Tag: Coaching

Paralegal Takes Flight with Remote Work

What It’s About

A love of travel spurs a paralegal to help others start working remotely.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

For Brittnee, she knew that her creativity would be stifled if she was struggling with money. She wasn’t ready to just quit her job and figure out how to make money on the way. Instead, she spent time building up capital, and she suggests others that are hoping to be entrepreneurs do the same.

Fun Fact

The first person credited with the idea of using electronics to work remotely was astronaut Jack Nilles. He worked at NASA in the 1970s, and called this type of work “telecommuting”. It wasn’t until the 2010’s that the term “digital nomad” became widely used.

Notes from Chris

Episode 937

Brittnee Bond dreamed of working remotely. Even as a teenager, she was brainstorming ways that she could take her future career in law and transform it into something that she could do from anywhere. And her journey accelerated when she graduated from college and scored a job as a paralegal in Salt Lake City, Utah.

It was there that she began to find ways to make her job accessible wherever she was. She encouraged her law firm to go completely paperless. Then, she nudged two more law firms to do the same thing. Not only was it practical, Brittnee had the alternative motivation of making her work that much more location independent.

Three years later, she managed to convince her company to let her work in San Diego for a while. If that went well, Brittnee would be allowed to work from Costa Rica for another stint of a few months.

Long story short, it worked out, and two months later Brittnee was on a plane headed south. She was excited! The only downside was that her law firm viewed the trip as a “once in a lifetime opportunity” that would get the travel bug out of Brittnee’s system.

But after a few months of surfing and lounging on the Costa Rican beaches, the travel bug was nowhere close to leaving. If Costa Rica was this amazing, Brittnee couldn’t imagine what the rest of the world had to offer!

She came back from the trip with a new goal in mind: to become fully location independent. Soon after returning home, Brittnee quit her job in Salt Lake and moved across the country to New York City.

Over the next two years, Brittnee scrimped and saved. She worked her day job, and in the morning, on her lunch breaks, and at night, she worked on her new project: a travel company to help others who wanted to have location independent jobs. Eventually, that company became Bond Works—a consultancy where she helps businesses transform conventional jobs into location independent ones.

She’s also working on a series of courses about the same topic. This approach is less hands-on than her consulting work and has the potential to double or triple her income.

Brittnee had a goal in mind to live a location independent life. By balancing the right amount of risk and cautiousness, she was able to test out a series of projects until she found a few that took off. As she gained experience, she took notice of the needs of her communities and based her new hustles off of those needs. Now, she’s exploring the world just as she imagined.

 

  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Bond Works: Learn more about the work that Brittnee is doing over on her website
  • Squarespace: The website building platform that Brittnee used to create her 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
"Save as much as you can now, even if you don’t know what idea you want to pursue. Because even if you find a viable idea, you need capital and a runway while you’re building your business."
—Brittnee Bond #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

Former White House Aide Teaches People to Make Friends

What It’s About

A lawyer starts a profitable side hustle focused on relationship building.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

John credits his ability to be flexible and make changes when something isn’t working for his side hustle success. When his blog started, email marketing was highly effective, and many people would open and view your emails. Today, more than half of marketing emails go straight to the trash. So, he pivoted and discovered webinars. They worked great for a period before their effectiveness eventually faded. John knew that he had to find new strategies, so he dug deeper into LinkedIn and he uses it to build relationships.

Fun Fact

Billionaire entrepreneur and investor, Warren Buffet, credits $100 course by Dale Carnegie, author of HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE, as the best investment he’s ever made. In fact, it’s the only diploma found in his office!

Also, in 2005, Garrett M. Graff was granted White House press credentials, the first blogger ever to receive such access.

Notes from Chris

Episode 894

John Corcoran says that at 22 years old he was an English major at a party school and not sure what he was going to do with his life. But just a year later, thanks to strategic networking, he was writing President Clinton’s words at the White House. From there, he landed a job as the main speechwriter for the then-Governor of California, Gray Davis, where he served until Hollywood superstar turned politician Arnold Schwarzenegger ousted his boss to became Governor.

Suddenly, John found his job literally “terminated.” But, unlike many of his colleagues, John had a new job the next day all because of the relationships that he had built and nurtured.

So John, who was always good at making friends and building relationships, did what some might jokingly call a curious choice—he went to law school and became a lawyer.

