Tag: Reselling

Interior Designer Starts Boutique Airbnb Alternative

What It’s About

An interior designer creates an upgraded, Airbnb experience for the trendy and fabulous.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Whenever something like this takes off, it often creates additional opportunities in the margins for people like Allison to flourish. Even though she’s trying to do her own thing, she’s using the platforms of Airbnb and others. Arguably, they have enabled her to pursue this alternative vision. Pay attention!

Fun Fact

Allison learned a lot about entrepreneurial grit and salesmanship when she lived in New York. Not only did she sell copiers on Wall Street, but she was taking classes towards a degree in interior design at NYU in the evenings.

Notes from Chris

Episode 833

Though formally trained in advertising and marketing at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Allison Crawford’s real passion was somewhere else: interior design. Even as she sold radio advertising in Austin, moved to sell copiers on Wall Street for a while, and then moved back to Texas to direct the marketing efforts of a car company, she was always learning about interior design. While in New York, she took night classes at NYU.

But rather than working for an interior design company, Allison created her own gigs on the side by flipping houses once she moved back to Dallas. It was grueling work: finding a house, bidding for it, renovating the property, designing the interior, and then—finally—selling it, hoping to profit.

It was a bit less thrilling than she’d hoped, and when one deal went sour and Allison ended up losing a lot of money, she decided the house flipping game wasn’t where she belonged.

She did, however, really like the part where she handled the interior design of the properties.

When a handful of friends offered to pay Allison for her skill, a lightbulb went off: she should try starting her own home design service.

Just a few months later, in 2015, Allison Crawford Design debuted. She built a portfolio of happy clients in a matter of months, and took her hard-earned cash to Los Angeles for the annual “Design Week” festival.

Still, this wasn’t the final answer either…

In Los Angeles, she learned a lot and made valuable connections, but the festival itself wasn’t where the most dramatic change happened. That happened in her Airbnb.

Let’s just say Allison’s first short-term rental experience on the platform was less than ideal. And it made her wonder: “Why isn’t there a chain of properties that fill the void between common home rentals and boutique hotels?”

She went home at the end of the week curious and eager. And what she found was intriguing: no other company owned, designed, and marketed boutique short-term rentals all under one umbrella. Lots of companies do one, or maybe two of those things—but never all three.

Allison knew she could do it. She’d bought and sold homes, she was an interior designer, and she was an experienced marketer. Allison had a trio of skills that nobody else seemed to be using all together—so she jumped in.

By Summer of 2017, HOTELette had its first property in Nashville. Not long after, she added two more properties in Austin and Dallas. She’s now looking at a fourth location in 2020, a furniture line, and maybe even a reality TV show.

Allison’s not one to take all the credit. She says she has an incredible team behind her that she’s put together over the last three years: three city property managers, a digital shop manager, an assistant, a bookkeeper, and marketing manager. Drawing others into the dream of Hotelette—from customers to contractors—has been a lot more rewarding than selling copiers or flipping houses.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • HOTELette: If you’d like to learn more about the boutique experiences Allison is creating, head on over to her website!
  • Airbnb, HomeAway, & VRBO: Three of the property rental platforms that Allison used to get HOTELette out to the masses

 

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 think that it’s important to celebrate the small victories with your team. Getting a business up and running isn’t always glamorous, and consistent reminders of our progress and growth keeps driving us forward."
—Allison Crawford #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

Digging For Profits: One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Hustle

What It’s About

A side hustle that goes from the dumpster to the bank!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Don and Cathe learned a really important lesson. In the beginning, they were processing lights on a first come basis, but these days, Don and Cathe keep an eye out for more profitable headlights like those from BMWs and Lexuses (that they can flip for up to almost $800!).

When new inventory comes in, they now process headlights on a value basis, starting with those that will yield greater profits down to those that will not. They can make more money off of one those headlights than five of the cheaper ones.

Fun Fact

Back in the 1970s and 80s, most (if not all) cars sported the same kind of halogen bulbs housed in either round or square-shaped headlight housing units. But by the 1990s and 2000s, each manufacturer started making their own headlights in-house. They started introducing Xenon HID and LED bulbs, and as the headlight and taillight options increased, the prices did as well. Now that they’re all exclusive per the manufacturer, they can control the prices, and as a result, the market itself.

