Archives: Podcast

The $60,000 “Food Truck Empire” (No Cooking Required!)

What It’s About

How to make money helping others launch food trucks—no personal food truck experience required!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Brett operates on the principle of “giving what you can and teaching what you know.” That’s how he created Food Truck Empire. Maybe it’s also the way you can carve out your own empire, without quitting your job!

Do you possess some skill that others may be interested in learning?

Fun Fact

Food Truck Empire wasn’t Brett’s first business. From starting niche sites about remote airplanes to e-commerce sites selling adult diapers, Brett pretty much tried it all before launching Food Truck Empire. But even after his launch, Brett felt like quitting because he just couldn’t see the results. He only stuck through it because he had no better idea of what to do next if he had simply quit. That perseverance paid off.

Notes from Chris

Episode 506

Brett Linderberg in Southern California has always been interested in business opportunities that are low in cost and can be run flexibly. His moneymaking hobby started in 2011 when Brett started a blog on remote control airplanes. When that didn’t work out, he started a drop shipping e-commerce site that sold adult diapers to senior citizens.

That worked well… until his supplier cut him off because he started competing directly with their company.

Searching for the next business idea, Brett decided to try something a little different. His initial thought was to start a food truck business. But as Brett researched the logistics of starting his new idea, he realized that he didn’t really know how to do it. Online information was scarce. That’s when he thought—hey, what if there were other people looking for information on food trucks as well?

The best way Brett could think of getting information was to call up food truck owners directly. Getting into contact with these owners was not difficult because most of them were on Facebook or Twitter. Brett tracked them down and sent them a quick note asking if they’d be willing to have a phone call with him. Most were quite happy to give him the lay of the land!

Brett was a fan of podcasts such as John Lee Dumas’ Entrepreneur on Fire podcast and thought to himself that maybe he could start one too. Coupled with supplemental blog posts, this could be his next side hustle!

He called it Food Truck Empire. In his conversations with truck or cart owners, he focused on specific, detailed plans of action. For instance, he would spend an entire session talking about how someone could come up with their business plan and then provide listeners with detailed show notes. But even then, Brett didn’t get much traffic to his podcast or blog for the first six months.

After 5 years of hard work, Brett now has over 30,000 subscribers on his Food Truck Empire mailing list. In the past year alone, he’s made $60,000 from his blog, with the revenue coming equally from course and ebook sales, affiliate partnerships, and advertising. The best part is that he’s still able to hold down his day job while putting in upwards of 15 hours a week into his blog. As Food Truck Empire grows, Brett aims to scale his content creation and increase the number of partnerships he has.

Brett attributes much of what he has accomplished to podcasting. He also operates on the principle of giving what you can, and teaching what you know. That’s how he created Food Truck Empire. Maybe it’s also the way you can carve out your own empire, without quitting your job.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • FoodTruckEmpire.com: Wanting to serve up your own unique spin on the grilled cheese but aren’t too keen on the logistics? Get the skinny over on Brett’s website!
  • Google Adsense: Brett decided to try and monetize his blog initially using click through ads via Google Adsense
  • Entrepreneurs on Fire: An entrepreneurially motivated podcast produced by my friend, John Lee Dumas, that ended up inspiring Brett to start his own podcast

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
"Whatever market you’ve decided to enter, make a list of important people that you want to build connections with that can help you in the future. This is a great way to get on someone’s radar for the future even if you have no search traffic or social media presence."
—Brett Linderberg #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Travel the Globe With Cards For Travel!

Side Hustle School is brought to you by CardsForTravel.com. Use travel hacking to see the world!

When you apply for their most popular, small business rewards card, you can earn 80,000 Bonus Points—enough for three round-trip plane tickets or $1,000 in travel credits. Check out this limited time offer! ✈️ 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: All You Need Is Luck and a Million Dollars

Notes from Chris

Episode 505

THEMES & TAKEAWAYS:

Why is it problematic to say “Just get started…”? Because getting started is necessary but not sufficient. It’s like saying “All you need is luck and a million dollars”—both would be nice, but you can’t control either of those things. What can you control? Getting started and then showing up.

Real successes—lasting, enduring, life-changing, quit your job kind of successes usually require both getting started and then sticking with it.

Last week I talked about Kathleen Shannon, the co-founder of Being Boss (check out Ep. 404), and she’s a fantastic example of this. One of the things she prides herself on is that in three years, they’ve never missed an episode, and that’s because once they started, they kept working at it.

And as for the drone side hustle in Ep. 500, it could have been a small success. It’s a big success not just because they started but also because once they’d started, they also made a plan and then stuck with it.

So yes—just get started—but then get to work! It’s okay to work hard, and in fact, you probably should.

In today’s recap, we’ll delve more into this topic of getting started and sticking with it—listen to the Weekly Recap to learn more!

