This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
In today's episode, a caller from Ireland wants to start his own instructional workshop, and he's wondering, do we have any tips? All right, well, putting on a workshop or any other live event has some things in common with other services, but it also has some unique characteristics. Okay, so we'll try to focus on those unique characteristics. In terms of what it has in common, you have to make a compelling offer. You have to give people a reason to sign up.
You have to focus on benefits and so on. You have to create a relationship between what people want and what you're able to offer. But in terms of the actual logistics and such, it is a lot of work, and in the right circumstances can be a lot of fun. And I've seen so many people kind of run the gamut of experiences with workshops. A number of friends of mine have tried workshops.
They have put a lot of work into it, and then they've walked away from them because they couldn't get the variables right. It just couldn't be sustainable, basically. Other friends, a smaller number to be fair, but they have been able to create a significant revenue stream from workshops and live events, sometimes even make a living. So for someone like our caller, for example, who wants to explore that, what might they need to know? All right, detailed question.
My answer coming up after this quick message from our sponsor. Hey there, this is Killian calling from Ireland. My question is about putting on live events, specifically an instructional workshop where people come together to learn something and then apply it. So I'm just wondering, what are your tips for running a successful weekend workshop? Also, I want to ask, do you have any plans to do more side hustle school workshops?
I went to one of the first ones he did, and I'm still in contact with some of the people that I met there. Okay, thanks, all the best. Hey, Killian, thank you so much for calling in from Ireland. And first up, no plans for the moment for more side hustle school workshops. But I am indeed making lots of plans in general.
So it's that time of year when I'm thinking a lot about the upcoming year. So I'm definitely hoping/planning to spend more time with readers and listeners next year. In particular, I have a book coming out in August, I believe, at least sometime in that range. So most likely I'll be doing a big tour for that, and then maybe some workshops as well, but TBD on that point. Now for some tips, for some general tips on workshops.
Number one, have a clear and specific objective for the workshop. I actually think I made a mistake in the first iteration of side hustle school workshops, going back like almost five years now. And that they may have been a bit too generalized. And I think it was still specific, but it could have been even more specific in terms of what I want people to accomplish. When you come to this workshop, you spend this time, what do you get?
What do you leave with? What do you go away and do next? I think just thinking that through is so, so critical. Number two, just be aware that it's hard to fill seats and live events. You gotta sell, like sell, sell, sell.
People don't like to commit to dates. They're like, that sounds amazing, but maybe I'll sign up for it later. So this is what makes it difficult. So you gotta do whatever you can to get them to commit. You might have to incentivize in some ways.
You might have to offer a discount. You might have to offer some kind of special bonus for registering now. But mostly you just need to really create a strong, compelling offer. Because it's gotta be something that they want enough to travel for. If they're going out of town for it, they've gotta schedule this.
It could be in conflict with something else on their calendar. They've gotta want this more. So again, selling is really important for these kinds of events. And number three, I would say think long-term. If you really wanna do this, don't think of it as a one-off experience.
Because you might judge it prematurely. If you do, it's gonna be hard, as mentioned, to get your first set of workshops to sell out. So just accept that. And if you're really committed to the model, plan to build. If you're really committed to this idea and you think I could do something really cool with this, plan to build it out over time.
Make a two-year commitment to it, maybe in terms of not your full-time thing for two years necessarily. But I'm gonna do one set now and I'm gonna do another set in three months. Or however long the time sequence is, I think it's important to not have unrealistic expectations going into your first set of workshops. So there's three tips for you. Probably the most important one is that clear and specific objective.
Get it really, really dialed in. That'll help you with so many other things as you go along. So good luck, Killian. Listeners, good luck to you as well. I'm cheering you on over there.
Let me know what you're working on. If you're struggling with anything or if anything's going well, love to know that. Also, sidehustleschool.com/questions. We're building out the calendar for the rest of the year. I'm looking ahead to the next season as well.
Season 2023, how about that? And I hope you'll continue to join me. Subscribe, follow wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School.
[Music]
From the Onward Project.
