This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hello, what's up? Welcome, my friends. We have just finished week number 27 of season three. That would be season three of Side Hustle School. I am your host, Chris Guillebeau.
Very excited, honored, privileged, grateful to have the chance to bring to you daily stories of people investing in themselves through the power of an income generating project. This week's stories featured a bendy straw idea that raised $1.8 million on Kickstarter. Huge success there. A new mom who creates postpartum recovery kits for other new moms. Also really great story, loved working on that one.
And an online tea store that becomes a matcha made in heaven. And of course, several others as well. Now I recently made a course for LinkedIn Learning. If you have a LinkedIn premium membership, you already have access to LinkedIn Learning. It's basically the online learning platform for LinkedIn.
And they've got tons of courses there. I recently made one called The Art of the Side Hustle. Had a lot of fun working on it with them. If you have that membership, you can access it on demand. Just go to your learning app or directly from LinkedIn.com.
I'll be doing two more courses with them later this month. I'll keep you posted tomorrow night. I'll actually be live in San Francisco to talk about the new book, "100 Side Hustles." We're making up for a previous date that we had to cancel when we had a venue issue. And I might have some other cities available as well. Just go to sidehustleschool.com/tour for the latest updates and info on that.
Now, last but not least, I am excited about getting to breathe a little bit. This past month has been really intense with book launch, the 14 city tour, 14 cities and counting, and then last week's world domination summit, which I host for a lot of people, people from all over the world, every state, every Canadian province and more than 20 countries who all visit Portland. So I did that last week, love it. And I love all of those things, but it is nice to breathe a little bit. I like to stay busy, but it's also good to not be overscheduled.
So I'm very much looking forward to the next two months when I just have a little bit more of a normal workload. I'm still doing a lot of stuff every day, still working on projects, but I don't feel quite overloaded. That's what's happening with me. Today, we have an audio update from a mother and son duo. But first, let's talk about something important.
Does your idea pass the grandmother test? That's right, the grandmother test. So in the $100 startup, a book I wrote a long time ago, I challenged readers to always think about their business from the perspective of how it helps people. I encourage them to write their business's mission statement in a single sentence. Now, if it helps, think about explaining your business, or let's say your business idea, your side hustle idea, think about explaining it to your grandmother or any other non-traditional figure, somebody you might not think about when you think about pitching your business idea.
The point is someone a bit removed from you, perhaps generationally and certainly subject-wise. So somebody who's not your friend, somebody who's not working in the same industry, how would you explain your business to that person? And if it helps, just think of your grandmother. So here are a few updated examples of that. Like in the book, I gave a bunch of examples, but here we are now.
Let's talk about the stories from side hustle school. Here's one from this week. So I mentioned the mom who's making these mom boxes, which are essentially postpartum recovery kits. So here we go, one sentence. A new mom makes postpartum recovery boxes for other new moms, saving them the hassle of compiling a shopping list or having to figure out what they need.
So you notice how it's really simple, it's really clear. It contains this benefit and it also clearly identifies the target market. Now here's another one from the previous week. We did a story, let's see if this was episode 9-10. What was the title there?
Irish athleisure brand achieves seamless six-figure sales. So here for that one sentence grandmother test, three guys in Ireland start a coffee plus gym athleisure brand for people who don't want to go to the pub for social hour. Now in that case, we might want to replace the word athleisure with something that's a little bit more well-known like fashion, the downside there is it's a bit generic as well, but if we're just thinking really simple, three guys in Ireland start a coffee and gym fashion brand for people who don't want to go to the pub for social hour. In other words, for people who don't want to drink a lot, they actually are more active. What is the brand for them?
And last but not least, here is one from tomorrow's story. So you haven't actually heard the story yet, but just hear the one sentence, two friends make all natural nutrition gels, no processed food to help mountain bikers and other endurance athletes avoid the dreaded bonk. So just to define a word there that may not be familiar to everyone, the bonk is when you're doing some kind of race, whether it's a bike race or running race, any other kind of extended endurance event. If you don't get the electrolytes, carbohydrates you need over time, then you're actually gonna have this major energy crash and it's gonna be really difficult to continue. That's what a bonk is.
So we could just say energy crash, two friends make all natural nutrition gels, no processed food to help mountain bikers and other endurance athletes avoid the energy crash. So in each of these instances, all three of them, the ideas are simple, that's the grandmother test, and also focused on the benefit provided to the end user. That would be the customers, those new moms who are overwhelmed and exhausted and would love to just have this box show up at their door. That's why 60 to 70% of the mom boxes are actually bought as gifts, because somebody's like, hey, I wanna take care of someone in my life who's going to be a new mom. The end users for the coffee and gym athleisure brand, well, those are the people who are living a little bit different life than perhaps was the generational norm in Ireland for a long time.
And then the one for tomorrow, those customers are mountain bikers or other endurance athletes, all right? So that's your challenge. Write your mission statement in a single sentence. Make sure it passes that grandmother test. It's so simple, you could easily explain it to your grandma or to anyone else, anybody else who is removed from the topic that you're working on.
All right, so I got that audio update coming up from a mother and son duo. They were actually featured in the new book, really fun story, and a lot has happened since they were first on the show. So this is Brandy and Kyler, but first let's have a shout out to our sponsor. Really appreciate them helping us keep the lights on, allowing us to bring all this content to you every single day for free. So shout out to them.
And then we'll hear from Brandy and Kyler. [Music]
Hey, this is Brandy Russell. - And Kyler Russell. Our slide hustle is a comfy cup and it was featured on episode number 146. - Since then, we have shifted the majority of our product fulfillment to FBA or fulfillment by Amazon.
- This has been huge for us. Our day-to-day workload has decreased significantly. My sister and I used to have to wake up early and fill orders before school. Now Amazon takes care of that. - The switch to FBA gave us prime shipping status and our product sales have almost tripled from last year.
Although Amazon takes a bigger cut on product sales, which are fulfilled by Amazon, they take $5.44 per item versus $2.93 for seller fulfilled. - The increase in sales has resulted in increased revenue for us and the ability to purchase more inventory at a lower cost from our manufacturer. - We also obtained a registered trademark on our brand named Comfy Cup. - We consulted with several attorneys who advised us that it was unlikely to get approved for the trademark and it would cost thousands of dollars. But through advice from fellow inventors at the Kansas City Inventors Center and the video resources on the US Patent and Trademark website, we learned how to file the trademark application ourselves for a low fee of $225.
- We just received the official registered trademark certificate in the mail this summer. I learned if you really want something, go for it. Just because people, even experts, say you can't, doesn't mean it's impossible. We also added a new color to the Comfy Cup product line. We sell blue, green, and now black Comfy Cups, all for boys ages seven to 11 years old.
- Our increased revenue has provided us with an opportunity to explore ways to expand our product line. - We want to offer a bigger Comfy Cup and compression shorts to wear for the Comfy Cup, something our customers are asking for. - Amazing, thank you so much, Brandi and Kyler. I remember when I first found this story long, long ago, I was just really excited about it. I love stories of families that are working together to create not just a fun little project, not just a lemonade stand, but something that is an actual sustainable business, bringing in tens of thousands of dollars.
I forget the exact financials of the Comfy Cup and where they are recently, but remember, it's really a significant thing. So congratulations again, Brandi and Kyler, and of course, the whole family. Everybody, if you'd like to learn more, you can check out thecompycup.com, which we will link up in the show notes. [Music]
It is now time for me to sign off, but I'm really excited to bring you an all new set of stories very soon, including that one I mentioned briefly, the two mountain bikers who create an all natural energy gel. I've also got a story that was fun to work on, all about Paint by Numbers, a woman in Tennessee, I believe, who makes Paint by Numbers kits.
She's actually doing really well, she's a teacher, and I think it was like $30,000 in profit last year, and now she's on track to double that this year, and is actually looking at making a whole career change because of this project. You never know what's gonna happen if you just kind of take that next step from, okay, I've got this vague idea to what would it actually look like? What would the product be? What is my one sentence, grandmother test approved mission statement? How am I gonna reach people with it?
Who are the ideal customers or clients? All these kinds of things that can seem overwhelming, but that's why it's all about taking small steps. And my greatest hope, my greatest aspiration with this program is to help you do that. So if you're listening, you're the reason I make this show. I have said now for 918 episodes and counting, not only is inspiration good, but action is better.
If you make the commitment to make this part of your routine a daily 10-minute routine, I commit to supporting you in your quest to create that new source of income. Whatever it is, that side us all idea that you have thought about for a while, but for whatever reason, haven't turned into reality. Or if you have turned into reality, great, let's go to the next level. How can we improve? How can we make your work more optimal, efficient, effective, and so on?
Now when I say we, it's not just me working on the show. Do you want to say big thanks to producer Chuck Reed, content manager Whitney Karinek, community liaison, Jed Chang, Cat Herder, Tina Hart, official show cat Libby Gilavo, and everyone else who is a part of team Side Hustle School. Together, we belong to The Onward Project, curated by best selling author Gretchen Rubin. Check out her show, Happier, as well as Happier in Hollywood, and the new program from Melissa Urban. Yes, it's not super new now, but I still think of it as new.
I think it's awesome. It is called Do The Thing. You can find all of these programs completely free wherever you listen to podcasts. It could be Apple Podcasts, that could be Spotify, it could be somewhere entirely different. Wherever you listen to shows, you can find those, and it would also be amazing and super cool if you leave me a quick rating or review for the show, Status Will School, in Apple Podcasts.
Just takes a moment and it helps other people discover the program. You can also tell your friends, or even better, show them how to subscribe. That's it for now. I hope you'll join me again tomorrow and every day next week with more stories and actionable ideas. Episodes go online at 6.01 a.m. Eastern Time, every day.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From The Onward Project.
