Archives: Podcast

Summer Job Reselling Silver Brings in $10,000

What It’s About

A college student gets educated in coin reselling and strikes gold.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Max share some great advice, “Be humble, don’t think you know everything. This will allow your mind to stay open to learn. Knowledge/experience is the key to this (and most) business.”

Fun Fact

On one occasion, Max was offered gold jewelry worth over $500 for just the price of $20. The reason? The seller was a former nun an avowed communist who didn’t care about how much she would get in return.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1660
Max Hockley vividly remembers the most important Sunday of his entire college experience. It was supposed to be an uneventful evening watching TV—that is, until his roommate burst into the room and threw a stack of $100 bills on the table. When Max asked him where he got all this money, his roommate exclaimed, “Silver, baby!”

A friend had told him that gold and silver were at all time highs, and that he made a tidy profit heading to garage sales buying mismatched jewelry and selling it for scrap. In fact, Max’s friend had made $2,000 in profit that weekend.

This was in 2011, and Max was a broke college student who needed the money. Upon hearing about his friend’s success, he immediately begged for lessons.

He also studied up on his own. After going through countless YouTube videos and talking to a few old-timers at the local library’s coin club, Max charted a course of attack for his plan. He would spend Thursdays nights flipping through Craigslist to find weekend garage sales and mapping the best possible route to visit each of these places.

Starting with just $500, Max went on to make over $10,000 in profit in that summer. Hitting up garage sales over the past months taught him that competition was intense, and that he needed to hustle harder than anyone else if he wanted to do well. In fact, one of his most common experiences was showing up to a sale and finding out that someone else had bought the items he was looking for just hours earlier.

Looking back, Max says that the willingness to hustle was what set him apart. Not many people are willing to get up at 6am on a weekend and drive from house to house. His commitment to his craft has also left him with wild stories that he would never forget. One such experience was meeting a former nun at a garage sale who was selling some gold jewelry for just the price of $20. Max was honest: he told her that what she owned was worth at least $500—but she said she didn’t care because she was a communist! In the end, the goods changed hands for $40, which was all that Max had left in his pocket after making a bunch of other purchases.

These days, Max has followed true Side Hustle School fashion and shifted his focus over to sharing his knowledge. Although he now runs a car rental company for his day job, he remains passionate about the scrap business, and spends his spare time creating videos on YouTube to teach people the tricks of the trade. His channel—the SilverPicker—now has over 100,000 subscribers. As they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

Earn 50,000 travel rewards points (enough for 2 round-trip plane tickets or $625 in travel credit). You'll also earn 2x points on all travel and dining spend, with zero foreign transaction fees.

I use this card every day all over the world! ✈️ Learn More

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

Create your online store with Shopify using an exclusive discount for Side Hustle School listeners. For a limited time, get a free 21-day trial and a 10% discount for a whole year.

Many Side Hustle School listeners are building sites using Shopify's easy-to-learn platform. Try it free today! Learn More

Quote of the Day
"Be humble, don’t think you know everything. This will allow your mind to stay open to learn. Knowledge/experience is the key to this (and most) business."
—Max Hockley #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Learn More With Skillshare!

Supporting the sponsors keeps the show free. Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by Skillshare. 📷

Skillshare is giving Side Hustle School listeners 2 months of unlimited access—for $0.99! Join the 2 million students learning everything from street photography to SEO on Skillshare today!
Get Started Here!

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.


Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Q&A: Alternative banking for cannabis products?

What It’s About

Today’s caller is trying to find a bank that will take his money…

Notes from Chris

Episode 1659

If you do business in the cannabis industry, where do you keep your money? It’s a big problem, at least in the U.S. Other countries like Canada that have wisely taken a federal approach to legalization have fewer problems—though it’s still not easy for legally approved sellers to conduct their banking.

In most U.S. states that have legalized medical and/or recreational marijuana, they have an even bigger problem and have to operate in an all-cash economy. Why is this a problem? They have very high taxes and need to take tens of thousands of dollars in large Tupperware jars or duffel bags to the state office to pay those taxes. They’re at risk of being robbed—because if you’re a robber, they make for lucrative targets?

Not to mention the fact that most of us don’t want to keep all of our money in cash under our mattress.

Anyway, that’s what today’s caller is wondering about. What’s to be done?

“I’m getting involved in the cannabis industry, which was recently legalized in my area. The only problem is, banking still isn’t legalized—or at least, the banks are hesitant to take money from anyone who works in this industry. I’m not even selling recreational marijuana myself, but even by association it seems most local banks are reluctant. This seems ridiculous, because it’s legal now, and I shouldn’t have to beg the bank to take my business … but that’s what it feels like is required! Do you see this changing anytime soon, and what should people like me do in the meantime?”

