This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Weekend workshop time. Hey friends, what's up? Welcome to Side Hustle School. This is a fun one. Weekend workshop, Burn Down the Furniture Store, also known as the power of special offers.
Now, first of all, I should explain the weekend workshop, this segment, it's about helping you learn the key steps to a new side hustle in 2025, one step or concept per week. We're using the book Side Hustle, from idea to income in 27 days, which is available wherever books are sold. I'm gonna take you through the key steps along with listener stories and examples throughout the year. And here we are all the way, coming up on halfway through the year, not quite, but we are getting there. So today's episode comes from day 21, which is all about sales and promotions, all right?
So what do I mean by burning down the furniture store? Well, I use this example in the book. Well, essentially we're gonna talk about why limited time deals and special offers are so effective and how to use them ethically in your business. And so you ever notice how some furniture stores seem to be going out of business like all the time, like every few months. It's not just furniture stores, but they are kind of the classic example of this.
They're going out of business, everything must go. And then, you know, a few months later, they reopen or something else comes there. And there's a reason for all these big sales. Sometimes they have people standing out in front in costumes. Special offers work.
It is a tried and true tactic for years, decades, centuries. Special offers and discounts and promotions motivate people to take action even when they might otherwise delay purchasing. So it encourages people to buy, to take action soon, sometimes to buy more than they otherwise would buy, sometimes to upgrade. Basically all the things that you want people to do when you're selling something, special offers are your not-so-secret weapon. I mean, like the most obvious thing and yet a lot of business owners don't take them seriously because they think, oh, people are immune to special offers or promotions and they really aren't, it's effective.
So as an example, when Andrew Church started selling handcrafted slate artwork, I profiled him in the book, he wasn't sure how to attract his first customers. He had these cool Pennsylvania shaped cutting boards, which were beautiful and unique, but sales were slow. And then he tried a simple experiment, just a one-day sale offering 20% off all purchases. And the results surprised him, more than surprised him. It shocked him because in less than 24 hours, he sold more than he had in the previous two weeks combined.
Even more interesting, customers told him that they'd been watching his products for weeks, but hadn't actually pulled the trigger on buying. So this limited time discount really gave those customers permission. Essentially it gave them a push, a nudge, but it also just gave them permission to buy. And so the psychology behind this is pretty simple. People respond to two key factors, scarcity and urgency.
So scarcity is like, there's only a limited number available. Like we're gonna run out and urgency is this offer in soon. So we're gonna run out of the quantity and the offer is gonna go away. Like even if we had some left, the offer ends. And when you use these triggers or these factors in an authentic way, they can really help both you and your customers.
Because again, you're gonna make sales and they're gonna get that push or that permission they need to act on something they already wanted. Or maybe they didn't know they want it, but now because it's on sale, they do. As I said, these are very effective tactics. Let's take a quick break. When we return, how can you create effective special offers for your side hustle or small business?
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All right, so you understand the importance of creating effective offers, burning down the furniture store, so to speak, creating limited time deals, discounts. I have a whole list of discounts in the side hustle book, like just a whole bunch of different stuff you can try. But let's talk about creating effective offers. A good special offer needs three elements. Number one, a clear benefit to the customer.
Why is this helpful? Is it 50% off or something else? Like it could be some other benefit. A specific deadline or limitation. You only get the discount if you purchase by X time or if you buy two or if you do something else, whatever it is, and then a compelling reason for the special price.
Now this is what's important. The reason can be anything, actually. That's why furniture stores had the closing sales or the fire sales, but it could be to celebrate our store's anniversary. Handcrafted items are 25% off through Sunday. That's a good example.
And you see how that includes the benefit, the specific deadline or limitation through Sunday, and the reason for the special price 'cause you're celebrating the store's anniversary. As I said, it could be anything. We talked about holidays recently. You can have a holiday sale for any kind of holiday. You can have customer appreciation day.
You can, as I said, it doesn't matter so much, but it's helpful to have a reason. A couple of those effective approaches could be flash sales, 24 or 48 hours only, holiday specials, early bird discounts, limited quantities, bundle deals. As I said, I've got a lot more examples in the book, but those will get you thinking at least. And your action exercise for this week's episode, this week's weekend workshop, is to plan your first special offer. What will it be?
What is the specific discount or deal? When will it run? How will you announce and promote it? And what is your overall goal for the promotion? What do you hope to achieve?
Let's try to get specific. The goal is not to constantly discount your products, but to use strategic offers to attract new customers and reward existing ones. Now I always say this each week in this segment, it is better to have a simple idea. You can start right away than a brilliant idea that never launches. So the same holds true for a promotion.
It's better to have a simple one you can start right away and a brilliant one that you don't actually end up following up on. So do something sooner rather than later. I hope you'll take action today. Inspiration and action, you know how that works. And of course, new episodes coming out.
The next weekend workshop will be in seven days, but from now until then, there's a new episode each day in other formats. So I hope you'll continue to listen. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
