This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Friends, listeners, Side Hustle School community, you are listening to this show because you want to make your life better. Sure, you want to make extra money. That's totally okay. Nothing wrong with that goal and I think it should be your goal. But you also want to think differently.
You want your tomorrow to be better than today and you're working towards something. Whatever that thing is, maybe it's defined, maybe you have a specific goal in mind, you know what you need to do. You're just trying to figure out how to get there. Or maybe it's more general and you're trying to figure out what exactly it is. If that's the case, that's okay too.
But either way, there's something out there somewhere that you need to do. And when you figure this thing out, it is going to make your life better. So welcome back to the show. My name is Chris Guillebeau and in today's recap, I want to tell you a couple of stories or actually I'll read you two emails that highlight some of our listeners who are taking action. So the first email comes from a longtime listener, Alain Guilleau in Montreal.
Alain writes in to say, I have listened to every episode since episode one. On one of those early episodes, a guy puts up a Craigslist ad to start a wedding photography business and that idea resonated with me. So I decided to do the same thing. I bought a camera, I built a website with WordPress and I put an ad on Craigslist. It's been more than a year and a half and I'm having the time of my life.
I get to photograph weddings, birthdays, baptisms, marriage proposals and anniversaries. I don't always make $500 every month. I make more during the summer and less during the winter, but it's a side hustle. One of many others that I've recently started. Thanks for the podcast.
I've been sharing it with my friends and one of those friends took inspiration from another earlier episode, "The Guitar Teacher." My friends started teaching guitar using a similar marketing style and his side hustle is also doing well. Well, Alain, thank you so much for that report. I'm so glad to hear that episode nine, I think it was. Episode nine featuring Oliver Aces, the Craigslist wedding photographer. I'm so glad to know that gave you an idea and that you followed up.
So well done. And by the way, I think Oliver's story is also in the side hustle book. If you'd like to read all the details about where he got that idea from in the first place and what happened along the way. All right, our second email comes from Phil who is taking a long bike ride. And if you're wondering, what does this have to do with a side hustle?
Well, hold tight, we'll get to that. So Phil writes in to say I'm 22 years old and in the summer of 2017, I participated in a cross country bike ride from New York City to San Francisco as one last hurrah after graduating college and going to work. After the trip, I went to work in rural Pennsylvania for about six months before residing from my job. I soon realized I had the opportunity to participate in a cross country cycling event again and even be the leader of the 20 plus students riding. When I told my parents of this opportunity, they didn't understand why I wanted to do the trip again instead of finding another job and saving money.
But I knew deep down this trip was what I needed even if I couldn't explain why. Hopefully you have the time to read this. If you're curious about the group I'm part of, check out aline4000.org. We're raising money for cancer research and are currently on day 14 of 77 on our 4,700 mile journey. Okay, so first of all, Phil, thank you so much for sharing that.
Good luck on the ride. That website was aline4000.org, I-L-L-I-N-I 4000.org. I'll link it up in the show notes for anyone who would like to cheer Phil on as well. And I just wanted to say, in response to that comment, these kinds of life experiences can be life defining. And again, I want to remind you that there is something you need to do.
It doesn't need to be something that other people understand. In some ways it may be more meaningful if there are people who don't get it at all. And those who have listened to the show for a long time know that I'm not out there telling everyone to quit their jobs. I'm not saying that everyone can or should go and bike across America tomorrow. I'm just saying when you have this stirring, when you have this thing that kind of catches you and you're like, you know, maybe I should do this.
Or I've had this idea for a little business for a long time, but I haven't done anything about it. Maybe it's because there was some obstacle standing in my way, but maybe it was just a perceived obstacle. Like all this time I told myself it costs a lot of money to do this. And now, you know, by listening to the show or maybe through some other research you've been doing, you realize that's not the case. It doesn't have to cost a lot of money.
Maybe you think, oh, it's gonna be risky. But now again, if you've been going through the process or reading the book or whatever, you know that it doesn't have to be risky. And by the way, if you don't have a life mission or one big thing, I know a lot of people are looking for like, what's the meaning of life? What's the meaning of my life? Here's the thing, if you've found that, that's great.
But if not, just do what's in front of you. Pursue the next idea you get. Or take out your list of ideas if you've been writing ideas down and just pick one. That's how Oliver got started with his Craigslist wedding gig. That's how Elaine is getting started.
Now in Montreal after hearing Oliver's story. That's how Phil is finding his way as he pursues what he feels like as a calling. Or again, at least a stirring that he was wise to pay attention to. That is my encouragement for you today. And as a reminder, if you'd like to say hi to other listeners or ask a question or just send in a comment, there's a few different ways you can do that.
You can write to podcasts@sidehustleschool.com. You can also make a little voice memo and email that to podcast@sidehustleschool.com. Or you can call the Hustle Hotline, which is 844-9-HUSTLE-844-948-7853. I would love to know what you're working on this week, what's in front of you, what is your next step and what are you doing about it? Ponder that for a moment.
I'm gonna say a quick thank you to our sponsor. And I have a couple more comments about the episodes of this week. [Music]
Okay, so speaking of risk and startup costs, I was thinking about a couple of things. Two stories from this week that could have had much higher startup costs but didn't. Okay, so these episodes were 527 and 529.
527 was about a social media strategist who's baking up the Poffick dog treats. And 529 was about the Polish guy living in California who is starting a line of premium vodka. Now in these cases, if I'm not mistaken, the Poffick dog treats woman spent about $3,000. And with those startup costs in a short period of time, she is seeing profits of $3,000 a month. So $3,000 startup costs leads to $3,000 a month in profit.
And the vodka guy spent a total of $10,000. Now I know what some people are thinking. Well, $3,000 is still a lot of money. And $10,000, wow, that's like a huge amount of money to a lot of people. And I totally understand that.
And my comments or my response, first of all, is remember that a lot of other stories we feature on the show cost next to nothing. In fact, probably a third of our stories cost either nothing or very small amounts of money. And that's because I want our listeners to reduce their risk to not have that fear of starting because they don't want to lose money or they don't have savings. And so the first way to do that is by choosing a project that doesn't cost very much at all. If you spend $100 or even a few hundred dollars and your project doesn't work out, I would suggest that you've just paid for a learning experience.
And you've gained some information that's gonna help you the next time. So not a big deal. Another way to do it is what the people on these two stories did. So they undertook substantial projects, but they got really creative in their expenses. So even though $3,000 is not a $100 startup, it's still a pretty small amount of money to create this brand that is now, again, making $3,000 a month.
And to create a whole line of premium vodka with everything that's associated with that, just the packaging, the distilling, all the regulation and red tape that he had to deal with, $10,000 is a pretty small investment comparatively. In that story, I mentioned that there are liquor brands that spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions of dollars to launch a new product. So that guy, Darjush, was definitely bootstrapping. And he set that limit for himself. He set that $10,000 limit.
And he said, "If I'm gonna spend up to this amount, "and if the project is working at that point, great. "Then I can continue to invest in it. "But if not, I'm gonna cut my losses and move on." I was recently reading a book called "What I Learned From Losing a Million Dollars," which is a great title. It's also a really good book. And the core principle of that book is that there are all kinds of different ways to make money in the stock market or through investing, but there are actually only a few ways to lose.
And most of the ways that people lose, at least long-term, is related to psychology, to believing that you are smarter than the market, you're smarter than every other investor, or that it's wise to hold on to something that's losing money. So it's very much about psychology and perhaps even the human trait of humility. So I thought of that as I was writing these notes. If you start something and it doesn't work out, cut your losses, move on to something else, and you haven't taken a huge amount of risk. You're gonna be able to live to fight another day.
[Music]
Well, I hope you live to fight not just another day, but lots of weeks, months, and years, decades, approximately 533 days ago we started and here we are still. And next week coming up, I've got a great story about a marketer who makes $60,000 in six months using Fiverr. You may recall that we recently had a story about a guy who makes $100,000 using Fiverr. He did that over the course of a couple of years, which is still pretty amazing, I think. Fiverr is a platform which originally required sellers to offer services at $5 each.
They've evolved a bit since then. But in this story, there's a guy who makes $60,000 in six months using the platform. We've also got something about an all-natural cotton candy brand, something about retro radios, something about fashion, and who knows, maybe something about live insects. We haven't had that for quite a while and I'm getting complaints. I know lots of people want to hear more about worms or crickets or some of the other things that we featured.
So I will do some digging and see what I come up with. Hey, before I take off for the week, I just wanna say thank you so much. You as a listener are part of a global community of people who are interested in change, who are interested in creating something for themselves, creating that extra source of income, even if they love their job. Building freedom and security through the form of a small business, even if they've never thought of themselves as a small business owner or an entrepreneur before. For 533 episodes, I've been saying that if you make the commitment to make this part of your routine, you listen 10 minutes a day, I too commit to supporting you fully in your quest to create that new source of income.
You've been thinking about something but haven't turned it into reality. I wanna do whatever I can to help give you a little nudge. And it's not just me. I'm not the only one working on this show. So before we close out, I want to acknowledge AC Valdez, our senior producer in Washington, D.C.
We've also got Sarah Barrett producing many of the midweek episodes. Back in Portland, Oregon, we've got Whitney Karenik, Wrangling Me, the host, also working out our schedule, our show notes, all kinds of stuff. We also have an online program called Side Hustle Society, which I have not talked about nearly enough. I'm gonna change that soon, but I want to acknowledge Jed Chang, who's working with that community, also responding to many of the emails that our listeners are sending in. Last but not least, my cat Libby Gilliboe is working the night shift.
For all those complaints that come in from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m., she is your girl. I can say girl because she's a cat. If you want to do us a big favor, that just takes a minute of your time. It would be super awesome if you could give us a little rating in Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Quick little rating or review, just say why you listen to the show, why you might recommend it to someone else. And speaking of recommending, our community has grown from day one because of you, our listeners. So if you know somebody who needs a side hustle, tell them to subscribe and show them how to subscribe to the show because not everyone out there knows how to listen to podcasts. I know, it's a thing, but you can show them because presumably you do. That's all for me this week.
I hope to see you tomorrow and every day next week with more stories and actionable ideas. Consider this an investment in yourself, a pretty easy, short, quick investment. Our episodes go online at 601 a.m. Eastern Time every day. My name is Chris Guillebeau and this is Side Hustle School.