Notes from Chris

Episode 825

Don Schaffer of Tigard, Oregon is not new to the reselling world. Growing up, he was the go-to “parts guy” on the playground, where he specialized in skateboards and bicycles. In his teenage and young adult years, he frequented thrift stores, where he’d purchase armfuls of albums and cassettes that he would play until he got tired of them—and then turn around and resell or trade them.

In simple terms, Don belonged to a generation that still saw the value of something after the “newness” had worn off.

This point of view served him well over the years, but as the world evolved, he noticed that people were putting less value on things with minor flaws. At the autobody shop he worked at, for example, he routinely saw parts being chucked into the bins due to a little bit of “wear and tear”—and the most common of these rejects were headlights and taillights.

When your headlight gets a crack in it or it retains fluid, insurance companies say that you’re entitled to a new one. In most instances, your insurance pays for the brand new headlight in full, the body shop orders it, and then they put the new headlight in.

And to Don’s utter dismay, they would throw away the old one regardless of whether the damage was minor or not.

Body shops will fix a dent or scratch on a car, but when it comes to something as minor as a headlight, it’s just easier for them to replace it entirely. Headlights and taillights are small money to body shops that try to work as quickly and efficiently as possible, so it doesn’t really make sense for them to invest valuable labor that could be spent elsewhere refurbishing of them.

That’s when Don had a lightbulb moment of his own—if they were throwing them away anyway, why not see if they’d give them to him to resell?

For the first three months of his new hustle, Don would pick up headlights and taillights from the shop he worked at and seven others that his boss managed, spruce them up, photograph them, write up some descriptions for them and gauge their prices based on their condition and what was available on the market, and then he’d list them on Craigslist.

But things changed when he was contacted by a fellow headlight reseller in southern California. This reseller wanted to see what he had, so Don let him come over to his house to check out his lights. After carefully reviewing what he had to offer, he set aside six or seven different headlights on the table and offered Don $500 for the bunch.

The reseller handed Don five $100 bills, packed his haul into his truck, and drove off into the sunset. Don was in shock when he walked back into the house and showed his wife, Cathe, the $500 he had just made. He told her that he thought they were really onto something here, and that was the point he started to take it seriously.

To start, Don enlisted the help of Cathe to help him navigate the wonderful, wacky world of eBay. For the rest of that year (2016), they spent nights and weekends hustling their headlights and taillights on eBay bringing in ~$25,000 in gross sales with 70% profit margins. The following year, Don decided to drop a day off of his work schedule so that he could dedicate more time to the hustle which led to their numbers doubling.

By 2018, Headlight Recycle Service crossed the six-figure mark bringing in $155,000 in sales.

Don’s early days flipping skateboard parts on the playground ended up serving him well later in life. Is there a skill like that you can draw upon? Is there a headlight hustle in your future?

 

  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
"The more regularly you list on eBay, the better you perform in the algorithm. And if you’re posting consistently, your products get seen by more buyers. It doesn’t have to be every single day, but as consistently as possible."
—Don & Cathe Schaffer #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

Financial Analyst Unearths Organic Plant Shop

What It’s About

A financial analyst grows her budding side hustle from a lifelong passion.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

You don’t have to be an expert, you just have to know more than the people you are serving. Don’t let a “lack of professional skills” stop you from starting something you might really enjoy.

Fun Fact

In the ruins of Pompeii, researchers found much more than the well-preserved skeletons and homes of residents. They found the remains of indoor gardening—terra cotta pots that had the remnants of flowers and other plants.

Notes from Chris

Episode 803

It’s safe to say that financial analyst, Abi Downing, has a knack for tending plants—but she didn’t start out that way. Her experiences cultivating greenery started as a labor of love growing up in her childhood home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

When the temperatures dropped, Abi’s mother took comfort in the bright, greenhouse plants she kept year-round. She wanted her children to share the feeling that came with keeping plants, so maintaining them became part of Abi’s chores.

The more Abi learned about them—how to grow and propagate (or breed) those plants—the more she realized that maybe she wasn’t so different from her mother after all. It fascinated her that you could cut off a piece of vine, stick it in some water, and have a whole plant grow from it.

