Tag: Self-Publishing

Self-Published Kindle Books Produce Full-Time Income

What It’s About

A state government administrator helps families tell their life stories, bringing in $387,000 in 2020.

Words of Wisdom

Jeffrey says when a project doesn’t work out, ask yourself what parts of it you can relaunch as something new. Everything you create is an asset that can be used elsewhere. And remember to keep at it — the more you do anything, the better you’ll get at it. Keep creating, keep selling, and something will start to stick.

Fun Fact

The first Kindle e-books appeared on Amazon in 2007. That year, there were 88,000 e-books available. [Source]

Notes from Chris

Episode 1830
Jeffrey Mason was filled with regret. His father suffered from Alzheimer’s, and his memory slipped away more each day. Jeffrey felt he’d missed his chance to learn more about his dad’s life and experiences. The two men used to have weekly calls and frequent visits, but they had drifted apart over the years.

In April 2018, Jeffrey was feeling particularly sad and ended up writing a long list of over 200 questions—the things he’d like to ask his dad about. Jeffrey knew some of his father’s ambitions, his problems, and his successes, but a lot was missing.

Writing that list reminded him of something. The previous February, he’d ordered a book for his girlfriend called The Couple’s Bucket List. When it arrived, he found it was simply a lined journal with no writing in it. Kind of disappointing!

Jeffrey believed he could do better. He already knew a bit about self-publishing from listening to podcasts and reading articles. He was confident he had the skills to create a better bucket list, or at least something like that.

Jeffrey turned that list of questions he wanted to ask his father into a book that he self-published through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing platform. He designed the cover himself using free Canva software and put his book out into the world. It didn’t cost him a cent.

Unfortunately, the first version of the book didn’t sell well. So Jeffrey relaunched in February 2019 with a new cover and a new title: Dad, I Want to Hear Your Story. That did the trick and Jeffrey earned $2,400 that month. His earnings jumped to $5,400 in June thanks to Father’s Day, and then he made another $2,100 in July.

Soon after, Jeffrey started getting emails from readers asking if he had a version of his book for mothers or grandparents. Taking the cue, he self-published three more books in July 2019. In total, he earned $52,000 that year from his four books.

Stay-at-home shopping during the pandemic led to a huge year of book sales the following year. What kind of numbers are we talking about? Jeffrey made $387,000 in 2020. Sales have dipped a bit since then, but he’s still earning an average of $20,000 each month.

The business is now a family affair. Jeffrey’s mom runs his Facebook page, and his oldest daughter handles all other social media. He’s currently looking at how to turn the concept of his books into a podcast, a YouTube channel, and a course. These ideas are in the development phase and will launch this year.

What started as a way to cope with his regret has become Jeffrey’s full-time work and even his mission. He wants to keep encouraging people to learn their loved ones’ life stories.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Get one of Jeffrey’s books and learn more about your your family at his website, HearYourStory.com.

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

WEB HOSTING @ $2.49/MONTH

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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
"When a project doesn’t work out, ask yourself what parts of it you can relaunch as something new. Everything you create is an asset that can be used elsewhere. And remember to keep at it — the more you do anything, the better you’ll get at it. Keep creating, keep selling, and something will start to stick."
—Jeffrey Mason #SideHustleSchool

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To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Unofficial Schitt’s Creek Cookbook Folds in the Cheese

What It’s About

It’s coming up Roses for these two sisters.

Words of Wisdom

Rachel shares an important reminder, “Don’t get stuck in analysis paralysis. If you spend too much time thinking about anything, you can talk yourself out of it.”

Fun Fact

Schitt’s Creek showrunner/actor Dan Levy was watching Keeping up with the Kardashians when the thought of them losing all their wealth gave him the idea for the show.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1795
What do you do when you can’t see family over the holidays because of the pandemic? You collaborate on a cookbook based on your favorite show… Schitt’s Creek.

Have you seen the show? If not, you won’t get all of the references here, but that’s okay because the story is complete without any preexisting knowledge. And maybe there’s a TV show you like that could do something similar.

