This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Today's side hustle story earns 2,500 British pounds per month leading London walking tours. I think that's about $3,000 or so, maybe a little bit more. Basically this guy leads tours only on weekends and brings in, as I said, good bit of extra side hustle income. But how did he do it? How did he get started?
How did he make it happen? How did he in fact go from idea to income? Today's episode is part of our feature that we call your first $1,000. It is in fact all about how somebody goes from idea to executing that idea, getting customers, clients, getting people paying for their service. And I think this is such a helpful model to follow.
You can look at somebody else and say, okay, maybe I don't wanna do this exact business idea, but I have an idea or I'm gonna borrow somebody else's idea and I'm gonna follow these steps. I'm gonna replicate these steps in my own way. I'm gonna figure out how to make an offer, how to find the right people and then how to actually deliver the product or service. So we just try to get as much detail as possible in a short action-packed episode. I know you're busy.
I make the show every single day for busy people, busy people who want to invest in themselves by creating an income generating project. So today's story, Ben in the UK, he's gonna tell us about his walking tours based in London. He leads tours again only on weekends and bringing in around $3,000 or so per month. So let's hear it from him. I'll come back at the end with a quick wrap up.
[Music]
Hi there, this is Ben. I've always loved exploring new cities and learning about their history and culture. So when I moved to London for work, I was excited to dive in and discover all that the city had to offer. I spent my weekends visiting museums, walking through neighborhoods and chatting with locals to learn more about the city's rich history. One day a friend mentioned that she was helping a friend with a walking tour company in the city.
She knew that I was passionate about London and had a knack for telling stories. So she asked if I would be interested in leading one of the tours. I was a bit hesitant at first. I didn't have any experience and wasn't sure if I would be able to keep a group of strangers entertained for an entire afternoon. But I decided to give it a shot and signed up to lead my first tour on a sunny Saturday morning.
I spent the week leading up to the tour researching and preparing, trying to come up with interesting tidbits and facts about the city's history. On the day of the tour, I met my group of 10 tourists at the designated starting spot and set off on our journey. To my surprise, the tour went off without a hitch. The group was engaged and asked lots of questions and I was able to keep them entertained with my stories and insights about the city. At the end of the tour, several members of the group thanked me and said they had a great time.
Encouraged by the success of my first tour, I decided to try offering my own. I began to build up a small but loyal group of customers who enjoyed them and recommended them to their friends and family. I even started to receive positive reviews online, which helped attract new customers. As my tour business crew, I started to learn more about the city and its history. I discovered new neighborhoods and landmarks that I had never explored before.
And I learned a lot about the city's heritage. One of my favorite stories from the early days leading tours was about the time I took a group to see the Tower of London. As we were walking through the castle, I started to tell the group about the famous prisoners who had been held there over the years. Just as I was getting to the part about Sir Walter Raleigh, one of the tourists interrupted me and asked, "Wait, wasn't he the guy who brought potatoes to Ireland?" I was a bit taken aback by the question. I had never heard that Sir Walter Raleigh was responsible for introducing potatoes to Ireland.
After a quick Google search, I discovered that the tourist was actually right. So Walter Raleigh had indeed brought potatoes to Ireland in the late 16th century. I was so embarrassed. I hadn't known this key fact, but the tourist just laughed and said, "Hey, no worries. I'm still enjoying the tour." In the end, leading walking tours in London ended up being a great part-time gig for me.
It allowed me to share my love of the city with others, and it's brought in a steady stream of extra income, about two and a half thousand pounds per month on average. I've made a few new friends along the way, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to share my passion for London with so many people. Hey, Ben, thanks so much for telling us about your first $1,000. Great to know you've got this side hustle up and running. It's also the kind of thing that AI is not going to replace.
I'm always interested in stories because people are always asking about AI these days. So what kind of business models are not going to be replaced by AI? And yes, I know there are digital tours you can go on. I know you can use chat DPT to be like, "Tell me what to see in London," but that's very, very different from having a human take you around, which is what people want when they sign up for this kind of service. It doesn't cost a whole lot, and it's fun.
You get to meet somebody, maybe see something you wouldn't find otherwise. So it totally makes sense to me, and there are also walking tours available, pretty much in any major city and other parts of the world as well. So check out Ben's London walking tours next time you're in London. And if you have a question or an update, you know where to go, sidehustleschool.com. We've got notes pages for every episode.
Got some other resources there. Everything is free. New episodes come out every day as well, seven days a week. My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to Side Hustle School.
[Music]
From the Onward Project.
