This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
From children's books about real life to a buzzworthy six-figure beekeeping business to a Frenchman who says bonjour to $35,000 a month in foodie profits. Oh my gosh, this week has been full of adventure and lessons. And by the way, welcome to Sadduceville School. We have just finished week number 34 of season two. And not only that, but we also celebrated crossing the Rubicon of episode 600.
Where does that phrase come from, by the way? Did a little research. Julius Caesar was once told by the Roman Senate to disband his army and return to Rome. And most important of all, do not cross the Rubicon River to make a 600th podcast episode. Well, we all know what Caesar said to that, or at least we'll all know in about one second.
He said, "Ilea Iacta est," the dye is cast, no going back. And by the way, no comments on my Latin pronunciation. He also asked his listeners to leave him a five-star review on iTunes. And it was still called iTunes back then. This was 49 BC before the name changed to Apple Podcasts.
Anyway, that's where we get the phrase crossing the Rubicon from. And thank you for crossing that river with me. 600 episodes down, many more to come. All right, let's see what else is happening this week. At the moment, I'm recording this podcast in Arizona.
I'm actually close to Tucson, just a little bit outside of Tucson. I have been to Phoenix, the Phoenix Tempeh Scottsdale area many times, but I think this is actually my first time to come to Tucson, or at least close to it. While I'm here, I am working as always because I feel fortunate. I love my work, I love what I do. And speaking of work, Labor Day is coming up soon, and we are gonna just reimagine, reinvent that whole concept, and we're gonna call it Happier Labor Day.
There's gonna be a hashtag for this. You'll never guess what it is. It is #happierlaboreday. And this project is the invention of Gretchen Rubin, who I have mentioned many times on the show. She is a good friend and mentor to me.
And Recital School is part of her Onward Project imprint. Now, on a recent episode of her popular podcast called Happier with Gretchen Rubin, that was episode number 184, she talked a bit more about this Happier Labor Day concept. And she is beginning to share some tips with her listeners. One of the things that they featured on that show was this concept of how, if you're thinking of making a switch, you can stick your toe in by just starting to learn more. Okay, you can listen to relevant podcasts.
You could join a Facebook group, find a smart person, and kind of study what they've done, reverse engineer it perhaps, rather than just going out and doing a whole bunch of extensive research yourself. And the principle behind this is that it can be intimidating to think about making a big change or starting something new, but these steps can be small and manageable. Yet at the same time, they will also build on one another. They will get you going, they will get you to a destination at least once you take those small steps. And then they also talked about something that I have mentioned from time to time, particularly at the end of the year or the beginning of the year, the concept of choosing a one-word theme for the year.
Now, I would encourage you, like if you're listening to this in real time, it is August or perhaps September, it doesn't really matter. You don't have to wait for January 1 to set a resolution or make a goal or say, here is my intention, here is my theme, here's what I'm gonna do going forward. So for those who have already set your theme or intention for the year, maybe you could do a little check-in and say, how am I doing with that? Am I still on track with that? Do I need to make some adjustments, take some of those small steps or perhaps bigger steps to make sure I am in alignment with the values and goals I set at the beginning of the year?
Or if you didn't do that, well, like I said, never too late. You could set a goal that goes from August to August or September to September or whatever it is. It doesn't really matter. This is all just about taking steps, small steps, medium steps, big steps toward getting you to a happier, more meaningful and more fulfilled life, which is ultimately the underlying goal of a lot of stuff that we do, both with Gretchen's project, Inside Us Will School, and Happier in Hollywood, another popular podcast that's on that imprint. It really is all about making your life better in a way that is significant and meaningful to you.
[Music]
Okay, moving on, for the past couple of weeks, we've been doing this little blast from the past, a throwback update from somebody that we featured on the show long ago. Now, today is no exception. We've got an update from Meredith, and Meredith is gonna tell us a little bit about her business, what she was doing when we first featured her, and how it has grown and transitioned since then. So, take it away, Meredith. - Hey there, this is Meredith, and I'm a teacher from Portland, Oregon.
My side hustle is awalderofjourney.com. A blog and podcast about Waldorf education, where I sell curriculum materials for Waldorf teachers and homeschoolers. And a Waldorf journey was featured way back on episode number 13. Now, since then, I released a few more curriculum guides and lesson plans, and my following of teachers and homeschoolers has really grown. In the past year, many more teachers and homeschoolers have been coming to me with specific questions via email, and I'm always happy to help them.
