College Lecturer Profits from 3D Design Tutorials

What It’s About

Game designer designs his own freedom in the form of YouTube tutorials.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

It’s important to build your own assets (like Shane’s tutorials) so that you can handle whatever comes at you. Everyone needs options, everyone can benefit from the ability to choose for themselves how they spend their time and how they can do the work that’s important to them.

Fun Fact

Video games get more detailed and visually stunning every day. But one of the most basic is also one of the best selling. Tetris, the highly addictive tile-matching game, has sold over one hundred and seventy million copies since its release in 1984!

Notes from Chris

Episode 908

Shane Whittington, a digital art and game development lecturer in the United Kingdom, was looking for a way to help his students. They were mainly teens and young adults new to the college environment, and he wanted to help them refresh their memory of what they did in class.

One day, he created a quick tutorial to show them how to get a student version of a popular design software at home, and he posted it on YouTube. When he checked back on the video, he saw that it had gotten thousands of views—which was a lot more than his class size.

He was intrigued. He loved the fact that the video was so useful to his students, but he was also encouraged that it had also been discovered by others. He wanted to create more content and decided to officially launch his channel, now called Game Dev Academy. He didn’t waste time overthinking it … which is one of the things that he credits with his success.

He made his first video tutorial course for Maya, another kind of design software, in August of that same year. The videos were basic, there was no editing whatsoever and Shane says that you can even see him pressing stop on the screen recorder at the end of each video. He used the computer and editing software that he had at school, and his only startup costs were about $2, which he used to buy a microphone. It was worth every penny—meaning that it was terrible—but it did the job and got him up and running.

There was no business plan at this stage. Shane continued uploading periodic videos to support his lectures, but he was busy at work and didn’t pay much attention to the channel.

This was back in 2012. Fast forward nearly three years to the Summer of 2015. Shane is on his Summer break, and he visits his channel—where he is surprised to see that he has 2,000 subscribers. He didn’t even know what YouTube subscribers were, but he thought that this seemed promising. He had been thinking about updating his Maya tutorial for the 2016 version of the software and wanted to reach a broader audience.

Soon, he was regularly earning more than $350/month, and he saw a greater opportunity if he could produce content more consistently. To decide which tutorials to work on, Shane says that he thinks about his students. Most are absolute beginners who are completely new to game art and game development. If the videos are suitable for them then that they will be of interest to people wanting to learn these subjects anywhere in the world.

So far Shane has earned over £20,000 ($25,000) and he’s on track to earn over £15,000 ($19,000) this year alone. In fact, in the last couple of months, his side hustle has started making more than his teaching position. It’s allowed him to drop two days at work which helps with maintaining his sanity. It also means that he’s able to spend extra time with his kids.

In addition to a Patreon campaign and Adsense revenue, Shane has recently started selling “assets” as paid add-ons in his tutorials for people who don’t want to make or find their own. Think of assets like digital versions of arts and craft supplies. With this new income source on the rise, he hopes that by the end of the year he’ll have the option of doing it full time. He doesn’t think he’ll ever give up teaching at the college but he’d like that flexibility.

This game designer is well on his way to designing his freedom.

 


  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

 

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

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

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

GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS

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

Quote of the Day
"If your content is good, then people will find it. And the better it is, the more people will find it."
—Shane Whittington #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Don't Do Business Without It

Side Hustle School is brought to you by American Express.

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

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

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

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

Keep in Touch

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


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

New Jersey Blog Becomes Local Legend

What It’s About

A local travel blog takes off, becoming a leading resource for all things Hoboken.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Jennifer said anyone who wants to work their way into a local community should live there (or spend a good amount of time there) and be consistent with what they’re doing to cover it.

Speaking of consistency, navigating the waters of a 20+ person team gets tricky—that’s why Jennifer plans a monthly content calendar (2-3 articles daily, 7 days a week) of all topics to be covered.

Fun Fact

Hoboken is part of New Jersey’s Gold Coast—a span of waterfront that sits along the Hudson River, providing its residents with stunning views of the Manhattan skyline. It’s also only a single square mile with 50,000 residents—yet has the most bars and restaurants per capita than any other U.S. city!