Which is where he found himself in early 2008. Unlike many of his classmates who sought big law firm jobs or government, John decided he wanted to work in a small law practice. Working in a small firm means that you do it all—serving clients, appearing in Court, research and writing, marketing, and anything that comes up, which is exactly the type of experience that John wanted.

Even with lots to do and long hours, John immediately found himself constrained by the stodgy industry. He said his first goal was to find a way to use innovative marketing to help his young practice that served entrepreneurs and small business owners. Even if he didn’t recognize it at the time, John’s desire to be more entrepreneurial was guiding him to something else.

John knew that he had a skill for writing—after all, he’d written for the president—and began to think about writing a book. It could serve as great branding, and it could also allow him to use his existing skills and knowledge. He quickly learned that it was wise to build an audience first and that a blog would be a great way to do that.

John got started right away with a simple and free blogging platform and called it Smart Business Revolution. He wrote about legal topics and answered questions that he often encountered through his practice. Blogs were still in their infancy, and his legal writing began to build a readership from around the world.

As you might imagine, John was excited about his progress. But he quickly discovered two problems: he could only practice law in California, meaning that he couldn’t serve many of the potential clients that came to his website. Another challenge is that most people want to deal with their lawyers as little as possible and reach out only when they need help.

He was disappointed but not deterred. Quickly pivoting, he refocused his blog to write more on entrepreneurship. Still, talking to peers in a mastermind group, John realized that the topic was still very broad. He had recently given a presentation to his mastermind group entitled, “How to Network with A-listers in Any Industry,” and it had been a big hit.

In 2012, John expanded and launched a podcast of the same name that has interviewed many over 400+ top entrepreneurs, business leaders and authors including Adam Grant, Dan Pink, and Marie Forleo, among many others. John’s podcast has allowed him to grow and promote his online courses, and he has expanded into live events which benefits from his podcast.

These days, John’s one-time side hustle now averages revenues of $300,000 per year, and he’s closed his law practice to focus on it full time. He’s been able to relocate his office closer to home and now instead of a long commute in the Bay Area’s notorious rush hour traffic, most mornings you’ll find John on his bicycle leading his son and five or six of his bike riding friends to school. From there, John makes the short ride to his office alongside the beautiful San Francisco Bay.

 

  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Smart Business Revolution: Learn more about the relationship building tips John used to be successful over on his website!
  • WordPress: John used WordPress to set up his 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
"Use networking to be helpful to others, not to get help from others."
—John Corcoran #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

Serial Side Hustler Works from 180 Sq Ft Airstream

What It’s About

Engineer uses his love of budgeting to map out adventure.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Nick used freelancing as a stepping stone to the side hustle he ultimately wanted to build. If you’re looking to start freelance writing, he’s mapped out seven steps that will help you be successful. Here’s a PDF file with the seven steps, and watch his YouTube video for a more in-depth breakdown.

Fun Fact

More than 10 million households own an RV, and they’re not all retirees (read more about it, here!). 1 million Americans live out of their RV, many of whom are young couples like Nick and Hanna and families working remotely.

Notes from Chris

Episode 889

Nick True has had side hustles all his life. Throughout childhood, he sold homemade bread and candy bars out of his backpack. Later, he transitioned to teaching piano lessons and tutoring students for the ACT.

When he went away to college, Nick took his love of the hustle with him. He graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and started working in the power industry … but he also started his first blog. It was called True Tightwad—a name that was a play on his last name and a nod to another passion of his: personal finance and budgeting.

While his friends growing up were dropping their allowance on video games and skateboards, Nick was focused on saving. Instead of poring over graphic novels and comics, Nick devoured books on personal finance.

So, when Nick realized that he hated his day job as an engineer, he doubled down his efforts to save enough money so that he could eventually leave … and maybe even begin a new career.

But, although his goal was to share his knowledge with others, he knew deep down that teaching in the traditional sense wouldn’t satisfy his desires either. You see, Nick and his wife, Hanna, had lofty travel goals that would make staying in one place stifling, and he didn’t want to feel chained down by the strict constraints of the traditional education system.

When Nick stumbled across the world of online entrepreneurship, he realized that maybe he could combine his passion for finance and teaching, all the while creating the freedom he most wanted.

