This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Let us talk today about the interaction between your job and your side hustle. If you've been around for a while, you may have heard me say some of this before. My position is that your side hustle needn't be harmful to your job. They're not necessarily in opposition all the time. In fact, it can be beneficial.
You can create a win-win, sometimes a win-win-win for all the parties. And when I say beneficial, I mean it can be good for your employer too. But I'm mostly thinking about you, right? Because I'm not looking out for your employer. I'm trying to look out for you.
That is the whole purpose of side hustle school, which by the way, welcome to the show. My name is Chris Guillebeau. Our mission, our single-minded mission is to help you create a new source of income so you're not dependent on that one paycheck from your employer. And that is the goal even if you love your employer, even if you're perfectly satisfied in your job and have no plans to leave, well, that's great. Because if you've got more than one source of income, you have options, it doesn't mean you have to quit your job or take a big risk or start a big business.
It is ultimately about empowerment. And speaking of empowerment, and speaking of that interaction between your job and your side hustle, you might not be too surprised that that is the subject we're looking at today through a different lens. Can you get paid twice for the same thing? Well, in some cases, perhaps. And in this story, it's all smoothies and smooth moves for this dual role nutritionist from Colorado who reworks her role to get paid twice.
Here's a quick thank you to our sponsor and then I'll tell you all about it. [Music]
After finishing grad school, Hayley Hughes thought that her master's degree in dietetics was a one-way ticket to a job in a hospital or food service setting. And that's about it. So she got a job in a Colorado hospital as their registered dietician. She liked that job.
She got to work with new patients every day and help them live a better life. But as much as she liked it, after a few years working there, Hayley knew there was more she could do. She wanted a chance to be supportive, hold her clients accountable and coach them for more than the 15 minutes at a time she got to spend with hospital patients. So on a cold day, just a few months ago, Hayley decided she was gonna get her foot in the door. She went to leave her newly printed business card at her favorite local coffee shop.
The owner was there and asked Hayley if she'd be interested in doing a nutrition analysis for their menu items. She had a project going from day one. This analysis was both a lesson in time management and in making bold moves to launch a side hustle. It ended up taking a lot longer than she anticipated, but it was still the perfect first step and confidence booster that she needed. Next, she went to leave a card at a women's boutique and the owner asked if she would organize a 5K running race.
Never one to shy from a challenge, Hayley went all in and said, "Of course." Over 50 women showed up for the race. She called her new venture, RDRX, and she did everything she could to promote it. She was learning, both from her clients and their experiences, that there were more ways to educate and promote health than most people thought. Not only that, but she was having way more fun doing it too. Again, this is just a few months old, but so far she's averaging about $1,000 in additional monthly income.
That money has helped her and her husband travel to Bora Bora and dream about their next trip to Italy. So a few months in, what does she wish she had done differently? Well, Hayley admits she started on the low side of pricing because her closest comparison was based off of competitors, but they didn't have the same credentials, experience, or education that she did. Fortunately, she learned fairly quickly that she had to raise her rate because of all the additional time she spent checking in with her clients, creating meal plans for them, and just other admin work that she didn't anticipate when she first started. In terms of marketing, she saw the most success in reach when she shared recipes and meal plans online.
She's also been featured in magazines like Women's Health, Shape, and Reader's Digest. But she says that most of her clients so far are from word of mouth, physician referrals, or her local CrossFit gym, where she is a certified trainer. This success has inspired her to seek loftier goals, like expanding into virtual counseling, where she can serve people outside her local area. She says there are so many fad diets and misinformed people, and her mission is to make healthy eating realistic and sustainable. Going to grad school has paid off for Hayley, and in more ways than one.
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So before we close it out, I wanna speak to anybody out there who is interested in coaching, anyone who's interested in doing some kind of consultation, advising, mentorship, or as I said, coaching, there's something that's really important in this kind of business. And I really believe that the magic combination, like what you're looking for to be successful as this kind of coach, is the combination of being relatable and being authoritative. So I'm looking at Hayley's site. She does this really well. I'm gonna break it down a bit.