Notes from Chris

Episode 902

Jennifer Tripucka is the founder and Editor-In-Chief of the lifestyle website, Hoboken Girl. It covers all things New Jersey, with a hyper-focus on Hoboken and Jersey City. The blog tackles everything from the best brunch spots to vintage Hoboken boutiques to parenting tips for new moms … and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

As she puts it, her team lives, breathes, eats, and drinks Hoboken and Jersey City lifestyle topics.

What started as a personal blog has grown into a six-figure business with over 20 contributors, and an audience of over two million readers.

How did she do it? It started with a steamy love affair … with the city of Hoboken.

Jennifer moved there over 8 years ago (her grandparents had businesses in Hudson County NJ) and became enamored with the place. While sitting home one New Years Eve with then-boyfriend (now husband) in 2012, Jennifer confided she wanted to explore more of her local community—and wound up buying the domain HobokenGirl.com that night.

It started as a passion project to chronicle her adventures around Hoboken, from a female perspective. She wrote about the things women would be interested in and discovered there weren’t many sites around with a female voice.

Her idea was to bring a fresh spin to her local blogosphere while sharing things that residents would enjoy. Fun stuff like local events, things to do, culture and community … and all with a humorous tilt.

Since then, Hoboken Girl has been steadily growing in the low six-figure range. The blog makes money through sponsored posts, brand and media partnerships, dedicated emails, and product advertisements.

She’s hired several part-time team members as well as 20 freelance writers who contribute to the site. What started with a couple of blog posts a week has turned into this garden state media juggernaut.

In January 2017, Jennifer left her day job (with Brides Magazine) to pursue Hoboken Girl full-time.

What’s next? Jennifer has picked up another side hustle as a consultant in social media strategy and management. She’s also working on creating a podcast called Tea on the Hudson.

 


  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Hoboken Girl: Learn more about all that Hoboken has to offer over on Jennifer’s website!
  • WordPress: Jennifer used WordPress to set up her blog, 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
"I think the key to any side hustle is to consider it your other job, and get in a routine with it, not a ‘when I feel like doing it’ attitude. Be fully immersed. The longer you go in between, the less important it will be."
—Jennifer Tripucka #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Don't Do Business Without It

Side Hustle School is brought to you by American Express.

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

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

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

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

Keep in Touch

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


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Delaware College Students Place Ads on 450,000 Cars

What It’s About

Two college students turn cars into moving billboards.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Marketing in one form or another is necessary for any growing business, and Greg has been lucky enough to be in the room with prospective clients as they gear up for big marketing pushes.

His recommendations for creating a strong campaign are: 1) take out your personal bias, 2) keep it simple, 3) create a buzz, 4) tell a story, and 5) the more data, the better.

Fun Fact

Greg and Mac named their first company PenguinAds. As you can imagine, nobody could tell what they did. They then changed their name to Carvertise after realizing that it was short, catchy, and could even become a verb in itself.

Notes from Chris

Episode 892
When University of Delaware student Greg Star signed up for an entrepreneurship class, he wasn’t expecting to walk away with a business idea. But when he heard a fellow student, Mac Nagaswami, bring up an idea for mobile advertising, Greg jumped. This was an opportunity he thought was too good to be missed.

The idea was simple and can be explained in four words: put ads on cars. Greg and Mac were inspired by how U-haul had managed to build up such great brand recognition even though they did no advertising, except on those trucks that they owned. To them, cars were an overlooked medium of advertising. They were able to get into areas that buses and billboards just couldn’t.

Why hadn’t anyone done this before? As they found out, it was a simple idea, but one that was difficult to execute. They even had a name in mind: Carvertise.

They started by printing and distributing flyers on campus to see if there were people who were interested in putting ads on their cars for money. The reaction was mixed at first. Cars, like clothing, are usually seen as a reflection of the individual’s style and personality. But Greg and Mac soldiered on and started to get community institutions such as schools and hospitals on board as advertisers. Although this provided initial proof of concept, it was still doubtful if they could turn it into a full-scale business.

Their break came later when they received a reply after emailing the Head of Economic Development in Delaware. Greg had made a list of “people to know” by looking at the boards of universities, non-profit organizations, and government officials and sent them notes. This yielded results when the cabinet secretary for economic development put them in touch with the local Shoprite CEO.

It was the first big deal that Greg and Mac struck after 1.5 years of hard work and they were elated. But it was also time for them to prove that the advertisers were right to place their trust in the two of them. They’d never run a full-on campaign and were extremely nervous. With hard work and some luck, they managed to pull it off.