Nick started out writing posts about the day-to-day aspects of managing money: topics like building solid money saving habits, planning for big expenses, and finding ways to simplify. While the focus of his content was on personal finance, the tips he provided were more of a means to an end—that end being the freedom to live your own adventure. In other words, money was a tool to experience all that life had to offer.

To monetize the blog, he took advantage of affiliate marketing and display ads. Despite his best efforts, however, the blog income didn’t amount to much the first two years—just pocket change, really. But what it did do was help generate finance-related freelance work which was priceless in getting his foot in the door within the personal finance community.

Freelancing was never the long-term goal, but it was an ideal stepping stone. It allowed him to build his business skill set, work with key players in the finance industry, and sustain an income that would support the early stages of his passion project.

After transitioning to video and roping in Hanna, a steady stream of subscribers brought in $300-$400 in affiliate profits on a monthly basis. But more than the ad revenue, YouTube also generated a new income stream that Nick had not considered before—coaching. Subscribers who followed the channel started requesting one-on-one assistance creating a budget that would fit their situation and lifestyle.

While general advice was great, it wasn’t always applicable to entrepreneurs or people with multiple jobs, to people with large families, those who get paid on an odd schedule, own real-estate, or have some other unique arrangement. So, Nick and Hanna tapped into this market by offering coaching sessions that included a 90-minute one-on-one video call with screen sharing, their notes, a session summary, next steps that person should take, and unlimited questions via email. They set their rates to $225/session, and let their audience know that they were available.

By early 2019, Mapped Out Money was bringing in $1,200-$3,000 per month—split between YouTube ads, affiliate revenue for a budgeting tool Nick recommends, and one-on-one coaching clients.

Since starting Mapped Out Money, Nick was finally able to leave his day job, and he and Hanna have been living in an Airstream, traveling around the U.S. Staying true to their beliefs in the positive effects of minimization, their living space comes to a grand total of 180 sq ft, AND they travel with two cats and two dogs! (They call themselves the “True Zoo,” after their last name.)

Over the next year, Nick hopes to build Mapped Out Money to a sustainable level. While he enjoys working with several of his freelance clients, he’d like to get the side hustle to a place where freelancing work could be optional.

RV life has fit Nick and Hanna’s values so well, they plan to continue on the road for many years to come. Keeping the freedom to work remotely and control their own time will allow them to pursue their other ambitions in the future, like adopting kids, being able to visit their parents, continuing to travel, and staying “true” to their personal finance goals.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Mapped Out Money: Budget for travel and learn how to map out your next adventure over on Nick and Hanna’s website!

 

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

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

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

RELIABLE WEBHOST FOR $2.49/MONTH

Want to build any kind of website for your hustle? If so, you'll need somewhere to host it! This is the reliable company I've used for my past 5 websites. It's cheap, flexible, and you can get support 24 hours a day.

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

Quote of the Day
"When you transition into being your own boss, it’s easy to let the time slip away from you. Make sure that you’re spending your time in ways that are effective for the business."
—Nick True #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

Hair Braiding Workshops Help Trans-Racial Adoptive Families

What It’s About

A simple side hustle with a real impact.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Being good in the world of haircare can often lead to a sea of referrals you just can’t handle. This means you need to improve at one of two things: saying no or working more. Saying no is an acceptable option!

Fun Fact

Tamekia has started to attract a wide-reaching client base, with people driving a number of hours to attend her classes and get their kid’s hair styled.

Notes from Chris

Episode 868

Tamekia Swint’s interest in hair braiding started at an early age. Her mom braided her hair every week, and by the time she was old enough to hold a comb, Tamekia was pestering her to pass on what she knew. And then, by the time she reached her early teens, she’d mastered the styles of Cornrows and Dutch Braids.

When it came time to go to college, Tamekia decided she would turn her skills into a little extra income. She had a part-time service job, but the work was sporadic and unpredictable. After enrolling in and completing a styling course in Chicago, she was ready to offer her services to people.

After graduation, she took a job as a parole agent. She stopped braiding hair for a while so she could focus her time and attention on the job, but after a few years, felt the urge to start back up again. There were loans to be paid, and it didn’t hurt to have a second stream of income coming in.

Tamekia ran this side hustle for a number of years, working 10-20 hours a week around her job. By now, she had raised her prices and was earning up to $4,000 a month. She didn’t need a high volume of clients to meet these figures, because braiding someone’s hair can take between two and ten hours.

