Tag: Niche Ideas

Wildlife Biologist Shoots, Scores With Pond Hockey Gloves

What It’s About

A biologist makes an unbelievable discovery: no one was serving the needs of pond hockey players … and those players needed gloves!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Christopher suggests the following advice for those trying to grow their business, “figure out what is busy work and figure out what will actually further your business. What tasks can you do that are an investment for the future of your business?.”

Fun Fact

Hockey gloves are actually designed to keep your hands cool so that they don’t get sweaty while you’re playing. Pond hockey players, however, are in the freezing cold—they definitely need warm gloves!

Notes from Chris

Episode 999

Christopher DeVore loves his work as a wildlife biologist—but he’s also always had a bit of an entrepreneurial spirit. For a project in college, he planned and executed a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised $20,000—eight thousand more than he needed—to launch an outdoor blanket called Father Nature Outdoors.

Not long after, however, Chris learned how hard it can be to maintain the hype of a new business. Father Nature Outdoors was still getting sales, but revenue was dropping quickly. He didn’t have time to dedicate to marketing, and the brand wasn’t really differentiated enough to generate interest on its own—it was just one among many outdoor blanket companies.

As he thought about winding it down, he came across a vendor who made all kinds of outdoor gear—not just blankets. And this made him wonder about an idea he’d had as a kid.

Growing up in Alaska, outdoor pond hockey was a frequent winter pastime—and this was a hobby not made for the weak. Hockey gloves are made for indoor hockey, where the goal is to keep players’ hands cool so they don’t sweat. But when you’re outdoors and you’re in the negative temperatures, you don’t need to stay cool—you need to stay warm! Even years later, Chris remembered how much his hands would sting from the cold while playing outdoors.

He did a quick Google search and found something that surprised him: nobody had really solved this issue. All the hockey gloves for sale were meant for indoor hockey, which meant pond hockey players everywhere were still dealing with freezing cold hands.

The go-for-it excitement caught hold of him, so he reached out to that vendor who sold outdoor gear, worked on a simple way to make hockey gloves warmer, and ordered a sample with fur lining the inside. The sample cost $100, but when Chris got it in the mail, he knew it had been worth it. The glove was fantastic.

By the following March, when pond hockey season came to a close, Third Assist was already profitable, having sold over 50% of the gloves. Chris knew he was onto something.

Now he’s at a crossroads. He can continue the trend of slow, mindful growth—which generates as much as $3,000 per month in extra income during high season—or he can try to supercharge growth by getting a small business loan and scaling faster with more products, more ads, and more partnerships. There’s even the possibility of being a sponsor for EA Sports’s pond hockey game—but that’s definitely not cheap.

He’s going to take the next season to decide which direction to take. Either way, he loves that he’s been able to reconnect to one of his favorite communities in a meaningful way—and that his is the only brand out there serving the community with useful products.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Third Assist: Looking to warm your hands for the next pond hockey match? Head over to Christoper’s website.
  • Weebly: The platform that Richard used to create his website for Third Assist!

 

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

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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!
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Quote of the Day
"What can I do today that in a year I will say ‘thank God I did that’? I’m always talking to customers and writing emails — but I realize it’s the bigger picture things that’ll help me in the future. What tasks have the biggest long-term impact and reward? Do those first."
—Christopher DeVore #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

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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.
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To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Store Manager Makes Micro Gainz For Macro Profits

What It’s About

A grocery manager proves that micro gains make a huge difference.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Research all potential competitors in the market and figure out how much they are selling in order to see if their product is worth producing. I did this with Micro Gainz. I looked up several micro plate sets offered on Amazon, found their seller rank, and found out roughly how many they were selling in a month. Once you have that information you can come up with a basic business model to determine if the business is feasible.

Fun Fact

The fitness industry is an enormous market in the USA. With close to 40,000 different clubs and estimated revenues of 30 billion per year, there’s plenty of opportunities to be had.

Notes from Chris

Episode 997
Michael Reed works as an assistant manager for Weis Markets, a popular grocery store chain in New England. On any given shift he might be motivating staff, helping customers or lifting heavy boxes while helping pack shelves.

For the most part Michael enjoys his job, especially the latter of those tasks. Because you see, in Michael’s spare time he’s an avid gym junkie. In the words of Arnold Schwarznnegger, he likes to pump iron. Weight training in particular is one of his favorite ways to exercise.

