This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey, hey, what's up? Welcome back, this is Side Hustle School. I'm your host, Chris Guillebeau. We are kicking off a brand new week here and I'm really excited about all the things I have to share with you. We've got a great set of stories coming up.
Also, tomorrow, for those who are listening in real time at least, tomorrow is the last day of the Side Hustle Society price savings. So if you're just joining in, Side Hustle Society is our brand new online training program and online community where hundreds of our listeners are working on their side hustles and contributing ideas and giving feedback, asking questions, getting advice and sometimes even pooling resources. We launched that program about a month ago and have been working with our inaugural members ever since and not for the first time. It's now back for anybody who wants to join in. To make things fun, there is a price savings that ends tomorrow.
It may have already ended depending on when you listen, but we're gonna make it so you can still join in at some point, it's just the price goes up a bit. So if you wanna take a look at that and see if it might be a good fit for you, just come to sidehustleschool.com/society. That word is society, S-O-C-I-E-T-Y. Now today's featured story is a fun one. It's about a flight instructor who creates an app and earns more than $30,000.
And the funny thing is this guy actually never owned a smartphone before he made his app. So he never actually used an app before as well. I'll tell you about that in a moment, but just by kind of way of introduction, here's a little side story, which is directly related. I got a call from a newspaper recently and there was a guy who's doing a story, wanted to quote me as an expert on the gig economy. Now this should have been my first clue because I'm not really an expert on the gig economy.
I'm more of an expert on helping people start a real side hustle, which in my view is not just another part-time job or it's not just participating in somebody else's platform, making $10 an hour, $15 an hour, whatever it is. Like I'm trying to help people make real money. It's not just about money, it's about pride of ownership. Most of the stories I tell you are about people who create assets, including the one I'm gonna tell you today. So in terms of the gig economy or driving for Uber or whatever, I don't think it's a terrible thing.
I just think a lot of people can do better. I think that's a starting point, an entry path to this kind of world. And in the long term, you wanna be making something for yourself. Anyway, I did this call and I realized really quickly in that it's actually not for a newspaper article, it's for the sponsored content of a newspaper. Now there's nothing wrong with sponsorship.
Like obviously we have a sponsor model here on the show, but in the newspaper world, sponsored content means something different. It's like you have the ads which have always been there and that's how the newspaper can support itself, no problem. But then you have these sponsored content things which kind of look like news basically, but it's news that is paid for by a company. So in other words, it's news with an agenda. And I have this call and it's basically like some financial services company or some insurance company that's funding this article.
And based on the questions the guy's asking me, it seems like they're trying to scare people essentially. They're trying to instill fear. And the article is all about like all the things that can go wrong in the gig economy. And everything you need to look out for and why this is really a risky concept. And you know, I'm just kind of like, I don't know if I want to be quoted as the fear-based expert here.
I don't want to scare people. I want to help people have confidence. And yes, there are bad things that can happen in the Airbnb world or whatever that thing is, but there are bad things that can happen in life in general. Like you can walk outside today on the street and something bad can happen. So it's not necessarily that starting your side hustle or participating in that economy, whatever it is is actually riskier than the alternative.
In fact, I tend to think the opposite. Like what is riskier? I think it's more risky to not think about your wellbeing, to not think about your future, to not build security for yourself. Like why wouldn't you want to look out for yourself and do everything you can to get ahead and to make sure that if one situation in your life changes or something adverse happens, well, you've got this other thing going on. That's what a side hustle is all about.
So anyway, I'm not sure that conversation went super well. I don't know if that newspaper is going to call me again, but you know, life goes on. Again, I want people to feel confident and empowered. So yes, you should be wise. You should have insurance or whatever, but like most important of all, you should look out for your future.
That's what this is about. That's the message that I try to bring every day at least. So now that I'm off that soapbox, I want to introduce you to today's story, which I think reflects this kind of value. It is about somebody who creates an asset for himself, actually earns $30,000, which is the same amount as his annual salary. Pretty amazing.
And of course, I'll tell you exactly how he does it. But first, speaking of sponsors, let's do a quick shout out to our sponsor, which allows the show to be free to you. Then I'll tell you everything. Stay tuned. [Music]
Canadian flight instructor, Erz Kamenisch, it was time to increase his household income.
Working six to seven days a week for a low salary was taking its toll. And Erz wanted to find a way to make money while he slept. A common goal of many of our listeners. And he wanted to do it without giving up his passion for flying planes. Despite not being tech savvy, in fact, he didn't even own a smartphone, he knew an internet business would be the best solution to his problem.
However, he also felt that websites and desktops were a dying breed, and he wanted to future-proof his business as best he could. So he decided that he would create an app. Through his work as a flight instructor, he spotted a need for Canada's student pilots. All of them had to take an important exam, the pre-solo test about air regulations, or P-STAR for short, before being able to fly solo. But there was little in the way of apps or websites to provide study support.
