This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Former construction inspector helps students pass exams. That is today's story. Welcome to Sadduceville School. This year, we're bringing you some remixes of some of our best stories from the early years. That was a very long time ago.
It goes back to 2017, 2017, 2018. And of course, every year since we have not missed a day, since we started January 1, 2017. So there's a lot of content in the back catalog. So what I wanted to do this year is pull out some of those great stories, polish them up a little bit. We rerecord every single one of them.
Sometimes there's some updates as well, just to kind of keep things fresh and new, while also bringing you one of the greatest hits. So in today's story, a former construction inspector creates a series of online courses to help people who want to enter this industry. And this was a great choice. I mean, this guy did very, very well. Also ended up helping a lot of people, which I think is just fantastic, right?
If you can make people's lives better and profit for yourself. Industries like inspection tend to have a lot of barriers to entry. And you could argue that some of those barriers are good, like you wanna make sure people are qualified. We're talking about building inspections, right? But you could also argue that some of the barriers were set up simply to protect the interests of the people who are already in those careers, which is often how qualifications and barriers work.
And either way, the point is it takes some effort to enter a field like this. So it's not surprising that there is a demand for knowledge, tips, and hacks to fast track that process, or at least to study better, study more effectively, so that you can pass the exams and then enter what is often a high paying career. So all that to say, it was a fantastic business idea for this guy. And today I'll tell you the detailed story of how Gabriel Kramer grew this business. The story's coming up after this quick shout out to our sponsor.
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Gabriel Kramer's side hustle story began in 2011. A former high school teacher who had burned out due to the lack of support from administrators, Gabe had begun a new career as a construction inspector. He'd heard about this career from a cousin who helped him get a job as an entry level inspector. Now to advance in this industry, you have to earn certifications by passing exams. And basically the more certifications you have, the more money you can make.
Over the next few years, Gabe continued to gain experience, take more exams, and therefore increase his earning potential further. So then came the next step, which is the side hustle we're focusing on today. Gabe wanted to not just earn money while he was working, but hopefully earn money on the side passively while he was sleeping perhaps even. And he set out to build a course that would help inspectors get the same qualifications that he had. Now to start, one of the main skills of inspectors is reading building plans.
To help his students learn, Gabe shipped physical plans to them that complimented the online teaching. He even added his best teaching notes right on the plans. This is really smart because there were some other people teaching cert study courses, but nobody was doing that. He had this little unique teaching aid. Video marketing was another strategy that was rarely used by anyone else.
So after he made that first course, Gabe shot videos that covered material from the first exam entry-level employees are required to take. He uploaded those videos to YouTube where SI certs, that's his business, SI certs and their channel have given them a steady stream of traffic over the years. When we made the episode, they'd had more than 300,000 total views. These are not views of a cat chasing a banana or something else just amusing to the general public. They are targeted views of people who are interested in taking and passing these exams.
So that's huge. When we first recorded the episode, Gabe was still working nine to five in the construction industry. We titled the episode former construction inspector because he moved into business development and then marketing director. But the last we heard, he enjoyed the job and wasn't thinking about working on SI certs full time, but still invests time weekly to continue growing it. And growing it is exactly what's happening.
It is a multiple six-figure business and the growth doesn't seem to be stopping. [Music]
As I said, this is a fantastic industry to focus on because everybody who gets in the industry is doing it because they want to increase their earning potential. It's a great career, there's lots of demand for it, but it also has these barriers to entry or these restrictions. So if you've got to pass these exams and they're difficult, wouldn't it be in your best interest to pay for study aids that are effective? And Gabe and his company have all kinds of testimonials.
They've been doing this a long time. A lot of students have been able to pass the exam and therefore advance in their career. And these are not cheap courses. So this is really a significant business that he's been able to build. Choosing a strong idea, a great target market with a lot of demand, but then also demonstrating competence and going above and beyond with shipping out physical plans, developing video marketing before everybody else was doing it.
It's just really, really smart. And then also I loved how he just kept working the day job. Even though this business was taken off and probably could have provided for him full time, he likes his work. So nothing wrong with that. In fact, I think that's the best possible situation.
Congrats again to him and his team. Listeners, I hope you enjoyed the remix of the story. Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better. I love making this episode for you. Episode 2,979 just wrapped up now.
And of course, much more is coming up. You can subscribe, follow wherever you get your podcasts. Always completely free. My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to "Side Hustle School." [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