Every few years, she paused her braiding hustle to pursue other ventures. She went back to business school to gain her masters, got married, worked for her husband’s business … then got divorced and found herself a job at an insurance firm. Once again, she began braiding hair in her spare time to make ends meet.

But it turned out to be the last time she would give it up and eventually come back to it.

Tamekia got involved in a mission at her church and went with a group to teach English to kids in Poland for two weeks. There she started showing students how to braid their own hair as a way to get them talking and learning in English. She loved teaching, and the kids responded really well!

Back home, she knew she wanted to work more with kids. She started by simply expanding her services to include kids hair. She promoted the business using flyers and business cards—the same way she had in college—and quickly found a number of families who needed her services.

One of the families she grew close to was a trans-racial adoptive family. They were white parents who had adopted two African-American daughters. And, it was in their hair she felt she found her true passion.

Tamekia saw that the two children’s hair needed some love. They had no idea how to take care of it themselves, and neither did their adoptive mother. Tamekia felt she had to jump in. So, she styled the daughter’s hair and taught the Mom how to do some basic care herself.

Over the course of a few weeks, Tamekia was contacted by a number of other trans-racial adoptive families to see if she could help them out. She made the bookings, did some stylings, and taught the parents how to manage it all.

This led Tamekia to start a not-for-profit called Styles 4 Kidz. It’s an organization that styles African-American children’s hair and provides courses on hair management for adoptive families. Much like her side hustle, Tamekia has built this purely on referrals and only started marketing through social media in the last few years.

In 2018, Tamekia and her organization’s volunteers were able to serve 500 children in and around Chicago, and they are projected to serve 1,000 this coming year! Braiding hair is a real need, and her transformation was an unexpected twist.

 

 

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
"A side hustle is a great thing to have in an emergency. When life circumstances change, having a skill you know you can be paid for can help in many ways."
—Tamekia Swint #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

That’s the Spot! Dog Lover’s Hustle Becomes Fur-ever Biz

What It’s About

A dog training side hustle to go mutts over.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

It can take time to gain confidence when you’re going out on your own. The important thing is to not let it get the better of you.

In Patrice’s case, humility can be a healthy response if it leads you toward self-improvement. In fact, she cites overcoming those fears as one of the most rewarding aspects of growing her business. She says, “Prior to this experience, I didn’t know I had as much gumption as I do.”

Fun Fact

For years, getting researchers to pinpoint the origin of man’s best friend was like walking into a room full of dog owners and asking, “Who’s a good boy?” Everyone would promote, with utmost confidence, their own pet theory.

But a new dual-origin theory found that an ancient European population was replaced by an eastern Asian population as the latter expanded across the continent. Every dog alive today is descended from ancient Asian roots!

Notes from Chris

Episode 856

Patrice Kuiken knew she wanted to run her own business. She even knew exactly what that business would be. But like all of our stories—and because she had to pay the bills—it needed to start as a side hustle.

You see, Patrice had been passionate about animals from a young age. Ever since volunteering at the Humane Society, helping train dogs at the shelter to become more adoptable, she was hooked on dog training.

Patrice devoured every book, video, and resource she could find to learn more about dog behavior and how best to humanely train them. Interestingly, dog training ended up being much more about training the humans than the dogs!

She gained experience working at a doggy daycare through college and then as a dog trainer at a local pet store after graduation. Patrice’s specialty became young, out of control dogs, and highly reactive dogs whose owners were at their wits’ end.

She made herself “top dog” at training, but she knew very little about business. So she started out simply. While working full-time at a customer service job she wasn’t mutts about, she began offering private training sessions. This required no overhead since she would go to the dog owner’s house and do the training there.

After a year or so, Patrice realized that her full-time job was standing in the way of building her dog training hustle. Work was draining, leaving her little energy for after-hours work. Though it was keeping her afloat financially, something needed to change.

After a brief search, she found more flexible work as a personal assistant and gardener for a psychologist who ran her practice out of her home. This allowed Patrice to create her own schedule and focus more on the business, which she named “In Good Paws” Dog Training. She’d get her work done for the psychologist in the morning. Evenings and weekends were dedicated to In Good Paws, helping people train their dogs to be the well-behaved family member they always wanted.

