This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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In today's episode, we're gonna look at the growing field of health and wellness, focusing on mental health. I've actually been writing about that this year on a new blog or a new platform, theyearofmentalhealth.com, just some of my own journey, my own experience and such, which we talked about, I guess about a week or two ago when somebody asked me how things are going on Substack. A little bit of a different question today. It comes to us from Carlos from Albuquerque. He's been a listener for a while and is hoping to create his own business in this field.
And of course, this is apart from therapy, which should only be done by professionals. But there are lots of other things that people are doing as they explore this world in different ways and such. So with 2024 here, well underway, we're actually hitting February very soon, month number two. I don't even know where the first month has gone. I don't know about you.
But Carlos is curious about what might be some good ideas for him, especially anything that is a little bit different or interesting. So how can he focus his mental health project this year? I'll see if I can come up with some ideas. In fact, I'm pretty sure I have some. Carlos's question and my answer coming right up.
[Music]
Hey Chris, it's Carlos from Albuquerque, New Mexico. I'm a regular listener of your podcast and it's been a huge inspiration. Given the growing focus on mental health, I'm interested in starting a side hustle in this area. What are some emerging areas within health and wellness that are ripe for exploration in 2024? Especially ones that might not be mainstream yet.
[Music]
Hey Carlos, it's great to see your interest in contributing to the health and wellness sector, especially in mental health. I'm writing a sub-stack about mental health this year and it's fun. So let's see some emerging areas that hold promise for the coming year, perhaps, or maybe for any year. Again, being mindful that therapy is something that should only be done by professionals. So we're not talking about professional services here.
We're talking about wellness in general. And that includes a lot of stuff. So it could include nature retreats. Like there's an increasing recognition of the effects of nature, a lot more interest in that, especially maybe post-pandemic in the era of remote work, digital nomads and so on. Digital mindfulness as well.
So that could be apps promoting digital detoxes to just programs, to communities. I love seeing there's a number of communities of writers who are writing remotely, like they just kind of log in and to Zoom or Teams or something once a day for 30 minutes or an hour. And they're kind of co-writing where they're writing their own stuff, but they do it together in this environment. It's really interesting. London Writer's Salon is one of the biggest ones of those, but there are some others.
Let's see what else. I mentioned remote work. So holistic home office wellness. You've got everything from ergonomic furniture designs to plant subscriptions. I need a plant subscription.
Some of my plants keep dying, which is sad. Does not contribute well to my mental health. So I need new ones. What else? Community-driven mental wellness platforms.
Some other kind of mental fitness app. Anything to do with stress reduction. Like we're all just stressed all the time. So maybe there's something outside the box that I haven't mentioned. Some kind of AI-driven stress management program or app or wearable device.
I don't know. There's a lot of stuff out there. I just think it's good to be guided by your skills, your strengths, your background, being really mindful, of course, to not offer something you're not qualified for. But there are things you are qualified to offer. So think about that.
And Carlos, cheering you on. Listeners, wishing you the best as well in this year as we move into a new month already. And much more is to come here on the podcast. So it's all free. Subscribe, follow.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