When she moved out of her parents’ house, that love of bringing the outdoors inside went along with her. Before long, Abi had quite a happy little plant family over in her new home.

And she realized that she wasn’t alone. Over the past few years, Abi watched a love of all things house plants spread its tendrils across the furthest reaches of the internet like wisteria working its way up a trellis.

There were Instagram profiles and blogs completely dedicated to growing plants, and it was becoming more and more common to see neighbors scrambling for the keys to their front door while juggling a couple of spider plants in their arms.

Abi had wanted to start a side hustle of some kind, and it made sense for her to nurture something with a product that she was truly passionate about. Growing a side hustle around her love of all things horticulture seemed like an idea too good not to let it take root.

Her initial thought was, “Oh! I could sell my plants at fairs and farmers markets,” but she discovered that the requirements were steep. All of the markets that she found in her area required you grow the plants yourself from seed, and they needed to be organic to the region.

So over the next year, Abi repotted her idea. She realized that an e-commerce shop could be the solution she was looking for. It would be easy and cost effective to start. She could keep inventory in her home and benefit from all of that extra oxygen in the air. And since she would be running it online, she could fit it in around her work schedule.

With the idea firmly planted in her mind, she set out to start digging.

When it came to picking plants to carry, she opted for plants that were low-maintenance, suitable for small spaces, and easy for beginners to take on. Not only did she think that all of these attributes would be desirable to customers—they might also cause fewer headaches when it came time to ship them.

To develop a shipping strategy, Abi drew on the same detective skills that she used to find a wholesaler. To get an idea of the “industry standard,” she ordered plants from her competitors and took special note of 1) how they packaged and protected the plants during shipment, 2) how long it took to go from order to delivery, and 3) the marketing materials that came with the box.

With all of her plants in a row, she built a website using Shopify and called her new shop Perrico Plant Co.

She sells her plants in the traditional planters that come with the plants from the wholesaler, but she also has some upgraded options on her website—glazed ceramic and cement style planters that are popular with trendy horticulturists.

There was one downside though: Abi discovered that this is somewhat of a seasonal business—at least online—because customers are hesitant to purchase plants that have to ship in the cold. When she saw that customers were visiting her site but not buying, she found ways to reach out to them to get an idea of why. And the overwhelming response from them was that they were waiting until the warmer months to make their purchases.

To supplement a reduction in orders during the cold weather, Abi has found ways to sell her plants at local popups and has even brought in as much as $1,600 over the course of a single weekend. As a matter of fact, she completely sold out within two hours!

Since the beginning, Abi’s sold over 200 plants and has made roughly $3,000 in profits. And you could say that while selling organic plants, Perrico Plant Co. is growing organically. Abi has really unearthed a new source of income doing something she enjoys.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Perrico Plant Co: Check out Abi’s growing collection of organic house plants on her website
  • Shopify: Abi created her budding business on the e-commerce platform Shopify

 

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
"You don’t have to be an expert, you just have to know more than the people you are serving. Don’t let a ‘lack of professional skills’ stop you from starting something you might really enjoy."
—Abi Downing #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

Stylish Clothes Reseller Becomes Fashion Consultant

What It’s About

Rental duds that land jobs!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Discover who your market is and, just as importantly, isn’t. That took a bit of trial and error getting it right for Joshua and he’s still fine-tuning his message. It took him a while to turn down customers who wanted to shop at Macy’s, but it’s just not what he does.

Fun Fact

The fashion industry is one of the largest in the world and particularly in the US. Spending on fashion is 4% of total spending in the US with an estimated value of close to $400 billion dollars a year.

Notes from Chris

Episode 786

Joshua Davis was your regular cash strapped college student. Even eating at McDonald’s was a luxury. He prided himself on frugality, and once stretched twenty dollars of disposable income through a whole semester.

But, despite his penny-pinching personality, he had one vice. Joshua valued looking good and loved to wear nice clothes. The problem was he could barely ever afford them.

One day, during his freshman year, he found a designer shirt on sale at Macy’s: at an original list price of eighty-five dollars, it had been marked down to fourteen—an absolute steal! He desperately wanted the shirt, but barely had enough money for gas to get home, let alone to buy clothes he didn’t really need.

