Notes from Chris

Episode 2142

I’ve been watching the show Alone, which is like Survivor on steroids. You go out in the wild and have to survive entirely on your own and with limited equipment for months. I would last about two days … maybe. But as I said, great show.

Our caller today from Montana is an outdoorsman himself. He’s thinking of teaching survival skills classes, either in-person or online, but he’s not sure where to begin. Can we help him get out of the woods?

What might be a few first steps for him or someone else interested in teaching a skill?

“Hey, this is Pete from Bozeman, Montana. I’ve always been good at being in the outdoors, and these days there’s an increased interest in learning survival skills. I’ve thought about applying to teach a class at REI or somewhere else, but I have no idea how I’d go about doing it on my own.

I also wonder about the possibility of teaching some parts of it online. Years ago I never would have thought of that, but now I can imagine carrying my camera and mobile hotspot into the woods to demonstrate how to forage and start fires.

But again, I have no idea how to get started or build some kind of market for it. It feels overwhelming. What do you think I should do?”

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

SEE ALSO:

• Catholic Designer Creates Stylish Apparel Line: What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world but not sell any t-shirts? This designer cast his bread upon the waters and ended up with a profitable fashion line.
• Seattle Couple Creates New “Income LiveStream”: When a married couple runs into logistical problems at their wedding, it leads to an innovative service that other engaged couples need during the pandemic.
• Role-Playing Pastor Rolls The Dice On $2800/Month Hustle: Listener success story! This Presbyterian minister turns to his lifelong interest in role-playing games to set up a sustainable second income source.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

Notes from Chris

Episode 2141

Today we hear from a professor of sociology, and I should clarify that she is an adjunct professor. If you aren’t familiar with the U.S. university system, this is a way that colleges and universities can hire Ph.D.s and other well-educated, skilled professors to teach their classes at a fraction of the cost of a full-time professor.

It’s a great deal for the universities and terrible for the adjuncts, but what are you going to do? Someone else will take the gig if you don’t.

I probably can’t solve that problem, but it does serve as some context for our caller’s question: how can she create extra income, preferably using the skills she’s spent years training in?

“I’m an adjunct professor of sociology. I enjoy teaching, but as you may know, adjunct instructors have it pretty bad. I make less than $3,000 for an entire course, which goes for a whole semester and requires lots of prep work and student interaction in addition to the actual teaching.

I’m not complaining—okay, maybe I am—but since I’m probably not going to change how higher education works in America these days, do you have any suggestions about how I could increase my income?”

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

SEE ALSO:

• Catholic Designer Creates Stylish Apparel Line: What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world but not sell any t-shirts? This designer cast his bread upon the waters and ended up with a profitable fashion line.
• Seattle Couple Creates New “Income LiveStream”: When a married couple runs into logistical problems at their wedding, it leads to an innovative service that other engaged couples need during the pandemic.
• Role-Playing Pastor Rolls The Dice On $2800/Month Hustle: Listener success story! This Presbyterian minister turns to his lifelong interest in role-playing games to set up a sustainable second income source.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

Notes from Chris

Episode 2140

I believe we can learn as much from failure as we can from success, if not more. It’s with this principle in mind that I offer you a weekly segment called Failure Friday: a collection of short stories all about mistakes, missteps, disasters, and of course, failure.

Just like our Throwback Thursday segment, you’ll hear directly from side hustlers who have struggled to get something off the ground. They’ll tell you a short story of something that went very wrong.

The stories will vary, but often it starts with an idea, what they thought would happen and what really happened—and of course, what they learned.

Today’s short story features Sarah, a tech employee by day who set out to start a side hustle. Let’s hear the rest of the story from her… I’ll be back at the end to wrap us up.

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

SEE ALSO:

• Marketer Creates Six-Figure Subscription Box Success: He looked for a simple solution for a client, and didn’t find one—so he spent the next year building it.
• Comic Book Curator Creates Custom Crate Subscription: A Sacramento-based comic and collectibles owner sparks an interest in reading with a monthly comic book subscription box service.
• A Packed Closet Leads to Secondhand Subscription Boxes: A professional organizer finds a way to stitch her passion for thrift shopping into profits.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

Notes from Chris

Episode 2140

Welcome to Throwback Thursday / “Where are they now?” where we take an in-depth look at someone who’s story has evolved considerably since we first featured them.

