This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
What's up, friends, listeners, community. We have just finished week number 22 of season three, Side Hustle School. This is your host, Chris Guillebeau. This week featured bat houses, a cow fat skincare line, a beer blogger, and so much more. Also some big news over here.
The "100 Side Hustles" book is out on Tuesday. You can ask for it at any local bookstore. In fact, it actually helps to ask at bookstores because then the people that work there are like, "Oh, some of our customers actually want to read this book." Or of course you can get it from Amazon.com or any online retailer. Now you can also get the details and sign up for the tour. The tour starts on Monday, sidehustleschool.com/tour.
I'll be taking you along with me, like not in my suitcase 'cause I only have a carry-on bag. But every day as I go and record the episode, I'll tell you where I am and I'll be posting online as well. Hopefully I can do that without being too annoying. Of course the show rolls on every single day, new episode, no exception to that. So have no fear, this is not a book takeover.
It's an exciting time, but we're also excited about all the great stories that are coming up. Got some really good stuff. [Music]
Now in this action-packed recap, I wanna talk about something important. What do customers want to hear from you? When they are deciding what to make a purchase, what is most important?
There's actually two concerns that are really at the heart of that decision. It's super important that you understand what people are thinking, what they're afraid of, why they might be eager, like ready to give you their money, ready to sign up or make that purchase, but they also have some fears. And if you're trying to sell them a product or service, it's your job to reassure them. I'll also bring you an audio update from a previously featured side hustler. But let's talk about this a bit more.
What do customers wanna hear? Now you've probably heard this statistic or perhaps one like it. The statistic is every day, the average consumer will see 3,000 advertising messages. There's probably some Reddit thread somewhere where people debate whether it's more like 2,000 or 10,000 or whatever the number is. The point is that the average person is exposed to a lot of advertising on the average day.
So you might think, well, I've got this product or service. I'm trying to make this offer. How could I possibly, possibly break through all that noise? And to that point, there's some good news. The good news is that we aren't as resistant to marketing as you might think.
Like all of us, in fact, we all buy stuff. We all pay attention. We are all persuadable. I have loyalty program cards in my wallet from coffee shops I haven't been to in three years. I'm really bad about that.
You might not have that particular habit, but I'm guessing that you also are not as resistant to marketing as you think. Also, when it comes to products and services we're interested in, we actually want to be marketed to. If you think about it, think about your favorite retailer, your favorite online store, your favorite clothing shop or other offline store. Haven't you ever been excited about a sale from your favorite retailer? What if you found out that they had a sale, like a really big sale, huge discount, special promotion, buy one, get one, whatever it is.
They had this huge sale, but you didn't hear about it. You might actually feel remorseful. You might think, well, how did I miss it? You might even sign up for their email list to make sure you don't miss the next one or follow them on social media or whatever it is. So we're not as resistant to marketing as most of us think.
And when it comes to products and services we're interested in, we want to be marketed to. But what is it that holds us back? What is it that we want to hear or even need to hear before we can make that purchasing decision? What it comes down to essentially is we want to believe as a consumer that we will be better off if we purchase this product or service. If we exchange our money and not just our money but also our time, which is especially important in a service business situation, we really want to believe we will be better off if we exchange our money for this product or service.
And if we can be reassured on that point, both logically and emotionally, and let's not get too meta here, that most purchasing decisions are actually quite emotional. They're more emotional than logical. But if we believe that we'll be better off if we make this purchase, it's worth our money and our time, any other commitment or resource that we have to exchange in order to receive it, if we believe we'll be better off, that's when we'll make the decision. So potential customers really want to know, am I going to be better off? Is it worth my time and my money?
If the answer is yes, then you're on the right track. If they have any other doubt about it or any question about it, then that's where it gets challenging. So you want to do everything you can to provide a clear answer to that question, that statement. I will be better off if I purchase this product or service because it's going to change my life, because it's going to help me lose five pounds, because it's going to remind me of something important. Whatever the benefit is, if I have confidence that that statement is true, then as a consumer, I'm much more likely to make a purchase.
All right, so remember that, and let's go to the audio update. I believe this is an update from a good friend of mine named Sean Ogle. Let's hear from him. - What's up? This is Sean Ogle from Portland, Oregon, and my side hustle is called The 80 Club and was featured in episode 263.
