This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
Hey there, side hustlers, side hustle school, listeners, community, friends, neighbors. I'm Chris Guillebeau back with you today with another story. Question for you as we begin, how much of the world have you seen or experienced? In addition to that classic 1970s disco album that I'd like to forget, I'm known for having visited every country in the world. By known, I mean at least five people have heard of me and know that fact.
But I did have a quest for about 11 years to go to every country in the world. Now, as a result of that, I meet a lot of other people who've traveled, especially at the events and people talk about how many countries they've been to. And it's funny because they feel like they always need to compare themselves to me or to someone else. And they say something like, "Oh, I've only been to 35 countries." Or, "I've only been to five countries," or whatever the number is. And I'm always like, "That's awesome. That's great."
A lot of people never go anywhere. In all the parts of the world, I'm certainly not an expert on all of them or even most of them. So first of all, don't compare yourself to anyone. Your life, your goals, your experience, those are unique to you. And also, I believe there's more than one way to see the world.
So maybe you don't care about trying to go to every country in the world or even going a lot of places. I do still think it's valuable to immerse yourself in other cultures and to have an understanding of different parts of the world. Travel is a great way to do that, I believe. But there are also other ways. Whatever your religious background is, for example, or if you don't have one at all.
I think everyone at least once should visit a mosque and a synagogue and a church and a temple. Any other culturally important site like that, just to kind of learn how people do things and why people have the worldview that they do. I could go off on a tangent on that, but I won't because I'm focused on side hustles here. Today's story is about one of those, shocking. It's specifically about a teacher who earns about $2,000 a month on the side by introducing kids to new cultures through the world of books.
So I love this story for all kinds of reasons. One, because I love anything that shows people more of the world. Two, because I love books. Three, because I always like to hear unconventional stories of people creating more freedom for themselves, just like this guy has done with this $2,000 a month side hustle. I'm going to say a quick word of thanks to our sponsor and then I'll be right back with that story.
Today's story comes to us from Taipei, Taiwan, where American Andrew Bliss has been living and working abroad for going on 12 years now. Andrew is a chronic side hustler. As he put it, "I like working a full-time job. I just always needed something of my own creation to feel like I'm the one determining the course of my life." While he has undertaken a variety of projects to various levels of success, his current side hustle has taken the most work and is perhaps also the most rewarding. See, eight years ago, Andrew took his first trip to Thailand.
At that time, his niece and nephew back home in Cincinnati, Ohio were around the age when they could start reading books on their own. He hated not being there to watch them grow up in person and he also remembered what it was like to grow up in the Midwest. He wanted to figure out a way to spend some quality time with them and bring the world to them since they weren't able to go see it with their own eyes. So on this trip to Thailand, he took them along with him in spirit and imagination by trying to experience the culture with them in mind. When he got home, he made a book about their imaginary adventures with tigers, monkeys, elephants, and helpful monks in fancy robes.
Throughout the book, he tried to spark their interest in the world outside Ohio and in exploration in general. He wanted them to know at an earlier age than he did that the world was full of rich cultures even if they couldn't fly across the ocean right away. That book still sits on the family mantle many years later. A few years went by and during an annual visit home, Andrew reread that book. His brother saw him reading and casually mentioned that it would be great if a lot of kids could get books like this.
That planted a seed in Andrew's mind that eventually grew into his current project, the Adventurous Mailbox. Andrew was based in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, but he decided to relocate to a university in a small city in the south of Taiwan to get away from distractions, do some research, and begin putting together this Adventurous Mailbox. When he wasn't in class teaching writing and intro to Western philosophy, he settled into a phase of writing and planning. He developed a vision of the project and wrote the first eight books about seven different countries. Now remember, these are children's books, so they're pretty short.
But still, eight books. Before he was done writing the first set, he actually found an illustrator completely by chance. A colleague who had heard about the project insisted that Andrew meet someone who was in town traveling with his girlfriend. That person turned out to be a young, prize-winning illustrator from New Zealand who loved the idea and jumped at the chance to illustrate his first children's book series. Once Andrew had the stories with illustrations, he needed to turn them into actual books.