After taking into account her business license, liability insurance, a website, and some business cards, her annual profit from 2018 was $23,000, which was up 40% from 2017!

Patrice recently brought on another dog trainer to do private training sessions as an independent contractor. This allows her to further increase the number of training sessions the business provides, without adding any risk to her. Eventually, she would also love to hire someone to do more of the administrative work so that the business could move forward when Patrice takes a vacation.

What’s so fetching about Patrice’s story is that she knew her end game and kept that ball in sight. She took purposeful steps as she could, including switching her full-time gig to be more accommodating to growing her side hustle. All the while, she gained more experience and confidence until she was ready to roll over into a full-time business. Now she’s barking to the bank!

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • In Good Paws: Sit, stay, roll over, and learn more about the dog training work that Patrice is doing over on her website!
  • WordPress: Patrice used WordPress to set up her website for In Good Paws, 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
"Most of dog training is about the humans, so you really do have to enjoy working with people and know how to teach them. Finally, network, network, network! Having good relationships with people in the dog industry is invaluable for getting your name out there—this business is a word of mouth business."
—Patrice Kuiken #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

Bilingual Insurance Agent Translates Problem-Solving into Profits

What It’s About

Bilingual Insurance Agent translates her skills into profit.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Jennifer suggests others who are interested in doing translation as a side hustle consider what they are knowledgeable or passionate about. Are you a multilingual college student who didn’t mind the college application process? You can assist others through that task. Do you enjoy typing and can do it quickly? Consider transcription.

Fun Fact

Translation is a 46 billion dollar industry! It is one of the the fastest growing industries with an anticipated 42% growth by 2020.

Notes from Chris

Episode 830
Jennifer Thomé is a longtime, serial side hustler. Just to name a few, she has moonlighted as an event planner, sold baked goods, and managed social media for nonprofits. These days, she’s earning extra money as a Chinese translator, specializing in solving real-life problems.

Jen moved to China when she was 20 and became proficient in the language. While living there and going to school, people would ask her for help with lots of simple tasks that required English. These days, back in the States and living in Los Angeles, she still does some traditional translation work, including interpretation and voiceover recording.

But her unique ability to help people solve those real-life problems is her specialty. Her first paid job as a translator was solving a legal problem. A couple’s children were wrongfully taken from them and didn’t know what to do. Within a short period of time, through research, making phone calls, and navigating the court system, Jennifer was able to get the kids back into the parents’ custody. She never asked for compensation, but the couple was so grateful, they paid her $8,000!

Dumbfounded she could make money doing something that in the past she’d just done as a favor for friends, Jennifer soon began doing translation as a paid side hustle. She discovered that the work was a fun and profitable way to maintain her language skills.

Jennifer had zero startup costs when starting her translation business, Turnkey Translator. Her first year’s profit was $27,000, and the second year was nearly $40,000. Once she began making money in this niche, she got to thinking about how she needed to teach others how to translate their skills into cash. She invested about $300 into creating an online course teaching multilinguals how to develop their own translation side hustle.

Close to 80% of Jennifer’s translation business is from referrals. She recommends if you want to start getting paid to translate, ask yourself: where would someone who needs my services be? And then go there. Mention it on social media, and join groups where you might be able to help people.

For Jennifer, the best part of having this side hustle has been her ability to help others in distress. She’s able to solve a huge legal or health problem for others, and in return, she receives a whole lot of gratitude from her customers.

Of course, she’s not doing it for charity—that money is real. It’s allowed her to transition to part-time work and spend more time with her kids. Using her language skills to solve problems has translated into real benefits.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Turnkey Translator: Get help starting a translation side hustle of your own over on Jennifer’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
"Put yourself out there, and let people in your network know what you are doing. They may not need you, but someone they know might."
—Jennifer Thomé #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

Math Major Counts Cards, Beats Vegas Dealers

What It’s About

A math major teaches others how to beat the odds and casinos at their own game using card counting.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Colin says that business is no different from card counting. That it’s about knowing how much value you are currently creating, figuring out how you can add to that, and making the right decision based on your observations. If you have the necessary skills, faith, and patience, you’re going to win in the long run—no matter how stacked the odds are against you.

Fun Fact

Card counting is a perfectly legal way of gaining an advantage in the game of blackjack. But there’s also no professional card counter that doesn’t get asked to no longer play at casinos. It’s known as a “back-off”—you’re told that you’re too good and that you’re no longer allowed to play at the casino anymore. Talk about beating someone at their own game!

