This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey there, welcome back to Side Hustle School. I'm your host, Chris Guillebeau. Today's story is about a former engineer who loses in Las Vegas and redesigns the trajectory of her life, creating an impressive hustle all along the way. But before we start, I have a question for you. What does it mean to be intentional about your life?
For me, it means living by certain values. The values of adventure and exploration, creativity, being motivated to produce, to make something, your intentional life may be very different than mine. But for the past eight years, I've written a blog called The Art of Nonconformity, which is all about encouraging people to live intentional lives and shining a spotlight on how different people do that in different ways. Side Hustle School is the next iteration of that because as you know by now, when you earn income from more than one source, you gain more independence. You have more options and more possibility.
Even if you love your job, you never want to leave it, there's no downside to having a side hustle. And the only downside to having an intentional life in general is that it's really hard to go back to anything else. Once you realize, wow, I really am in control of my own destiny, my future is up to me, you really are forever changed. And the story you're gonna hear today reflects this mindset. The person who started the hustle calls it the inertia project.
And in creating it, she actually transformed her own life as well. So I hope you find it inspiring and meaningful. And I'll tell you about it in just a moment. [Music]
Genevieve Malone begins her story like this. Once upon a time, she lived in Las Vegas and hated it.
After an exhilarating job search, she moved across the country to work on a big project at Notre Dame, where she'd gone to college. She was happy to be back at her alma mater, but something was different. There was a spark, a drive that hadn't been there before. She asked herself, if I could change the trajectory of my life in three months, how could I design a life I truly loved? She'd been a college rower, but when she moved to the Vegas desert, that wasn't an option anymore.
She felt lost without it and realized she was floundering in her workouts. So she hired a trainer to help. She felt better, but when she made the big move to Indiana, she gained weight and didn't feel good about herself. In fact, that feeling is what bothered her the most. She remembers hating the dressing room mirror and untagging herself from unflattering pictures on Facebook.
Genevieve wanted to like not only what she saw in the mirror, but she also wanted to regain the genuine smile she'd lost somewhere along the way. She hired a trainer again. She decided to get in the best shape of her life and compete in a figure competition. The whole process took nearly a year, but she did it. And the day before that competition, she stood in the locker room, closed her eyes, savored the feelings, the feelings of victory, of pride, accomplishment, of confidence.
Genevieve believes that every single woman wants to feel that way and every single woman deserves to feel that way. Thus was born the Inertia Project. After abandoning a couple of earlier ideas, she focused on fitness. Now, lots of people would ask her for workout advice, probably because they had seen her succeed, they had seen her come back and figured she knew a thing or two about workouts and eating well. So she started working out with people, giving them advice on the side.
And people seemed to really like it, so she kept going. And coaching people one-on-one for free helped her hone her skills as a coach and get into her clients' heads. She learned how to take what they wanted and to give them what they actually needed. So sometimes they wanted to just look in the mirror and say, "I look good." And that's great, but what they needed was a supportive, flexible coach, someone who would tailor the program to meet their needs, who was kind, who listened. And Genevieve was good at this.
So over time, she transitioned to paid training as well as group classes. Genevieve tells a story of how it's hard to change, but when she's the positive nudge, people are willing to try things they don't think are possible. For example, one of her clients saw her doing pull-ups, and Genevieve encouraged her to hop up and try one. It was tough, and at first the client objected, but then she did it with nearly zero help. Her client hopped down with a look of pride and confidence in her eyes.
In six seconds, she'd proved herself wrong, and there was a slight but perceptible shift in how she held herself. Stories like that are why Genevieve does her hustle, and there are real results for her too. At the time we spoke, the business side of things was still being developed, but she was pulling in around $1,000 a month, $950 to be precise, from her one-on-one clients. She had also started a group program called Body Launch that offers a six-week home-based exercise program with community support and continual interaction. [Music]
So there are at least two big lessons here in this story.
Genevieve has a clear why for herself, very clear purpose and mission, and a specific pathway for her potential clients. So consider this mission statement. The inertia project takes women who feel vulnerable, lost, unhappy, or uncomfortable, and gives them a realistic way to improve. Her personal story reinforces that message. You clearly know who she is and why she's qualified to help.
Now I want to read you the email capture form from her site. I went to visit, and I really like this. So when you go there, like this email form pops up, and it says, "Skip the judgey Jim Bro stare down. Go from Bambi to Badass in the comfort of your own home. Even if you're a total beginner, have zero equipment, or are super busy on top of everything else, you can be fit.
Sign up for my list to get four free, fast home-based workouts to get you moving." You see how great that is? The headline, "Skip the judgey Jim Bro stare down." The benefit, "Go from Bambi to Badass in the comfort of your own home." And then she kind of responds and negates all of these objections. Even if you're a total beginner, even if you don't have equipment, even if you're busy, then there's a free prize. Sign up for my list. You'll get four free, fast home-based workouts, and there's a call to action.
It's all there in just a few sentences. So like Genevieve, if you can combine passion and expertise with some knowledge about how to price, how to market, how to best serve your new customers, all of the things that we talk about on "Side Hustle School," that's when your hustle can really take off. And my goal with the show is to bring you that knowledge over time through these stories so that you too can have a success just like Genevieve's. And your story may be different, but if you listen every day, you begin applying these lessons to your own hustle. You will see results over time.
Remember, inspiration is good, but inspiration combined with action is so much better. You can find the show notes for today's episode at sidehustleschool.com. You can also send me a question or see where I'm going for the upcoming "Side Hustle School" workshops. Tomorrow is our weekly recap. I look forward to seeing you then.
I'm Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
