Tag: Service

Dancer Waltzes Into Staffing Agency for Performers

What It’s About

A dancer choreographs her talent in job recruitment into a staffing agency.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Kristal has some important advice regarding relationship building, “support your community and they will support you back. Mustard Lane has thrived because of a strong reputation among industry professionals spanning many different industries. Empower those you network with!”

Fun Fact

Well over eight million people live across New York’s five boroughs. With that many people in such close proximity, even tried and true business models like staff recruitment can find success by focusing on a specific niche.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1282
Thirteen years ago Kristal Mallookis moved to New York City after graduating as a dance major from the University of Colorado. She had big aspirations in the Big Apple, one of which was to make it as a professional dancer. She was convinced that in no time at all her schedule would be full of auditions.

But soon, she encountered the reality of living in one of the most expensive cities in the world. The cost of living was piling up. So, after six months of slow dancing, Kristal decided to pick up some part-time work to make ends meet.

To find it, she looked on Craigslist for odd jobs that paid in cash. She came across a gig handing out flyers for a local cafe. It looked easy, it was close by and perhaps most importantly, it wouldn’t interfere with her plans of dominating the city through dance. Kristal took the job and danced all the way to the bank.

As the weeks went on Kristal kept a lookout for more odd jobs, eventually being recommended to Cafe Metro, a popular NYC chain. They needed someone bright and friendly to be their “sampler.” That is, someone to grab the attention of passers-by and offer them a taste of the delicious coffees that awaited inside. Kristal fit the bill, complete with a fake Italian accent!

Once again, she turned out to be a natural. She began to realize that creative performers like herself were well suited to this type of work.

The problem was, Kristal was only one person. She couldn’t possibly take on all the hours she was offered, and stay on top of her dancing.

But… she was well connected. The business owners who knew Kristal, also knew that she’d be able to find someone reliable them if she was unavailable.

The enthusiasm she’d built for helping people find jobs began to overshadow her desire to become a dancer. Kristal started looking at expanding this ‘staff recruitment’ thing into a real business. She already had the supply chain from the businesses and the staff from her friends and colleagues.

All she needed was a name to tie it all together. She chose Mustard Lane, by combining two of her favorite Beatles songs, Mean Mr. Mustard and Penny Lane.

Mustard Lane would make money by sourcing staff for a business’s needs. Kristal would look to her pool of performers to see who fit the bill. On finding someone suitable, she’d sign them up for the gig and bill the business for the time the performer spent working for them. The money she made would come from a percentage of the hourly fee.

There was no shortage of staffing agencies in New York, but her point of difference was that she’d target side gigs for aspiring performers. Work that could be done at unusual hours and lent itself to their innate talents. She continued to use her network to drum up business, and for the next several years she operated using only her cell phone.

To this day Kristal has performed zero marketing, outside word of mouth.

Now, she employs two full-time staff members and her business makes mid-six figures per year. She has a dedicated office in Manhattan and works with performers in over thirty other cities from afar.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

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

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

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

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

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

Quote of the Day
"Mustard Lane has thrived because of a strong reputation among industry professionals spanning many different industries. Empower those you network with!"
—Kristal Mallookis #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

Volunteer Turns Good Deeds Into Paid Consulting

What It’s About

How one person turned answering questions on the internet into a profitable hustle.

Words of Wisdom

Karmeish says that starting side hustles can be full of uncertainty at first, but to persevere: “It will be hazy and murky in the beginning, like I faced when I started Karmaworks however trust me things will slowly get clearer each day. There is no better school than doing it yourself.”

Fun Fact

Quora was founded by Adam D’Angelo and Charlie Cheever in June 2009 after the two left Facebook. By March 2010, the website was valued at $86 million. Today, Quora is worth $2 billion with 300 million monthly active users.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1277
Karmeish Ghosh was working as the Head of Sales and Business Development at a steel company in India. The company contracts some business activities to third party services, which in this case meant helping to create jobs for hundreds of rural women in India.

Although Karmeish was seasoned in the field, every once in a while he had a question. Naturally, he turned to Google for the answer.