As long as they can remember, sisters Hannah and Rachel Floyd always had money-making projects. Whether it was selling candy in grade school, baking cakes in high school, or cleaning houses in college, if there was money to be made, they were there.

So it was natural that another side hustle would bring these sisters closer together during the pandemic.

Like many of us during the long, lonely days of 2020 lockdown, Hannah and Rachel were frustrated. Hannah is a Speech Language Pathologist at a hospital in California and Rachel works for the Washington State Government. Getting together over Christmas was out of the question since travel between Washington and California was shut down due to COVID-19.

But they weren’t going to let distance stand in the way of being together. They just had to get creative.

The sisters brainstormed ways they could spend time together virtually and Rachel joked about making a cookbook based on Schitt’s Creek, their favorite show. They decided to run with the idea and Tastes Like Schitt was born.

They got to work creating funny recipe titles based on the show such as Fold in the Cheese Aaahnchildas and A Little Bit Alexis Latte and sent notes back and forth via a Google doc. They wrote the recipes and commissioned artwork for the cover from an artist on Etsy. They designed the book’s layout in Canva, the graphic design software. Total costs were just $200.

Hannah and Rachel decided to self-publish their cookbook on Amazon and hoped it would be available in time for Christmas. Unfortunately, it went live at the end of December, which meant they missed a big sales opportunity… but the sisters weren’t worried. They had no idea what the response would be and thought they might make a few hundred dollars—enough to cover flights to see each other when the pandemic was over.

Well, they were happily surprised to see their initial sales were much higher than their original goal. And nearly a year later, the book continues to sell well. How well? Their profit ranges from $1,500 to $3,000 per month and they expect to have strong holiday sales this year.

They already have plans for more cookbooks along with a secret project they’re not quite ready to talk about yet.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

WEB HOSTING @ $2.49/MONTH

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

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GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

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

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

Quote of the Day
"Don’t get stuck in analysis paralysis. If you spend too much time thinking about anything, you can talk yourself out of it."
—Rachel and Hannah Floyd #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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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! ✅

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To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

The Legally Blind, Six-Figure Supernatural Romance Author

What It’s About

A hardworking author self-publishes a series of supernatural romance novels.

Words of Wisdom

Thinking about becoming a writer? Here’s some important advice from Steff: “There are a million easier ways to make a living than being a writer. If you’re in this for the money then become an investment banker. But writers are never in this for the money, so my rule is always that I have to be having fun. Because if I’m not having fun and I’m in a risky industry, then that’s just silly.”

Fun Fact

The rise of the supernatural romance genre came with the twilight series, one of the most popular book series ever written. The books have sold over 120 million copies world wide and spawned a series of equally successful films.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1256
New Zealander Steff Green spent years studying to be an archaeologist. In addition to countless hours spent in the library, she volunteered at every museum and excavation she could. But after graduating, she had no luck finding a job. She was repeatedly told she was a health and safety risk. You see, Steff is legally blind and while capable of the work, that put a bookmark in her story of becoming an archaeologist.

She vowed to one day be in a position where no one could say there was something she couldn’t do.

Ever since childhood, Steff had written stories about characters she created and the worlds they inhabit. She took it so seriously that she had four full-length science fiction novels to show for her time in high school and university. That youthful passion was still with her so she decided to put pen to paper on becoming a professional writer. She just had no idea how to go about it.

Like some of us might do, she went to Google, searched “how to make a living from your writing” then proceeded to try everything listed. She pitched articles to magazines, started a blog and even wrote product descriptions. Soon she got her first check for ten dollars and fifty cents for an article, then another twenty-five, then fifty and even more.

She learned not to accept rejection and keep going when the world told you “You can’t do that”. Even more relevant to our story, Steff brushed off one of her old novels. She cleaned up the narrative, edited it and ended up pitching it to an editor at a writers conference.

