Tag: Customer Service

Teenpreneur Skips College to Build Pet Care Company

What It’s About

A teen wags off college, walks her own path, and finds howling success.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Kathryn recognizes the importance of relationships in her side hustle success, “You know the saying it takes a village? Find your village! I have so many friends and mentors who have encouraged, corrected, and taught me every step of the way. I owe all my success to my amazing village.”

Fun Fact

10% of all Happy Hound profits go directly to local missions and animal rescues.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1036

Just about any 8-year-old can walk a dog. But how many of those kids turn a few bucks into a full-blown business that’s hiring employees by age 20?

That’s exactly what Kathryn Cockrell did. Kathryn loved walking dogs for her neighbors … and when she was old enough, she got a job at a kennel. It was there that she realized there weren’t enough pet care options available in her community.

As a high school sophomore, Kathryn’s parents very kindly–and perhaps somewhat naively–let her set up a kennel in the basement and backyard of the family home. She spent $97 on her first order of pet gear, a number that sounded huge at the time. This allowed her to install a dog grooming station in the basement, while the backyard was converted into a dog park.

At just 15 years old, Kathryn’s pet care prices were set low, which brought in business. As the home-based, after-school operation grew, dogs barking all hours of the day and night became a real issue. So once business was booming, Kathryn’s parents encouraged her to move the entrepreneurial endeavors to a new location.

Kathryn continued to operate Happy Hound Pet Sitting all through high school. Then, when it was time to go to college, she chose to go a different direction. She set a goal of only working for herself, moving out, and proving she wasn’t crazy for not taking advantage of the college fund her parents had saved up.

This felt like a gamble, as nearly all of Kathryn’s peers were going on to higher education. The sense of vulnerability hasn’t really gone away, as Kathryn confesses to still worrying about what would happen if her business somehow failed.

But it didn’t. By age 19, Kathryn was making her own living and had moved out of her parents’ house-slash-dog park. By age 20, she was hiring team members and management to help meet the demand of her business, Happy Hound Pet Sitting. And by age 23, she had a second branch in the works.

Today, Happy Hound brings in $15,000 per month in high season. Revenue in the business is seasonal and can get down to $6,000 in low months. For this reason, Kathryn carefully times any major expenses, pays her sitters only on commission, and maintains a savings account year-round.

While the Alabama branch has become more or less self-sustaining, Kathryn has spent the past year replicating her business in a new location. By analyzing the website’s Google presence, she saw which nearby cities had the highest search volume for Happy Hound’s specific type of service. With some further market research, she could also determine which cities were underserved.

Replicating the business has been more challenging and slower-going than Kathryn expected, but things are slowly starting to snowball. By learning from the situation, she plans to help her team members create their own branches down the line and potentially franchise the Happy Hound company.

Still in her mid-20’s, Kathryn’s early dog obsession and high school side hustle has already resulted in a decade of experience.

 

 

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
"Find your village! I have so many friends and mentors who have encouraged, corrected, and taught me every step of the way. I owe all my success to my amazing village."
—Kathryn Cockrell #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

Pay Off Student Loans With Your Spare Change

What It’s About

Two brothers create an app to help graduates pay down debt.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

You should always start with an MVP (Minimal Viable Product). This means building something that functions, to test, get feedback from people that tested it, and make improvements until you develop a product that people are willing and want to use. While we beta tested we had under 100 users but this gave us the ability to control the environment, get feedback, and improve the product.

Fun Fact

As of 2018, a total of 44.2 million borrowers now owe a total of over $1.5 trillion in student debt. That equates to almost $34,000 in debt per student. With that many potential customers, owing that much money the sky really is the limit for products servicing this market.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1034

A few years ago, brothers Dan Stelmach and Nick Sky were living in Chicago working sales jobs. They’d graduated from college a few years earlier and were hoping to pay down their student loans—all while trying to live fun and enjoyable lives.

Their story isn’t unique. In fact, seven out of ten graduates in the USA leave college in severe debt. The average loan amount is now aound thirty seven thousand dollars, which ramps up to sixty thousand once interest payments are included over a decade or more … yikes!

For Dan and Nick, the situation was even more grim. The brothers had over one hundred thousand dollars in combined debt. And that’s after they’d taken significant steps during their degrees to keep the debt low. They’d both worked part-time jobs and had multiple side hustles to help them along. Still, the number cha-chinged its way into six figures.

Student debt had become a national epidemic. They began brainstorming ideas of how to eradicate their loans quickly, and by proxy, everyone else’s. Eventually, they settled on something they thought might help… spare change. Yes, really!

After turning their pockets inside out, and then asking their friends via a quick survey, they realized that the average accumulation of spare change was around fifty dollars a month. They figured, if they could devise a simple way of redirecting that excess change to their loans they’d save not only thousands of dollars in interest, but years of their lives.

They liked the idea for a couple of reasons. First, it didn’t require any major changes in lifestyle, they could go about things as normal. Second, the whole process could be automated using technology. They envisioned an app, linked to a users credit card and bank account that would round purchases up to the nearest dollar, and place the excess directly onto their loan payments automatically. For example, if they bought a coffee for three dollars and fifty cents, the app would round it up to four dollars and put the extra fifty cents right onto the loan.

They named the app ChangEd. A few months later, in January 2017, the first version was ready for beta testers.

The app needed to have tight security as it linked to users credit cards and bank accounts. For that reason, it was difficult getting downloads at first. Dan and Nick tested it directly with their friends and family. Soon enough, things rippled out beyond their direct network to give them just under one hundred beta users. The small group allowed the brothers to pay close attention to each person’s user experience without growing too fast.

So, after a year of iterating and growing the user base the brothers put in an application to appear on SharkTank … and were accepted.

Through that appearance, Mark Cuban himself offered to invest in the app, seeing its potential. His investment enabled the brothers to quit their full-time jobs and focus on ChangEd.

Since then, they’ve introduced a $1/month user fee, scaled to over forty thousand users and have helped direct over four and a half million dollars into paying off student loans.

There really is a lot of spare change lying around.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • ChangEd: spare a minute to learn more about Dan and Nick’s app.
  • Shark Tank: The hit ABC show Dan and Nick appeared on landing a deal with Mark Cuban.

 

SEE ALSO:

Marriage Inspires Theatre Captioning App & Service:

    After marrying a woman who was born deaf, an actor and musician starts a side hustle captioning theater performances.
  • Side Hustler Gets Paid to Run 7 Ultramarathons on 7 Continents: After getting hurt on his first of 7 ultramarathons, a long-time side hustler builds an app to help other injured runners recover.

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
"Our intention wasn’t to change (users’) behavior but to align with their behavior for the betterment of their financial health."
—Nick Sky #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

Juice Bar Owner Gets Weighed Down With Blankets

What It’s About

One blanket that outweighs them all!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Hush Blanket’s success has come from a perfect trifecta of having the right product, locating the perfect audience, and providing radical customer service. Get each one of these right, and you’ll be positioned for a major success just like these guys!

Fun Fact

Hush Blankets has a customer support person behind the live chat box for ~20 hours per day. Not only has it led to more consumer sales, it’s also led to dozens of large wholesale orders because the humans could ask the right questions that typical chatbots wouldn’t know to.

Notes from Chris

Episode 885
Aaron Spivak loved his juice bar business. He had eight of them throughout Toronto, but growing them was a major burden. Each location was really only accessible to the people in nearby neighborhoods—which meant, if he wanted to keep getting new customers, he’d have to keep opening new brick-and-mortar stores.

When e-commerce started to pick up steam, Aaron was captivated. He realized he could sell juice and smoothie related products to anyone without needing a physical location, so he tried it out by building a basic WordPress site and learning as he went—and it worked. His juice brand, Revitalize, slowly grew to have customers all over Canada.

But, always up for experimenting, Aaron wanted to try something else. A friend of his named Lior kept mentioning an idea—weighted blankets. That friend had seen how helpful a heavy blanket could be for reducing stress and anxiety and sleeping better, and when they both noticed a successful Kickstarter campaign in early 2017 for a very similar product, they decided to just go for it.

Aaron started calling up manufacturers in the blanket and textile spaces. He called five, then ten, then fifty. The rejections just kept rolling in. Nobody wanted to manufacture a really high-quality blanket at small quantities. Sales reps kept trying to convince him to go with a lower quality material—but Aaron didn’t want a mediocre blanket. He wanted a stellar one. One blanket to weigh down them all.

Finally, after nearly 150 calls, Aaron found a partner who was willing to create the blankets. Before he and Lior placed their first order, they wanted to see if they could get some pre-sales to soften the blow of the initial inventory investment, which was priced at nearly $90,000 Canadian dollars.

So they set up a really simple Shopify store with their product, the Hush Blanket, listed them at about $200 (these blankets aren’t cheap), then launched some pre-sale ads on Google. The two spent all day together working on logistics, waiting eagerly for that first sale. But it didn’t come.

The next day, Aaron and Lior kept waiting—but no sales. Their ads were getting lots of impressions… why weren’t people clicking and buying? Even though it had only been two days, the lack of a single sale was heartbreaking.

And then, at 9pm that night, while Aaron was gathering his things to go home, they heard it: “Cha-ching!” Aaron’s Shopify app made the noise they’d been waiting for—their first sale! They high-fived, spend a few minutes dreaming of the next few days, and parted ways.

Just 18 months since launch, Hush Blankets is already clearing multi-six figures each year in profit. Much of it has been reinvested in the business, including the introduction of their new Hush Iced Blanket—a cooler version of the original blanket for warm weather.

And while the money is great, it’s something else that really makes Aaron and his partner proud: the customer reviews. The business is making a difference. People with anxiety are sleeping better than they have in years. Aaron himself is more of a restless soul: he’s now looking for his next big idea.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Hush Blankets: Tuck in and learn more about Aaron’s side hustle over on his website
  • Shopify: Aaron used Shopify to set up his site for Hush Blankets, and they’re offering a 21-day trial and exclusive discount for all Side Hustle School listeners!
  • Indiegogo | Hush Iced: And check out Aaron’s new Indiegogo campaign for the Hush Iced Blanket—just in time for summer!

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
"Our entire business is based on how we treat the customer. We have competitors everywhere, and we aren’t interested in price wars. We wanted to solidify ourselves with price, quality, and amazing customer support."
—Aaron Spivak #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

Friends Team Up to Deliver Compassionate Tech Support

What It’s About

Two friends discover the profit in nonprofits.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

So how do you sell tech support to nonprofits with AOL email addresses? You get personal. Joel networked at conferences and events and would meet absolutely anyone for coffee to seed relationships and spread the word about their new hustle.

Fun Fact

On the last day of 2017, and the last day their business was called Backpack Tactics before the switch to Brave North Technology, Joel got a call from a dad looking to buy his daughter a backpack for her trip to Europe. Joel delivered on their customer service commitment, directing the pleased father to a few recommended backpacks for the purpose, a fitting milestone as they closed out the Backpack Tactics chapter.

Notes from Chris

Episode 760
Joel Barker has worked for and around a variety of nonprofits and witnessed their struggles firsthand. Often lacking a budget for in-house IT support, Joel recognized the bewildered expression of an Executive Director trying to set-up a network printer as a win-win opportunity.

He now works as the Chief Strategy Officer for the largest children’s mental health provider in Minnesota. But that’s not all he does.

A few years ago, Joel set out to help tech-skittish nonprofits harness technology, by creating an on-demand tech support service that cared.

There are plenty of tech support services and freelancers available on the market, but Joel recognized that most contractors and IT firms weren’t catering to the unique needs of underfunded and tech-intimidated charities. On-demand IT support was expensive and difficult to access if you didn’t speak the language. Joel reached out to a long-time friend, Brian Roemon, and together they launched this side business to replace IT headaches with an affordable, friendly alternative.

Brian and Joel’s friendship dates back to college. Brian had the IT expertise, and Joel could focus on the growth, marketing, strategy, and business operations.

The two spent months talking, brainstorming, and debating possible names for this new business. Eventually, they had the “let’s-just-call-it-something conversation”, and settled on Backpack Tactics [despite not selling backpacks]. Down the road, they uncovered that their website traffic wasn’t as significant as it appeared, with thousands of hits from apparent backpackers and frequent manufacturing proposals from China. After years of disappointed hikers, Joel and Brian hired a marketing consultant and officially changed their name to Brave North Technology.

The original startup cost was only $1,500. The partners used the money to set up their website, register as a business with the state, and print marketing materials such as business cards. They quickly doubled the initial investment, with their first check for $3,000! Years later, Brave North Technology now grosses around $350,000 each year for $90,000 in profits—almost entirely through word-of-mouth referrals from happy customers.

Thanks to Joel’s commitment to the grassroots organizations serving the community, he couldn’t help lending them a hand in other areas, such as fundraising and social media management. These projects were directly in Joel’s wheelhouse, but outside of the scope of technology support. Thus, Brave North recently gave birth to Joel’s second side hustle, Great River Strategies.

With a full-time job, an already busy side business, and a new side hustle on top of that, Joel enjoys the challenge and variety in his work. He’s even begun to pursue real estate and angel investing, applying what he’s learned to help other businesses grow.

Beyond getting paid to tackle projects that spark his interest, Joel admits the greatest benefit this IT hustle has brought his family is freedom from debt. It’s allowed them to be more generous with their money, donate more, and travel more frequently. Brave North promises to deliver even more in the future, as the two continue to bravely expand their special blend of caring tech support to new mission-driven markets.

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
"I think we both had visions of this growing to become ‘a business’, but our doubts probably kept it in the side-gig category longer—and by that I mean a year or 18 months—and we overcame those thoughts as we started to gain more clients."
—Joel Barker #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

Hit the Streets With These Chicago Walking Tours

What It’s About

The tours are “free,” but this creative Chicago guide still earns $2,500/month from them.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Jeff has found his ‘free’ business model to be more beneficial than tours that charge per person. However, he stressed the need to maintain a five-star rating and grow his reviews. This is critical. Just like he was skeptical on his first walking tour, some people question his service’s legitimacy because it advertises as free. The rating assures guests that he’s a legit business.

Fun Fact

There’s a lot of interesting (albeit sordid) history in Chicago, and Jeff’s Free Chicago Walking Tours takes advantage of that with his Chicago Crime & Gangster Tour. On this tour, you’ll learn how the Chicago mafia came to power as well as take you to some lesser known, infamous Chicago mob hangouts!

Notes from Chris

Episode 643

Jeff Mikos has been the manager of a pet care business for a large grocery cooperative. He’s also dabbled in real estate, with two rental properties, including one he manages himself.

A few years back, Jeff and his wife had an experience while traveling that ended up turning into an accidental side hustle. On an extended trip through South America, they stumbled upon a free city walking tour in Santiago, Chile. They were skeptical at first—how good could a free tour be?—but they decided to try it out. They ended up enjoying it so much that they sought the tours out in every city they visited.

While on a tour in Quito, Ecuador, Jeff’s idea sprouted legs and took a walk of its own. He thought that implementing this model in his hometown of Chicago might have a walking chance. Jeff did some research and discovered this model had a low barrier to entry. “Who wouldn’t want a free walking tour?”

Jeff got to work!

He and his wife spent an entire weekend passing out brochures to every hotel and hostel in the area. Jeff racked up more steps than his pedometer knew what to do with but said it was hard to determine the ROI because there was no way to track it. (There weren’t any coupon codes or anything else that separated signups from one source versus any other.)

Once his site was published, people began signing up. He remembers looking at his wife and thinking, “Huh, we’ve got guests!”

Since its creation, Free Chicago Walking Tours went from nothing to a 5 star TripAdvisor tour company with hundreds of reviews. Jeff has maintained that five-star rating, earning a Certificate of Excellence from TripAdvisor. They walk a fine line!

So far, they’ve led more than 15,000 guests on the tours, and it’s regularly bringing in more than $2,500/month in extra income. It’s not a ton of money, but at this point, the business is low-maintenance—not completely passive income, but close.

He’d like to expand his operations to include additional cities in the midwest. He supplements his income with the private tours and hopes to be running even more tours next year.

 

 

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
"Time’s up. Stop reading the blogs. Quit talking about it to your friends and family. Put down the books… You’re going to learn and have better questions the books and blogs can help answer once you start doing something."
—Jeff Mikos #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

CRAZY ENOUGH TO WORK

This week, Side Hustle School is brought to you by Crazy Enough to Work, a popular podcast and film series. 📈

When the rest of the world is still zigging, some companies know when it’s time to zag. Elizabeth Banks has teamed up with State Street Global Advisors to make a series of podcasts and films that uncover the bold moves mid-cap companies make to thrive and survive. Listen 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

Yoga Teacher Cleans Up with Home Organizing Business

What It’s About

A home organization service that helps those in need.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

If you were looking to create a similar side hustle, Lisa says that research and preparation are vital. Going into someone’s home to help them declutter is a deeply personal experience for people, and should be handled with care.

Fun Fact

Lisa has been teaching yoga since 1993 and has taught over 4000 classes in her life working with everyone from cancer sufferers to veterans with PTSD.

Notes from Chris

Episode 353

Lisa Holtby has built an entire career around side hustles. Since 1993 she’s been teaching yoga, writing books, running seminars and hosting weekend health retreats, all while being a full-time mom. But towards the end of 2016, she decided it was time for a change.

Attending a Seattle taping of Gretchen Rubin and Elizabeth Craft’s Happier podcast where I was also fortunate to be a guest, Lisa picked up a copy of the book Born for This—and after reading it, felt like she was born to be a home organizer. She’d always had a penchant for helping people organize their spaces and doing it never felt like work. As Lisa herself says, it’s how she plays.

Whilst setting up her side hustle, Lisa began to volunteer as an English as a Second Language teaching assistant at her local Refugee Women’s Association (ReWA for short). After meeting many amazing and courageous people, she felt the need to help these women and their families transition into America. That’s when her two passions collided to form her perfect side hustle.

Lisa would offer decluttering services to her clients, and donate the unwanted items to the refugees who needed them. She jokes that she’s like a modern day Robin Hood, only she doesn’t have to steal from anyone. It would be as fulfilling as it would be enjoyable, and Lisa got straight to work.

Over the last four months, Lisa has earned an average of $3,000 per month! And, with a quick glance at her testimonial-filled website, it’s easy to see why. Her clients love what she does and the quality of her work.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

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

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

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

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

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

Quote of the Day
"Know your limits. For instance, I don’t have the training to effectively serve clients who have hoarding disorders, so I refer those inquiries to another Seattle organizer who’s an expert in the field."
—Lisa Holtby #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Create a Stunning Website With Wordpress

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

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

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

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

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


Here's How

Keep in Touch

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


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

ESL Teacher Turned Travel Planner Sends Clients on Surprise Vacations

What It’s About

A seasoned traveler discovers a side hustle helping others plan their vacations.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

When she was starting out, Charlotte was really impatient to book those first clients, but a friend of hers said something that really stuck with her: “You aren’t selling $50 shoes. People aren’t going to wake up in the morning and decide to buy a surprise trip on a whim. Give it time.” And that friend was absolutely right!

What she’s selling is not only a big ticket item (she offers different budgets but clients have to pay for their entire trip up front), but it is also buying something with no idea of what you are going to get. She’s had to build trust with my clients—and also find the right people in the first place.

Fun Fact

Whisked Away’s first clients were a couple that wanted to celebrate their honeymoon with surprise travel. Charlotte got the notification that there had been a new order while she was at an end of year school celebration with her colleagues…and she says she literally screamed out loud. Then she showed everyone, and it started a great conversation about going after things you are passionate about.

As it grew, clients came in through referrals. That first couple that booked a surprise honeymoon then referred their wedding photographers (also an engaged couple) and they booked a surprise honeymoon too!

Notes from Chris

Episode 346

Charlotte McGhee is an ESL teacher at an urban elementary school in Charlotte, NC. Until this year, she had never had a side hustle. She didn’t know about providing a service, creating a website, deciding on pricing, and so on—but what she knew is that she loved planning travel for people. She was good at it, and she noticed that other people often didn’t know where to start when planning a trip.

And while she would happily pass the time looking up options and sample itineraries, other people didn’t want to sit in front of a computer for hours after work to do all of the research.

Still, she’d only helped friends, and only for free, until one weekend when she and her husband were sitting in a bar in Savannah, Georgia on a quick weekend trip that she’d planned. She’d been pondering the idea of starting a trip planning service for a while, and he looked at her and said, “You should really do this.”

So she did!

This side hustle is called Whisked Away. Here’s how it works: the client goes on her website, which she created in a weekend using Squarespace, chooses the region of the world they’d like to travel in, chooses their budget, and their travel dates. Then, they fill out a short survey telling Charlotte what they love to do. The whole process takes the client about 10 minutes, and then she takes it from there. Each client gets a completely customized trip to a surprise destination in the region of their choice. It’s just 10 minutes for the client, but then Charlotte spends around 10 hours per trip doing all of the research and preparing a detailed plan.

Two weeks before they leave, clients receive an email detailing a) what time to arrive at the airport, b) what to pack, and c) what the weather will be like. One week before, they get a surprise envelope with their entire itinerary inside: flights, accommodations, restaurant recommendations, and activity suggestions. Charlotte is hardcore: she recommends that clients wait to open it until they get to the airport!

So far her profit has been $5,000. She’s working with a business coach to look at her pricing structure to ensure that she’s getting paid properly for the amount of time she puts into each trip. She says that’s been a learning process.

The best part is when clients send photos of them opening their surprise envelopes at the airport, and looking thrilled at where they are headed. She says “There really is nothing better than giving people an amazing experience with something you did.”

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Whisked Away: Do you love to travel but lack the time to plan out the vacation of your dreams? Visit Charlotte’s website and let her plan the trip for you!
  • SquareSpace: The website building platform that Charlotte used to create Whisked Away

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

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

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

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

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

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

Quote of the Day
"In the first few months, I recommend that you read everything you can and hustle it out. But once you have some things in place, try to sit back and let things play out a little bit. Surrender a little!"
—Charlotte McGhee #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

Florida Woman Gets Paid to Remove Poisonous Frogs

What It’s About

Poisonous frogs. In your neighborhood. Who you gonna call? Toad Busters!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

There are a lot of opportunities out there to fill a need that others would not be overly eager to take on. If something makes others squeamish but doesn’t have a similar effect on you, hop to it!

Fun Fact

Jeannine didn’t have much time to celebrate her first sale, so she settled for a stop at McDonald’s on the way back from her first evening of work!

Notes from Chris

Episode 332

If something “ribbits” in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? Toad Busters! Or, more specifically, Jeannine Tilford, the owner of today’s side hustle. After spotting a dangerous shift in her local environment, this high school science teacher decided to take matters into her own hands, and earn an extra $3,000 a month because of it.

A high school science teacher and herpetologist by trade, Jeannine had noticed a long, slow change in the native ecosystem of her local Florida area. The diversity of the local reptiles—animals she loved to collect and study—had begun to dwindle, and the rate of dogs dying from eating poisonous toads was on the rise. All thanks to one particular species, the Bufo toad.

The system of getting rid of these toads was effective but expensive and damaging to the flora and fauna that was subjected to the pesticides. There was no way to get rid of the toads without making the rest of the area sterile. Unless, well… someone went out each night to collect the toads and remove them one by one.

This what where Jeannine found her side-hustle calling. She felt that if she could be the one to go out and collect the toads, it would be the perfect part-time evening job to boost her low teacher’s salary, and a way to scratch her herpetological itch.

The job itself comes with a lot of perils. It’s an active job and requires climbing into areas where there are plenty of mosquitoes, spiders, venomous snakes, poltergeists, and alligators. There’s also a lot of explaining to do to the police about why you’re walking around someone’s property, at night, with just a flashlight and a big stick.

Last but not least: she has to remember “don’t cross the streams!” But, despite those perils, Toad Busters is averaging around $3,000 per month.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Toad Busters: Hop on over to Jeannine’s website to learn more. They ain’t afraid of no toads!

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

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

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

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

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

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

Quote of the Day
"I spent a long time just thinking about something I could do that not a lot of people were doing before I took the plunge and actually did it. After a certain point, thinking something over becomes more trouble than it’s worth!"
—Jeannine Tilford #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Learn More With Skillshare!

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

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

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

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

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


Here's How

Keep in Touch

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


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Birds of a Feather Flock to Your Bank Account

What It’s About

A side hustle featuring homing pigeons being rented out for special events.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Keeping homing pigeons is kind of a dying art. As such, most of Lisa’s mentors were older men with a penchant for long, drawn-out conversations. This led Lisa to another idea—she thought about creating a homing pigeon e-book or online course to help other aspiring bird trainers. She still feels like a newbie, but as a newbie, she knows what people need to know.

What are you learning on your side hustle journey, and how can that information help others on a similar path?

Fun Fact

How are homing pigeons able to find their way back home across vast distances? Well, if a recent report from a U.S. Geological Survey geologist is correct, homing pigeons use low-frequency sound waves that emanate from just about everything to mentally map their environments and navigate back to their lofts. This ability stems from the fact that birds can hear at far lower frequencies than humans can, down to about 0.1 Hertz. These kinds of waves emanate from the Earth itself—from the oceans really, but also up through the crust and the Earth’s topography and even in the atmosphere.

Notes from Chris

Episode 195

Lisa Harris has done a lot of different things. She’s been a bartender to Revlon lady, limo driver, dog walker, ranch worker, newspaper ad sales, and more. On weekends and at events including weddings and funerals, she gets paid to release white doves, also known as homing pigeons.

Five years ago, while traveling, she was at a rest stop and heard gentle cooing coming from a yard. She peeked in and was fascinated about how content these gentle pigeons looked inside their “loft”.
That week she got her first book on pigeons, and her curiosity took off. She studied all year and got her carpenter husband to build a loft at their house for dove HQ.

After a lot of learning, Lisa opened A Dove’s Love. Celebration displays and releases start at $200 depending on the number of doves needed and location. There has been a lot of demand and only a limited supply of dove releasers in the D.C./Northern Virginia area, and Lisa had been turning down lots of phone calls and requests because it took her so long to get the doves trained.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • A Dove’s Love: Fly on over to Lisa’s website to learn more about her and her doves (fun fact: ‘white doves’ and ‘homing pigeons’ can be used interchangably)

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
"I have made about $2,500 so far which is pretty exciting since I haven’t really advertised. I hate to tell people I can’t because my doves are not trained to their location."
—Lisa Harris #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Get a FREE Audiobook from Audible!

Audible is offering SHS listeners a free copy of the Born For This audiobook with a 30-day trial membership. 📚

Just go to aonc.co/bftaudible and browse the unmatched selection of audio programs and start listening.
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

Wine Expert Loses Job; Becomes House Painter Earning $150,000/Year

What It’s About

A transition story about a wine expert who leaves the wine industry in lieu of living a more intentional life.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Before Simon jumped in with both feet, he decided to conduct some “market research”—the old-fashioned way—by picking up the phone and calling to see if there was any demand for his business. When his research led to landing actual work before his business was even officially set-up, Simon knew he was onto something and, in January of 2005, he launched a window washing and painting business serving the painting needs of Vancouver Island.

If you’re not sure who your audience is, do some cold calling to see if your service would be something that people would want. The worst that can happen is that they say no, but it could also end up landing you your first clients like Simon!

Fun Fact

Sometimes your biggest mistakes turn out alright in the end. Simon was painting a summer cottage in rural British Columbia, and everything was going smoothly until the last day when he was cleaning up. The family showed up for the weekend and as Simon was breaking down the scaffolding a can of paint fell off and splashed everywhere—the floor, the table, the couch, the dog, literally everywhere.

Instead of running out the door and driving away like he wanted to, he did everything he could to fix it. He cleaned the furniture, got the dog shampooed, offered to replace the couch and touched up the paint. In the end, his efforts paid off! He got more work from the family, a great referral, and was paid in full.

Notes from Chris

Episode 173

Like all of us, Simon Kuhl’s story starts years ago. But for this episode, we’ll just jump back to when he was 25 and climbing to the top rung of the wine industry in Alberta, Canada. He was working with some amazing people, learning a lot, and drinking a number of amazing wines. For all intents and purposes, he set himself up to have a thriving career in the wine industry.

But just a couple years in, he was burnt out and disillusioned with the extravagance of the industry. He could no longer find the motivation to move up in an industry that promoted such luxury. He wanted a simpler life, more authenticity in his interactions, and a sense of accomplishment in his work day.

So he quit. Simon and his wife, Deborah, moved to British Columbia where he got a low-paying job at a winery. Then, six months after starting his new job, he got fired. Yep, you heard that right, he got fired.

After the shock and disorientation wore off, he discovered that he qualified for an intense 3-week business plan workshop, and this led to the development of his very successful painting service, Sombrio Painting. As Simon put it, “It turns out getting fired was the best thing that could have happened to me.”

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Sombrio Painting: Learn more about Simon and his transitionary painting business on his website. Check out all of those glowing testimonials!
  • Weebly: The platform that Simon used to create his website for Sombrio Painting

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

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

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

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

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

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

Quote of the Day
"Defining your success is so important and the experience of creating a business is an incredible learning experience. While it is a difficult road, easiness is not the objective—growth is. Sure, it can be scary to not have a regular guaranteed income, but the trade off is invigorating because there are no limits to what you can do!"
—Simon Kuhl #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Try Thumbtack for FREE and consider the job done!

Side Hustle School is brought to you by Thumbtack. From house painting to personal training, Thumbtack makes it easy to find exactly what you’re looking no matter what project is on your list.

Download the app or try it now at Thumbtack.com 📌 Get Started

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