But connecting with individual followers in this way has inspired me to launch a completely new part of my business, a group teacher coaching program. This summer, the first Waldorf journey group coaching program started with a small number of motivated teachers and homeschoolers who have spent the past few weeks sharing resources and working through goals that I send out every week. And I've loved the greater connection that this format has allowed for myself and my followers. The group has been so successful that now I'm planning a year round rotation of teacher coaching with different themes depending on teachers' different needs at different times of the year. I'll help with curriculum planning in the summer, classroom management in the fall, and report writing in the spring.
And the best part about it is that I get to know my audience even better along the way and further refine what I have to offer them. So this is my advice to fellow side hustlers. Look for ways to get to know your customers. When I took the time to get to know my audience even more, I found that my customers had questions that weren't being addressed in the curriculum guides I was producing. And I loved answering their questions.
I mean, I really love talking about teaching, but this new coaching program means that I can answer their questions and make some extra income at the same time. It's opened up my business in a completely new direction that I really like. So that's my update. Thanks so much, Chris, for all that you do and everybody keep hustling. - Awesome, thank you, Meredith.
I really appreciate you sharing that update with us. Wow, from episode 13 until now, which by the way, this is episode 603, sounds like your business has grown and transitioned. So well done. I was thinking about you last week and I may have even mentioned you briefly in episode 592, it was about an ag ed teacher, an agricultural teacher who made something like $200,000 last year selling agricultural teaching guides and all kinds of other resources. So I really am impressed with you guys, everybody who is a teacher, and yet working very resourcefully to build something for themselves, because teachers give so much and you don't have to sacrifice yourself in order to give to others, at least that's what I believe.
I really liked something that Meredith said in her update, when she was talking about that transition she was making, she said, "I found questions that weren't being addressed in the curriculum guides I was making." And by delving into that a bit deeper, it's led her to a whole new part of her business, as she explained. So what does that signify to you? You know, I personally have been noticing this myself here on Sidusle School. I think it's really important, I wanna make sure I'm modeling what I encourage you to do. So at the moment, I'm in the midst of editing a book and that happens while I'm traveling, it happens while I'm making this podcast and a bunch of other stuff that I do.
So I'm a little bit overwhelmed, but as soon as my manuscript is finished, I'm planning personally just to take a step back, regroup and say, "Okay, like this is going well, but how can we better serve our amazing community?" Like we're not going anywhere, we're gonna keep making episodes, gonna keep telling stories and trying to support our community, but I wanna make sure we're supporting you as well as we can. So I have some ideas, but I don't wanna get too far ahead of myself. Just know if you're listening, if you've been listening for a while, you're kind of wondering like, what is the direction of Sidusle School? Where are we going next? Well, just know that it is something I am mindful of.
And if you have any input or suggestions, or like Meredith found, if you have any questions that you feel aren't being well addressed, those are always welcomed. Like I would love to know what you're working on, what you're struggling with, what your greatest challenge is, so that we can make sure we're providing good solutions for those problems. If you have a question like that, or if you have a comment or an update for us or something that is just for us, or something that you might wanna share with the whole community, a couple of different ways you can reach us. You can just call the Hustle hotline and leave your short response. That number is 8449 Hustle, 8449 Hustle, or 8449487853.
Or you can make a little voice memo with your phone, iPhone, Android, whatever you use, and email that to podcast@sidehustleschool.com. Or of course, you could just write to podcast@sidehustleschool.com. I always love hearing from our listeners and more of these updates are on the way. It's really fun to kinda look back and see where somebody was at a time when we first started the show, or maybe just when we featured them a few months ago or a year ago, and see what's happened since then. If you missed Meredith's website, it is a Waldorfjourney.com.
You can follow that journey by going to Waldorfjourney.com, which of course we will link up in the show notes as well. [Music]
Okay, well as mentioned, we finished out 600 episodes this week, thank you again for everybody who's been part of the journey for a while, as well as those who are just joining. I'm so glad that you're here. Now also, we did a little compare and contrast of two episodes that I think is important. You might wanna check it out if you have not listened to these two episodes, especially if you're interested in Instagram, or if you're interested in selling a product.
The compare and contrast was found in episode 5.99. That was the episode about the avocado queen, who earned something like $40,000 by making and selling spreadable granola. Pretty cool story, and she does it all mostly through her Instagram following. And I also talked about episode 5.94. So go and listen to that one about the natural soap couple.
