This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Side Hustle School, what's up? Chris Guillebeau here with you in Boston, Massachusetts today. Making my way up the Eastern Seaboard. And the last time I was here, I think it was about a year and a half ago, I had the best reception I had ever had in any city in the world, I'm pretty sure. Because I came into town and there were thousands of people lining the street, just cheering for me.
And everywhere I looked, there were all kinds of signs like, you're a hero. And I was like, well, yeah, I am, but I didn't expect this kind of parade. Boston is the best city ever. And then I realized, oh, there was something else happening that day. In addition to my book event, there was also something called the Boston Marathon, which apparently some of those supporters and cheerleaders were there for.
So I've just arrived, I'm not sure what it's gonna be like tonight when I go out for the event, but I will be on the lookout for those tens of thousands of people, you never know. All right, today's Side Hustle story features two freelance writers who end up creating a different kind of side hustle and get a lot of submissions from people who are doing freelance writing. And that is, of course, a recognized profession or a recognized income generating activity. But I always like when people do something a little bit different or create their own twist. So if you're a writer, you may have thought about pitching different stories to magazines or newspapers.
Well, Alicia and Angie, who I'll tell you about today, use their skills to help create unforgettable wedding ceremonies. And naturally they get paid for it. That story is coming up right after this quick shout out to our sponsor. [Music]
Alicia Ostarello's Side Hustle started out as a simple favor to a friend. As she reached an age where engagement photos began to take over the late night party pictures on her Facebook news feed, she found herself sitting in the audience at more and more weddings.
Many of the ceremonies were touching and heartfelt, but she sometimes found herself at a ceremony where the vows and speeches were choppily written, generic, or even confusing, leaving the crowd in a state of amusement. These encounters left Alicia, who had just gotten her master's degree in creative writing, feeling that surely she could do something better. Alicia has always been blessed with a quick wit and pin, but some of her friends were not. And several had even reached out to ask if she could write their wedding vows for them, at least two of them in a mad frantic rush the night before. That's when it hit her.
If her friends were asking her for this service, maybe there'd be strangers who'd be more than happy to pay for it too. People hire florists to arrange the flowers, bakers to bake the cake. Why not hire a writer to write your vows? Around the time of this epiphany, Alicia was also reconnecting with her childhood best friend, Angie, through the power of MySpace. By the way, if you use MySpace, be sure to follow me at myspace.com/nevergonnahappen, but anyway, those were the days.
Alicia asked Angie if she'd like to join her on this new endeavor. Angie said, "I do," and the pair set out to work on this joint side hustle. Since there wasn't anything similar in the marketplace, they didn't have any kind of example they could follow as a blueprint. Luckily, they weren't afraid of being trailblazers. They began by conceptualizing their service and determining what they'd like to offer.
Naturally, they thought there'd be a demand for this kind of service, but who would find this service most useful? And what would they be willing to pay for it? After much deliberation, they began with a customized wedding service and broke it down into five different packages. Number one, customize wedding vows for those who have a challenging time putting their love into words. That costs $450.
Number two, specialized wedding toasts, including subcategories for the maid of honor, best man, parents of the bride or groom with no embarrassing stories guaranteed, and a special thank you toast for the couple who wants to share their gratitude eloquently while focusing on the bigger tasks at hand. That was also $450. Number three, a custom ceremony where they create a theme for your wedding and customize each aspect of the ceremony itself, $700. Number four, officiating, where either Alicia or Angie would officiate the ceremony themselves. That was $400.
And number five, a complete package where every syllable uttered during your wedding is polished to perfection and includes all of the other packages with it. That one was $1,800. Now, regardless of which package the customer chooses, it all starts with a conversation. Alicia says this is the most important part of the service. They have an entire one-hour phone call where they get to know their clients, their story, what they want to convey through their words, and more importantly, they have an opportunity to get them talking so they can understand their unique voice and speaking style so that they can write something that conveys their voice and tone.
They also realize there might be some people out there who just need a little assistance, so they offer expert reviews of what you've written for $150 and speech coaching for $200. They settled on the clever name of Val Muse for this new side hustle and went about making it official. They paid $40 for hosting, picked up a free pack of business cards where they only had to pay shipping, and they were ready to start marketing. Now, Alicia and Angie tried a lot of different things to market their business, including an idea they called haiku on demand, where they'd go to industry events and write a haiku on the spot for free. They spent $125 on a table and borrowed a typewriter from a friend.
This allowed them to network, share those business cards, and attract real attention in the industry. They also stopped in at every bridal shop within a 25-mile radius to drop off their business cards and make connections with the shop owners. Alicia also got into the habit of looking for women wearing engagement rings and literally stopped them in the street to hand them a Val Muse business card. How about that? Val Muse also spent a lot of time writing guest posts for anyone who would take them, and they eventually found themselves featured in The New York Times, The Daily Mail, and even made an appearance on The Today Show.
The links from these sites has allowed them to rank highly in Google, which currently brings them their largest share of clients. In their first six months, Val Muse made just about $500, which sounds like just about one of those packages, but since then, their income and number of incoming clients has grown tremendously. They've now provided over 300 clients with the perfect words for all different occasions, and that extra income has helped them out significantly. In fact, this was especially helpful for Alicia, who used the side income last year to completely cover her health insurance benefits, since as a freelance writer, she didn't have those provided by a company. Looking to the future, Alicia and Angie are putting the finishing touches to their first information product, which will show people a DIY method of putting together your own ceremony from scratch and how to personalize it.
Hopefully this allows them to increase their profits without having to invest more time in writing. Val Muse seems like a side hustle that was just meant to be. [Music]
What a fun project. Let this be a lesson that if you have a certain skill like writing, there may be some non-traditional approach you can take to apply that skill in a different way and get paid for it. I know a lot of freelance writers who struggle, and they're just trying to send a whole bunch of pitches out to magazines, newspapers, digital or otherwise, other forms of media, and they're just really struggling because it's a very saturated market and lots of people trying to do the same thing.
Doesn't mean you can't be successful doing that, but what if you could be successful a lot quicker with a lot less struggle by doing something like what Alicia and Angie have done? Well, at least I think it's pretty cool. As always, inspiration is good, but inspiration combined with action is better. Today's show notes, including links to Val Muse, are at sidehustleschool.com/271, that's 2-7-1. If you get a chance, share this episode or just the show in general with your friends, send them to sidehustleschool.com or mention the show and use #sidehustleschool.
That would be awesome, but you're awesome either way. Thank you for listening, I'll be back tomorrow. I'm Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School. [Music]
