Archives: Podcast

Litigator Saves Bloggers From Legal Destruction

What It’s About

Litigator helps bloggers navigate the murky waters of the law.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Jade thinks that doing as much research ahead of time is so helpful so you can feel more confident in getting started. However, she would also say that you should give yourself some flexibility as well since you never know how the direction of your business may ultimately change.

Fun Fact

The English common law is based on a cultural system of settling disputes through local custom. The early tribes of England each held their own set of customs, but this system became increasingly formalized as those early tribal peoples came together and organized. These ancient customs are the basic principles that eventually became part of the American system of justice.

Notes from Chris

Episode 658

Jackie Stoughton started her blog back in 2012 as a creative outlet. Blogging was in its prime, WordPress was easy to use, and she needed a way to wind down after a long day at her job as a law firm litigator.

She loved meeting other creative-types over the internet, and the more she explored, the more she noticed an alarming trend. Most of her friends’ blogs were illegal. Like, actually-breaking-the-law illegal.

Few of them had a ‘Terms and Conditions’ page. Most said nothing whatsoever about privacy. And basically, nobody was following trademark or copyright laws. But the worst part was sponsored content—she never saw disclaimers about being paid or given free gear in exchange for a review!

Sure, Jackie knew some mysterious man from the government wasn’t going to track down all these small-time blogs and put the writers in jail for not following the law to a ‘T’, but that didn’t mean these bloggers were deliberately trying to skirt the rules.

A lot of them wanted to be in full compliance and ethically sound. They wanted their blogs to become businesses, and to do that, they had to ensure that they were doing whatever they could to follow the laws.

Understanding these laws was Jackie’s field of expertise, but she hesitated. Did she really want to start writing about legal matters on her creative outlet blog? After going back and forth, she finally decided that the opportunity was just too good. She had exactly what those bloggers needed: the ability to interpret and understand the “legalese” of copyright law. So she started Jade & Oak, a blogger’s one stop shop for all things legal.

So she started writing more and more about the legal side of blogging. And, as can be expected when you provide something that’s much needed but hard to find, readers started showing up.

There wasn’t much strategy in that first year or so. She wrote helpful content, readers showed up, and that was that. She made a small profit from Google ads. That’s what everyone was doing at the time, and her expenses were just her monthly hosting fee. It was simple and easy. But Jackie knew that if she wanted to really grow the blog into a profitable, sustainable business, she’d have to do more than that.

That winter, she wrote and launched The Blogger’s Handbook for Keeping It Legal, offering it for $35. She had a few sales over the next couple months—nothing too dramatic—but the idea was validated. Those hours she spent writing a long ebook were slowly becoming money.

A couple months later, Jackie launched her first course, Blog While You 9-5, and began making more money. A couple months later, she had her best month yet: $600—and all from pre-sales of her next course, Blog and Be Legal. The strategic planning was literally paying off.

She realized she could only give so much free content away before it was time to convert viewers to buyers, so it was more important to have fewer, better free resources than a whole bunch of mediocre ones.

So she slowed down her creation of free blogs and started launching more products. She also stopped hosting so many webinars, focused on the highest converting ones, and began optimizing her email marketing.

These changes helped to increase her side hustle income while allowing her to work less. She expects to profit around $10,000 in 2018 and hopes to keep growing next year.

Jackie’s thrilled to have her first child in November and is working hard to streamline the blog so that it can run on (mostly) autopilot for the first half of 2019. She wants to be able to rest and enjoy time with her baby, and she’s grateful she’s taken the time to create a product-based business that she knows will continue to earn some extra income while she’s enjoying maternity leave from her job.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Jade & Oak: If you’re a blogger who is looking to navigate the murky waters of the law, head on over to Jackie’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

Quote of the Day
"Webinars can be a lot of work, and for the content I provide, I often don’t have a hot new topic to discuss. Therefore, having too many webinars can just be a waste of time for me since I’m often sharing a lot of the same information."
—Jackie Stoughton #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Get Your Logo Today With Logojoy!

Side Hustle School is brought to you by Logojoy, an online tool that uses artificial intelligence to help you design a beautiful, custom logo.

Try Logojoy today and get 20% off any logo package when you visit logojoy.com/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

Inventor Unclogs Profits With Innovative Drain Solution

What It’s About

A solution to a rather hairy situation.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Save as much as you can for your side hustle. It’s not always easy, but you have to find a way to cut down on as much unnecessary spending as you can. If you want to invent something, the road will not be easy. These things don’t rain down from the sky and it’s hard to convince others to loan you or invest in your idea if you yourself haven’t shown the ability to save up at least part of the initial R&D investment.

Fun Fact

Securing a patent for an invention is not easy. More than a million patents are currently pending in the USA and thousands more applications are received each day. On top of that, it can take an average of two to three years for a patent to be secured. This all seems even crazier when up to 97% of patents filed aren’t even commercially viable. That is, there is no proven market for it.