This is a couple in North Carolina who is making $50,000 a month. That's right, $50,000 a month, selling natural soap, again, largely through Instagram. And those two stories, even though they are both focused on Instagram as a marketing tool and building followers and engagement, as well as selling a physical product, they also have some important differences. And I think it's interesting to kind of look and see, okay, here's a path you can go down, and it's a totally acceptable path. Here is another path you can go down.
Also acceptable, but they're quite different. And so you can't really split the difference. You have to decide, am I gonna do it this way or am I gonna do it that way? Those have been two of my favorite episodes over the past couple of weeks. And I also wanna say a shout out to all of our listeners, as well as readers of my books in Canada.
We did two back-to-back features on Canadians, or in one case, I think it was a guy from France, but he's been living in Canada for 15 years. The first one, episode 600, Canadian colleagues published children's books about real life. It's just a really brave, interesting kind of project. And then 601, a Frenchman says bonjour to a $35,000 a month foodie hustle. So shout out to you guys.
Thank you so much for listening, and I hope to see you on my next tour up in Canada, which will be sometime. I'm not sure yet, but it's gonna happen. Looking ahead, as always, we've got a bunch of great stuff coming up, something called the Hangover Helpers. I look forward to hearing about that myself. I have not read the notes for that yet.
As well as something about sleepy time teddy bears that grows into a really significant business. And I just saw this in my notes. I'm gonna read you this quote, and then we're all gonna find out together what it's about. And the quote says, "We once received a 20-foot container from China "full of teddy bears at our front door "and had to unload 4,000 bears down our driveway "and into our house." I, like you, will look forward to hearing how that unfolds. Truth is stranger than fiction, especially here on Side Hustle School, where every story is true, and you're hearing all kinds of ways that people make money.
And it's totally different from what you hear everywhere else. At least, that's my intent. I'm not here to tell you to go and quit your job tomorrow. I'm not here to tell you to go and sign up for a network marketing Ponzi scheme. I'm here to encourage you to look within yourself and look at the skills you already have, maybe learn a few simple things about running a business, which are not that complicated at all, and then put them to work so that you can create a new source of income for yourself.
That is the mission of the show. That is what I'm working on every single day. And that is also a good segue to closing out the week and just saying thank you to a few people who make this possible. I really, really appreciate our production team. They are just wonderful folks who work on this show pretty much as hard as me, in some cases harder than me, depending on the week, depending on what's going on.
So I'm very grateful to them. That team consists largely of our senior producer, A.C. Valdez, our content manager, Whitney Karinek, assistant producer, Sarah Barrett, community liaison, Jed Chang, and the official show cat, Libby Liberia-Gillibo. There are a few other people who help out from time to time as well. Thank you guys.
You're wonderful. I really appreciate you. And all of us at Team Silesle School are part of The Onward Project, which is curated by bestselling author Gretchen Rubin, as mentioned. I'll tell you more about Happy Your Labor Day next week. For now, you can check it out at theonwardproject.com.
And my final thank you of the day, my final thank you of the week is to you, the listener. That's right, you, you're a rock star. Once again, my hope and my intention is to help you make this part of your life, not just listening to a podcast, but taking action on it by applying what you learn to create more freedom for yourself so that you can do what is important to you. Whether that is eventually quitting your job and going full-time, or it is just making some extra money or paying off debt or pursuing a creative project or otherwise having ownership and autonomy over something you create, I think is so, so important. No matter who you are, no matter what you're doing, even if you love your job and have no plans to quit, this can only be good for you.
So however you found the show, thank you for joining me. And this is, by the way, just to be clear, a free listener supported show. If you're enjoying it, I'd be super grateful if you could give us a quick little rating and review and iTunes only takes a moment. Wait a second, it's not iTunes, it's Apple Podcasts, I'm still stuck back in 49 BC. Sorry about that.
Apple Podcasts, that will help other people discover the show, and you can also tell your friends, or even better, show them how to subscribe. Because a demonstration goes a long way, a lot of people still do not know how to subscribe to podcasts or even what they are. I know that sounds weird to you probably because you're in the club, but it's so true. A lot of other people have no idea what's going on in this little world. So if you know someone who needs another source of income, send them to us, we'll take care of them.
And in every episode, I usually say inspiration is good, but action is better. It's because I hope you'll take action, I want to feature your story, and I hope to see you tomorrow and each day next week with more inspiring stories and actionable ideas. Consider this an investment in yourself, a short, easy 10-minute a day investment. Our episodes go online at 601 a.m. Eastern Time.
That is every day, seven days a week. My name is Chris Guillebeau, and this is Side Hustle School. [Music]