Through looking for answers on how to get more clients for his employer, he found that countless others were asking the same questions on the website Quora. So, Karmeish began to answer any questions that he knew he could help with. More than anything, he wanted to support others in this specific field.

He never imagined that Quora would turn into a “funnel” of networking, but soon an outpouring of connection requests flooded his LinkedIn account! Karmeish had provided such helpful advice that people wanted to stay connected with him.

So, in January of 2017, he made his first move to start getting clients. Karmeish purchased 100 business cards and booked his first breakfast meet and greet with Business Networking International. It was there that he introduced himself as the Chief Sales Officer for Karmaworks Consulting, his brand new company.

At that event, he booked his first two clients—and left with a deal for $1,000. From there, Karmeish decided to focus on three target audiences. This included introverted techie founders struggling with sales, founders who didn’t have sales and marketing systems in place yet, and finally, people who had the money but didn’t know the go-to market strategy.

Investing time into the needs of those specific markets paid off. In his first year, Karmeish made $3,100 in revenue and only spent $140 on his business. And you guessed it … most of those expenses came from designing and printing those business cards.

The next year, in 2018, he decided that he needed a website. He purchased Karmaworks.co along with some web hosting services. Karmeish planned to write and use his blog to educate his potential clients and create some authority in his niche. Unfortunately, he didn’t put as much energy in the business as the year before and his sales dipped.

Although Karmeish is now making good money from his volunteer venture, he hasn’t forgotten the philanthropic origins of Karmaworks. He still gives free coaching and one-on-one calls. He loves the strategy of, “Giving 90% of my stuff for free and charging a premium for the rest.”

He’s learned that a side hustle is like a plant. As he says, “we need to nurture it everyday else or it will die off”. So, moving forward, he plans to continue creating online courses, working closely with his clients, and providing free resources wherever he can.

 

 

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
"It will be hazy and murky in the beginning, like I faced when I started Karmaworks however trust me things will slowly get clearer each day. There is no better school than doing it yourself."
—Karmeish Ghosh #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 Manager Gains Income After Losing Weight

What It’s About

An IT Manager works out a personal training program based on his own experience and success.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Dwayne has some important advice for those looking to do something similar, “Focus on your social proofing and train clients for free in the beginning if you have to. Having a real-world client testimony/transformation (before and afters) really resonates and is the best way to sell fitness training.”

Fun Fact

The weight loss industry is truly massive and worth an estimated 72 billion dollars in the US alone. With that much money floating around you don’t need to be a heavy hitter to make a tidy profit.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1275
Dwayne Douglas has a demanding day job as an IT Manager. Like many people who work all day at a desk, he’d developed some unhealthy habits. Little exercise and poor diet meant he was never able to get into the physical shape he wanted to.

One day he decided enough was enough! He began looking for fitness tips that would enable him to lose weight, get in shape, and achieve a level of health he’d always wanted. Taking radical action, his commitment paid off. Soon he was leaner, stronger, and happier than ever before.

That made him think… Was there a possibility for him to turn his love of fitness into a side hustle and make a little extra money? Surely making money training people couldn’t be any harder than getting in shape yourself.

He decided to take the plunge and become a personal trainer. He set himself a modest goal: to make enough money to cover his child’s daycare costs. He began an all-new warm-up routine.

He’d now been personal training for several years and had finally built his own list, albeit of cell phone numbers, not email addresses. However, this proved to be a blessing in disguise. He noticed SMS had a much better response rate than email, sometimes up to ninety-eight percent. He used it to successfully reactivate many of his old customers.

But along with a change in marketing came a change in his overall business model. Once the pandemic hit, he switched it up again, teaching an online training course he calls Virtually Fitt.

During his in-person personal training days Dwayne saw profit as high as three thousand dollars per month. While that’s taken a hit for the moment he’s not too worried. He still has his day job and is confident his new online training will grow even as people return to physical gyms.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Learn more about Dwayne and virtual fitness training courses at this website, VirtuallyFitt.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

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
"Focus on your social proofing and train clients for free in the beginning if you have to. Having a real-world client testimony/transformation (before and afters) really resonates and is the best way to sell fitness training."
—Dwayne Douglas #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

River Guide Submits Side Hustle Job Application

What It’s About

A software program to navigate the flow of an employment process.