Notes from Chris

Episode 657

Serge Karnegie is an inventor. Just like Thomas Edison before him, he has a knack for coming up with novel ways to solve difficult problems. His friend, Solyman Najimi, is a business whizz. He has a wealth of experience in retail distribution and manufacturing. Together, they’ve created a highly successful side hustle with a one of a kind product.

Let’s start with the beginning of their partnership. Ten years ago, Serge and Solyman met while they were both working for an energy drink company.

The realized they were kindred spirits. Each enjoyed brainstorming product ideas, and they had skills that were different but complementary. Serge had more of an inventor’s touch, whereas Solyman was all about getting ideas out to market.

Serge’s first attempt fell short. He put a lot of work into something that just didn’t work. In fact, you could say it went down the drain… because drains are what came next.

Great inventors rarely strike gold the first time. When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, it didn’t happen right away. When he spoke of the process, he said, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.”

So in the spirit of Edison, Serge continued to invent. And here’s where that practical problem came in. As a husband and father of two girls, he noticed a lot of long strands of hair scattered throughout his home. Day after day, hair kept clogging up the drains. So, he created a small, mushroom-shaped drain plug. It was filled with holes so the water could flow freely, but it also caught any excess hair and kept it out of sight. He called it the TubShroom!

Since they already had a prototype, they decided to launch the product on Kickstarter before spending too much money. This time, they learned from previous mistakes and marketed the listing in message boards. Starting with a modest goal of $12,000, they ended up raising $59,267 from 2059 backers. A huge win!

What started as a little invention between two friends, has now turned into a thriving business. One that’s allowed both Serge and Solyman to leave their jobs and go all-in with TubShroom land.

In the last year, their little drain unclogging solution has generated more than a million dollars in profits. 35% of that came from retail sales and the other 65% comes from online sales. The online sales come through their own website, Amazon, and eBay.

Like any great inventor, Serge is always coming up with new concepts and that is how they plan to keep the business growing. In the last year, they’ve launched a TubShroom for the kitchen (SinkShroom) and have other products for all other drains.

Their goal is for the TubShroom family of products to become synonymous with drain protection. They continue to tweak and improve their range of products to be better for their customers.

Although they deal in inventing products that make people lives easier, the profits they’ve unclogged through this side hustle turned million-dollar business could be their greatest invention of all.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • TubShroom: Learn more about this ingenious little device over on Solyman’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

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

RELIABLE WEBHOST FOR $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 my past 5 websites. It's cheap, flexible, and you can get support 24 hours a day.

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

Quote of the Day
"Remember, great inventors rarely strike gold the first time. When Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb, it didn’t happen right away—the light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps."
—Solyman Najimi #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

IT Manager Stitches Seamless Sewing Side Hustle

What It’s About

A mother of two reconnects with her creative side while stitching a sewing side hustle into her busy life.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

As far as long-term goals go, Roula stresses the importance of setting realistic goals for yourself. Think about concrete steps you want to have taken within the next three months, and then the next six. Remember that even slow progress, like working just 30 minutes a day is still progress. And be patient. The business will not boom overnight, so don’t get discouraged. Just keep plugging away, even when there’s sew much to do.

Fun Fact

The ancient Egyptians were probably the first civilization to develop special tools to make rope. Egyptian rope dates back to 4000 to 3500 B.C. and was generally made of water reed fibers. Other rope in antiquity was made from the fibers of date palms, flax, grass, papyrus, leather, or animal hair. The use of such ropes pulled by thousands of workers allowed the Egyptians to move the heavy stones required to build their monuments.

Notes from Chris

Episode 656

Roula Rallis is no stranger to entrepreneurship. She was surrounded by it all through her youth. Day after day, she watched her parents run back and forth from the restaurant they owned. It was a little Italian place called the Kittery House of Pizza. Her father worked 80 hours a week at the restaurant. Oh, and he only took off two days a year—Christmas and Greek Easter.

Soon, Roula wasn’t just watching her parents work, she was working, too. At 12 years old she started biking a paper route. In her spare time, she and her sister folded pizza boxes for their dad, where he paid them 10 cents a box. Once she turned 14, Roula got a job at a trendy clothing store in her hometown. There, she could buy the clothes that her parents couldn’t afford to get her themselves.

Roula didn’t dream of becoming an entrepreneur like her parents. It was either feast or famine in her home—some seasons bringing in far more money than others. She didn’t like the feeling of uncertainty.

Instead, she put herself through college. While she got a degree in business, she was still adamant about not delving into any kind of entrepreneurial work. Instead, she jumped into the corporate world.

As she moved through adulthood, Roula was grateful for her stable income—especially once she had a family of her own.

Yet, as time went on, Roula couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something missing in her life. Even though she liked the stability, she had gotten lost in that corporate world … you could say she was hanging on by a thread.

Her thoughts turned to an idea she’d once had. Years earlier, she had taken classes on design and pattern making and began to make clothes. She briefly made an Etsy shop before abandoning it. She put her love for DIY projects on hold when she became pregnant with her first child.