The editor worked with Steff to try and get something published. But she quickly learned that interest is not the same as a book deal, and it took nearly five years for one of her manuscripts to land a deal. Her dream of being a science fiction writer was about to materialize, someone had finally told her “You CAN do that!”

Around that time, she first heard of self-publishing, where writers can sell their own books on Amazon. She decided to edit and create a cover for one of her old novels and put it up for sale. When it sold around one hundred copies and made a few hundred dollars overall, Steff was hooked.

Over the course of the next few years, Steff published dozens of more stories in the supernatural romance world. Whatever she published her audience soaked up, an audience she kept building through a personal newsletter and Facebook page. By the time 2018 rolled around, Steff was making enough money from her books and freelance writing gigs that she didn’t have to work a day job anymore and promptly quit.

Since then the pages have kept turning. Steff has seriously upped her output and now has thirty-five books published and is making the sort of money she only dreamed of. Earning six figures a year for telling stories is like a fantasy come true.

Her success so far has led to her starting a blog and speaking at events telling anyone who’ll listen about the benefits of self-publishing. Her goal is to let as many people as possible know, if she can do it, maybe they can too.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

WEB HOSTING @ $2.49/MONTH

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

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

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

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

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

Quote of the Day
"Writers are never in this for the money, so my rule is always that I have to be having fun. Because if I’m not having fun and I’m in a risky industry, then that’s just silly."
—Steff Green #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.
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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

Q&A: Should I make a physical or digital book?

What It’s About

A listener looks for advice on how to self-publish their book.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1183

If you want to publish a book, what is the best format—physical, digital, or something else?

Today’s caller wants to earn passive income from her book that gives grandparents ideas for activities to do with their grandkids, and is torn between the different options.

Is there a single answer to this question (print vs digital), is there one answer that’s best for her, and what are the pros and cons to each approach?

“I currently have a Web site called GrandmaCreates.com where I teach grandparents ways to bond with their grandkids by doing crafts, recipes, love sharing, etc. I want to create a grandma fund book full of kids jokes, crafts to do with young kids and recipes. I also want to create a grandpa fund but feel full of just about the same things that only geared more towards grandpas. I’m extremely busy with my current job and I have a husband and a 14 year old son at home. My plan is to work on the book for about an hour or two every night.

My question is if I should make this an e-book or a physical book, I like the idea of passive income. After the work is done and with the physical book, it takes a lot more time and effort. But I also am one that likes to hold a physical book in my hand and bookmark the best pages. Although I’m a young grandma at 43 years old, I think that a lot of our older grandparents felt the same way that I do. I can’t wait to hear from you, and thanks so much.”

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

 

 

SEE ALSO:

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

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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

Sports Writer Wins Big Gambling On His Own Book

What It’s About

Sports writer takes a gamble on self-publishing and wins big.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Matt says that to come up with a book idea of your own, ask all your friends and acquaintances to join your personal email list. Then, ask them questions similar to the following; What problems have I helped friends, family and coworkers with? What are your biggest accomplishments in life? What do you pay money to learn?

Fun Fact

There are now over one million books self-published in the US every year. With so many books hitting the virtual shelves of stores like Amazon it’s hard to stand out from the crowd. Which is why most sales go to only a small percentage of the books published.

Notes from Chris

Episode 955
Matt Rudnitsky was working as a writer and editor for a sports blog when he first became interested in gambling. He began placing a few bets as a way of making his favorite sporting events more exciting. He never took it too seriously and lived by the old mantra of “never gamble more than you are willing to lose.”

As a writer himself, Matt was shocked to notice there was very little useful content out there on gambling. Nothing that encouraged people to make informed decisions about how to bet. Most of the information was of low quality, and typically written to promote online gambling websites.

Matt was keen to learn more, and not from someone who had a chance to win big at his expense. That meant scouring Twitter and online message boards for winning advice. After months of research, he decided to put his money to the test.

He took one hundred dollars, gifted to him by his grandma for his birthday, and started to play! As he gained more knowledge and experience, he managed to turn one hundred dollars into ten thousand over the course of two years.

