This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
Hey there, what's up? Welcome. How would you like to host a birthday party, drink wine, and make $2,000? In fact, not just $2,000 once, although that's nice too, but $2,000 a month, perhaps. That's what you're going to hear about in today's episode of Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau. So glad you're here. This show is all about
creating freedom and security for yourself in an unstable world. You might have a job. In fact, most of our listeners have jobs. They have regular jobs. They're not trying to be entrepreneurs, have a huge startup, but they realize they should have more than one source of income. They want to make that happen responsibly without going into debt,
without going back to business school. In fact, a lot of what you learn there wouldn't really help you anyway. The skills, the knowledge, and the experience you have is most likely far more valuable than going back to school and spending a lot of money. So instead of spending money, let's focus on making money. And by the way, according to the calendar, a very auspicious day today, for those listening in real time, as the episodes come out, today is National Grilled Cheese Day, as in Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day. According to food historians,
grilled cheese is an ancient food enjoyed across the world in many cultures. The modern version of the grilled cheese sandwich originated in the 1920s in the United States when inexpensive sliced bread and American cheese became easily available. Originally, it was made as an open face sandwich, and then at some point it got closed up, I guess. Now I haven't had a grilled cheese in a while, but I remember when I was a kid, my Nana used to make them for me. It was one of my favorite foods. I have a lot of memories of going over to her house and
we would play Monopoly, which is perhaps how I learned about side hustling, I guess. Raising up a young capitalist, Chris, putting hotels on my boardwalk, going around the board, collecting $200, trying to stay out of jail. That became a theme in my teenage years as well, but more relevant to this story, she would often make a grilled cheese. And getting back to our topic for today about hosting birthday parties, drinking wine, making $2,000. Well, today's story is about an artist who works as an environmentalist and she's kind of in between jobs. While
she's in between jobs, she finds a way to earn an extra $2,000 a month hosting painting parties. This originally begins as a way to meet a short term need, but it's not something she's carrying over even as she goes back to work. So it is an accidental side hustle that pays real money, real money being the best kind, of course, even better than Monopoly money. And it is my goal with the show that these stories will inspire you, maybe give you some tips and ideas, give you a little bit of inspiration and motivation to go out and do something for yourself. So I'm going to say thank you to today's sponsor. They
allow the show to be completely free to you. And then I will bring you all the details of this story. Chelsea Gittel at Oregon was just trying to do something nice for her mother's birthday. The environmental consultant and lifelong painter wanted to throw an artistic birthday celebration. So she rounded up a few of her mom's friends and invited them over for what she called a paint and sip party. They drank wine, ate food, and Chelsea led the group
through an interactive painting experience. Much to her delight, everyone loved it. When she got home, Chelsea uploaded a few pictures of the event to Facebook as a way to mark the occasion. But when she looked back a few hours later, she found that lots of her friends were also interested in the experience. So she set up another free event for the next week and all of those friends loved it as well. Over the next few months, Chelsea ran
a couple more of these paint and sip parties for her friends, but never really thought of it as a business opportunity. It wasn't until a year later when her dog injured his knee and needed surgery that she saw the potential as a money making venture. You see, instead of starting a GoFundMe page or other crowdfunding campaign to raise money for her dog's surgery, she decided she would generate the income herself. She felt that she didn't want to take people's charity if she had the skills to earn money on her own, so she created an event called Paint Party for Good Paws and posted about it on Facebook. She shared the event and invited some of the people from her previous parties to join in. In hosting
the event, she earned a good chunk of the money she needed for the surgery. And while she was hosting it, a few of the attendees asked if she could host a monthly event for them and their colleagues. Chelsea agreed, and thinking quickly, she set the price per event at $35 a person. This was enough to cover all the supplies, from the wine to the drinks, and give her some profit to put toward the rest of the surgery. Which, after just a couple parties, she was able to pay off. With the surgery paid off, Chelsea felt that
she could keep the project going to cover some income while she was between jobs. To give her new business a professional feel, she gave it the name "proof in painting." She wanted to create a name that didn't focus too much on either the painting side of the business or the alcohol, and she felt that this name covered both. She also created a simple website using the platform Wix. Those were the only real parts of the setup of this business, and the total startup costs came in at $90. That included the website, hosting, and her personal paint supplies.
To market proof in painting, Chelsea has relied heavily on word of mouth. She says the majority of her new business comes from talking to people at events, or from people her regular attendees bring along. In addition to more birthday parties, this has led to her landing events with local companies. She's also used Facebook and Instagram to promote her events, and tried taking out a radio advertisement before sticking to the referral campaign. Chelsea believes people enjoy the events, because it takes away the need to be a so-called "perfect artist." Although she often hears people being too hard on themselves at the start of an event, they're usually in a different mindset at the end.
A glass of wine or two has a great way of removing inhibitions, and she finds that many people who come back to her events are proud of their work, and they'll tell her exactly where in their house they've hung it. Finding venues has been pretty easy. If a business or individual wants to book a party, they usually already have a venue she can use. In the rare case they need her to find a venue, she'll ask around with some of her local contacts. So as always, let's talk about the money. It costs $35 for public entry to a proof-in-painting
event, or $40 per person for a private event. This cost provides all the tools you need - canvases, brushes, paints, and that all-important wine - unless you choose to do a "bring your own beer" event, which a couple people have requested. You'll then be taught step-by-step how to paint a particular image with Chelsea's expert guidance. Sessions usually take place in the evening and last for two hours. Working in her spare time, and in a way that accommodates her existing schedule, Chelsea earns up to $2,000 a month from these parties - the exact amount each month depending on the demand. She doesn't have any plans to make proof-in-painting full-time. She's happy
for it to continue to be her side hustle. She wants to keep hosting events, not relying on it to pay all of her bills, but continuing to paint and sip her way to a sustainable second income. Alright, here's a question. Why are some art projects successful while many others fail? We have a whole sub-community of artists, artists of all kinds, listening to the show.
And I particularly like this project, this example, because at least as I see it here, like, here we have the right balance in art as a social activity, and one that kind of removes inhibitions through the wine - not just the wine, but also the casual nature of these activities, these events. So no one is intimidated to go to it. I actually think that the people who sign up for these events, who come to Chelsea's classes, they're different from the kind of people who go to art classes. And this is key to her success. And then you add in the clever name "proof-in-painting", and it's just a low-risk commitment for somebody to sign up. It's something fun, but they can also go and create something that is potentially
meaningful to them. Like she mentioned, a lot of people come back to one of her events after previously having attended, and tell her where they've taken their art, where they've hung it up in their home. So obviously it is something that is substantial and meaningful to them, but it's also fun and light and not scary. And then for Chelsea, it's also the kind of project that can be turned on or off, kind of ramped up, put on pause, depending on what else is happening in her life. So this is also really key. It's not completely
passive income, but the fact that she can work it around her other commitments is pretty cool, I think. So let this be a lesson to somebody out there, perhaps an inspiration, perhaps not just an inspiration, but maybe something they can put into action themselves. If you'd like to see the show notes for today's episode where we will link up Chelsea's project, we'll link up Wix, anything else I mentioned in the episode, those notes will be at sidehustleschool.com/467. Wherever you are in the world, I hope you're having a wonderful day and I hope you're doing something for yourself. Don't forget it's important to care for others, but it's also important to care for yourself too. That is a big part of what a saddisol is about, and
that's why I keep bringing you this message every day in different forms. Another form, another story, is coming up tomorrow. I hope you'll join me for it. This is Chris Guillebeau for Saddiselschool.
