Notes from Chris

Episode 2074

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 Christy Tharp in Des Moines, Iowa. She’s the owner of an Etsy shop called The Blue Breakfront, which initially began out of a family tragedy. Christy has gone on from that to build it into a steady source of income and also a well-deserved source of pride and self-confidence. (At least that’s my interpretation.)

But what about her first $1,000—how did she make that happen, what did it feel like, and what did she learn?

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Thanks to Christy for telling us about her first $1,000. Check out her online shop at etsy.com/shop/thebluebreakfront.

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 2073

We had an episode recently with an Amazon seller who had a competitor posting lots of fake reviews. Today’s caller has been dealing with a similar problem: unfair Etsy sellers.

When you sell on Etsy, everything you sell is supposed to be handmade. Shockingly, not everything is! Many sellers secretly (or not-so-secretly) mass manufacture their goods and even sell under multiple shops to evade detection.

Therefore, our caller is wondering: what can be done?

“I’ve been selling on Etsy, which describes itself as the world’s handcrafted marketplace. But many of the sellers appear to be cheating. They’re selling mass-manufactured products in large quantities. Some of them operate multiple storefronts that sell the same thing with slight variations, or sometimes no variations at all.

If it’s made in a factory in China, how can it be called vintage or handmade? Like I said, these sellers appear to be cheating, but they’re good at SEO and seem to be crowding out honest sellers such as myself. Is there anything that can be done? ”

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

 

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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 2072

When you’re considering a big change, there are a few different considerations. We tend to focus on the practical, logistical ones—and that makes sense, because that stuff matters.

But simultaneously, something else is happening: the mental and emotional consideration of this change. Sometimes the best answer isn’t always the one that pays the most money or otherwise has the best measurable reward but it’s more the one that your heart leans toward.

Today’s caller faces a decision: during a time of unemployment, does she stretch her side hustle into a career, or go back to traditional work?

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 2071

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 Derrick Adderly, a middle-school principal from Pennsylvania. We got inspired by an original Side Hustle School story about making money from a fish tank blog. Derrick then decided to try his hand at his own blog. It didn’t work out quite as well as fish tank guy, so let’s hear about that as well as what he learned.

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

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 2069

Today’s listener is a life coach who wants to get a bit more specific. She’s heard me say that there are too many life coaches (no disrespect, anyone…) and that the way to succeed with this kind of personal service is to choose a focus or niche.

Fair enough, but how do you do this? That’s what she’s wondering…

“I’ve been coaching for several months and I love it! At least when I’m able to do it. So far I’ve only had two clients, in addition to several people from the mentorship program I joined that practice together.

I know I probably need to specialize to stand out, but the problem is I’m not sure how to do that. I’m helping people with positivity, making decisions, and just being more of the person they want to be. So it’s life coaching, basically, and I don’t know how to define it better or focus on something specific. Any tips?”

Do you have any tips for making the transition?”

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 2067

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 Ruth Hetland. We first featured her back on Episode #1599: Pastor Keeps the Faith with Clergy Subscription Boxes. But what about her first $1,000—how did she make that happen, what did it feel like, and what did she learn?

Interestingly, this story is quite similar to one we featured three weeks ago, from a woman who sells boxes for military spouses. They each used the same pre-launch strategy that she (Becky) mentioned in the previous business, and that Ruth describes here, just a bit differently.

The key point is that each of them wanted to start without spending much money at all, so they used the pre-launch strategy to sell a product before it existed.

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Thanks to Ruth for telling us about her first $1,000. Check out her website at Consecrate.Cratejoy.com.

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 2066

In the book Side Hustle, I published a back-of-the-napkin spreadsheet template you could use to forecast income in a new business. It was meant to be a really simple tool that anyone can use, and in fact a bunch of people have used it since then.

That said, a listener came across this tool and has a question: how do you forecast earnings for a project that doesn’t yet exist?

It’s a good question, but there’s also a good answer for it.

“I read about the back-of-the-napkin forecasting in the Side Hustle book, but I’m still a little uncertain of how you can predict income with a new business. You don’t know how many sales or customers you’ll get, so how can you even estimate?

I’m trying to decide between a few different ideas, and if I had a better idea of their income potential it would help a lot.”

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,