This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
In this week's first $1,000 segment, we're going to hear from a nurse who turns her expertise in health and safety into a side gig as a disaster preparedness consultant. She helps individuals and businesses prep for emergencies. She helps them. They feel better. They feel safer and more secure, and she gets paid all good things.
Welcome to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau, your host. I love bringing you these different stories, examples, case studies, questions, and answers every single day, seven days a week for more than 2,800 days and counting. As noted, this episode falls in this segment. We call your first $1,000.
How does somebody get going? How do they make their first $1,000 with a new idea? How do they go from just having an idea or thinking maybe one day I want to have a business or a side hustle and actually depositing that check or seeing that money come into their account in some fashion? How do they make it happen? What can we take away from it?
What can we take away in terms of inspiration or a practical tip or just some motivation to move forward positively with our own ideas? Let's hear today from Sarah. She is the nurse who also does disaster preparation. I'm not quite sure how this works, but we're going to hear the story from her. I'll have a few words of wrap up at the end.
Hi, I'm Sarah, and I work as a nurse. It's a job that requires staying calm under pressure and having a deep understanding of health and safety protocols, but a couple of years ago, I decided to take these skills and apply them as a disaster preparedness consultant. It's been an incredibly rewarding way to use my knowledge to help others. The idea came to me after a particularly intense week at the hospital, where we had to deal with multiple emergencies. I realized that a lot of people, both individuals and businesses, aren't prepared for disasters or emergencies, whether it's a natural disaster, a health crisis, or something unexpected like a power outage.
I thought with my background in health and safety, I could help people be better prepared for these situations. I began offering my services to friends and family, helping them create emergency plans, assemble disaster kits, and understand basic first aid. The feedback was positive. They appreciated the peace of mind that came with being prepared, but I wasn't immediately sure how to make it a business. My first paid job came from a small business owner who wanted to develop a comprehensive emergency plan for his employees.
We sat down together, and I walked him through the potential risks his business might face, everything from natural disasters to fire hazards. I helped him create a step-by-step response plan, trained his staff on emergency procedures, and put together a supply kit tailored to his business's needs. For this initial consultation and setup, I charged $500. It was a fair price for the amount of work involved, and the business owner was extremely satisfied with the result. Shortly after that, I did a similar job for a local daycare, which brought in another $500.
That's how I earned my first $1,000 from this side gig. What makes this side gig particularly satisfying is how well it aligns with my nursing background. As a nurse, I'm used to staying calm under pressure, assessing risks quickly, and following strict protocols to ensure safety. These same skills are crucial in disaster preparedness. I'm able to bring a level of professionalism and expertise to my consultations that clients really value.
I've also found that my ability to communicate complex information in a clear and reassuring way helps clients feel confident in emergency plans. Whether it's teaching first aid, helping people assemble a go bag, or explaining how to create an evacuation plan, I'm drawing on my nursing experience to make sure my clients are as prepared as possible. Since those first few jobs, my side hustle has grown off and on. I've worked with a range of clients from families wanting to prepare their homes to businesses looking to protect their employees. There's a lot of potential in disaster preparedness consulting, especially as more people and businesses recognize the importance of being ready for emergencies.
It's a perfect complement to my nursing career, and it allows me to use my skills in a new and impactful way. If there's one thing I've learned from this experience, it's that your existing skills can often be applied in ways you might not expect. For me, disaster preparedness has been a natural extension of my work as a nurse. I'm grateful for the opportunity to help others while also earning extra income. All right, big thanks to Sarah for telling us about her story and her first thousand dollars.
Listeners, remember, there's always something that you can do. There's always something we can learn. We can learn from other people's stories, and there's always a way to apply it. Even if you are not a nurse interested in the world of disaster preparation, you have some skill and education and experience and knowledge that can be resourced in a side hustle, in a money making project. So I want to encourage you to think about what you could do or what you can do next.
If you already have something, what is your next step? What is a single next step you can take today? And of course, we've got more episodes coming out every day, seven days a week, always completely free. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School.
on the Onward Project.