So first of all, when I look at her about page, there's a happy smiling photo of her, which is great. We'll come back to relatable in a second. But also like right from the top, it's like my qualifications. And then under that header, it says, I am a credentialed registered dietician and certified diabetes educator, which means I completed an internship, master's degree, took nationally accredited exams, and am held to high ethical and education standards. All right, so a lot of stuff there.
The point is she is qualified. There's a whole paragraph below that called experience and community involvement. I have experience as a clinical dietician in the outpatient and inpatient settings. I've also worked in fitness, food service, and community environments. I'm the president of the Northern Colorado Dietetics Association.
On and on it goes. And the whole point of that is to inspire confidence. To say, okay, this person knows what she's talking about. You know, like we all have our struggles, but if you're trying to address one of your struggles, if you're trying to overcome a challenge, you wanna go to somebody who's got it figured out. You don't wanna go to somebody and say, hey, like I'm really trying to make some changes in my diet and exercise.
You know, I'm not feeling that great. I feel like I'm out of shape, wanna lose weight, whatever. And them to say, oh yeah, me too. I'm working on that as well. I'm glad we found each other.
Right, can you imagine? Like, no, you wanna go to somebody who's like, you know what, I know what we should do. Because I have this expertise. And here's what I've learned from working with a lot of other people, some of whom are just like you, or at least they're similar to you. And I know that we can create a plan that will work.
Okay, so that is authoritative. Now the second thing, the reason why I think the combination is so important is relatability. So on Haley's website, she's got this little personal section. And even in the notes that she sent to us, you know, she told us all about her qualifications, but she also said, oh, I love coffee, donuts, and my dogs. And I saw that and I was like, oh, that's fun.
You know, you don't expect a dietician to say that she loves donuts, but I actually like that. I relate to that because I like donuts. Can you be healthy and still enjoy a donut once in a while? It seems like you can, that's interesting. Then on her website, she talks about how she likes to run with her dogs, she likes to travel.
She's originally from Alaska. She enjoys the outdoors with her husband, you know, all this kind of stuff, right? So it's like, oh, I can relate to this person. She's a real person. Not only can I trust her with her knowledge, but I think she's kind of a cool person.
And like, she's gonna understand and be a cheerleader, be sympathetic and empathetic to me. And then last but not least, just because she does such a good job with this, she has an overarching summary with a call to action on that same website. So here's how that sounds. She says, "I practice what I preach. I'm a nonjudgmental, realistic dietician, and I've worked with hundreds of clients with much success.
I am dedicated and determined to help each and every one of my clients achieve their health goals." So I like that because it's almost like putting out a challenge. It's like, look, you know, I'm doing this too, basically. I'm not judgmental. You don't have to worry about whatever habits you have. Like we all have bad habits.
That's why we're trying to get help. And once again, she's worked with hundreds of clients with much success. All right, so track record, authoritative, relatable, all that kind of stuff. And that's what is gonna allow you to stand out as a coach or a consultant or whatever word you choose, especially in a really crowded market like the health and wellness market. All right, I hope that is helpful to someone.
I will get off my soapbox now and say farewell. Don't forget, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better. Our show notes for today are at situssleschool.com/630. If you wanna see that nice website and take a look at that copy I mentioned. I also wanna give a shout out to a good friend of mine, Jonathan Fields.
He has a wonderful podcast called "Good Life Project." And if you have not listened to "Good Life Project," you should go and check it out. He's got lots of thoughtful, insightful, meaningful interviews with really interesting people, some of whom are good friends of mine as well. Renee Brown, Marie Forleo, Seth Godin even did an interview with me once, but you don't wanna listen to that because you already hear enough of me. Anyway, check out "Good Life Project," wherever you listen to podcasts. And don't forget to come back here tomorrow.
Once again, my name is Chris Guillebeau and this is Side Hustle School.
