Tag: Service

Engineer Reprograms Herself, Finds Confidence to Start Over

What It’s About

An online coding course minus all the complex, technical jargon.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Although it can be tempting to jump in with both feet first, and that works for some people, it’s also helpful to take it slow and think about what steps you need to take. Look at what your audience needs, and set small goals to help you create it.

Fun Fact

While she was trying to get to grips with social media, Milecia accidentally uploaded all of her latest vacation pictures to the official Flipped Coding Facebook page and not her personal page. Awkward!

Notes from Chris

Episode 445

Software engineer Milecia McGregor has spent the last few years trying to work her way out of her day job. Her first side hustle attempt was as a consultant working with local businesses. And, the second was as a life coach. Although her skillset was well suited to both of these gigs, Milecia failed both times and found herself no closer to quitting her nine-to-five job.

For any would-be side hustlers, this is a tough spot to find yourself in. Facing one or two failures can leave you feeling defeated, questioning if you’re cut out to be a business owner.

These were the same worries Milecia had. She lost a lot of confidence and was worried about starting yet another venture. But, she had something to spur her on. Her desire for financial independence was stronger than her fear of failure. She had a lifestyle she wanted to live and wasn’t willing to give up on it just yet.

So, she gave herself another chance.

Milecia had been using the time around her day job as a full stack web developer to volunteer as a local teacher helping people learn how to code. She’d take people with no experience and turn them into full-fledged developers. In fact, she was so good at it, she had more people requesting to be her students than she could handle in her spare time.

It was here that Milecia had her lightbulb moment.

If there were this many people in her area of Tulsa, OK who needed help in this, there had to be people all over the country, if not the world, who needed it too. What if she could create an online course to help all of these people learn and make a little money on the side?

She decided that Flipped Coding would be her newest side hustle. And, hopefully, the last one she’d ever have to start while in her current day-job.

And, thanks to her first ten students, she’s earning a recurring $1000 per month through her site! Milecia has set herself the goal of teaching 100 people to learn to code by the end of 2018. She’s happy to know she’s making a difference to the future of the online world and wants to help as many people build a career around the topic she loves.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Flipped Coding: Learn more about Milecia and her developer course over on her website
  • WordPress: Milecia used WordPress to setup Flipped Coding, and here you can learn how to install your own WordPress site in 5 minutes

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

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

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

GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS

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

Quote of the Day
"Think about where you want to be in 5 years and work backwards from that goal. That goal will keep you focused when you don’t feel like working at the end of the day or it seems like you won’t be successful."
—Milecia McGregor #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Get What Your Business Needs.

Side Hustle School is brought to you by the National Association of Realtors.

Every business faces challenges. Whether you need more space, a better location, or a little more curb appeal, a Realtor—a member of the National Association of Realtors—can help you find the right place to grow. So get what your business needs. Get Realtor! 🏢 Visit Realtor.com

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

Online Dating Profile Service Turns Frogs Into Princes

What It’s About

From frogs to princes—this woman helps men stand out!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Here’s a bonus lesson from Emma (#1 dating profile tip):

“One of the tips I always give is to be specific and to add in little anecdotes/stories. So many online dating profiles are really vague, and it’s hard for people to relate or latch on to anything in the profile. It’s as simple as listing three books you loved and why you loved them rather than saying ‘I like science fiction.'”

Fun Fact

Emma’s side hustle didn’t become a six-figure business, but it did lead to a new job. It also gave her the confidence that she needed to continue experimenting with her writing, and she now works for herself full-time.

Notes from Chris

Episode 443

Something like 30% of long-term relationships now begin through online dating. But this world can be tough to navigate, and you need an edge. Or that’s what one Massachusetts woman thought when she started an unconventional and temporary side hustle.

More than 50 million people in the U.S. alone have tried online dating. That means they have made an online dating profile. Emma Siemasko had recently met her boyfriend, who is now her husband, through online dating. As millions of people know, wading through a sea of thousands of profiles can be overwhelming. And if you’re a guy, in particular, you really need to stand out.

