Tag: Niche Ideas

Wisconsin Natives Hustle Coasters for Love of Good Beer

What It’s About

A circular side hustle that combines a love of Milwaukee and good beer.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

So far, Amanda and Zach have only one real regret: taking a whole two years to get started. Therefore, if they have any advice for potential side hustlers it’s that you should never feel pressured to get everything perfect before you get started.

Sometimes it’s better to just launch and get a better feel for your market instead of waiting until all of your pints are in a row.

Fun Fact

Milwaukee’s long love affair with beer dates back to the German immigrants who settled there in the 1800s. Bringing with them a love of lagers, beer gardens, and a meat-and-carb-heavy diet, the area’s new inhabitants quickly began brewing beverages that would provide a taste of home. For more than a century, little changed. But over the last few years, Milwaukee has been experiencing a craft-beer boom that’s dramatic even in comparison to cities like New York and Seattle.

Notes from Chris

Episode 774
The first thing to know about Amanda and Zach Wambold is that they are dyed in the wool Wisconsinites. Having both grown up in Wisconsin, they loved everything about their home state. And they loved living in Milwaukee. They appreciate the culture and the cheese. But what really held a place in their heart was the Milwaukee brewery scene.

If you’re not familiar with the area, appropriately dubbed “Brew City,” Milwaukee is one of America’s greatest (and oldest) beer destinations. It has more than its fair share of craft brewing companies, but if you’ve ever found yourself sipping a PBR, Miller High Life, or any number of other popular, domestic beers found at college parties, you’ve had a taste of the city’s brewing history too.

And it was that love of a good brew that inspired them to start a side hustle when, a year into their relationship, they relocated to Tampa, Florida for Zach’s job as a Data Analyst.

While it was exciting to explore a new city, they found themselves missing the people and culture of their beloved Milwaukee. As Amanda and Zach put it, “there’s just something about the Midwest camaraderie, Wisconsin sports fandom, and beer-loving people that is like nowhere else.” They knew that they wanted to move back someday and thought it might be fun in the meantime to start a business with a Milwaukee/Wisconsin theme.

Tapping into their love of the city and its brew-rich history, a side hustle came to a frothy head. They decided to create laser-imprinted beer coasters featuring maps pulled from their favorite city. And they called it Milwaukee Beer Gear.

Less than a year and a half from launching, Amanda and Zach have sold around 5,500 of their coasters and have expanded their designs to include the Milwaukee People’s Flag, the logo from a local T-shirt company called MilwaukeeHome, and even the state map. And since no coaster is complete without a nice pint glass, they started selling those map designs on some glassware too—and those are made locally.

So far, they have only one real regret: taking a whole two years to get started. Therefore, if they have any advice for potential side hustlers it’s that you should never feel pressured to get everything perfect before you get started. Sometimes it’s better to just launch and get a better feel for your market instead of waiting until all of your pints are in a row.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Milwaukee Beer Gear: Rings don’t belong on your tables—guard yourself with some coasters! Head on over to Amanda and Zach’s website to get some
  • Philadelphia Lover Maps Out $35,000/Year Side Hustle: A neuroscientist turned marketing manager moonlights as an artist, selling original papercut designs on Etsy with very little marketing
  • WordPress: Amanda and Zach used WordPress to setup Milwaukee Beer Gear, and here you can learn how to install your own WordPress site in 5 minutes

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

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

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

GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS

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

Quote of the Day
"Make sure you have an idea that you are passionate about and can’t stop thinking about. Ask for honest feedback from those you trust and put yourself out there as much as you can. Don’t wait for it to be perfect because it never will be. Just start and work out the details along the way."
—Zach & Amanda Wambold #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

The Paleo Bagel: No Wheat, No Worries

What It’s About

You know what they say, “once you go Pagel, you never go bagel.”

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

You never know how close you are to being successful. Proof of concept and having repeat customers is really good but you don’t know when that next break will be. Keep moving forward, keep all your senses open all the time. You never know where that next opportunity is going to come from.