Then, he got cocky! He forgot what he learned and became reckless. Within two months, he had lost it all and was back to zero … let this be a reminder to gamble responsibly, which for many of us means not at all.

With his bankroll bruised and broken, Matt realized something else. He hadn’t been following any real system … in fact he’d actually gotten lucky. He’d been playing for table stakes without earning a seat at the table. It was a crushing blow, but, instead of giving up he decided to double down. But not on gambling, on something else entirely.

He thought about his experience over the last two years, the highs and the lows. When recounting the story to friends they all found it highly entertaining. So, he decided to write a book. It would be part memoir, part education, and all fun. In it, he’d chronicle how he’d won big and lost it all, and what he learned along the way so readers wouldn’t make the same mistakes. Sort of like a self-help book dedicated to gamblers.

For a couple of months he chipped away at the book and, in October 2014, Matt published his tell-all as a 114-page ebook on Amazon.

Two months later, Matt received a royalty check for $1,150.06 and was absolutely shocked. He celebrated back in Prague by drinking too much Pilsner at the bar. Worth it! With that success, his life was never the same. He felt like a real, bonafide writer.

Over the next year, his book earned $6,000 and, within three years he’d netted $14,000 in totally passive profits and sold thousands of copies. Totally by accident!

Which, since inception in 2017 have netted him over six figures in revenue with an average of $5,000 per month.

The only downside is that, like gambling itself, the results are mixed. Sometimes Matt will have big wins in the form of very profitable months, other times, huge losses in the form of no revenue at all.

He’s working to solve this problem by creating an online course outlining his whole process. His hope is that it will bring more consistency to his earnings.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

WEB HOSTING @ $2.49/MONTH

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

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

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

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

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

Quote of the Day
"Distill your book idea into a catchy ‘hook’ and test it on your audience. Find a few places your ideal audience hangs out online and post it there, too. Repeat until one of your ideas strikes an emotional chord."
—Matt Rudnitsky #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

Paternal Twins Produce Passive Publishing Profits

What It’s About

Twin brothers oversee an Amazon self-publishing factory.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

When finding book ideas, the Mikkelsen twins rely on one thing: market research. As they put it, numbers don’t lie—you need to look for book topics that have high demand and low competition (not enough books on the subject).

To look at demand, they simply go to Amazon and look at the average BSRs (best seller rates) of the books in a particular niche. Then they compare that to how many authors/publishers are selling books on this topic by looking at search results on Amazon and Audible.

Fun Fact

Did you know that eBook sales have more than doubled in 2018? Well, that’s according to some estimates. While exact data is unknown, many experts believe that sales of eBooks in the United States alone have eclipsed 200 million per year.

Notes from Chris

Episode 942
In 2016, the Mikkelsen brothers, Rasmus and Christian, were working their way through college. In addition to being identical twins, they also had identical 4.0 GPAs. To pay the bills while studying, they each worked part-time jobs—Rasmus as a Chinese food delivery driver, and Christian as a receptionist. The jobs weren’t high-paying but gave them the money they needed to live.

If they continued down their current path, they’d graduate with honors and go on to lucrative careers in a few short years. But these two had other plans…

They already knew that the typical path of college to an office job wasn’t for them. They wanted something different, and they hoped to escape the rat race before they even started running. So, they began to explore different online business models in hopes of making some extra money.

Since it was their first foray into making money online, they didn’t quite know where to start. So, they spent a couple of days scouring Google researching as many methods as they could; dropshipping, affiliate marketing, app building, Amazon FBA … and the list goes on.

After that, they decided on a divide and conquer approach. They each chose a business model and would dedicate a few months to trying to make it work. For Rasmus, it was dropshipping; Christian would try his hand at self-publishing ebooks.

Within six months, a clear winner emerged! While Rasmus’s dropshipping experiment yielded some success, it was Christian’s self-publishing that really excited them.

