Oil & Gas Worker Becomes Sports Videographer for Polo Games

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

A key feature of many of our stories is the desire to make extra money by doing something that you have a sense of control over. If you go out and get a night job, you don't really have control. Even if you were able to find a night job that paid really well, it's still just a job. You're not creating any freedom for yourself. You're not creating an asset.

And that's what you're looking for. At least for many of our listeners, let's say that's what many of our listeners are looking for, an asset, something that they can point to and say, "This source of income exists because of me. I have autonomy. I have agency. And maybe it's going to help me make a lot of extra money.

Maybe it's just a small amount of extra money, but whatever it is, I made it." Welcome to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau. I have the privilege of bringing you these stories every single day. And today's story comes from one of our longtime listeners, it's someone who explores a side hustle idea after being laid off. This guy is a project planner who is inspired by his son's soccer game, and he goes on to start a rewarding new business in the world of sports videography.

His story is coming right up, but first, well, I have our sponsor message. I always appreciate them. But I have a sponsor message of my own. I want to say congratulations and a big thank you to Whitney Karinek. Whitney is my executive assistant and is in charge of all of our content management, working with our team of writers, working with all the people who send in stories, doing all kinds of stuff to wrangle me as I say at the end of each week.

And today is Whitney's birthday. If you are listening in real time, the 4th of August 2018, 30 years ago, exactly 30 years ago, Whitney was born. I am so grateful to be able to work with her. And if you have benefited from Side Hustle School in any way, she is probably a big part of that because she has made the show so much better all the way from episode one to episode 581 and counting. If you would like to wish her congratulations, say something nice for her new decade, you can write her yourself.

Her email is Whitney, W-H-I-T-N-E-Y, @sidehustleschool.com. That's Whitney@sidehustleschool.com. So thanks a ton to Whitney. Here's our sponsor message and then all about this oil and gas planner who becomes a sports videographer for polo games. Polo games?

How does that work? Well, stay tuned. Alvaro Plaza is a project planner at an oil and gas company in Houston, Texas. While he's doing well in his job now, he always wanted to start a side hustle. He used to work as an Uber driver part time, but wanted something that was more within his own control.

Like many of our listeners, Alvaro had many business ideas. He thought about starting an espresso van. He thought about building a digital marketing agency. He considered working in real estate and more. While having a lot of ideas is great, it's crucial to take action.

Alvaro didn't move on with any of his ideas until January 2016. At the time, he had been laid off by his company and everything changed. His son was playing soccer in ninth grade, and Alvaro loved photography and film. He thought if he could film the game, create some highlights, and then send those to coaches, his son might have more opportunities to get a soccer scholarship. Besides, he figured those highlights can one day become great sports memories.

That was when another idea flashed across his mind. Alvaro knew that videos were trending in social media, so he quickly invested $4,000 in professional film equipment. His wife was upset because she thought he had just spent $4,000 on their son's game, all while he was still trying to get a job. But Alvaro had a different perspective. He believed that he would have a competitive advantage because most people wouldn't want to invest in the equipment.

Also, it's hard to sell a filming service without advanced tools when everyone has a smartphone on hand. For him, the equipment was just a one-time investment, and he called his new project Champion Sports Films. High school and college athletes need services like this if they want to increase recruiting opportunities. In addition, they could use the replays for self-improvement or team improvement. Alvaro thought he could package this as a service targeting coaches and families with athletes.

Furthermore, it was a weekend side hustle so that even when he found another full-time job, he would still be able to continue growing it on the side. After he filmed his son's game, the opposing team's coach came over to talk with him. He wanted Alvaro to film their game so they could learn from the replays and highlights. That's when Alvaro got his first customer. With a quick success, he knew that there were more opportunities to make more money.

He didn't celebrate getting that first sale because all he was thinking about was how to get more. So what happened next? Well, to grow Champion Sports Films, Alvaro went to soccer tournaments giving away his new business cards to parents and coaches. Unfortunately, this strategy didn't work as well as expected. No one hired him.

He then created a website using WordPress and started running Facebook and Google ads. Unfortunately, again, for whatever reason, Facebook didn't work either. The good news was that Google AdWords turned into a goldmine. One of the leads he got there ended up referring him to another 10 customers. A different lead from AdWords led him to start filming polo games.

He is now the preferred filmmaker for all polo games in Houston, which I'm not sure how big that market is, but he's got it covered. Like a lot of side hustles, Champion Sports Films had a humble beginning. In 2016, Alvaro made $6,000 in profit. It wasn't a big paycheck, but it was something he made for himself. Then in 2017, he made $15,000.

Halfway through July in 2018, he had made $17,000. His goal is to make a total $30,000 in profit this year and potentially expand the business to other cities. His work process is simple, by design. Whenever he closes a deal, he gets the customer to pay up front in full via PayPal, no installments. He then starts filming on the scheduled date.

After the filming is done, he goes home to edit the video using Adobe Premiere and uploads it to YouTube and Dropbox. It goes on YouTube so the customer can share it, and it goes on Dropbox so they can download it directly. That's all there is to it. By our math, Alvaro's $4,000 investment has turned into $38,000 and counting. It's also brought him a wealth of experiences, the confidence to think about one day doing this full-time, and the passion to try out new projects.

All right, speaking about getting payment in full in advance, here's one lesson that Alvaro learned, and during a game in which he's being paid by both teams, he always collects full payment up front from both of them before the game. If not, the loser might not pay at the end of the game, and he learned that lesson the hard way. Though no installment plan, pay in full up front. So what is your thing? What is something that you can have control and influence over?

Do you already have your idea? Do you have a lot of ideas? Do you have too many ideas and you're trying to narrow them down? Or do you know exactly what you're supposed to do and it's just a matter of making it happen? What is, there is a clear action step there somewhere.

If you need an idea, well, think about what your idea could possibly be. There's all kinds of different ways to do that, I've talked about it many, many times throughout the archives of the show. If you've got a lot of ideas, okay, make a list of those ideas. Ask yourself what is most feasible at this moment, what is potentially the most profitable, and also what are you the most excited about? All three of those characteristics are important.

If you know what your idea is, and it's just a matter of making it happen, well, what is the very next task that you can complete? When I wrote the Sadosil book, I constructed it around this 27 days from idea to income plan under the principle that if we break down projects into really small identifiable repeatable tasks, it's going to help us get there eventually. So what are your tasks? What's your next step? I hope that you will take that today.

And of course, I'll be back again tomorrow for a weekly recap and much more to come. As always, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better. Today's show notes are at sidehustleschool.com/581. My name is Chris Guillebeau, and once again, happy birthday to Whitney. Thank you for making the show so much better, and thanks to all of our listeners, all of our community at Sadosil School.