The next few early deals followed the same pattern. They would reach out to prospects, play the numbers game, and hope to get a favorable response. Although it was exhausting getting rejections and worse, ignored, the strategy yielded enough results to continue. But along the way, something else also happened. Word had gotten out, and soon enough, Greg and Mac were getting referrals. It also helped when the duo switched their recruitment plan from handing out flyers to digital advertising. This significantly increased their reach and allowed them to onboard new drivers for new campaigns.

Next, they made a decision that had immediate positive results. Greg noticed that Uber and Lyft drivers were already driving all day, and so it would be especially useful to have rideshare drivers spread the word about their advertisers. When they decided to market to these drivers in 2018, the size of their company tripled. This year, the number of drivers with Carvertise is set to double again, and the company is also set to make $5 million in revenue.

As they say, “We’re living in a time now where if you own a car, you can own your company.” They’ve certainly contributed to that statement as they typically pay drivers an additional $100-150/month, and sometimes even up to $500 a month for bigger campaigns. As of now, they’ve paid out over $1.5 million to everyday people for just having an advertisement on a car.

From handing out flyers as university students to now having brand names such as EA Sports and 7 Eleven, it’s been quite the ride for Greg and Mac.


MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Carvertise: Learn more about this “ad-on-the-go” side hustle over on Greg’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

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
"We’re living in a time now where if you own a car, you can own your company. It’s never been easier to create your own freedom and security!"
—Greg Star #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

Savvy Bride Turns Budget Wedding Into Six Figure Success

What It’s About

Budget savvy bride helps others say “I do” on a budget!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Consider how you’ll monetize. Will you place ads on the site, promote affiliate offers, or create and sell your own products? Will you use the site to get hired by clients? Decide your strategy on what to tackle first, and any additional streams you could add over time. Rome wasn’t built in a day!

Fun Fact

In the beginning, Jessica kept her blog, The Budget Savvy Bride, a secret from almost everyone in her personal life. She felt kind of dorky about the whole thing! It wasn’t until she had already gained a large readership that some of her friends and family discovered the site and started reading.

Notes from Chris

Episode 849

Jessica Bishop had just gotten engaged and was excited about walking down the aisle, but she was seriously fretting over the expense of it all. She didn’t want one of the biggest moment of her life to be financially crippling. So, from the beginning, she looked for ways to cut corners and save money, yet still have the wedding she’d always dreamed of.

During the planning process, Jessica became completely consumed by all things wedding related. Almost every waking moment she was thinking of something she had to plan, actually planning it, or making sure the plan already set was coming together.

She often found herself venting to family and friends and anyone who’d listen about her upcoming nuptials. It became so regular that she started to feel self-conscious that it was all she could talk about.

Rather than risk gaining a reputation as a “Bridezilla”, Jessica came up with another way to get out the thoughts inside her head. She chose to start a blog, a place where she could write about her trials and tribulations around planning a wedding as a frugal bride-to-be. She didn’t realize it at the time, but she was about to tie a side hustle knot and make another long-term commitment.

Unlike the wedding itself, where every intricate detail was planned, the blog had very little thought put into it. Jessica simply wanted a space to share what she had learned with other people on the same journey to create their perfect wedding. To keep things simple, she decided to launch on WordPress, the free hosting platform.

She called it The Budget Savvy Bride. It had a nice ring to it!

A couple more years down the line and a big life change occurred. Jessica and her now-husband decided to move to New York City. By now, she’d been blogging for four years. It was time to take this side hustle relationship more seriously and go full-time.

Soon, she was receiving over 500,000 visitors per month and reaching couples all over the world. By this point, Jessica had built relationships and arranged deals with big name brands in the wedding space. This brought about new revenue streams in the form of affiliate commissions and branded, sponsored posts.

By working hard, the blog had its six-figure year in 2015, earning over $100,000 in net income. It was a huge moment for Jessica. It also hasn’t stopped, with similar success coming in every year since then.

Then, in 2017, a new opportunity came knocking when Jessica was offered a publishing deal to write her own book about planning a wedding on a budget. It was released in 2018 and went on to sell over fifty thousand copies in its first year.

Through hard work and constant effort, Jessica has built an exhaustive resource for couples wanting to save money on their wedding. Although the path hasn’t always been romantic, she has no regrets about enthusiastically saying “I do” to this opportunity.

