Notes from Chris

Episode 2111

Not all webpages are created equal! Or to paraphrase Animal Farm, all webpages are equal, but some are more equal than others.

As a matter of prioritization, when you’re building a website, what should you focus on? Remember that you can’t focus on everything, because that’s not focusing!

A listener named Becky has a question about this.

“I’m wondering what you think the most important pages are on a website? The reason I asked is because I was talking with a consultant who suggested I hire someone to write a lot of content, like specific pages organized around the keywords I’m targeting.

Is that more important than something like a good About page and the pages for my products?

By more important I mean, if I could only go one direction, would would be better? My budget and time are limited.”

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 2110

The next time you go swimming, maybe you can listen to this podcast! Or maybe another podcast, or music, or an audiobook—thanks to our listener, who’s inventing a form of underwater headphones.

However, even though they have the vision, they’re a little stuck.

What do you do when you have an idea but aren’t sure how to proceed with some unknowns?

“I do triathlons and spend several hours a week in the pool. Unlike Apple’s Airpods or the Beats by Dre headphones, there just aren’t a lot of great ways to listen to music or podcasts while swimming. There *are* some headphone options, but they tend to be pretty expensive and clunky.

I have an idea to develop something better. I have an engineering background and have already made some progress with initial designs. To go further, though, I feel like I need to team up with someone. I’m out of my element when it comes to seeking funding or negotiating with a factory. What should I do and who do I talk with?”

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 2109

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 Morgan in Missouri. She’s a Fulfillment by Amazon seller. After detailed research, she found the perfect product for resale.

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

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 2108

Today’s listener is looking for a specific resource: an app to help them evaluate and rank different business ideas. Does this exist?

How do you do that in the first place—you’ve got a bunch of things you could do but you happen to be human. Join the club! I’ve studied this question a lot, and not strictly out of a research interest but because I always want to do lots of things…

Oh, and finally, our listener wants to know if this wonder app doesn’t exist, is there value in making it?

“I’ve been trying to decide which of my side hustle ideas to try next. I’ve seen a few different tools to analyze markets and do some initial testing, but is there an app that helps with this process?

If not, do you think that making an app like that would be a helpful and profitable project?”

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 2107

Today we’re going to hear from a listener with an idea to sell a guide on Shopify. You know Shopify—it used to be a little ecommerce plugin that competed with a bunch of others.

Now it’s the gorilla in the room; it has taken on all comers and won.

So with two million customers, might there be some opportunity to serve those customers outside of the system?

I like this idea. I do have a few comments to hopefully make it better. Let’s do that!

“Shopify is now a competitor to Amazon, which seems hard to believe, but they’ve achieved real scale and now have more than 2 million paying customers, all of whom are trying to build a business.

I’d like to write a user’s guide for these customers, specifically focused on tips and tweaks they can use to increase conversion. Do I need to get permission from Shopify to do this? I’ve seen lots of resources like this for Amazon and other platforms, so it doesn’t seem that way, but I’d just like to make sure. Also, what do you think of the idea? Thanks for your time..”

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 2106

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 Birdie from central Ohio. She had an idea to sell gift baskets for corporate alumni. Unfortunately, buyer demand was non-existent.

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 2103

Today’s caller from Korea wants to make a YouTube channel all about makeup. It’s a hot topic, with some creators earning a lot of money from large subscriber bases.

Unfortunatley this isn’t a topic I’ll be jumping into myself right away (the makeup part, at least) but based on the successes of some of those other creators I mentioned, I bet we can help Ha-Joon out. Let’s hear her question…

“Hi, this is Ha-Joon and I have a question. Korea has been generating tons of money thanks to beauty businesses. Even the government gives a tax break for those with makeup companies. Teenagers are always eager to invest in makeup. So what can I do about my beauty vlog? How can I make money from it? Is it worth investing my time in cosmetics?

This is a serious question if you are a teenager like me with all the beauty products you love and want to share with others. I’m actually very surprised to learn how one can monetize a beauty channel on YouTube, and I’d like to jump in.”

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 2102

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 Joel Rutherford, outside of Denver. He makes watercolor paintings at live events. He stumbled into this business idea and wasn’t sure what to charge at first, but then gained momentum.

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

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 2101

Concert tickets are resellable—why not plane tickets? These days, most airfare is changeable or cancellable with minimal fees, so can you have a business buying early and selling late?

I love hearing ideas from our community! Let’s review what is possible and perhaps impossible about this particular idea.

“One of the interesting consequences of pandemic travel is that most plane tickets are now refundable, or at least changeable without the large fees the airlines used to charge.

It makes me wonder … now that there’s more flexibility, can people buy and resell plane tickets the same way they do for concert tickets? When I was in college I had a friend who did well flipping tickets for popular bands, so I was thinking of doing the same thing for plane tickets now that airfare is so high.”

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,