This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Oh yeah, what's up, what's up? Welcome to Sidosle School. This is Chris Guillebeau. Hope you're doing well wherever you are in the world. Hope you have been taking action, making progress on something that's important to you, and just also taking care of yourself as we go into the holiday season.
Over here in my world, I have been doing a lot of things. I am working on a new book, doing a bit of travel, and I've also been watching the TV show alone, which is kind of like Survivor on steroids. There's no steroids involved. Just, you know, that's what people say. It's like this, but bigger, better.
So On Alone, which, you know, this is not a promotion. I'm just telling you about a TV show, which relates to our question. Hold on. You go out into the wild, you have to survive entirely on your own, and with limited equipment for months. So you're like literally in the wilderness, and you've got, you know, an axe and some fishing line, and, you know, very little other stuff.
Personally, I would last about two days in this environment. Maybe, maybe two days, but as I said, it's a great show. I enjoy watching it, and I thought about it because our caller today from Montana is an outdoorsman himself. He's somebody who could probably be on this show. He's thinking of teaching survival skills classes, either in person or online, but he's not sure where to begin.
So let's see what we can do. Can we help him get out of the woods? What might, in fact, be a few first steps for him or somebody else interested in teaching a skill? That's our question, the detailed version, and my answer, coming up in just 30 seconds. [Music]
Hey, this is Pete from Bozeman, Montana.
I've always been good at being in the outdoors, and these days, there's an increased interest in learning survival skills. I've thought about applying to teach a class at REI or somewhere else, but I have no idea how I'd go about doing it on my own. I also wonder about the possibility of teaching some parts of it online. Years ago, I never would have thought of that, but now I can imagine carrying my camera and mobile hotspot into the woods to demonstrate how to forage and start fires. But again, I have no idea how to get started or build some kind of market for it.
It feels overwhelming. What do you think I should do? [Music]
Pete, sounds like I need to take your class. So we should figure this out so I can sign up and learn how to set fires and I was gonna say go hunting. I really don't wanna go hunting, but maybe there's something else.
I don't know, build like a trap or something or construct my log cabin. I don't know. Let's focus on you. It sounds like there are two main areas to focus on here. Number one, developing the actual class.
So developing the content, the materials. Like right now we have an idea. We've got an idea to teach wilderness survival. That could include a lot of different things. What does the class look like?
What does it cover? How is it broken down into sessions, et cetera? What are the learning goals? In other words, course design. Okay, this is big project number one.
Then the second thing is where will customers come from? Okay, and this is what it sounds like here is a bit overwhelming for Pete, based on the information that he has provided. So in other words, marketing, right? These are some decisions we need to make about, as I said, where customers will come from, how we're gonna get the word out, how the course can become self-sustaining and so on. So that stuff can be overwhelming.
Like there is a lot to that. I would say first things first, like this is something that you'll build up over time. You don't actually have to have like a sales funnel and the answer to that, you know, big sustainability question in the beginning. Pete here has a valuable skill. And so part of that growth is gonna come as he figures some small things out and hosts an initial class and such.
So whether it is online or in person, I would set my sights on doing one course three months from now. You know, three months from now, I'm gonna begin that course, maybe two months from now I'm gonna announce the signups, then see how it feels and what lessons you'll learn from that and then regroup. As opposed to having that comprehensive business plan, I think that's going to both be more feasible and also give you the confidence and experience you need to be able to make all the decisions about, is it online, in person or both? You know, who am I really trying to serve with this? What are the best marketing strategies?
Some of that's gonna come through experience, but some also of course through study. So even though he seems a bit overwhelmed, I do think Pete's on the right track. I think it's something worth exploring and developing. And I hope Pete, that you do that and let us know what happens. Listeners, what are you working on?
What are you thinking about? What are your ideas? Let me know, sidehustleschool.com/questions. We will continue to have a new episode every single day, seven days a week in support of your goals to create extra money without quitting your day job. Perhaps even build yourself a little bit of an off ramp so that you can eventually go full time.
But whatever is important to you, that's what we wanna do. That's what we wanna support you in. So I'm cheering you on every day. Thanks for tuning in today. My name's Chris Guillebeau.
This is "Sidustleschool." [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