To accomplish this, he teamed up with that illustrator to create a ready-to-print product so he could self-publish. Andrew then contacted one of Taiwan's top printing houses, which fortunately was headquartered in that same small town he'd moved to. He then spent way too much time, according to him, picking out the perfect paper before his books were finally printed. Instead of just shipping these books in a plain brown box, he wanted to send them in a box with fun stamps and postmarks so that it looks like it's really sent from abroad. The inside of the box is lined with newspapers and multiple languages to add to the international feel, and the books themselves are individually wrapped in international envelopes.
There's also a personalized welcome letter from the main character of the books. Andrew knew that this was a package a kid would be excited to get and unwrap all the pieces of. With the books printed and ready to ship, he then focused on the operations and technology side of things. He hired someone to build his website and signed up for WooCommerce so that he could process payments. With a website and a way to accept money in place, Andrew got started on his marketing plan.
He opened accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. He'd heard it was important to market on Facebook, but his first attempt didn't go very far. He said he threw some money into Facebook ads thinking much about strategy. That haphazard approach didn't produce great results, so he took a step back and began to be more intentional. He also realized he needed to make his website a bit easier to navigate.
Now, here's an important lesson. He didn't want the website to feel too commercial, so he initially resisted adding big buttons that say "buy now." But he soon realized that people don't have time to sit and read a website with a long detailed explanation before making a purchase. By adding a simple video, explaining the books and overall packaging, and putting on those "buy now" buttons, conversion rates went way up. Andrew also began sending out his book series to bloggers in target market communities. This turned out to be a great way to both build up testimonials on his website and get the word out in an authentic, grassroots way.
The first day his website went live, he sold 10 packages, all to family and friends. But the second day, he sold his very first package to a stranger. For the first year of his hustle, he made about $500 a month. This year, however, he's doing an average of $2,000 a month, with August being his biggest month yet. Even with sales up, Andrew isn't showing any signs of slowing down.
He's busy writing the next series of books, and he's also looking around for a publishing partner to help him get into schools. Initially he thought his market was only to individual children and families, but then he realized that both schools and homeschoolers were eager for the type of materials he was creating. The books themselves, however, weren't enough to be offered as an educational product, so he updated his launch to create a comprehensive curriculum that includes vocabulary, reading comprehension, creative and academic writing, critical thinking, and country-specific lessons. This turned out to be a good decision because teachers have since become some of his biggest supporters. Once he came around adding those Buy Now buttons, Andrew also began working on expanding his website offerings to include product add-ons with the book series.
He plans on selling items that he finds during his travels. These items will support local artisans, furthering the connection he makes with his young, faraway readers. While there are several lessons we could draw from this story, I want to focus on just one. Don't be afraid to add the Buy Now button. Your order button should not be subtle.
Your sales process should not be subtle. If you have made something that you believe in, like Andrew did in this story, you want people to find it. And when potential parents or teachers or anyone buying a gift for kids stumbles on his website, it shouldn't be hard for them to figure out how to order. So I'm glad he was able to make that shift, and as you heard toward the end, he's actually come even further to now realizing he can do some upsells or product add-ons. Those are also good.
The reason upsells work so well is because people have just purchased from you. They've already been won over. They're interested in your product or your service. So if you can create a natural add-on and it makes sense, and it also offers value to them, you should definitely include it. Anyway, I'm glad he's doing this project.
I'm glad it's going well. Look forward to seeing what happens next. Today's show notes are online at sidehustleschool.com/276. We'd love to say hi to you on social media. I'm 193 countries on Instagram, 193 countries, or just my name, Chris Gallivaux on Twitter or Facebook.
That's Chris, C-H-R-I-S-G-U-I-L-L-E-P-E-A-U. Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better. Whether you are in Taiwan, Thailand, Ohio, or somewhere else, I hope you have a wonderful day. You've been listening to Side Hustle School. I'll be back tomorrow.