Fun Fact

The Paleo Diet really came into its own in 2013. That year it became the most searched for diet on Google. Far from just another passing fad, Paleo is proving to have some longevity. Approximately 3 million Americans adhere to Paleo or roughly 1% of the entire population.

Notes from Chris

Episode 767
Steve Friedman played lacrosse through college and transitioned into triathlons as he got older. Good health was a lifestyle habit he maintained into middle age. While he was always in great shape, Steve says he always carried a bit of excess weight here and there. Also, by the time he turned fifty, he was experiencing a few aches and pains.

He put this down to getting old and a lifetime of hard work, and who could blame him? He was raising a family as well as working a full-time job in sales for a steel company.

The company was owned by his wife’s family, but, even though he was friendly with the bosses, it left him with little time and energy.

Then, one day in 2012 he had a realization that totally blew him away. Which was a funny coincidence, considering it happened during a hurricane! A hurricane that left him without power for days. Luckily, he still had his iPad and was able to access the internet. While doing some research on nutrition he came across the Paleo diet, which was a hot new topic at the time.

Paleo is often referred to as the primal or caveman diet. Simply put, you can only eat food that cavemen had access to. That means meat, fish, vegetables are fair game; but grains, cereals, dairy, and processed foods are not.

There were hundreds of stories online of people who had taken up Paleo and were doing very well because of it. They had slimmed down, gained muscle mass as well as reduced inflammation and injury. Steve saw similarities to his own life in the stories. So, when the hurricane died down he committed to giving Paleo a try.

Within five weeks, he saw a noticeable change. He had trimmed down and developed washboard abs that would make any hunter-gatherer jealous. Best of all, he was feeling more energetic, and this enabled him to work out harder. Upstaging those a decade or more younger than him at the gym.

Within a few weeks, Steve’s wife and kids were also eating Paleo, becoming a 100% Paleo family. However, there were a few downsides to this awesome new diet. Namely, missing out on a lot of the snack foods they loved that weren’t Paleo friendly.

To rectify this, Steve became an amateur baker.

Through trial and error, Steve managed to recreate most of his favorite snacks in Paleo form. However, like hunting game on the African plains, one great catch eluded him. He missed eating a good old fashioned Bagel.

He began looking for a good Paleo-friendly bagel, but the available options weren’t very good. Soon, he decided he was done with foraging and decided to start experimenting.

So he began baking… and baking… and baking. He spent 18 months perfecting his bagel recipe. It was a totally Paleo Bagel, boiled and baked in the traditional way, that used only 5 ingredients.

Named The Pagel. It emerged from the cave, and saw light for the first time!

Since launch, around 70% of orders are made via his website. 37% of his customers keep coming back with repeat orders. So many of them have done so, that in April of 2018 Steve left his full-time job and went full time with The Pagel. Since then he’s added wholesale customers to become a low six-figure revenue company.

Like the hunter-gatherers of the Paleolithic era, Steve saw a great side hustle opportunity and went on the hunt to make it a reality… and successfully captured his prey—right before boiling and baking it in the factory, just like the cavemen did.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • The Pagel: Learn more about Pagels and all things Paleo over on Steve’s website!

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

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

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

GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS

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

Quote of the Day
"You never know how close you are to being successful. Proof of concept and having repeat customers is really good, but you don’t know when that next break will be. Keep moving forward, and keep all your senses open all the time. You never know where that next opportunity is going to come from."
—Steve Friedman #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Try ShipStation for 60 Days FREE!

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

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

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

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

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

Keep in Touch

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


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Friends Team Up to Deliver Compassionate Tech Support

What It’s About

Two friends discover the profit in nonprofits.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

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

Fun Fact

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

Notes from Chris

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

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

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

GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS

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

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

Sponsors & Gratitude

Try ShipStation for 60 Days FREE!

