This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
So glad you're tuning in today. This is Chris Guillebeau, your host of "Side Hustle School." Welcome wherever you are in the world, whatever you're up to, if you're exercising, commuting, if you're working on something else, you just have this on in the background, or if you're like full on focused, you know, whatever it is, I just respect your time so much. And we make this program for you every single day because we want to help you make extra money without quitting your job. Or sometimes make extra money enough that you can quit your job. We've got all kinds of people out there doing all kinds of interesting things.
And this episode is part of a feature we call your first $1,000. We run this every week, as you might guess, or as you might know by now, it's all about how someone made their first $1,000. How did they get to that point? How did they go from idea to income? How did they make it happen?
What did they learn? In fact, all those things, in a brief less than 10 minutes a day update, and with that in mind, because I want to focus on that update, today's feature comes from Rachel. Rachel from Toronto, Canada, I believe. She is a social media manager in her side hustle. She also has a day job that she enjoys.
I believe she works for an e-commerce brand, probably a pretty major e-commerce brand in Canada, now that I think about it. But in addition to her day job, she's got that side hustle that's bringing in around $4,000 a month. $4,000 a month, very cool. Well done, Rachel. What about that first $1,000?
How did she make it happen? What did it feel like? What did she learn? As I said, all that in this short update. So let's hear it from Rachel.
I'll come back at the end with a quick wrap-up. [Music]
This is Rachel from Just Outside Toronto, Canada. By day, I work for a large e-commerce company. They're good about encouraging employees to side hustle as long as the work doesn't interfere with our responsibilities on the job. Long ago, I used to write a blog and then I sold on eBay and back when I was a teenager, I sold makeup door to door.
Combined with what I do for work now, I'm pretty familiar with social media and sales. Earlier this year, I decided to start consulting with small brands and solopreneurs to handle their social. A lot of people do this, but a lot of people need it. I also created a bit of a system both to help me stand out and also to clearly define what I'd provide to the client. Sometimes the client doesn't know exactly what a social media consultant is and they expect them to do everything.
I don't think that's the fault of the client. I just think some people in this industry over promise or take on roles that they shouldn't. Since I'm pretty busy, I set up my service like this. For a monthly retainer, typically $1,000 to $3,000 depending on the size of the business, I'll write all the social content, review it with the founder or whoever's in charge, and then set it up in a scheduling app. I'll also double check it a few times during the week to make sure everything's going out as planned and that there are no disasters.
What I don't do is respond to everything constantly. That's where the client or their assistant comes in. I'll advise them but it's better for everyone if the client side is more involved. Long story short, I got my first client within a couple weeks of starting. It's a single mom who runs a natural medicine shop and she found me through my work.
This was exciting but also points to the main challenge I have. Since I like my day job and don't want to cheat them, I have to be careful about not recruiting clients from those contacts. I didn't actively recruit that first one. She asked me first but since then, I've been even more cautious about mixing work and hustle. I now have three clients and $4,000 a month in retainer fees.
I don't think one of them will renew after our contract is up, so I'm thinking for another to replace them. I also don't want to grow too much since this business can't really scale without me hiring someone else. I prefer to keep it simple since I like both my day job and my night job. My encouragement to everyone out there is just to get started. I know, I know, that's what everyone says but it's true.
I feel happier and even healthier now that I'm running my business on the side. And of course, the money is great too. Thanks Chris and the team for all your inspiration. I hope you'll visit Canada again soon. - Awesome, thanks so much to Rachel for telling us about her first $1,000.
Listeners, I hope you found it encouraging and really interesting that she's got this day job working for an e-commerce brand that has some connection to her potential side hustle and clients. Fortunately, the e-commerce company is happy to support their employees in side hustling. But of course, she also wants to make sure that she's honoring her day job commitment and not using it as a lead generation tool for clients. So interesting dilemma there but it seems like she is navigating it well. And as you heard from her, $4,000 a month on the side.
- Awesome, congratulations. Listeners, if you've got a question or an update for us about your hustle, sidehustleschool.com/questions. Love to share your story at some point. So just let me know what's going on. Our show notes of course at sidehustleschool.com/2123 to one, two, three.
That would be for episode 2,123 of course. We've got another episode coming out tomorrow on every single day after that. It's all completely free. I hope you'll subscribe, follow, wherever you like to listen. My name's Chris Guillebeau.
This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