The 80 Club is an online community for private golf club members from across the world. Since my episode aired, we've grown to about 215 members from 34 states and 14 countries. We've hosted eight events across the United States, and this year we've got four more in Boston, Kansas, Coeur d'Alene, and even Bermuda. It's been a really exciting ride, but I've learned that running multiple events a year outside of your hometown, and in one instance outside the country, is way more work than you'd expect. Our membership is growing and the feedback has been awesome for members, but I've run into a challenge with time management, as what started out as a total side project is now a full-time job, or at least there's enough work that it should be.
If there's one piece of advice I can give based on what I've learned with The 80 Club, it's that niching down is the absolute best thing you can do with the membership community. On my website, Breaking80.com, about five to 10% of my readers are members of private clubs. Of those, just a fraction of them are likely to welcome strangers to visit their home courses, they like to travel to see new golf courses, and they like to geek out about golf online. So of my bigger audience, probably only two to 3% are a good fit for what we're offering, but for that small percentage, it's a perfect fit and it makes sales relatively easy. Next up, I'm planning to form more formal partnerships with existing golf clubs.
I'm planning to bring someone on board to help manage the events, and I'm gonna shift from proving the model works to trying to add as much value for our current members as possible. Overall, it's been awesome to see my side hustle grow, and I can't wait to see where it goes from here. - Awesome, thank you so much, Sean. 200-plus members with, I think he said, eight events coming up all across the country and in Bermuda as well. Totally hear that also about the time management and full-time job, part-time side hustle situation.
It's something that a lot of our folks have found themselves in. But of course, it's also a good problem to have. So always good to know that something is working well, and of course, continues to evolve. And if you wanna check out what Sean is up to, I believe that website is breaking80.com. And if I'm not mistaken, it's also Breaking 80 on Instagram.
We will link those up in the show notes. [Music]
All right, if you have a comment or question, we'd love to hear from you as well, listeners. You can send an email to podcast@sidehustleschool.com. You can call up our Hustle Hotline, 8449 Hustle. That's also 8449487853.
Or you can also use your phone to make a voice memo and send that along in an email as well. As mentioned, we've got some really strong stories coming up to coincide with the book launch. We've got a guy in Toronto who owns juice bars and decides that that's not enough for him. So he goes out and starts a side hustle selling weighted blankets. And he actually does really, really well with these weighted blankets, multiple six figures.
I've also got a story about a magician, a graphic designer leading guided sailing tours throughout the Mediterranean, which actually looks really cool. I wanna go on one of these tours myself. And of course, much more. So before I sign off on the weekend and go into a whole new season, I do wanna say thank you. I'm gonna thank our production crew, which I really appreciate them.
But I also wanna say thank you to you listeners for more than 800 episodes now. You're the reason I make this show. I said the very first episode, if you make the commitment to make this part of your routine, then I'm committing too. Like I really wanna help you in your quest to create a new source of income, a creative outlet, a sense of security, a sense of possibility and opportunity, whatever it is. That's why I do this every single day.
That's really what motivates me. And of course, I can't do this by myself. So I am super grateful to a producer, Chuck Reed, content manager, Whitney Karinic, Community Liaison, Jed Chang, Kat Herder, Tina Hart, the official show cat, Libby Gillibow, and a few other folks who might be joining our team soon. So I'll introduce them to you at some point. But all of us at Team Side Hustle School are part of the Amur Project.
That's led by bestselling author Gretchen Rubin. She's got a fantastic podcast called Happier with Gretchen Rubin. You can also check out Happier in Hollywood, as well as the new show, which is super, super cool. I've been enjoying it myself. It's called Do The Thing with Melissa Urban.
All those programs are available in Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. And speaking of Apple Podcasts, if you do me a favor and give me a quick little rating or review, that would be super cool. I really appreciate that. All of our growth has come from listeners talking about the show, telling their friends, hey, gotta check this thing out because there's all kinds of different ways to make money. And you can do that without quitting your job and without spending a lot of money.
That's our mission every single day. And I hope you'll join me again tomorrow and each day next week. So much more is on the way. I'm so grateful to be able to make this show. So I'm gonna sign off for now.
Episodes go online at 601 a.m. Eastern time. My name is Chris Guillebeau and this is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
