This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
How can you find your zone of genius for a side hustle? Welcome back to Side Hustle School. My name's Chris Guillebeau, your host. Today we're gonna hear a question from Ava in Minneapolis. Ava is eager to start her first or next side hustle, but isn't sure what her unique skills or zones of genius are.
Have you ever heard that phrase before? If not, pretty self-explanatory, but we'll dive into it a bit. Basically, you're looking for a sweet spot of something that you're really good at, something that comes naturally and easy to you, but also happens to be valuable to others so much so that they are willing to pay for it. This is one of our specialties here on the podcast. We're all about helping people figure out something that they're good at that other people are willing to pay for.
So if you're in the same situation, well, I hope you'll enjoy this episode. Let's talk about how to discover what you're truly great at and how to turn that into a profitable business, all in just a few action-packed minutes. Detailed question from Ava and my answer coming right up. [Music]
Hi, this is Ava from Minneapolis, Minnesota. I've been thinking a lot about starting a side hustle, but I'm not sure what I'm really good at or what could be profitable.
How can I identify my unique skills or zones of genius that might have the potential to become a successful side hustle? I'd love some guidance on how to figure out what makes me stand out and how to turn that into something profitable. Thanks for your help. - Okay, first of all, what is the zone of genius? Well, this concept, I think I used the word sweet spot earlier, basically just means when you're really, really good at something and you also enjoy doing it.
So that's a key point. Imagine you've got a favorite hobby or activity, could be drawing, playing a sport, solving puzzles, something else that you are naturally great at and you feel really happy when you're doing it, that could be your zone of genius. Now, in the context of side hustles, of course, we're looking for the intersection of your unique skills, passions and interests with a profitable opportunity. So it's the kind of project where you not only excel, but you also enjoy it and other people value it enough to pay for it. So Ava, what do you do to get to that point?
I think it's really important to reflect on what comes naturally to you. So start by thinking about those activities or tasks that feel effortless. Those are your strengths. Those are things that maybe you think everybody is good at them or it should be naturally to everybody, but it's actually just you. I mean, you're not the only one perhaps, but the point is not everybody is good at these things.
So you really want to identify those things along with what energizes you. So your zones of genius, 'cause there could be more than one, it's not only things that come naturally, but also something that energizes and excites you. And so when you can find this whole set of skills and interests, then you combine that with a problem you can solve. And I think that's how you get to the zone of genius in the side hustle world. A profitable side hustle often involves solving a problem that others struggle with.
So you think about a common challenge, you think about something that people are frustrated by or are looking for solutions in, and you see what kind of overlaps here. What overlaps between these areas that I'm good at, that I also enjoy doing, and that other people are looking for solutions or some way to make their life better. And I think if you kind of go through many of the different side hustle stories that we featured, you can see, oh, here's a person who did exactly that. Here is the TikTok fitness influencer. Here is the Aspen bartender.
Here is the exotic pet sitter of New York City. Here is the candle subscription. I'm just looking at some recent episodes here, someone who's a chocolatier. And again, they're just kind of merging these things. That's where you start.
And of course, there's a lot of steps then to actually build the project, but that's how you identify the zone of genius. And that was the question. So I hope that is helpful to Ava and somebody else out there. Thank you for listening today. Much more is coming up, new episode every day.
That's all for now. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