Here’s what happened…

On July 2016, Christian published his first ebook. He wrote about something he knew and titled it “How to Be a 4.0 GPA Student in College, Like Me.” It was a 5,000-word guide that included study tips, hacks, and techniques he used to maintain top grades. It wasn’t exactly a magnum opus, but a useful handbook nonetheless.

He published the book on Amazon and made $6.46 that first month. The next month, they quit school and retired to live a life of leisure … oh wait, not quite. Still, even earning $6 felt validating. After all, you have to start somewhere!

Through a lot of trial and error, by the end of that year, they were making over five thousand dollars per month through their self-publishing business. It was easily enough to live on, perhaps not for two people in the USA, but definitely in Thailand.

So, they embraced the expat lifestyle and moved overseas to lower their expenses, all while continuing to work on the business.

Over the next year, they traveled to over a dozen countries while growing revenue to more than $8,000 per month. And that success led them to something new—to teach what they know. They’ve started a YouTube channel and are working on a self-publishing course.

The story of the Mikkelsen twins is only half complete … but this time, instead of outsourcing, they’re writing it themselves!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • YouTube | Mikkelsen Twins: To learn more about Rasmus, Christian, and their self-publishing hustle, head on over to their YouTube channel!

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 amazing and completely unfair advantage of having a twin is that we can split business models. So, to begin with, we started two separate businesses, and whoever would have more success, the other one would just jump over and do that business model too. It’s a foolproof strategy!"
—Rasmus & Christian Mikkelsen #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

Canadian Colleagues Publish Children’s Books About Real Life

What It’s About

Two moms exchange pumpkins and glass slippers for real-life lessons!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Working as a copywriter, Meaghan understood that good products don’t sell themselves. And she was prepared.

She knew that in order to narrow down to your target audience you had to do a little research. Meaghan started by getting a feel for their competition on Instagram and mirroring some of their methods for reaching out to followers. She followed them and checked in on their posts to see who their most active followers were and what resonated with them. What she noticed is that the bulk of the followers were predominately female or people with children (naturally) and she built an audience profile based on that.

Fun Fact

The first week Meaghan and Niki launched, they received a couple hate mail messages, and it was alarming and totally disheartening. They knew that some people wouldn’t be fans of the books, but within the first day, they got four angry emails. People who hadn’t even read the books were simply objecting to them based on their titles. They were literally judging a book by its cover. In hindsight, Meaghan says that they haven’t received a single angry email since so they’re very happy and take feedback in stride. But at the time it was pretty upsetting.

Notes from Chris

Episode 600

Meaghan Hadwyn and Niki Snjaric were just two moms in Toronto, Canada… two moms who were fed up with puppies, rainbows, counting sheep… pumpkins… and magic polar bears. The whole lot, really.

No, they weren’t fed up with real puppies, or real rainbows, or real pumpkins. Meaghan and Niki were just fed up with the cliche tropes that existed in children’s stories. The tropes that fail to reflect the reality humans live in.

Each trip to the children’s book section left them feeling more frustrated than enchanted. Where was the honesty? Where were the books that were helping plant the seeds of empathy and resilience in the next generation?

Answering these questions became the centric focus for Meaghan and Niki when they decided to change the narrative—the children’s story narrative, that is. This decision to shed the tulle-coated world of fairy godmothers, prince charmings, and kissing frogs led them to create Other Life Lessons, an honest children’s book series that focuses on teaching kids about the real ups and downs of life.

Other Life Lessons was launched several months ago, but the inception of this business has much, much earlier roots… The story of Other Life Lessons took form eight years ago when Meaghan and Niki started working together at a Toronto advertising agency.

Since they met, they’ve been working together as a team… which forged them into an inseparable dynamic duo. During this time, they did everything together—they even had babies born a mere six weeks apart! At this point, Niki and Meaghan’s whole world revolved around thoughts of what future life lessons they would teach their children.

This is when it all clicked.

This is when they realized that their kids needed an honest children’s book series that focused on teaching the ups and downs of life. No fuzzy metaphors. No hiding the truth. REAL life lessons that packed a metaphorical, real-world punch.