There was something about that shirt, though. His instincts told him others would be as enthralled with it as he was. So he decided to place a gamble.

He signed up for a Macy’s credit card on the spot and was given a four hundred dollar limit. With that, he bought thirty shirts and rushed back to his dorm. There, he listed twenty-nine shirts for sale on eBay, keeping one for himself. Within a week, he’d sold them all and had doubled his money after paying off the credit card.

Joshua had cottoned onto something big. He soon became hooked on flipping clothes for fun and profit.

Flipping was profitable, but it was also a lot of work. Visiting stores, finding the best deals, and buying products all took time and headspace. Then, he had to list each item individually on eBay, as well as package and ship them as they sold. On top of that, although Joshua had a good idea for what would sell, not every sale was a success. Sometimes he would just break even.

That was all about to change when a new opportunity fell into his well-dressed lap, one that would enable him to use his eye for style for something beyond flipping clothes.

Joshua’s best friend’s dad, Rodney, had recently become unemployed for the first time in twenty years. He was going to have to look for work, and that meant interviewing. For his entire career, he’d been a builder. When it came to applying for different kinds of jobs, he had no idea how to present himself, and certainly wasn’t clothes-minded.

Enter Joshua the style guru to the rescue.

After receiving a call from his friend asking for help, he grabbed some clothes from his inventory and headed straight over to help Rodney dress to impress. When he got there, he noticed a change in Rodney. Losing his business had taken a toll on him. He was feeling down and lacked confidence.

After Joshua worked his magic, Rodney’s spirits lifted, he carried himself more confidently, and in no time at all, he had landed a new job.

This impromptu fashion consulting caused Joshua to realize that he had a gift. One that he could use to help people and boost their self-confidence. For his next phase of hustling, he strolled down the catwalk to become a fashion consultant.

Joshua is now able to take on Monogram Styling full-time and earns a solid six figures per year doing it. He currently serves fifty-eight private individuals and an additional forty corporate clients. In any given month he’ll bring on one or two new clients, and typically works with around eight clients at any one time.

From his days in the dorm room, surrounded by clothes waiting to be shipped out, to his mobile showroom that he now brings to customers’ homes and offices, he continues to turn heads wherever he goes.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Monogram Styling: Looking to dress to impress? Head on over to Joshua’s website to learn more

 

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

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 can talk about fashion in a way that is very accessible to most people. If you can demystify a concept and speak with passion, you can build trust very quickly with an eager audience."
—Joshua Davis #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

Clothing Boutique Burns Down, Rebuilds to 4 Locations

What It’s About

A case study that reminds you to always read the fine print…

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

It didn’t take long for Nicole to find her stride when it came to inventory. Many of the women who came in talked about feeling judged or shamed at other stores, and Nicole knew the feeling. She made shopping at her boutique an experience free of second glances or snide comments by treating her customers with respect and carrying items for all sizes.

Fun Fact

After a fire destroyed everything, Nicole’s insurance neglected to tell her about a $30,000 payout she was entitled to, but she read through the policy with a fine-toothed comb and got them to pay up.

Notes from Chris

Episode 768

Nicole Whitesell has been a creative moneymaker ever since she was young. As an eighth-grader, she sold handmade neck warmers. She had to stop because one blew up someone’s microwave. There were other side hustles over the years, most of them involving flipping something on eBay.

During college, Nicole discovered that she could buy Nordstrom’s refurbished clothes at a deep discount and resell them online for a significant profit. She made a few hundred dollars per month this way, so she continued the gig on the side after she graduated and became a full-time general contractor for home construction. Nicole even built out her own e-commerce store.

Unfortunately, the construction work didn’t last long. The housing market crashed and new work slowed to a trickle. Old work stopped paying Nicole’s invoices on time.

Somehow, Nicole’s online e-commerce store, Adorn, was still bringing in a steady income. She posted on Instagram every now and then and it brought some traffic to her site, which usually turned into a few hundred dollars per month. Nicole figures she could have earned more, but she didn’t really have any digital marketing strategy at the time—she was just winging it.

And here’s the reason: her dream was really to open a physical retail store, not an online-online store.

One day, Nicole and her husband drove by a storefront that had been empty for two years. It was in a great location, but the rent was too high to attract new businesses.