Words of Wisdom

Ian share some great words of advice: “Make sure your message is on point. Know for sure everything that your company is and everything that your company isn’t. It makes the road a lot smoother if you have a clear message from the word go. We knew we were solving a huge problem for our customers, but in the beginning, we sometimes confused them by muddling the message..”

Fun Fact

With the recent COVID-19 pandemic 36 million Americans are out of work with experts predicting the country will enter a deep recession. But there’s a silver lining, some of the most successful tech companies like AirBNB, Dropbox and Uber were started after the recession caused by the 2008 GFC.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1263
Ian McIver is more comfortable wearing sandals than dress shoes. It should come as no surprise then, that he refuses to work a typical office job. Instead, Ian goes with the flow and has built a career for himself as a river guide in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

He’s somewhat of an anomaly in this regard. You see, like many resort towns, the population in Jackson Hole is incredibly transient. Most people come in for a season, work for a while, then return home to start a ‘real career.’ But Ian paddled in his own canoe. He spent the better part of twenty years in the town and became an accomplished guide.

In fact, he became so involved with the company he worked for that he became responsible for hiring those transient workers… and it was a big hassle. Finding, screening, and interviewing candidates was like swimming upstream. Every season he had to repeat the process over again. Over his twenty year career, Ian hired over two thousand people—an average of one hundred per year!

He knew there had to be a way to make the hiring process easier, and in 2016 he came up with an idea of a software platform to simplify everything. It could be used by small businesses to fill out job profiles and publish them on a webpage. Applicants could then apply through the site, the business could vet them, and follow up with the ones they wanted.

At first, Ian hoped to attract an investor. But he soon realized that this goal was a lot like trying to catch water in a net—and he decided that the traditional startup route wasn’t a good fit.

Fortunately, there was another way. River guiding attracts an eclectic bunch of people, including some with a lot of different skills. Ian remembered a guide he used to work with named Daniel Frehner. After his time as a guide, Daniel had gone on to learn programming.

Ian contacted Daniel, explained his idea and offered a partnership. They’d each have a share of the new business. Daniel would build the software, while Ian would be responsible for the marketing side of things. They spent the next couple of years creating a beta version. They called it JobApplix, short for Job Application, a name as streamlined as the product aimed to be.

In the first few months, over seven hundred people applied for a job through their software. That brought them to March 2020, when a waterfall by the name of COVID-19 was fast approaching.

So far, they’ve managed to safely navigate those treacherous waters. None of their customers have canceled and, in fact, Ian sees this as a huge opportunity. When things begin opening up and the economy comes roaring back, businesses will need to streamline their hiring process even more in order to get things moving again quickly.

That’s why he’s decided to offer the software for free for sixty days to any businesses signing up before September 2020. It should take all the risk out of trying it out, while at the same time help them realize the benefits while their business is getting back on its feet.

Remember: if you keep paddling against the current, you’ll eventually hit calm waters.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Learn more about Job Applix at their website, JobApplix.

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
"Make sure your message is on point. Know for sure everything that your company is and everything that your company isn’t."
—Ian McIver #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

Country Music Fan Hits The Decks As Part-Time DJ

What It’s About

A country music fan takes her turn spinning the hits.

Words of Wisdom

Planning to professionally spin tunes, here’s an important tip from Kate: “Have WiFi at every gig. Don’t depend on auto-mixing and actually learn how to DJ manually. Know your value and don’t let anyone tell you who you need to be.”

Fun Fact

DJing is big business with some of the biggest names in the industry being worth over $100 million dollars! Some estimates indicate there may be up to one million professional DJs in the USA.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1249
It was ten years ago that Kate Williamson was living in Hawaii studying full time. She had a full course load, but the life of a student offered a lot of downtime as well.

Evenings out usually meant going out to a local bar. Kate was a big country music fan so she often hit bars that only played the type of music she liked. The types of establishments where hearing Thomas Rhett, Maren Morris, or Carrie Underwood wouldn’t feel out of place.

Kate’s favorite bar was called the Country Bar in Pearl Harbor. She’d spent many a night there enjoying the music. Eventually she got to know the staff, including the DJ.

One night, he told Kate he wanted a backup DJ for times when he needed to take the night off. Up until that point he wasn’t able to find anyone suitable, but Kate was up for it—you could say she decided to add pitch to an idea.

So Kate and this house DJ made a deal. She’d become the backup DJ at the bar and work for job free for the next two months to learn the ropes. She’d take in all the information she could about mixing, turntables and how to seamlessly glide from one song to another to keep the beat going. Then, when they both felt ready, Kate could take over as the DJ.

With that, she had her training sorted out—and with some free DJ software she found online, she was ready to go.

The learning paid off and Kate was able to DJ her first night, earn a few bucks, and start a new side hustle all in one go. Cue the music!

From that night on, Kate had a regular gig at the Country Bar. When the DJ needed a night off Kate would drop on by with her computer and a collection of country tracks and spin the place into a frenzy.

Right now, Kate has no plans to take her DJing full time—and her nights out have been on hold during the pandemic. However, over the last year she has earned over seven thousand dollars through her gigs, enough money to keep her comfortable while living as a full-time student.

Kate shows that having a side hustle skill to fall back on can be handy, especially when you’re dropping the beat.

 

 

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
"Don’t depend on auto mixing and actually learn how to DJ manually. Know your value and don’t let anyone tell you who you need to be."
—Kate Williamson #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

PR Pro Writes Herself Into Screenwriting Career

What It’s About

A marketing professional becomes a movie screenwriter.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

At the urging of her accountant, Melissa started a production company. To write off things like manager, lawyer, and agent commissions, it’s better to be an S-Corp than an LLC. The production company then acquired Melissa’s marketing business, which was an LLC.

Fun Fact

Melissa got her gig with Lifetime because she wrote a spec script, which is an entire sample movie script—for free—so she could show them what she was capable of. Her writing was good enough to land her the job.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1247
When Melissa Cassera was growing up, she had a dream of writing soap operas. But life took her in a bit of a different direction. She ended up working in marketing and PR. For a time she took her work on the road, spending three years traveling around the U.S. in an RV with her husband and their three dogs.

Eventually they decided to settle down in Napa, California. It’s a beautiful area, but also a bit isolated, and Melissa suddenly had some free time on her hands. To entertain herself, she decided to start working on a romance novel, just for fun. She never intended to share the book publicly—it was purely for amusement. She’d write chapters and send them along to a few friends.

Things kept up like this until one day, while visiting LA for a work appointment, Melissa picked up a book called The Coffee Break Screenwriter. The book teaches you how to write a screenplay in little mini-bursts of about 10 minutes a day.

This got her thinking—could her private novel become a public TV show? Intrigued, Melissa bought the book and immediately went to work. A few months later, she had a draft of a pilot episode. She contacted the author of the book, and shared her writing. The author had worked as Senior Story Analyst for DreamWorks, gave her glowing feedback. She told Melissa her writing was just as good as some professional screenwriters who’ve been working in Hollywood for years.

Melissa left that meeting ablaze with renewed excitement. She threw herself into screenwriting, working in the mornings, at night, and on weekends. She even scheduled work-cations where she could write more.

She received tons of rejections. But there was also some interest, and within a year she got offered her first paid writing gig—an original movie for the Lifetime Network.

Just like her mentor promised, good work got found.

Things happened quickly. One of her mentors introduced Melissa to a literary manager and they started working together. With his help, Melissa sold an original TV series called “Addicted,” loosely based on her own dark experiences with pharmaceuticals.

Her first movie, “Girl Followed,” premiered in April 2017 on Lifetime. She almost cried when she saw her name on screen for the first time.

The best part of the experience is knowing she is a professional writer, even though she was told for most of her life by teachers and colleagues that she wasn’t good enough, or that she had to follow certain “rules” to “make it.”

