This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
Well, this was a fun one. I had a listener ask, "What's the wildest side hustle idea you've ever heard of?" And it got me thinking because we've done almost 2,800 total episodes here on the podcast. For seven years, every single day, we've been featuring different ideas, different questions, case studies and such. And I also wrote a book a couple years in called 100 Side Hustles that took some of the wildest side hustle ideas that we have featured at least at that point. I guess we could write 2,000 plus side hustles. The very
long sequel would be a very heavy book. So let's talk about it in a short episode. Let's condense that very heavy book. Welcome back to side hustle school if you're just starting out or looking to expand your current side hustle or business. My goal is to give you inspiration and tools to help you succeed. So let's hear this question and my answer.
What is the wildest side hustle I've ever heard of? I'll bring it to you after this short shout out to our sponsor. Hey, Chris. I'm Billy from Duluth, Minnesota and a big fan of your show. I'm always fascinated by the unique and unconventional side hustles you feature. What's the wildest side hustle
idea you've ever heard of? And what made it stand out to you? Do you think such out of the box ideas have a higher chance of success or are they more of a gamble? I'd love to hear about some of the most creative and unexpected ways people are making extra money. Okay, this was fun to think about. And I'm so glad you're enjoying the show. I still
enjoy making it 2,700 episodes since we first started back in 2017. And throughout all that time, we've definitely featured some fascinating and out of the box side hustle ideas. So I was trying to think what is the single one and it's hard to think of just one, right? I'll give you a couple examples. But I will also say that the interesting thing is that there's usually something very grounded and sense making in the wild stories, at least the ones that worked. And what I mean is there's actually a market for these things. There
is a need that is being met, which is a really key and core side assault lesson. So to go back to the beginning, like episode 10, when we first started, we did this episode called saddles for pet chickens, get ready to wing it. And it was all about a chicken owner like an urban chicken owner who owned a bunch of pet chickens. And she had developed these chicken saddles like chicken vests that you put on your chicken. For those who own chickens like in their backyard. This is actually a very practical thing. It protects the chickens
it keeps them safe. There's all these other benefits. I learned a lot about this world when I was researching that episode. And so for a while, I was like, that's pretty wild. But it makes sense. Then if I fast forward to episode 326, we did a story on a business
called bush balm. The title for that episode is itchy honeymoon shaves way to $100,000 pubic oil income. I actually wrote about that story in the 100 side hustles book. So again, kind of a need is being met. You could listen to that story if you want to hear more about it, but it's, you know, somewhat self explanatory. They're in the little summary, personal wellness
needs. We've also had through the years goat yoga, a man drop shipping live crickets to reptile owners, and so much more. So do these out of the box ideas have a higher chance of success? I thought that was a cool way to ask the question. And the truth is it can kind of go both ways, right? Because unconventional ideas often stand out because they're different.
And they can capture the imagination of potential customers. But there also needs to be a market to it, to go back to what I was saying. So you can't just have an idea that doesn't have a market if you have an idea that no one's ever thought of, maybe there's a good reason why no one's ever thought of it, right? Because there's not a market, there's not a need being met. But if you have a need being met, and you're the first one to do it, well, that's great. So I think that's the key point is to always focus on solutions, focus on problems
and that you can provide a solution for. And if your ideas is wild and wacky and fun, then so much the better, you know, and that's a big part of why I still love this whole side hustle world many years on, because it is so interesting. And there's still a lot of discoverability to be found. So many people doing really interesting, remarkable things out there. So thank you for bringing this to my mind. It was fun to think about. Listeners,
you know, I am cheering you on I want to know your side hustle stories, whatever they may be your ideas. So hopefully we can help bring those to light. And that's what I try to do every single day on the podcast. Much more is coming up. I hope you'll subscribe. Follow
it's always free. My name is Chris Guillebeau, you're listening to side hustle school from the onward project.
