This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hello, hello, what's up? Welcome to Side Hustle School. I'm your host, Chris Guillebeau, and today is the weekly recap. We have arrived once again at the end of the week, or proceeding the beginning of the week, depending on how you look at it. We've actually finished week number 18 of season two, Side Hustle School, coming up on episode 500, which just blows my mind.
I know I keep talking about it, but don't worry, it'll be over in like nine episodes since, you know, today is 4.91. I mean, the show won't be over. We're gonna keep rolling along, of course, but 500 will be over. So that's coming up. Let's see what I've been up to over the past week or so.
I've been mostly in Oregon and California. I am going to Nashville later this week for an event called Makers to Merchants. I think I mentioned that last week. This isn't my own event. I'm just participating in an event that's produced by Weebly and WeWork.
So I'm looking forward to that. And I actually haven't done many events myself. Got a lot of emails from people saying like, "Hey, when are you going back on the road? Like, when are you gonna resume the Side of Soul tour? When are you gonna do another workshop?" Well, I just, I haven't done many recently.
Had kind of a very different first part of 2018 than I did for a lot of 2017. But I do plan to get back to that in the second half of the year. It is something I very much enjoy. So I'm just kind of putting some structure together. And at some point I'll have some announcements, but it's gonna happen.
In the meantime, I am working on World Domination Summit, which is a major event that I produced with a team for eight years now. That is in Portland, Oregon the last weekend in June. We do still have a few tickets available. So if you'd like to check that out and possibly join us, come and hang out with a lot of awesome people. You can just go to worlddominationsummit.com, or I think you can actually go to sidehustleschool.com/wds and that will redirect you.
But aside from that, I just wanna say, I'm really happy about making this show for you. Like I've really been enjoying the routine of putting together the stories and making these recordings and then looking at the wonderful show notes that my assistant Whitney puts together, just hearing from listeners and like the whole process. I'm just so glad that I began doing this. You know, when we started, I knew I was gonna go for a full year, 365 episodes. I just, I love the ambition of that.
I love the idea of saying like, no breaks, no days off. And now that we're past the first quarter of the second year, I honestly feel just as excited, if not more excited, because now it's not just that I'm kind of pioneering with something, it's now that there's this whole community of people that are engaging. And, you know, in many cases taking action on what they hear. But if not taking action, at least they're hearing good stories. Maybe they're getting motivated.
Maybe it's helping them with something in some other way. So in today's recap, I'm gonna read a listener success story to you. I get these all the time now. It's one of my favorite things. I've mentioned a couple of times that about 20% of the stories on the show now are coming directly from listeners.
So thank you if you've been part of that, or if you've helped spread the word. Even if you don't have a side of success of your own yet, if you've talked about the show or helped other people subscribe, that helps us a ton too. It kind of broadens our community. It brings depth. It helps me better understand who's out there and what you guys need.
So I got that success story coming up. But first I wanna talk about this subject, this topic of when to leave a good job, okay? So when do you leave a good job? Or in fact, when do you leave a job that you actually really like? And the context for this topic, like why I've been thinking about it this week is I was recently, well, I'm actually in the midst of recording the audio version of my first book.
So many years ago, I guess it's almost 10 years, wow. I'm old. I wrote a book called "The Art of Nonconformity." And they made an audio book of that book, but I was not the one reading it. And something happened. Apparently they only licensed the audio book for a certain number of years or something, because they came back to me recently, my publisher, and said, "Hey, do you want to read the audio of your first book?" And I'm like, "Wow, sure, that's a blast from the past, but that sounds fun." So I've been going through this work that I made almost a decade ago.
And early in that book, I tell the story of several years that I spent living and working in West Africa on board a hospital ship. And it was really a throwback to read about that stuff, because it's been so long, but it was also such a formative time of my life. And I said in the book, and I still very much believe it, that those years that I spent there and the work that I did, it really was the best job in the world. It was challenging in lots of ways. We were living in post-conflict countries, living on board this hospital ship, as I mentioned.
So really tight quarters and all kinds of stuff associated with being in countries like Sierra Leone and Liberia right after a war had ended. But it was so good for me. I learned so much. I learned so much about myself and so much about the world in general. And I described it as the best job in the world.
Like, I feel like I have the best job in the world. And that's what I said when I was there. And then about three years in, I made this big transition and I began thinking about going back to the US, going to graduate school, possibly beginning a writing career. It was a very nascent idea at the time. But I remember thinking like, I have the best job in the world.
I want to make sure I leave this job while it's still the best job in the world. If that makes sense. Like the right time to leave a good job, and this is what I'm coming to here. Like the right time to leave a good job is right before you get tired of it. Because in that work that I was doing there, I saw some people who had stayed much longer than me.
I saw people that stayed five years, 10 years, sometimes beyond. And in a lot of ways that was admirable, like, I mean, it's amazing that you're kind of sacrificing so much to be part of that work for so long. But at the same time, I noticed that with some of those people at least, they became a little bit cynical. And they kind of lost some of that passion they had when they first began doing the work. And I think it's just because it became ordinary, as extraordinary as it was.
