This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Picture an old coffee house basement. You've got some exposed brick walls, some mismatched couches, more cobwebs than customers after 6 p.m. For most people, it's wasted square footage. But for today's storyteller, a lifelong board game collector, it looked like the perfect venue for a new kind of date night. Welcome to Side Hustle School.
Chris Guillebeau, your host here. This episode is part of a feature we call your first $1,000, as you might guess, as you might surmise, as you might already know, it's about how somebody makes their first $1,000 with a new side hustle or small business idea. How do they get to that point? How do they take that idea and turn it into a money-making product or service? Today, let's hear this story.
A board game collector transforms an unused cafe basement into a candlelit playground for couples, two sold-out weekends with shuffled car decks and fresh lattes proved to be very rewarding, both for his clients, those couples on board game date nights, as well as somebody that he partnered with. So he'll tell you about that in this story. I'll be back at the end with a few words of wrap up. [Music]
I own roughly 300 board games, everything from light party titles to five-hour space epics. Friends kept telling me I'd play more if someone just set it up and explain the rules.
Couples I've heard from say the same thing. They wanted a fun activity that wasn't just dinner and Netflix, but learning a game on their own felt intimidating. One Tuesday afternoon, I noticed the basement of my favorite cafe was empty, except for a few folding chairs and a squeaky old piano. I asked the owner Mary whether she'd ever rented it out. She shrugged and said, "I've thought about poetry readings, but nothing sticks." I pitched her on a trial run.
A Friday board game date night. I'd supply the games, teach the rules and decorate the space. She'd handle drinks and keep the upstairs register open for add-on sales. We settled on a flat $80 room fee plus wholesale pricing on beverages. $4 per latte or mocktail baked into my ticket price.
Marketing had to be quick and cheap. I posted a three-image carousel on Instagram, a photo of a candlelit table, a stack of easy-to-learn games like Ticket to Ride and Azul, and texts that read, "Trade small talk for friendly competition. Couples game night. This Friday, $45 per pair. First drink on us." I tagged the cafe, dropped flyers at the local florist and messaged the neighborhood Facebook group.
Nine spots sold out in 48 hours. Setup day felt like stage design. I dragged six lightweight tables downstairs, spread thrift store tablecloths and placed a pre-selected game on each. Every box had a quick start card I typed up. Turn order on one side, scoring on the other.
Around 7 p.m., the couples filed in, collected their lattes and took seats at numbered tables. I gave a five-minute welcome, then rotated from group to group, answering questions before anyone could get stuck. The room buzzed. Competitive cheers erupted, strangers high-fived. By 9.30, everyone had finished the game, swapped tables and ordered another round of drinks.
A great upsell for Maya. My hard costs, 80 for the room, 48 for 12 comp drinks and 27 for decor and tea lights. Gross revenue was $45 times 12 couples, 540 bucks. We repeated the event two Saturdays later with a different mix of games and sold out tables again. Two nights, 770 profit.
Add $50 from selling one duplicate game to an enthusiastic couple. I crossed the $1,000 line in 14 days. Now, we run date night every second weekend. Maya wins because her basement runs instead of collects dust. Couples win 'cause they leave with a shared story.
And I win because my hobby finally pays rent on its shelf space. If you're sitting on a quirky collection, whether it's vinyl, vintage comics, or retro video games, ask yourself where the empty rooms in your town are hiding. Pair the two together and your next side hustle might already be waiting in the basement. [Music]
Hey, thanks, Jeff. Thanks for sharing the story.
Definitely an idea that was worth pursuing and everybody out there has something that they are into. Everybody out there has something that they like to do, that they enjoy, they have some skill, and maybe it's a little bit random or a little bit unusual or other people don't understand it. And that's actually, in fact, a clue that this could be something that is also profitable in addition to being enjoyable. It could also be profitable. So think about that if you're trying to figure out your first or your next side hustle.
Let me know if you have any questions, update about your side hustle, sidehustleschool.com/questions. Much more is coming out, new episodes every day, the complete archives available for download on the website. My name's Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