Based on her experience, Emma had noticed—how to put this—that so many profiles, well, sucked. They would be boring, lame, or creepy… three qualities that did not inspire most women to respond. Her goal was to help men optimize their online dating profile so that they’d perform better in the crazy pool of competitors.

She had been successful herself, meeting that boyfriend who would later become her husband. She’d helped out a few friends, showing them how to better describe themselves in a way that sounded attractive without being overconfident. And then one of those friends said, “This should be a business!”

Listen: the business didn’t scale, it didn’t make a ton of money, it didn’t become her full-time work. But it did something else, perhaps something even greater than those things.

Sometimes a small project can lead to something greater, and in this case, Emma can point to two big changes that came from saying, “OK, I’ll give that a try.”

The first was landing a new job. Frog2Prince was the most impressive thing on her resume to the employer where she worked afterwards. She has she didn’t have as much experience as the role called for, but they were impressed by her ability to make things happen. They hired her because of her side hustle.

The online dating profile service may have made just $800, but she traces her current status to that decision to try something new. That’s right, it all started with a Frog that became a prince… or at least got closer to princedom.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Frog2Prince: Go from a frog to a prince—check out Emma’s website for profile tips and tricks!
  • Stories By Emma: Learn more about Emma and the services she offers over on her 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
"On my online dating profile, I told people that I was currently trying not to eat candy, and asked them to come ask me how I’m doing with that. It gave people an easy in to say, ‘Hey, how much candy have you eaten lately?’ I used to call this ‘giving people hooks.’"
—Emma Siemasko #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Get What Your Business Needs.

Side Hustle School is brought to you by the National Association of Realtors.

Every business faces challenges. Whether you need more space, a better location, or a little more curb appeal, a Realtor—a member of the National Association of Realtors—can help you find the right place to grow. So get what your business needs. Get Realtor! 🏢 Visit Realtor.com

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

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

Romance Novel Expert Teaches Proofreading for $2,000/Month

What It’s About

A novel expert proves that true love can be monetized!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

So, let’s get down to business—why exactly does something like this work? Well, I think that a lot of the success she’s experiencing is how closely it relates to employment and making additional income. I’d also imagine that most people who want to proofread or copyedit romance novels are actually fans of the genre, and it provides them with an opportunity to get paid doing what they would already be doing.

Secondly, Phon has real authority in this arena because she’s done this for 15 years! And last (but certainly not least), she’s also used a classic model of selling information with the tried and true 5-day course (we have one!).

Fun Fact

Phon has proofread over fifteen hundred books and counting in all types of sub-genres ranging from Amish, mystery, erotica, Western, paranormal and more. If you can think of it, she’s probably read it!

One genre that she can’t really sink her teeth into is vampire books—they can often be downright gross and puts her off even looking at food for a while after reading them.

Notes from Chris

Episode 440

Phon Baillie loves reading books and has always had a knack for finding pesky typos in them. She was the go-to proofreader for friends and family, freely giving away her special talents. That is until one day while studying media and communications at university, she realized she could be profiting from her eagle-eyed proofreading skills. After getting a post-graduate certificate in publishing, she got her first full-time job as a proofreader at Harlequin, a leading publisher of books for women.

At Harlequin, she quickly became enamored with proofreading stories with strong female leads and tales of romance. What she didn’t love, however, was the nine-to-five lifestyle of the corporate world. The cubicle routine proved to be too confining, so Phon decided to break out on her own.

She loved the flexibility the freelancing brought to what she was already passionate about—reading books for a living. And with her background at Harlequin, she quickly carved out a niche proofreading romance novels. Whenever she went out with her friends, they would get a kick out of telling people that Phon made money reading love stories.