Like the longer you do something that's extraordinary, eventually it becomes ordinary. And so even though they were doing good work, they no longer had that passion. It wasn't the most important thing in the world to them, but they didn't know what else to do. And this is what happens to a lot of us in different situations. Like we're just kind of plowing along.
Like this is what we do. What else would we do? I don't know. And instead of actually like taking the time to figure it out and ask ourselves, like what should we be doing? What's better for us out there?
We just kind of keep going. So to be clear, Sadasel School is not about quitting your job immediately. It's not about like walking away tomorrow. But I really do believe you have to plan for your future. And in the long run, you'll do your best work when you're excited about doing it.
Whether that work is a job for another company or an organization, or something that you end up creating for yourself, like I talk about on the show, whatever it is, like in the long run, you have to be excited and motivated about your work. So if you're not, you gotta start making plans. You have to start building security for yourself. And that's why I believe so much in planning for your future so that you can have options to do what you want. So that if you get tired of the best job in the world, or you start to realize, like maybe there's something else for me, maybe there's something else that I want to do, you already have a bit of an on-ramp built.
And it's so much easier to say, okay, like maybe I'm gonna step out into this, or at least I'm gonna explore that further. Those are just some thoughts I had as I've been working on that audio book. And it's been a fun process for me. Like I said, I don't usually look back. I always like to look forward.
But in this case, it's been good. Okay, I promised you a listener success story. I've got a good one for you today. I get a lot of these all the time. It's so much fun to read.
So I'll share that with you in a moment. But I also realize we have not done a sponsor break. So let me just take a quick little pause to say thank you to our sponsor. I really appreciate our sponsors. They allow the show to be completely free to you.
We try to work with companies that are very much aligned with the brand and message of Sidus Little School and not be intrusive, not be totally off message. So I am grateful to them. Let's give them a shout out and then on with the show. [Music]
All right, thank you again for being understanding and also for supporting our sponsors whenever you think it's a good fit for you. Whenever they have a trial offer or something that could be good, maybe check it out.
And if it's not a good fit for you, then obviously don't pay for it. You know, I want this to work for everybody. I want it to be a win-win for the advertisers, but also for our listeners. In fact, mostly for our listeners. Like you're the reason we make this show, as I say, in every weekly recap.
So speaking of listeners, I got this email from Sean and Sean writes in and says, "Hey Chris, I've listened to every episode since day one." Which by the way, let's just pause for a second and say that's amazing. We're on episode 491 today. Some of our listeners are completionists, meaning they listened to everything in the full catalog. And again, like my hat's off to you, like you're the reason we do this. Okay, so back to Sean's note.
"Hey Chris, I've listened to every episode since day one. Love the podcast and I appreciate the insights. I currently have a nine to five gig, but I put all of my energy and passion into my other business, which I hope will replace my nine to five very soon. For now, you can call it a side hustle. I create videos for small, sustainable and socially responsible businesses.
Basically, I only do work for companies that I share the same values with, which I know can be a horrible business model. But to get to the point, you had an episode about a small organic energy bar company called Mammoth Bar. They seem like the ideal company to do work for, so I reached out. We had a great first meeting and I created a short animated video for them all about their brand and bars. We still maintain a great relationship and they would like more videos in the future.
Just wanted to share this story with you as a huge thanks. Not only is the show inspiring people to create side hustles, but it's also connecting people from around the world. Thanks again, Sean. PS, Mammoth Bar says hi. Well, awesome.
Thank you so much, Sean. I really appreciate you sharing that. Shout out to you and to the guys from Mammoth Bar. I believe that was episode 219. Two friends start a $25,000 a month paleo bar business.
It has been a long time since that episode, but I do remember being impressed with all those guys had done. So I'm glad you've been able to link up with them as well. And I am happy when our listeners can connect with other people who've been featured on the show or other listeners themselves at the workshops that I've done before at different events. And of course, in Side Hustle Society, which is our online training program and community. Got a whole group of people that are going through creating different projects, providing accountability to one another, giving advice, sharing tips, answers, strategies, ideas, and so on.
So again, that is one of the best things about doing this. I really do have the best job in the world and not to worry, I'm not quitting my job anytime soon. If you have something to share with us, I would love to hear it. You can send us a quick little email at podcast@sidehustleschool.com, or you can give us a call on the Hustle Hotline. That number is 8-4-4-9 Hustle, 8-4-4-9 Hustle, or 8-4-4-9-4-8-7-8-5-3.
If you actually wanna use your computer, you can do that too. You can go to sidehustleschool.com/about, A-B-O-U-T. And I think I spelled about right. Well, hopefully I did, we'll find out. And you scroll down on that page, there's a little link that says, submit your side hustle story.
That's if you want to actually be considered to be featured on the show. And I believe there's another link that says send us a message. And you can do that and then magically, you can speak into your computer and it will give us that file. Guys, the internet these days is just amazing. The next thing you know, I'm gonna be able to use my phone to post photos online, or to request food to be delivered to my house.
I mean, like anything might be possible one day. You never know. As we get ready to wind down for the week, I was looking ahead at some of the stories we've got coming up. Got a bunch of good stuff coming as we prepare for episode 500. If I mentioned that episode 500 is coming soon, it is in fact.
And then you can stop hearing me talk about it because we're just gonna go on and it'll be a long time until episode 1000. But I realized also in looking back, this week was kind of dog week on Side Hustle School, which was unintentional. Although I shouldn't say that. I should say yes, we intended it to be dog week all along. But on episode 485, we talked about the graphic designer who specialized in pet-related businesses.
And in fact, specifically dog businesses. She is on track to earn $84,000 this year. She's a full-time designer and also doing design at night. So I realized as I record this, I actually promised you an update, a bit more info on how she manages those two things. And I will always be honest with you, I have been negligent in failing to follow up with her on that.
So I just made a note, hey, actually follow up with this person so that we can give people what we said we would. Assuming I hear back from her, I can bring you those updates in another episode coming soon. But then also on episode 48, a couple of days later, it was the Doxon loving duo who designs Doxy Apparel, another design business. In this case, actually making apparel, making t-shirts and I believe some other items as well, they've expanded. And this is also, I believe, a six-figure project.
They actually got to six figures without any advertising at all. Now they are using Facebook ads because they want to push it even higher. So good for them. I had to learn how to pronounce the word Doxon this week. Also, by the way, that's a word that I've always known, but never actually said.
I don't own a Doxon. I've never actually hung out with a Doxon myself. But now when I do, I'll be able to pronounce the name of his or her breed correctly. Another highlight this week was the story 487 of a developer who earns $37,000 from a day trading tool. Now that was a good story, but unfortunately there are no stories this week of dogs doing day trading.
I don't want to promise it because, you know, nothing's in the works for it, but you never know. Like, side hustle school, we've got all kinds of stuff. So if there was anybody out there who's day trading with their dog, please write in and let me know so that we can tell everyone about it. Once again, anything is possible. Coming up, got some great stories, including one about two ex-baseball players who hit a home run with baseball bat subscriptions.
All right, so you've heard of subscription services. These guys have 2,000 baseball bats that they purchased and put in their garage, no joke. And they are now sending these baseball bats out all across the country to people who pay a monthly fee. Pretty insane business in terms of the logistics involved, but it is an audacious vision, and I believe they're earning $40 to $50,000 a month from it. Okay, so audacious vision, it did actually have some real startup costs, so we'll talk about that, but it's been very, very successful.
So that story's coming up. Also a fun one about a metal detectorist who gets paid for finding lost jewelry. Okay, so you remember when you were like 10 years old and you went to the beach and you're like, "I want to get a metal detector to go and like dig up all the buried treasure." Well, this guy is not 10 years old. He's an adult with kids, and he gets a metal detector and he and his kids together go off in search of lost jewelry and actually find some. So it's a fun little family story, but of course he makes money too, because to be on the show, you have to make money.
That is the point of status school. There's all kinds of good things you can do in life and you don't have to make money from all of them, but I am trying to focus on helping people become empowered through economic freedom. And economic freedom, that's a fancy way of saying making money. Making money apart from your job so that again, you have the choice to do what's important to you as we started with. [Music]
So just a couple of quick thank yous as I sign off.
As I told you, I make this show for you. I really am just as excited about it as I was when I started, if not more excited now because of the amazing community that's out there. So thank you for being part of it. Thank you for listening. Thank you for leaving reviews, little ratings and reviews in Apple Podcasts.
Those actually do help us a lot. Just takes a moment to do it. And if you don't like Apple Podcasts, if you'd like to listen somewhere else, well, you can leave us a rating or a review there, or you can just tell your friends about the show. And we don't have Facebook ads. We don't have a huge marketing campaign.
This show has grown to tens of thousands of daily listeners, millions of downloads each month because of regular people just talking about it. So thank you if you've been part of that. I do want this resource to be helpful and useful and valuable to you every day. I also am very grateful to our production team. This is not a one-man show even though I'm the one-man voice here.
We could not make this happen without AC Valdez, our senior producer kind of overseeing things. We've also got Sarah Barrett working on stories from, I believe, Mexico City, show notes, and host wrangling, content management, all kinds of stuff with our writing team. That is handled by Whitney Karinek. And of course, the official show cat, Libby Liberia-Gillibow working the night shift. Side Hustle School is part of the Onward Project.
It is curated by best-selling author Gretchen Rubin. I got a chance to catch up with her the other day. We had a conversation and I asked her for some advice. And I also asked her what she's working on. She is someone who's made a big difference in my life and continues to do amazing work herself.
So if you haven't checked out her podcast, which I know a lot of you already have, but if there's somebody out there who hasn't heard happier with Gretchen Rubin, you should go out and subscribe. And last but not least, I hope that you consider listening to this show as an investment in yourself. You need to believe in yourself. You need to make choices that reflect that belief. You need to empower yourself and educate yourself.
And hopefully you can do that in a way that's actually fun and entertaining at the same time. At least that's my goal. So I always say inspiration is good, but action is better because I hope that you'll take action, at least when the time is right. Do join me next week at a time of your convenience. Episodes go online at 601 a.m. Eastern time every day.
Once again, my name is Chris Guillebeau and this is Side Hustle School. Peace out for now. [Music]