“If we can negotiate a lower price,” her husband said, “this would be the perfect place to start a store.”

The couple was broke—like, living with Nicole’s parents, on public healthcare, and almost on food stamps—and construction wasn’t going to bounce back anytime soon. They felt like the only direction they could go was up, so they decided to go for it. The owner agreed to a lower price (you never know if you don’t ask), helped him remodel the building—which got them six months of free rent—and then Nicole started calling suppliers.

Nicole wasn’t going to resell clothes anymore. She was going to source clothes from designers and vendors. It took a while to find the right ones—many weren’t eager to work with a first-timer—but she was able to get just enough onboard for a launch.

The official Adorn storefront opened a couple months later. Things were slow at first, but that was almost a blessing. Nicole could finish up contractor projects from the back office, and her 2.5 year old and newborn went with her to work every day—she couldn’t have handled a busy store!

Over the next seven years, Nicole fought her way through dozens of challenges. One year, she went through four managers. She gave up on e-commerce sales for a while, then hired a new digital marketer a few months later. For several years, the family relied on her husband’s construction work for the bulk of their income.

It was never easy, but it was rewarding.

Nicole loved helping women find clothes that made sense for their size and style. She loved investing in her employees and giving them a meaningful job. She loved building a business from the ground up. So every time a problem came up, she figured it out.

Adorn now has four retail locations, a thriving e-commerce store, and 36 employees who love what they do. Nicole knows she can leave for days or weeks without the stores burning down… literally or figuratively.

So she’s decided: 2019 will be the year of Nicole. She’s going to rest, invest time into her own skills and desires, and spend more time with her family. She’s earned it!

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Adorn: Learn more about this head turning side hustle over on Nicole’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

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
"Never underestimate the value of an outside perspective from someone you really trust."
—Nicole Whitesell #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

“Teachers Against Humanities” Card Deck Unites Educators

What It’s About

Cards Against Humanities expansion pack provides teachable moment and £1,000 profit in month one.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Stephen attributes his rapid success Swagnanimous to three things. The first of which was an initial explosion on Twitter. When his friend tweeted about the deck that first night, his hustle picked up a lot of steam fast as other teachers saw and retweeted the website.

Fun Fact

Did you know that the world’s most beloved card game was originally called Cardenfreude and was created by eight high school students in Illinois as a New Year’s party game? Those original eight creators haven’t sold the company or quit their day jobs despite the game’s success, so it remains a side hustle to this day!

Notes from Chris

Episode 761

Teachers around the world face exhausting challenges. Their roles include part educator, part administrator, part organizational specialist, and part babysitter (even when they teach older kids). Many develop a facetiousness that helps them cope with the expectations placed upon them, even when they find their job rewarding.

Stephen Lockyer turned his wit and sarcasm to Cards Against Humanities, the irreverent card game. He played often with fellow teachers, and each time they finished a game, someone would inevitably say, “There really needs to be an expansion pack for teachers.”

Stephen had a notebook full of side hustle ideas. He’d always been a dreamer, but he’d never acted on his ideas because he was usually so wrapped up in his day job. But that idea of a teacher expansion pack wouldn’t go away. Why hadn’t someone made this already? It seemed too obvious—but Stephen couldn’t find anything online.

Then, around October 2018, Stephen was just finishing up the Side Hustle book and decided it was time to finally follow through on an idea. He opened his notebook to look over his ideas, but he already knew which one he wanted to try out.

Teachers Against Humanities. He knew that Cards Against Humanities welcomed user-made expansion packs, he knew cards were probably something he could learn to design all on his own, and he figured it was a fairly simple idea to execute on overall.

Stephen wasn’t short on ideas for what to say on his cards. He came up with 54 questions that said things like: “What did you bring to after-work drinks” and “I don’t need well-being help, I’ve got ____.” He then created 54 answers that said things like: “The Newly Qualified Teacher” and “an additional responsibility.”

Stephen created a simple Shopify store, wrote up some basic description text, uploaded images of his mockups to the Teachers Against Humanities product page, and set the site, Swagnanimous, live.

It was November of 2018, and it was time to launch!

