Weekly Recap: All You Need Is Luck and a Million Dollars

Notes from Chris

Episode 505

THEMES & TAKEAWAYS: Why is it problematic to say “Just get started…”? Because getting started is necessary but not sufficient. It’s like saying “All you need is luck and a million dollars”—both would be nice, but you can’t control either of those things. What can you control? Getting started and then showing up. Real successes—lasting, enduring, life-changing, quit your job kind of successes usually require both getting started and then sticking with it. Last week I talked about Kathleen Shannon, the co-founder of Being Boss (check out Ep. 404), and she's a fantastic example of this. One of the things she prides herself on is that in three years, they’ve never missed an episode, and that's because once they started, they kept working at it. And as for the drone side hustle in Ep. 500, it could have been a small success. It’s a big success not just because they started but also because once they’d started, they also made a plan and then stuck with it. So yes—just get started—but then get to work! It’s okay to work hard, and in fact, you probably should. In today's recap, we'll delve more into this topic of getting started and sticking with it—listen to the Weekly Recap to learn more! LISTENER UPDATES + QUESTIONS: This week, we received a listener email from Rodrigo:

Rodrigo: "Hey Chris, a few months back when your tour for Side Hustle brought you to Books & Books down here in Miami, I had the chance to share two minutes of my story on how I forced myself to create my side hustle of a Udemy course on SEO by doing a really long day trip to Pensacola FL and back (a 12 hour total round-trip) with nothing but the voice recorder on my phone and a notepad with the outline of what the course chapters and sub-chapters of the course I wanted to create would look like.As I left the house at around 5 am that morning (arriving back at around 6 pm just in time for dinner with the fam), I hit the record button and just started talking. I pretended like I was in a room with 50 students eager to learn from my experience and just spoke as if it was a day-long training session—which was really important because it kept me focused on getting through all chapters. Chapter by chapter, I got through everything and even uncovered a ton of little details and ideas that I hadn't thought of earlier. Next day, I hired someone on Fiverr to transcribe the audio file and send me the PDF which I later used to create the course. Total cost $120 ($90 gas, $30 transcription). The big lesson I learned is that there's ALWAYS a way to dedicate time to something if it's important. But sometimes it just takes a little creative thinking and literally forcing yourself away from distractions and into a state of mind where it's easy to think and speak freely. Anyways, wanted to share as it could be helpful to others who are time-strapped and trying to spend that 1hr of free time over 12 days to make progress—rather than just hammering down and cranking out the 12 hrs at once. Thanks for all you do Chris—can't wait for your next book and to hear more about where this amazing adventure we call life takes you!"

If you have something you'd like to ask me or an update you'd like to share, I'd love to hear from you. Leave me a voice message on the website or call into the Side Hustle Hotline (Dial 844-9-HUSTLE // 844-948-7853), and your question may be featured on the show!

EPISODES FROM THIS WEEK: Here's what we heard this week on Side Hustle School! Listen to this week's recap for a more comprehensive highlight reel.

Ep. 499 - In search of extra income, an ESL teacher creates a game that shows students how to use phrasal verbs. Turn it up!
Ep. 500 - A sky-high success story of a six-figure drone coaching business that begins after a man crashes a drone into a parked car in New York City. Look out!
Ep. 501 - Inspired by his own work/life imbalance, a film and TV editor starts a project to help his industry learn how to live more by staying present
Ep. 502 - A music teacher learns to subcontract her piano lessons, radically increasing her annual income
Ep. 503 - After an MBA student is in a car crash that leaves her with chronic back pain, she sets about creating a change that would help thousands of other people
Ep. 504 - A pair of female inventors are bringing clothes back to life with a simple gadget that saves straps with no need to sew—then using it to send a positive message about women’s health