This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Side Hustle School listeners, welcome back. My name is Chris Guillebeau and guess what? Today is episode 90, 9-0. We are in fact 90 episodes in, beginning our countdown to episode 100. My campaign promise for those first 100 days was to bring you a different, unique, interesting, and actionable story every single day of someone who starts a side hustle without quitting their job.
I told you, I'd tell you how they got the idea, how they did it, what went well, the challenges they encountered, how much money they made, all that kind of stuff. I hope you agree, I have kept that campaign promise, and I assure you that so much more is on the way. So more about that as we go along. But first, an unrelated question. Do you have a favorite karaoke song?
Mine is probably "Don't Stop Believing." And it all comes from a few years ago when Brene Brown was speaking at an event I produced, World Domination Summit. And I introduced her and she dragged me on the stage to sing "Don't Stop Believing" as a duet with her in front of about 1,000 people. And I only learned this was happening at the tech rehearsal the night before the event. Somehow I actually got through it and it was a lot of fun. And since then, I've been a lot more confident at karaoke.
That's a fun fact for you, but today's story is even better than that. It's all about an academic advisor who creates a profitable karaoke league by using his skills to create community. [Music]
And now our story. About five years ago, Jesse Rauch was working his regular nine to five job as an academic advisor. He spent his free time competing in a weekly kickball league, as one does, or at least as many young professionals in Washington, DC do.
And that's when he said he had a Eureka moment. After a game one night, he was having a few drinks at a karaoke bar. In between sipping vodka and belting out sweet Caroline, inspiration struck. Why not take the design of a social competitive league like kickball and apply it to karaoke? He shared the thought with a friend and made a few notes that evening, but it was the next day when he woke up feeling more sober but still thought it was a good idea.
In his normal job at a local community college, Jesse says that even though his students challenged him, he hadn't felt like he was flexing his creative muscles. He wanted to really make something of his own. And this was an idea he thought was worth pursuing. Jesse got to work on creating a league and soon after district karaoke was born. Its design was somewhat similar to a sports setup as teams of up to eight people would register to compete against each other in one-on-one and group karaoke match-ups.
Then everyone in the bar, whether they were involved in the singing or not, could vote on the winners using a web-based app. Jesse opened registration and after being featured in a local blog was able to fill all 48 available spots in just six days. He then officially kicked off the business the following month using his 30th birthday as motivation. In addition to his friends, Jesse's new customers came to his birthday party, which helped him build more early momentum. Since then, district karaoke has consistently filled almost all available spots, which have grown to 200 per season.
The league now runs three 10-week seasons every year, including playoffs and finals, with each division made up of six teams. Jesse's startup costs were fairly low since he used outside DJs that were paid by the bars. But he soon realized he wanted more control over the league in order to grow it. He invested about $20,000 to license the music, purchase equipment, and build the voting app. The business has been profitable since the first season, and he only made those investments once he knew it was working.
Now, district karaoke brings in about $65,000 a year. The money comes from individual registration fees, the host bars, and sponsorships. To get the word out, Jesse relies on the performers themselves as his salespeople. It was through then that district karaoke was able to expand to all those additional seasons and one to four nights per week. However, in the beginning, even though he did save money, he definitely had to make up for it with his time.
That first year, he poured 30 to 40 hours each week into district karaoke on top of his day job. Remember, he was young and motivated. He wanted to build something of his own. And now, after bringing people in to manage daily operations, he only has to devote 10 hours or so each week to it. District karaoke is expanding.
It's now in Baltimore, Chicago, New York City, and LA. Its members have now sung more than 10,000 different songs, with the 50 most popular songs sung more than 1,200 times in competitions, including "Sweet Caroline" and "Don't Stop Believing." For Jesse, this side hustle has brought several benefits. He's been able to switch day jobs, a move that he credits to the new skills he gained through starting this project. He's been able to save money for vacations. And not only that, he's been able to find true love.
One night, while hosting a district karaoke happy hour, Jesse says he looked to his right and saw the most beautiful woman in the world. They talked, danced, and sang, and he tried his best to impress her. Something must have worked because it's been four years now, they are still going strong, and of course, they even have a special karaoke song. [Music]
As I said, it's a fun story, you're on episode number 90, and I really like how community has been key to Jesse's success. Sure, it was a fun idea, and of course, he had to work hard, but he sees potential in forming communities around specific interests, and then as a bonus, making them profitable.
Jesse has this hypothesis that people are always looking for others who share their interests as a way to find friends and build professional networks, especially in a city like Washington, where there are so many young people, it's a very transitory city with lots of people coming and going, and if someone can creatively connect people and curate a positive experience, like a karaoke league, then it's only natural that people will choose to pay for it. So on the show, as you know, I try to show you different models of starting income-generating projects. Sometimes we feature data-intensive projects for people who are really into spreadsheets, while some people are good at being connectors and facilitating shared experiences, like what you heard about today. So if that's what you're into, if that's what you're good at, the amount of coordination required would drive a lot of us totally crazy, but for other people, it's perfect. So as always, think about what's best for you.
Think about your skills, your interests, how those things connect to what other people find valuable. Combine that with an idea. You should get at least one idea from the show every day, in addition to all the others you have yourself, just by acquiring these skills. And as you combine your idea with action, maybe you'll end up with a story of your own. If you wanna see the show notes for today's episode, learn about District Karaoke, just come over to sidehustleschool.com/9090.
I'm Chris Guillebeau, this is "Side Hustle School." Don't stop believing. [Music]