Moving forward, she’d love to fund and produce an original web series, film, or maybe even a documentary through the production company she started four years ago. Her advice to others is to keep their eyes on their own paper. Good work gets found, so keep working away.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

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

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

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

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

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

Quote of the Day
"Now, I try to avoid getting overly caught up in other people’s opinions, but her comments definitely boosted my confidence. I started thinking to myself, “Maybe this is something I could pursue seriously, not just as a hobby…”"
—Melissa Cassera #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

English Teacher Writes His Way Into All-Star Tutoring

What It’s About

How an English teacher became NYC’s best writing tutor according to Yelp.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Although John was able to tutor many different subjects, he found the best success when he niche’d down and marketed himself as Mr. WritingTutor. As John says, “When you say you specialize in everything, people know you specialize in nothing.”

Fun Fact

Although John is an English teacher, he isn’t naturally good at grammar. After being reprimanded by his administrators, he dove into grammar. He learned so much that he even published a book about it, called 50 Grammar Rules Everyone Should Know.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1226
John Castellano was working as an English teacher in New York City. As much as he loved his job, he needed more money to support his family.

As he thought about his options, he realized there might be some advantages to working as an independent tutor. For example, he could set his prices based on the market, and shift them easily in response to supply and demand. There would be no fixed ceiling.

But what kind of tutoring would he do? He hit the books and found that SAT tutors made the most money. There was only one problem – John didn’t do very well on the SAT.

Back in high school, John had scored in the 50th percentile on his SAT. And even though it had been years since then, and he had a lot of experience as a teacher, he knew that without a good score himself, he’d have a credibility gap. John also knew what he had to do next. As a 32-year-old, he signed up to take the SAT again.

This time, he scored in the 90th percentile. From there, he invested $3,000 in magazine advertisements in order to start getting clients – but he got zero in return. Unfortunately, this ended up being an expensive lesson to learn. He decided to switch his technique, and invested $150 into a Squarespace website and another $50 into SAT books.

This time, he scored in the 99th percentile of test-takers in the writing section. From there, he decided to specialize in writing and market his business as “MrWritingTutor.com” instead of just as an SAT tutor. By niche’ing down, he gained a lot more clients. As John says, “When you say you specialize in everything, people know you specialize in nothing.”

In his first year, he charged $60 an hour for general homework help and $120 an hour for standardized test prep. A year later, he raised his homework prices to $70 an hour. Eventually, he tried to raise it to $80 an hour, but he found that many new clients would not call him back with those prices. Through testing it over time, John found his threshold.

Now, John takes home thousands of dollars in extra earnings per month. In his best months, he earns anywhere between $2,000 to $4,000 just from tutoring. Not only that, but this side hustle has helped John get better at his career. He is constantly sharpening his teaching skills.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

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

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

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

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

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

Quote of the Day
"When you say you specialize in everything, people know you specialize in nothing."
—John Castellano #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

TBT: Show Me the Honey! Behind the Scenes of a Beekeeping Biz

What It’s About

A sweet success update you’ve got to hear to “bee”lieve it.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1195

Welcome to Throwback Thursday / “Where are they now?” where we take an in-depth look at someone who’s story has evolved considerably since we first featured them.

Last week’s segment was about a graphic designer who creates a watercolor brand that is sold in retailers throughout South Carolina and beyond.

Today, in our latest feature, we’ll hear from Nicole, a professional beekeeper (initially a side hustling beekeeper…) in Houston, Texas.

It’s been more than two years since we featured her—what’s happened since? She’s got some advice on partnerships and mentoring.

Listen to today’s episode to hear Nicole’s updates…

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • See what all the buzz is about by visiting Nicole’s website to see how you can become a beekeeper yourself at Bee2Bee Honey Collective.

 

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

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

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

GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS

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

Quote of the Day
"I would do would be to first find a partner to help You have strengths that perhaps another person doesn’t have. Maybe they’re very good at the communication and scheduling and you’re better with the bees or vise versa."
—Nicole Buergers #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Don't Do Business Without It

Side Hustle School is brought to you by American Express.

No matter what you do in business, from working nine-to-five to working five-to-nine, it’s easier when you don’t go it alone. Get the powerful backing of American Express—don't do business without it! 💳 Visit American Express

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

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

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

Keep in Touch

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


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Q&A: How to find target markets for livestreaming business events?

What It’s About

A listener seeks advice on how to find his target market.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1194

Today’s caller is working on providing livestreaming content creation services for small businesses and events. How can he find a niche or target market to focus on?

“I’m working on providing livestreaming content creation services for small business startups as well as small events. My question to you today is do you have any ideas or insight as to the potential niches in these two categories? Niches that I could possibly take advantage of right away and get this hustle up and running.”

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

 

 

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

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

Sponsors & Gratitude

Don't Do Business Without It

Side Hustle School is brought to you by American Express.

No matter what you do in business, from working nine-to-five to working five-to-nine, it’s easier when you don’t go it alone. Get the powerful backing of American Express—don't do business without it! 💳 Visit American Express

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

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

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

Keep in Touch

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


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Software Tester Tunes Pianos for Harmonious Hustle

What It’s About

Tune in on how to listen and find the right key with this hustle.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Listen to yourself. Good side hustle ideas can come from the thought, “I know I could do a better job, create a better product, or provide a better service…”.

Fun Fact

Josh got into piano tuning only because a piano tuner he had an appointment with failed to show up. That got him thinking – how much work do piano tuners have that they can afford to blow him off?

Notes from Chris

Episode 1191
Software tester Josh Kemp has always been adept at using his hands. Although his day job involves working at a computer, he enjoys learning more physical skills on the side. In particular, he liked trades that were at the intersection of art and science, which led him to study topics ranging from shoeing horses to installing water fountains. These skills also allowed him to generate several income sources apart from his paycheck.

When Josh got a free piano off Craigslist, he decided that he would restore it as best as he could. But after messaging several piano tuners in the area, he only received one reply for an offer to do the job for $135. Worse, the piano tuner failed to show up on the day of the appointment and never responded to any of Josh’s emails. That’s right—he was ghosted by a piano tuner.

Josh was upset at first but the whole incident got him thinking: how much work do piano tuners have if they could treat customers this way? And if there was so much work out there, how hard would it be to learn to tune a piano himself and clink out a harmonious new source of income?

The first thing he did was to reach out to a few known piano tuners in other states from contact addresses he got off the internet to ask what they thought about someone breaking into the field. Then, he proceeded to use his wife’s phone to ring up those in the local neighborhood to gather feedback. Some thought that pianos were going away and that it was a gig that would soon disappear, but the majority believed that there was a lot of work around. Armed with this information, Josh jumped into developing the skills he needed.

Based on the recommendations from real piano tuners in the YouTube videos, Josh bought a tuning app for $300. This worked far better than what the online course had taught him, and now he was ready to play the diatonic scale.

Now he just needed customers. The online course had taught him to run Google ads, but Josh found that $100 of ads had failed to net him a single piano in need of tuning. The piano tuners that he had spoken to had zero experience with digital marketing. This made Josh decide not to pay for marketing, but instead, to rely on social media and free, organic posts to spread the word.

It worked. His free piano tuning ads on platforms such as Facebook Marketplace and NextDoor got the attention he needed, and at $80 for a piano to be tuned, Josh got his first client. He then started to experiment with his prices, raising them to $90, and finally to $100, as he realized that was the optimal price for his service.

Within three months, he showed up on the first page of Google for piano tuners in the area with 24 reviews, and started receiving calls off this ranking. The results were far better than he ever got from the online course he bought.

Josh’s experience led him to develop his own online piano tuning course, with lessons drawn from his own journey. Having picked up piano tuning on June 28th and made his first dollar on July 5th, Josh knows that a bias for action and practical experience goes far. In fact, it spans seven octaves.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

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

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

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

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

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

Quote of the Day
"I always tried to figure out what other successful piano tuners were REALLY doing in the real world and that ended up really helping me.”"
—Josh Kemp #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