This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
Hey there. Welcome back. You are listening to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau. Every day, a new story of someone who starts a hustle without quitting their day job. Now,
if your job involves providing people with some type of service, you might want to ask yourself if there's any other need that those people have, or maybe a need that a similar group of people has that you're able to meet. Now, if that sounds convoluted, well, that's why I teach through storytelling. So the story you'll hear today is all about that. Specifically, it's about how a psychotherapist and marriage counselor creates a profitable hustle, helping couples begin a new life together. Now, this draws directly on the idea of taking one of your skills and experiences and applying it in a different way for a different source of income. And I'll tell you all about that in just a moment. And now our story.
As a Chicago-based psychotherapist, Jeffrey Slumber is accustomed to working with people experiencing challenges and stress. He specializes in relationship and marriage counseling. It's highly meaningful work, but it's also conducted in an environment where many of the clients are hurting. A few years ago, as part of an effort to remind himself that there are many healthy and happy relationships as well, Jeffrey registered as a wedding officiant. A friend of his was getting married, and he performed their wedding for free. He discovered he really
liked it. It was fun. He enjoyed seeing the happy faces of his friends and their friends, and he was also pretty good at it. So then over the next year, he did several more weddings, usually for free, maybe having his expenses covered, and once by requesting a charitable donation instead of payment. Now, each of those couples had come to Jeffrey by referral.
Then at a certain point, their friends and their family started offering him real money to do the same thing. And he realized he had a market, he had a skill, so he began to monetize something that, as I said, he enjoyed doing anyway. And as soon as he started making money from it, then he realized it was an actual side hustle, not just a hobby. And after that, he got more serious. He took a look at other officiant websites from around the country, looking specifically at high-end providers who had found a specific niche. And then just as he was
developing his project and trying to ramp up, a crazy thing happened. A producer from the TLC reality show, Four Weddings, reached out to him for their first episode because he happened to be the officiant for a wedding at a hip Chicago mansion. TLC wanted to include a highlight of the happy couple at the ceremony, and one thing led to another. Pretty soon, TLC wanted to include the entire wedding on TV, and both the engaged couple and Jeffrey thought it would be fun. That decision led to Jeffrey being featured on TLC several times. As his hustle grew and he
continued to work his day job as a psychotherapist, couples began coming to him on average at least once a month with a request for a ceremony, and others came because they saw him on TLC. In fact, even though his appearances have now happened long ago, TLC continuously runs reruns, so he's essentially always in front of different people. As Jeffrey built this hustle, he decided to offer two customizable packages, in addition to the basic option of just showing up and providing a good ceremony. Now, these packages offered more FaceTime with couples and unlimited email and phone access. He also created what he called a bells and whistles package that included rehearsal and premarital counseling, as well as a middle of the road package that allowed for a la carte add-ons, depending on the couple's budget and preferences. Once he started doing these packages,
offering these options, it's vastly improved his market share because people have found the flexibility to be appealing. His prices range from $800 to $1400, again with those different add-ons depending on what people want. Now, remember that as awesome as it is to have additional income, side hustles offer benefits that go beyond just money. So for Jeffrey, this side gig as a ceremonial officiant allows him to remember why it's so important to foster love and harmony at the beginning, middle, and end of relationships. Witnessing couples when they've not hit many of the bumps in the road yet that so many do at some point is a reminder to him about why the work he does is so important. Jeffrey notes as well that being a therapist in a private practice
can sometimes feel isolating and disconnected from a sense of community. He had attended Harvard Divinity School and considered becoming a clergy person long ago, which would have led to a very community-oriented career. But psychotherapy by design is naturally much less public and much less connected to a community. So his project of serving as a non-denominational, spiritual, but not religious officiant has allowed him a role in community and a sense of connection beyond the leather couch where he still sees patients. Unless we forget, it's not a charity.
Each ceremony brings in an average of $1,000 for Jeffrey, and he does at least one a month. So what can we learn from the story? Well, first, I love how Jeffrey has found something that is rewarding both financially and relationally. It really does seem like a perfect fit for him, considering his background, his skills, what he likes to do. I had a two-year research project once that culminated in a book I wrote called Born for This, which was about how people find the work they were born to do. And it was really interesting because as I went through the
process, you could clearly see when someone finds that thing that really makes them come alive, that they're good at, that makes them happy. And from the outside, we can look and say, you know, clearly that person was meant to do that. So it's always fun when you can find that in your side hustle as well. And in this case, Jeffrey loves his day job and loves his side hustle. Maybe that's the best of both worlds. But if there's something about your job that you don't
love, maybe you can find that missing piece in your side hustle. I also think it was smart how once he got going, Jeffrey decided to kind of survey the landscape and go out and look and see what other people were doing. And he chose to focus on higher end officiants, which I thought was wise because he didn't necessarily want to be the cheapest possible provider of wedding ceremonies. Presumably, you can do that at the courthouse or any number of places. And like anything in the wedding industry, there is a tremendous range of prices and options for pretty much anything that you buy, any service that you hire. And Jeffrey made that wise decision to
focus on people who were maybe a bit more deliberate in their selection of an officiant. And lastly, just a quick word on qualifications. Now, I'll probably get in trouble for saying this, but jobs or roles like being a wedding officiant, at least in most states, most jurisdictions, there really are very few qualifications or restrictions on who can do that. So you might have the perception that you have to be a clergy person or you have to have gone through some kind of extensive training and maybe where you live, that's the case. But in most places, it's actually really simple. You can go online, pay a pretty small fee, and at least legally, technically,
have whatever qualifications you need. Now, obviously, you might want to learn a bit more about protocol and history and considering different options for giving people a great experience. But the point is, there aren't a lot of formal qualifications. It's something that you kind of learn as you go through it. And as long as you're not dishonest with people, I don't think there's any harm in jumping into something like this. Because everyone's a beginner
at some point, there's a first time for everything. So my congratulations to Jeffrey on finding something so authentic to his skills and interests, something that's meaningful, brings joy to people, and because it's a hustle, also profitable. And it may not happen exactly like that for you. But if you listen to these stories every day, you apply them to your own hustle, you will see results. Remember, inspiration is good, but inspiration combined with action is so much better. To find the show notes for today's episode, including a link to Jeffrey's
website with a free ebook he's offering, go to www.sidehustleschool.com/4040. I'm Chris Guillebeau, this is Sidus Will School, and I'll see you tomorrow with another story.
