This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Welcome and thank you for tuning in. My name is Chris Guillebeau, program is called Side Hustle School. I've got a great question for you today from a listener. And I'm just so excited about this new year, by the way. If you are listening in real time, you know we are beginning a new year.
And I'm just such a big fan of using this season for momentum and motivation. I do this myself. Like I've been working on something for three months now that I'll be publishing soon, really excited about that. Just trying to get the year started off well. So I encourage you to join me and lots of other listeners in making a plan for the year and trying to take action to get closer to something that's important to you, okay?
So that's why this listener question is timely. She's gonna explain more, but in short, like when you have a plan and something else happens along the way, you know, specifically you start getting related offers that are not quite your intended business model. You know, what do you do, right? Do you stick with the plan or do you accept those other offers? It's such an interesting question because it could go either way, right?
Like you often hear, you know, famous stories of each argument, you know, a story that supports one side of the argument or another. Let's just take Amazon for an example. You know, amazon.com in lots of ways, but had they been very successful because of a relentless focus on their plan. But, you know, at the same time, Amazon Web Services, also known as AWS, you know, that's their most profitable division. Their most profitable division doesn't come from e-commerce.
It comes from hosting cloud services, you know, all kinds of stuff online, which was never the plan in the beginning, right? But obviously it's been a good diversion for them or at least a good detour in some ways. So how does the average person, you know, that's not Jeff Bezos or amazon.com, whoever's running that now, how does the average person who doesn't have access to lots of money and a big team make this kind of decision? Let's consider it from the perspective of Kara, our listener, her detailed question and my answer coming right up. [Music]
Hi, my name is Kara and I'm from Indiana.
I'm starting my side hustle. It's a videography business focusing on short family documentaries. I have a pretty clear idea of my niche, which I understand can be difficult for some people. When I share my business plans with others, they react favorably, but they also often suggest additional opportunities for me to use my video camera, sound equipment and editing software. Sometimes solicited, sometimes not.
Things like sports reels for kids trying to get scholarships, funeral slideshows, podcasts. I even got an offer to record a training course for someone. Because I'm relatively inexperienced, would it be wise to accept any offers or can I just stick to focusing on my niche, even if it takes a little longer to build my skills? Thanks for taking my question, Chris. I read your book "Side Hustle" and I've also learned a lot from your podcast.
- Hey, Kara, as I said, great question. So glad you're joining us for this new season and I'm excited for all that happens in your business this year. Let us know what happens so that we can get you on the podcast as a featured story before the end of the year. And as for this question, I mean, so many listeners struggle with this. Let's separate a couple of things right from the top.
Other people's ideas, let's separate other people's ideas from what is actually coming in in terms of a real offer. I love how Kara said some of these ideas are solicited and others are not. You know, that's how people are whenever you tell them about your business. They're like, hey, what about this? What if you did this as well?
And that's not always super helpful, okay? Real offers, it sounds like she's got at least one real offer. You know, that is worth looking at. And if Kara had a whole bunch of these ideas coming forward as actual offers, that would be one thing. But here, I think most of them are just suggestions or like, why don't you try this and so on?
And the thing is, I think she already has a great idea. In her own words, it's pretty clear what her niche is. You know, these short family documentaries, sounds good to me, I love the specificity of it. So if she wanted to be a videographer of all trades, you know, then maybe those other directions would be worth pursuing. But honestly, based on what we have here, Kara, I think you stick with your vision.
It doesn't mean you don't do that one offer but it's, you know, a training course. You know, if you're walking along and you see money lying on the street, you know, why not pick it up? That's what I say sometimes. But that's different from pursuing, you know, a dozen different directions. I would not branch out to try to do everything.
As you know from reading Side Hustle, you're gonna be much more successful with a more narrow focus. And you've got that focus. So good luck, let's all make it a great 2022. Listeners, if you've got a question, sidehustleschool.com/questions, keep me posted. I'll report back to you.
Let me know, we're gonna feature them throughout the year along with updates from other listeners as they launch their projects. Super excited, super grateful for you. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