 


 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • The Budget Savvy Bride: Head on over to Jessica’s blog to learn more or forever hold your peace
  • The Budget Savvy Wedding Planner & Organizer: From planning tools and checklists to worksheets and calendars, Jessica’s book has all of the need-to-know advice to help you navigate the wedding industry traps. Learn more, here!
  • WordPress: Jessica used WordPress to set up The Budget Savvy Bride, 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

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’ve had to remind myself that I did not start this with the intention of it becoming a business. And I didn’t necessarily do everything right. I screw up regularly and lose track of what’s important, but at the end of the day, I’m still here, still going strong!"
—Jessica Bishop #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Don't Do Business Without It

Side Hustle School is brought to you by American Express.

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

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

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

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

Keep in Touch

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


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

New Mom Uses Pinterest to Launch Parenting Blog

What It’s About

A new mom creates the online resource she wished she’d had.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

These kinds of projects have potential to create passive income, with the caveat that a) you usually have to work for quite a while before you get to that point, and b) nothing gold can stay—it won’t keep coming forever. So, plan ahead for your next project!

Fun Fact

Ashley just about gave up in December—and it’s a good thing she didn’t. Little did she know, she was on the brink of a 1,500% increase in revenue.

Notes from Chris

Episode 846

Ashley Bryant is a “Type A” planner. She likes to research, be fully prepared for the worst, and have everything under control. So when she became pregnant with her first child … she just couldn’t stop reading.

Reading about pregnancy and motherhood, however, was not like other topics she’d encountered. Most resources she could find were just message boards full of personal stories, not well-written, thoughtfully organized, articles backed by science. She had to visit ten blogs to get the information she thought she’d be able to find in one. It was exhausting…

And it wasn’t just her. Ashley had plenty of conversations with other new and expectant mothers about how hard it is to find entertaining yet detailed articles that aren’t just based on intuition or a single story or two.

Somewhere along the way, an idea was formed: why not blog about this? Yes, this is 2019, and people still blog! Some of them even make money doing it.

Ashley wasn’t totally new to blogging. She works full-time for a real estate company and is responsible for creating content for their website. However, while she understood writing basics—like keeping someone’s attention and organizing the content in a way that feels natural—she wasn’t very familiar with the business side of starting a blog.

She knew she needed to learn these things, so she studied up. Ashley started paying close attention to Pinterest. It was easy to stay caught up on trendy topics in motherhood from the popular pins in the category—but just as Ashley suspected, most of the pins directed readers to fluffy content that wasn’t very practical.

Her plan was different. She’d take her own experiences of pregnancy and early motherhood, enhance them with really detailed research, and create long, engaging, articles that could be the only article someone would have to read to gain some real understanding of the topic. Once she had a few posts in the pipeline, she officially launched Mom Like You Mean It.

In January of this year, fresh from a couple of weeks off for the holidays, Ashley dove back into her blog—and ended up having her first $500 month.

February was even better: $1,500, all from advertising, Amazon links, and a couple of affiliate commissions.

From the very beginning, Ashley’s been driven by the concerns and questions of new and expecting moms. She’s not looking for a creative outlet or a place to tell stories—she’s blogging to help her readers solve problems.

And because of this ‘listen, then write’ approach, Ashley found the area where she could really shine: pre and postpartum fitness and nutrition. Her early articles on these topics were thriving—and earning. She’s now working on her first product she hopes to release later this year.

 


  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Mom Like You Mean It: If you’d like to “mom like you mean it,” head on over to Ashley’s blog!

 

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
"Understand that Rome wasn’t built in a day. There will be setbacks—and lots of them—so just plan for that. Plan to learn everything you can that first year and then make a commitment to never stop learning something new."
—Ashley Bryant #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Don't Do Business Without It

Side Hustle School is brought to you by American Express.

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

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

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

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

Keep in Touch

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


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Guitar Player Chalks Up Success to Enjoying the Process

What It’s About

A resource blog for lovers of a great power ballad!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Over time, Bobby learned more about how to make his site rank in Google. One of the most important things in regard to that is to have links from other websites. He contributed to other sites, which allowed him to link back to his own site. This led to higher rankings and more affiliate commissions.

Fun Fact

A Gallup poll conducted all the way back in 1997 determined that there were over 16 million guitar players in the USA. It’s safe to assume that number is much larger now. With so many guitar players around it’s easy to see why GuitarChalk.com can make a lot of money from what is largely a hobby niche.