Erz decided he would take the knowledge he had and apply it to an easy-to-access app. The first step was to find a developer to help him create this app. He began by looking through Google and found some developers and agencies he wanted to work with in Canada and the US. He wrote a brief of how he imagined the app would work and began to ask for quotes. To his surprise, they all came back to him with hefty estimates of $30,000 or more.
And $30,000 was a year's salary for him. So it was out of the question. Not one to be defeated, Erz found a hidden gem in one of the emails a developer sent him. He told Erz that he has to charge so much because he doesn't outsource his work. And this was a light bulb moment for Erz.
He thought, why should I pay so much if I could find the people the developers were outsourcing to and then cut out the middleman? This brought him to the freelance marketplace known as Upwork. He found a few developers on the site who had worked with some reputable agencies with good portfolios, and he sent them the same brief. This time, the quotes came back at a much more affordable rate of $1,000 for the entire app. Erz says he generally believes in hiring locally, but if it's 30 times the price, somebody on a small budget really doesn't have the luxury of choice.
When he settled on an offshore development agency, Erz was asked what kind of design he'd like to have for his app. Now, the funny thing is, since he didn't own a smartphone, he'd never actually used an app before. So he decided he would hand draw what he thought his app would look like, and then he sent it off. He kept it simple and focused on the content. No fancy designs, and when his P-Star app finally reached the prototype stage, he finally broke down and bought his first iPhone so that he could use his own app.
As he prepared to launch, he set a goal. He knew that his potential audience was pretty small. There are just about 8,000 new student pilots each year, and he figured if he could reach 10% of them, then the project would be a success. He didn't know much about apps, but he knew his job, and he knew the test inside out, so it was just a case of delivering the value in the best possible way. The final startup cost for the P-Star app came in at $3,500.
That initial $1,000 helped him create the first ever iPhone version, but he also needed to make an Android version, and then he had to update the app over the course of the first few months. Fortunately, in the long term, he doesn't have to do much upkeep. The P-Star exam doesn't change very often, and whenever it does, Transport Canada shares all of the new questions online, so all he has to do is hand those over to the developer to add them into the app. He charged $5.99 on Android for a basic single-language version of the app, and $6.99 on the iOS App Store, which comes with a French-language option and access to extra audio resources. In terms of marketing, his main strategy has been paying for ads on the App Store itself.
Some of these ads don't require any upfront investment, they just take a few cents whenever someone installs it. And when you think of the price of the app, $6.99, this is a worthwhile investment. It also means it can help people discover his app who would never hear of it otherwise, and it can run automatically while he does other things. It's a simple strategy, but it's paying off. Since launching the app, he's earned an extra $30,000.
Remember, that was his annual salary when he started. And if you're out there and you feel like you're a bit behind the times technologically, Urz has some advice for you. He says, "Don't worry, first of all, "definitely don't let it stop you, "because sometimes what you don't know "can be your biggest asset. "If you don't know the rules, "you can't be afraid of breaking them." Love that quote, somebody should put that up on their wall. And looking ahead, Urz is now developing another app for fitness lovers.
He's also become a lot more comfortable with his smartphone, and he's even found a better job as a Medevac pilot. All thanks to this one app that eventually took off and took flight. Awesome, I love that story, I love that quote as well. Sometimes what you don't know can be your biggest asset. And if you don't know the rules, you can't be afraid of breaking them.
Now, I just wanna clarify something, because often I tell people like, "Hey, if you're not a programmer, don't make an app." What I mean by this isn't, you know, don't do something like what Urz did, because this is obviously a great success. What I mean is I sometimes meet people who are like, "Hey, I've got an idea, I want to make an app." And I'm like, "Cool, what is the idea?" And they're like, "I'm not sure yet. I just wanna make an app." Well, that's a little problematic, right? Because, you know, an app is just technology. You have to focus on your app or whatever your product or service is, is gonna do for people.
So it's usually much better to think about the skill you already have. And in this case, that's exactly what Urz did. He had this skill as a flight instructor. He knew there was this test that all the student pilots have to take every year, but there was no good resource to help them study for it. So he found a creative way to get that app built through outsourcing.
But what he contributed, the value that he contributed to it comes from his knowledge, his expertise, in helping students prepare for the test. So it doesn't really deviate from that principle of like, if you don't know how to make an app, don't make an app. It's just all about focusing on what you're good at and figuring out, okay, what is the best way then to transform that knowledge, that expertise, that skill into something that other people can pay for. So I love what he's been able to do. It is a great success story.
Don't be afraid of breaking the rules and also don't be afraid of taking action in the first place, just like he did, just like the other people I tell you about every day, and just like many of your fellow listeners. If you wanna check out the show notes for today's episode, just come to sidehustleschool.com/429, that is 429. Thank you for listening. I've got so much more on the way. I hope you'll join me for it.
I'm Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School.