In particular he enjoys barbell training. It provides a measurable way to progress by keeping track of how much weight you’re able to lift. If you put in the work this week, next week you’d be slightly stronger, then, slightly stronger again the week after that.

Eventually though, lifters reach what’s known as a plateau. That’s the point at which they stop making rapid improvements and the work doesn’t produce the results it used to.

When Michael hit his plateau, he looked ways to remedy the situation. Before long he came across weight plates. Weight plates are small sets of weights that lifters add to their dumbbells to increase the overall weight in smaller increments. So, instead of adding five pounds, they can add a quarter, half, three quarters or a full pound. It enables them to make the incremental increases in weight that help bash through weight lifting plateaus.

Michael knew this was exactly the product he needed. So he hopped on over to Amazon to see what was on offer. The options there were limited, expensive and almost all were made in China. Being a handy kind of guy, Michael figured he could make some cheaper himself right at home. He also thought he might be able to sell a few on the side. He called it Micro Gainz—with a z—Micro for the small plates and Gainz for the inevitable gains weightlifters would have using them.

To start, Michael went to a local steel laser cutter and had twenty five of each size cut, from a quarter pound to one pound. That was enough for him to make eight sets.

The first batch of sets sold relatively quickly and Michael was left with a small profit when all was said and done. He chose to invest all the proceeds into buying more steel plates. After a few reps, he realized his process of making the plates was far too time consuming.

Over the next year, he refined his plates and process even further. Consequently, he sold more than four times what he did in the first year, one hundred and thirty thousand dollars worth.

In October 2018, he listed Micro Gainz on Amazon and sales exploded again. With a huge uptick, revenue in 2019 is already at one hundred and sixty thousand dollars.

With that sort of money on the weight lifting bench, you might think that Mike has quit his full-time job by now. But that’s not the case, he has been pouring all the profit generated back into Micro Gainz with maximum intensity.

To do that, he’s now working on the next line of Micro Gainz plates which will be color coded. He also has ideas for another couple of product lines he can create in the same space. With enough sets and reps, he’ll go from Micro Gainz to macro profits.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Micro Gainz: Looking to maximize your gains? Check out Michael’s website to see his entire product line.

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

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Quote of the Day
"Don’t give up if your business stumbles. Starting a business is hard work. Running a business is a marathon not a sprint if you want it to be successful long term."
—Michael Reed #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

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To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Perfect SAT Score Leads to $20 Million Tutoring Biz

What It’s About

A college student builds the perfect $20 million tutoring hustle.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Shaan says that the key to success as an entrepreneur is doing what you know. At first he was frustrated with the advice, but when he took it to heart and started Prep Expert, he realized that when you’re an expert in a particular topic, you have the opportunity to provide a lot of value.

Fun Fact

The first mass administered IQ test was called the Army Alpha and was used in the recruitment process for World War I. After the war, it was updated in order to be used for the college admissions process.

Notes from Chris

Episode 996

Shaan Patel took the SATs for the first time when he was fifteen years old. When he got his results back, he wasn’t satisfied. Despite receiving a score close to 1700, Shaan wanted to do so much better. He had big dreams of earning a place in a college’s combined BA/MD program, but most students who were accepted into those programs scored closer to 2200—nearly 500 points higher than his score.

He took the test a second time, but didn’t do much better. Of course, he was only fifteen.

Shaan knew that there was an obvious way for him to improve his score: by studying for the exam. Those first two times he took the SATs he only studied the week before the test. He arrived feeling underprepared and nervous.

Finally, when the day of the test came once again, Shaan felt calm and collected. He knew he was ready. That day, at 17 years old, Shaan scored a 2400—otherwise known as a perfect score.

Shaan was amazed with all of the opportunities that opened up to him just with his SAT score. He says that he wasn’t a genius, he just became an expert on the test itself.

Shaan knew that he could help other students dramatically improve their scores, so he decided to write an SAT Prep Book. Once he complied some material, he began pitching the book to all kinds of literary agents and publishers. He pitched the book nearly 100 times and was rejected over and over. Everyone told him that the SAT Prep Book industry was too competitive and that he wasn’t known enough to stand out in the market.

With that, Shaan gave up on the book idea … but he still had all of the material he’d compiled, and he wanted to make sure that it didn’t go to waste.

At first, Shaan was only tutoring students when he was home from college for summer or winter break, but he had so many people asking for help that he decided to transition to online classes. That way, he wouldn’t be limited to working with his new business, now called Prep Expert, in person.

As time went on, Shaan continued to build up his business. He was even able to go on Shark Tank and pitch his ideas to the investors. Mark Cuban, one of the sharks, invested $250,000 in Prep Expert for 20% equity, and since then, the business has grown exponentially. In the three years since then, total profits have increased from $1 million to $20 million.

With his devotion to creating his business around something he was an expert in, Shaan has been able to create a test prep empire and help thousands of students. In the future, he hopes to continue to build Prep Expert while he completes his residency and begins his full-time career as a dermatologist.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Prep Expert: Check out Shaan’s website to learn more about his SAT/ACT tutoring courses.

 

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 doing what you know. Not only will you have a developed skillset, but also the confidence to look for clients knowing you have a deliverable asset for them to pay for."
—Shaan Patel #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

Two Friends Use Welding Skills To Keep Beer Flowing

What It’s About

Two friends weld their expertise to save local breweries.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Matt has great advice for those seeking to use their skills, “Do not chase every shiny object. Not every job is within your capabilities. Act on your strengths and be honest about your abilities.”

Fun Fact

Their biggest current project is building 30 pieces of unique stainless-steel kitchen surfaces for the Glacier National Park/Sperry Chalet rebuild. The Chalet was burned to the ground in 2017 with only the rock walls and the kitchen being spared from the forest fire. The Chalet was built in 1914 by the Great Northern Railway Co. and is considered a Historic National Landmark, one of two chalets in the park left. Knowing that their work will be part of something that could be installed for another 100 years makes this project all the more rewarding.

Notes from Chris

Episode 994

Like many side hustle beginnings, Matt Young and Keanan Janus had an epiphany over a beer. As professional welders, inspectors, and coworkers, both men found themselves reflecting on a recent job and realized they could have done it better. That’s when they thought about taking their welding skills and start something of their own on the side. What they needed, however, was a niche … because there were a lot of welders.

So while sipping their beer, they looked around the room … and it dawned on them that breweries could use their skills.

Why breweries? Matt and Keanan live in Montana which has a very popular craft beer scene with an estimated 90 breweries. Many of the breweries there use stainless steel equipment, which if not properly treated, can lead to rust, and compromise the quality of the beer. So they put together a business plan that would utilize their welding skills by sipping into a niche that wasn’t crowded. In fact, no one was paying much attention to it at all. And just like that, Whitefish Heliarc was created.

So how does the process work? Since Matt and Keanan are both still employed full-time, they utilize part of their weekends to work at various breweries in the area. Without trying to overweld you on the technical details, they assess the equipment to see what types of piping repairs or modifications are needed. What sets them apart from other welders and companies is their certification with the American Welding Society. This is one of the most sought after certifications in the welding technology sector. So not only are their brewing partners getting a team of qualified welders, they’re also getting a thorough inspection as part of the process.

Startup costs were around $6,000, and since 2018, they’ve brought in an extra $16,000 from this weldly-popular side hustle. They charge for their services using a typical system common to any repair service. The cost includes materials and handling, as well as the labor of actually doing the job. They typically charge a per hour rate that varies depending on difficulty or project complexity.

The best part of this experience is having the opportunity to work with many different local brewers. Each brewery is unique on its own and not in competition with one another. They’ve been excited to receive referrals from one brewery to the next. And they often get tipped through refreshing pints of beer.

In the future, they’re hoping to build their own facility so they can conduct multiple projects at one time and expand outside of the brewery niche. That expansion has already begun.

They’re now working on their biggest project with their biggest client, Glacier National Park, building 30 pieces of unique stainless-steel kitchen surfaces for a historical chalet that burned to the ground in 2017. It makes the purpose of this project even more meaningful, even without the free beer.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Whitefish Heliarc:Check out Matt and Keanan’s site to learn more about their unique services.

 

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
"Start small. Don’t chase every shiny object or accept every job or client because someone asked. Accept ones that are within your strengths and capabilities."
—Matt Young #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

Loan Officer Charts New Course With Nautically Inspired Jewelry

What It’s About

A mortgage loan office stays true to course and creates personalized keepsakes.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Charlotte came to an important realization as her company grew, “When you start a company, you’re doing everything. And then you grow and suddenly you have employees doing the ‘making’ part. What you don’t expect is that you are now a manager.”

Fun Fact

In such a competitive market, Charlotte realized going after her initial generic business idea could very well be the end of her career as a jeweler. Going back to square one, and rethinking her entire business plan, she found an extremely unique niche that was her pathway to seven-figure success.

Notes from Chris

Episode 993

For years before the official launch of her side hustle, Charlotte Guptill had enjoyed making and sharing jewelry with family and friends. Typically working with pearls, semi-precious stones and oxidized silver, it was after a friend encouraged her that it was something she was “meant” to do that the wheels started turning.

After taking a course to come up with a business plan to continue to design and sell jewelry with these materials, she was ready to launch! But as many listeners know, it’s not always that easy.

When she presented her idea to a jeweler at a seminar, they said it would be best to go in a different direction. She was told her designs would be too “common.” And in this case, the advice wasn’t wrong.

She locked herself away in her studio to brainstorm a new plan. As a lover of sailing and resident of Maine, Charlotte was a longtime nautical enthusiast. She looked around her studio and found herself surrounded by nautical charts and maps.

How could she combine these two passions? It was here where CHART Metalworks was born, as she found an idea that was far from being “common.”

Charlotte worked on the project for two years before launching. During this time, with a day job as a mortgage loan officer, she learned pricing, marketing, and how to make a website — taking Fridays away from the office to focus on the preparation. Because her job was flexible, she was able to work around the clock, usually putting in 10-12 hour days on Monday through Thursday.

This customized jewelry was highly personal to many buyers, proving to Charlotte again and again that she was doing the right thing. She remembers one piece in particular, ordered by a woman who wanted a necklace featuring the burial location at sea of her son, calling it “the most important piece of jewelry she would ever own.”

By year eight, the business had hit over one million dollars in sales annually. It wasn’t all smooth waters, though, and came with its fair share of challenges. Looking back, Charlotte was able to pinpoint the change in the business that impacted her the most. Charlotte and her husband found themselves selling shares to their business and bringing on partners, in order to take more time for themselves.

Longing to return to the time where they were grossing $600-700,000 per year, but realizing that was not the direction of the company, Charlotte resigned from her leadership position in CHART. In June of 2019, she sold the company, after her company partners presented her with an offer from a buyer.

Charlotte and her husband now live in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico—a place they’d always loved visiting and imagined living “one day.” She now says, “If you wait for the perfect time, it may never come.” It’s here that she’s been staying busy, living in the city she once called a vacation and now gets to call home.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • CHART Metalworks: Though no longer the owner, check out Charlotte’s original side hustle.

 

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 have always had a side hustle and it hasn’t always been for the money. If I find something that makes me passionate, I can’t stop until I see it through."
—Charlotte Guptill #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

Active “Type 1” Lifestyle Inspires Sticky, Successful Side Hustle

What It’s About

A brother latches on to an idea to help with Type 1 Diabetes management.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Find a problem that people want a solution for. Ask your dream customer probing questions and learn what they really want. And then don’t spend too much time thinking about it, take action! When you’re moving forward, you learn and grow and things will fall into place.

Fun Fact

Some 1.25 million Americans are living with T1D, including about 200,000 youth (less than 20 years old) and more than 1 million adults (20 years old and older).

Notes from Chris

Episode 992

Many Type 1 Diabetics need to wear glucose monitors in order to keep track of their blood sugar levels throughout the day. This is critical, because those levels are impacted by everything they eat and every activity they do. While necessary, the monitors can be hard to keep on, especially for people who like to be physically active.

Isaac Parkinson’s brother was one of those people. After being diagnosed with Type 1 in 2013, he struggled with adjusting to his 24-hour a day monitor. It tended to become detached when he did things like swim, work out at the gym, or even just shower. Diabetes is already tough to manage and having to restrict regular activities made life even harder. Furthermore, there is no cure, so dealing with the required equipment is a life-long endeavor.

Wanting to do something to help his brother and other people in the same position, Isaac hit on a sticky idea: adhesive patches that protect the monitors during all kinds of intense activities.

In fact, when he started telling people about his idea, he quickly learned that there were more Type 1 Diabetics among his family and friends than he realized. So in 2017, Isaac started Skin Grip, a brand that makes patches to help keep glucose monitors in place.

The patches are made of waterproof, non-latex, medical-grade adhesive materials that will last more than ten days even when the wearer swims, works out, and showers… just what his brother needed.

Within two years, Isaac’s business had begun offering five different products for insulin pumps and glucose monitors used by diabetics. He had started it for $2,000— and the company is consistently hitting $23,000 in sales every month.

He regularly gets messages from happy customers and dozens of glowing reviews thanking him and Skin Grip for helping them carry on with their everyday lives and activities with one less thing to worry about.

This wasn’t his first side hustle: Isaac had tried flipping liquidated goods on eBay, making wedding videos, and even selling baby toothbrushes. But Skin Grip is the idea that really stuck.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • theskingrip.com: See how Isaac’s product is helping people with T1D live active lifestyles at the Sking Grip website.

 

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

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

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

RELIABLE WEBHOST FOR $2.49/MONTH

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

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

Quote of the Day
"Type One Diabetes can be life-threatening, and it never goes away. T1D is affected by everything you eat and every activity you do. Despite this, people with T1D serve as an inspiration by facing the disease’s challenges with courage and perseverance, and they don’t let it stand in the way of achieving their goals."
—Isaac Parkinson #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

Data Scientist Turns Teaching Frustrations Into Recurring Income

What It’s About

His students spent way too much time on setup, so this analytics manager and college teacher found a better way.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

I had trouble getting the first real sale (i.e., not one of my students) in the beginning. I was seeing visits to my website but not conversion to purchase. Once I offered a “freemium” plan which allowed users to test out the platform for free, I was getting sign-ups.

Fun Fact

Nathan takes real interview questions from real customers, rewrites them, and then publishes them as learning modules so that his users get to improve their skills with real challenges they’ll encounter in the workforce.

Notes from Chris

Episode 991

Twice a week, when Nathan Rosidi wraps up work as a strategy and analytics manager at a biotech company, he heads over the University of San Francisco, where he’s an adjunct teacher. His classes are about technical coding—usually Python and SQL languages—but most of his students are not so technical. And this was a problem.

The first thing a student has to do to learn coding is actually set up the software on the computer—and it’s not always easy. Many intelligent students spend days getting everything in order, which starts them off in a negative headspace and puts the class behind schedule.

Nathan knew there had to be an easier way to teach coding without going through this mess every semester. He wanted to be a teacher, not an IT helpdesk person: less time on setup, more time on teaching. One day, while immersed in technical support for his students, he remembered an idea he’d had years before.

When he was just beginning his career in analytics, he wanted to find ways to improve his coding skills to make him more prepared for job interviews. He looked all over for a web-based platform where he could practice Python on SQL exercises, but there wasn’t anything that was easy to use. There were coding courses, but they all started from square one and required installing complex software—definitely not the fast, easy approach to building skills that Nathan wanted.

In December of 2017, Nathan pieced together the back-end of the platform, which he named “StrataScratch.” He found a developer on Upwork and paid him $1,000 to create the front-end interface. Adding the two parts together, he had a basic, working product.

In January of 2018—just a month after he began working on StrataScratch—he offered the platform to his new students for free. They liked it right away. It was so much easier to get students learning actual coding, rather than wasting time just getting their computers set up.

Nathan had to find a different approach, but first he had to identify the problem. He knew his questions and exercises were well-made. He knew they could help students and young professionals improve their skills and prepare for jobs. He just had to find a way to convince them to pay for it. To do that, he had to overcome the objection of whether it was really going to be helpful or not—and to solve that problem, they needed to be able to try StrataScratch for free.

With this logical process in mind, he set up a “freemium” version—a full-featured version of the platform that contained a few of the first modules. This would give interested students and young professionals a taste of what the full version provided. And it worked.

Nathan is still in build-mode, trying to make StrataScratch as useful as it can possibly be for his current users. He’s investing much of his earnings to pay writers to create new modules, and developers to upgrade the servers and improve the platform.

But with over 500 lessons now in the bank, he’s getting ready to switch to scale-mode. That means making more marketing content, and testing the waters of Google Ads. If all goes well, it won’t be long before StrataScratch is a well-known name in the Python and SQL learning space—and to think, a resource like this didn’t exist until he decided to build it.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • StrataScratch: Check out Nathan’s platform that be built from the ground up at the Strata Scratch website.

 

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

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

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

GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS

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

Quote of the Day
"If I were to start over again, I’d build out the community first!"
—Nathan Rosidi #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

“SwitchPod” Camera Tool Raises $415,748 on Kickstarter

What It’s About

Two friends switch up the vlogging world with their innovated camera tripod.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

If you want to do something similar, braving the waters of manufacturing a product based on an opportunity you identify, Caleb has some advice for you:

“We would advise that you research what you’re getting into HEAVILY. Make sure you’re solving someone’s problem or a group of people’s problem, not just your own.”