Now, seven years later, it was time to dust off her old sewing machine.

This time, Roula decided that she wanted to try experimenting with rope. She made a basket for her home. Once she finished the first one, she knew she had to do more. It was like she had found a creativity needle in the haystack of life!

Of course, she didn’t need dozens of baskets in her home. So she reopened that long-abandoned Etsy shop, which was called the Sewcialite. Before long, it was back up and running and filled with all kinds of new products. Roula made everything from coasters to hanging baskets to tote bags—all out of rope.

Roula started this back in March of 2017. A year and a half later, she is bringing in up to $1,500 a month.

She knows that there are plenty of ways that she could expand her business, like going to craft shows or doing more wholesale, but right now she’s happy with where it is. Her Sewciliate sewing shop is running seamlessly.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Etsy | Sewcialite: If you’re not tied up, head on over to Roula’s Etsy page to check out her handmade, rope products!

 

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

RELIABLE WEBHOST FOR $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 my past 5 websites. It's cheap, flexible, and you can get support 24 hours a day.

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

Quote of the Day
"If you are truly passionate about something, then you will find the time to work it into your daily schedule."
—Roula Rallis #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Get Your Logo Today With Logojoy!

Side Hustle School is brought to you by Logojoy, an online tool that uses artificial intelligence to help you design a beautiful, custom logo.

Try Logojoy today and get 20% off any logo package when you visit logojoy.com/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

Tinder Matched Couple Swipes Right to Sell Cupcakes

What It’s About

Selfie culture inspires two design savvy millennials to create cupcakes with viral appeal!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Because their products are so design-oriented, Carolina applied a design principle to her pricing, too. “When we were thinking about how much to charge for our cupcakes, we thought about the amount of time we spent designing them, and the daily rates of artists. We hand-sculpt everything, without any moulds, so we definitely think of ourselves as creating art – which is always what we set out to do.”

Fun Fact

The world record time for eating cupcakes in the shortest time? 72 cupcakes in 6 minutes, or 12 cupcakes a minute. It was set by Pat Bertoletti of Chicago at the Second Annual World Cupcake Eating Championship in 2012. Cupcake eating is a training session we can get behind.

Notes from Chris

Episode 655
Side hustles come in all shapes and sizes. And now, thanks to Carolina Wang and Benny Lina, a Manhattan-based activewear designer, they come in different cupcake flavors, too.

Carolina always loved the sense of unbridled potential of fashion and design. All of the colors, patterns, shapes, and textures had their own meaning—just waiting to be harnessed for a purpose. She started making her own costumes at the age of 12 and quickly fell into the East Coast anime costume convention circuit, where she frequently entered her designs (and sometimes won).

This “passion for fashion” (don’t you love how that just roll off the tongue?) segued into a Bachelor’s Degree in Textiles and then a career as a technical designer where she put her love into practice for brands like UnderArmour, SoulCycle, Asics, and Kenneth Cole.

Her work was—and still is—incredibly fulfilling to her. But sometimes brand restrictions just don’t leave much wiggle room for the freedom she used to have as an independent designer.

Carolina craved another outlet for her creativity, where she could have more fun with color and texture. Something a little sweeter than what her day-to-day life had to offer. She eventually found it, thanks to a fateful Tinder swipe that matched her with her now-boyfriend, Benny.

After a few dates and long walks through Central Park (you know, typical NYC stuff), he shared with her his vision of creating a brand that combined food, art, fashion, and pop culture all wrapped into one sweet, sweet package. It was something that Carolina felt she could really take a bite out of, so they started brainstorming what they could do to set themselves apart from all of the other artisan dessert offerings of the Big Apple.

And what does any brilliant millennial do when faced with a complex decision? They snap it out, of course! They got the brilliant idea of starting with a “Selfie Cupcake,” where they would use icing (along with some clever printing techniques) to make cupcakes with faces of celebrities and influencers on them.

Their friends, like the good pals they are, loved them immediately. Not only did the cupcakes taste good, but they looked fantastic on their Instagram feed as well. Kind of like the post equivalent of the “100” and “fire” emojis, combined.

And in this day and age, Carolina and Benny say that’s incredibly important. Younger generations aren’t just interested in food that tastes good, it has to look good and be highly photographic as well. And if it looks bomb in multiple filters, all the better!

When Carolina and Benny started their business, they were bringing in around 2-to-3 orders per week, but that certainly seems bite-size in comparison to the now, 3-to-4 orders a day a mere three years later.

When it comes to the content of those sales, cupcakes are still definitely their bread and butter and can cost customers anywhere between $60 for a dozen, to $180 for their specialty 3-dimensional designed dozen. These days, sell about 300 cupcakes a week, with cookies coming in hot as EatGood’s second-best seller, with around 100-200 a week.

