This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
From trade show model to auto show specialist. Hey friends, hey listeners, community, welcome back. My name's Chris Guillebeau, your host of "Side Hustle School." Welcome to an episode we call your first $1,000. Well, that is the feature. A weekly segment goes out every Monday.
And as you might guess, or as you might know by now, it's all about how somebody made their first $1,000. How did they get to that point? Not their first $100,000, that's pretty cool, but it also is a long story. How'd they get their first $1,000? Last week we heard about this guy, this music producer, who's making thousands of dollars a month, several thousand dollars a month, I believe, uploading all kinds of different songs and instrumental tracks.
Today we're going to go to Atlanta, hear from this "Side Hustler" Destiny. She transitioned, as noted, from being a trade show model to running her own agency, specializing in providing models for auto shows. So that's also pretty cool. How did this business grow? How did the idea come about?
And how did she earn her first $1,000? And then more. Let's hear the story from Destiny. I'll come back at the end to wrap us up. [Music]
Hi, I'm Destiny from Atlanta, Georgia.
A few years ago, I was working as a trade show model, representing brands at various conventions and expos. While I enjoyed the work, I saw a bigger opportunity in helping others, you know, find similar gigs. That's when I decided to start my own trade show model agency, specializing in providing models for auto shows. I started with a simple idea to just use my industry knowledge and network to provide high quality staffing solutions for auto shows. I started by reaching out to contacts in the industry, letting them know about my new venture.
Having worked as a model myself, I understood the skills and professionalism that was required. And this gave me a unique edge in selecting the right talent for different events. Auto shows are a big deal in the trade show world. You know, they require models who can not only look great, but also communicate effectively about the vehicles they're representing. These promo models definitely need to be knowledgeable about the latest car specs, car features, and a lot of times even the history of the brands they're promoting, their role is crucial in engaging potential customers and providing an approachable presence at the booths.
One of the first steps was creating a website showcasing my services and the models that we represented. I also invested in photo shoots to ensure our models profiles look their best. A networking was crucial. So I attended local business events and trade shows to get out and meet potential customers and let them know I was out there. I did all of this from home, managing everything from bookings to payroll, and I focused on building a roster of reliable and versatile models who could handle the unique demands of auto shows.
When we started out, we began specializing in these events, offering models who were both skilled and reliable, and it's not always easy to find both. Getting the few first clients was challenging, but my persistence paid off. I leveraged my previous experience to ensure that every event we staffed went smoothly and I saw feedback not just from the clients, but also the models to continually improve our services. One of our early successes was landing a contract to staff a large auto show in Detroit, which brought in more than $5,000 after paying travel and other expenses. This milestone validated my business idea and it gave me the confidence to keep pushing forward.
However, it wasn't all smooth sailing. Balancing the need to grow the business with the day-to-day management was tough. At one point, I took too many events simultaneously, leading to a scheduling conflict and a delicate client relationship. The experience taught me the importance of careful planning and not overextending our capabilities. To address this, I started to delegate some tasks, hiring an assistant to help me with administrative duties and ensuring I could focus on client relationships and business development.
Today, the agency is thriving. The decision to specialize in auto shows has paid off. It allows us to cater to a niche market and stand out from the competition. In addition to Atlanta and Detroit, we now book events in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, further expanding our reach. Looking back, the key to my success was leveraging my personal experience, you know, building industry connections and just continuously improving our service based on feedback.
Earning the first $1,000 was just the beginning and I'm excited to see where we can take the business next. [Music]
Awesome, big thanks to Destiny for telling us about her first $1,000. Listeners, I hope you found it encouraging. I hope you found it inspirational or at least gave you an idea or at least was like, oh, that's a cool story. Look at Destiny, good for her.
Now, what am I gonna do? That's a big part of why I make this show. One, to give you some practical tips, two, to give you some ideas, but three, just to give you a little bit of a nudge, like a daily motivation of like, okay, other people are doing this, what is your thing? And what are you doing to take action on it? I really believe that taking action is so much better than just thinking about things or brainstorming.
I mean, that's fine, that's fun, but really you're gonna succeed when you start taking those practical steps. So I hope you will take at least one practical step today. Let me know how it's going, how we can support. There's a website, sidehustleschool.com. There's show notes for every episode.
There is so much more coming up, a new episode every day. And guess what? It's always completely free. Thanks for tuning in. My name is Chris Guillebeau.
This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