Notes from Chris

Episode 839

Bobby Kittleberger loves to play guitar. Although every guitarist wants to rock the stage like Slash or The Edge, only a few can live out that fantasy. For Bobby, thrashing out in front of thousands of fans wasn’t part of his life’s plan.

Instead, he pursued a career in IT as a systems administrator for a law firm. But, he never let go of his love of guitar…

He played often and would geek out over new equipment and tech. On top of that, he taught part-time and sometimes even wrote his own music.

One day in 2012, while jamming away at his day job, Bobby felt the urge to start strumming to a different beat. That desire was driven by a friend of his who had been making a little money online.

Bobby knew nothing about this brave new world. But what his friend was doing to earn a few dollars was so simple, it seemed anyone could do it. It involved writing movie reviews on a personal blog and referring visitors to Netflix subscriptions—in exchange for a small commission.

Like a classic three-chord song, the process appeared easy to replicate to a different market. Instead of movies, Bobby decided to build a website around his favorite hobby… playing guitar!

Since he was starting from ground zero, he kept things simple and created a site on Blogger.com. He called it Guitar Chalk, a play on the old chalkboard in a teacher’s classroom.

A good guitar teacher will advise students to start slow and build up their skills before tackling the third solo in November Rain. And that’s what Bobby did with Guitar Chalk. His end goal was to build up enough traffic through Google to make affiliate commissions on Amazon.com. But to start, he began writing about the basics of guitar playing.

Just like playing the guitar, one has to love the process of learning itself to get to the point of being good. Bobby found a lot of similarities between that and working on the site. He discovered he enjoyed the process of building out the pages of a website. He found himself learning new skills, and not so much caring if the site was successful.

Any good music career has ups and downs, and Bobby’s time with Guitar Chalk is no exception. For one, his revenue is anything but steady. Some months he earns a lot, others not so much. Although, when averaged out it does equate to $7,000 per month—a figure Bobby would like to turn the volume up on.

His search rankings also fluctuate quite a bit. Old content that used to do well fades out and falls in Google rankings. Bobby’s plan for the future is to refresh some of those old articles in hopes of better performance.

No matter, the crescendo to this whole project for Bobby isn’t the money, although that’s great. The process itself has given his life a creative purpose outside of his day job. It’s improved his well-being, and every day he looks forward to putting a little work into Guitar Chalk.

 


  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Guitar Chalk: Fine-tune your mad guitar skills over on Bobby’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
"Do a lot of niche research up front—that way, when you get started, you can be confident about the monetary value of your topic."
—Bobby Kittleberger #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Don't Do Business Without It

Side Hustle School is brought to you by American Express.

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

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

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

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

Keep in Touch

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


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Piggy Bank Disaster Turns Millennial Into Money Master

What It’s About

A Millennial goes from bankrupt to bank!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Start a blog, don’t worry about monetising it or promoting it straight away, concentrate on finding a useful niche, doing your homework and research in your chosen field, establishing a unique voice, accepting opportunities to talk about what you do, being active (but not too much!) on social media and take the long view.

Focusing on producing something quality, different and useful will lead to a slow-burn and far more satisfying reward in the long-term.

Fun Fact

According to a study conducted by CNBC, millennials don’t believe in putting savings away for a rainy day. As a matter of fact, nearly half have nothing saved at all! Of those taking part in the survey, most between 18 and 24 had less than $1000 in the bank.

Notes from Chris

Episode 779

In 2011, Iona Bain was in her early twenties, working as a music teacher, scrimping and saving every penny she could. There was no real organization to her finances, no proper bank account or credit card. She wasn’t your typical millennial—half of them have zero savings—but she wasn’t far off.

In fact, Iona was trying to do what she could to avoid that trap. But she made one critical mistake. No, it wasn’t spending too much on clothes or partying every week. Hers was an error of a more unusual kind. Instead of using a bank account, she kept all of the money made from music lessons in a good old fashioned piggy bank in her bedroom. And the money was piling up, that little piggy bank was full to the brim of sweet cash.

But little did she know, disaster was about to strike! Iona was about to have her own Global Financial Crisis. Although it was no laughing matter, what transpired feels like it was pulled straight from the plot of a Seth Rogen movie.

Her piggy bank… was stolen from her home!