Now, three years later, Carolina and Benny have grown EatGoodNYC into one of New York City’s most unique bakeries, with features by Vogue, Refinery 29, The New Yorker, Complex Magazine, and more to their name. Their cupcakes have graced the events of clients like Nike, Adidas, Madison Square Garden, Pharrell, Kate Bosworth, and even the Queen B herself (Beyoncé). From what we’ve heard, it was for Beyoncé’s birthday in 2016, and her friends definitely got “in formation” to get their hands on these bad boys!

In today’s visual culture, food isn’t just for eating and art isn’t just for museums. Carolina and Benny combined the best of both for their super sweet side hustle, and now the sky’s the limit for their next move. They’re dipping into hard candy, mooncakes, and whatever else their customers suggest. No matter what, Carolina knows their next won’t be traditional—but it will look amazing on Instagram. They say success is sweet, and I’m inclined to agree.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • EatGoodNYC: Learn more about this sweet, social media success over on Carolina and Benny’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

Quote of the Day
"When we were thinking about how much to charge for our cupcakes, we thought about the amount of time we spent designing them and the daily rates of artists. We hand-sculpt everything, without any molds, so we definitely think of ourselves as creating art—which is always what we set out to do."
—Carolina Wang #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

Nestle Employee Doubles Salary By Playing Video Games at Night

What It’s About

A man doubles his salary living his 13-year-old dream.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

A lot of creators expect to just sit down, play a game, and watch the audience pour in. Content creation is easier than ever to get into now, but Doug says that it’s arguably harder than ever to stand out. He’s extremely sarcastic in his streams, and he couples that with asking his audience tons of questions that ultimately let them get to know him more. The combination of humor and connection have been incredible for him on Facebook Gaming.

Fun Fact

Doug realized he was gaining momentum when his followers began asking him to sell t-shirts. He’s had lots of fans approach him this last year. However, the craziest moment was when Doug (who’s based in Ohio) had a fan recognize him in London!

Notes from Chris

Episode 654

Growing up, you could say that Doug Veney was a bit of a troublemaker. When school became too easy for him, he’d often shift his focus to trying to make other kids laugh and finding different ways to act out. Although most of it was relatively harmless, it almost landed him in juvenile center. He says now that he was dealing with a lot of anger and frustration, and he was afraid to talk to anyone.

Playing sports made a difference, but something else helped even more: playing video games. He was always grabbing and thumbing through the gaming magazines at the grocery store to find out the latest news, and then reading gaming websites after school.

And each night, basking in the warm glow of his monitor, Doug had an opportunity to escape the day to day—to fight his way out of the Black Mesa or destroy the Horde. It helped him to work out the pent-up anger and frustrations that caused him to act out in school, and it came with a bonus that helped him level-up in a different way. Through gaming, he learned a lot about people—and he learned a lot about himself.

This “love of the game” continued through high school, and when he was 17, he realized that perhaps it could be more than just a hobby. When he started writing game reviews on a website as part of a senior project, it ended up doing even better than he planned. He even had several gaming companies requesting to fly him out to their studios for early access to their games so that he could provide feedback!

It was a great way for him to do what he loved while bringing in a lucrative little side income, so he ended up continuing it even after landing a job as an Influencer Marketing Manager at Nestle.

When gaming on YouTube started to take off, Doug spotted a new opportunity.

Being a part of the community, Doug took note of what top gaming creators in the industry were doing … and was impressed. The best ones weren’t just playing the games—they actually engaged with their viewers. And they were funny and entertaining.

In a way, what they were doing was a lot like sports commentating, which he was also a fan of. He figured that content creation via video like this would allow him a chance to pay homage to some of the best commentators while simultaneously creating his own path.

Plus, it didn’t hurt that he’d been fine-tuning his sarcastic banter since grade school. He had a feeling that it would translate well to video, so he decided to jump on the YouTube Gaming train and started streaming under the gaming handle GoodGameBro.

In the beginning, he played sports games: Major League Baseball, John Madden Football, and FIFA Soccer. But he’s also add in some FPS (first-person shooters) games like Titanfall, Assassin’s Creed, and Overwatch as they came out. And in following the model he’d observed, he didn’t just play the games—he had online conversations with anyone who wanted to watch his channel.

By 2015, he’d accumulated 10,000 subscribers. By 2016, that number had more than doubled to 25,000, and today, he’s built that community to over 120,000 subscribers. He says there’s a lot of grinding that goes into building a following on YouTube, but all of that hustling has really paid off.

In January of this year, Doug was accepted into Facebook’s Gaming creator program as a partnered creator. In that short amount of time, he’s racked up close to 90,000 followers due to the popularity and support of the platform. The community is tightly connected, and despite the large community, it still feels very one-on-one.

So, what does being a gaming streamer like this pay for someone like Doug? Well, it’s allowed him to more than double his salary from Nestle, thanks to what he brings in from sponsors and the support of the community, which can make direct donations through the Facebook Gaming platform. It’s also made it to where he’ll be able to completely pay off the student loans that both he and his wife have accumulated.

At this point, Doug says he could feasibly leave his full-time at Nestle to be a full-time content creator as his sole source of income. However, he receives far too much joy in his day job to leave just yet.

For now, he’s happy to balance that day job, his family, and what he calls his “bonus life” online where he gets paid a lot of money to play video games.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • GoodGameBro: Get in on the action—head on over to Doug’s Facebook Gaming profile to catch some of his streams and to learn more
  • Facebook Gaming Creators: If you’re interested in learning more about the Facebook Gaming Creators community (or want to sign up!), head to their 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

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 highly recommend that content creators go back and watch some of their work. Judge it objectively. It’s easy to get discouraged early on when you don’t find success. Going back through your streams or videos to understand how you can improve is key. If you aren’t willing to watch your work, why would someone else be willing to watch it?"
—Doug Veney #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

Crossfit Trainer Starts Meal Prep Service for Hungry Customers

What It’s About

When excuses are abundant, this local meal prep delivery service finds a way to trim the fat!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

There’s a lot of learning through doing. When we asked Loren if he’d do anything differently, he mentioned that he’d do everything differently. But you never know what to do until you’ve been through it and learned on your own what works and what doesn’t.

Fun Fact

Loren says that one of the most challenging parts of building Fit Kitchen Direct was learning how to not be afraid of saying no to somebody. This has allowed them to stay focused and not be distracted by every opportunity that came along. They stick to their niche exclusively (not doing catering or family-style meals for example) and it has allowed them to grow vertically.

Notes from Chris

Episode 653

Megan Benedict had heard all the excuses. A personal trainer at a CrossFit gym in Portland, Oregon, Megan knew that nutrition was critical for her clients’ health and well-being. No matter how many pull-ups you do, without the right food, you can only go so far.

But it was also true that her clients were quite literally fed up with the strains of maintaining a healthy lifestyle on top of their already full schedules. So instead of shrugging off their concerns, Megan tried a different approach—she listened and took note of them.

Her clients weren’t the only ones with challenges. Although she had a full-time job that she loved, Megan felt the need to create something more flexible and forgiving. Because while she was kicking butt in her training sessions, the long hours were kicking hers. As her boyfriend and partner in crime, Loren Castillo, can confirm—the hours of a CrossFit trainer were brutal. There were plenty of days where she’d be out the door with nothing more than a protein bar at 5am, returning when it was dark and time for bed.

It was a true labor of love, but even Megan had to admit that the lifestyle of a personal trainer was rough.

It also didn’t help that she suffered from chronic migraines that would occasionally force her to cancel or reschedule on clients.

Their shared goal was to reach a point where they’re able to support themselves and start a family, and this lifestyle wasn’t conducive to any of that. So, when Megan took note of the healthy eating challenges of her clients, she didn’t see them as excuses. She saw them as an opportunity. An opportunity to fill a very obvious need.

Megan wrote down all of those excuses on a piece of paper, and one night, she and Loren put their heads together to try to come up with a solution to each:

“Health food is boring and bland” was an easy one—Megan had a black belt in meal prepping, and let her taste buds lead the way when it came to putting together delicious meals that were also healthy. Check!

“I’m too tired to cook after a long day at work” took a bit more consideration—this was the beginning of 2016, and the market was saturated with meal prep companies. Some were healthy, some not quite so much, but for the most part, all of them required some effort despite the convenience of having all of the ingredients delivered to your door. That’s when an idea really started cooking. What if they could find a way to do the cooking for them? They were already meal prepping for themselves, why not take what they had learned and turn it into a legitimate business?

“Vegetables and fruit end up going bad before I can even use them” led them to the decision to make weekly deliveries to each customer with meals that would stand the test of time, so to speak. And they’d set everything up like a subscription model which would ensure repeat business for them.

Although it may have had some humble beginnings, this piece of paper ultimately became the business plan for a meal prep company that they ended up calling Fit Kitchen Direct.

By the end of their 8th month, they had roughly 50-60 subscribers that they could count on every week. They offered a seasonal menu, with four different dishes every single week. They began with a plan for Omnivores, but added a Vegan option after getting a lot of requests. Then, they got a license for Whole30 and began offering that option as well.

They now have 200 weekly subscribers and some one-off sales. These 200 subs are all paying hundreds of dollars a month for deliveries, which means that each month’s revenue is currently in the $80,000 range, with a profit margin of between 30-40%.

It’s not just a business, it’s a recipe for a whole new life!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Fit Kitchen Direct: Learn more about Megan, Loren, and the local food delivery service they’re cooking up over on their website!
  • Bottles: The platform that Loren and Megan use to manage their subscriptions on the backend
  • Drift: The conversational marketing platform that Loren and Megan use to communicate with customers and potential customers over on their 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

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
"Do your research and figure out what kind of niche you’re going to go after, and build your customer base from that generality or specialty, and grow from there. Add products to your base once you have an actual following."
—Loren Castillo #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Get Your Logo Today With Logojoy!

Side Hustle School is brought to you by Logojoy, an online tool that uses artificial intelligence to help you design a beautiful, custom logo.

Try Logojoy today and get 20% off any logo package when you visit logojoy.com/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

Weekly Recap: Treat Your Part-Time Hustle Like a Real Business

Notes from Chris

Episode 652

THEMES & TAKEAWAYS:

In Episode 649, Micah told us something interesting that I saved for the recap. He said:

“For me, I knew I wouldn’t treat my side hustle as legit if I didn’t make it legit. So we incorporated and opened a bank account and trademarked our name and logo and got business cards.

I spent 70% of our startup dollars just on apparatus that made it seem like a business. I was sitting there looking at $5,000 worth of legitimacy, and knew that I needed to justify that by creating something great.”

Good news: you don’t need to spend $5,000 to replicate this mindset. In today’s episode, you can hear four tips on how to apply a similar principle without breaking the bank.

To hear more, check out today’s Weekly Recap.

P.S. Thank you for the kind notes about last week’s marathon—I finished! See more in my Instagram Stories at @193countries.

 

WHERE ARE THEY NOW:

This is a new segment we’re trying out with the help of side hustlers that we’ve featured in the past. Today, we have an update from Maury McCoy, who was featured on the show in Ep. 54.

Listen to the Weekly Recap to hear from Maury himself!

You can also check out his website, Penny Portrait.

EPISODES FROM THIS WEEK:

Here’s what we heard this week on Side Hustle School! Listen to this week’s recap for a more comprehensive highlight reel.

  • Ep. 646 – Yes, really: this Pennsylvania couple rents out 2,000 chickens to people interested in urban homesteading. It’s a side hustle worth clucking about!
  • Ep. 647 – A niche market of photographers who use analog film hasn’t had a one-stop shop for all the supplies they need—at least until this UK sales manager develops one in partnership with his mom and sister
  • Ep. 648 – After first beginning with private cooking lessons, this former marketer discovers an even bigger opportunity in the world of food tours
  • Ep. 649 – Missing the south after migrating north to Boston, a designer creates a series of sports-themed pennants and t-shirts that put hometown pride on display. Since starting up, he’s had more than $1M in sales and earned a profit of $5,000 each month
  • Ep. 650 – When he can’t find a non-alcoholic beverage worthy of greatness, this Nike manager learns to create, package, and sell his own line of fruit-infused balsamic sodas
  • Ep. 651 – When the summer heat brings sweaty streaks, this aircraft company employee finds a way to wipe away the moisture. Bonus: this episode is presented by Whitney Korenek, our longtime Content Manager

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

We want to hear from you!

The best part of Side Hustle School is our community, and around 20% of our episodes come from listeners. Are you working on something and want to share it with us and our audience? If so, we want to hear from you!

Head on over to our online submission page, and we’ll be in touch if your story is chosen.

And if you’re still working on something but have some questions, we want to hear from you too! Most Weekly Recap episodes include Listener Q&A.

Call the Side Hustle Hotline at 844-9-HUSTLE (844-948-7853), record your question and send it to podcast@sidehustleschool.com, or just send us an email!

Here’s what’s coming up next…

Each week I’ll feature more stories from people who are starting side hustles without quitting their job. Here’s a sneak peek of what’s coming next week:

  • A Crossfit trainer and her videographer partner create a healthy meal prep and delivery service, launching it with zero startup costs and growing to nearly $1m in 3 years
  • Hard work pays off! After three years of streaming video games to an audience of thousands every night, this marketing manager now earns more from his side gig than he does from his day job
  • And much more!

Do you have a side hustle story you’d like to share? Fill out the Side Hustle School submission form and your story may be featured on the show!

Also, if you’re interested in joining the Side Hustle Society, visit our Society page to get notified when it goes live!

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
"Decide how to make your business feel ‘legit’ even when it’s part-time. What will it take for you to commit to your idea?"
—#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

Delaware Woman Solves Embarrassing Problem

What It’s About

A sweet smelling side hustle that keeps the streaks at bay!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

With a product as personal as Joani’s, it’s important to communicate clearly and be open to talking about something no matter how awkward it may be. Her customers love her for it, and Joani says that she has a ton of repeat business!

Fun Fact

There’s more to Boobalicious than meets the eye—Joani donates 3% of her profits to an addiction and rehabilitation center to help families give their loved ones the help they need to fight back.

Notes from Chris

Episode 651

Being a woman can be tough, and that’s never more true than when summer rolls around. Sure, it’s full of awesome things to look forward to—for example, shedding all those layers and slipping into cute bikinis and drinking rosé by the pool.

But there’s one dreaded aspect of summer that almost every female above the age of 13 is intimately acquainted with: boob sweat. Yeah, you heard me—boob sweat.

It’s the bane of female existence in the summer, and a veritable flash flood can strike within minutes when the digits on your thermometer start to soar. It often leaves the unfortunate victim looking like they’re wearing one of those smiley face shirts that were so popular in the 80’s. [Side note: although fanny packs are making a comeback, we don’t see this particular trend resurfacing anytime soon…]

If this phenomenon is new to you, you’re not alone! Although it’s a predicament for a significant percentage of the human population, it’s relatively undiscussed due to the sensitivity of the topic. To combat it, most women opt for the socially acceptable “boob wipe” method or hanging out in the frozen food section just a little bit longer than necessary. That’s because until recently, there wasn’t really another solution for it.

And that’s where Pennsylvania native, Joani DiCampli comes in.

Joani found herself in a position that most of us have found ourselves in at one point or another—laid off. After working as a project scheduler for an aircraft company following a move to Delaware, she found herself reluctantly turning to the classifieds section of her local newspaper in search of a new job.

Despite her tenacity and willingness to get back into the workforce, available full-time work in her field was limited. So, she started working part-time jobs in retail until another opportunity surfaced. And that’s when she found herself working at a boutique one especially brutal summer day.

As she was helping a customer, she became painfully aware of the fact that there were two spreading patches of sweat on the front of her shirt. Although she was a master of the boob wipe method, opportunities to sneak off to the bathroom were limited when she was on the floor, and it just wasn’t something that you could do in front of others. She felt mortified.

Despite the growing dampness of her shirt, her underarm deodorant was working like a charm—why wasn’t there a natural deodorant made specifically to combat boob sweat?

Frustrated, she turned to her co-worker and swore that she’d develop it herself if only for her. And after talking about her idea with her friends and family, she found that she wasn’t the only one looking for a solution—it was a sweaty epidemic!

Thinking she might be onto something, she asked how many of them would purchase an all-natural breast deodorant if one was available. To her surprise, a majority of them said yes.

The formula that she settled on for her Boobalicious line ended up having arrowroot powder for absorption purposes, coconut and tea tree oils to combat bacteria, vitamin E for moisturizing and softening skin, and a whole mess of other ingredients to keep “the ladies” sweat-free and smelling marvelous.

Although you’d think that this would be more of a seasonal venture for Joani, she says that she maintains customers in warmer parts of the world year-round. And thanks to the desperate masses looking for solutions to their damp shirt woes, Joani says that her business brings in $700/month in sweet smelling profits on average.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Boobalicious: Learn more about this sweet smelling, knocker loving side hustle over on Joani’s Etsy page!

 

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

Quote of the Day
"I think that if you’re honest and transparent with your customers, selling a product is relatively easy. It’s good to start with a strong product, but don’t forget to build up that trust that ensures that they come back again."
—Joani DiCampli #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

Soda-licious! Nike Manager Creates Fruit-Infused Balsamic Beverages

What It’s About

A side hustle that’s soda-lightful that we simply had to share it!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

So, what kind of advice did Aaron have to offer? He said that leveraging Farmer’s Markets have been an amazing and inexpensive way to get in front of his customers. The feedback provided by the local community who attend these have helped him tremendously, and he also met lots of people who were rooting for him (local businesses, bootstrapped operations, family-owned). Aaron says these are the folk who kept him motivated when he was beginning to doubt himself.

Fun Fact

Shrubs originated many hundreds of years ago, before refrigeration. Fruit used to be stored in vinegar to preserve during the off-season. At the end of the off-season, all the fruit was removed leaving a fruit flavored vinegar. These drinks, also called shrubs or drinking vinegars, gained in popularity. When refrigeration showed up, folks stopped preserving fruit in vinegar and it killed the drink. That’s why we’re resurrecting the drink refrigeration killed!

Notes from Chris

Episode 650

Aaron Weast is the Director of Innovation Engineering at Nike. He leads a team of makers, designers, and electro-mechanical engineers in their Footwear Innovation Department. He’s worked in consumer product development for 17 years and loves it.

On a personal note—one that relates to our story—for a number of years, Aaron struggled with alcohol addiction. In 2015, he went into a treatment facility to attack the problem head-on. When he came out clean and sober, Aaron was hit with the perfect storm: high energy levels, an entrepreneurial itch and an insatiable appetite to be a better person and give back. This left him with the question of “How?”

When Aaron attended events featuring plush cocktail selections, craft beers and fine wines, he felt left out. He didn’t care for sugary, caffeinated sodas, especially late at night. He was missing a beverage with bold flavor. And so far, the non-alcoholic drinks available to him weren’t cutting it.

The lack of something interesting to drink at these festivities sparked an idea. If he was having this problem, he probably wasn’t alone. He was looking for something that complemented his new, healthier lifestyle. Aaron combined his desire to do something with his thirst with his goal of binge a better person. He quickly began applying his skills to something that could benefit others. So, he began experimenting with flavored vinegars he used around the house for cooking.

After some tinkering, he found the perfect combination of fruit flavored white balsamic vinegar, coconut water, and carbonated water.

And voilà! He had the first flavor of what he called Shrub Natural Balsamic Soda was born! Orange and vanilla, lemongrass and mint, and coconut flavors quickly followed. This thirst pioneer and purveyor of bucolic bygones was definitely onto something soda-lightful!

Sales began as a trickle in the hundreds of dollars and increased slowly over time. These were primarily from farmer’s markets earning between $250 to $500 a week during the season.

In the past seven months, revenue has greatly increased. Since March 2018, his sales totaled $25,000. All told, in one year’s time Aaron has gone through 15,000 bottles of soda since his initial product launch. If all goes as planned, he’ll have doubled that number by the end of the year.

Did you hear the one about the guy who got hit with a can of balsamic soda? Lucky for him it was a soft drink!

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Shrub Natural Balsamic Soda: Drink up more about this tasty side hustle over on Aaron’s website!
  • PieShell: The food and beverage specific crowdfunding platform that Aaron used

 

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

RELIABLE WEBHOST FOR $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 my past 5 websites. It's cheap, flexible, and you can get support 24 hours a day.

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

Quote of the Day
"So much of helping out is by sharing a personal story without shame. Shrub, and its purpose, allows me to talk about channeling my story of addiction and my ability to recover into something tangible and inspiring… I wasn’t the kind of person who could yell to the world, ‘I’m an alcoholic!’ But, yelling to the world, ‘I’m doing this big thing as inspired by my recovery!’ was somehow easier."
—Aaron Weast #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

Designer Makes $1M Giving It The Old College Try

What It’s About

A designer gives a side hustle the ol’ college try and makes a clean million.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

If you’ve got an idea, figure out what you need to make it real! For Micah, he knew he wouldn’t treat The Old Try as legit if he didn’t make it legit. So they incorporated and opened a bank account, trademarked their name and logo, and got business cards. Micah spent 70% of their startup dollars just on apparatus that made it seem like a business. He was sitting there looking at $5,000 worth of legitimacy and knew that he needed to justify that by creating something great.

Fun Fact

There are 19,354 “incorporated places” in the US. An incorporated place is a government unit such as a city, town, village or borough. Each of these thousands of places has people that call it home and have a sense of attachment to it. Currently, The Old Try only has designs for 150 of incorporated places in the USA. Which means that gives them plenty of room to grow!

Notes from Chris

Episode 649

Micah Whitson had spent his entire life in the south. He’d never set foot any further north than the Mason-Dixon line—that is, the line separating the southern states from the north and the mid-west. By the time he got married, he felt he needed to experience something new.

He and his wife decided to pack up the car and head north, beginning a new life with his skills as a designer. They ended up in Boston. It was a world away from what he knew, but they settled in well. He landed a job as the creative director with a large health company.

But, although Micah had left The South, The South had never truly left Micah. He knew that it was a part of his spirit, a piece that would be with him forever. But it wasn’t until 2011 that Micah realized just how important that piece was to him.

It was that year where some of the worst tornadoes on record ravaged the region. Particularly, Micah’s home state of Alabama. Watching the devastation unfold from afar made him long for a connection to home.

But where would he find it?

After thinking for a while, Micah was reminded of the types of flags and clothes people wore to their college football games. Those colors, taglines, and symbols could bring a sense of community.

Then the penny dropped. He was a designer, and he had a friend who was a printer! He decided he’d create posters, pennants, and t-shirts that symbolized schools and towns of The South. He’d recapture the magic of the old college football games. In turn, the spirit and the camaraderie of the southern states would be on show in the designs of these products. It would be his first side hustle … and as you’ll hear, he turned this overtime project into a self-made championship.

He decided to call it The Old Try, named from the expression “The Old College Try,” which means to give something your best shot, even if the odds are against you. Coincidentally, the same attitude you need when starting a project like this of your own.

In terms of financial success, The Old Try has won the Heisman trophy! Since starting in 2011, Micah has generated over 1.5 million dollars in revenue and, after all expenses, generates around $5,000 in profit every month. This has all been built on a foundation of just $7,000 in investment and all while Micah has continued to work a day job.

Looking forward, he sees a clear road to franchise expansion. The Old Try currently has designs for a small fraction of the total areas of the United States—about one hundred and thirty different incorporated places in the US. There are thousands more, so an obvious growth channel is to expand that range, promoting hometown pride across borders.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • The Old Try: Learn more about Micah’s successful side hustle over on his website!
  • Design*Sponge: The blog that resulted in over 20,000 page views and thousands of dollars when Micah went live with The Old Try

 

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

RELIABLE WEBHOST FOR $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 my past 5 websites. It's cheap, flexible, and you can get support 24 hours a day.

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

Quote of the Day
"Faulkner said to write what you know. Old Try started that way. By writing and designing Southern things for folks who lived in and out of the South. Things that connect people to a place they go to in their dreams, or a place they could never convince themselves to leave."
—Micah Whitson #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