Fun Fact

Pat and Caleb’s first, low-cost prototypes were made of cardboard or 3D printed before they had any made out of metal.

Notes from Chris

Episode 989

Pat Flynn runs the blog, podcast, and community known as Smart Passive Income. Caleb Wojcik [voy-chik] owns a video production company. They’ve worked together for years on various projects and have built Pat’s YouTube channel together.

In the summer of 2017, they attended an event called VidSummit. It was, appropriately, for video bloggers, also known as vloggers. They noticed that a lot of people there were using a piece of equipment that wasn’t meant for vlogging. It was called the GorillaPod, a flexible tripod for cameras … but not really for video, and not ideal for handheld mode. Pat and Caleb got to talking about how the repurposed use of the Pod didn’t actually work that well.

Vloggers tend to bend the GorillaPod into a C curve so that they can extend their cameras out and away from them to get the best angle of themselves, while keeping their arm out of the shot. Setting the GorillaPod down is time consuming and unsafe for the expensive gear typically attached.

It was weird, seeing talented people use the wrong gear just because there wasn’t a good alternative. The more they talked, Pat and Caleb began to imagine what that good alternative would be. What would it look like? How would it feel, and how would it function?

This wasn’t just a market they spotted for other people; it was a problem they wanted to solve for themselves. Also, both Pat and Caleb had a great deal of experience with digital products … which in a lot of ways are a lot easier than making a physical product. They saw the departure as a challenge, a learning opportunity, and their next adventure.

Half the fun was learning something new. But there was a whole lot of work to be done! They hired Prouduct.com to help them design, prototype, and connect with potential manufacturers.

So what’s the big deal with the actual product? It’s called SwitchPod … and it works with any camera, from a phone to a DSLR, and simplifies video making. Like the name implies, you can switch between handheld and tripod modes (and back again) in seconds. The device is lightweight, compact, and nearly indestructible. Their promise is that it will save you time between shots so you can focus more on shooting and less on messing with your gear.

Pat and Caleb launched the SwitchPod Kickstarter campaign on January 29th, 2019 … and hit their $100,000 funding goal in less than twelve hours. All-day, they each kept refreshing the page, amazed at the response. They celebrated in frugal style, eating pizza with their families. And by the end of the campaign, they’d raised a total of $415,748.

With such a tremendous response to the campaign, they now have a large number of products to deliver. Their goal now is to finalize and ship more than 5,000 SwitchPods. After that, they’ll be working with retailers and continuing to sell them in their own store.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • SwitchPod.co: Learn more about this essential vlogging tool at the SwitchPod website.
  • SwitchPod Kickstarter Campaign: Check out Pat and Caleb’s campaign that raised over $400,000. You can also pre-order your own SwitchPod.
  • Prouduct.com: Looking to sell your own product but don’t know where to start? Consider working with Prouduct.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
"Keep the project simple and don’t include too many bells and whistles. Anything you add complicates or possibly breaks what you’ve already figured out."
—Caleb Wojcik and Pat Flynn #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

Foreign Correspondent Launches Career App

What It’s About

Journalist creates an app empowering women to combat the gender pay gap.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Meggie has some great encouragement for anyone seeking a side hustle idea, “Think about what can you do that no one else in your family can do. What makes you unusual and awesome? Then lean into that and work out who can pay for it.”

Fun Fact

Meggie’s first client from her first side hustle as a media training consultant is still a client today, with her media training agency.

Notes from Chris

Episode 987

As a foreign correspondent and journalist, Meggie Palmer knew about the hardships people face around the world. Working for outlets like BBC News, the Discovery Channel and more, she could be in Syria one week and in Zimbabwe the next.

While the breakneck speed and globe-trotting adventures were exactly what she wanted for a lifestyle, Meggie soon realized that journalism as a career would not lead to the freedom and financial stability she also craved.

Her first look at something different came when she appeared on a panel for how executives and marketers can work with journalists. A rep from one of the companies attending came up for her after the discussion and asked if she ever offered media training directly.

Though she had never done such a thing, she had put in a fair amount of thinking and research before appearing on the panel. Maybe she could use it to her advantage elsewhere? She decided on the spot to say yes.

Her first private training went so well that word spread, as media training from an award-winning journalist was an experience many companies craved.

So Meggie continued to build up clients and training programs, fitting them in around her travel and research schedule. Since the only real costs were her time and intellectual property, the business had minimal overhead to start. A few hundred dollars into materials and a website, and she was able to start stockpiling the profits.

Meggie realized that her mission to get more women on media programs and into e-suites would never work if she was constantly the one who had to provide the training, support, and encouragement. It just didn’t scale.

One night, while talking with a friend about how people can feel disempowered when they don’t know how to advocate for themselves, she commented on how great it would be if she could offer everyone a “career coach in their pocket.”

Within two months, she had a minimum viable product, an app that would allow users to input their own milestones and successes for reference when negotiating new salaries or promotions — or to add to their resumes and bios when attempting to garner more media and attention for their accomplishments. She called it Pep TalkHer.

Within the first 6 months of the app going live, it had already been downloaded by a few thousand users. A partnership with Vogue Australia allowed her to build a new email list of more than 15,000 interested people.

The side hustle that got her out of her full-time gig is now the full-time gig that led to her new side hustle. This project will not only make money for her, but also fulfill her greater mission to help women stand up for themselves.

 

 

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
"Surround yourself with a support crew, because it can be very lonely. That can be really painful. To me, having a crew of other people that have their own businesses around me that I can message or text has been a godsend."
—Meggie Palmer #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

Graphic Designer Runs Intervals in Wellness Industry

What It’s About

A freelancer hits her target zone designing for health and wellness professionals.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Jess has some great advice for freelancers starting out, “I would say, do all types of projects. Work with lots of different people, on different types of projects. Figure out what you like and don’t like. Then zero in and niche down on what you love.”

Fun Fact

Jess is a self-claimed health and wellness fanatic. She loves learning from her clients. Jess was diagnosed a Type 1 diabetic since she was 3 years old, so her health has always been at the forefront of her mind.

Notes from Chris

Episode 985

During college, Jess Freeman designed a t-shirt for a group on campus. In return, she earned a grand total of $10 and a free t-shirt. This was the humble beginning of her side hustle journey! When she finished her degree in graphic design, she worked as an intern and a communications manager at a few local churches. After a couple years, she moved on to full-time at a creative agency.

Throughout her time working a day job, Jess often had a steady stream of freelance work. One time, a friend-of-a-friend recommended her to some local moms who wanted to start a science subscription box for kids. Jess designed the instruction cards and booklet that came with the box. Getting this job was especially helpful because she had just moved to a new city and didn’t know many people.

She began working with other freelancers to create their online presence and branding. Soon, this graphic design and website building side hustle was bringing in more than DOUBLE her salary. So one Friday night when she came home from work she told her husband she was not happy at her job. They talked it over and decided it was time to jump wholeheartedly into Jess Creatives. She gave notice to her job on Monday. After only three weeks, Jess had a waitlist of interested clients.

One thing that helped was to try as many types of projects as she could. This way she could build her business and start zeroing in on what she was particularly good at. Jess says that finding her niche was a long process—and at first, it wasn’t an intentional one. Jess would make small tweaks to her website, gently signaling to others (and perhaps herself) who her ideal clients were.

In the process, she learned she loved working with female business owners in the health and wellness industry. Jess naturally gravitated to this niche in part because she was diagnosed as a Type 1 diabetic at the age of three.

She narrowed her focus by sending out an email to her health and wellness clients telling them about her shift. She also asked them to spread the word to their colleagues.

Next, she decided to focus her social media platform toward health and wellness businesses. This includes a YouTube channel, a podcast, Instagram, a blog, and of course, her website.

During this time, she also engaged with as many health and wellness professionals as she could find. Her goal was to get in front of as many people in her field as possible.

With a startup cost of $20 per month for her website and a projected income of $80,000 this year, Jess’s side hustle is in good shape. Additionally, 90% of her clients now come from her desired field of health and wellness.

Jess plans to continue working with clients advancing their side hustles in the health and wellness field. She’ll also continue producing her podcast and YouTube channel. In the future, she may expand into speaking and holding live workshops … this time first making sure she knows what her customers want.

 

 

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
"I would say, do all types of projects. Work with lots of different people, on different types of projects. Figure out what you like and don’t like. Then zero in and niche down on what you love."
—Jess Freeman #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