High School Bootlegger Grows Up

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

What do you think of when you hear the phrase serial entrepreneur? For me, I always picture someone eating cereal. Like, you know, cereal with a C. They're like a business owner of some kind, but then they run their operation while eating Cheerios all day. Maybe that's just me.

The other thing I think a lot of us tend to think about when we hear such a lofty phrase, serial entrepreneur, we think about people like Elon Musk or Steve Jobs or Richard Branson or, you know, whoever it is. And the thing is, someone who starts multiple projects has a certain personality. And this is something that you can cultivate in yourself, even if you weren't born with it, even if you're not a billionaire, even if, like almost all of us, we're not gonna start a car company and go to outer space or do anything like that. There really is a personality type of people who start cumulative, successive projects. And this is something, as I said, that you can develop and cultivate in yourself.

So often we hear examples of this, of how one project leads to another, et cetera. Today's story begins with someone in elementary school. He goes on to become a high school bootlegger. And then one project leads to another, and now he's an electrician apprentice, like on track to becoming an electrician, working in Vancouver, Canada. And on the side, he oversees a music rehearsal space.

So I'll tell you about how he did it. I'll tell you what he learned along the way. And you might wanna think about how you can cultivate this kind of habit in yourself, not necessarily opening a music rehearsal space or becoming an electrician, but this habit of noticing things and taking action on them, pursuing opportunities. I have to encourage you in that in some way every day. My name is Chris Guillebeau, this is Side Hustle School.

Here's a message on behalf of our sponsor. I really appreciate them keeping the lights on. And then I'll tell you about this high school bootlegger who grows up. [Music]

For Jacob Pippus, his love of entrepreneurship started at an early age. Short of cash and wanting a ticket to an upcoming WWE wrestling event, this elementary school student was undeterred.

He printed and sold a dozen t-shirts that read, this sucks, I'd rather be skateboarding, and sold those t-shirts to friends at his school. Wrestling ticket secured. His next venture was admittedly illegal, but no less entrepreneurial. You see, in high school, Jacob learned how to brew his own beer. And rather than just share it with his friends, he promptly sold it at a skate park out of the back of his family minivan.

The business was immediately profitable, surprise, and he doubled his money with each batch. Also not surprisingly, the venture was short lived, as soon the police showed up at his house to discuss reports of a kid bootlegger selling beer out of a van. Fortunately, he avoided further trouble with the law. And shortly after graduation, Jacob jumped on a plane to Costa Rica for his next adventure. He was soon offered a job at the hostel where he was staying, so naturally he just missed his flight home.

Soon he put his entrepreneur cap back on and opened his own information center with bicycles, scooters, and a dirt bike for rent. He hired two employees and life was good. But after his short vacation turned into roughly seven years, Jacob, now 25 years old, decided it was time to make moves to secure his future. So he gave up his life as a semi-retired beach bum and headed back to Vancouver, Canada. And it's in Vancouver where we'll pick up the story.

Back home, Jacob became an apprentice electrician and was also playing drums in the local music scene. Through his after-hours activity, he noticed something. Many of the local rehearsal spaces were poorly maintained, difficult to work with, and expensive. He rented a permanent rehearsal space that his band shared with another band, but that place wasn't much better, at least at first. When the second man unexpectedly moved out, the landlord promised to get a new one in there as soon as possible.

But Jacob wasn't worried. Instead, he saw an opportunity and told the landlord that he'd pay the full rent. That's how the idea for Red Brick Music Studios came about. Jacob was upfront with the landlord, telling him he intended to make a profit, which was fine because the landlord was just happy to have a reliable, long-term tenant. With that deal done, Jacob decided to invest a bit of money, about $2,500, and some spare time into renovating and equipping the space with good quality gear.

He focused on minor renovations like painting, furnishing, and acoustic treatments. He was able to do all the work himself, just needed to buy those materials, and most of the startup money was invested in that high-quality, fully-functioning music equipment that musicians are happy to use. He believes they shouldn't have to have a platinum album or a million-dollar budget to have a comfortable, clean place to rehearse. The studio opened for business a month later. With the renovations complete, Jacob was just as intentional in setting up operations.

He knew that he wanted it to be a low-maintenance, passive income stream, and he also wanted to create a community. He would achieve both objectives through his pricing and the way he runs the studio. After researching prices of competition, Jacob decided to offer his studios about half of what that competition charged. He went even further by removing any time restrictions. While most studios charge by the hour, Jacob rents his studio in time blocks.

For example, a band will pay rent on the first of each month for every Monday night from 6 p.m. onwards. Not surprisingly, the bands love this because if someone in the band is running late, it doesn't matter because they have the whole night. Accordingly, the environment is also less stressful and at a more commercial studio where the experience can be rushed and expensive because they are strict with start and end times, especially when there's another band waiting at the door. These key differences have led to a loyal and consistent client base with very little turnover, and the studio was cashflow positive in the first month.

Then, a larger space in Jacob's building became available and he moved there, adding a second larger studio in the process. Today, Red Brick earns about $1,000 a month profit and only requires about an hour per week of Jacob's time to manage and maintain, which is, of course, music to his ears. He says he's most proud of the community of like-minded individuals he's created and grateful to be able to give them a place to rehearse, and a place they can not only afford to pay for, but also that they feel fortunate to be part of. After completing his electrician's apprenticeship, Jacob plans to open his own electrical company. He's also currently looking to expand to an additional studio location in the Vancouver area that is just as automated and passive as the first.

For him, this will mean work weeks will become shorter and his vacations will become longer, time that will come in handy with the recent purchase of land he made down in Costa Rica. And, of course, he's planning to start a business there, too. [Music]

All right, well, I love this story. It kind of reminds me of myself in some ways. I never was a high school bootlegger, didn't sell t-shirts at elementary school, but I would've done both of those things, I'm sure.

I just didn't happen to spot the opportunity. Also didn't have a family minivan in which I could sell that beer from the back. But probably good that I didn't actually do that because I wasn't in Canada, I was in the States, and would've actually probably gone to jail instead of just having the police laugh about it. Anyway, as I said, people aren't born this way. They can learn to spot opportunities.

They can learn to take action on them. They can learn to think differently. If you have a traditional job, just begin to develop this entrepreneurial personality. One of the things I wrote about in a book called "Born for This" is that everyone can learn to think like an entrepreneur. Everyone can learn to think entrepreneurially in your day job, in fact.

You can learn to spot money-making opportunities on the side, and hopefully through listening to this podcast and through the actions that you take, you'll be able to move forward in doing something about this, and maybe achieving a passive income stream of your own. This is $1,000 a month income stream that he has to work one hour a week for, and he probably can't live off of $1,000 a week, but he's starting other projects, and he's learning through this one that's gonna take him on to something else, to the company he's gonna start in Vancouver, to the thing he's doing at Costa Rica, whatever he does next. Again, this is a skill and a personality that you can develop yourself. So think about that. That's my encouragement for you today.

Our show notes, all right, sidehustleschool.com/957. That is for episode 957. Be sure you're subscribed. Much more is coming up, and thank you so much for listening. You're a rock star.

My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]

From the Onward Project.