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

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

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

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

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

Keep in Touch

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


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Marimba Rental Business Hits All The Right Notes

What It’s About

A father of four bangs out a melodic side hustle to pay for college tuition.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Notice his process in how this comes to be:

It’s annoying and uncommon (not a lot of competition), yet common enough that there are enough potential customers to make it worthwhile. And there’s a proven pathway to reach those customers. If you needed to rent such an instrument, what would you do? I’m betting that you would either Google “marimba rental {city name}” or you would ask the band teacher what to do. Cassidy has covered both intake points.

Fun Fact

Setting up his site, Cassidy forgot to add any notifications for new signups. So, about a week later he received an email from a guy who had signed up but never had anyone contact him regarding delivery. Cassidy was excited to see some traction, but felt terrible that he’d failed to deliver on his first customer!

Notes from Chris

Episode 752
Cassidy Lackey is no stranger to the world of side hustles. He’s had many while working his day job as a programmer and IT manager, and he’s launched a number of visitor bureau sites in his surrounding area of Texas and Oklahoma. These include things like real estate, vacation rentals, and fishing guide listings. He acquired an online drone forum and grew it into a thriving business and one of the top drone communities in the world.

His side hustles were proving lucrative and required more of his time. So, Cassidy decided to take the leap several years ago and walk away from the 9 – 5 life. He’s now a full-time hustler!

Cassidy is also a father of four kids. His oldest is starting college soon. He didn’t have enough money saved. However, he wasn’t about to go into debt. What to do? He employed the use of his savvy side hustling skills and looked for ways he could start another cash flow business. Something that could help him pay for tuition.

Right around the same time, his younger son caught the “percussion bug” as a middle school student. Cassidy received an email from the instructor that he’d either have to buy or rent a marimba for his son to practice. Always the supportive parent, Cassidy sized up his options.

The recommended rental facility was an hour-long drive away and the magic marimba cost $60 a month. Plus, there was a terribly long contract to fill out and you had to lug the four and a half foot, 35lb marimba home!

There had to be a better option. He could get cookies delivered to his door in 15 minutes. Why not marimbas? Surely he wasn’t the only one who felt this way.

Cassidy decided to test his hypothesis. He was going to offer a better alternative to parents than the one that was presented to him. This was a niche that was in need of disruption. He focused on where he could over-deliver. e.g. free delivery in his area, better customer service, and an online, recurring payment plan.

Cassidy jumped on Craigslist and bought five used marimbas at $500 each. He was going to clean them, fix them up and rent them out. If the business failed, he would just turn around and sell them.

He spent $8 for a domain name. Zero dollars on hosting since he already had a WordPress server he managed. He built the site himself and used the service Chargebee to capture sales which were free for the first $50,000 in revenue. Cassidy then threw in some Google AdWords for people looking for marimbas in his area and launched … DFW Marimba Rentals was born.

He’s now been in business for over a year and is scheduled to hit $3,000 in monthly revenue this month.

What’s next for Cassidy Lackey? He’s determined to find the answer to the question that haunts many side hustlers who become full-time business owners. You might call it an existential dilemma: to scale or not to scale?

Should he buy delivery vans and hire drivers? Contract out to an existing delivery service with drivers who can’t answer customer service questions about marimbas? Or just continue to grow slowly while handling his own deliveries?

I have a feeling he’ll come out okay, at least as long as he stays in tune with what people need.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • DFW Marimba Rentals: If today’s episode struck a chord, head on over to Cassidy’s website to learn more!
  • Chargebee: Software that lets you automate your recurring billing, manage subscriptions at scale and access metrics that matter
  • WordPress: Cassidy used WordPress to setup DFW Marimba Rentals, and here you can learn how to install your own WordPress site in 5 minutes
  • Google AdWords: Google’s online advertising platform that places your ad in the ‘Sponsored Links’ section next to search results to boost website traffic and sales

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
"I think the music instrument rental business is ripe for change. Pick a niche that is underserved or can be improved and become an expert. Focus on delivery so you don’t need to set up a shop and hire employees."
—Cassidy Lackey #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

Un-Tours Of Myanmar Offer Adventure and Unpredictability

What It’s About

A remote worker discovers a lucrative side hustle at the intersection of passion and knowledge.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Dustin started giving the group two “free days” throughout the tour that they could go out and do something on their own with. Dustin is an introvert, and those two days to recharge by himself has helped him enjoy the un-tours much more. It’s important to take care of yourself too!

