This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
All right, all right, what's up? Welcome back to Side Hustle School. My name's Chris Guillebeau, your host. In today's episode, a sleep deprived dad creates a digital baby journal. In this week's first $1,000 segment, in fact, you're gonna discover how a new parent turns a 3 a.m. spreadsheet session
into a sellable baby tracker. Baby tracker, that's what he sells. With no ads, no tech background, he reaches $1,000 in sales using only parenting groups in a Notion template, a template using the app Notion. Today's episode is part of a feature we call your first $1,000, as you might guess, as you might know, if you've been around for a while, it's all about how somebody makes their first $1,000. How do they get to that point?
Not their first $100,000, that is also pretty awesome, but it would be a much longer story. And we wanna help listeners take action on their ideas quickly so that they can get to their first $1,000 and beyond. So let's hear about this first time parent who finds some clarity in chaos, ends up building a digital product that's helping other people as well, helping other people and bringing in revenue for him. The sales come from organic traffic, which means he's not paying for it, which is nice. So let's hear about it.
Let's hear the story. I'm gonna pass the microphone and I'll be back at the end with a few words of wrap up. [Music]
When our baby was born, I thought I was ready. Read the books, watched the videos, downloaded a couple of baby tracking apps, but nothing prepared me for how scattered it would all feel. We were constantly logging feedings, trying to track nap times, remembering which side she last fed on, jotting down questions for the pediatrician and wondering when she hit which milestone.
My partner and I kept trying different solutions, maps we didn't like, spreadsheets that didn't sync, even in a shared notes file. It all got messy, fast. I already used Notion for my own task management and journaling, so one night around 3 a.m. after a long cluster feeding session, I opened a new page and started building a baby tracker. I created sections for feedings with timestamps and notes, snaps, diaper changes, medications, milestones and doctor appointments.
I used simple toggles and tables and added a built-in weekly summary so we could see patterns. I also made a mobile friendly view and linked it to our shared Notion workspace so my partner could update it too. After using it for about a month, I realized this could be useful for other parents. So I cleaned up the structure, removed our personal data and turned it into a public Notion template. I listed it for $12 and posted about it in two places, a parenting subreddit and a Notion Facebook group.
The parenting post got more traction. People appreciated that it was simple and didn't require creating a new account or downloading an app. Within 48 hours, I had 11 sales. And someone in the group shared it to a WhatsApp community for new moms and the traffic spiked. I made just over $3,000 in about three weeks.
I didn't offer multiple pricing tiers, just one version with everything included. I did, however, offer a pay what you want option with a $5 minimum and around 20% of buyers chose to pay more than the base price. One person paid $25 and left a note saying, "This saved my sanity." I used a Notion style cover image and included a short video walkthrough I recorded on loom. I also added a PDF export for people who didn't use Notion but still wanted the structure. So far, I haven't done any ads.
Everything's come from organic sharing and word of mouth. I've since made two small updates based on feedback, a nighttime only view and a printable version for caregivers. The best part, it started as something I built to survive the first few months of parenthood. Now it's helping other people do the same and making money while I catch up on sleep. Hey, Michael, thank you so much for sharing the story, all kinds of ways out there for people to make money, to follow a passion and not just a passion, but also a skill, follow a skill and create something that is useful, valuable to others and then charge for it.
It's okay to charge for your products and services. In fact, I want you to be able to do that. I want you to be able to take action on an idea of yours. Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better. I hope you'll do at least one thing today to get closer to a goal you believe in.
And of course, continue to listen. The podcast is always free for 3131 days and counting 3131. Much more is coming up, of course. Subscribe, follow wherever you get your podcasts. My name's Chris Guillebeau.
You're listening to "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
