including some that are not called consulting, but basically you are getting paid for advice.
And knowledge work, which is anything educational, anything that you are teaching someone. People are always going to learn. Everyone's an expert in something. There will always be opportunities to use the business model of education. So you've got manufacturing service, consulting, knowledge work or educational, if you prefer.
And with all of these things, some parts of them will change over time. There'll be lots of different kinds of services. There'll be new products that are invented, new iterations, evolutions, even new mediums, right? New mediums, new platforms, networks, but the core principles remain the same. So I think it's really helpful to just think about that.
What is my product or service? What is it that I can help someone with? What do I know? What do I have specific knowledge of? That other people also value?
How can I bundle or compile that knowledge in some form that people can then pay for? Start with that, Kelsey. And thanks again for the question. Listeners, if you've got a question, sidehustleschool.com/questions. Let me know what you're working on, what's going well and what you're struggling with.
We'll keep publishing one new episode a day for our amazing community. Thank you for being part of that. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
