This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Oh yeah, it's Chris Guillebeau here, your host of Side Hustle School. Hey, welcome, thank you for tuning in today. I'm excited to bring you a new episode like we do every single day, seven days a week, different stories, case studies, tips, all with the mission of celebrating side hustling, celebrating entrepreneurship, microentrepreneurship specifically, just regular people out there who are finding ways, creative ways often to make extra money without quitting their job, or perhaps to work away from their job, like to go from having a job to working for yourself, if that is your vision. We also have lots of people who are very happy in their job but just want to also make extra money. So all good things there.
And this episode in particular is part of our Failure Friday series. Now having just said that about helping people create success and so on, we also like to highlight things that go wrong. A collection of short stories specifically about mistakes, missteps, disasters, and of course failure. So you get to hear directly from a side hustler who has struggled in some way. They'll tell you a quick story of something that went very wrong.
Now today's short story, this is a fun one. It features Benny, the seller of socks. Benny is a sock seller, a sock maker slash seller. He eagerly sets up a trade show or sets up at a trade show, I should say, only to realize his credit card processing equipment isn't working, oh no, that is not ideal. So let's hear this story from him.
I'll come back at the end with a quick wrap up. [Music]
As an active side hustler selling my own line of socks, I was always on the lookout for new opportunities. So when I heard about a local trade show that was specifically geared towards small businesses, I was eager to participate. I spent weeks preparing for the event, making new sock designs and packaging, and ensuring that I had enough inventory to meet the expected demand. I even hired a team of sock puppets to help me promote my products.
Yeah, that's right, sock puppets. The day of the trade show arrived and I was feeling confident. I set up my booth filled with colorful socks and eye-catching displays, as well as a stage for my puppet team to perform. As soon as the show opened, I was approached by a steady stream of potential customers who were interested in my products. However, things started to go wrong when I noticed that my credit card reader wasn't working properly.
I'd been relying on it to process transactions. And now I was stuck trying to figure out how to accept payments from people who were excited to pay. I tried troubleshooting the issue, but nothing seemed to be working. I was starting to get frustrated and even panicked, as I knew this was a prime opportunity to make sales and grow my business. I didn't want to turn away potential customers just because I couldn't process their payments.
That's when I had a brilliant idea. I would have my sock puppet team perform a special show for anyone who made a purchase. Of course, this wouldn't solve the core problem, but I figured a little entertainment couldn't hurt. My sock puppet team put on a hilarious show, complete with sock puns and catchy songs, and customers were more than happy to buy socks to see the performance. Now, while this was happening, I ended up manually processing transactions using a calculator and a pen and paper to keep track of everything.
But the sock puppet show made it all worth it. Despite the setback, I learned a valuable lesson from the experience. I realized that it's important to have backup plans in place in case something goes wrong. Whether it's hiring a team of sock puppets or having alternate payment methods available. In fact, the second thing might have been more important in this situation, but what can I say?
The puppet show was a hit. I also learned the importance of being proactive and checking my equipment before a big event to make sure everything is in good working order. And in the end, I may not have made as many sales as I had hoped, but I gained valuable insight that will help me in the future. And even though I had a rough day at the trade show, I remained committed to growing my business and spreading the joy of wearing funky, fun socks to everyone. After all, that's what it's all about.
Making people smile one sock at a time. [Music]
Well, the theme of Failure Friday for more than a year has been never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat. Perhaps we should add something about hiring a sock puppet team. Although I don't know that would work for every particular Failure Friday episode and every struggle that our side hustlers and small businesses get into. But at least it helped out Benny here.
So Benny, thanks for sharing that story. Thanks for the details. I just imagine being there at the trade show with those sock puppets. Anyway, listeners, if you've got a question and update for us about your hustle, sidehustleschool.com/questions. This has been episode 2,218.
I'll be back again tomorrow with another episode. I hope you'll join me. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
