This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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All right friends, thanks for tuning in today. We're kicking off a new week here on "Side Hustle School." And as we're kicking off a new week, it's Monday. So today's episode is part of a feature we call your first $1,000. Basically, case studies origin stories of how someone made their first $1,000, often they go on to make much more than $1,000, but we wanna understand how they got started. And that's because once you begin to earn real money, the steps required to go to the next level could be 2,000, 5,000, $10,000, $100,000 sometimes.
Those steps can be easier than the first real paycheck. And if you have not started your "Side Hustle School" yet, well, that's what I want to help you do. So we're looking at how people have done this in lots of different ways, many different businesses, all kinds of people all over the world. Today, we're gonna hear from an educational psychologist who combines traditional tutoring with motivational coaching. So she's really found a specialty that both plays on her skills, her life experience, as well as something that's valuable to others.
We're gonna learn how targeted pricing, grassroots marketing and client retention helped her offer a unique service. That's what it's all about. Her name is Liza. We're gonna let her tell the story. I'll come back at the end with a quick wrap up.
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After spending years in educational psychology, I knew students often needed more than just academic support. They also needed emotional and motivational coaching. With that perspective, I launched my "Side Hustle," study strong coaching, offering a blend of tutoring and motivational coaching tailored to each student's needs. Determining the price was a bit of a balancing act. Initially, I priced my services at $50 an hour, similar to what most tutors in my area were charging.
However, I also introduced package deals, such as a 10 hour package that included two free hours of motivational coaching. These packages provided an upsell opportunity and a way to introduce my unique coaching services without overwhelming the student or parents. Traditional advertising would not cut it for this type of personalized service. I focused on networking through school events, PTA meetings and local community boards. I also partnered with a couple of local schools to offer free workshops on study techniques and motivation, which served as a gateway to introduce my services.
Social proof was crucial. So I asked my early clients for testimonials and I shared them with other parents. Efficiency is key in any business. Mine was no exception. I utilized software like Calendly for scheduling and Notion for tracking each student's progress and planning sessions.
For virtual sessions, I standardized my Zoom settings to ensure a consistent and trouble-free experience for the students. All these systems made operations smooth and allowed me to focus on coaching. I quickly noticed that the students who started with just tutoring often wanted to continue with motivational coaching. So to capitalize on this, I created a loyalty program offering discounts on future coaching sessions for students who completed a tutoring package. This not only increased my revenue, but it also helped in forming longer-term relationships with my clients.
It took me about two months to hit the $1,000 mark, working part-time and around my day job. The package deals were the biggest contributor to reaching this milestone. Not only did they offer an initial discount that attracted parents, but they also provided a platform for me to showcase the value of motivational coaching, converting many to longer-term and more lucrative coaching plans. I'm now well on the way to replicating the same income I earn in my day job. The journey to my first grant?
The journey to my first thousand bucks was a blend of targeted pricing strategies, grassroots marketing, streamlined systems and focused client retention efforts. It confirmed that there was a demand for a more holistic approach to student success. And it laid the foundation for scaling my services in the future. Thanks for letting me share my story. I hope it's helpful for someone else out there.
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Thanks so much, Liza. I appreciate you sharing your story about that first thousand dollars. And of course, you've gone on to do much more since then. Well done. Listeners, I hope you found it encouraging.
I especially like in Liza's story, how she combined tutoring with motivational coaching. Ultimately, you have to think about what problem are you trying to solve? And I think in this case, the problem is not just a higher test score. It is a sense of empowerment. It's a sense of agency of a student feeling excited and motivated to go into whatever challenges they're facing next.
It could be college applications. It could be some kind of scholarship competition. And ultimately what matters is not just a strong test score, but often a well-rounded application or some other things. There's often other components to it. So it makes sense that motivational coaching could be a big part of it.
Anyway, well done. Listeners, if you have a question or an update about your hustle, sidehustleschool.com/questions. I'm excited. Got a lot of stuff planned for the next couple of months of the year, now that I'm off book tour. But of course, the book is still out.
The new book, "Gonzo Capitalism." Check it out and be sure to come back tomorrow for another episode. It's always completely free here. You can listen wherever you get your podcasts. My name's Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the "Onward Project."