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

 

 

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

Create your online store with Shopify using an exclusive discount for Side Hustle School listeners. For a limited time, get a free 21-day trial and a 10% discount for a whole year.

Many Side Hustle School listeners are building sites using Shopify's easy-to-learn platform. Try it free today! Learn More

GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS

Social media is nice, but building an email list is still the single best way to get customers and clients for your hustle. It's not hard to get started—sign up for a 30-day trial and join the list-building challenge! You’ll be up and running in no time. Learn More

Sponsors & Gratitude

Don't Do Business Without It

Side Hustle School is brought to you by American Express.

No matter what you do in business, from working nine-to-five to working five-to-nine, it’s easier when you don’t go it alone. Get the powerful backing of American Express—don't do business without it! 💳 Visit American Express

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.
Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Failure Friday: “They refused to listen to my big pitch…”

What It’s About

This inventor had a creative idea, but ran into an unmovable obstacle.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1658

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 we’re starting 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.

I applaud their courage! I’ll share some of my failure stories along the way as well.

Today’s short story features Tracy Bech from Hood River, Oregon. We told the successful story of her invention on Episode #815. What is that invention? It’s the peeLUX … I kid you not. It’s an accessory that helps women use the ladies room while wearing shape wear … which I now understand to be a pressing problem.

The peeLUX actually a very profitable product—but when she tries to pitch her product to the founder of Spanx, she runs afoul of the company’s lawyers.

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • peeLUX: Don’t let tight shapewear get you bent out of shape—pick up a peeLUX of your own over on Tracy’s website!

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

Create your online store with Shopify using an exclusive discount for Side Hustle School listeners. For a limited time, get a free 21-day trial and a 10% discount for a whole year.

Many Side Hustle School listeners are building sites using Shopify's easy-to-learn platform. Try it free today! Learn More

GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS

Social media is nice, but building an email list is still the single best way to get customers and clients for your hustle. It's not hard to get started—sign up for a 30-day trial and join the list-building challenge! You’ll be up and running in no time. Learn More

Sponsors & Gratitude

Don't Do Business Without It

Side Hustle School is brought to you by American Express.

No matter what you do in business, from working nine-to-five to working five-to-nine, it’s easier when you don’t go it alone. Get the powerful backing of American Express—don't do business without it! 💳 Visit American Express

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.
Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

TBT: Romance Novel Editor Goes All-In

What It’s About

An update from a freelance editor who specializes in romance novels.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1657

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 the founder of IG Works, which specializes in indoor gardening kits that allow you to grow dozens of large plants in a small space. It’s truly un-be-leaf-able! Before that, we had a sex-positive blogger … which in some ways connects to today’s update.

Today in our latest feature, we’ll hear from Jessica Snyder. She’s a freelance romance novel editor. We first featured her more than 800 days ago—and as you’ll hear in her update, she is now working full-time!

What else has happened, and what is the world of editing romance like? If you wanted to do it—I’m taking notes right now—now you’ll have some action steps.

What’s happened since?

Listen to today’s episode to hear Jessica’s updates…

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

 

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

Create your online store with Shopify using an exclusive discount for Side Hustle School listeners. For a limited time, get a free 21-day trial and a 10% discount for a whole year.

Many Side Hustle School listeners are building sites using Shopify's easy-to-learn platform. Try it free today! Learn More

GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS

Social media is nice, but building an email list is still the single best way to get customers and clients for your hustle. It's not hard to get started—sign up for a 30-day trial and join the list-building challenge! You’ll be up and running in no time. Learn More

Sponsors & Gratitude

Don't Do Business Without It

Side Hustle School is brought to you by American Express.

No matter what you do in business, from working nine-to-five to working five-to-nine, it’s easier when you don’t go it alone. Get the powerful backing of American Express—don't do business without it! 💳 Visit American Express

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.
Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Q&A: How to stay motivated when other people have the same business idea?

What It’s About

Today’s listener feels stuck seeing others with similar ideas. What can they do?

Notes from Chris

Episode 1656

Yesterday we debuted my new course, Idea to Income.

It’s delivered entirely by text message and I think it’s a lot of fun. If you’d like to sign up with a special discount, go to courses.sidehustleschool.com and use the discount code: IDEA. This is valid for a limited time.

I’ve been learning about plants recently! I don’t want to sound overconfident—because I’m definitely not certain yet—but I have managed to keep some alive longer than I ever have before. I guess I’m just turning over a new leaf…

Which brings me to today’s caller. She wants to be a plant lady! She actually has several business ideas related to her love of plants, and is looking for some direction. Let’s see if we can plant the right seeds…

“Hi, this is Kayla Montgomery from San Antonio, Texas, and I’m a fairly new listener, but I’m working my way through all of your episodes. I’m planning a side hustle based on my love of plants. I just started an Instagram and it focuses on learning about plants alongside my audience. My current goal is to make an overview guide about plant care for new plant parents. Then later on, I want to create a paid more in-depth ebook that I can sell for maybe five dollars. Some stretch goals would be to go into people’s homes and help them choose and keep plants alive — like a housekeeper but a plant lady. However, now that I’m spending more time on the platform, I see that there are other people selling the same guides I want to create and doing other interesting things that I haven’t even thought of, and they seem to be doing it better. My question is, how do I stay motivated when I see other people’s work and I don’t know how to differentiate myself. Thanks, and I can’t wait to hear your feedback.”

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

 

 

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

Create your online store with Shopify using an exclusive discount for Side Hustle School listeners. For a limited time, get a free 21-day trial and a 10% discount for a whole year.

Many Side Hustle School listeners are building sites using Shopify's easy-to-learn platform. Try it free today! Learn More

GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS

Social media is nice, but building an email list is still the single best way to get customers and clients for your hustle. It's not hard to get started—sign up for a 30-day trial and join the list-building challenge! You’ll be up and running in no time. Learn More

Sponsors & Gratitude

Don't Do Business Without It

Side Hustle School is brought to you by American Express.

No matter what you do in business, from working nine-to-five to working five-to-nine, it’s easier when you don’t go it alone. Get the powerful backing of American Express—don't do business without it! 💳 Visit American Express

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.
Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Cheese Connoisseur Makes Legen-dairy Creations

What It’s About

A remote worker’s gift turns into an unexpected business. You won’t get board with this story!

Words of Wisdom

When it comes to starting a side hustle, Monisha encourages people to not get swept up in what other people are doing. “Protect your brand. It’s easy to get really caught up when you’re new. Trust your gut and do what’s best for your business.”

Fun Fact

The word charcuterie is derived from the French words “char” which means “flesh” and “cuit” which means “cooked.”

SOURCE: https://corkdining.com/fine-dining/the-history-of-charcuterie-boards-and-why-you-should-drink-wine-them/

Notes from Chris

Episode 1655
Monisha Misra loves charcuterie and cheese boards. The delicious and aesthetically pleasing displays of crackers, cheese, cured meats, fruits and spreads are hard not to like, and in college Monisha and her friends began to make them for fun. Creating platters quickly became their go-to thing when guests came to visit.

Ten years later, Monisha’s college days were behind her and she was living in Boston while working in software sales. She still loved making charcuterie platters for evenings with friends, but those gatherings were about to halt. It was March 2020, and she had recently been sent home from work due to a mysterious virus.

Monisha watched from home as her friends, family members and countless strangers in healthcare worked 12-15 hour shifts trying to keep the pandemic under control. She felt lazy sitting around in her sweatpants, all while knowing so many people were working to manage the emerging crisis.

Monisha realized that after those long days, a charcuterie board or cheese platter would be the perfect way to recharge. So she contacted with a doctor friend to drop off her speciality creations to the hospital staff—all for free.

Monisha loved giving the boards away for free, and hadn’t even thought about selling them—but she decided to give it a try, starting with selling one to a friend for Mother’s Day.

She created an Instagram account called @BoardsbyMo, and planned a launch at the end of May. In her words, she had no direction, no strategy and no supplies. Instead, she began to post, tag, and hashtag to get her product in front of as many eyes as she could.

Then, she set up a website, BoardsbyMo.com. She wanted to make sure that her website was 100% ecommerce, since she didn’t have a lot of time to manage emails or write blog posts. All you could do was look at pretty pictures of food platters … and make a purchase.

Not only that, but in August 2020, she decided to add a new component to her business: online courses. Whoa, how did we go from food sales to online courses? Now on month six of the pandemic, people were craving new, safe ways to have experiences with their friends—and what better way to do that than with a charcuterie building class?

The virtual classes were a huge hit. Monisha is making about $14,00 worth of sales each month, with a 44% profit margin. Her Instagram account now has 46,000 followers and is constantly growing—she’s even partnered with companies like GrubHub and TjMaxx.

For now, the day job continues, but at some point she hopes to franchise BoardsbyMo and do it full-time.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Learn more about Mo and her delicious boards at her website,, boardsbymo.com.

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

WEB HOSTING @ $2.49/MONTH

Want to build any kind of website for your hustle? If so, you'll need somewhere to host it! This is the reliable company I've used for many websites. It's cheap, flexible, and offers support 24-7.

Get your own hosting plan for just $2.49 a month!
Learn More

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

Earn 50,000 travel rewards points (enough for 2 round-trip plane tickets or $625 in travel credit). You'll also earn 2x points on all travel and dining spend, with zero foreign transaction fees.

I use this card every day all over the world! ✈️ Learn More

Quote of the Day
"Venture out, learn what makes you uncomfortable and repeat. What I learned about myself in 15 years I could never have learned just from reading books or hearing others tell their stories."
—Eva Rosales #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Try ShipStation for 60 Days FREE!

Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by ShipStation, the #1 choice of online sellers. 📦

To get a 30-day trial AND an additional month free, click the microphone at the top of their page and enter the word HUSTLE.
Get it Here

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.
Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Q&A: Is my candle business idea too niche?

What It’s About

Today’s caller has a bright idea … but wonders if the focus is too small.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1654

This question is lit! Can you candle it?

Specifically, a listener in London wants to sell candles with inspirational quotes and artwork featuring Black women, and wonders if her idea is too specialized.

Let there be light…

“Hi, Chris, this is Selina from England, London. I’ve been listening to your show for six months and I’m a great fan. I’m thinking about starting a side hustle selling candles for women, specifically to black women with quotes of inspiration and artwork with the potential to expand to question quotes. My question is, is this too niche? Am I restricting myself by being so narrow? I made a few candles for friends and family who love them, but I’m not sure if this is a hobby rather than an actual business. Great to hear your thoughts and thank you very much for your show.”

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

 

 

 

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

WEB HOSTING @ $2.49/MONTH

Want to build any kind of website for your hustle? If so, you'll need somewhere to host it! This is the reliable company I've used for many websites. It's cheap, flexible, and offers support 24-7.

Get your own hosting plan for just $2.49 a month!
Learn More

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

Earn 50,000 travel rewards points (enough for 2 round-trip plane tickets or $625 in travel credit). You'll also earn 2x points on all travel and dining spend, with zero foreign transaction fees.

I use this card every day all over the world! ✈️ Learn More

Sponsors & Gratitude

Don't Do Business Without It

Side Hustle School is brought to you by American Express.

No matter what you do in business, from working nine-to-five to working five-to-nine, it’s easier when you don’t go it alone. Get the powerful backing of American Express—don't do business without it! 💳 Visit American Express

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.
Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Real Estate Agent Profits from Bulk Mail Biz

What It’s About

Neither snow nor rain, nor email has stopped this bulk mail marketing hustle.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Looking to start your own bulk mail hustle? Margie has an important reminder, “the post office isn’t there to teach you how to do bulk mail. You need to do your research and buy software that will help you prepare the mail for you.”

Fun Fact

Each day, the United States Postal Service can process and deliver over 430 million pieces of mail. That’s a lot of mail! [Source]

Notes from Chris

Episode 1653
Almost two decades ago, Margie Yohn worked in the marketing department of a large law firm in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It wasn’t a great environment, so she knew she needed a way out. In February 2002, she started a small marketing company of her own. (She called it BeYohnd Services.)

Margie had originally planned to offer creative and graphic design but found that most clients wanted to do that themselves. However, she’d also learned how to put together bulk mailings. Using that knowledge, she started offering direct mail services for standard, nonprofit, and first class bulk mail. Starting out, she ran the whole operation from her computer, using software that cost about $650/year. She also placed the address labels by hand.

Later that year, Margie left her job at the law firm. She invested in a high-speed inkjet addresser so she could ramp up her business and take on larger mailings. Almost all her business came from word of mouth and activity in referral networks such as the Chamber of Commerce.

That part was surprisingly easy—her greater challenge was dealing with the post office. They had no incentive to provide help to increase bulk mail usage. Margie had to work to establish a relationship that proved she knew what she was doing. Once she was consistently dropping mail that was sorted, addressed and created the way they wanted, they left her alone. She ran the business for a couple of years, but the larger mailings—like 25,000 pieces at one time—took up a lot of room in her house and weren’t very profitable.

So what did she do? Margie got rid of her least profitable clients, stopped looking for new ones, and shut down the website. Scaling back gave her the ability to make a career change and start a new career in real estate. Now, her side business makes about $1,000—$2,000 a month which pays credit card bills and some household expenses.

For anyone interested in getting into bulk mailing as a business, Margie recommends checking out the direct mail resources on the USPS website—just note that USPS calls it “marketing mail.” Some post offices offer training on mail preparation or have what’s called Postal Customer Councils. Mailers and postal representatives can participate in PCC’s to network, offer training or educational programs and address issues that mailers may be experiencing.

Several times in her journey, Margie considered closing shop as her full-time job got busier. Fortunately, she has such an efficient system in place that one $600 job takes her two hours. She’d be walking away from easy money if gave it up and maintaining the side hustle has freed her from financial stress.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Learn more about Margie’s main hustle when she’s not mailing letters at her website, MargieYohn.com.

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

Earn 50,000 travel rewards points (enough for 2 round-trip plane tickets or $625 in travel credit). You'll also earn 2x points on all travel and dining spend, with zero foreign transaction fees.

I use this card every day all over the world! ✈️ Learn More

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

Create your online store with Shopify using an exclusive discount for Side Hustle School listeners. For a limited time, get a free 21-day trial and a 10% discount for a whole year.

Many Side Hustle School listeners are building sites using Shopify's easy-to-learn platform. Try it free today! Learn More

Quote of the Day
"I considered closing shop as my full-time job got busier. The reality is I have such an efficient system in place that I’d be walking away from easy money if I did that. I’m glad I never did."
—Margie Yohn #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Learn More With Skillshare!

Supporting the sponsors keeps the show free. Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by Skillshare. 📷

Skillshare is giving Side Hustle School listeners 2 months of unlimited access—for $0.99! Join the 2 million students learning everything from street photography to SEO on Skillshare today!
Get Started Here!

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.


Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Q&A: “I’m running the numbers on a subscription service…”

What It’s About

Today’s caller is considering a subscription model for their business. What should they know?

Notes from Chris

Episode 1652

You probably know already that being able to count on money coming in next month is better than the possibility of money coming in—that’s why subscription services are so powerful. Recurring revenue is the goal!

Today’s listener is running the numbers on an idea. How does this look in a specific scenario where she’s figuring out her pricing, how many people might sign up, and then what that all looks like in terms of the bottom line.

“Hey Chris, this is Lisa from Denver and I’ve been listening to the show for a couple of years now. I’m getting ready to launch my app, which will help people track the correlation between nutrition and productivity. Naturally, I’m using a subscription model, since I like the idea of recurring revenue. If I price at $5/month, that will be something close to $3/month in profit after Apple takes its cut and I pay for hosting expenses. I don’t know whether it will be really easy or incredibly difficult to build this to a sustainable level—what do you think? On the one hand, I could see myself struggling with just a handful of customers (each bringing in net three dollars a month) … but if it took off and I had 2,000 customers at $3 net per month, that would be amazing!”

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

 

 

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

Create your online store with Shopify using an exclusive discount for Side Hustle School listeners. For a limited time, get a free 21-day trial and a 10% discount for a whole year.

Many Side Hustle School listeners are building sites using Shopify's easy-to-learn platform. Try it free today! Learn More

GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS

Social media is nice, but building an email list is still the single best way to get customers and clients for your hustle. It's not hard to get started—sign up for a 30-day trial and join the list-building challenge! You’ll be up and running in no time. Learn More

Sponsors & Gratitude

Don't Do Business Without It

Side Hustle School is brought to you by American Express.

No matter what you do in business, from working nine-to-five to working five-to-nine, it’s easier when you don’t go it alone. Get the powerful backing of American Express—don't do business without it! 💳 Visit American Express

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.
Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Failure Friday: “They promised the boat would be ready… but it wasn’t.”

What It’s About

A boat-sized problem that almost capsized an entire business.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1651

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 we’re starting 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.

I applaud their courage! I’ll share some of my failure stories along the way as well.

Today’s short story features Chris Tabone, an Australian who works primarily in Europe. We told the successful story of his Mediterranean cruise company, Koda Sail, on Episode #884.

This is an epic disaster … one of my favorites in the series so far.

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Koda Sail: Set sail over to Chris’ website yourself to learn more about this seafaring side hustle!

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

Create your online store with Shopify using an exclusive discount for Side Hustle School listeners. For a limited time, get a free 21-day trial and a 10% discount for a whole year.

Many Side Hustle School listeners are building sites using Shopify's easy-to-learn platform. Try it free today! Learn More

GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS

Social media is nice, but building an email list is still the single best way to get customers and clients for your hustle. It's not hard to get started—sign up for a 30-day trial and join the list-building challenge! You’ll be up and running in no time. Learn More

Sponsors & Gratitude

Don't Do Business Without It

Side Hustle School is brought to you by American Express.

No matter what you do in business, from working nine-to-five to working five-to-nine, it’s easier when you don’t go it alone. Get the powerful backing of American Express—don't do business without it! 💳 Visit American Express

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.
Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau