This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hello, what's up? This is Chris Guillebeau for South Essel School bringing you the weekly recap. We have just finished week number 22 of season two. Here where I'm recording at least, we are now beginning the Northern Hemisphere summer, beginning of June. And of course you may be listening later or you might be listening in another part of the world where it is your winter time.
But wherever you are in the world, whatever season it is, whatever time it is in your life, I hope that you are taking some time out for yourself. All of us have no shortage of obligations and responsibilities and things that we have to do for other people. What I hope to do at South Essel School is to provide a support, a foundation, some practical tips and guidance on how you can create projects that will allow you to have more time for yourself. Not just time, but also other resources, opportunities, money, of course. Speaking of money and resources, did you go out and buy a Tesla or another luxury car to rent it out on Touro this week?
Monday's episode number 513 was all about this guy in Canada who does that. I am pretty sure we're gonna get some emails from listeners who are doing exactly that. And I actually thought about it myself. I don't even own a car. I don't like driving, it kind of stresses me out.
But I was like, huh, I wonder what this would look like. Let me just do some little calculations. How many days would I have to rent it? What would be the price? I think I've talked myself out of it for the moment at least.
But I did love that creative story. The way that somebody who couldn't otherwise afford a car that cost more than $100,000, found this creative solution through that ride sharing platform at Touro. So if you're curious about that and you missed that episode, be sure you go back and listen. Again, that is episode 513. All right, in this episode, I want to focus on a listener question that came in through our Hustle hotline.
I'll also play a couple of greetings that came in from listeners as well. And just a brief comment, if you've got a question, if you've got a comment, if you want to share something with us, or if there's something we can help you with, perhaps. You can send me an email at podcast@sidehustleschool.com. You can call the Hustle hotline. That's where we get the voicemails that I'm gonna play for you in just a moment.
The Hustle hotline is 8449-HUSTLE 844-948-7853. You can just call and leave a little message there. Or if you prefer to use your phone to make a voice memo, then you could do that and just email it to the same address, podcast@sidehustleschool.com. I always love to hear what you're working on this week and what your number one goal is, as well as if you have a question. So let's hear three quick messages in succession.
And then I believe the last one has a question that we'll spend a bit of time on. [Music]
Hi, Chris, Dave from Ohio. Just wanted to say I'm binging the show on the weekends, like I usually do. Put it on continuous play as I'm working around the house. Love the show, love the inspiration and keep up the good work.
Thanks so much, have a great day. Hey, Chris, this is Chris Daly and I'm one of the original podcasters, one of the first five or six to ever do it. But I wanted to say I've been listening to your show since it started. And what I'm working on right now is a Kickstarter football board game called FridayNightLegends.com. My struggle right now is getting the word out.
So that's what I'm doing and keep up the great work. - Hi, Chris, this is Brenna. I live South of Boston, love your show. Actually kind of a funny story. My husband started sending me episodes he thought I should listen to last year.
So I started listening, not at the beginning, but I went back and listened to all relevant ones. So my question is, I remember something vague from the being boss story that they closed their Facebook page. What is your opinion on the pros and cons of having a Facebook page? Are there certain side hustles that need a page more than others? Thanks a lot.
- Awesome, thanks a lot. So glad you guys are listening. Thanks, Dave from Ohio. Thanks, Chris, good luck with your campaign. And Brenna, thanks for listening and thanks for this great question.
Do you need a Facebook page, let's say, or maybe let's call it, do you really need a Facebook page, all right? Now in this case, the first example that you mentioned, the being boss podcast, it was actually a Facebook group, not a page. So those are a little bit different because in the case of a group, it was kind of a group conversation, like lots of people sharing their own stuff. And the group just kind of got out of hand. The group wasn't really aligned with what their business goals were.
Like the reason why they started that group in the first place, it had taken on a life of its own, which can sometimes be a good thing, but in this case, it wasn't. And so they made the decision to shut that down. A Facebook page, on the other hand, even though it can include group conversations, it can include comments and other people can post on your page if you allow that. And so on, it is a lot different because the purpose of it is not to be a discussion group. The purpose of it is for you to publish content that your fans, prospects, readers, listeners, customers, clients, like whoever those people are, will choose to follow.