Over the years, with all the content being written for both online media and traditional media, the role of proofreading has begun to change. Content creators want more than just typo-correctors, they want proofreaders who can go deeper into the content and make sure it’s a highly polished piece that keeps the writer’s voice.

Phon saw these changes and noticed that others were interested in learning more about how to get into proofreading, but didn’t know much about the field. She also found the resources available on proofreading didn’t go as deep as necessary for most client needs. With her fifteen years of experience as a Proofreader and Copyeditor and her background as a freelancer, Phon realized she could teach others how to be successful as a proofreader in today’s content-rich environment. The Art of Proofreading was born!

She wrote blog posts on the nitty-gritty of proofreading life, with topics ranging from ‘The difference between Copyediting and Proofreading’ to ‘How to be a Proofreader Without a Degree’ and also wrote guest blog posts to reach more readers. She created quizzes where people could test their proofreading skills and produced a free 5-day email course, Intro to Proofreading, to generate leads for later paid content.

And after receiving some feedback from her community, she also decided to create an e-book called the Ultimate Guide to Freelance Proofreading for those wanting to make the leap to freelancing but weren’t sure how to get started.

The site has been up for just over a year, and is bringing in an additional two thousand dollars a month of income! I guess Phon has proven that sometimes, true love is worth monetizing!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • The Art of Proofreading: Learn how you can monetize your love of good books over on Phon’s website!
  • WordPress: Phon used WordPress to setup The Art of Proofreading, and here you can learn how to install your own WordPress site in 5 minutes

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

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

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

GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS

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

Quote of the Day
"You have to stick with what you love, no matter how “nerdy” other people may think it is. Be proud of it, and find a way to reach out and connect to others like you."
—Phon Baillie #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

Pickleball Pro Pickles Profits from Persistent Practice

What It’s About

A unique opportunity allows a man to bring in extra money participating in the fastest growing sport in America.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

If today’s story is of interest to you, ask yourself—what kind of sport, league, or activity could become an income-earning side hustle? Remember that one method of learning to think this way is just being able to spot opportunities, not necessarily pursue each one.

Fun Fact

There are over 9 million “casual players” who play pickleball 1-7 timers per year, and nearly 1 million players who compete 8+ times per year in sanctioned tournaments. In 2014, NBC News declared pickleball “the fastest growing sport in America.”

Notes from Chris

Episode 438

It all started in 2012, in a dimly lit room filled with highly influential local community members. Leaders were nominated, rules were set, and a new society was born… The Columbia River Pickleball Club.

Pickleball, if you don’t know, is a sport that takes place on a badminton court. A plastic wiffle ball is hit over the 34-inch net with paddles that are roughly twice the size of ping-pong paddles. It’s an accessible activity for newcomers, but it can also be a fast-paced thrill for experienced players (not your grandmother’s backyard pickleball—this sport is on the rise!).

Over the next two years, Mike took on more and more responsibility when it came to managing the tournaments around Portland, Oregon. When the 2014 (highly contested!) elections came around, Mike became the club’s president. It was not long after that Mike got the idea for his own pickleball venture—one that would be for profit.

Mike loved volunteering as a tournament manager, but he figured he’d love earning some income from the activity even more. He agreed and spent the next several months slowly creating his own business plan, website, contracts, and invoice system.

Since Mike could use his club’s supplies to get started (nets, paddles, stopwatches, coolers, and such), his launch expenses were less than $500. And in early 2016, Pickleball Is Great was born. Mike started to receive a small flow of referral inquiries over the next few months. After he received his first deposit from a client, he bought himself a two-pound porter steak dinner the next week (you know, energy for pickleball).

He offered three pricing tiers. The most basic package was a basic, well-run tournament. The next two tiers offered additional services like WiFi routers, coolers with water, trophies, equipment, and other things that hosts may or may not want to worry about.

Once a client picked a tier, he charged them on a per-player basis, which wasn’t bringing in a lot of money at the time. In 2016, his average monthly profit was just $100 after expenses, which included paying a small team of refs and organizers.