Last week, we heard from Lisa Long from Texas. She is a multi-hustle side hustler. We also recently heard from a ukulele manufacturer and retailer in Calgary, Canada.

Today, in our latest feature, we’ll go to the Bronx and hear from Taerra Pence Chiba. She’s an opera singer gone contractor in New York City. We first featured her long, long ago and of course a lot has changed.

One of the things Taerra focuses on is helping other musicians find work when music work is light, such as during a pandemic. She’s also a new mom!

Let’s hear a bit about these things from her. I’ll be back at the end to wrap us up.

Listen to today’s episode to hear more…

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Thanks to Taerra for sharing her updates with us. Check out her website at thepracticaldiva.com.

SEE ALSO:

• Raver Turns LED-Powered Gloves Into Bright Future: When a raver-turned-salesperson falls in love with an underground artform, he turns it into a successful side business.
• Bright Idea Leads Chicago Woman to Million-Dollar Hustle: A Chicago-based plastic recycling sales rep overcomes her fears and doubts to transform her love for DIY lamp shades and $10 in supplies into a multi-million dollar business.
• 3D Printing Brings Cosplay Into 21st Century: With a 3D printer and sense of imagination, a California natural gas industry worker takes superhero DIY cosplay to a whole new level.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

Notes from Chris

Episode 2139

Let’s say you have an idea. What do you do next?

It helps to get your idea down into outline form, with a clear offer (what you’re going to sell) and maybe a few sentences about how it will be delivered.

What’s the best way to do that? Is there a systematic process or do you just open your computer and write something? Learning to develop this skill can help you with a lot of things, not just business ideas.

“What’s the best way to go from start to finish when outlining a business idea?

I know about the One-Page business plan and the 27 step plan, but I’m specifically wondering about the outlining stage. What kind of info do I need to capture? Is there anything important to remember?”

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

SEE ALSO:

• Catholic Designer Creates Stylish Apparel Line: What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world but not sell any t-shirts? This designer cast his bread upon the waters and ended up with a profitable fashion line.
• Seattle Couple Creates New “Income LiveStream”: When a married couple runs into logistical problems at their wedding, it leads to an innovative service that other engaged couples need during the pandemic.
• Role-Playing Pastor Rolls The Dice On $2800/Month Hustle: Listener success story! This Presbyterian minister turns to his lifelong interest in role-playing games to set up a sustainable second income source.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

Notes from Chris

Episode 2138

Today we have a caller with a question about selling Notion templates.

The productivity app Notion describes itself as a a project management and note-taking software platform. It comes with over 100 professionally designed templates. It also allows you to add your own images, videos, and text through the visual editor.

So back to our caller—they don’t just want to use existing templates, they want to make their own. And not only that, they want to sell the ones they make! How can they do that?

“Hi, this is Noah from Scottsdale, Arizona. I’m a longtime user of Notion, which has really taken off in recent years. One of the cool things about it is the chance to make and share your own templates with other users.

These templates can be used in lots of ways, like to modify a calendar style or organize any other kind of information.

I’d like to start selling my templates. There are a few existing marketplaces, but I’d also like to sell them on my own website to cut out the middleman and also just differentiate a bit. What would be the best path forward?”

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

SEE ALSO:

• Catholic Designer Creates Stylish Apparel Line: What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world but not sell any t-shirts? This designer cast his bread upon the waters and ended up with a profitable fashion line.
• Seattle Couple Creates New “Income LiveStream”: When a married couple runs into logistical problems at their wedding, it leads to an innovative service that other engaged couples need during the pandemic.
• Role-Playing Pastor Rolls The Dice On $2800/Month Hustle: Listener success story! This Presbyterian minister turns to his lifelong interest in role-playing games to set up a sustainable second income source.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

Notes from Chris

Episode 2137

Today’s episode is part of a new feature we’re doing in 2022 called ‘Your First $1,000.’ As you might surmise from the title, this is all about how someone made their first $1,000.

How did they get to that point? Not their first $100,000—that’s cool, but it would probably be a long story.

One thing I’ve learned is that once you begin to earn real money, the steps required to go to the next level—whether it’s $1,000 to $2,000, or even to $5,000 or $10,000 are often easier than that first real paycheck.

With that in mind, today’s feature comes from Jenna in Seattle. She has a very creative story!

SEE ALSO:

• Military Spouse Starts Subscription Box Mission:When an HR Director’s husband is away on military deployment, she uses the alone time to march toward a subscription box.
• Think Inside the Subscription Box:Looking for more community, a North Carolina web agency owner starts a subscription box for female entrepreneurs. It’s supposed to be a referral tool for her agency, but it ends up becoming a full-time business of its own.
• Nature-Loving Neighbors Create Kids Subscription Box: When two couples can’t figure out how to get their kids outdoors and away from electronics in the winter, a personal challenge blossoms into an unbeLEAFable side hustle.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

Notes from Chris

Episode 2136

If you haven’t launched and realize your business needs a different name, it’s easy enough to change. But what about when you’re already up and running—is there a point where it’s too late?

“My side hustle is a clothing design brand that helps aspiring print-on-demand entrepreneurs get their designs on Amazon and elsewhere. I have a business name that I thought I really liked, but over the past few months I’ve felt like I’ve outgrown it.

Among other things, the name is hard to say in different languages, and I have clients from several countries.

But that last part—the fact that I already have some existing clients—makes me worry that I might have come too far to go back, and I should just accept the name I initially chose. Is it a bad idea to change horses in midstream?”

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

SEE ALSO:

• Catholic Designer Creates Stylish Apparel Line: What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world but not sell any t-shirts? This designer cast his bread upon the waters and ended up with a profitable fashion line.
• Seattle Couple Creates New “Income LiveStream”: When a married couple runs into logistical problems at their wedding, it leads to an innovative service that other engaged couples need during the pandemic.
• Role-Playing Pastor Rolls The Dice On $2800/Month Hustle: Listener success story! This Presbyterian minister turns to his lifelong interest in role-playing games to set up a sustainable second income source.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

Notes from Chris

Episode 2135

We’ve seen a lot of wacky and wild ways to make money over the years. It’s one of the things I find most enjoyable in working on this show for you: there’s simply a bottomless reservoir of moneymaking ideas, including lots of things that you’ve never thought of.

What’s the latest? Selling white noise tracks on Spotify. You may have seen this story online recently. If not, you’ll hear about it in our listener question and I’ll share a few comments as well.

Is this feasible, and if not—because now lots of people are talking about it—how do you find stuff like this in the first place? That’s the real key, after all.

“I read an online story about people selling white noise tracks on Spotify. There’s no music or audiobook or podcast … just white noise that people play in the background to block out other sounds.

Anyway, the article mentioned that some of these “musicians” (are they really musicians??) are making tens of thousands of dollars a month. Isn’t this absurd? And also … can I do it too? I’m not sure how to make white noise, but I figure it can’t be that difficult.”

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

SEE ALSO:

• Catholic Designer Creates Stylish Apparel Line: What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world but not sell any t-shirts? This designer cast his bread upon the waters and ended up with a profitable fashion line.
• Seattle Couple Creates New “Income LiveStream”: When a married couple runs into logistical problems at their wedding, it leads to an innovative service that other engaged couples need during the pandemic.
• Role-Playing Pastor Rolls The Dice On $2800/Month Hustle: Listener success story! This Presbyterian minister turns to his lifelong interest in role-playing games to set up a sustainable second income source.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

Notes from Chris

Episode 2134

I believe we can learn as much from failure as we can from success, if not more. It’s with this principle in mind that I offer you a weekly segment called Failure Friday: a collection of short stories all about mistakes, missteps, disasters, and of course, failure.

Just like our Throwback Thursday segment, you’ll hear directly from side hustlers who have struggled to get something off the ground. They’ll tell you a short story of something that went very wrong.

The stories will vary, but often it starts with an idea, what they thought would happen and what really happened—and of course, what they learned.

Today’s short story features Shari from Chicago. After spending a year building a Facebook page with 40,000 fans, she was hacked and lost access for several weeks.

Let’s hear the story from her… I’ll be back at the end to wrap us up.

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

SEE ALSO:

• Marketer Creates Six-Figure Subscription Box Success: He looked for a simple solution for a client, and didn’t find one—so he spent the next year building it.
• Comic Book Curator Creates Custom Crate Subscription: A Sacramento-based comic and collectibles owner sparks an interest in reading with a monthly comic book subscription box service.
• A Packed Closet Leads to Secondhand Subscription Boxes: A professional organizer finds a way to stitch her passion for thrift shopping into profits.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,