First $1,000: City Government Staffer Leads Virtual Events

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

A city government staffer leads virtual events. Welcome, friends. Welcome to the podcast, the podcast known as Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau, your host. This is part of our first $1,000 segment. This episode is, in fact, basically we look at how somebody made their first

$1,000. How did they get to that point? How did they take an idea and convert that idea into a product or service that paying customers can, in fact, pay for? Paying customers pay for it. We need that. We need customers to take action to apply that verb to their lives and ultimately to

your side hustle so that you can earn extra money without quitting your job. That's what we're all about. Our mission is to help you do that, to create a new source of income, hopefully passive income or at least something that is substantial, a substantial source of income that allows you to do more of what is important to you. We've got all kinds of different stories and case studies and examples of that mission. And with that in mind, today's feature comes from Victoria. She is, as I

said, a virtual events planner. You know all about virtual events, right? Could be any kind of shared activity that's available for streaming to participants in different locations, virtual concerts, conferences, weddings, funerals, really anything you can imagine. And so producing a virtual event has some similarities with producing an in-person event, but also some key differences. So let's hear a bit about how Victoria got going with this idea. I'll come back at the end with

a few words of wrap up. Hi, this is Victoria. Here to tell you about the time I accidentally started my virtual event planning side hustle. It all started with my friend's birthday party. She wanted to have a virtual celebration during the pandemic and being the tech savvy person I am. I offered to help her set it up. I had so much fun organizing the event. And I started to think

about how I could do this for other people too. I mentioned my potential service on social media. And before I knew it, I had my first client. The client was a small business that wanted to hold a virtual networking event for their employees. I was thrilled, but I quickly realized that was a lot of difference between planning a virtual event and an in-person event, especially one that wasn't for a friend. One of the biggest differences was the technology involved. I had to make sure

that everyone had access to the right software and knew how to use it. I also had to test everything beforehand to make sure that there was no technical difficulties during the event. Another difference was the atmosphere. With an in-person event, you can create a certain ambiance with decorations, lighting, and music. With a virtual event, you have to rely on different cues. But

despite these differences, I was determined to make the virtual event just as engaging and fun as an in-person event. I came up with some interactive activities that would keep everyone engaged and connected. And it was a huge success. In the end, I earned my first thousand dollars from that small business event, and I was hooked. I continued to promote and landed more clients who wanted to hold virtual events. And the best part? I was able to do it all while still working my

full-time job with the city government, which of course was remote during that time as well. My funniest moment so far is when I was planning a virtual baby shower for a client, and we'd organized a game where the guest had to guess the baby's gender. Each guest had to hold up a sign with their guest, and we're going to count the votes to determine the winner. But as we're getting ready to start the game, one of the guests accidentally held up a sign with a completely different message. Instead of guessing the baby's gender, the guest's sign read, "I love cheese!" We all burst out laughing, and the guest was so embarrassed that she tried to hide her face from the camera. But we turned it into a joke and decided to count her "I love cheese" vote as a

write-in candidate. In the end, it turned out to be a hilarious moment that made everyone feel more relaxed and connected. And who knows, maybe the baby will grow up to be a cheese lover. My advice to anyone who wants to follow in my footsteps is to start small and build up your experience. Be sure to test things out and learn as you go. And most importantly, have fun with it.

Virtual events can be just as exciting and engaging as an in-person event, if you're creative and willing to think outside the box. [Music]

Thank you, Victoria. I appreciate you telling us about your first thousand dollars. Hopefully, it's going to be a point of inspiration to some of our listeners out there to start their own business or side hustle. And maybe it has nothing to do with this. Maybe it's not even related in

any way, but it gets somebody thinking, "Hey, what can I do? What can I do? How can I take a skill that I have, some expertise, some experience that I have acquired, some knowledge?" And again, adapt that into the form of a service or product that other people can purchase. It's a pretty simple process. And the reason why I share so many different stories and examples is to kind of expand your scope of what you think is possible and get you thinking outside the box, as they say. I know that's a little bit of a cliche, but I think the point is to think

beyond the obvious. There's something you can do. It may not be obvious, but once you find it, your life is going to be better. So I think it's worth spending some time trying to figure it out. Anyway, again, thanks, Victoria. Listeners, thank you as well. Thanks for being part of our

community. I make this show for you every single day. And it's such an honor to do that. I've been doing it for 3,369 days, 3,369. That is today's episode number. In fact, you can find all of the

episodes, all of them, all the archival catalog available for free download or streaming at sidehustleschool.com. And of course, the new episodes come out every day, wherever you get your podcasts. That's it for now. My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to Side Hustle School.

From The Onward Project.