Notes from Chris

Episode 805

The right book can change your life—but nobody could’ve guessed the impact that one would have on the life of Colin Jones. After graduating from college with a math degree, Colin had no idea what he wanted to do. One of his friends loaned him a book about blackjack card counting, and he thought to himself, “Hey I’m a math guy, I could do this.” With his wife’s support, Colin took out $2,000 of their savings to put his skills to the test.

Over the next five years, Colin personally won over $600,000 from playing blackjack at casinos. He even started a team with his buddy, which eventually went on to win more than $4 million over the course of eight years. They called themselves “The Church Team” because the members had been introduced to each other at church, and a documentary was even made about them.

But all good things must come to an end. The team had to constantly travel around the country because casinos would blacklist them simply for being too skilled—they were beating the house consistently with completely legal methods. Travel eventually took its toll, and the team disbanded.

Yet Colin realized that card counting was something that a lot of people might be interested in. There was a certain appeal to it—not only could you make money by sitting at a casino table (at least if you did it properly and if certain conditions were met), but you also got the thrill of beating the system. That’s why he started Blackjack Apprenticeship, an online resource that would teach others how to count cards.

This was the year 2008, and e-commerce options were scarce. Colin and his friends invested a few thousand dollars of their winnings and hired a WordPress developer to build them a membership site. This would not only host an in-depth video course but also include perks such as a forum and training drills for members to hone their skills.

But Colin still needed traffic. He had a good business model and the necessary skills, but getting customers wasn’t easy. Since he had no idea what he was doing, he approached a friend who owned a small SEO agency. The friend told him that he had a conversion problem – “I don’t even know what you want me to do when I show up on your website.” This prompted Colin to start reading blogs to learn everything he needed to succeed.

One of the strategies Colin adopted was the skyscraper technique. The idea is simple: you can stand out by being the very best at what you do. Focus all your efforts into a single post and make sure that the post is better than anything else on the Internet. And so Colin went about trying to create the world’s best page on counting cards. He spent more than ten hours writing that one post, and included numerous high-resolution photographs to illustrate his idea.

Six months later, he was ranked number one for the search term “how to count cards.” This was clearly a strategy that worked, and Colin repeated his process, eventually ranking well for other competitive keywords such as “blackjack strategy.” This increased web traffic and added to the bottom line as well.

Despite the well-planned approach, Colin admits that he also may have gotten a little lucky. He had managed to run the wave of interest in blackjack following the release of the movie “21” in 2008, which was inspired by the true story of how an MIT blackjack team traveled around the world to beat casinos. That led to a surge in web traffic, even helping one of Colin’s YouTube videos to be ranked number one for card counting.

Colin’s advice is that running a business is a lot like counting cards at blackjack. It’s about knowing how much value you are currently creating, figuring out how you can add to that, and making the right decision based on your observations.

 

 

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
"Running a business is a lot like counting cards at blackjack. It’s about knowing how much value you are currently creating, figuring out how you can add to that, and making the right decision based on your observations."
—Colin Jones #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

Actress Becomes Organizational Director of Organization

What It’s About

A Hollywood actor takes on a new role helping others clean up!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Okay, you’re a highly organized person, and you want to help others organize their spaces. Awesome! But Regina says that you need to recognize that it requires more than just being an organized person.

Can you also be a teacher? Can you recognize where your clients are hooked into chaos and help them detach from that? You have to be a coach, a mom, a therapist, a spiritual guide, and an organizer all wrapped into one. Why? Because when you’re working with people’s stuff, you have to understand that there is an energy associated with all of the things that they accumulate. You’re unearthing all of that.

Fun Fact

To help people get organized, she follows six repeatable steps:

1. Address that the task is overwhelming. 2. Break it down into small, manageable increments. 3. Eliminate what you don’t need by being brutally honest with yourself. 4. Make categories to create order, like different types of clothes or documents. 5. Eliminate within those categories, and maybe get rid of some of them entirely. 6. Realize that maintenance is part of life, and to keep on top of your organization.

These steps can be used to organize anything. Whether it’s a five-year old’s bedroom or your office’s filing cabinet.

Notes from Chris

Episode 793

For Regina Leeds, organizing is more than what you do at the start of a reluctant spring clean. It’s a way of life. It all started with her mother who, she says, could have been a U.S. Marine. Everything in the home simply had to be organized.

As Regina grew up, she realized she loved organizing just as much as her mother did, but for wildly different reasons. For Mom, it was all about what visitors would think when they came to stay. For Regina, it was an expression of self-love and self-care. A well-organized life, in its own way, can be a well-lived one.

When she left home to pursue a career in acting in the 1980s, she used organizing as a way to better understand herself and improve her skills. It didn’t just bring a calming feel to her surroundings, it gave her time and space to explore who she was.

With this deeper understanding of herself, Regina started to pick up roles in shows like Married…With Children and The Young and the Restless, where she was a recurring actress for three years.

But there were constant ebbs and flows in her work, and some months she really struggled to pay her bills. She also began to feel some resentment towards the industry and the way they treated people who weren’t at the top of the pay scale.

Regina decided she needed a second source of income. It would give her the money she needed to pay her bills in the slow periods, and the freedom to avoid “just for the money” roles with people who saw her as expendable.

She wanted to be the director, producer, and actor in this role, with full control over the work she took and how she treated people. So she set about turning her skills into a freelance service.

At the time, organization was a new concept to society. There were only a handful of books on the subject and few people had ever heard of a “professional organizer.” She offered to organize a friend’s house to see if she could really apply this to other people. Regina went in, did her thing, and her friend was stunned. So much so, that she began to refer her services right away.

Regina spent the next ten years growing this business part-time through word-of-mouth referrals, earning enough to supplement her acting work. There were no real startup costs, except for a few business cards her clients could pass on. She also developed a name for the business, The Zen Organizer, after one of her clients referred to the process of getting organized as being “zen-like.”

Regina has now also published a number of books about organization, including a New York Times bestseller called One Year To An Organized Life. She initially started self-publishing, which were eventually picked up by publishing houses. Regina says the process of writing and publishing the first book was the hardest project she’s ever worked on, but it was also a domino which gave her the momentum to write the rest.

The Zen Organizer has also began to build an online presence. Regina created a website using Wix and uses Instagram to show the more visual aspects of the organization process. Pinterest has also played a central role and allows her to start conversations with the community she’s growing.

Looking to the future, Regina wants to focus more on speaking and teaching seminars. Her goal is to spend less time working on projects herself and more time enabling people to organize their own lives. Looking at her track record, she’ll have no problem organizing that for herself!

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Regina Leeds | The Zen Organizer: Clean up your act—head on over to Regina’s website to learn more!
  • Wix: The online website building platform that Regina used to set up her website for The Zen Organizer

 

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
"Having a side hustle of my own creation changed my life. I discovered that marketing and business are creative endeavors!"
—Regina Leeds #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

Workforce Expert Creates Empowerment Consultancy

What It’s About

An expert in workforce development and empowerment strikes out on her own.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Akilah has built up multiple sources of income within the consultancy, and this is critical. But it can also be a challenge when you’re getting started. In the long run, you want these different sources, but when you’re starting, focus on your flagship service and build from there. Trying to start it all at once is like trying to start three businesses at once.

Fun Fact

The Center for Women Policy Studies found 21% of women of color surveyed did not feel they were free to be “themselves at work.” The same study found more than one-third of women of color—ranging from 28-44%—believed that they must “play down” their race or ethnicity to succeed.

Notes from Chris

Episode 781
For Dr. Akilah Cadet, her dream job had become a nightmare. She had been promoted to a high position at her hospital-sector company and worked tirelessly to secure funding for future projects. But, as soon as the money hit the company’s bank account, Akilah found herself demoted to her old position and never paid for her work.

She felt like she’d been chewed up and spat out by her boss, and couldn’t figure out why it had happened. Was it because she was a woman or color? Had she just been used for her skills?

Akilah spent months searching for answers to these questions and felt a gaping hole in her life. Her sense of purpose and self-worth had been called into question, and she didn’t know where to go.

She tried therapy to overcome the depression but eventually decided to take a two-week trip to Thailand to escape and spent some time connecting with herself. It was here that she would find the answers to her questions, and the side hustle which would change her life.

She was tired of racism, sexism, and invisible glass ceilings in the workplace. It was time for her to create a job where she was calling the shots and could ensure other people never felt the same way she had.

To bring this to life, Akilah came up with the idea for a consulting company, which she called Change Cadet. She wanted to go into workplaces and show people how to create a more diverse workplace environment so that more women and people of color could work their way to the top. She was studying for a doctorate in Leaders and Organizational Behavior at the time and felt like it was the perfect application of her skills.

One decision she made early on was to ensure her branding and services were only targeted to women or people of color. Although she knew this would be cutting out a lot of potential customers she knew this was the demographic she could best serve.

This decision has turned out to be profitable. In 2018, Akilah earned over $240,000!

Change Cadet has already helped plenty of people and businesses overcome these internal barriers, though. By helping introduce more diverse staff structures, creating leadership development programs, and working one on one with clients, she’s seen people take leaps in their career and business results. She says she loves nothing more than seeing the light bulb in someone’s head come on as they make a life-changing realization.

Akilah wants to take Change Cadet national and have an impact on women and people of color all across the country.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Change Cadet: Don’t let a glass or concrete ceiling keep you from reaching your potential—learn more about what Akilah is doing over on her 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
"It’s important to put yourself out there, so network. Let people know you are looking to consult. And figure out what they love to do and where their passion is—that is the money maker as it does not feel like work."
—Dr. Akilah Cadet #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

Rocket Scientist Launches Out-Of-This-World Tutoring Business

What It’s About

A tutoring side hustle that really takes off!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

We always ask our featured side hustlers what kind of advice that they have for anyone looking for follow in their footsteps, and Thais had something great to say:

“Make sure they’re clear on their mission statement. Parents want to hire authentic tutors that have their kids’ best interest at heart, and not someone who’s in it for the money.”

Fun Fact

321 is the area code for Florida’s Space Coast. Also…Thais used a program that flipped the image (like in selfie mode) on her first online tutoring session. This made all of her writing appear backward! To fix it, she found a sharpie and wrote with a heavy hand so it bled through the other side of the paper. Then she held up the back side and the writing appeared normal for her student! Houston, we no longer have a problem.

Notes from Chris

Episode 769

Thais Lage loves numbers. Born in Brazil but living in Florida since childhood, she’s been tutoring struggling students in math from the age of 14. Neighborhood parents were quick to hire her once they discovered her command of the subject.

Her trigonometry teacher recognized her talent and asked if he could share her phone number with students who were having difficulty. Soon, her tutoring hustle was earning her $100 a week as a high school student.

In college, she kept it up, printing flyers and posting them around campus. She even tutored her hair stylist in exchange for free haircuts.

Fast forward to December 2015: Thais graduated with a degree in aerospace engineering. She’ secured her dream job as a Mechanical Operations Engineer at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. She’d become a first-class rocket scientist.

Despite her demanding job, she was still fueled with an insatiable desire to help others. She kept tutoring the neighborhood kids but at a higher rate—because, after all, she was now a rocket scientist.

As Thais continued tutoring, she’d sometimes film and email a quick “how-to” video to her students to help with their homework. She noticed she was making the same videos several times. If her group of students all had the same questions, perhaps others did too. What if she made more videos?

In September 2018, the tutoring hustle was in full throttle, working in tandem with her job. She called it 321 Tutoring, and she tried to make her lessons fun. They’re like reading a book about anti-gravity—impossible to put down.

Startup costs for this hustle were $70 for her website and domain with the iPad Pro costing around $900. She charges $50/hour for middle-high school math and $80-100/hour for SAT/ACT prep. She recently hired 2 tutors that work under the 321 Tutoring umbrella, and she keeps 10% of whatever they earn.

But now she needs to go to the next level, by putting her lessons on YouTube. On her new YouTube channel, she’ll share quick math tips and study techniques with students around the world. She hopes to have five to eight videos uploaded by the end of February so she can have an official launch.

When she’s not sending rockets into space, Thais says she’d eventually like to create an online course. Her other future plans include hiring more tutors so she can expand her reach… to infinity and beyond!

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • 321 Tutoring: Looking to help take your child’s grades to new heights? Head on over to Thais’ website to learn more about this educational side hustle!
  • Wix: The online website building platform that Thais used to set up her website for 321 Tutoring

 

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
"Make sure you’re clear on your mission statement. Parents want to hire authentic tutors that have their kids’ best interest at heart—not someone in it for the money."
—Thais Lage #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