This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Have you ever heard this expression? If you want to get something done, ask a busy person to do it. Welcome to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is the weekly recap.
We have just finished week number 32 of season two. In today's recap, I'm gonna play you an update from someone we featured in year one, along with a little lesson from her. And this week in particular, there was lots of stuff in the mix. Over here in my world, I have mostly been in Southern California and not doing a ton of travel. I'm actually working on a book that is greatly overdue.
The manuscript is overdue and that book will eventually come out next spring. I'll tell you about it then. But right now I gotta actually finish the book. So that's my focus at the moment. And lots of stuff here on the show this week, lots of stuff in the mix, including a multi-million dollar success story on Monday.
That was episode 583. And that project was all about aprons. Not blue aprons. Shout out to our sponsor once again. Thanks guys.
But just aprons in general. I think they're actually mostly white. And it's a busy chef who starts her own apron company in her abundant free time. Now what do I mean by abundant free time? I mean, she doesn't have it.
She is a chef. But yet she manages to create this high quality product that soon becomes in great demand in her industry. And like I said, eventually grows that to be a multi-million dollar company with lots of employees. All started as a side hustle. So how do people like her, her name is Ellen.
How do people like Ellen do that? Well, again, I was thinking of that phrase. If you wanna get something done, ask a busy person to do it. Don't ask somebody to do it who has plenty of free time. Ask somebody who is pretty committed already.
And never have I seen this principle be more true since I started this show and have been featuring regular people, not celebrities, just regular people who don't have access to a lot of money or other special resources. But they're doing something really remarkable. They're doing something interesting. They're doing something that might be unconventional. Whatever they're doing, they're finding a way to invest in themselves and create something that they believe in.
That is ultimately what this show is all about. I talk about making extra money and I think that's good. I want you to be able to make extra money. But ultimately what I hope you'll be able to do is something that matters to you. And that can be a lot of things.
Now in preparation for this book I'm working on, I was reviewing some notes from another story we featured long ago. This was episode 353. Yoga teacher cleans up with home organizing business. And this was a pretty fantastic story. It's actually one of my all time favorite Side Hustle School stories.
This is a woman who is not only a yoga teacher, I think she was also an author. And if I'm not mistaken, she was doing three or four other different things in addition to being an active mom. And this woman, her name was Lisa, living in Seattle starts a new side hustle, a home organizing decluttering business. If I'm not mistaken, she went on to make three to $4,000 a month from this project in a pretty short period of time. And it also has this amazing social good connection because she's working with refugee families, resettling in Seattle from places like Afghanistan and Iraq, often fleeing very difficult traumatic circumstances, but coming to the States to have a new and hopeful life.
And as part of her home organizing business, she often receives a lot of items from people who are decluttering. And all of those items go to families who are resettling. So just a great, great story all around. And again, when she started that project, she did not have an abundance of free time. She was pretty busy, but yet this was something that captivated her interest.
And she thought, you know, I have to find a way to make it work. Maybe my last reference, at least for now on this topic, there's a guy I wrote about in the side hustle book who was a guitar teacher, or teaching guitar was his side hustle. He was working at a university, I believe, for his day job, but he wanted to get really serious about this guitar teaching side hustle, not just to make some extra money, but to actually turn it into a replacement for his full-time income, which is kind of a challenge for something like teaching guitar because a lot of people can do it. The whole story is in the book, but the short version is he was able to actually get up to charging something like 60 or $75 an hour for guitar lessons, turned it into a replacement for his full-time income. And as a little side note, like it wasn't even the point of the story, but as a side note, he was like, oh, by the way, you know, when I did this, and I might get some of these details wrong 'cause I haven't come back to read it.
But as I recall, he was like, when I did this, my wife and I had just had our first child and she was working full-time. So I was really involved in the childcare as well. So I was doing that. And I was working my full-time job and I was building this business to be a replacement for my full-time income. So yeah, I didn't get a lot of sleep, but I was focused on what I wanted to have in the future.
I was willing to sacrifice now to achieve something in the future, to achieve this scenario that I dreamed of, I imagined. And so if I can do it, you know, you can too. I believe his name was Jake actually, now that I think about it a bit more. So considering these three examples, Jake, Lisa and Ellen, Jake Guitar Lessons, Lisa, the yoga teacher with the home organizing business and Ellen with the aprons, the multi-million dollar apron business, what is the difference between these people and everyone else? Is it just that they never sleep, like Jake was mentioning, you know, with the birth of his first child?
Is it just that they never watch TV, they don't have hobbies, they have an unbalanced life, they have no friendships? I don't think it's quite like that. I think like sometimes they make sacrifices, like Jake said as well, because they're focused on the future. But I think it's also, and here's the point, they're doing something that really matters to them. So it's not just about doing less, it's not about having a minimal life, it's actually in some ways having a maximalist life, of like, man, what are all the things that I wanna do and how can I find a way to build a structure to accommodate that?