LISTENER UPDATES + QUESTIONS:

This week, we received a listener email from Rodrigo:

  • Rodrigo: “Hey Chris, a few months back when your tour for Side Hustle brought you to Books & Books down here in Miami, I had the chance to share two minutes of my story on how I forced myself to create my side hustle of a Udemy course on SEO by doing a really long day trip to Pensacola FL and back (a 12 hour total round-trip) with nothing but the voice recorder on my phone and a notepad with the outline of what the course chapters and sub-chapters of the course I wanted to create would look like.As I left the house at around 5 am that morning (arriving back at around 6 pm just in time for dinner with the fam), I hit the record button and just started talking. I pretended like I was in a room with 50 students eager to learn from my experience and just spoke as if it was a day-long training session—which was really important because it kept me focused on getting through all chapters.

    Chapter by chapter, I got through everything and even uncovered a ton of little details and ideas that I hadn’t thought of earlier. Next day, I hired someone on Fiverr to transcribe the audio file and send me the PDF which I later used to create the course. Total cost $120 ($90 gas, $30 transcription).

    The big lesson I learned is that there’s ALWAYS a way to dedicate time to something if it’s important. But sometimes it just takes a little creative thinking and literally forcing yourself away from distractions and into a state of mind where it’s easy to think and speak freely.

    Anyways, wanted to share as it could be helpful to others who are time-strapped and trying to spend that 1hr of free time over 12 days to make progress—rather than just hammering down and cranking out the 12 hrs at once.

    Thanks for all you do Chris—can’t wait for your next book and to hear more about where this amazing adventure we call life takes you!”

If you have something you’d like to ask me or an update you’d like to share, I’d love to hear from you. Leave me a voice message on the website or call into the Side Hustle Hotline (Dial 844-9-HUSTLE // 844-948-7853), and your question may be featured on the show!

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. 499 – In search of extra income, an ESL teacher creates a game that shows students how to use phrasal verbs. Turn it up!
  • Ep. 500 – A sky-high success story of a six-figure drone coaching business that begins after a man crashes a drone into a parked car in New York City. Look out!
  • Ep. 501 – Inspired by his own work/life imbalance, a film and TV editor starts a project to help his industry learn how to live more by staying present
  • Ep. 502 – A music teacher learns to subcontract her piano lessons, radically increasing her annual income
  • Ep. 503 – After an MBA student is in a car crash that leaves her with chronic back pain, she sets about creating a change that would help thousands of other people
  • Ep. 504 – A pair of female inventors are bringing clothes back to life with a simple gadget that saves straps with no need to sew—then using it to send a positive message about women’s health

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Join me at the World Domination Summit!

Have you heard of the World Domination Summit? This is a gathering of awesome people—an event that I’ve been hosting together with an amazing team in Portland, OR every summer for the past eight years.

WDS 2018 is coming up at the end of June (June 26th-July 2nd), and we’ll be welcoming people from over 30 different countries. With inspiring keynote speakers, a week full of activities and attendee-led meetups, and two incredible parties, you won’t want to miss it!

This is our final wave of main stage tickets so visit our website to get your ticket to this incredible, once a year event! We promise that it’s unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before.

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 former venture capitalist starts a scent-sational side hustle selling her own natural, floral-based deodorant
  • An Australian teenager learns to express her passion for makeup by posting tutorials on YouTube
  • And so 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
"It’s not enough to ‘just start.’ Getting started is necessary but not sufficient—you also have to be consistent over time!"
—#SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Create a Stunning Website With Wordpress

Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by Wordpress.com! Whether you’re looking to create a personal blog, business site, or both—you’ll make a big impact, when you build your website on WordPress.com. 💻

Get 15% off when you build your website with Wordpress.com—use promo code PODCAST when you check out.
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

Strap-Saving Invention Helps Women Get Their Bounce Back

What It’s About

A nifty piece of metal that saves bra straps and lives.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Shari says that the most important thing that she’s learned over the years has been the importance of customer feedback. This was something she built into the process from the beginning, and it’s never failed to help them deliver a better product and improve the business.

Fun Fact

Beth and Shari have been friends for 23 years and once spent Spring Break together in Cancun. Little did they know that those early days on the beach would lead to them create a bikini-saving product!

Notes from Chris

Episode 504

Shari Deutsch works as a marketing strategist for a telecoms company putting together content for the likes of BET, Comedy Central, and The Discovery Channel. But under the deep shadows of the night, she dons the guise of the most unlikely of alter egos… She’s the co-founder of The Strap Saver, a nifty little gadget that saves women’s tops, bras, bikinis—and lives.

So where does our pseudo-hero’s story begin? Well, to answer that, we need to take a trip back to 2013. The beginning of Obama’s second term in office and of course the year of Miley Cyrus’ twerking display at the VMAs… who can forget.

It was the middle of summer, and our champion was lounging by the pool alongside her best friend and future sidekick, Beth Lieberman. This was a time-honored tradition that they’d been doing since college. While their cherished poolside chats often covered a multitude of topics, this conversation, in particular, came strapped with a specific theme: non-adjustable swimsuit straps.

Their bathing suit straps just weren’t holding their own (or holding anything up, for that matter), and they were quickly becoming the bane of their existence. The straps on Beth’s new suit—cute though it was—were too long, and Shari’s had stretched out completely following a few summers’ wear.

So what’s a girl to do with a seemingly fantastic swimsuit when the straps take a dive south? Sure, they could hop on a sewing machine to remedy their elastic strap woes, but that was just a temporary fix. What they needed was a more long-term solution.

They figured that it was a problem that could be solved by something relatively simple, but after an evening spent with a bottle of wine and their other friend Google, they were surprised to find that there was literally nothing on the market. A quick ring around a few girlfriends confirmed to Shari that she and Beth weren’t the only ones struggling with saggy straps, so they set out to create a solution themselves.

The answer: a small gadget that attaches to any bra or clothing strap so it can be adjusted to the right length. They called it The Strap Saver: your multi-purpose comfort-providing hero—or heroine, I guess. Wherever there was a swimsuit, bra, or tank top in need of a little lift, The Strap Saver would be there. There was no job or size (!) too small or too great. The Strap Saver was saving damsels in distress, one strap at a time. (That was Whitney’s line—good touch there.)

Sales weren’t an overnight success as well. They’re now taking in around $800 in sales each month—more when the sun’s out, and less during “sweater weather.” The business is completely self-sufficient, and now that they’ve recouped their initial investment, they’re currently working towards some major profitability.

But they’re doing more than just saving straps and the sanity (and pocketbooks) of the women who own them. True to superhero form, they’re also saving lives. An important part of Shari and Beth’s business model is their decision to donate five percent of their sales revenue directly to life-saving charities. Strap Savers are making a genuine difference in the world—one strap at a time.

Looking ahead, these modest heroes are looking to expand their superhuman reach to more customers using the power of Amazon. They’ll be optimizing their website, and looking at how inbound marketing could help them grow awareness and expand their customer base. The rest of their energy will go towards developing a clear plastic version of The Strap Saver that’s just as effective as their stainless steel version.

There’s definitely more to come from this pair of inventive entrepreneurs—they’d better strap themselves in!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • The Strap Saver: Learn more about this gravity defying invention over on Shari and Beth’s website!
  • Google Forms: The form builder that Shari and Beth used to get customer feedback on their Strap Saver
  • WordPress: Shari and Beth used WordPress to setup The Strap Saver, and here you can learn how to install your own WordPress site in 5 minutes

 

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 it comes to finding a manufacturer, be persistent. Don’t worry about those that won’t deal with you, just keep working to find those that will. Ask a lot of questions, as many as possible. The right vendor will take the time to explain the process. Don’t get discouraged! With the internet, there are always ways to find more information and suppliers."
—Shari Deutsch #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Create a Stunning Website With Wordpress

Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by Wordpress.com! Whether you’re looking to create a personal blog, business site, or both—you’ll make a big impact, when you build your website on WordPress.com. 💻

Get 15% off when you build your website with Wordpress.com—use promo code PODCAST when you check out.
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

Car Crash Leads To Pain Relief Side Hustle

What It’s About

An innovative service that connects physical therapists and people with busy schedules.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Paging Patch has used lots of content and email marketing to help grow their following. And they’ve been featured on many industry websites like Shape and Huffington Post Health. These have been short excerpts and quotes that link back to their website. You can achieve similar results in your side hustle by using Help-A-Reporter-Out (HARO), where you can provide quotes and insights for journalists.

Fun Fact

Physical therapy is proven to be one of the most effective, least invasive, and least costly ways to get care for pain and injury. Yet only 10% of people suffering actually use physical therapy as a care option.

Notes from Chris

Episode 503

Rachel Sanders’ life was changed forever by a car crash. The accident happened while she was a full-time business school student, and afterward, she was left with persistent neck and back pain. During the months following her injury, she visited what felt like hundreds of doctors to try and cure the pain. But the diagnosis was always the same—it was chronic.

The only relief she found was through acupuncture and physical therapy. The sessions she undertook helped relieve many of the symptoms and made her studies much more bearable.

But, like so many students, Rachel’s schedule was pretty busy. There were essays to write, classes to attend, and events to host—leaving little time to spend on self-care. Most of the clinics she needed to visit for her treatment were only open when she was working or in class, and it was hard to get appointments for after-hours care.

Rachel began to look for solutions. Instead of going to the therapist, she’d bring the therapist to her. And she began to book appointments, at a time that suited her, in the comfort of her own home.

This piqued her entrepreneurial interest. Rachel realized that there is no shortage of busy people who struggle to find the time for self-care around their work!

She saw this as a business opportunity and a way to help people she could empathize with. She’d learned a lot in her studies about how much people love convenience. Meanwhile, health care was still an inconvenient industry, despite the amount of money people pay in insurance over the course of their lives.

This led to an idea that Rachel called Paging Patch. She wanted to connect people with injuries or medical problems to physical therapists who would travel to them. The name came from the idea of “paging” a doctor, and the way a doctor can “patch” you up.

This allows suffering patients to get personalized care and work with a therapist they can trust. But this system doesn’t just help the patients, it also helps the therapists.

Since its conception on October 2017, Paging Patch has worked with around 60 therapists to treat over 100 patients, and they’ve seen numbers double each month. Some of their therapists have been able to earn $1,000 a month or more by being registered on the platform.