So I'm pretty sure that the being boss ladies still have a Facebook page of their own. It was just that group that they decided to close. So as to whether you need a Facebook page or not, I mean, like first things first, let's say you don't need anything. Facebook is a corporation that wants your money and your data. And a lot of people have what I think are really valid concerns about giving that over to them, if not their money, their data.
And speaking of money, it's also become more and more clear, especially over the past couple of years, when it comes to business sites or business pages, they really want people to pay to play. So it used to be if someone was a fan of your page, they would see your updates, which makes sense, of course. But now, just because someone has clicked like on your page or has chosen to follow your page, they might not actually see a lot of the stuff that you're posting unless you pay for it through the Facebook advertising system. So that has been a major change and is a major detriment to a lot of people. So you don't need a Facebook page any more than you need anything else.
Like there's lots of different ways to succeed in business or with your side hustle. But that said, I think it's a pretty easy lift for a lot of people. Like it's actually not that difficult to create and maintain a Facebook page or even just to create it. You can literally get the whole initial setup done in less than half an hour, including uploading your logo and putting some initial content and just filling out the information there. So generally my sense is, okay, you don't need it, just like you don't need anything, but why not?
Like why wouldn't you do it? Because it is so easy. So if you hate Facebook because of privacy concerns or whatever else, then I understand. But otherwise, why wouldn't you do it? Like it doesn't take long.
Every car dealership, for example, has a Facebook page. Like, you know, speaking of cars, like why in the world would you need to follow the happenings, like the daily occurrences of your car dealership? Who knows? But they do. Every car dealership, every coffee shop, every dentist office.
So that's my suggestion. Why not spend 20 minutes, at least get it set up? And that way people can be liking and following the page over time. Even if you don't have a grand strategy for it, there's no downside to just getting it set up. Okay, I had a couple other comments about goals.
Setting goals related to your side hustle, which in turn relates to one of the episodes from this past week. But first let's pause for a brief message from our sponsor. [Music]
So in addition to that popular episode about the guy who buys a Tesla and rents it out to cover his monthly payments, again, that was 5.13. I wanted to just kind of highlight episode 5.15, which was about a baker who starts an agency to raise dough for her dream home. This whole concept of setting a savings goal and connecting it to your side hustle can be really powerful.
And in her case, she was saving for a really large purchase, not the whole dream home, but I think it was a down payment of $100,000. So definitely a significant goal, but I often see people saving for all kinds of other reasons, like paying off their debts, maybe their student loan debt or a credit card debt, establishing a savings fund, an emergency fund in particular for the first time. Like this is a general personal finance recommendation that I think is wise. If at all possible, you should have an emergency fund equivalent to a certain number of months of expenses. People's recommendation over how many months it should be tends to vary, but it's something like three to nine months of expenses.
You should figure out, okay, what does it cost you to live per month? And you should have an emergency fund that is separate from your retirement savings. It's separate from any other savings accounts. It's not part of your regular checking account that you use to pay bills so that if you have an emergency or if you get laid off from your job, like you know you're gonna be okay for three months or six months or whatever it is. And that's an example of building security for yourself, much like starting a side hustle is an example of building security for yourself, because if you have extra income coming in, in some ways that's even better than savings, because as you spend your savings, it goes down.
But if you have a significant amount of extra money coming in, then you know, month by month, I can be able to count on this amount. Or even if I take a conservative approach and say, okay, last month I made $3,000 from my side hustle, I think I'm gonna make $3,000 every month for the foreseeable future. But if I'm doing a projection, I might even just count $2,000. I might just count $1,500 just to be safe and conservative. But when thinking about your motivations, like why do you start a side hustle?
I often talk about goals, like what is your goal? What's the purpose of this? A lot of people do find motivation in connecting their after hours project, their second source of income, their third or fourth source of income to some significant goal like that. It could also be something fun. Like I didn't mention that.
I mean, it could also be a vacation or an adventure around the world trip going to that country you've always wanted to go to. Your honeymoon, your babymoon, your divorce moon, or your honeymoon by yourself, like whatever those things are called. The point is if you have something you're working on but you're struggling with the motivation, perhaps connecting it to a savings goal could be what you need to kind of give yourself that push and help yourself keep moving forward. Oh, and by the way, I also liked episode 5.16, a sweet tooth dentist who creates a sugar-free caramel company. That's actually a couple.
And as mentioned in that episode, that couple had some pretty significant expenses in starting up their business, but they only chose to really invest in their business once they knew it was on track to really succeed. So another one of our values is very much about reducing risk and taking risk away. So it's possible to spend money without taking a lot of risk. And that's what they did in that case. I think their total costs were close to $90,000, but they didn't get to $90,000 until it was really clear that this business was gonna work for them.
So just keep that in mind as you go forward. If you've got multiple things you can work on, which is the case for most of us, we have more than one idea. Unless you know for sure that this is my mission, this is how I'm supposed to change the world, that's what I need to do. If you're not sure, then why not just choose the project that has the least amount of risk, that is the easiest to get started, that has the most profit potential, and if all things are equal, the one that you're the most excited about, because that matters too. This should be something you look forward to, not just something that is a chore, not any kind of drudgery, anything that you dread.
There's probably some other stuff in your life that you have to dread. So let's not make your side hustle one of those things. Let's make it something that you look forward to. [Music]
Speaking of looking forward, next week I'm gonna be bringing you a different story every day, starting with one that I think is pretty cool. It's about a Florida man who sells baby robes on Amazon, and then moves to Bali, where he operates his side hustle full time at that point.
Then he starts an app and ends up employing 100 people. Okay, so by the time the story ends, this guy actually has a company of his own, which I know is not the goal of every one of our listeners. But the point is, as you'll hear tomorrow, he didn't begin with that goal. He began by exploring this fulfilled by Amazon model that a lot of people asked about. So that's obviously a huge, huge success story.
You'll hear about that. You're also gonna hear about minimalist backpacks that feed the hungry, a social good story. You're gonna hear about a candle company. You're gonna hear about a marketer who makes $60,000 in six months using Fiverr. And of course, there's gonna be some other surprises as well.
I feel really fortunate to make this show for you every day. I just wanna say thank you before I close out the week. My first acknowledgement and thank you is to you, the listener, I said in the very first episode, which was approximately 519 episodes ago, that if you make the commitment to make this part of your routine, then I too commit to supporting you fully in your quest to create that new source of income, whatever it is that you've thought about for a while but haven't turned into reality until now. I want you to be able to have that emergency savings fund if you don't have one. I want you to be able to have a goal of saving for something really important to you, whether it's a safari or a down payment on a home or getting out of debt.
Whatever is most important in your life, that's why we produce these stories. And speaking of production, it's not just me. Like I'm the voice that you hear, but our show is produced in Washington, DC, Brooklyn, New York, Mexico City, a few different places depending on who's working on it. But our senior producer is AC Valdez. Thank you so much, AC.
We've also got Sarah Barrett putting many of the episodes together. A show notes and content management are by Whitney Karenik, community organization, and helping me out with email in general is Jed Chang. Thank you so much, Jed. And of course, my cat Libby Guilleveau who works the night shift in Portland, Oregon. Stadestle School is part of the Onward Project, founded and curated by best-selling author Gretchen Rubin.
You can check that out at theonwardproject.com. If you get a quick little moment, give us a rating and review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. And be sure to tell your friends about the show. It is free. It is every single day.
And we're always trying to come up with new stuff to help you pursue your dream. I like to say that inspiration is good, but action is better. That's because I want you to take action. I would love to be able to feature your story here just to hear about what you're doing. So I hope you'll join me again tomorrow and every day next week with more stories and actionable ideas, not just ideas, but ideas that you can take action on, like running out of Tesla and getting somebody else to pay for it.
Consider this an investment in yourself. Episodes go online at 601 a.m. Eastern time. My name is Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School.
