This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Oh, hello there. What's up? Welcome to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau. So glad you're joining me here today.
And today, by the way, for those listening in real time, is National School Librarian Day. Do you have memories of being a kid and going to the library at your school, or maybe the library came to you? Do you remember the first book you read? Do you remember your favorite books as a kid? Can you think of a book that impacted your life, made you think differently about the world or just kind of sent you off in a daydream or expanded your imagination, your fantasy world?
Well, either directly or indirectly, that may have been because of a librarian, perhaps one at your school, perhaps one at your city library or however it works where you live. And guess what, folks? Libraries are still out there, actually. You can indeed still find them. You can go in and browse all kinds of books, and it's not just about books.
In a lot of places, a library is a community resource hub, places where people can get trained on using computers or all kinds of different stuff. So if you haven't been to the library recently, maybe find some time in the next week to just kind of pop inside and say thanks to one of those librarians. Just a thought, and I want to give a shout out as well to my dad, who's also a writer. A few years back, he started publishing books, and his most recent book is actually called Mad Librarian. You got to fight for your right to library.
It's all about a Southern librarian who fights back when the city cuts off funding for her library. You can check that out on Amazon.com. I think it's just 299 for the Kindle version. And moving on to today's story, it's also about expanding imagination or connecting with the fantasy world. Specifically, it's about a woman in Australia who leaves her job and then finds herself longing to reconnect with her favorite hobby.
So she grabs some paints and brushes, and then within an hour, she finds her first client. This Aussie woman now earns up to $4,000 a month painting faces, so she's getting paid to bring joy to happy kids, which I think is a pretty good gig. So stay tuned. Let's say thanks to today's sponsor, and then I'll bring you her full story. [Music]
After leaving a job working full time with children in Northern Australia's beautiful Gold Coast region, Ainsley Deverson began to miss some parts of that life.
She missed the games, the stories, and most of all, painting children's faces. She found it was a great way to be creative and express herself while bringing joy to the children and parents she worked with. She had a real talent for it, and it seemed a shame to let her skills go to waste. So one weekend, Ainsley decided she'd attend a local market and offer her services to some of the pastors by. She wasn't thinking about it as a business.
She was thinking of it as a way to keep her skills sharp. She bought some paints and brushes and made her way to set up a stall. Within minutes of offering her free services, kids were flocking to her to get all kinds of different designs on their faces. Their parents saw their kids were happy, and they would ask if she offered her services privately for birthdays or events. Within an hour, she'd penciled in her first paid birthday party for a few weeks in the future.
She kept her cool while making the booking, acting like she'd been doing this for a long time, but on the inside, she says she was squealing. She couldn't believe somebody had booked her right then and there within an hour of setting up shop. The speed of this first sale gave Ainsley the idea to turn it into a real side business. She saw an opportunity to make money from a hobby she loved, and if the parents at this market wanted her services, there might be other people who did too. To give her new, sudden business and more professional feel, she chose the name Faces by Ainsley and bought the .com.au domain.
She then used the service Wix to help her design and build her website, which is simple, easy to navigate, and has a contact form for people looking to make bookings. Ainsley's total startup cost was $250. She invested those funds in professional hypoallergenic paints that are safe to use on all types of skin and can easily be washed off. She also uses cosmetic glitters, which are safe for use around the eyes. Now one part of her website that we noticed and liked, we thought was interesting, is that Ainsley warns against the dangers of acrylic paints and craft glitters.
She also provides guidelines for customers to follow if they're getting quotes from other face painters. So she's being informative, but she's also building trust between herself and the potential buyer. It shows she actually cares about her customers, which is a great touch, especially if you're gonna be working with someone's children. All right, so how does it work on the money side? Ainsley charges $120 an hour, where customers pay 50% of the fee if it's within three weeks of the date, or 100% if it's within one week.
She also adds on any travel costs or toll fees as an expense to the client. If the gig, and by that I mean a kid's birthday party usually, is within 20 kilometers, there's no travel cost. But beyond that, she charges 90 cents a kilometer. Since starting this as a side hustle, Ainsley has been able to make anywhere from $800 on a slow month to $4,000 on a good month. Not bad for that $250 investment.
She says the only real downside to the job is watching parents squash their kids' creativity. Sometimes a boy might ask for a butterfly, or a girl asks for a skull. Then their parent steps in and decides for them. She says it's hard to not step in and say something, but because she's got her business head on, she avoids arguments. It's all worth it when she sees just how many people appreciate her favorite hobby as a paid service.
She's not only paid in money, she also loves seeing the joy in a kid's eyes when they look in the mirror for the first time. All right, congratulations to Ainsley. Just wanted to share one more thing that she shared with us. We were talking a bit more about the money side of things. She charges $125 an hour, as I mentioned.
She says, you know, when you think about it, it's not an unreasonable fee for entertainment at a birthday party, and you know, she can get through something like 10 kids an hour. So she's gonna work hard when she's there, but she's not cheap. She's also thought about her travel costs, so that she's reimbursed for tolls and whenever she goes beyond 20 kilometers. And what she said about that was, you know, in this industry, so many face painters have their mom hat on instead of their business or their work hat. In other words, in their aim to serve people, they end up self-sacrificing.
She says the lower paying client she's had tend to be difficult. They can even suck the joy and creativity from you if you're not careful. So if you wanna be a face painter, or not just face painting, but any kind of service business, I think this is good advice. You need to put your business hat on. Like you've got your hobby, you've got your art, you've got whatever the thing is that you love to do, but you need to not be afraid to say, "Okay, I'm gonna charge $125 an hour," or whatever the reasonable number is.
And if there are costs or expenses that I incur as a result of providing this service, well, I need to think about how I can get those reimbursed, or I need to factor those into the base rate. Like somehow I shouldn't be the one who's paying those costs ultimately. Anyway, some tough love there from a hard-hitting face painter in Australia. She's just looking out for your best interest, and so am I. I hope you'll take what you hear on the show and apply it in some way in your life, some idea that you're working on.
Maybe it'll give you an idea for something else, or maybe you'll think of someone that you should pass this episode on to. Whatever it is, I appreciate you joining me today. As always, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better. Today's show notes are online at sidestalescool.com/459. Much more coming up in the next episodes.
I will be back, well, tomorrow, I think, right? Yeah, I'll be back tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School. [Music]