In 2017, the USAPA allowed Mike to run two “sanctioned” tournaments. Essentially, these tournaments are heavily regulated and the results go directly to each player’s official score and rank. These were huge for establishing himself as an authority and he’s looking to host at least four over the course of 2018.

And those tournaments that Mike played into a network? Nearly half of them have hired his services for 2018! The in-person networking really came through. Ace!

These days, Mike is traveling all over the American West to manage tournaments. He’s building some travel costs into the overall price, and with the rapid growth of pickleball, he’s averaging just under $2,000 in profit per tournament. His goal is to run two tournaments per month and bring in roughly $40,000 this year, but he doesn’t want to stop there.

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 patience required to build a solid foundation for a successful business is hard to find. Build a solid inner circle support group of people who will be honest with feedback on ideas and suggestions."
—Mike Hoxie #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

It’s Not Vandalism, It’s a $15,000 Yard-Gram Hustle

What It’s About

Flamingos and yard signs bring this sneaky teacher an extra $15,000/annually!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Anthony contributes his slow, steady success to a few things. First of all, his displays are quite noticeable and generate a ton of word-of-mouth buzz. Secondly, he started offering free yard-grams to returning military members and 100th birthdays early on, generating some local press and respect.

Fun Fact

In 1957, Don Featherstone created the iconic plastic pink flamingo that soon became a national yard decorating hit. When he made it to Final Jeopardy years later, the last challenge was: “While working for a plastics company, Don Featherstone created this iconic lawn decor, basing it on photos in National Geographic.”

Of course, he knew the answer.

Notes from Chris

Episode 436

Imagine waking up on your birthday. You walk out of your room and notice something outside as you pass the window. When you look closer, you see HAPPY BIRTHDAY written in big bold letters on your lawn surrounded by a bunch of bright pink plastic flamingos. At first, you think, “What in the world?” … and then you can’t help but smile.

This is the experience that Anthony Arno’s side hustle, Yard-Grams, facilitates over a dozen times a month. Whey send a card when you can decorate the yard? The idea for Yard-Grams came from Anthony’s wife. For one of her birthdays before the two had met, her friends had decorated her yard with pink flamingos and a personalized message board.

Coming from the bustle of New York City, this idea of yard decorating was a new one for Anthony, but he couldn’t get it out of his head. He thought it could be a fun, viable side hustle in their rural region of Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

So he set up a basic website, created a Paypal invoice template, and launched Yard-Grams.com a couple weeks after having the idea.

It’s been just over six years now, and Anthony is receiving a steady 10-15 yard-gram orders per month. That means he spends a lot of late evenings at a stranger’s house, but it also means $1,100-1,600 in additional income.

Anthony knows that it’s extremely difficult to scale this kind of business, but he’s not ready to get comfortable just yet. He’s working on his own ebook, podcast, and consulting business that will help others launch their own yard decoration side hustles. If you want to get into the pink flamingo rental business, look no further than the Yard-Grams expert. You could say it’s a sign … maybe a sign of the times … or if you were looking for a sign, this is it.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Yard-Grams: Learn more about this unique side hustle over on Anthony’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 never expected the business to take off so quickly. In fact, I had a simple website launched and I booked my first order before even owning a display. I had the displays shipped overnight and that was almost 1000 displays ago."
—Anthony Arno #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

Call Center Employee Uses Patreon to Fund LGBTQ Podcasts

What It’s About

A trans woman creates two queer-centric podcasts to serve as a safe space for those without strong family and friend bases.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

When I asked Callie what equipment they use, they said, they are convinced people care so much more about the content of your show than the sound quality. Fancy gear can’t make a boring conversation with a dispassionate host more interesting. Nevertheless, they shared what equipment they use: Apollo Twin High-Resolution Thunderbolt Interface, Electro Voice RE-20 Cardioid Microphone, and the Logic Pro X.

Fun Fact

Callie ended up in Houston on Arian Foster’s podcast, Now What?. He’s a former Houston Texans running back and was one of the more popular players in the NFL before he retired. He sent out a tweet that he wanted to chat with someone from the transgender community and they were recommended. Check out the episode, here!

Notes from Chris

Episode 432

Callie Wright, in their own words, considers themself pretty privileged. Their day job as a team lead in a call center pays well, and no one they works with cares about them being queer or trans. Callie also has a supportive group of friends and family.

But not everyone who is queer and/or trans has the same experience. Callie remembers going to a vigil for a trans girl who was forced into conversion therapy and hearing an LGBTQ affirming minister say some things that made her feel out of place as a non-believer.

Callie decided to create a space not just for LGBTQ activism, but for secular activism as well. They now produces two podcasts, an activist show called The Gaytheist Manifesto and a storytelling show called The Queer side. Their goals with their podcasts are to curate a space where people feel safe, valued, loved, and protected and also to try to change the hearts and minds of people who have negative attitudes towards the LGBTQ community.

Callie’s first show The Gaytheist Manifesto launched in 2015. A little over a year into The Gaytheist Manifesto, they turned to their community and asked them to support it through Patreon. Patreon is a platform that helps creators get paid by running a membership business for their fans. Patrons pledge a monthly contribution, Callie rewards them with premium content, and Patreon delivers that content to their patrons.

In 2017, Callie added their second podcast, a storytelling show called The Queer Side. They immediately started a Patreon when this podcast launched. Between Callie’s two shows, today they receive over $800 each month in contributions. They also had roughly a dozen speaking opportunities as a result of these shows.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

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

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

RELIABLE WEBHOST FOR $2.49/MONTH

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

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

Quote of the Day
"Make your pitch funny, or make your pitch earnest and heartfelt. Giving people laughter is a valuable service. In our niche the news is often grim, and a chance to smile is a welcome change of pace sometimes."
—Callie Wright #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

Choir Teacher Turns Music Workbooks Into Noteworthy Hustle

What It’s About

A choir instructor strikes a perfect, passive income chord with her digital choir workbooks and membership site.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

According to Erin, teachers are a wealth of valuable information that can easily be turned into a side hustle. In her words, “Teachers are famous for not valuing their own worth. They don’t realize what they have to offer.” Whether it’s a series of creative math exercises, engaging history lessons, or wacky science experiments, she believes teachers should take their original lessons and try packaging them in some way.

Fun Fact

The Practice Room started as a WordPress site, transitioned into a custom PHP site, and is now about to migrate back to WordPress. According to Erin, WordPress plugins for learning management have simply gotten too powerful and flexible to ignore.

Notes from Chris

Episode 430

If you had music class in first or second grade, you might remember the workbooks that you sight read from. Or you might not remember them because they were boring, unoriginal, and—unknown to most students—strangely expensive.

But Erin Lowell, a school choir teacher in the state of Main, knew how expensive they were—and it was a point of discord for her. The cheap books were $4 a piece, and for a school of 150 students, that meant it would take $600 to give each student their own workbook. Or actually, they loaned them the workbooks and would then collect them for the next year. What music program has $600 per year to spend on workbooks alone?

Erin knew there had to be another way—and she couldn’t stand using those same boring books one more time. So in 2004, she made her own.

Using a musical notation program called Finale and a simple word processor, Erin created her own set of sight reading exercises on her own time. To her surprise, it really wasn’t much treble. Once she had a few dozen lessons for the upcoming year, she pitched an idea to her school.

If they would provide the materials and let her use the binding machine, she would do the work every year before school started to put them together. Her school agreed to give her the $100 needed for the materials, and the following year was a musical success.

The kids were learning faster, they were paying better attention, and other teachers around town were starting to notice. After creating more workbooks and selling them to a handful of teachers each year, one of Erin’s principals suggested that she sell them online as ebooks—and thus, The Practice Room was born!

She had already proven that the workbooks were effective, and she knew that her customers would come back year after year. It seemed like a no-brainer.

Eventually, Erin even decided to transition her ebook series into an online membership model, and the transition really paid off! Erin doesn’t remember exactly when it happened, but within a couple months she was bringing in $500 per month with the membership model. The next year, her monthly average was just over $800 per month with virtually no marketing at all.

For the past several years, Erin has brought in about $20,000 per year through her site, minus about $100 per month on website expenses. It’s been mostly passive, other than answering emails from time to time, but Erin remembers those early days when she spent most of her evenings after school creating sight reading lessons. It was quite the sweet prelude to such a successful side hustle!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • The Practice Room: If expensive choir workbooks have you singing a melancholy tune, head on over to Erin’s website to check out her offerings
  • Wishlist Member: The plugin that Erin used to setup her membership program. Fun Fact: it’s also the same plugin that we’ve used to create the Side Hustle Society!
  • WordPress: Erin used WordPress to setup The Practice Room, and here you can learn how to install your own WordPress site in 5 minutes
  • Finale: The music notation software that Erin used to setup her choir exercises

SEE ALSO:

 

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

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

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

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

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

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

Quote of the Day
"I wish more teachers would look at the materials and curriculum they’ve developed over time and realize that has value. Teachers are famous for not valuing their own worth. They don’t realize what they have to offer."
—Erin Lowell #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

Flight Instructor’s App Takes Flight, Earns $30,000

What It’s About

An instructor takes flight into the future by building his first flight app…without ever owning a smart phone.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

If you also feel that you’re a little bit behind the times technologically, Urs says you shouldn’t worry or let it stop you because sometimes what you don’t know can be your biggest asset! He recommends finding someone in your network who can talk you through what apps are, or buy a cheap smartphone to play around with. Then design what you think an app should be like. If you don’t know the rules, you can’t be afraid of breaking them!

Fun Fact

Urs loves apps even though he was late to the party. He’s currently working on an App called 5F, which helps people to find fitness buddies in their local area.

Notes from Chris

Episode 429

For flight instructor Urs Camenisch, it was time to increase his household income. Working 6-7 days a week for a low salary was taking its toll, and Urs wanted a way to make money while he slept. And, without giving up his passion for flying planes.

Despite not being tech savvy—in fact, he didn’t even own a smartphone—he knew an internet business would be the best solution to his problem. However he felt like websites and desktops were a dying breed, and he wanted to future-proof his business as best he could. So, he decided he would create an app.

Through his work as a flight instructor, he spotted a need for Canada’s student pilots. All of them had to take an important exam, the Pre Solo Test about Air Regulations, or PSTAR for short, before being able to fly solo. But, there was little in the way of apps or websites to provide study support. Urs decided he’d take the knowledge he had, and apply it to an easy to access app.

The first step was to find a developer to help him create the app. He found some developers and agencies he wanted to work with, wrote a brief of what he wanted made, and began to ask for quotes. Much to his surprise, they all came back to him with hefty quotes of $30,000 dollars—a whole year’s salary for him. Which was (of course) out of the question.

Not one to be defeated, Urs found a hidden gem in one of the emails a developer sent him. He told Urs that he has to charge so much because he wouldn’t outsource his work. This was a lightbulb moment for him. Why pay so much if he could find the people the developers were outsourcing too and cut out the middleman entirely?

This brought Urs to freelance marketplaces, like Elance and Odesk, which joined forces and is now one company called Upwork.

This time, the quotes came back at a much more affordable rate of $1,000 for the entire app. Urs says he’s a firm believer in hiring locally, but if it’s 30 times the price, someone on a small budget really doesn’t have the luxury of choice.

The final start-up costs for the PSTAR app came in at $3,500. To try and recoup these funds, Urs set the price of his app at affordable prices that would help him earn back the initial investment over the course of the first year or so.

Since launching the app, he’s earned an extra $30,000 through sales. Looking to the future, Urs has started developing another app for fitness lovers. He’s also started to invest in real estate and has found a better job that he loves as a Medevac pilot. All thanks to this one app that eventually took off!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • PSTAR Exam App: If you hail from the Great White North and are looking for your aerial career to take flight, get to studying with Urs’ exam prep app
  • Upwork: The global freelancing platform that helps businesses connect with independent freelancers remotely
  • 5F: If you’re looking for something more mainstream than an app for Canadian flight students, check out Urs’ other app—it’s essentially “Tinder for workout partners!”

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
"Be realistic and prioritize: Hire professionals if you can’t do it yourself. I taught myself a lot but when it came time to code the app, I hired professionals. Remember, you still have a day job to do and that’s what puts food on the table."
—Urs Camenisch #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Get Connected Today!

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

Whether you're looking for a new job or looking to hire, you can find the right match at LinkedIn. Visit LinkedIn.com/HUSTLE today to get a $50 credit to post your first job.
Get Connected!

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

Couple’s Photo Booth Hustle Creates Memories and Cash

What It’s About

A couple starts a photo booth hustle to create memories and cash.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

If you’re thinking that this photo booth side hustle sounds “picture perfect” and you’d like to learn how to start something similar, Chris recommends researching the photo booth market in your area to start. Check to see if there are other companies offering this service, and see if there are ways that you could enter the market with a unique or better offering.

Fun Fact

Paramount Photo Booths are elegant and will look the part at most luxurious events, which means that Chris and his wife have done weddings at private estates. They have also worked a few gigs for celebrities who live in the area but said they won’t “kiss and tell.”

Notes from Chris

Episode 426

Today’s story comes from Chris Politylo from New York. By day, he’s an investigator for the state government as well as an assistant pastor. His side hustle is Paramount Photo Booths, a photo booth rental company he runs with his wife. They got the idea after attending a wedding with a photo booth and being unimpressed with the quality of both the booth and the photos. They thought there was an opportunity to provide something better.

But they also wanted to make sure they weren’t just diving headfirst into a business they knew nothing about. So before dropping thousands of dollars on equipment, Chris spent a few months researching one that met his criteria.

Before starting the business, Chris researched the market and saw that there was another photo booth rental company in his city, which showed him that there was demand in the area.

He also saw that the photo booth companies in the area he was looking to serve weren’t using Adwords, and many weren’t listed in Google local or showing up in organic results. Some of the websites he saw looked outdated or unprofessional. This was another reason to start the project: they figured they could easily beat the competition in that area.

They now rent photo booths to clients having all kinds of different events, mostly on the weekends. They provide not just the booth, but also fun props and a friendly attendant. They do a lot of weddings, but also Sweet 16s, proms, bar and bat mitzvahs, class reunions, fundraisers, holiday parties, school events, and corporate events.

Good news if you’re interested in doing this: while they spent $8,000 in startup costs, Chris says that prices have come down significantly and that people could get started now for around $3,000. More good news: Paramount Photo Booths was profitable right away. They made about $11,5000 in net profit in 2014, which rose to $18,000 in 2015 and $21,000 in 2016 and 2017.

Since every event they bring the photo booth to is a celebration, everyone is usually really happy. It creates a great working environment. And for Chris and his family, it was love at first click.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Paramount Photo Booths: Looking to make some memories? Take a picture—it will last longer! Learn more about Chris and his wife’s side hustle over on their website
  • PhotoBoothTraining.com: If you’d like to start up a photo booth rental side hustle yourself, Chris has a lot of great info readily available on this website
  • Squarespace: The website building platform that Chris and his wife used to create their website for Paramount Booths

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
"Reviewing the photos after an event can definitely be interesting! Alcohol is served at many events we work so that becomes a factor.  Some guests become very uninhibited and want to show off some skin or perhaps kiss a friend that they usually wouldn’t."
—Chris Politylo #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