Notes from Chris

Episode 919

Chris Hawks and his friends are avid mountain bikers and endurance athletes. On any given weekend they’d much rather be pedaling their way up a hill than sitting on the couch watching Netflix.

Chris enjoys his day job—he’s Director of Sales for what he calls the best dairy company on earth—but it’s his extracurricular activities that really get his wheels turning.

Mountain biking is hard going. You can burn thousands of calories in a good session and if you want to keep going, you need to replace that lost energy… fast! For Chris and his friends, they typically turned to energy gels, a sweet carbo-loaded jolt of energy that came in a squeezable packet for on the go eating.

The only problem was that these gels were highly processed and often left Chris and his friends feeling a little off in the gut. This isn’t surprising, considering that they are usually full of junk ingredients. But they worked, giving a much-needed carb dose when your body needed a good pumping up.

Chris believed there must be a healthier way. So, together with one of the friends, he asked a nutritionist for a good natural replacement. Turns out, the replacement was very simple.

The nutritionist advised them to mix honey and molasses in a 1:1 ratio. Both are all-natural ingredients and would serve a similar purpose to the processed gels they’d been using.

It worked… and not only was it totally natural and healthy, it was also delicious. They had just created what they called “craft energy food.” The mixture became a staple of their mountain bike sessions. In fact, they loved it so much they wondered if they could turn it into a product.

Chris had had ideas for businesses before but never got past a note on a scrap piece of paper. Something about this idea stuck with him. So, he and another friend decided to crank it up and see if they could make something happen.

Soon enough they had their first pro-quality batch and decided to go on a long mountain bike trip to celebrate. Of course, they’d be powered by their own brand of all-natural energy gels. They called it B-Line Natural Energy. B-Line is a common way to describe an alternate path in mountain biking, what they were all about.

A few years after its inception, B-Line had become a viable brand and product operating in a competitive space. The team believes they’ve found the right market fit and now it’s just a matter of getting the word out through marketing. Over time, they started to make more money too.

They’re not earning a full-time income yet. But, as Chris puts it, last year they made enough that they could have purchased an SUV with the profits, to use for mountain biking adventures of course. That’s tens of thousands of dollars, and hopefully more to come as they grow.

Their end goal is to generate enough revenue to be their only source of income. For their next climb, they’ll be launching another food product line in the near future with funding coming from sales of B-Line.

They’ll never forget the lessons learned from their first side hustle. The next product launch should be just like riding a bike.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• B-Line Natural Energy: Learn more about Chris’ energizing side hustle over on his website

SEE ALSO:

• Environmental Marketer Creates Eco-Friendly “Energy Bites”: In search of an eco-friendly, no-added-sugar energy bar, this Colorado transplant and EPA employee invents his own “energy bites.” The product is now stocked in 175 stores spread across nine states
• Private Chef Turns Performance Food Into $30,000/Month Hustle: A California professional uses her autoimmune disease to learn about healthy performance food, creating two businesses in the process
• Coffee Lovers Brew Quick Fix Into $1 Million Hustle: While training for a 24-hour obstacle course challenge and working full-time, two GM employees turn cold brew into a money making energizer

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

Yours in the revolution,

Notes from Chris

Episode 661

Steve Sudell works as a physical therapist at a clinic in Venice, California. He provides personalized and sport-focused exercises to athletes before their competition to help reduce and possibly prevent injuries associated with intense, physical activity.

His side hustle is The Neck Hammock, a portable device that attaches to any door or railing and promises to provide medical grade cervical traction.

It came about first from his own needs. As someone who grew up playing sports, Steve had dealt with neck pain over the years and there wasn’t much he could do on his own besides going to see a chiropractor or a physical therapist. Once he became a PT, he learned about cervical traction—this was a treatment that worked for him every time. He also saw it work over and over with his patients.

Still, to get this treatment you had to go to the clinic and use a $2,000 machine.

One day, he was working out and tweaked his neck again. He decided he wanted to recreate the concept of cervical traction at home—so he took a long resistance band and wrapped it around a pole. He laid down on it for ten minutes, and his neck pain was gone.

Steve knew he was on to something, but making it wasn’t simple. Steve spent the next two and a half years going from concept to product. It had to fit snugly and securely around the back of your head, yet also be comfortable. It also had to be portable. Last but not least, it had to be affordable. He wanted something that you could put in your sock drawer at home or take with you on the road.

So he made it, learning along the way. In fact, he says that’s been the greatest and most unexpected benefit of the process. He’s learned about digital marketing, design, accounting, social media, how retail sales work, and so on.

But the education isn’t the only benefit. Since launching The Neck Hammock, Steve has sold over 57,000 units at an average price of $50.

It started with a pain in the neck, it became a pain relief profit center.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• The Neck Hammock: What are you hangin’ around here for? Head on over to Steve’s website to learn more about this inventive little device!

SEE ALSO:

• Mini Foam Roller Works Out the Kinks: A San Diego project manager creates a tiny foam roller relieve pain and prevent injury no matter where you are
• Inventor Unclogs Profits With Innovative Drain Solution: A modern-day Edison creates a million-dollar product after constantly cleaning up loose hair in his household drains
• Clothing Store Salesman Invents Baby Harness, Earns $100k Per Year: An innovative salesman creates a baby harness that benefits both parent and child, all the while creating a six-figure side income for himself

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

Yours in the revolution,