What followed was one of the most embarrassing and surreal moments of this young millennial’s life. There she was, a grown adult, explaining to a police officer, that her piggy bank had been taken by thieves in the dead of night.

To add insult to injury, the officer asked all sorts of questions to try and identify the piggy bank, should it be recovered. Where did you last see it? Was it pink? Did it have a squiggly tail?

It was at that moment that Iona knew she had to make a financial change in her life. She needed some common cents. She resolved to learn everything she could about the financial world, and take control of her monetary destiny. Step 1: don’t actually keep your money in a piggy bank.

Iona was studying journalism at the time, so she decided to write about everything she learned on a blog. Luckily—since she was broke—the cost of launching a blog was tiny. She registered a domain name and The Young Money Blog was born. There’d she’d write about financial matters that concerned her and other millennials.

She earned £15,000 (or $19,202.10) in her first year, but that annual figure has more than tripled in the last couple of years since giving up full-time work and pursuing her “side hustle” more efficiently.

For Iona, the wealth has only just began. She plans to take things to the next level by publishing more content from both herself and other contributors in 2019. She also plans on launching a course for her readers that may be struggling to improve their financial position. Along with that, she’s producing video content, as well as doing some consulting with British financial brands.

So far she has no regrets, other than not taking the blog more seriously from the very beginning. Oh, and she now keeps her savings in the bank.

 


 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • The Young Money Blog: Ditch the piggy bank and pick up some financial cents over on Iona’s blog!
  • WordPress: Iona used WordPress to setup The Young Money Blog, 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

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
"It’s wonderful to not have to go into an office, ask others for permission to do what I want, and tick certain boxes. Pursuing my side hustle gives me the freedom to be creative, independent, and have a varied life."
—Iona Bain #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Don't Do Business Without It

Side Hustle School is brought to you by American Express.

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

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

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

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

Keep in Touch

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


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Management Consultant Creates Astute Traveling Videos

What It’s About

YouTube videos for the astute traveler.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Content creation is a very slow process, and a lot of people ditch it because it’s such a grind. However, it’s an investment, and you have to accept that you may not see any money from your effort for a while. Though if you persevere as a content creator, your odds for success and growth are exponentially higher.

Fun Fact

A recent study indicated that 31% of people with credit cards have never redeemed their reward points. The main reasons are that people don’t know they have them, are saving them up or it’s simply too difficult.

Notes from Chris

Episode 777

Ernest Shahbazian loves to travel hack. When off on an adventure he’s always on the lookout for the best deal. To get there, he often uses credit card rewards points to get discounts on flights. In that respect, he isn’t special—there are a lot of people doing the same thing. That’s why, when it came to starting a side hustle, he wasn’t instinctively drawn to something travel related. Why add one more anonymous voice to a crowded marketplace?

But, while working his day job as a management consultant, he was inspired by a co-worker to just try. It was the catalyst to begin the side hustle trip of a lifetime.

One day, Ernest and that colleague were chatting over lunch. The guy was interested in learning more about earning credit card reward points but didn’t have time to read long blog posts to learn. He explained to Ernest that he’d much prefer to watch videos about it, but there were no good ones out there. He suggested Ernest do something about it.

At first, Ernest was skeptical. It was already 2016 at this stage and surely there’d be plenty of video content out there about reward points. But, after searching YouTube, he agreed with his colleague. What was out there wasn’t very good, and he could do much better.

So he packed his bags and decided to get started. His journey? Create a YouTube channel for the astute traveler. Offering travel advice, reviews and of course, tips on earning rewards. He decided to call the project Trip Astute. The mission was to help people maximize their travel experience.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, nor are YouTube channels.

He committed to posting a new video every week and improved along the way. A few months later, he was more comfortable in front of the camera, the quality of his videos was better, and he became much faster at editing each video.

By the six month point, he’d reached 1,000 subscribers and felt like he’d hit cruising altitude. It was now that Ernest decided to invest more heavily in his own website. For every video he posted, he created a page on his own site. The idea was, he’d pick up more traffic through Google and eventually have more opportunities to monetize.

Currently, Ernest is earning about $1,000/month from his efforts. He has big plans, including a goal to reach 50,000 subscribers. In addition, he hopes to partner with brands to create sponsored videos as a way to attract more revenue.