Fun Fact

Until 2011, Myanmar was under a military dictatorship and closed off from most of the world. Tourists have been able to visit for only a few years, causing the country to have an “off-the-beaten-path” vibe.

Notes from Chris

Episode 747

Dustin Main was, in many ways, living the dream. He had a successful travel gear blog called Too Many Adapters and was working remotely out of Thailand. As his visa time ran out, he took the usual trip to the border to get his passport re-stamped. Except, he did something unusual this time—he decided to stay a few days in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) instead of going straight back to Chiang Mai.

It was a very different country, exotic in a new way. In just a couple of days of hanging out across the border, Dustin fell in love. He had to get back to work in Thailand, but he knew where he was going to move next.

Over the next few years, Dustin visited Myanmar over a dozen times, getting to know it well. He even produced a photo exhibition for a gallery in the US titled “This Myanmar Life” that told the story of the country’s shift from oppressive military rule to blossoming open nation.

And before long, people started asking Dustin to take them with him. By this point, he knew a much deeper side of Myanmar than most tourists, had many local friends, knew quite a bit of the language, and understood how to navigate the often unpredictable country.

But he wanted to try an exotic, unusual tour for himself before he made his own, so went to a country that most Americans or Canadians can only visit with a guide: Iran. A friend of his was Iranian, and he was able to take the tour of a lifetime—but it was so different than the big tour bus groups. They ate at local restaurants, went to food festivals, and walked around abandoned mud villages.

It was a beautiful, humbling experience. And Dustin knew he could do it for people in Myanmar. It was time to start planning.

Dustin wanted to keep the tours small—eight people max. This meant his earning potential was limited, but it also meant he could make the intimate in a way that’s usually impossible. In fact, he didn’t call it a tour… he called it an “un-tour”.

Dustin’s taken six tours since 2016, each a little different than the next—all of them pretty stressful. But he’s found some ways to reduce the burden over the years. First, he hired one of his guides in Myanmar as an assistant. She could help plan travel, pre-order food for the group to save lots of time and have alternative plans thought up so that the group could pivot for when Myanmar threw them curveballs.

Dustin still runs two un-tours to Myanmar each year. All of his previous guests have turned into word-of-mouth evangelists, so he’s not really having too tough of a time selling out anymore. After expenses, these tours generate roughly $14,000 per year in profit for Dustin—but he’s still looking to grow. Later this year he’ll release a book about Myanmar. He’s also planning to introduce the country of Jordan as his next un-tour destination. Interested in going along? Maybe you should check out his site and book an unpredictable adventure.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Dustin Main | Tour to Myanmar: Interested in seeing Myanmar? Head on over to Dustin’s website and get a unique experience from an expert!
  • Too Many Adapters: If you’re frequently on the road yourself, check out Dustin’s “tech for travelers” blog

 

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
"If travel and tours are your thing, find a place that you’re passionate about, and where you know so much more than almost anyone else. In order to give the most value, you need to be going far deeper than just showing the top 10 on TripAdvisor’s list."
—Dustin Main #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

Louisiana Vegan Community Becomes a Big Dill

What It’s About

Two friends bring vegan food to the Southern masses!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Important principle: there’s often more than one way to accomplish something (my life motto). When you encounter a problem, look for an alternative solution.

Example? Getting licensed to serve alcohol was difficult in their local area. Lindsey and Sarah wanted to have wine at their dinners—so what did they do? Instead of trying to wade through the process, presumably paying more money and dealing with more bureaucracy, they found a creative solution. They ask a friend to provide bottles and guests pay that friend a suggested donation of $5 a glass. Problem solved!

Fun Fact

Since they cannot officially serve alcohol themselves, Lindsey asks a friend to donate bottles and recommends that guests donate $5 per glass. This allows them to have wine at the dinners and helps that donator of the wine make a few extra bucks.

Notes from Chris

Episode 742

Many Americans don’t understand vegans. They think ditching meat for more veggies is a big mis-steak. But Lindsey Foreman didn’t see it that way. For her, going vegan was a way to be a good steward of the environment and eat healthier—but it wasn’t easy.

The South isn’t known for being very Vegan-friendly, and in her hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana, that was especially true. There was no vegan restaurant in town, so Lindsey and her vegan friend, Sarah, were accustomed to eating off the sides menu at local restaurants. They dreamed of a local vegan restaurant.

So they made their own. Well, not exactly. But sort of.

Opening a restaurant is not something we talk about very often on Side Hustle School … because it’s expensive and risky.

Instead of opening an actual, brick-and-mortar restaurant, Lindsey and Sarah opened a pop-up, multi-course dinner that would be held in peoples’ backyards.

They called their idea Vegetopia.

They knew how to cook vegan dishes, they knew they could get the right permits, and they knew there had to be other people looking for vegan dishes around town and coming up disappointed. Or if nothing else, even if there weren’t a lot of vegans, for an evening, maybe they could convince meat-eaters to be open-minded.

Lindsey and Sarah reached out to one of their friends and asked if they could host their first dinner at their home, and the friend agreed. It was time to start prepping.

They made a Facebook page, set up a reservation page on Eventbrite, and started telling everyone they knew. But this was the moment of truth: would local adventurous eaters really pay $35 for a backyard dinner with live music?

It turns out, they would. Within a couple weeks, they had sold out the dinner with 40 guests!

Overall, Vegetopia has become a big dill. They tend to profit around $500-700 per dinner, depending on the cost of the ingredients and are constantly being requested to serve at more local events. Musicians line up to participate, and short film screenings from friends traveling abroad have become a regular part of the experience as well. Lindsey and Sarah have turned out to be an excellent pear.

But they’re not getting comfortable yet.

As part of World Domination 2019, they’re looking to expand into restaurants and bars on Mondays. They’ve loved the backyard service, but they know they’ll be able to attract more guests at brick and mortar locations (plus, they’ll be able to cook in nicer kitchens). The restaurants can get money from the open bar and Vegetopian Dinners can have a covered, air-conditioned location to meet. And since a lot of restaurants are closed on Mondays anyway, the event won’t interfere with normal service hours.

Vegan eaters in Lafayette don’t have to eat lentils and cashew cheese enchiladas at home anymore. At least, for one night a month, they get to eat stellar vegan food surrounded by people who understand them—and for Lindsey and Sarah, that’s been the greatest reward.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Vegetopia: Learn more about what Lindsey and Sarah are doing over on their Facebook page!
  • Eventbrite: The event platform that Lindsey and Sarah used to sell tickets for their dinners

 

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
"Aside from start-up costs, ingredients and musicians will be your top two expenses. After that, it’s a matter of impressing your guests enough for them to talk to their friends about how amazing their night was at your dinner."
—Lindsey Foreman #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

Car Enthusiast Sells DIY Tune-Up Kits

What It’s About

A car enthusiast finds a way to shift into drive.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

The automotive aftermarket is beyond saturated, so it can be hard to get a foot in the door, but if you know your customers well enough and actually care about them, it’s not hard to get traction. Dustin says you should start out by solving your own problems because if you don’t believe in your own product, no one else will. Treat customers with respect, don’t lie to them and always offer tangible proof of any claims you make.

Fun Fact

We have a lot of car enthusiasts who listen to the show, but here is something you may not know—the Ford GT is so strong that during the “Roof Crush” test, it actually broke the crushing machine! Try though they might, Ford didn’t have a roof-crushing machine strong enough to crumple even one measly little supercar.

Notes from Chris

Episode 739
Software engineer Dustin Davis has had a lot of side projects. He started at age 13 by selling bootleg software on CD-Roms before broadband internet was common. Then, he had a 10-year hustle doing printer maintenance and repair. For the last 5 years, he hired a guy to do the work. Dustin just created invoices and took a cut.

For his next project, the one we’re featuring here, he looked in a different direction. Specifically, he looked to the race track. As a lifelong car enthusiast, he had recently purchased a brand-new sports car and was out doing laps on the track. He had some trouble shifting gears at high speeds due to drive-train movement caused by weak components used by the manufacturer.

After parking the car in the garage, he spent the next week thinking about how to solve that problem cheaply and easily. There were some existing solutions, but they all came at great expense, difficulty, or resulted in a car that was unpleasant to drive.

Using materials he got from Home Depot, Dustin was able to build a prototype that would fix the problem. He called it an “Engine Leash” since that’s what it looks like, two brackets and a steel cable. One side attaches to the frame and the other to the engine. The Engine Leash solved the original problem with none of the drawbacks of the existing solutions. Best of all, he spent less than $100 on this endeavor and had materials left over to make more.

After testing it out, he posted about it in a car enthusiast forum—and to his surprise, he got a lot of positive feedback. He offered the tool for sale and had a few takers right away. It helped that it was a fraction of the price of any other solution and only took 10 minutes to install.

Once he had sold enough, he was able to get the brackets laser cut instead of doing it manually himself. This saved a lot of time, increased the quality, and allowed him to produce more units to keep up with demand. Eventually, he didn’t need to actively market them, they sold themselves by word of mouth from satisfied customers.

He’s now averaging $4,000-$6,000/month through 3point8 Performance. Before that, he was using Excel to manage everything and it got sloppy, so that figure doesn’t include Feb or Mar which were huge months. They also had an $11,000 month in September and a $13,000 month in October.

Dustin’s goal is to end his 20+ year career in technology and move full-time into the automotive industry. He has several new product ideas ready to launch. Right now he’s just trying to find time to work on them.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

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

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

GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS

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

Quote of the Day
"I make a lot more money in my day job, but it’s a thankless job. I don’t get to use the stuff I create, and I don’t care about it. With the side hustle, I get to enjoy what I do because not only do I do it for myself, I make other people happy, and they want to spend their money with me."
—Dustin Davis #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

Extreme Makeover: Tinder Photo Edition

What It’s About

A photography side hustle worth swiping right on!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Here are a couple of Side Hustle School tips for sprucing up your dating profile (listen to today’s episode to hear the rest)!

Use good photos even if you don’t hire Charlie. No one else in the photo, don’t hide your face, don’t look overly posed. And say what you’re not into—disqualify potential suitors (this will also help you attract the right ones).

Fun Fact

Charlie’s approach was finally confirmed scientifically earlier this year when she had a client that was a huge data geek. He had pictures taken by four different photographers and ran the photos through an algorithm that told him which of the photographers got the best ratings. Charlie’s did—by a significant margin!

Notes from Chris

Episode 728

Photography was Charlie Grosso’s passion and career in her early twenties. A Chinese American woman with an Italian male name, she worked with high-end fashion and luxury brands for years, photographing models and products. She became a master of how photos communicate messages, but the magic of her work started to wear off.

At 30, Charlie went through a divorce and fell upon even more difficult times when work slowed down. But it also didn’t actually seem like the worst thing in the world. Charlie was ready for something new, a challenge, an adventure. She began traveling more, and she started online dating.

She met lots of interesting people and made a few great friends. But something bugged her every single time she logged onto Tinder: most profile pictures were really bad.

The “mirror selfie” was the worst offender. Another common horror was the photo taken by the guy sitting in the passenger’s seat.

“What do you want me to know from this picture?” Charlie likes to say. “That you have a driver’s license? That you own a car? That you work for Uber?”

With a background in fashion photography, Charlie could immediately tell when people were communicating something in their pictures that they didn’t intend—and when the more important messages were being left out.

A friend suggested she help the photographically-challenged take better pictures for Tinder. At first she wasn’t sure—she had never loved doing headshots—but the friend persisted for months, and finally, Charlie gave in.

She bought Tinder Photography, put up a very basic WordPress site that advertised her services in New York City, and just let the page sit while she continued to work on her other writing and consulting projects.

And then, out of the blue in February of 2015, she got an email.

Someone had found her website and wanted to hire her. Charlie doesn’t know exactly how they found her site, but from the modest traffic she was getting, it seemed people were just finding it on Google when they were searching for “tinder photography.” It was weird, happening so randomly, but she took the gig. Her humble domain startup cost was made back with that one client.

Charlie soon found herself with more clients. She was more open about telling her friends and network about the side gig, and the more she talked, the more clients came, each paying as much as $650 per session.

In May of 2015, Charlie got featured in a TIME article about photographers for Tinder. She was featured in a few other articles for other websites as a result, and things started to really take off. She was starting to have several clients each month—and the random hustle idea was starting to seem like something she was going to stick with. By the end of 2015, Charlie had made over $10,000.

Hopefully, her next steps will enable her to focus more on Hello Future. Whatever happens, Charlie’s still living the dream of infusing her skills with a passion for helping people live better lives.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Tinder Photography: Interested in taking your Tinder profile to the next level? Head on over to Charlie’s website!
  • Hello Future: Learn more about Charlie’s new project over on her website
  • WordPress: Charlie used WordPress to setup Tinder Photography, and here you can learn how to install your own WordPress site in 5 minutes

 

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

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

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

GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS

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

Quote of the Day
"The time I spend walking and talking with clients is just as important as those when I point my camera at them. The goal is to make images look less staged and more like snapshots, and getting a feel for their personality is important to achieving that."
—Charlie Grosso #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

Car Enthusiast Races Towards Reselling Success

What It’s About

A reselling side hustle that’s really racing to the finish line!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

From time to time, we look at a reselling side hustle that uses drop shipping where the seller never holds any inventory.

Tim’s model is different because he’s actually the importer himself. This requires a lot more work, but it also has the potential to be more sustainable since he controls so many more of the variables.

Fun Fact

In 1896, in England, a design for a car that could be assembled at home was developed. In the USA, in 1912, one particular kit car could be bought for $140.

Notes from Chris

Episode 717

Tim Trampedach is a self-proclaimed car and motorsports nut. So much so that 5 years ago, he decided to build his own kit car called a SuperLite Coupe. A kit car is an automobile sold as a set of parts that the buyer assembles into a functioning vehicle. Kits can vary widely in the amount of assembly required.

Currently, most kit cars are replicas of well-known and expensive classic cars, such as the Porsche 550 Spyder or Lotus 7. You can definitely say for this type of vehicle, some assembly is required!

When Tim was building his own kit car in San Francisco, he decided to import the seats from a company in the UK called Tillett Racing Seats. Tim’s Coupe was limited on what model seats would fit in the car—but Tillett fit the bill. He also chose Tillett because he knew someone else who had successfully installed the seats in their car.

But importing such an item overseas can be difficult. The seats are bulky and there can be a long factory lead time—up to 14 weeks. Why not just buy from somewhere in the USA? At the time, there was no one in the country who stocked the seats. Tim knew if he could bring inventory stateside and have them ready to ship, there was a demand for such a product. He recognized this as a potential business opportunity.

Tim reached out to Tillett about importing and selling the seats here in the US. He started slowly—these are a big ticket item, and not simple to store—for most it’s not feasible to keep a large number of bulky race car seats stashed around their home! The seats start at around $900, and most customers buy a pair.

At the start, Tim would sell 3-4 seats per month on average. He met lots of cool people, got to hear about their cars, and would help them troubleshoot when they had problems. As a part-time business, Tim estimates he generated $40,000 in annual sales with an approximate 35% gross margin. It was the perfect side hustle for a car enthusiast to earn some extra cash to fuel his own car hobby pursuits.

Earlier this year, Tim decided to turn his side hustle into a full-time online auto racing parts and gear business—on his website, Torqued. His rationale for doing so involved several key points. The opportunity with Tillett was getting bigger and required more of Tim’s time. Timing was also right for his family since his wife recently gave birth to their son. She is returning to work and this will provide them with a steady income.

Tim feels that Torqued is the perfect fit for his varied skills. He has enough technical knowledge to mostly build the website himself. He knows how to build a great user experience through his work in product management. He’s naturally very organized, which lends to running an efficient warehouse. And his knowledge in motorsports allows him to provide excellent customer service in such a niche market.

You could say that he’s is racing towards his own finish line!

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SEE ALSO:

 

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

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

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

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

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

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

Quote of the Day
"I provide all the help I possibly can, both pre-sale and after-sales support. You live and die by your reputation in such a niche business."
—Tim Trampedach #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Get Your Logo Today With Logojoy!

Side Hustle School is brought to you by Logojoy, an online tool that uses artificial intelligence to help you design a beautiful, custom logo.

Try Logojoy today and get 20% off any logo package when you visit logojoy.com/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

Snack-Sized Business News for Millennials

What It’s About

Bite-sized business news for those always on the go!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

What is the key to making something like this work? In Nick and Jack’s case, a distinctive voice, a clear target market, and of course, consistency. It’s a winning combination!

Fun Fact

While pumping out content on a daily basis is not especially common, Nick and Jack haven’t missed a day of news for MarketSnacks since they first launched in 2012.

Notes from Chris

Episode 716

A lot of business news just isn’t appealing to younger readers. Bloomberg has been having a hard time getting millennials to read its website. Fidelity Investments couldn’t get them to understand all the financial lingo. The Wall Street Journal can seem like an old-fashioned club that only the elite belong to.

Even as professionals in the world of finance, Nicolas Martell and his roommate, Jack Kramer, didn’t enjoy reading up on the latest news—but they didn’t have a choice. Keeping up with developments was important in their banking jobs.

One day the two met up at Old Town Bar in New York before walking back to the apartment. They talked stocks, economics, spreadsheets—the usual—but they also dreamed of a project. What if they created a business news media company that could be understood by millennials?

Nobody had easily-digestible market news. They knew they could make such a thing, and they called it MarketSnacks.

Their plan was to publish a blog with daily news stories that were relevant and understandable. All they needed was a simple website and an email provider, so the monetary startup costs were almost non-existent. And in just a couple weeks, MarketSnacks came to life.

But the hustle did cost a lot to start … in time. Nick and Jack blocked off multiple hours before and after their day jobs to plan, write, edit, and publish content. It was an intensive project—and it required their focus every day.

The work paid off. In just a few weeks, MarketSnacks had a couple hundred daily readers. The idea was being validated with each new visitor to the site who turned into a regular reader.

MarketSnacks has evolved a lot over the years. In 2017 the duo launched a podcast, in early 2018 they raised outside funding, and later in the year they became full-time content creators.

With the sponsors they have, they’re making a lot of money. But according to Nick, the money’s not the best part—otherwise he wouldn’t have done it for nearly three years without pay.

The greatest rewards are the 5-star podcast reviews and email testimonials that indicate MarketSnacks is successful helping a generation understand business and finance news in a way that’s never been done before. Hustling in the dream job full-time—well, that’s a nice perk, too.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • MarketSnacks: Interested in the business world but finding that you don’t have the time to stay up to date? Get your daily business news over on Nick and Jack’s website!
  • Fidelity Investments, Betterment, Robinhood, & LinkedIn: Some of the partners that Nick and Jack secured for MarketSnacks

 

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

WEB HOSTING @ $2.49/MONTH

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

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

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

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

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

Quote of the Day
"Having a co-founder with a skill-set that balances yours will minimize friction, allow you to strategically balance the workload, and optimize the value of your product."
—Nick Martell & Jack Kramer #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