This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey there, what's up? Welcome to the weekly recap. I'm your host, Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School. Man, over here we have just finished week number 40. That's right, 4-0.
Cruising along in our quest to bring all kinds of great side hustle stories to you. Not just to tell you stories, of course, but to help you create a bit more freedom in your life, more options, more choice, more security, a backup plan, perhaps. Even if you love your job, and especially if you're busy and don't have a lot of time. I make this show for busy people, so let's jump right in. I'm coming to you live from Phoenix, Arizona today.
Last week I went to London, came back, been in the States for a few days again, came to Atlanta where I had a day off. I went to my favorite fine dining restaurant. It's called Waffle House. If you have not been to Waffle House, you are missing out. Even though the West Coast is the best coast, one thing we are sadly missing is Waffle House.
I could do a whole episode about my love for Waffle House, probably even a whole week, I mean, really. But as mentioned, you are busy, so we'll save the rest of my Waffle House commentary for Instagram stories. Okay, I wanna read you two emails today that I got from readers. We also got a great listener question on our Hustle hotline that I'm gonna play for you as well. First up, I got a note from Corinne.
And Corinne is talking about episode 273. That was about a week ago, and it featured two college students who started a project called Study Box, where they were trying to gather all the materials a studying student might need for a big study session. And when I read Corinne's note, I thought, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe I missed this." So I'm just gonna read you what she says. "Hey, Chris, just listen to today's podcast "about Study Box. "I'm kind of surprised that the college students "are buying these boxes themselves.
"I see a bigger market in somehow reaching their parents." This is a strategy you didn't mention in your notes. If the guys could figure out how to target the parents of college students, these are the folks who would buy subscriptions and one-off purchases for their college-aged children, hoping beyond all hope that the content somehow helped their kids study better and get better grades. Maybe one approach would be to have a stand set up for football games, especially homecoming or other athletic events. Anyway, those are my thoughts on a Saturday morning in Massachusetts. Sorry I didn't get to see you in Boston next time for sure.
Corinne, thanks a ton for highlighting that for us. I completely agree. College students and college students' parents are very different markets. And in this case, there's no way to know for sure without trying. So it's not to say they were completely on the wrong track.
However, it does make perfect sense to me that their parents could actually be a better market if you could somehow reach them. So thank you for helping to make that a better story. I'm curious what the Study Box guys think of it if they're listening, maybe they'll let me know and I can update you in turn. All right, here's another email from Jessica. This is a bit of a success story, which I love to hear.
Jessica says, "Congrats on the new book. I, of course, preordered my copy and received it via Amazon. Wanted to give you an update on the three ideas for a side hustle that I had earlier in this year. I was inspired by the episode you did with the marketing consultant who created a retreat for men. So I have created a weekend cottage retreat with aspiring entrepreneurs who are in my shoes, need a community, and need someone to hold them accountable.
There were a total of nine women, predominantly women of color, and I charged $130 each and promoted via Facebook and Eventbrite. I rented a cottage, created meal plans, and it was all-inclusive for two nights. I laid workshops on goal setting and planning, and I also got one of the girls to do an art therapy session. The property was beautiful, and the entire weekend was amazing. I got a lot of great feedback from the ladies who attended, but also from the people who saw the opportunity online, but just couldn't make it at that time.
Now I want to get into this full force. I know I'm gonna learn a lot more from the book. I have a few ideas I'm gonna push out, but my main concern at this moment are these empire building retreats. In fact, the full name is Evolving Doors Empire Building Retreats. Well, I love that name.
I love that whole mission. Congrats, Jessica. My only comment is I think you should charge more, but you probably know that, and I realized that first one was an experiment. So let us know how the next one goes. Okay, next we have a listener call-in from Dave in Northern Virginia.
Before I play his message, just a quick reminder that you can call the Hustle hotline and leave your short message with a question or comment that we may in fact play on the show. What is the number for the Hustle hotline, you ask? Well, it's very simple. It's just 8449 Hustle, also known as 844-948-7853. Alternatively, you can record a voice memo with your phone and just email that to podcast@sidehustleschool.com.
The Hustle hotline receives calls in multiple formats. Okay, let's hear from this week's caller. - Hi, Chris, this is Dave from Northern Virginia. I wanted to get your take on a side hustle that would involve selling a product that already exists in some form. In the past, I had what I thought was a unique idea for a product that fulfilled my needs and I believe would fulfill the needs of others.
When I did some research, I realized that there are some small scale operations already producing and selling this product. I wanted to get your take on a side hustle that involves selling a product that already exists, the pros and cons, and see what you thought about it. I really appreciate it, thanks. - Hey, Dave, thanks so much for the call. I assure you a lot of people have this question.
In fact, I have been getting it night after night on tour in one fashion or another. What if my idea is taken? Well, I think I've answered it a couple of times on the show, but like I said, it keeps coming up. You're not the only one. In fact, tomorrow's episode features someone who makes a lot of money.
I think it's like $300,000, no joke, on this unique product. And he does so even after realizing that somebody else is doing something similar. Now, you mentioned pros and cons. I would say the biggest pro is the fact that somebody else is doing it and it's actually working for them. That's a good thing.
It shows that there is market demand. It shows that people are familiar with that product or service. It's actually very difficult, or at least it can be, to educate people about something that doesn't exist or hasn't existed until you came up with it. So in short, just because somebody else is doing your idea, doesn't mean you shouldn't pursue it. Obviously, this is gonna be a case-by-case thing because in your call, you didn't mention what your idea was, what you're working on.
There very well may be some cases in which it's not good to proceed if somebody else is doing exactly the same thing. But it's really hard to say without hearing more about the specific thing. Generally speaking, I would not be put off by that fact at all. Good luck, man. Let us know how it goes.
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Looking back on this week, beginning with episode 275, a whole set of empowering side hustle stories, beginning with a 16-year-old who earned $10,000 selling watches. It was actually two teenagers who together earned more than $20,000, so they each earned more than $10,000 selling watches and doing a bunch of other stuff before they went on to other things. That hustle started when they were on vacation in Aruba, presumably with their family, I don't know. But somehow they discovered the source of these cheap watches that also looked kinda cool. So they didn't cost very much, but they had this nice aesthetic to them.
Also, nobody in the US was wearing them, so that was key. They ended up going back home and becoming the exclusive distributor for the company that made them. I always love to highlight creative thinking. There are all kinds of ideas out there for you. That's why I'm highlighting a different one each day.
That was followed by a university lecturer in Taiwan who creates a $2,000-a-month hustle by introducing kids to new cultures. He's actually writing children's books, and he has this really nice packaging that uses foreign newspaper print inside and puts passport stamps on the outside of the package. So for kids back in the States who might not be exposed to cultures in Asia or elsewhere, they have this kind of foreign moment of learning from afar, immersing themselves at least a little bit in a different part of the world, which, of course, I think is very healthy and good. Oh, and he also makes money, of course, because, you know, status will school. Next up was an episode about a marketing professional who earns money teaching people how to shave.
That story definitely has the anecdote of the week about how when he and his wife arrive to set up teaching their second class, they were actually greeted by a roomful of toddlers dancing to Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back." How do you top that? Not what they were expecting from their clients who wanted to learn to shave. There was also a story of someone creating Snapchat filters for weddings, a story of a guy who's a farm certification specialist who also likes pottery and finds a way to create a hybrid approach to his life and work. And we have lots of folks out there that are doing two things or three things or more things. So I thought that was good.
And then last but not least, yesterday's story about a boring desk job, which leads to $14,000 a month coffee pod biz. That story was focused on the UK where I just happened to be for the past few days until I got back to the States. And perhaps it's a good reminder that you don't always have to follow a passion. It's great if you're passionate about something like pottery or perhaps shaving. But in this case, I don't think that guy was passionate about coffee pods.
He just noticed a problem. The problem was that they were overpriced and there weren't a lot of flavors. So sometimes it's a passion that leads you to your side hustle. Sometimes it's a problem. Both directions, totally valid.
[Music]
So let's talk about what's coming up. I'm going into week four of my tour. I will be in Chicago tomorrow, back home for a bit and then heading out to Canada next week. I will be in Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto. I'll tell you more about that as it gets closer.
But just a reminder, you can always see where I'm going or sign up to come out to an event at sidehustleschool.com/tour. I would love to see you somewhere along the way. We've got more cities that we're adding soon. In fact, they're probably going up this week. And on the show this week, we've got a bunch of great stories including a designer who turns bad parking into $25,000 a year.
There's also a museum educator who improvises and creates a side hustle from her day job. And it's really big story that you'll hear tomorrow about a marketing manager who makes more than $300,000 with anti-mosquito bracelets. This person was not an expert in mosquitoes, by the way, nor were they particularly passionate about mosquitoes to go back to that passion versus problem thing. But needless to say, that project has turned out very well. And I look forward to telling you all about it in the episode.
The side hustle book continues to roll out. I keep getting emails from people who are reading it and putting it to use. Just a reminder, if you haven't picked up the side hustle book yet, I would love for you to check it out. It is all about going from idea to income in 27 days. It is now out worldwide.
The UK edition just launched, which also goes out to Australia, New Zealand, India, a few other markets as well. And if you're not in any of those markets, you can still order it online from your choice of retailer. Or you can probably just ask your local bookstore and they can get it for you. Always a great idea to support local bookstores. Speaking of support, before we close out the week, let me say thank you so much for your support.
If you are listening, please know that you're the reason I make this show. I've committed since January one, every single day. If you make the commitment to make this part of your routine, I too commit to supporting you. You have a goal to create a new source of income. I am your humble cheerleader, rooting for you from city to city.
I want you to turn your idea into income and I want you to do it soon. Let me say thanks a lot to those who work on the show as well. A few different folks. My production team is led by AC Valdez. Also features Odelia Rubin, show notes by Whitney Karinek in Portland, who's very patient with me as I've been traveling the world and sending her notes at all different time zones.
My cat Libby Guillipo is not on Snapchat or any social network for that matter, at least not any that I know about. I was just thinking, wouldn't it be funny if cats had their own social network and they posted videos of humans? And they're just like passing these videos around. They're like, look at that guy, he's trying to ride a bicycle. Isn't that so cute?
It might happen, you never know. The quote of the week comes from Sir Mix-a-Lot, ladies, ladies, if you wanna ride in my Mercedes, you need to leave a five star review of Side Hustle School. That's actually a remix version, but I wanna say thank you so much for those reviews. We actually have more than a thousand ratings or reviews on Apple Podcasts now. That's because you are awesome.
And if you're listening to this and we don't have yours, I would love to have yours. Thank you for taking just a moment out of your day to do that. If you have read the Cytosle book, I would also love your review on Amazon.com or Goodreads.com. That would be amazing and I would be grateful. We at Side Hustle School are part of the Onward Project, founded, led and coached by Greshen Rubin, the author of "The Four Tendencies" and host of the mega popular podcast, Happier.
The Onward Project is full of concrete, actionable ideas about making your life happier, healthier, more productive and more creative. Well, guess what? In every episode of this show, I always say inspiration is good, but action is better. That's because as I may have mentioned, I want you to take action. I wanna feature your story on the show.
I look forward to hearing what you're working on. I hope to see you tomorrow and every day next week with more fun stories and actionable ideas. Those episodes go online at 601 a.m. Eastern time every day. Until we meet again, I'm Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School.
