This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey, guess what? Got some big news for you today as we are kicking off season six of "Side Hustle School." This is episode 1829, and just today we are beginning a brand new segment. New segment for a new year, a new season, and naturally we are looking for ways to evolve and bring you more helpful, insightful, and interesting content, right? That's the whole goal. All within the constraint of a brief daily episode because I know you're busy and I want to respect your time.
So today's episode is part of this new feature. In fact, it's our very first one. It's called "Your First $1,000." Okay, now as you might surmise from the title, we're all about being descriptive here. This is all about how someone made their first $1,000. Now, of course, the case studies that I share with you weekly, those go into origin stories in some detail, but with this feature, two things are different.
Okay, one, you get to hear directly from the side hustler or the small business owner directly, just like some of our other segments, Throwback Thursday, Failure Friday, and two, this segment is focused entirely on that first $1,000 the person made. Okay, how did they get to that point? Not their first $100,000, not their first million dollars. Like that's cool, but it would probably be a long story. And one thing I've learned is that once you begin to earn real money, the steps required to go to the next level, whether it's a thousand to $2,000 or even to $5,000 or $10,000, whatever the number is, those steps are often easier than that first real paycheck.
Also, fun fact, you're a lot more motivated at that point, right? Once you're making money, it just feels encouraging. So I'm excited about this segment. We're gonna bring it to you once a week. And today's first feature comes from Dea Kunle.
We first featured her back on episode 1611, Intern Manages Businesses for Six Figure Income. Whoa, six figure income, that's cool. But hey, what about her first $1,000? How did she make that happen? What did it feel like?
And what did she learn? That's what she's gonna tell you in this enthusiastic update. So let's hear it from Dea. I'll come back at the end with a quick wrap up. [Music]
Hey, my name is Dea and I'm the founder at Digital Business Manager Bootcamp.
And I'm sharing the story of my first $1,000 earned in my freelance side hustle. So when I first started or decided to try out freelancing online as a side hustle, I had no clue if it would be at all financially viable. I knew nobody that was doing anything sort of alternative. All my friends and family had done a very, very traditional nine to five path. I had always been told freelancing was really risky.
Side hustles are really unstable, really stressful. Having your own business is really, really just a frustrating process. So I made myself essentially a commitment. When I first decided to try this out, I told myself that I had three months to prove this concept and validate this side hustle to myself while I was still in a nine to five role. I was applying day and night on job platforms.
So all night after getting home from work and all weekend long, I was applying to jobs that I could find online, all kinds of jobs. I wasn't picky. I tried to design work, content work, admin gigs, project management roles. I was applying to at least 10 jobs a day, sending out tons of cover letters and I wasn't hearing anything back. It was super, super, super frustrating.
But luckily I was really determined still to this day. I don't know where that determination came from. Maybe it was like my future self secretly cheering her on like, yes, this is the beginning of you changing your life for the better. Like keep going. Yeah, I don't know where that determination came from, but after a few weeks of nonstop applying, tweaking via feedback continuously and learning what works via tons of Google searches and lots of late night YouTubing.
Finally, I got that message. Somebody wanted to give me a go at their project. Little me who had no testimonials, never worked online before, never freelance before, had no network of people that I knew online in online business or anything. His name, my first client was Topher. He wrote me at like 10 p.m. on a Friday night or something.
And I literally jumped out of bed, responded within five minutes with more enthusiasm than I think was normal. I worked through the entire weekend to deliver this project to him. I just wanted to get my first client, my first dollar, my first glowing testimonial. And I think he even paid me less than $50 for the project. I don't really remember, but it was very, very little money, but it didn't matter because that was such a defining moment.
That moment, I think it was in late 2016 when I realized, wait, someone is willing to pay me money to work from home, to work from anywhere, doing whatever I want to offer. Like it blew my mind. Like I can't emphasize how much that blew my mind. I thought this must be too good to be true, but that was definitely one of those move me moments when things clicked for the main character and I went on to land client after client. Each project in the beginning was around like 100 to $200, but after a handful of clients in a few weeks, I had gathered up my first $1,000 from freelancing online.
And when they deposited that money into my bank account, I think I was speechless. I think I just looked at it for like minutes and I didn't say anything. I was blown away that I could actually earn money and live my life in a different way than I had been taught basically my whole upbringing. And that's how it began. And over the coming years, it rabbled into a six figure freelance digital business manager career.
So two things I learned. Number one, if you're kind of in the struggle of your first $1,000 right now, know that it takes a lot more energy and time to start up something new. I promise it won't be that hard to land your next $1,000. Every $1,000 I earned after that first one was easier than the last. You get better at your job.
You get more specific, more focused. Your customers or clients begin referring you. You build up a network naturally. The growth and progress almost becomes like exponential. It's really that startup momentum that's the hardest to achieve.
So don't give up, please don't give up. Your future self is thanking you for pushing forward and it truly gets easier and easier after those first $1,000. Even that first dollar, it gets easier after that first dollar. The second thing is it's the small steps that really matter. And I know it's easy to be like, oh, her first client was only for like $50.
Like that's nothing. That's such a small, small thing. It's such a small win. But I realized only after a few years that it is the small wins that are the most special. It is the consistency in taking small steps and taking those tiny little leaps in those small wins that snowball over time into the big wins and the big dreams.
And if you don't celebrate the small wins, if you're not grateful for the small things and not willing to take the small steps because they're too small or too insignificant, you'll never get to where you wanna go. And it is beautiful on that other side. So I just wanna encourage you to take the small steps and please do not give up on your process. All right, thank you. - Awesome, don't you just love that enthusiasm?
I love what she said about how she jumped out of bed when she got her first client. It was late at night and she responded more energetically than most people do probably. But she just worked so hard for that first client. And then the second client and the third client. And when she got paid just $50, listen, there are a lot of people out there who have never made $50 with a side hustle or a small business.
And if you're one of those people, well, I hope this is a helpful relatable story. And that's the whole point of this new series to show you how you can make, again, your first $1,000 and to just shine a spotlight on people who are successful now. But of course, at one point they weren't. At one point, they were just getting going like all of us. So I really love what Daya says.
Don't give up, your future self is thanking you, okay? I'm gonna take that to heart today. I hope you will as well. Thanks so much to Daya for telling us about her first $1,000. Check out her website dbmbootcamp.com or on Instagram at mynameisdaya, that's spelled D-E-Y-A.
dbmbootcamp.com, mynameisdaya on Instagram. We're gonna link it up in the show notes page as well. That page is at sidehustleschool.com/1829. Let me know what you think about this new segment. We're gonna do it again one week from today.
Of course, many episodes to come between now and then. So I hope you will subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcasts. Tune in every day, it's completely free. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
from the Onward Project.
