This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Ambient train noise finds global audience. Welcome friends, welcome community, side hustle school listeners. So glad you're out there. My name's Chris Guillebeau, your host. This episode is part of a feature we call your first $1,000.
It is in fact about how somebody goes from idea to income earning at least $1,000, often a lot more than that, but how do they actually get up and running? How do they get to that point? Now in today's story, we're gonna hear from a lifelong train spotter who finds an unexpected audience for something he was already recording just for fun. Now on the notion of train spotting, he's just into trains. I think that's really cool.
I think everybody has to figure out their thing. And sometimes the thing that you're into, one of your hobbies or interests may not be that interesting to other people, but that's actually sometimes a sign that this is something that really brings you joy and is fulfilling, purposeful, et cetera. In this case, it's not just personal meaning and joy. He had spent years collecting ambient railway sounds, freight trains in the Midwest, subways in Tokyo, German train crossings, et cetera. But then he goes from just doing that on his own and he's browsing an ASMR forum.
I think it was a subreddit perhaps. He notices a number of people searching for relaxing train noise to help them sleep or focus. So you know where this is going, or at least you know what we're all about. We're about side hustle ideas. This guy then makes basically a digital product, a downloadable, I guess it's like a playlist of high quality train recordings specifically for sleep, studying, and so on.
So let's hear the story from Peter about how he did this, what happened along the way, and what might we take from it? What might this inspire for one of us, perhaps myself, maybe one of our listeners out there, maybe there's an idea you can pursue, maybe it gets you thinking, or maybe you just enjoy the story, and that's cool too. So let's turn the microphone over to Peter. I'll come back at the end with a few words of wrap up. [Music]
I've been into trains for as long as I can remember, not model trains, real ones.
My favorite way to unwind has always been to find a good spot near the tracks, set up a mic, and just record whatever came by. I've done this on trips through the Midwest, parts of Japan, Germany, and the UK. I never really had a plan to turn it into a business, it was just something for me. But a couple of years ago, I was on Reddit and saw a thread in an ASMR group where someone asked, "Are there any good long train recordings for sleep?" A bunch of people replied with YouTube links, but they were all poor quality. They had static, wind noise, or people talking in the background.
That's when it clicked. I already had high quality field recordings. Some were 30 minutes long, others stretched over an hour. They were clean, immersive, and weirdly soothing. I pulled together my best six tracks and edited them in Audacity, just light EQ and noise reduction, plus a fade in and out.
Then I exported everything in both Wave and MP3 formats. I called it the Railway Sleep Pack and uploaded it to Gumroad for $12. I wrote a basic description, six high quality ambient train recordings for sleep, study, meditation, or creative projects. I also added a personal note explaining that all the tracks were field recorded on location by me and nothing made with AI. To get the word out, I shared the link in three places, a sleep focused subreddit, a productivity discord I'm part of, and a minimalist blog I follow that occasionally features niche digital products.
I didn't push it too hard, just said something like, "I made this train noise pack if anyone's looking for background audio." The first week brought in $96 from eight downloads. Then someone included it in a roundup blog post titled Best Background Audio for Focused Work and things picked up. By the end of the second week, I was at $500. I passed $1,000 on day 33 with no additional marketing. I never expected people to use train sounds this way.
Some buyers left notes saying they use the audio for sleep. Others said it helped them focus while coding or journaling. One person said they looped the Tokyo subway file during their morning meditation to simulate a busy city from a quiet rural home. Since then, I've released two more packs, European Lines and Night Freight Edition. I've also started licensing tracks to small app developers who need royalty-free ambient loops.
They usually pay a flat rate of $75 to $100 per track. This whole thing came out of a hobby I've had since I was a kid. I still record trains every chance I get, but now I tag the location, bring a windscreen, and think more like a sound designer than a hobbyist. [Music]
Keter, thank you so much for sharing the story. I love the digital product success of ambient train noise.
There's something out there for everybody. And this is also maybe a good example of how, like, can you find this yourself on YouTube or Spotify? Probably, but there's still also a market for people who will buy something that they can download and not have to use or not have to go to a platform like Spotify or YouTube to access. There are so many ways to go to market with a product or service. And so I always like hearing about a new version of that or a new iteration.
Thanks again, Peter. Listeners, thank you as well. If you have a question and update about your hustle, sidehustleschool.com. Detailed notes page for every single episode. You can download the entire archives of the podcast there as well, or subscribe or follow for new episodes that come out every day wherever you get your podcasts.
That's all for now. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