Stephen told some of his friends about his side hustle, but he didn’t want to attach his name to it. He had a bit of a Twitter following, but rather than leverage that network of teachers, he wanted to see what would happen if he just put Teachers Against Humanities out into the world. Would people really want it enough to buy?

So the site went live, and one of his friends tweeted about it late that night. Then Stephen went to sleep. He figured it’d be a few days or even a couple weeks before teachers around the country started to hear about his creation—if they did at all.

When he woke up the next morning, he realized it hadn’t taken that long. Not by a long shot.

Without physical cards even printed yet, Stephen had sold 62 packs overnight at £12 [$15] a piece. He called up the printer and placed his first order for a couple hundred packs for just £200 [$260].

Sales climbed steadily, but that next Sunday morning, Stephen woke up to a huge surge. He did some digging in the analytics and found that a well-known teacher in the UK had made a Facebook post about Teachers Against Humanities (probably because his name was one of the answers in the decks). As Stephen says, “it was totally brain-frying”.

By the end of November, his first month of real side hustling, Stephen had profited over £1,000. By January, Stephen had earned a few extra thousand pounds—enough to cover his 2019 boat vacation trip!

Stephen’s on fire now. This year, he’s planning to launch two subscription services. The first is Post Against Humanity, a monthly Cards Against Humanity deck service that’ll feature themed decks (not all teacher-related). The second subscription will be TeachTreats, a monthly box for teachers who want to treat themselves.

The extra money’s been great, but for Stephen, the best part is knowing that he finally settled on an idea, figured out how to make it work, and followed through all the way to sales. Now he’s excited to do it again and again.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Swagnanimous: Snag an extension pack for the teacher in your life—get yours on Stephen’s website
  • Shopify: Stephen used Shopify to set up his site for Swagnanimous, and they’re offering a 21-day trial and exclusive discount for all Side Hustle School listeners!
  • Pixlr & Photopea: Two free browser-based design apps that Stephen used to create his expansion packs

 

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
"Look at the ideas you have which have been bubbling away, and think about the quickest way to get them to market. Making mock-ups worked for me—people buy holidays and houses on the basis of photos and artist impressions, so why not products?"
—Stephen Lockyer #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.
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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

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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

PE Teacher Resells Concert Tickets, Earns $12,000/Month

What It’s About

How a PE teacher flips concert tickets to the tune of $12,000/Month.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Dan recommends keeping a ledger to track the performance of each ticket you flip. Past performance can be an indicator of future performance, and being aware of this can help minimize the risk you take when purchasing a ticket.

Fun Fact

A while back, Pearl Jam discovered that Ticketmaster was adding a service charge to all their concert tickets without informing the band. To protest, the band created their own outdoor stadiums for the fans and testified against Ticketmaster to the United States Department of Justice.

Notes from Chris

Episode 732
It was a year of change for physical education teacher, Dan. After first pursuing a career path into sports management, he’d seen the hectic lifestyle that people in the industry tended to lead. He then opted for a more stable career as an elementary school teacher.

He’d also recently broken up with his long-term girlfriend and found himself at a loose end. Thankfully, he had a good friend who was also recently single, and they ended up hanging out a lot. And one of their favorite activities was attending concerts in the Boston area.

The downside to this was Dan’s friend’s unpredictable work schedule. They would buy tickets months in advance in the hopes it would work out, but often had to resell the tickets when one or both of them couldn’t attend at the last minute.

After a few of these experiences, Dan noticed he was making a reasonable profit on the tickets he flipped. Enough, in fact, that he felt it could be a good supplement to his income. So, he decided he would intentionally flip tickets for local events to see what kind of profit he could generate.

He began by following local music venues on Twitter. Whenever they booked a new act, they would tweet about it. He’d pick up any that his intuition told him felt right, and then try to resell them.

It’s not always good to follow your intuition. Because of his gung-ho technique, Dan’s success was far from instant. There was a lot of trial and error, and he made some bad calls where he lost money. But, he enjoyed the process and felt like he was learning more and more each month, so he stuck with it.

For several years, Dan managed to grow a consistent side income from the tickets of between $500 and $1,000 per month. He believes anyone can do this and later built a resource to help people learn the basics. But, even more interestingly, it was in his fourth year that Dan would really take the process seriously and double down on his experiments.

Dan’s nationwide approach has enabled him to earn $3,000 to $5,000 during a slow month, and $10,000 to $12,000 during a busy month. All for roughly 20 hours of work each week!

He’s now created a platform where he helps teach people how to start their own ticket flipping business called, Ticket Resale Team. For $149 a month, students can get access to 30 training videos which show you the ins and outs of the business.

When he was first newly single and going to concerts with a friend, Dan had no idea that buying and selling tickets would eventually become such a major part of his life. By following up on his interest and beginning to take small risks, you could say that he’s now playing in an entirely different arena.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Ticket Resale Team: Interested in flipping tickets, but aren’t feeling up to doing all of the researching involved? Head on over to Dan’s website and sign up for his Ticket Resale Team!
  • TicketStub: One of the ticket platforms that Dan uses to flip the tickets he purchases

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 best part of everything is when I hear members tell me that the extra money I am helping them make really has an impact on their lives."
—Dan #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

Art Director Turns Passion For Puppets Into Profit

What It’s About

An art director discovers a niche where there are no strings attached…

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Laurie and Cindy chose the pricing for their fabric based on how much they wanted to earn per hour, after the cost of raw materials. They wanted professional puppet-makers to get the highest quality products possible, but also wanted affordable options hobbyists could buy as well.

Yes, you want to price something so that it will sell, but also remember that you’re creating this for you! Make sure that it’s going to be worth it to you in the long-run.

Fun Fact

Larry is Laurie’s fabric distributor and is the only person in the world who distributes Antron fleece. He was approached by Jim Henson to create the fabric for The Muppets and then ran the world’s only puppet-fleece mill. He has no website, only a telephone number, and if you don’t know him, you can’t order fleece in bulk.

Notes from Chris

Episode 723

Laurie Nickerson, an advertising art director, knew she didn’t want to work behind a desk. Eight hours a day staring at a computer screen left her sad, sore, and searching. She wanted a job that was creatively fulfilling and allowed her to share her love for arts and crafts with others. And, seeing as she couldn’t find one, she decided to create one.

Laurie and her just-as-creative mother, Cindy, began renting studio space where they could teach classes and offer other services, such as long-arm quilting.

When she wasn’t at work, Laurie found she spent more and more of her spare time at the studio. She also picked up an exciting side project: puppet making.

Laurie loved the process of making puppets because every stage of the process was done by hand. Contrary to what was out there, there was no “puppet by numbers” system, and you had to do the work from scratch. One of the most fun, yet challenging, aspects was dying the puppet fabric. She felt like it was the perfect blend of science and art, trying to get the colors to stick properly and turn out just how she wanted them.

Puppets are made from a fabric called Antron fleece. When you purchase Antron, it only comes in pure white, and the puppet maker needs to dye it to the color they want. Even in small quantities, this can be notoriously difficult to do in your bathroom or kitchen. But at the studio, Laurie had more than enough space to create all the puppet fabric she needed.

Much to her surprise, Laurie found other people in the puppet-making community didn’t enjoy dying their fabrics anywhere near as much. For many, it was even a burden.

On one particularly frustrating day at work, Laurie’s mind kept wandering to how she had the space and love of the process to solve this problem for people. When she got home from work, she decided to create a simple website, which she called Puppet Pelts, posting photos of fabric in several different colors for sale. She then shared the link with a couple of puppet groups she was a member of to see if there were any takers.

There was an instant demand for it, and puppeteers kept coming back weeks and even months later to ask for more. This was when Laurie knew she had a new business on her hands.

Puppet Pelts now averages around $9,000 a month in revenue and, more perhaps importantly, it has freed Laurie from the shackles of her nine-to-five job.

Looking to the future, Puppet Pelts wants to expand into offering a complete range of colors, fabrics, and accessories for puppet makers, including furs. They’ve also recently relocated from Las Vegas to Orchard, MA, and are looking forward to the challenge of working from a bigger and better space.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Puppet Pelts: Learn more about this puppet-possible side hustle over on Laurie’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

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 started this with no money or inventory. Everything in our studio was built and created by saving our pennies. We didn’t take out a loan, or have investors. If we couldn’t afford something, we waited until we could."
—Laurie Nickerson #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