So they took matters into their own hands.

The duo wanted to start with three titles and build their brand out from there, and it made sense for them to focus on some life lessons that children might have to learn early in life: Life’s Not Fair (about accepting the downs, celebrating the ups, and showing how hard work can help to make all the difference), Sometimes Someone Dies (reminder that even though we experience loss, we never let go of the love), and Why Mommy Works (a glimpse at a few of the many reasons Mom works and shows who is in her thoughts throughout the workday).

Since Niki had a lot of experience using Adobe Illustrator at her day job, she set to work creating all of the fun graphics and illustrations for the books, and Meaghan started weaving together the stories. And once the stories were complete, they’d join the two together in Illustrator and download a file that could go straight to the printer.

There was a lot of trial and error when it came to designing the physical book itself, but in the end, they landed on a 6”x6” soft cover book with 36 matte pages. And since they wanted to get a better feel for the market, they decided to order 9,000 books (3,000 of each title).

But, after five months since the birth of Other Life Lessons, Meaghan and Niki have made $16,000 and have sold over 2,600 books!

So what’s next for the motherly dream team? Well, they’re already working on printing series two of Other Life Lessons. They continue to expand the store, and now that their startup costs are paid off, they’ll enjoy making money from every sale.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Other Life Lessons: Give your children’s bedtime story a bit of an upgrade and set them up for life. Learn more about the books Meaghan and Niki have written over on their website!
  • Shopify: Meaghan and Niki used Shopify to set up their site for Other Life Lessons, and they’re offering a 21-day trial and exclusive discount for all Side Hustle School listeners!
  • MailChimp: The email marketing platform that Meaghan and Kelly used to connect with those who were interested in Other Life Lessons

 

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

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

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Quote of the Day
"Research, read, research… and, of course, read some more! If you’re planning on going a less conventional route, understand the rules before you break them."
—Meaghan Hadwyn #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Move Forward With Uber!

Side Hustle School is brought to you by Uber—the company determined to improve the ridesharing experience for both riders and drivers.

I've seen a lot of these improvements firsthand, but don't just take my word on it! Read more about all of the ways Uber is moving forward—head on over to Uber.com.🚘 Learn More

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To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Database Expert Helps Students Solve Real Problems

What It’s About

A teacher who goes the extra mile for her students.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

So if it’s working and selling through Amazon, why take matters in her own hands and design her own course on her own website? Well, first of all, she can sell her course for a lot more money and keep more of the money. She’s also less reliant on the “gods of Amazon.” If your business is dependent on a single sales channel, you don’t have a business, you have a codependent relationship.

Fun Fact

Sylvia’s job teaching worked out as a net loss for her financially. But the experience gave her a business to create a huge financial plus over the coming years!

Notes from Chris

Episode 570

Sylvia Moestl Vasilik is passionate about her career as a database consultant. Over the last 15 years, she’s built a portfolio of clients and created databases for titans of industry like Microsoft and T-Mobile. It’s safe to say that she’s good at what she does.

As her career progressed, Sylvia felt a growing itch to teach what she knew. Since 2009 she’d been sporadically sharing her real-world knowledge on her blog, Databases Are Fun, but she wanted a more concrete way to help the next generation of database engineers and architects.

First, she was able to land a side-position teaching a SQL Server Certificate course as part of The University of Washington professional education program. Here she taught people the standard database language, SQL, and gave people a foundation for their future careers. Her students paid lots of money, over $1,000 per person, to attend the course—and they came from far and wide.

But, Sylvia couldn’t help but feel something was missing.

She had realized that 90% of the skills the students needed weren’t being taught in the course. Like many education programs, it gave an overview of the basics but rarely went to depth on any individual topics. This meant her students were prepared for entry-level requirements but would struggle with more complex tasks.

While teaching the course, Sylvia began to toy with ideas of how she could help her students go to more depth. She thought about writing a book or creating a course the students could use to get extra practical experience. But wasn’t sure if it would be worth the time or investment, so she kept it on the back burner.

However, when the course was finally over, she received lots of emails from students asking about how they could get more practical experience. They’d realized their education wasn’t enough, and they were hungry to improve their skills. This confirmed to Sylvia creating a product would be a worthwhile venture, and she set out to write a book.

Her book was called SQL Practice Problems. It gave students real challenges. These weren’t the hypothetical assignments of university textbooks, but actual problems developers and engineers would face in their day-to-day lives. They started at the beginners level and moved their way through to advanced problems.

Sylvia also stayed in constant contact with the students who bought her book. She included her email in every copy and answered any questions she was sent. Keeping contact allowed her to request reviews to include on Amazon, and gather information about what students were looking for. In fact, she started getting so many questions, she decided to progress her side hustle even further and increase the value she was delivering.

Sylvia decided to adapt her book into an online course. Students would still get access to her book of 57 SQL problems, but she also offered additional services. These came in the form of video tutorials, email support, an additional 40 practice problems and free updates.

Since the start of 2018, Sylvia has made $13,508 from her side hustle. $11,052 from selling her book on Amazon and $2,456 from direct sales on her course page.

One of her goals is to create a gamified version of her course that rewards people with achievements as they progress throughout. She’s aware that people often buy materials and courses with good intentions but never use them, so she wants to find ways to keep them engaged. You don’t just learn by osmosis, you learn by doing. As she continues with her mission, her mission should continue to pay good rewards.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • SQL Practice Problems: The ability to write SQL and work with data is one of the most in-demand job skills. Learn more about Sylvia’s resources over on her website!
  • Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing: Amazon’s self-publishing platform that helps new authors publish and sell their books
  • Canva & Screencast-O-Matic: Two of the platforms that Sylvia used to create her online course
  • WordPress & Gumroad: The platforms that Sylvia used to create her website and payment process for SQL Practice Problems
  • Quora & Reddit: Two of the platforms that Sylvia used to answer questions related to SQL and help drive more traffic to her ebook and course
  • Databases Are Fun: The blog that Sylvia had prior to teaching her SQL course

 

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
"Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. How could you best give them what they need?"
—Sylvia Moestl Vasilik #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Create a Stunning Website With Wordpress

Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by Wordpress.com! Whether you’re looking to create a personal blog, business site, or both—you’ll make a big impact, when you build your website on WordPress.com. 💻

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


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To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Australian Designer Starts Publishing Company, Hires Herself

What It’s About

A graphic designer finds a new way to stretch her creative muscles.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Tess offered this advice for picking a book distributor:

“One, pick a distributor that specializes in the types of titles your book falls under. That way your book will end up in places where your customers shop. Two, look at the commissions they offer. Especially if your margins are tight. And three, look at their location. Books at Manic has a distribution center local to her, so if they needed more books she can easily drop them off.”

Fun Fact

The printing costs for her first book—Conversations with Creative Women—was about $6,000. Tess ran a pre-order campaign (focused primarily on her email subscriber list), which sold enough copies to cover that initial outlay. She also secured a feature on The Design Files (now a huge blog in Australia and a direct link to creative women, her target market). She does pre-sale campaigns for all her titles.

Notes from Chris

Episode 441

In 2010, Tess McCabe from Melbourne, Australia was in a creative rut. As a freelance graphic designer, she wasn’t attracting the kind of work she loved, book design and layout work. It was a classic chicken-and-egg scenario. Her portfolio didn’t have much book design and layout work. But she couldn’t get that type of work because she hadn’t done much of it.

So like many stories on Side Hustle School, Tess got creative. She approached the one person she was absolutely sure would hire her…herself! Tess founded Creative Minds Publishing, where she publishes books for smart-working creatives.

So why a publishing company? It all started long ago, when she joined a community called Creative Women’s Circle. They host events around Australia featuring female creatives who speak about their career paths, business lessons learned, and advice for others.

When the founder decided to shut down the group, Tess said, “Hey, wait—I’ll run it.” Before taking over the group, events were either free or low cost. As its new leader, she saw a need for its members to be able to find local creatives, like photographers or stylists. She created a searchable database so that members could search for professionals. To fund this feature, Tess added a paid membership option.

She also wanted to bring the essence of Creative Women’s Circle’s in-person events to people who were unable to attend. A book seemed like a natural extension. That’s how Creative Minds Publishing came to be.

It was a win-win for Tess. She’d have book design and layout experience to add to her portfolio. And she’d reach creatives who couldn’t attend their offline events.

She makes around $24,000 each year selling books through her website and bookstores, with around $10k-15k in expenses. Expenses depend on if books are first-run or reprints or if she has to make royalty payments.

So did creating a publishing company increase the amount of book design and layout work she gets? These days about half of her freelance graphic design projects are book and publication design work. Many more clients are now aware of her work through her books. You could say her schedule is all booked up.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Creative Minds Publishing: If you’re interested in learning more about Tess and the work that she’s doing, learn more on her website!
  • Creative Women’s Circle: The women’s organization that led to Tess launching her publishing company
  • Books at Manic: The book distributor who handles wholesale inquiries from libraries and retailers for her

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
"Ensure you’ve identified a community or audience for your book, and build it before you publish. It will give you the head start you need to justify the amount of work and expense you’ll invest in a book project."
—Tess McCabe #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

Immigrant Couple Translates Heritage Into Children’s Flash Cards

What It’s About

A couple honors their culture by teaching new generations a heritage language.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

When you’re telling potential customers about your product or service, you’ll want to be able to tell them what it is and who it’s for within the first 1-2 sentences.

Fun Fact

Mykou and Touger increased their video’s views on Facebook by 1500% by uploading the file directly to Facebook, rather than uploading their video to YouTube and sharing it. And the best part—it didn’t cost a dime.

Notes from Chris

Episode 368

When the communist party took over the Laotian government in 1975, the country became hostile toward the Hmong ethnic group. As allies of the United States in the Vietnam War, the Hmong people were considered risks to communism, and a violent wave of persecution began.

Thousands fled the country and settled in America, including young Mykou and Touger Thao, the side hustlers of this story.

Settled and married in Minnesota, Mykou and Touger had their first child in late-2015. They loved to read to her, but they were constantly disappointed by the lack of language learning tools for the Hmong language. There were no children’s books, no flashcards—nothing.

The couple desperately wanted their daughter to be bilingual speaking both English and Hmong, so they began looking into creating their own Hmong flash cards. A month later, in November of 2016, they hired a designer from Upwork to create 26 images for their animal flashcards and printed them out in their home office.

When it was all said and done, the couple had profited $1,000 from this initial set of cards. Launch #1 wasn’t a major success in terms of sales, but it definitely was a success in terms of conversion rate. One in ten viewers had ordered the cards—and Mykou and Touger knew they were onto something.

In their first year of business, Mykou and Touger generated just over $50,000 in sales through HmongBaby. Not only have they created a way to teach their daughter the language of their heritage, but their business has enabled them both to become self-employed so that they can spend more time at home. They want to create more products and streamline their method to be more effective and efficient. They’ve even received inquiries from people in other immigrant communities who want to replicate their success!

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • HmongBaby: Check out Mykou and Touger’s educational language learning products on their website
  • Upwork: The freelancing platform that they used to hire a designer to create the 26 images for their animal flashcards
  • Shopify: Touger used Shopify to set up their store for HmongBaby, and they’re offering a 21-day trial and exclusive discount for all Side Hustle School listeners!

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
"If you’re struggling with creating a business that actually works, try to create something that ‘scratches your own itch.’ We wanted Hmong language learning products for our own kids, but it didn’t really exist. So we created it ourselves!"
—Touger Thao #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Learn More With Skillshare!

Supporting the sponsors keeps the show free. Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by Skillshare. 📷

Skillshare is giving Side Hustle School listeners 2 months of unlimited access—for $0.99! Join the 2 million students learning everything from street photography to SEO on Skillshare today!
Get Started 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