This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Can you sell closure as a service? Can you build a business around helping people walk away from something, whether it's a job, a business, a relationship? In this episode, we're gonna explore the business of graceful exits. I like that phrase, sneak peek. And whether it is a service the world needs, I always hear from listeners who have different business ideas, and they're thinking about, maybe this is gonna be my next side hustle, or maybe it's my first one, whatever the situation is.
And we often hear about how to start things. We've talked about that here on the podcast and in the world at large. You hear about how to launch, how to grow, how to scale, but what about the other side, how to end things, how to walk away? So today's question comes from Ben. He's got this idea of creating a specific coaching service around personal and professional exits.
He's thinking of this as a practical, structured service, helping people quit with intention. He'll talk more about it here in his question. The question is though, is this something that people will pay for? Is it too niche or too emotional or esoteric perhaps to monetize? Well, I had to think about this one a good bit for my answer, so you don't wanna miss it.
But you won't miss it because here you are. Ben's question and my answer coming right up. [Music]
Hey Chris, this is Ben. I've always been strangely good at helping people move on from things, whether it's quitting a job, closing a project, or even ending a relationship. I'm not a therapist and I'm not trying to be one, but I do believe there's a real need for structured, thoughtful exits.
So I've been wondering, could there be a business in this, like a professional service that helps people walk away from something cleanly with clarity, closure, and a game plan for what's next? Is there a market for that? Or is it too personal or too weird to sell? [Music]
Well, Ben, if you've heard the show before, you know I'm always encouraging coaches or consultants, anybody offering a specific service, to try to be as intentional as possible about their ideal customer. And Ben here has an example of something that is really intentional and specific.
He's clear about who he is, who he isn't. He's not a therapist, but he believes in the need for, as he says, structured, thoughtful exits. I also thought of this phrase, graceful exits or graceful endings, perhaps. Maybe that's a business name or at least some messaging that is used. You could also say it's closure as a service, not counseling, but coordination and decision-making support.
So how do you do this? How do you position it? Maybe it's some messaging like, everyone celebrates the launch, no one talks about the ending. I help people leave with clarity, dignity and nothing left undone. I also wonder about like obviously people need help with this for both personal and professional situations.
I kind of think that Ben's service is more for professional. Like I think it's a different kind of person or a different service to help people with a breakup or ending a relationship than it is for something career-minded. I could be wrong about that, but I just see this as being like, you could build this business on LinkedIn if it was focused on careers and transitions. And it might be a little harder if it's more focused on personal relationships. That's just my sense.
Basically what Ben is offering is a sense of control in a moment of uncertainty. So I do think that's valuable. I think it'll be interesting to see how he can build it out and how he can find the right clients. Presumably this will grow by referral more than anything else. So he just needs to give it structure, a clear promise and perhaps some boundaries as well.
You're gonna be operating near people's emotions, even if it's not therapy. So do make it clear what you do and don't offer, perhaps just kind of setting those expectations to begin with. To begin with, speaking of endings, thanks for listening today, listeners, sidehustleschool.com. You can download the complete archive of the show. You can also listen to new episodes wherever you get your podcasts.
And I'll be back tomorrow. I hope you'll join me. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the "Onward Project."