Most importantly, Ernest plans to put a lot more work into his own website. He understands that YouTube, while amazing, is a platform not under his control. By focusing on his own site, and building an audience there, he won’t be at the whims of any algorithm updates or changes that he can’t control.

Long term, he’s hoping Trip Astute can become his full-time gig. For that to happen he wants to be generating $5,000/month consistently.

Right now, Ernest is continuing to enjoy the journey.

 


 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

 

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

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

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

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
"As a content creator, you have to produce content regularly. Even though YouTube isn’t like broadcast TV, your audience still expects to see content on a regular basis. Sticking to a schedule really helps with building a community and seems to help in terms of ranking with YouTube’s/Google’s algorithm."
—Ernest Shahbazian #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Don't Do Business Without It

Side Hustle School is brought to you by American Express.

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

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

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

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

Keep in Touch

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


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Dynamic Sister Duo Bids Up Profits for Charities

What It’s About

Two sisters get in on the side hustlin’ auction!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Like it’s said in many fields, every event is an audition for your next one. Every time Katie and Missy are at one event, they receive 1-3 calls about another opportunity. She says that you never know who is in the audience and that you should bear that in mind.

Fun Fact

According to Katie and Missy, seasoned auctioneers say it can take up to six years for an auctioneer to really develop their own rhythm, sound, and filler words.

Notes from Chris

Episode 765

One night around 1 a.m., Katie Fitzsimmons received an urgent call from her sister Missy. “Buckle up, Kate. I figured out our future.” Katie and Missy grew up working in the family landscaping business. Katie now works full-time as Director of Student Affairs in the North Dakota University System. She’s also a mother to two young children. Her sister, Missy, is a Jill of All Trades, working mostly as a radio and event DJ in Bozeman, Montana.

On this particular evening that inspired the late-night phone call, Missy had been DJing a charity event. There, she watched a female professional auctioneer walk in and own the room. Missy recalls, “She was unbelievable. When it was all said and done she had raised $350,000. In Bozeman! In 40 minutes! It’s unheard of.”

The auctioneer had walked in, did her piece, walked out, and then jumped onto a plane to go home. Meanwhile, Missy had been at the event for 12 hours, setting up her gear, playing music, emceeing/warming up the crowd, and then loading out all of her gear after midnight in the snow and cold. That’s when it hit her: “Screw this. I wanna be the auctioneer!”

So that’s how it started. She called Katie at 1 a.m. that night and told her with determination, “You and I are gonna be auctioneers!”

A bold statement … but she turned out to be right on the money.

Katie had years of experience in the non-profit sector (as well as higher education) and enjoyed fundraising for good causes. Despite having zero experience in auctioneering, it seemed like it could be a perfect fit.

By the way, what IS the art of auctioneering?

“Essentially, auctioneering is like stand up comedy, mixed with selling, mixed with supporting a worthy cause.” Katie explains.

On the third day of Auction School, Missy happened to get a call from a contact back in Bozeman, wanting to book the two sisters for their first ever live auction event. The client was a nonprofit group that helps female entrepreneurs. It was the perfect first gig! They had minimal expectations and they wanted to support women, especially women in a male-dominated field.

Their side hustle was officially in bidness, and they dubbed themselves The Auctionisters.

Katie says that first gig went well, and they learned a lot.

Since then, they’ve done 40 auctions between them, and they work together whenever possible. They raise money for charities, organizations, scholarships, political groups, individuals, and specialized causes.

In 2018, Katie did 17 events. She typically charges a flat fee per event, around $300 when working locally in Bismarck. Other events that include travel have paid up to $2,500. So far, they’ve raised over $1.2 million for charities in just over two years.

So, do they hope to do it full-time? No … but that’s not the goal! Katie has a family and doesn’t want to be away from home too much.

The Auctionisters are a great example of a side hustle. It’s fun, it’s meaningful, they get to use a unique skill, charities raise a lot of money, and they get paid.

You could even say their auctions speak louder than words.

 


 

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
"Essentially, auctioneering is like stand up comedy, mixed with selling, mixed with supporting a worthy cause. It’s rad as hell."
—Katie Fitzsimmons #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Don't Do Business Without It

Side Hustle School is brought to you by American Express.

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

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

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

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

Keep in Touch

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


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

All Work and No Play Inspires Nurses to Hustle

What It’s About

Two friends draw on their “inner child” and create a massively popular YouTube channel.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

The market has changed significantly since Nat and Essie went into the toy hustlin’ game, and they say that it’s harder to start a successful channel these days with the market being as saturated as it is.

As Essie said, “If you really want to start a toy channel, narrow down to a very specific niche with a lot of traction. And if you want to start a YouTube channel in general, stay on top of growing trends before the market becomes saturated and carve yourself out a piece of the pie. It takes a ton of work, time, and energy, but persistence can take you a long way.”

Fun Fact

Nat and Essie donate their unboxed toys to charities that in turn give them to children who may not be able to get those toys on their own—kids in the foster care system, or those who come from families that are struggling.

Essie also donates a lot of the toys she unboxes to the Philippines where she is from, and since they both were nurses, they donate a substantial amount of toys to hospitals as well. It’s been an amazing, albeit unexpected, bonus!

Notes from Chris

Episode 755

If you’re a parent, odds are you’ve grown accustomed to children’s programming. You know the struggles of Peppa the Pig like the back of your hand, and you’ve reminisced over episodes of Barney and Sesame Street. Maybe you’ve even sunken to singing the “Clean Up” song and clapping your hands in time in order to encourage your kiddos to pick up their toys at the end of the day.

But every now and then, you, the cable bill paying parent, want to watch your own programs. Shows that don’t come with sing-a-longs that stick in your head for weeks despite your best efforts to eradicate them. And that’s when you do that thing you swore to yourself that you would never do as you silently judged other parents: hand over your phone or tablet.

Your children may not be able to read, spell, or even locate the search bar with those sticky little fingers, but somehow, they will inevitably stumble across the “Johny Johny, Yes Papa”, “Family Finger”, and “Baby Shark” music videos. And with this expansion into the vast world of YouTube, your child will likely find their way to a whole new kind of channel specifically for kids: toy reviews and reveals.

That’s where two full-time ICU nurses in Houston, Texas unearthed a massively successful side hustle … and all this time, it was hiding in your kid’s toy chest. Who knew?!

Nat and Essie met when Nat was a fresh-faced new graduate going through training at a local hospital to become a certified nurse. Essie was the nurse in charge of making sure that she stuck patients with the pointy end of the needle. You could say it was friendship at first stick. They worked well together and became fast friends even after they ended up in different departments.

As everyone knows, being a nurse is stressful. By the end of 2014, both Nat and Essie were feeling burned out. And so they started planning an escape route…

Throughout the week, they were constantly coming up with ideas for a side hustle that they’d take to one another for approval, but each time, these ideas were shot down. Either the logistics were too complicated, or it would take too much time and energy from them, and in some cases, they an idea didn’t make the cut because there was just no clear path from idea to action.

It wasn’t until Essie was visiting family in the Philippines that they finally landed on a winning idea: toy reviews. Nat had found an article about a YouTube creator who was bringing in a whopping $4 million a year unboxing and playing with toys on YouTube. And after toiling for years as ICU nurses, adding a little fun to their lives like this seemed like a great idea!

They called their new YouTube channel Toys Unlimited.

Although they had cleared six-figures that first year, it was still just half of what they were making at their day jobs when they divvied it up between them. Still, it was encouraging enough for Essie to quit her day job and focus her efforts on their channel full-time. Nat followed her 6-8 months later following the birth of her first child, and the duo have seen their channel reach some pretty amazing heights. They finished 2018 making substantially more than they ever did as full-time nurses, and their subscriber list has soared to over 6.8 million.

Being a public figure on a platform like YouTube hasn’t been all fun and games though—it has its challenges just like any other side hustle. Since they started, YouTube’s algorithm has undergone several changes that meant that they had to adjust the way that they present their content. They also had concerns about privacy and online harassment, so they’ve chosen to remain anonymous about their real identities.

Those challenges aside, they’re making a fantastic living that allows them an autonomy that they never would have had with their day jobs as nurses. It’s been almost four years since they first started Toys Unlimited, and they still can’t believe that they’re making this much money having so much fun.

 


 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

 

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

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

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

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
"Narrow down to a very specific niche with a lot of traction, and stay on top of growing trends before the market becomes saturated so that you can carve yourself out a piece of the pie. It takes a ton of work, time, and energy, but persistence can take you a long way."
—Nat & Essie #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Don't Do Business Without It

Side Hustle School is brought to you by American Express.

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

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

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

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

Keep in Touch

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


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau