This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
In today's episode, we're exploring how to build a side hustle that benefits both your wallet and your community. I guess it doesn't have to be just your wallet because most people don't keep most of their money in their wallet these days. They keep it in various bank accounts and such. But the point is, how can you support your local community and make a profit? Welcome to Side Hustle School.
This is Chris Guillebeau, your host. Today we've got a caller from North Carolina joining us. She found our way to us a couple of years ago, and she's curious about creating a project that goes beyond just making a profit, like we want to make it have a profit as well. We want it to make a profit, but it also contributes to and strengthens her local community. That sounds good to me.
I don't think these goals are mutually exclusive. In fact, I think they can go together quite well. We're going to hear from Aisha. She's looking for ideas that intertwine this sense of community engagement with financial success. I want you to have financial success this year.
I'm going to do everything I can to help you get there. Detailed question and my answer coming up in just 30 seconds. Hello, Chris. I'm Aisha from Raleigh, North Carolina. I discovered side hustle school during the lockdown and it's been incredibly inspiring.
Here's my question. How can someone craft a side hustle that not only profits, but also contributes to and leverages the strength of their local community? Any ideas for side hustles that can help strengthen community bonds while being financially rewarding? It seems that most ideas are kind of one or the other. Absolutely, Aisha, focusing on community-oriented side hustle can be profitable.
Basically all the same rules apply as with any other side hustle. You need a product or service. You need to have the right match with your product and service and your ideal customer. You need an offer, not just an idea. Remember an offer is something specific.
An offer has a price tag. It needs a means of accepting the offer. It could be a buy button on a website, or if there's a different kind of revenue model, there's still some means of accepting the offer. You need a product or service, you need the right offer. All the same kind of rules apply regardless of what kind of hustle we're talking about.
As for which ideas might be best, well, that depends on your specific skills, but I'll give you a couple of ideas that strike a balance between financial viability and community enrichment, or maybe let's not even say strike a balance, let's say achieve both. Several things I came up with, co-working space, establish a co-working space that serves as a hub for local entrepreneurs, freelancers, any small companies or organizations. Offer classes, offer networking events, skill share workshops, collaboration opportunities, and just in case starting your own co-working space seems daunting, well, look around at what co-working spaces are already available in your area and consider starting a networking event or a skill sharing workshop or a collaboration opportunity, like what could you do to work with that existing space, some of the people who are there. Perhaps some kind of technology solution, again, depending on your skills, some kind of technology solution for local businesses, could be inventory management, customer relationship, anything that helps them reach more people locally. And speaking of local, consulting for local startups or non-profits, again, this kind of oriented around that idea of a shared space, co-working or otherwise, but it doesn't have to be people in the same physical space.
Use your expertise to offer consulting services to local startups or non-profits, offering guidance on, could be business development, could be fundraising, whatever it is that you're into and good at. How can you match your skill set with an existing need? That's the question you need to look at. So I'm wishing you well, Aisha, best of luck. And for all our listeners out there, you can do good and do well at the same time.
That is our message. You can do good for yourself. You can do good for others and well for yourself, or I guess just reverse that at the same time. If you have a question or an idea, a contribution, sidehustleschool.com/questions, new episode every day, seven days a week, always completely free. My name's Chris Guillebeau.
This is Side Hustle School. From the Onward Project.