Looking to the future, Rachel wants to grow patch into different areas of the country. They’re currently working in Nashville, Boston, NYC, and Denver and will hopefully be coming to a city near you very soon! If you need to get patched up and want your therapist to come to you, now you know where to go.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Paging Patch: If you need to get patched up but are short on time, check out Rachel’s service over on her website
  • Wix: The online website building platform that Rachel used to set up her website for Paging Patch
  • Help-A-Reporter-Out (HARO): The popular sourcing service that connects journalists and bloggers with relevant expert sources to meet journalists’ demanding deadlines and enable brands to tell their stories

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
"Don’t let what you don’t know stand in your way. You don’t need to be able to code—there are so many website builders and other tools that you can use to set up something that can be tested. Figure out a way to hack together a quick solution, and get out there and start selling it."
—Rachel Sanders #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Create a Stunning Website With Wordpress

Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by Wordpress.com! Whether you’re looking to create a personal blog, business site, or both—you’ll make a big impact, when you build your website on WordPress.com. 💻

Get 15% off when you build your website with Wordpress.com—use promo code PODCAST when you check out.
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

Part-Time Music Teacher Tunes Up Piano School to $100,000/Year

What It’s About

A six-figure side hustle that’s like music to your ears.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Emilee’s biggest piece of advice? Be decisive. If you have an idea, start it today. What Emilee has learned through her side hustles is that the success of a business depends on a person’s ability to just take the plunge and start their project… even if they’re worried they might fail. That acceptance of potential failure cuts down on the time you lose as you think about whether you should start your project and brings the day you make your first sale or earn money even closer.

Fun Fact

When it comes to instruments, the piano is a relative baby. The first piano was created in 1698 by an Italian named Bartolomeo Cristofori. While 320 years sounds like a lot, other instruments, like the flute, are over 1000 years old. But, what the piano lacks in age, it makes up for in sound—this instrument covers the entire orchestral range. Pretty noteworthy!

Notes from Chris

Episode 502

You could say that Emilee-Mae Feely is a full-time side hustler. Her list of roles includes property manager/art model/kid’s cake baker/musician manager/bachelorette party coordinator has always liked to stay busy, but she has her old high school boyfriend to thank for her most profitable side hustle to date. And that’s what we’re going to focus on today!

Emilee was 16 when she started her first side hustle, Feely Piano School, which began as a way to fill the gaps in her after-school schedule. In a problem that has plagued the world of music teachers worldwide, she noticed that her students weren’t consistently showing up to their lessons—which left her with free time, but no income. They were supposed to pay even if they didn’t come, but that didn’t always happen.

So, Emilee modified her high-school business plan and began offering in-home lessons to her students, instead of having them visit her. Emilee figured this would help cut down on missed classes because her students wouldn’t have an excuse not to show up.

She kept offering piano lessons into university and used her now long-distance relationship as a happy coincidence to expand her client base into a new city, while still offering lessons in her students’ homes. Although the relationship didn’t last forever, Emilee saw her business expand and used the momentum, and rave reviews, to branch out into other nearby towns.

How has she been able to be in more than one place at a time? Well, first consider this: in the five years since her university days, Emilee has grown her piano school side hustle into a $100,000 a year business, all without investing in any marketing, and all while starting other projects as well. She’s been able to reach that figure through subcontracting the lessons to other teachers, which also helps her add new cities to Feely Piano School’s repertoire.

How does the money work out? Emilee charges $400 per 8-week semester for one hour of lessons a week and pays each subcontractor about ½, or ¾ of that—depending on their level of experience. Because every lesson is literally ‘in-house,’ there aren’t any overhead costs to consider. Any printed materials, like music sheets, are covered by the students themselves, and her subcontractors pay for their own transportation.

Emilee spends roughly 10 to 15 hours a week either teaching lessons herself, or dealing with the administrative tasks that come with running a 5-city piano school. She’s played with the idea of expanding into more cities, but that also means it would add more administrative work for Emilee, leaving her with less time to focus on her other projects.

The multi-passionate multi-side hustler is looking for her next idea, now that her piano school is mostly passive income thanks to subcontractors. When we spoke to Emilee, she was participating in The StartupBus, where she was spending five days focusing on building (and launching) a music education app. She now has an idea to start a new online business every week, for the next 52 weeks, to challenge herself to create more ideas… All while continuing to cash the checks from Feely Piano School.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Feely Piano School: If today’s episode struck a chord, learn more about Emilee and her project over on her website!
  • StartupBus: A competition that Emilee was involved in where she spent five days focusing on building and launching a music education app

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
"When I’m working on coming up with a new side hustle, I generally think to myself ‘if I were a client, what would be the most attractive thing for me, or the ideal situation?’ Then I drive my business to cater to that need."
—Emilee Feely #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Create a Stunning Website With Wordpress

Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by Wordpress.com! Whether you’re looking to create a personal blog, business site, or both—you’ll make a big impact, when you build your website on WordPress.com. 💻

Get 15% off when you build your website with Wordpress.com—use promo code PODCAST when you check out.
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

Hollywood Film Editor Optimizes Life Through Self-Care Side Hustle

What It’s About

A Hollywood film and tv editor helps those in the industry strike a healthy work/life balance.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

According to Zack, the first step is understanding the reason why you would start a side hustle in the first place. There are plenty of ways to earn money online now, but some of them aren’t rewarding. Knowing why you want to build a business and who you specifically want to help are key. Otherwise, it can be difficult to overcome the drudgery of what you’re doing when you hit walls, have glitches, have failed launches, etc.

The bigger picture and the greater ‘Why’ is the engine that will drive everything.

Fun Fact

On average, Zack spends about 20 hours a week on Optimize Yourself. His work schedule changes often, so his time commitment shifts. But he’s built in a lot of automated systems over time. When he’s not busy with editing TV shows, he stocks up on podcast interviews. It took Zack a while to learn the lesson that he needed to delegate. Once he learned how to teach it to someone else, he did. Zack would spend weeks doing it by himself, only to realize someone can do it better and faster.

Notes from Chris

Episode 501

Is a work/life balance even a real thing? Zack Arnold, a successful Hollywood film and TV editor, doesn’t subscribe to the idea…at least not as it’s commonly known. Even though he was working on shows like Glee, Empire, Unsolved and others, his days were spent sitting in dark editing bays and then rushing home to be with his family at night. Trying (like many of us do) to divide and compartmentalize his days, he realized something.

Even though he may have been spending 50% of his days at work and 50% at home, he felt scattered, unhealthy, and unhappy.

One spring day, he decided enough was enough. He started an email chain he coined “Fitness in Post” with his fellow film/TV editors to get his friends together to do fitness-focused activities like hiking. In the beginning, it was more about starting a club than a business.

His initial email blast was with friends, but more people wanted to join, including a lot of people he didn’t know. So he decided to sign up for a MailChimp account to help manage it. With very little effort, he found an audience of more than 500 people. He realized he was on to something.

One of Zack’s friends wanted him to come on his podcast and talk about the clear need in the film industry for a better way to balance work, life, and wellness. Inspired by a suggestion from that same friend, Zack decided to start his own “Fitness in Post” podcast. At first, he thought it would be two to three episodes, something short-lived. Another surprise: The podcast caught on just like the email list. A lot of people in the industry really wanted to talk about how to make working conditions better.

Zack was inspired to make it his mission to push forward the conversation. At conferences and events, people started asking him about his podcast vs. his full-time job. Another push to charge ahead.

His friends were his first fans of the group and the podcast—really the catalyst to help to build his business.

And one day, a friend said something to Zack at a conference that really changed his whole outlook. He asked how he was going to monetize his side hustle. This friend said “If you don’t have a plan to monetize it, anything that takes this amount of time and dedication, you’ll have to give up in two years. It’s going to be too much.”

That advice shifted the way Zack thought about Fitness in Post, realizing that his audience would want him to continue creating. He got over the initial hesitation about asking for money, and that’s when he started to research different podcasts and sites. After a little rebranding, he created some online teaching tools and grew more and more excited as he considered the possibilities for his new side hustle, Optimize Yourself.

Last year, he added coaching to his side hustle skills. As he created courses, he wanted a place to test and try his methods. Coaching was the perfect way to help others and to hear first-hand their needs. This helped Zack cater his courses to help people with all different types of goals.

For the coaching, he offers a 12-week program, one hour a week, for $2,500. He has two to three students at a time, working with them one-on-one, setting goals and take actions. He’s coached six people so far, bringing in profits around $15,000.

Today, Zack’s side hustle monthly income varies depending on if he does a product launch or not, but in general, he brings in around $2,000 per month which is largely passive with the exception of two hours of coaching per week. His email list now has over 4,000 people, and he’s still generating profits through the online courses and coaching. His priority is to launch new products with two courses in the works. He’s spent zero money on Facebook or Google ads throughout all of this. All of his audience growth has been organic through podcast listeners, the free guide on his website and his courses. It really proves great content can make your side hustle a box office hit.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Optimize Yourself: If you’re like Zack and spend much of your day sitting at a desk, learn how to find some balance yourself on his website
  • MailChimp: The email marketing platform that Zack used to help manage the email blasts to his friends

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
"The first mistake I made was NOT celebrating because I was so enamored with the fact that someone was actually willing to pay me money for my knowledge and view me as an ‘expert.’ Give yourself credit along the way, otherwise you’ll get burned out when you only focus on the things you haven’t done yet."
—Zack Arnold #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Create a Stunning Website With Wordpress

Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by Wordpress.com! Whether you’re looking to create a personal blog, business site, or both—you’ll make a big impact, when you build your website on WordPress.com. 💻

Get 15% off when you build your website with Wordpress.com—use promo code PODCAST when you check out.
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

Married Couple Goes From Crashed Drone To Soaring Side Hustle

What It’s About

A drone side hustle reaches great heights following a spectacular crash!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

According to Alan, a big downfall for many people working online is that they hide behind their computer. Never venturing out to talk to potential customers about what they want. He says that the best businesses solve real problems. To find those problems, you need to have communication with potential customers.

Fun Fact

For months and months, Alan fought for people’s attention. All he wanted was to hop on the phone with people, learn more about the industry and pick people’s brains. Now it’s a completely different story. He’s in a position where people are reaching out to him all the time to not just ask questions but to hop on the phone for partnership discovery calls, to pitch products, etc. That’s what happens when you become an authority in your niche.

Notes from Chris

Episode 500

Alan Perlman never intended for his side hustle to become a full-time business. In fact, Alan—a regular side hustler for 10 years—had modest goals in mind when he started his website, UAVCoach.com. The original plan? Make a few extra dollars on the side by reviewing quadcopters and drones, his favorite toys. You see, Alan loves UAVs—unmanned aerial vehicles—so much so that he could drone on about them for hours.

Back in 2014, Alan purchased his first drone with the idea of doing some basic aerial photography. A fun little side note here, on its maiden voyage, he crashed the drone into a car in New York City. I should also point out that it was a parked car although Alan assured us that the car came out of nowhere.

He’d seen friends build successful review websites and drive traffic with SEO. That traffic could be monetized with affiliate offers through stores like Amazon.com. Alan thought he could do the same for his newfound passion and decided to launch the website on a whim. It was a good insight because drones are a very high priced item. With Amazon’s commission structure, it’s possible to make up to $60 per sale on the higher priced models. He could bring in real money if he sold even a few each month.

Now, technically the website made money in its first month! How much? Well—not exactly sky high revenue—fourteen cents. Nothing to write home about.

It’s in times like these that many people lose hope and move onto the next thing, but not Alan. Finding the motivation to keep working when things don’t go your way can be difficult. But Alan didn’t lose heart.

He kept working on the site over the following year. A big investment of time went into producing long-form, high-quality content. The type of content readers love and want to share. It worked! Just a year later, UAVCoach generated five figures in a single month. Most of it coming from the Amazon Associate affiliate program.

You’re probably expecting me to end the story here with a nice little happily ever after spiel. But that wasn’t the way things panned out. Things began to decline after that, with no way of recapturing the revenue.

Not satisfied with letting things continue to nosedive, Alan moved to a higher altitude of operations. He started collecting the email addresses of his website visitors. Over the next few months, the website generated thousands of email addresses from people who were interested in drones.

Here’s where phase 2 of the plan took off…

Alan began talking directly to his website visitors in the form of a simple email. These emails led to several 1 on 1 conversations which highlighted a very specific and currently unmet need: a lot of drone enthusiasts needed flying training and education. On top of that, many drone owners didn’t even know the laws around flying drones in their local area.

It’s with this revelation that UAVCoach really started to take off.

Where are they today?

In 2017, their business generated six figures in revenue and is on track to do the same in 2018. The money earned through affiliate sales only accounts for 10% of their total income. The rest comes from their training courses. You could say they are flying high with no end in sight. We’re confident Alan can take this business into the stratosphere.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • UAV Coach: Looking to man your own fleet of drones? Fly on over to Alan’s website!
  • Amazon Associates Program: Interested in starting your own affiliate program? Learn how you can get started, here

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
"Regardless of what you’re selling, I think it’s really important to understand the target market and persona of who you’re selling to. Do everything you can to interact with these people! A game-changer for us was when I started emailing everyone who subscribed to our website personally."
—Alan Perlman #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Create a Stunning Website With Wordpress

Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by Wordpress.com! Whether you’re looking to create a personal blog, business site, or both—you’ll make a big impact, when you build your website on WordPress.com. 💻

Get 15% off when you build your website with Wordpress.com—use promo code PODCAST when you check out.
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

English Teacher Turns Passion for Verbs Into Online Income

What It’s About

An ESL teacher brings fun into the classroom with his new approach to teaching phrasal verbs.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

For Phrase It, Alan took the ‘go with what you know’ approach. Rather than trying to understand a new market that he knew nothing about, he looked around at what he was already doing—teaching English to international students. He understood these students’ needs better than anyone, and figured he could come up with a product that added value for them. The result? He created a one of a kind, truly innovative product.

Fun Fact

There are over 1.5 billion English language learners in the world. According to the research you will see in Alex’s Phrase It book/cards combo, phrasal verbs are one of the most difficult constructs for English language learners. There are over 5,000 + combinations in the English language. Alex spent time discovering 70 of the most common ones for students to practice.

Notes from Chris

Episode 499

Teaching is one of the most important professions in the world. And taking the knowledge you’ve gained in your own life and passing it on to others is a noble endeavor. But…as many of us know, the salary of a teacher isn’t usually enough to live the high life. There’s an old joke that goes, “Teachers deserve a lot of credit. Of course, if we paid them more they wouldn’t need it.” In most cases, the earning potential is limited to the amount of time they’re physically in front of students, and there are only so many hours in a day.

So, what do you do when your passion doesn’t align with making a lot of money? You get creative!

This is the situation Alex Bricker from Ft. Collins, Colorado found himself in. Alex is an ESL teacher—that’s English as a Second Language—and enjoys his job.

More than five years ago, Alex had tried starting a side hustle together with his brother. Their goal was to create an online directory of businesses for sale. The project wasn’t a big success and never made much money, but it did teach Alex a few lessons and gave him the confidence to have a go at something else.

So in early 2017, he got interested in starting a project. He went back to the blackboard—after throwing around a few ideas he devised a truly unique concept. One he was fairly certain he could find a market for and make money with.

For his second lesson in the entrepreneurial classroom, Alan took the “go with what you know” approach. The result? He created a one of a kind, truly innovative product.

Now, before I can explain exactly what the product is, I need to give you a little background. I’ll do that with a quick English lesson of my own. Apologies to all real teachers out there…remember I am a high-school dropout.

English is one of the hardest languages to learn, or at least it’s hard to master. Native speakers like myself find that difficult to understand. There are so many little quirks of the language that make it really hard for non-native speakers.

One of the hardest things to master are what’s known as phrasal verbs, or multi-word verbs. It’s best illustrated by an example. Take the phrase, ‘turn off’—like turn off the light, or turn off the stove. While intuitive to me—and a lot of people listening to this podcast—it’s really difficult to understand for English students. It’s because the word ‘turn’ literally means to turn around, as in go left or right. Not to turn something off or on. Make sense?

Alex was confident he could gamify the learning process and make it easy for phrasal verbs to stick in the minds of students. The concept he landed on was a card game: a way to make learning fun by producing random phrasal verbs. The name of the game? Phrase It!

While the setup costs were relatively high, the project has more than paid for itself. Currently, Phrase It is generating an average of $1,000/month profit, mostly through Amazon. But that’s not all, the revenue generated from the card game enabled him to launch a new product line.

From January of 2018, versions of the game are available in both dice and magnet form. It’s been driving even more revenue and Alex expects things to grow fast. 2018 is already looking very promising with $3,000 worth of sales last month alone.

While the money earned so far isn’t quite enough to quit his job, it’s a good start. He’s able to supplement his teaching income while essentially teaching more students without being on the clock. Teaching continues to be his passion and he’s excited to see what happens when the new versions of Phrase It. This is a story that deserves more than just a passing grade.

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

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
"I love innovating and developing things, so this fits my gifts and passion. I also love teaching, so to teach teachers how to implement something is a joy. The best part of the experience has been seeing international learners get the ‘aha’ moments when playing the card game."
—Alex Bricker #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Create a Stunning Website With Wordpress

Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by Wordpress.com! Whether you’re looking to create a personal blog, business site, or both—you’ll make a big impact, when you build your website on WordPress.com. 💻

Get 15% off when you build your website with Wordpress.com—use promo code PODCAST when you check out.
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

Weekly Recap: SHS Listener Earns $10,000/Month

Notes from Chris

Episode 498

THEMES & TAKEAWAYS:

I recently had a conversation with Kathleen Shannon, who we featured in Ep. 404. Kathleen works 30 hours a week and wants to spend a lot of time in the gym. Her colleague, Emily, has a third business, in addition to her own and the one they operate together.

For her, Kathleen absolutely doesn’t want a third business. Obviously, it’s not that either choice is right for everyone—for Emily, her colleague, the third business is right.

This relates to the concept of seasonality, which I try to stress every now and then. Sometimes in life, you want to emphasize one area or focus more than another, and then you switch. If you’re looking for “balance,” I think it’s more important to think about it over the course of a year or another extended period of time, not in an average day.

In today’s recap, we’ll delve more into this topic of choosing your choices—listen to the Weekly Recap to learn more!

LISTENER UPDATES + QUESTIONS:

This week, we received a listener email from a side hustler named Anthony:

  • Anthony: “Hey, Chris! Just wanted to thank you—since listening, we have started four side hustles that individuals have done on your podcast. And the latest is on the way to bringing in $10,000/month!It’s called Maids 2 Match our residential cleaning business in Dallas, TX. We got the idea from one of your featured guests, Chris Schwab (Ep. 87 – College Student Earns $20,000 a Month Cleaning Houses). Who I stalked on Facebook and picked his brain, and introduced me to a WHOLE community of people using this software called Launch27 for Lawncare, Pool Cleaning, moving business, dog walking, real estate. It preaches everything you mention about not trading time for money.

    Currently, we are in month 5 and bringing in $6,000/month. We’ve done Turo, Rover and a few others.

    Thanks in advance (and in general) and hope to hear from you soon!”

If you have something you’d like to ask me or an update you’d like to share, I’d love to hear from you. Leave me a voice message on the website or call into the Side Hustle Hotline (Dial 844-9-HUSTLE // 844-948-7853), and your question may be featured on the show!

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. 492 – A college student with a new family to support reads between the lines and turns a $20 used textbook into almost $70,000 within two years. This episode will flip your lid!
  • Ep. 493 – Two former baseball players create a bat rental service, serving thousands of customers across the country
  • Ep. 494 – In her search for a side hustle, this college communications instructor turns to her love of journaling. She then learns to manufacture a custom product from overseas and sell it back at home
  • Ep. 495 – A university data developer starts a metal detecting agency with his kids. It goes on to help people recover over $100,000 worth of jewelry, while earning rewards for the family
  • Ep. 496 – Hair today, gone tomorrow: a Texas woman turns her Instagram account into a mane event
  • Ep. 497 – A pilot instructor harkens back to his youth by building a fun, safe space for kids of all ages to play paintball

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Join me at the World Domination Summit!

Have you heard of the World Domination Summit? This is a gathering of awesome people—an event that I’ve been hosting together with an amazing team in Portland, OR every summer for the past eight years.

WDS 2018 is coming up at the end of June (June 26th-July 2nd), and we’ll be welcoming people from over 30 different countries. With inspiring keynote speakers, a week full of activities and attendee-led meetups, and two incredible parties, you won’t want to miss it!

This is our final wave of main stage tickets so visit our website to get your ticket to this incredible, once a year event! We promise that it’s unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before.

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 sky-high success story of a six-figure drone coaching business that begins after a man crashes a drone into a parked car in New York City. Look out!
  • In search of extra income, an ESL teacher creates a game that shows students how to use phrasal verbs. Turn it up!
  • And so 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
"Deciding what you’ll be choosy about is one of the most important choices you can make."
—#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

Paintball Enthusiast Builds Epic Field in New Zealand

What It’s About

When the economy takes a hit, this pilot helps residents of his hometown hit back even harder.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Having trouble determining which ideas are worth pursuing? Craig says that he has a notebook that he writes down every single quirky idea that comes into his head. He considers this notebook “a never-ending to-do-list.” And if he picks up the book and adds something to an existing entry, that is a flag for him to think “hmmmm, this could work.”

Fun Fact

Borderlandz Paintball even had its own race car. For real. From Craig, “We entered it into national events. We placed 7th out of 96 entries in the championship. We used the car for promo events for the paintball field and friends that had other small businesses added their logos all over the car (We looked so ‘pro’ with all the ‘sponsors’, haha). I later sold the car to finance our motorhome build and the move to Australia. It was fun while it lasted that’s for sure!”

Notes from Chris

Episode 497

Craig Tyer always wanted to fly airplanes, and once he was old enough, he trained to be a flying instructor. A dream job, right? Well, it was a dream job in some ways, but it definitely didn’t come with a dream paycheck. At least in Craig’s native New Zealand, teaching junior pilots was not a high-paying career.

Naturally, he needed a side hustle. And it helped that he had some history with them, beginning with his first at age nine.

Years later, while going through flight training, he played a lot of paintball on the weekends. Part of it was fun, and part of it was to stay fit. After all, there’s a lot of sitting involved in flying! He was living in Christchurch, New Zealand and the tourist industry took a nose dive after a massive, 6.3 earthquake. A number of paintball fields went out of business.

Determined to keep the beloved pastime in his city, Craig decided to save every penny he could from teaching kids to fly to start his own paintball facility. How much does a paintball facility cost? In Christchurch, NZ, apparently it costs around $8,000. He began by buying 10 paintball packs from his contacts in Christchurch, gearing up for 8-10 people to play, costing around $5,000. He also traveled around the country (by plane?), touring different paintball facilities, noting likes and dislikes. From there, he designed his dream field. He started locally sourcing old tires, wooden pallets and started building forts and barricades. He said it was just like he was a kid again despite being on the verge of turning 30.

Craig had all the elements for a good field, but what he really needed was a place to build his dream paintball field. He leased a back paddock off his Grandfather, one that bordered the neighbor’s property. Hence ‘Borderlandz Paintball‘ became Christchurch’s newest up and coming paintball field.

Last year, they grossed $35,000. Prior to that in 2016, they sat at around $30,000. The game bookings are very seasonal since they make 90% of that income between Late November – Early January. Their biggest weekend to date brought in net income of more than $5,000 and 30,000+ paintballs! But during the rest of the year it’s around $1,500 in profits per month.

If you’d like your own paintball field…

Opening a paintball playground has some unique needs when it comes to insurance. Craig recommends having Public Liability Insurance because of the nature of paintball. They also have a waiver the customer signs and two referees in each game. Not to mention they always have a First Aid certified staff member on call.

Craig recommends that you don’t cater to the ‘hardcore crowd’. It’s the Birthday parties and bachelor parties that make up 90% of the income.

Both Craig and Vicky—who he brought on to help run things—still have their full-time jobs alongside running Borderlandz. Vicky still works for the electrical company in New Zealand, while helping to manage the family business locally. Craig has been able to live out a couple of his dreams; continuing his passion for aviation and—in the rest of his spare time—building a custom adventure van, and traveling with his partner and their pet ferret… as one does after crafting the perfect paintball field.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Borderlandz Paintball: Learn more about this epic paintball field over on Craig’s website!
  • WordPress: Craig used WordPress to setup Borderlandz Paintball, and here you can learn how to install your own WordPress site in 5 minutes

 

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
"Borderlandz Paintball has done so much for me—it’s provided me with funds to build a motorhome so that I could live as a digital nomad while I travel. It’s also allowed me to provide employment to some great people and help my awesome sister out as well!"
—Craig Tyer #SideHustleSchool

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To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau