Tag: Family

Busy Mom Cleans Up Debt by Cleaning Car Seats

What It’s About

An occupational therapist cleans up with a new income stream.

Words of Wisdom

Brittany says, “It’s important to not feel pressured to say yes to every job if it’s taking up too much of your time, and keep in mind that all the money you’re earning with your side hustle is extra income, so any amount you earn is significant.”

Fun Fact

BabyQuip was featured on the hit entrepreneurial show Shark Tank on season 11, episode 14 and featured a mother and son team.

Notes from Chris

Episode 2047
From New York City, Brittany Springer is the mom of two toddlers and works part-time as an Occupational Therapist for elementary school students with autism and learning disabilities.

She’s also a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician (CPST), which means she does child seat installations in vehicles. In short, Brittany is the definition of busy.

Still, Brittany found herself in need of something else to earn extra money, in particular to pay off some expensive student loans. Whatever it was had to pair well with her complicated schedule.

That’s when she found the BabyQuip website.

BabyQuip is a children’s equipment cleaning and rental business. They specialize in cleaning infant and child car seats—which as any parent knows can get pretty dirty.

Brittany already knew a lot about car seat safety as a technician but wondered how a baby gear cleaning company was getting the dramatic results she saw online. Were their methods safe? Car seats need to be treated with extra caution to ensure they remain structurally intact. Many cleaning ingredients can’t be used on them because they could alter the materials and affect the safety and integrity of the car seat.

Brittany decided to sign up as a BabyQuip cleaning provider so she could get the inside scoop of their cleaning products and techniques. After learning more about the company, she knew the business would be a good fit for her. She already had the advantage of being a CPST and was active in several Facebook parenting groups.

She found it easy to get up and running with the BabyQuip business because she gets all the leads she wants or needs directly from the BabyQuip platform. She’s been receiving the perfect amount of business without spending time or money on advertising.

She averages about $2,000 per month between cleanings and equipment rentals.

Brittany says the best part of the business is watching her student loans quickly disappear without her having to be spend additional time away from her children, outside of her regular part-time job.

Brittany’s baby gear cleaning side hustle is helping her get ahead financially, with a schedule that works for her.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

WEB HOSTING @ $2.49/MONTH

Want to build any kind of website for your hustle? If so, you'll need somewhere to host it! This is the reliable company I've used for many websites. It's cheap, flexible, and offers support 24-7.

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

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

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

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

Quote of the Day
"It’s important to not feel pressured to say yes to every job if it’s taking up too much of your time, and keep in mind that all the money you’re earning with your side hustle is extra income, so any amount you earn is significant."
—Brittany Springer #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

Travel Membership Program Earns $300,000/Year

What It’s About

A travel blogger helps families learn how to fly free.

Words of Wisdom

Lyn share’s important advice about where to spend your energy: “Focus on one thing and keep tweaking it until it works. It turns out there’s a way to make almost anything work! I would try one thing, give up, try something else, etc. And be persistent. It’s those of us who don’t give up who are ultimately successful.”

Fun Fact

Families Fly Free isn’t Lyn’s first side hustle. In fact, she’s had a company doing social media research for law firms, travel writing, travel public relations, paid blogging and more!

Notes from Chris

Episode 1949
In 2015, Lyn Mettler was working as a travel writer for outlets like U.S. News & World Report and The TODAY Show. One day, she received a pitch about a couple who were flying around the world using miles and points they’d collected in ways other than flying. As a self-described spendthrift and frugal couponer, she was intrigued.

Lyn investigated the couple’s techniques for herself, experimenting with them on her family of four. She tried different strategies and eventually patched together her own process that allowed them to fly six times a year using miles and points. It was life-changing. The family went from road trips to flying around the U.S., Caribbean and Europe, all within a year. Inspired, Lyn decided to show other families exactly how to do it.

Inspired by membership programs she followed in other spaces, Lyn created the Families Fly Free membership program. It gives members access to all of the content she’d created in one place. She also works with members 1-on-1 on Zoom to show them her process and craft a plan specifically for their family. But the membership didn’t take off right away. Why not? As she explains it, she wasn’t being disruptive enough and didn’t have full confidence in what she was selling. In other words, Families Fly Free was flying under the radar.

During the pandemic, Lyn got an SBA loan and hired a business coach she’d worked with in a group setting. The coach affirmed that her product had value and helped hone her marketing and raise her prices. In fact, the price went from $199/year to $1,295, and that’s when the program finally caught some tailwinds!

Lyn says raising the price is the best thing she could have done. People finally valued the membership, and because they invested in it, they actually took the time to follow her advice. Members can save $3,000-$5,000 in just a few months following Lyn’s process and recommendations. That benefit led to powerful testimonials and word-of-mouth marketing.

These steps solved the crucial problem of monetization. In 2021, Lyn’s side hustle grew into a full-time hustle generating $300,000.

In the future, she aims to grow the membership to $1 million and help as many families as she possibly can. She’s also adding more features to the membership and continuing to grow her team. The sky’s the limit!

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Learn more about Lyn and find out how your family can fly for free at her website, familiesflyfree.com.

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
"Focus on one thing and keep tweaking it until it works. It turns out there’s a way to make almost anything work!"
—Lyn Mettler #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

Medical Emergency Inspires $90,000/Month Consulting Business

What It’s About

A systems-driven business to help aspiring graduates get jobs in management consulting.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Davis encourages other side hustlers to focus on one important thing: “You just need to quickly find people who are willing to pay for what you are offering. Nothing else matters. Not a name (we didn’t have one for 11 months), not a website (didn’t have one for 11 months), or a logo (we still don’t have one).”

Fun Fact

While playing poker in college, Davis made it a goal to save up enough money to pay for his first WDS in 2014. It paid for his ticket, flight, hotel, food and even a small vacation in Portland before WDS started.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1033

Davis Ngyuen grew up in a poor community in the southside of Atlanta, where 1 in 5 people live in poverty. The high school he attended actually lost its national accreditation. Thankfully for Davis, Yale University didn’t care and still offered him a scholarship.

The campus had a large poker culture, with plenty of events and underground games. Eager to earn money, Davis learned to play. It turned out he had an aptitude for it. On a good month, he would play about two full days, spending around 8-10 hours per day at the table. He split the money he made with his parents.

But this story isn’t about playing poker for money.

After graduation, Davis moved to San Francisco, where he first did a stint in management consulting, and then took a job as VP of Operations for an educational startup. Busy with extracurricular projects since those college poker days, he produced a series of workshops on the side, so he would never have to rely on one income stream.

It wasn’t a bad life—until a call from his parents changed everything.

One of them needed emergency surgery, with medical costs estimated to top out at $20,000. Plus, they needed the money soon.

Davis sat down and tried to think about how he could make that much money fast. His workshops were focused on helping Silicon Valley executives to improve their public speaking, so they could better pitch meetings and funding opportunities. But this wouldn’t be a fast source for cash.

Going deeper, Davis recalled conversations he had again and again when he moved to California to take the management consultant job at a prestigious firm. Everyone wanted to know how he did it.

So with the urgent medical bills in mind, he decided his new hustle was to offer coaching for job interviews in consulting.

The idea was promising, but he didn’t even have a website or email list. Instead, he jumped on a Consulting Sub-Reddit and offered his advice in a free AMA (Ask Me Anything) thread for people who were trying to do what he had done. That first thread was titled: “Recruiting for Consulting? Post here for recruitment advice, resume reviews, questions about offers/firms or general insecurity.”

The goal was not to sell services directly. Instead, he poured his experience and knowledge into the replies. If people wanted one-on-one, off-thread conversation, then he invited them to set up a consultation with him on the Zoom web-conferencing app. Startup costs were just $20 for that Zoom membership.

He worked twelve hours straight over the first weekend hunting for clients and hosting calls, having no idea if it would pay off. Ultimately, he gained his first thirteen clients off that Reddit thread.

The next weekend, he did much the same thing, and then the next as well. It was stressful working long days during the week for his day job, and then pouring weekend hours into his side hustle. The thought of his family kept him motivated—and the money coming in was rewarding—but the greater problem was that Davis was burning out fast.

He began making some bigger changes. He switched to more of an agency model, where clients are asked to pay a bit upfront, but it’s not until they actually get the job that they have to pay the rest. The sum is less than 5% of what they earn in their first year at high-paying jobs … but of course, that’s still a substantial amount.

After just one year, My Consulting Offer had grown to $10,000 per month with Davis as the only coach. That’s when he quit his full-time job, as it was obvious he was really onto something.

These days, Davis does no coaching. Instead, he works directly with top-tier schools and events, and refers all the new business back to his agency’s sales group. From there, his team handles the entire process from initial inquiry straight through to the celebrations when they land their dream job. The average success rate of getting a job in management in consulting is less than 2%, but for those who go through Davis’s process, the rate is more than 80%!

In 2019, just over two years after that 12-hour weekend sprint of desperately trying to hustle coaching calls on Reddit, Davis’s revenue reached $90,000 per month.

In a short period of time, he’s come a long way from his poker days as a student at Yale.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • My Consulting Offer Learn more about Davis’s service at his website.
  • Reddit The online community Davis used to first offer his services. Davis knew this might be a good place to start to find his target audience. Note: we don’t recommend this platform for anyone unfamiliar with it.
  • Zoom Host online video meetings/calls, webinars, and more.

 

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

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

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

GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS

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

Quote of the Day
"The key to life is to help others. I always think, how can I be a better son for my Mom, a better brother for my little brother, and a better role model for those who I am lucky enough to cross paths with. "
—Davis Nguyen #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

Kid Brothers Turn Frozen Treats Into Hot Business

What It’s About

Three brothers get jiggy and create delicious frozen vegan treats.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Stuck trying to find the right idea? The Accius family has a suggestion: “Find a problem that needs a creative solution, come up with a fix, and keep your purpose and intention at the forefront. If you stay true to that and employ good business practices, you can turn almost anything into a successful venture.”

Fun Fact

Jiggy Popp offer a “donation” popp at every event. It’s a randomly chosen and allows kids that don’t have money but want a Popp to get one. The goal? To give them a healthy treat to brighten their day and, hopefully, cause them to make healthier choices going forward.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1031

Some kids spend their summer with a break at the beach, but relaxation wasn’t what the Accius brothers—13 year old Nasi, 11 year old Judah, and 9 year old Shiloh—had in mind for their 2019 break.

The children of a TV and film producer father and an artist mother, the Los Angeles natives decided they wanted to start a business. This wasn’t a surprise. They were taught to think as creators and owners as opposed to employees, and they knew they’d have their own products in the marketplace one day.

Like most kids, the Accius brothers love treats but their diet, first influenced by their parents, is much healthier and more full of “real ingredients” than most of their friends. They wanted to create something they would love, and something that’d be happy to share. Disrupting the normal junk food snacks that were targeted to kids and young adults was also a must.

The brothers soon zeroed in on making a frozen treat. Everyone they knew loved frozen treats and they sell year-round in California. Their brainstorming led to an idea for Jiggy Popps: all-natural, vegan ice pops. The name comes from the term “Jiggy” which in Hip Hop means cool or “fly.”

Working together, they used trial and error to create five original recipes. The process took about three months, and in the meantime they outlined more ideas and began to get their $700 in startup capital together.

They received a couple hundred dollars from their Dad and the rest from Nasi, who invested money from his street performer profits. They used that money for supplies and ingredients, and also on their first small, rolling vending cart.

Soon their home kitchen became the center of Jiggy Popp manufacturing. The boys’ parents didn’t mind as long as the process included cleanup.

In June 2019, the Accius brothers took 100 Jiggy Popps and their vending cart to a street fair in the LA area.

With flavors like BlackBerry Gordy, inspired by the legendary founder of Motown Records, as well as other lyric inspired flavors including “Tropic Like It’s Hot” and “Georgia Peach on My Mind,” their love of music and hip hop culture is evident throughout.

Like a platinum record, the Jiggy Popps were a hit, selling out quickly. The boys were ecstatic and immediately worked to set up their next event. In the first month, the brothers earned a cool $1,600 in profit.

The Jiggy Popp team learned from their early setbacks, and the future looks icy bright. In fact, Jiggy Popp has already earned profits of nearly $7,000 in the first three months of business!

They have big plans for the future, starting with dropping out of middle school—oh, not that, actually—and year-round sales events. The focus is on vending opportunities that connect with their core values, events centered on hip hop, health and wellness, and community building. They also pop up on random inner-city street corners as it’s their goal to make healthy frozen treats accessible to all.

More long term, the brothers want to strategically scale their company with the goal of eventually securing an international partner to take the Jiggy Popp brand global.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Jiggy Popps: Follow the Accius brother’s side hustle journey on their Instagram page.

 

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

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
"Find a problem that needs a creative solution, come up with a fix, and keep your purpose and intention at the forefront."
—Accius Family #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

Traveling Au Pair Has Drivers Licenses in 4 Countries

What It’s About

A South Africa au pair takes her work on the road and travels for free.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

For first time au pairs, Lerato recommends signing up with an agency. An agency is responsible for finding families and making sure the environment is safe for the au pair. They will run a background check on the family, arrange work visas, introduce you to other au pairs in the area, and place you with another family if you are unhappy.

Fun Fact

The word “au pair” is French, meaning ‘on equal terms’. The phrase originally described an arrangement between two parties paid for by the exchange of mutual services.

Notes from Chris

Episode 963
Lerato of South Africa has a side hustle that takes her around the world. This gig not only earns an income but also saves her money on food and lodging. It’s a job you may have heard of before, but perhaps haven’t considered in this way.

Lerato is a part-time au pair. An au pair is defined as a young person, who goes abroad to live with a native family, often to learn a language or experience a different culture in exchange for childcare.

Before traveling and becoming an au pair, Lerato trained and worked in digital marketing. In 2016, she started blogging, which led to freelance writing and web design gigs. These have been her primary income for the past three years while living in different countries. To add another piece to the puzzle, she launched a dropshipping store within the past year.

Although Lerato can spend up to 60 hours a week on the blog, freelance jobs, and dropshipping, they’re all online and flexible in terms of when she puts in her hours. In other words, her “day job” fits easily around her childcare side hustle schedule.

Typically, she’ll watch her host family’s kids for two hours in the morning. While the kids are at school, she does her online work. After school, she takes care of the kids again until around 7 pm. She does this four days a week, and the rest of the time is her own.

Being an au pair has helped Lerato learn a lot about herself. She’s grown to handle things she didn’t think she was able, and she can now claim drivers licenses in four countries and proficiency in six languages.

But what are the economics of this? Well, Lerato’s most recent au pair pay was €1,000 ($1200) per month. That might not sound like much, but remember that her food, lodging, and utilities are all free. This past April, she made €500 in overtime because the parents went to Portugal for the weekend and she watched the kids.

Something unique about this side hustle is that it can be seasonal. You can take on back-to-back contracts, or pause between them as you wish. At the moment, Lerato is doing just that and taking a break from her au pair gigs. She’s decided to travel full-time for six months, gathering content for her travel blog, and taking the opportunity to visit her family back in South Africa. Maybe she’ll return to being an au pair, or maybe she’ll apply those new skills to other endeavors. With six languages and four drivers licenses, she’ll have no shortage of opportunities.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • My Life from a Bag: Learn more about Lerato’s work and travels over on her blog!
  • AuPairWorld: If you’re interested in becoming an au pair yourself, head here

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

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
"Personally, I have learned so much about myself. The ability to handle things I never thought I could. Every day I learn so much and have fun while doing it. It doesn’t feel like work at all."
—Lerato #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

Accidental Side Hustle Becomes Decorative Family Business

What It’s About

A creative outlet becomes a side hustle for the whole family.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Jessica says that it’s important to take your ego out of the equation when you’re building a side hustle like this. It’s okay to start out creating products that you like and would hang around your house, but after a certain point, your likes need to take the backseat to those of your customers. Listen to what they want, tweak your offerings to accommodate, and success will follow.

Fun Fact

When Woodstock Rustic first began shipping, they didn’t own a postal scale so Jessica would weigh herself, pick up the package to be shipped, and weight herself again in order to get the weight of the package. This stop-gap measure must have worked for a while because no one bought a scale for a long time.

Notes from Chris

Episode 954

Jessica Massey was working as a corporate graphic designer, and her art was being used for a variety of products including cards, calendars, and blankets. Many of her designs were “ghost designs” meaning they were credited to a person the company worked with who had name recognition or a large social media following. After years of walking into big box stores and seeing her designs being sold under someone else’s name, she wanted a change. Once she had a baby, Jessica left her job and began freelancing.

Outside the freelance work, she was also looking for a creative outlet, and a way to make a little extra money on the side. Woodstock Rustic was the outcome—a home decor brand that tapped into the decorating zeitgeist that favors the wood pallet aesthetic.

There was no business plan, just a way to have some fun and make money—the true definition of a side hustle! Woodstock Rustic started out in that most mythical setting for American success stories, the garage, surrounded by yard equipment and not-so-rustic garbage cans.

For her first commercial outing, Jessica took her designs to an art show and made $2,500 in a single weekend. Giddy with early success, she set up an Etsy account for the pieces that hadn’t sold. This proved to be far less successful. That account only saw a sale or two over a six month period. Before throwing in the towel, Jessica decided to give Etsy one last go.

She did some research and learned that she’d made every mistake possible when setting up her page. Jessica discovered the importance of social media marketing and SEO—especially how impactful keywords and titles can be.

For example, Woodstock Rustic sells a lot of gift items, and one of their biggest product lines is sympathy or memorial gifts. Prior to this point, Jessica hadn’t really taken into account how customers might end up landing on her page when they started their search in Google or Etsy.

In the beginning, she might have named something “Butterfly Gift Box”—when she’d actually rank much higher if they called it a “Sympathy Gift Box” and just let potential customers see for themselves that the theme was butterflies. No one was searching for “butterfly” specifically, they were entering “sympathy” into the search bar.

After a few small adjustments, orders really started rolling in. It seemed like such a simple fix, but it made a major difference.

Woodstock Rustic now offers a range of home decor items including wall decor, plant containers, and kid’s room decor that can be purchased through the company’s stand-alone website. Jessica still sells on Etsy where she has more than 4,000 sales, but wanted her own site that would be free of some of the constraints imposed by the platform.

The business is now so successful that there never seem to be enough hours in the day. Luckily, the team members that Jessica has brought together all bring a unique skill, whether it’s marketing, customer service, production management, carpentry, or accounting. It’s the way these skills come together to form a complete picture that creates the overall Woodstock story.

Although their beginnings were humble, with just $1,000 in startup costs Woodstock Rustic now has an annual profit in the low six figures almost four years later. Not a bad return on investment for this homegrown family business!

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

 

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

WEB HOSTING @ $2.49/MONTH

Want to build any kind of website for your hustle? If so, you'll need somewhere to host it! This is the reliable company I've used for many websites. It's cheap, flexible, and offers support 24-7.

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

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

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

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

Quote of the Day
"If possible, start small rather than jumping in head first. We started by renting a booth at an art show (which felt like a huge undertaking at the time), and we learned SO much from it. Just hearing feedback from the general public was priceless."
—Jessica Massey #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

The Travel Blog That Pays for a House

What It’s About

A family builds a home for themselves on the road.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Building sites was a great learning tool for Sharon as she was able to take a more business-minded approach with them. Most importantly, she began to understand how to use SEO (Search Engine Optimization) combined with affiliate marketing. When she applied what she had learned through the niche sites to her travel blog, things really started to pick up.

It was then that Sharon learned a valuable lesson: it’s far better to concentrate on ONE of them and get that working great than to be everywhere. Sharon’s one thing is SEO. In her view, it’s essentially market research. You have to understand what people want and need and then use SEO to give it to them.

Fun Fact

Sharon just completed a survey amongst bloggers. She found that 32% of bloggers who have been blogging for less than 6 months are making at least $200 a month, but 66% have made nothing. According to Sharon, that 66% were probably focusing on the WRONG things.

One respondent making $20,000 a month has been blogging for less than a year. The average amount of time, however, that bloggers making $20,000 a month have been blogging is 3.45 years.

Notes from Chris

Episode 903

How much money can someone really make blogging? Would you believe a monthly profit of up to $50,000 was possible? For today’s side hustler, Sharon Gourlay of Australia, that figure is real. Granted, $50,000 was Sharon’s best month, and it came from growing a multitude of blogs over several years. But as we dive into Sharon’s story, you’ll get a sense of what’s possible with a blogging business if you focus on the right things.

In 2013, Sharon was a part-time graduate teacher and full-time mother to a one and three-year-old. She was stressed, way too busy, and watching every cent her family spent. She wanted something better for her life.

Tired of being so tried, Sharon decided an online business was the answer to many of these problems. She had been reading family travel blogs at the time and noticed that some of them seemed to be working well. If they could do it, she thought, so could she.

So she embarked on a quest to monetize her blog, WheresSharon.com. She had started the blog 8 years earlier while traveling on a break from work, but by her own admission, it was poorly written. It had been more of an online journal, and page views had dwindled to zero.

So she got busy researching what to do with it. Startup costs were minimal—about $60 to cover her website hosting and domain name. She worked on the site with every spare moment in her hectic schedule. At this time, Sharon also started Digital Nomad Wannabe to track her journey from “having no idea” to building a successful online business.

By mid-year, Sharon convinced her husband that the family should become digital nomads, and they left Australia on December 31, 2014. The two blogs and her husband’s online product were bringing in roughly $1,000 per month.

About 18 months after getting serious with her websites, Sharon gave birth to her third child. By then, their online income was enough to support a higher cost of living, and they were able to move back home. She took advantage of Australia’s paid maternity leave, but even while taking that four months off from blogging work, her income kept growing.

At that time, Sharon was making $8,000-$15,000/month from affiliate links on her travel site alone. Meanwhile, expenses for the website were less than $100 per month. As mentioned earlier, Sharon’s best month was $50,000 in profit. This was when she had started selling a course on DigitalNomadWannabe.com.

Then, toward the end of 2017, Sharon actually sold her travel blog as well as a couple of the smaller sites she had started in 2014. Thanks to SEO and affiliate marketing, the sites were generating passive income, which is exactly what buyers want. Even though her travel blog may seem like a personal project, she was able to sell it for more than three times her annual profits.

With the proceeds from the website sales, Sharon’s family bought a house in Melbourne in 2018.

She says: “It gives me immense pride that I have been able to build this business out of nothing. I love that we now get to live a life structured how and where we want and not held back by money or traditional jobs. Both my husband and I are at home full-time with the kids. We travel when we want, and the kids go to the school we want.”

Sharon continues to launch new sites. Her latest is called Dive Into Malaysia. Although still relatively small for now, she can see it becoming her biggest project yet.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Digital Nomad Wannabe: Take a trip over to Sharon’s website to learn more about her tips for living a digital nomad life
  • WheresSharon.com & Dive Into Malaysia: Learn more about the other two websites that Sharon runs, here!
  • WordPress: Sharon used WordPress to set up her blog, and here you can learn how to install your own WordPress site in 5 minutes

 

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

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
"The biggest mistake I made was listening to the wrong advice. I look back now and wonder why I didn’t realize that listening to people who didn’t have the success I wanted was silly, but I didn’t. It lead to me doing the wrong thing—like chasing page views—rather than my actual goals."
—Sharon Gourlay #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

Disappearing Barrettes Lead to Bow-tiful Business

What It’s About

Mom and daughter duo put a bow on a successful side hustle!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

According to Rozalynn, you shouldn’t feel like you can’t start if you don’t have a blueprint for steps 1 through 10. If you have the conviction that your idea is your purpose, just having step 1 is enough. Eventually, step 2 and 3 will follow—you don’t need finishing grace until you get started.

Fun Fact

This is now a micro-franchising opportunity for young girls to get involved and create their own business selling GaBBY Bows! Girls who join get a starter kit with 25 bows to sell, monthly online sales trainings with Gabby, and an affiliate link to earn more money. They currently have 70 girls enrolled in the academy and hope to eventually have more than 1,000.

Notes from Chris

Episode 891

Rozalynn Goodwin is a wearer of many hats and bows—she’s a Vice President for the South Carolina Hospital Association, a booking agent for her comedian husband, and an investigator of lost barrettes for her daughter Gabby. That last project is what we’re going to focus on here.

One night after yet another run to the beauty supply store to purchase hair barrettes, Rozalynn found herself frustrated. She pulled out all of the hair products that Gabby (who was five years old at the time) had and dumped them on the kitchen table. As she picked through them, she began to notice just how poorly constructed most of them were. Many were even missing clasps to snap and attach to the hair.

She then did what many frustrated moms do and took to social media. Rozalynn complained about the age-old problem of disappearing barrettes and how she was tired of having to replace them. Many other moms chimed in, agreeing with her. Then her pastor spoke up, telling her that it sounded like a market she needed to break into. Rozalynn was a little annoyed, “how was she supposed to manufacture hair barrettes with all of her other responsibilities?”

But one morning as she was styling Gabby’s hair before school, she found herself in the same frustration mode. She mumbled to herself that someone needed to make a bow that would stay in.

Without realizing she was talking out loud, Gabby exclaimed, “Mommy! Are we going to make a bow?!”

Rozalynn was caught off guard and tried to push it aside. But, like most kids, Gabby wouldn’t soon forget. Later that afternoon when she picked Gabby up from school, Gabby asked when they were going to make bows.

Gabby was like a broken record caught up in pigtails and wasn’t going to let it go until it was fixed. Rozalynn agreed that they would take it on, thinking of it like a science project. She thought that they could investigate what was missing with the current barrettes on the market and sell the results to a company to create. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that simple.

They began to make notes of what could be improved upon with the design. After they had a concept, Rozalynn presented it to many hair accessory companies—but no one was interested in selling their newly invented product without a patent. She quickly learned that it was not an easy road to clip down.

Rather than letting this idea disappear like the other missing barrettes, they decided to make and sell them on their own.

To launch their product, they shot a short video demonstrating how the double-face double-snap barrette works and posted it on Facebook with a link to their simple WordPress website. Within a day, they had more than 1,000 views and their first sale! They knew this was the start of something great.

That was a few years ago, and sales have continued to climb, now averaging around $4,500 in profit each month. Thanks to consistent marketing and use of the hashtag #kidpreneur, GaBBY Bows has been featured in many publications and TV shows including the Today Show.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • GaBBY Bows: Clip on over to Rozalynn and Gabby’s website to learn more about their barrettes!
  • WordPress: Rozalynn and Gabby used WordPress to set up their website, 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
"Don’t become immobilized by not having a blueprint with steps 1-10. If you have a conviction that your idea is your purpose, just having step 1 is enough—step 2 and 3 will follow. You don’t need finishing grace until you get started."
—Rozalynn Goodwin #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

Lawyer Moonlights as Needle-Felt Children’s Book Author

What It’s About

Twin brothers think outside of the box, discover needle-felting, and create something wool-thy of standing out.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Holman and Jack’s story is a perfect example of why you don’t need to get a platform in order to score a book deal. A great idea is still valuable, and content matters most of all!

Fun Fact

Sometimes the books will take several seasons to create. Holman will wait to frame his shot for a book for the perfect season. For Star Wars, he staged some of the scenes and photographed them in British Columbia winter, and then again in spring. And for the desert scenes, he actually flew to California to set the stage in the sand dunes.

Notes from Chris

Episode 866

Twin brothers Holman and Jack Wang spent part of their childhood writing and illustrating books … just for fun. As the years progressed and their studies turned into full-time careers in Law and Teaching, they brushed aside their artistic interests. But then, much later in life the two brothers found themselves reminiscing about their lost art. They wanted to find a way to revisit it.

It was Jack who came up with the idea for creating Cozy Classics: a series of books that used primers to tell abridged versions of literary classics like Pride and Prejudice and Moby Dick. Holman loved the idea but there was one problem—neither one of them had done any type of drawing or painting in nearly 20 years. So while the idea was there, he didn’t see how they could compete with professionally trained digital artists. They had to think outside of the box and create something worthy of standing out.

Holman then floated the concept of needle-felting figures and photographing them in various scenes for the illustrations. He had heard of this medium before but had never tried it. So he decided to consult the number one tool for learning new skills: YouTube. He watched several videos on the technique of needle-felting and essentially taught himself how to do it.

Needle felting involves taking loose wool and repeatedly stabbing it with a specialized barbed or notched needle. The movement of stabbing the wool entangles the loose fibers allowing the wool to get denser and eventually turns it into felt. As the wool is felted, it begins to take some structure so you can sculpt shapes. Sounds easy, right? (It actually sounds hard to me.)

It took several months to stitch together the first book. Each wool figure took anywhere from 20 to 40 hours to create, and the process for styling and photographing each scene required 4 to 6 months.

They had met with one publisher through a friend of a friend who loved the concept, but didn’t think they would go over well by doing literary classics. The publisher wanted them to alter their vision and change it from “Pride and Prejudice” to “The Adventures of Lizzie and Darcy”. Holman and Jack were not willing to compromise their vision and turned down their first offer. They eventually found another publisher who bought into their original vision. That’s when their first two books were picked up and published.

So just how wool-thy has this 9-year side hustle become? Since launching Cozy Classics in 2010, they’ve earned more than six figures from book sales and royalties and speaking engagements. While the amount varies from year to year, they are currently averaging about $25 to 30,000 dollars annually.

Aside from the book sales, Holman has been invited to speak at many events that include presentations showing kids how to create needle-felt figurines. With needle and felt in hand, Holman and Jack are sure to stab their way to continued success.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Cozy Classics: Cozy up with one of Holman and Jack’s unique, needle-point illustrated books—head on over to their website to see their full book lineup and felt art
  • HOLMAN WANG: Learn more about what’s down the proverbial felt thread over on Holman and Jack’s website!
  • WordPress: Holman and Jack used WordPress to set up their personal website, 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

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 working with publishers or seeking partnerships, don’t feel like you have to go with the first offer given to you. Make sure it aligns with your values and vision—don’t compromise your vision to meet someone else’s."
—Holman & Jack Wang #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Try ShipStation for 60 Days FREE!

Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by ShipStation, the #1 choice of online sellers. 📦

To get a 30-day trial AND an additional month free, click the microphone at the top of their page and enter the word HUSTLE.
Get it Here

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

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

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

Keep in Touch

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


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau