This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Ghost tours fail to scare enough clients. What's up? Welcome to Side Hustle School, Chris Guillebeau here. Excited to bring you a new episode, episode 2,393 in fact. Every single day on the show, we're bringing you different case studies, tips, ideas, questions and answers all about making extra money without quitting your job.
Making extra money without going into debt, without borrowing money, which I guess is the same as going into debt, but you know what I mean? On a budget, using a skill you already have and without quitting your job, that's what it's all about. And once a week, every Friday in particular, we have this segment that we call Failure Friday, which is very convenient, how the day matches up with the title. And it's all about stories that don't go so well, mistakes, missteps, disasters, all that stuff that actually fails to make money, is not a huge, amazing, successful, wildly profitable idea. And we share these stories because we are all about success, of course, but sometimes you have to try different stuff and your first idea might not work or you might have had a success before, but your second idea doesn't work and that's just normal.
And so the whole entrepreneurial path is about trying different things and making adjustments, being willing to let go of bad ideas or just ideas that were maybe ahead of their time, perhaps. So with that in mind, today's short story features James from Denver, Colorado. His attempt at offering a ghost tour of the city fails to scare enough people into signing up. In fact, he runs into a matter of competition because there are a bunch of people interested in ghost tours in Denver, but there's also a number of companies already offering that. So let's hear from him about the rise and fall of Denver ghostly guided tours.
And I'll come back at the end with a very quick wrap-up. [Music]
I'm here to share the spooktacular story of my short-lived side hustle, Denver Ghostly Guided Tours. I, your humble narrator, had one toe in the world of living and one toe in the world of the, well, less living as I attempted to scare up some business for visitors to Denver. Having always been captivated by the spectral side of life, I decided to delve into the realm of the supernatural. I got a few friends together, researched the most haunted places in Denver, brought up an enticing script filled with frightful facts, and began marketing these eerie escapades around the city.
Upon the advice of one of those friends, I set a price of $25 per person, including a two-hour tour in a complimentary ghostly Denver glow-in-the-dark wristband. I then printed flyers to post around town, and of course, spammed everyone I knew to refer their friends. For a moment, it seemed like everything was falling into place, but like a specter in the night, the success was fleeting. My first tour was filled with eager, wide-eyed customers, mostly friends and families, ready for a scare. But as I ventured on, I found our real nightmare was the harsh reality of a saturated market.
Turned out that Denver was already a hotbed for ghost tours. Larger, more established companies offered tours with professional actors, fancy light effects, and even offered a complimentary shot at a hunt and pub as part of their package. With their slick marketing and polished performances, I was up against some formidable competition. Despite my spirited efforts to stand out, ghostly guided tours remained a shadow against these supernatural titans. The more tours we did, the fewer new faces we saw.
I threw in the spectral towel after six months, having barely broken even. Looking back, there are two key lessons I've gleaned from this ghostly misadventure. First, do more market research. Always make sure to thoroughly investigate your competition before setting up a new business. I dived in headfirst without considering how many similar offerings were already out there.
Second, have a unique selling proposition. If you're entering a competitive market, you need to have a unique twist to your product or service that makes you stand out. Our tours were fun, but they didn't offer anything that customers couldn't get elsewhere. In the end, ghostly guided tours became a ghost itself, a whisper of an idea of leading presence in the tour scene. While it was a setback, it was also a fantastic learning experience.
Who knows, maybe it opened the door to something else I'll try with better luck next time. [Music]
Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat. Indeed, ghostly guided tours is closed, but James is no doubt going to strike back with something else. And James, I really appreciate you sharing this story. I respect so much.
Everybody who comes on to share a story, not just of a success, but of something that is, well, as we say, the opposite of success. Listeners, if you have a question or an update for us about your hustle, an idea you're working on, if you want some feedback, you wanna share it with our community, we have a global community of people just all over the world doing really interesting things. And I'm so fortunate to bring you this podcast every single day, sidehustleschool.com/questions or sidehustleschool.com/2393 for today's episode in particular. Of course, new episode coming out tomorrow. Thanks for being out there.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