How can a side hustle be integrated into that? So it's not completely separated, it's actually something in my life that I'm proud of and that I look forward to spending time on. For me, that's the philosophy that I have tried to operate by, don't do less, do more, just make sure that what you're doing is something that matters to you. You believe it's making a difference or it's bringing better quality of life to someone else or to yourself. It's okay to do something for yourself because as you care for yourself better, you're probably gonna be able to care for others better as well.
I think that last point is especially important for those who are parents or otherwise looking after other people. Of course you have to care for them, but if you wanna be focused on caring them for the long term, you need to care for yourself too. That's my encouragement as we kind of wind down the week here on Side Hustle School. But I also want to do a couple other things. I want to play a message, an update from someone that we featured on the show long ago.
Sarah, who has a personalized candy heart business, I wrote about this in the Side Hustle Book too, and she was also featured in episode, something like episode three, is that right? Wow, that's right, very first week of Side Hustle School. So let's hear from Lisa and then we'll talk about some of the things that she has learned and what's happened in her business since 586 days ago. - Hey, this is Sarah from Florida. My Side Hustle is custom printed candy on my website, mycustomcandy.com, and it was featured on episode number three.
Since then, we've invested in more equipment to double our manufacturing capacity. Last year, our demand was higher than ever and we ran into a problem where our existing temporary staffing solution couldn't keep up with our needs. So we had to quickly start recruiting ourselves in order to have enough staff to deliver all of the orders. It was extremely stressful, but it forced us to come up with a solution that now allows us to deliver more than ever. I've come to realize that I have to set aside a specific time slot each day during our off season to work on my business.
It's really easy to get distracted with life and do other things, but when I set aside a specific time slot each day and I stick to it, within about two weeks, I can see more orders and revenue coming in. I now have a set schedule for myself that I stick to every single week to ensure I keep the business expanding. Next up, I'm working on getting our products into major retailers. We already have interest from someone who is completely perfect and are just working on labeling and pricing. Hopefully, we'll be in stores for Valentine's Day next year.
Awesome, Sarah, congratulations. It is so fun to hear that update after, like I said, what, 586 days. I'm so glad you've been able to double your manufacturing. As I recall, you're actually doing a significant amount of business before. So well done on that.
And for our listeners who aren't familiar with Sarah's story, Sarah worked in marketing. So she didn't have a background in manufacturing or in candy, and now she's manufacturing personalized candy hearts as a side hustle that makes more than a full-time income while she continues with her day job. And that is all by choice because that's what she wants to do. So she essentially figured out how to do this. She saw a gap in the marketplace and decided, maybe I can do this better than anybody else out there.
And that is exactly what she accomplished. Now, I like this lesson she gives us about how life gets busy, like we were just talking about. So set aside a specific time slot each day to make progress. And she mentioned that within about two weeks, you could see a direct connection between that effort and seeing more orders and revenue. Now, I have two quick comments on this.
First of all, I bet there is also a direct connection between wellbeing and the reduction of stress. Because when things are crazy, you're kind of stressed out. Even if your business is doing well and you have a lot of demand, like she mentioned, it can be stressful. So by setting that specific time slot, I bet she's not only making more money, but she's also feeling less stressed. At least that's what it sounds like.
And my second comment is when you do that, when you set aside that schedule or that specific time slot, don't just focus on doing operational tasks. Don't just focus on responding to emails or kind of keeping the wheels turning. That's what you have to do all the time anyway. What you want to do for that specific time slot is to make progress. Focus on business development.
Focus on, okay, actually solving one of those problems that you have just been putting duct tape around. Focus on actually fixing something so that your business can continue to thrive and grow. So once again, thank you to Sarah for leading by example. And everyone else, if you'd like to follow along with Sarah, just go check out My Custom Candy on Instagram. I believe her website is also mycustomcandy.com.
More of these to come as we continue to look back on those who have gone before, people who have shared their story with us in the first year or now in the second year, as well as many of our listeners who are taking action. I always, always, always love to hear listener success stories, if you have one, or if you just have a story of overcoming a challenge. If you have something that you're going through, you've learned something, you've got a tip, a lesson, a tactic, a strategy that you would like to share with other people, please do let us know. And how can you do that? Well, there are a couple different ways.
You can email us at podcast@sidehustleschool.com. You can call us and leave a little voice note. It's pretty simple. If you mess up, you can do it again. I promise you, I messed up on every single phone call and voicemail that I ever leave.
So we've got a process to where you can do it again if it doesn't work out at first. The hustle hotline is 8449HUSTLE, 8449HUSTLE, or 844-948-7853. And last but not least, I mentioned that email podcast@sidehustleschool.com. If you prefer, you can use your phone and make a little voice note, a voice memo, and just email that file to us. Always love to know what you're working on and how we can serve you better.
So don't hesitate to let me know. [Music]
Okay, so as mentioned in this week, featured those million dollar aprons. Actually, they weren't million dollar aprons. I mean, the aprons were pretty affordable, but she sold a lot of them. So it added up to millions of dollars.
That's what I mean. We also had miniature foam rollers, duffel bags, DIY journals, and a big artist success story. An artist who is making $8,000 a month with downloadable products. In other words, she was creating passive income for herself. Now, I'm pretty sure that most of those people were pretty busy when they started up.
It wasn't just Ellen and the aprons. I'm pretty sure that all of them were busy and they had lots of stuff going on. But again, they found a way to invest in themselves. And perhaps like Sarah is learning to do, our little call in from year one, perhaps they also scheduled in time to work on the business instead of just working in the business. I imagine that was especially true for someone like Ellen with those aprons because she was really truly building a substantial structure for her business with employees and a warehouse and all kinds of stuff.
But again, all that came later. All that came after her idea, after her initial success, and while she was working that regular job. So in the side hustle book, I've got this like five part process, like five weeks, 27 days from idea to income. Well, part five, we don't actually talk about that a whole lot here on the show. Part five is all about what comes next.
You've got your idea, you learn how to make your idea happen, learn how to put that idea out into the world. Well, then what? The then what is all about business growth. It's all about how do you take something that's working a little bit and make it work a lot more. So even though it is totally fine to have a side hustle that just makes some extra money for you to help you pay off debt or save for a vacation or just give you some pocket money.
I also think it's cool when someone really focuses on that what's next thing or that piece of like, okay, it's out there and now I want to take it further. I actually want to really grow this. How do I do that and what's it going to look like? So thank you for inspiring me. I'm making this show for a global community.
We have people all over the world who are listening and participating in different ways, but I too am inspired. I too go away saying like, wow, how can I apply this? Or I wish I could do something like this person. How can I find time to create structure for my business? How can I create a specific time slot to work on my business or make some progress that I'm not overwhelmed and stressed out?
What can I learn from all the people that we're featuring as well as our community of listeners, again, who are taking action. [Music]
Coming up next week, a whole other set of stories, including a six figure coffee grinder reselling side hustle. Pretty cool story, this guy who's doing fabulously well. I think he has sold $300,000 worth of coffee grinders. Again, $300,000 worth of coffee grinders.
So stay tuned that is coming up along with an agricultural teacher, an ag ed teacher who is also earning multiple six figures selling lesson plans and other teaching aids. All of that and more is coming up soon. Now, speaking of busy, I know that you're busy. I always want to respect your time. So I'm going to sign off for the day, but just really quickly before I do, I want to say thank you to those who make this show possible.
I mentioned our sponsors earlier. Thanks so much to those guys. In addition to our sponsors, we have a production team. Senior producer is AC Valdez. We've also got Sarah Barrett, we've got Whitney Karinek looking out after all of our content, wrangling me the host and making sure that we're actually going to have an episode every single day.
I've got Jed Chang working with our community and the side hustle society and lots of emails and communication that come in from you guys. And then of course, I always mentioned the cat, but the cat doesn't really do that much. So I'm not sure I'm going to give her a shout out every week from now on, but when she does something notable, I'll mention her, that cat, the show cat is Libby Liberia Gilbout working the night shift. Side Hustle School is part of the Onward Project curated by bestselling author Gretchen Rubin. Gretchen has been working on a project to help us have a happier Labor Day, which is coming up pretty soon.
I'll be telling you more about that as we go along. You can also check out her podcast, Happier with Gretchen Rubin, as well as Happier in Hollywood, another great show on the Onward Project. Last but not least, before I leave you to the day, I want to thank you, the listener, that's correct, you. Thank you so much. If you're listening, you're the reason I do this.
You are the reason we make the show. Myself, AC, Sarah, Whitney, Jed, some other folks who help out from time to time. My commitment is to support you in your quest to create that new source of income. Perhaps that side hustle you've been thinking about but have not turned into reality. And I would encourage you, I would challenge you to make the commitment to make this part of your routine 10 minutes a day.
Every day you're gonna hear an interesting story and you might get an idea or it might get you thinking about something else. I always want to encourage you to take one step every day to get closer to the freedom that's important to you. If you like the show, give us a quick little shout out, a rating or a review on Apple Podcasts. It only takes a moment and it does help other people discover the show. So if you have done that, thanks so much.
I appreciate that. If you haven't done it, you can take a moment to do it. That would be awesome. But most important, remember to do something for yourself. I hope you will join me tomorrow and each day next week for more of these stories and actionable ideas.
Our episodes go online every day, 6 0 1 a.m. Eastern time. Once again, my name is Chris Guillebeau and this is Side Hustle School. [Music]
