Tag: Service

Mom Photographer Starts Summer Camp for Kids

What It’s About

A photographer shifts her focus starting a creative arts summer camp for kids.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Think about starting your own summer camp? Here’s some helpful advice from Tracy and Jennifer; “To run a successful summer camp you have a solid curriculum with a lot of interactive projects. Summer camp needs to be different than school and the focus should be fun for the kids. Test out all of your projects to ensure kids will grasp what you are teaching and have fun while doing so.”

Fun Fact

More than 6 million kids in the USA attend some form of summer camp. There are more than 12,000 summer camps operating in the United States, including 7,000 overnight camps and 5,000 day camps.

Source: https://www.regpacks.com/blog/infographic-amazing-facts-summer-camps-united-states/

Notes from Chris

Episode 1186
Tracy Robinson works as an outdoor photographer in The Woodlands, just north of Houston, Texas, where she takes family, senior and business portraits. She loves her work, but it’s very seasonal. You see, it gets extremely hot in The Woodlands during summer, so most people opt to have their outdoor photos taken in the fall. Although that means Tracy doesn’t make as much money then, that’s not to say she isn’t busy. As a mom of five, there’s always something to do.

A few years ago, she was so busy that often she wasn’t even able to capture a moment with her kids. Case in point, one of her daughters had been asking for a photography lesson for months … and Tracy would always respond with “one day soon.” As time dragged on that “one day” felt like it would never come.

But Tracy didn’t lose focus and eventually sat down to work out a rough curriculum for a kids photography class. As the course developed, her vision for it increased. In fact, she was so taken with what she prepared that she thought it could be worth teaching to other kids, not just her own—and there was a complete lack of art classes in her local area.

Flash forward to March 2016 when Tracy met Jennifer Pickard. It turned out that Jennifer had been working on a similar idea over the previous year. She was an Art Director at Louisiana State University, where she taught Adobe Photoshop skills to adults.

When Tracy and Jennifer met, they instantly pictured themselves working together. They devised the idea of a summer day camp to teach kids photography and graphic design skills. They wasted no time, and—in a snap—were testing the concept on their own children.

Turns out, kids, even young ones, are pretty good at grasping ideas like “aperture” and “pixelization.” That’s one benefit the iPhone generation has over the rest of us. The two adults then decided to bring this creative endeavor out of the darkroom. They called it Camp Pixel Project.

After running that first season, they both collapsed in exhaustion with a new respect for what teachers go through. But they were also satisfied with the progress, as were the parents of their new design students.

With that success under their belt, they went back to the drawing board. They knew they’d for sure run the day camps again the following summer. They planned to implement a bunch of changes from the lessons learned in the first year.

This resulted in significant profit for Tracy and Jennifer. For just two to three weeks of camps each year, they each take home around ten thousand dollars. Not enough for a full-time income but more than enough to cover the slower periods in their other work.

For the future, they hope to franchise Camp Pixel Project to others around the country. With such a proven concept, the picture seems crystal clear.

 

 

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
"Summer camp needs to be different than school and the focus should be fun for the kids. Test out all of your projects to ensure kids will grasp what you are teaching and have fun while doing so."
—Jennifer & Tracy #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

Military Mom Makes Moola Managing Media

What It’s About

A military spouse becomes a Virtual Assistant General creating online courses and guiding new trainees.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Thinking about taking on a similar path? Emily provides these helpful words; “Assess your current skills and believe you can offer help to someone out there. Anyone can find a way to help online businesses as a virtual assistant if you’re a go-getting and willing to figure things out.”

Fun Fact

Almost 70% of virtual assistants are married and 59% have a college degree. Furthermore, the global outsourcing marketing is worth a staggering $85 billion dollars world while.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1177
It was ten years ago when Emily Reagan gave up a dream job to move across the country with her husband. It wasn’t the first time either. Her partner was in the military and moving was just part of the lifestyle.

This was challenging. Life on a single income didn’t leave much money for luxuries. While Emily knew her role was important, she was still hoping to contribute financially. And soon she had an opportunity to do just that.

A referral from a colleague led to a small job on the side. The task was quite simple, to help a small business with their Facebook presence and occasionally reach out to media outlets when they had something newsworthy. Both tasks were things Emily had done in the past, and she knew she could accomplish them with her eyes closed.

The client agreed and Emily was put on a retainer for a monthly fee of seventy five dollars. It was a small amount of money but it meant the world to her. The money could go towards a date night for her and her husband, or a guilt free trip to the salon. But above all, it gave her a new sense of worth.

After working with this client for a while, Emily was presented with a new opportunity. A friend gave her the heads up about a Facebook post she saw. A business owner in that friend’s network was looking for help putting together a media kit.

Unlike her first client, this job wasn’t something Emily was familiar with and hadn’t done before. But she was a good writer, she knew the basics of PR, and above all, had a willingness to learn. She hopped online and studied everything there was to know about the process.

In the end she delivered … big time. The client was so happy with Emily’s work that they kept calling on her services over the next year. Soon, she’d built a reputation as the person who could get any administrative task done.

During this time, Emily had given birth to another child and the family was growing. They’d also moved a couple more times for her husband’s military placements. All through that process, she kept her clients. The reason was that all of her work was done online. Without knowing it, she’d turned herself into a virtual assistant: a one-stop remote admin shop for business owners across the country.

It was then that she saw the potential in the online space, specifically, the blogging world and Pinterest. She’d seen others online producing content, crafting sales funnels and marketing themselves.

Now Emily switched into full-on business mode. First, picking up more client work to boost her side income into the four figures. Then, she saw the potential of teaching others how to do the same thing. She knew plenty of other military moms who’d love to make extra money on the side as a virtual assistant.

This led her to transition her business from client work, to creating courses around becoming a virtual assistant. She produced content on her blog and created free PDFs with tips and tricks for others to get started. Eventually, she began selling a guide titled “The VA Crash Course”—accomplishing all that while her family grew to four children.

Between her client work and selling courses, she’s earning over two thousand dollars per month, while staying at home and managing the household. Any future moves might be disruptive to her family of six, but not to her income.

 

 

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
"Assess your current skills and believe you can offer help to someone out there. Anyone can find a way to help online businesses as a virtual assistant if you’re a go-getting and willing to figure things out.”"
—Emily Reagan #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

Music Teacher Quits Job to Earn $100k on Fiverr

What It’s About

A music teacher hits the right notes as a Fiverr freelance writer.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Carrie has some advice for those thinking about doing something similar, “Be open to new opportunities and stay flexible. The ways that you can collaborate, interact, and work with people around the world are changing, and there’s some pretty amazing potential in being an early adopter.”

Fun Fact

Fiverr began life as a fun website where you could pay people all over the world five bucks for an array of tasks. Now, it is a freelancing platform of real force boasting over 5.5 million buyers, 830,000 sellers and processing 50 million transactions per month.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1172
It was 2013 and Carrie French was in her second year of college studying music education. With high tuition and living costs she was looking for ways to make extra money. However, her goal to graduate a year early made her days just too full for a traditional part-time job.

It was around that time she first read about Fiverr in a Seventeen Magazine article. Fiverr is a freelancing website that allows anyone to post a ‘gig’—their version of a job—and have others pay for it. At the time, the cost for all gigs was five dollars, hence the name.

The article suggested teens use the site to earn money for One Direction tickets—a frivolous pursuit in Carrie’s eyes. She was much more interested in paying her tuition than lining the pockets of Harry Styles. The site seemed ideal … so she decided to check it out.

In particular, she noticed a lot of people were offering and looking for ghostwriting services, which piqued her interest. Carrie kept a daily blog at the time and considered herself a pretty good writer.

She figured, why not? … and posted a handful of gig offers including article writing, proofreading, and even dream interpretation. The latter found a home in the ‘just for fun’ category on the site, a popular section at the time.

Over the next month or so, Carrie earned forty dollars. The equivalent of completing eight gigs. Nothing to write home about, but she enjoyed learning how it worked and being exposed to online freelancing, which was a completely new concept to her. She decided to stick with it and see how she could improve.

Although it was just a small side gig, Carrie took it seriously and, unbeknownst to her at the time, began writing her own destiny.

This continued for the next few years as Carrie used Fiverr to cover her college tuition and living expenses. She did so well out of the venture that she was able to graduate college with only seven thousand dollars in student loan debt. An enviable position for most people her age.

Then, she graduated and the real world came knocking. Carrie got a full- time job as a music teacher, a goal she’d had since the fourth grade. But unfortunately, soon after, reality hit. Turns out, Carrie didn’t really enjoy being a teacher.

A few months into it, she made the decision to quit and pursue her freelance business full time. Carrie describes this as one of the hardest decisions she’s ever had to make.

But she hasn’t looked back. The decision to focus on freelancing had the immediate impact of doubling her income, once again! She put effort into further optimizing her Fiverr listings: improving her pitch, updating her videos and offering new services in sales copywriting and brand consulting.

Now, six years later she is earning over one hundred thousand dollars per year as a writer through Fiverr. More money than she could ever earn as a teacher.

More recently Carrie has launched a YouTube channel with the goal of helping other aspiring freelancers improve their Fiver 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

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 open to new opportunities and stay flexible. The ways that you can collaborate, interact, and work with people around the world are changing, and there’s some pretty amazing potential in being an early adopter."
—Carrie French #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

From $11/hr Barista To Six Figure Copywriter

What It’s About

Perked up by his writing skills, a former barista brews a six-figure copywriting hustle.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Garrett was shocked to find out that people would pay (and pay well) for his writing services. Do you have a skill or service that you don’t think much of but someone else might?

Fun Fact

Garrett and his wife traveled to over 20 countries in 15 months as digital nomads on Garrett’s writing income alone.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1165
Garrett Oden can remember the very first cup of coffee he actually enjoyed. He was a freshman in college, and one of his friends worked at a local coffee shop. He pestered Garrett to come give coffee a try, promising him that not all of it tastes like burnt rubber. Finally, he relented. He went to the cafe, ordered something called a “french press” and took a sip.

His eyes were opened. Green apple. Caramel. Milk chocolate. Garrett can still remember the shock he felt when he realized coffee could have real flavor.

Hooked, he created an affiliate blog on WordPress to document his journey into the world of coffee (and hopefully make some money from Amazon Associates while he was at it). He wrote educational content, like “Does Coffee Go Bad” and “Why Does My Coffee Taste Bitter?” While he made a couple hundred bucks a month, it wasn’t very lucrative. However, the research paid off: a year later he applied to be a barista at a new cafe and was hired.

Shortly after that, he got an email from a business owner in Chicago. He was preparing to open a massive coffee eCommerce store and wanted to start building authority for his brand. He’d found Garrett’s blog, and asked for his help writing articles to do it—paid help, that is.

Garrett was shocked, thinking: “People actually pay money for this?” He did some research and crafted a proposal. $800 per month for twelve 1,000 word articles.

He had no idea if it was a fair offer. Garrett estimated it would take two hours to write each blog and figured $800 divided by 24 hours is $33 per hour. It seemed insane. It was nearly three times what he was making at the coffee shop.

The coffee-preneur accepted, and Garrett Oden Writing was born.

That initial contract didn’t last long—the business owner would give up on the coffee idea—but the fire was lit, and Garrett began looking at freelancing sites to see what other coffee-related jobs he could get. And sure enough, with his resume, he didn’t have a hard time finding more. Three blog posts for $80 for one client. Six blogs at $30/hr for another. A 2,000-word article for $100.

So in early 2017, Garrett began stepping up his game.

He now ranks #1 on Google for “coffee copywriter” and “food tech copywriter”, but most of his clients come from LinkedIn. In 2019, Garrett earned $70,000 pre-tax. In 2020, he expects to break six figures.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Learn more about Garrett and his business at his website, GarrettOden.com.

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

WEB HOSTING @ $2.49/MONTH

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
"Every time my calendar starts to get full, I raise my rates. Eventually, low-paying clients drop off (or I let them go) and are replaced with higher-paying ones. It’s a slow, natural way to ensure your income is never stagnant."
—Garrett Oden #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

Programmer Automates Profit With Birthday Reminders

What It’s About

A helpful browser extension that remembers birthdays and sends greetings.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Wondering if you’re unique idea might be a good side hustle? Here’s what Steven has to say about the subject; “People will pay for the most random things. Just because you wouldn’t pay for something doesn’t mean someone else won’t. If you can find a way to make a subscription plan, it’s worth it.”

Fun Fact

If you had a group of just 23 people there’s a 50-50 chance of at least two people having the same birthday. In a group of 75 there’s a 99.9% chance of at least two people matching. This weird and wonderful statistic doesn’t seem to make sense but is totally true.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1162
Back in 2014 Steven Braverman was fresh out of college and starting his new career as a Software Developer in Malibu. The company had an interesting culture in that they encouraged failure in all their employees. Their unofficial mantra was “If you are not failing, then you are not trying hard enough.”

Steven embraced this way of thinking both at work and outside it. He spent much of his extracurricular time working on and improving his skills. He decided the best way to do that was to think of a problem, then apply a new technology in creating a solution for it.

His only rules were that it should solve a problem he himself had and that he would spend at most two weeks bringing it to life…

It was a Sunday afternoon when he first gave birth to the idea of creating an automatic birthday greeting service. This was something he wished existed because he was always forgetting to wish his friends and family a happy birthday. The idea fit both of his criteria, so he poured himself a cup of coffee, lit the birthday candles, and began the exploratory work.

It wasn’t long before he had reason to celebrate.

What he came up with was a lightweight coded script. It worked like this; when he opened up his web browser and logged into Facebook it would check if any of his friends had birthdays that day. If so, the script would automatically publish a message to that friend’s Facebook wall.

Fast forward to 2017 and a discussion with a friend led Steven to check his download numbers. He noticed that the extension had matured quite a bit and hit nearly five thousand users. He realized that this little tool he’d made was growing up.

The one thing he disliked about Birthday Buddy was that you had to be logged into Facebook for it to work. If you didn’t log in one day, the system wouldn’t know who had birthdays and wouldn’t send the greetings. This was a big problem, and one Steven thought he could solve with a bit more coding.

So, he pulled out the keyboard and got to work on Birthday Buddy once more. He eventually figured out a way to solve the problem. A user could create an account, link their Facebook profile and Birthday Buddy would automatically send greetings even if you weren’t logged in.

By the time he got everything set up, almost another year had passed and it was approaching the end of 2018. There was no party, no big show, instead Steven silently launched Birthday Buddy to the world.

And like the perfect birthday gift, he got exactly what he wanted.

Over the next few weeks Steven began receiving subscribers. One at first, then a few more and a few more after that. Over the course of the next year, more users signed up and by the end of 2019 he was making around one thousand dollars per month in subscriptions.

While nowhere near enough to go full time, the money generated has earned him enough to more comfortably spend money on the things he likes: two new laptops, software, and dining out. It’s a level of success worth celebrating.

 

 

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
"People will pay for the most random things. Just because you wouldn’t pay for something doesn’t mean someone else won’t. If you can find a way to make a subscription plan, it’s worth it.”"
—Steven Braverman #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

Out-of-Work Writer Turns to Profitable Poetry

What It’s About

A writer looking to make ends meet, finds hope in his poetry and takes to the streets.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

In 2020 in the US, the most common political affiliation is unaffiliated. The most common religious affiliation is unaffiliated. We have a crisis of connection, as a country. We’ve gotten rid of so many of our old shared stories, and are looking for new ones to tell us who we are and how we’re all related.

Fun Fact

March 21 is World Poetry Day, a UNESCO declared day of celebration. Its purpose is to promote the reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry throughout the world.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1156
Ten years ago Brian Sonia-Wallace was living in a medieval Scottish village researching eco-conscious living. A year later he graduated and moved back to a United States in economic turmoil. This was right after the Global Financial Crisis and there were no jobs in the eco-space which was just a fledgling industry at the time.

He took a job fundraising for a local non-profit—but it didn’t last long. He was laid off and spent the next six months looking for work, with limited success. Eventually, he turned to a contract job in grant writing to make ends meet.

In an effort to improve his well being and afford to pay rent elsewhere, he began frequenting poetry slams at night. A poetry slam is a spoken word competition where poets perform for a live audience. He found listening to the stories helped him feel less alone during his time of isolation.

In fact, Brian enjoyed them so much that, being somewhat of a writer himself, decided to undertake a challenge: to figure out a way to pay his rent for an entire month using only his poetry skills.

Although his situation was dire, he wasn’t hoping to set the world on fire. He was just determined not to be beat, so he took to the street.

He bought himself an old typewriter for twenty dollars, drove to a busy intersection and sat down with a sign that read “Give me a topic, I’ll write you a poem. Pay me what you think it’s worth.”

Brian was well aware he looked like a total weirdo just sitting out there, typewriter at the ready. But as they say, every movement needs a leader and at least one follower … and Brian soon had his first disciple. A woman with a buzz cut walked up to him and said “I don’t have any money.” Brian responded with “That’s OK” and offered to write for free—and something amazing happened. She started opening up, telling him the story of her father, a truck driver who was always on the road, working to provide for his family.

Brian clanked away at his old typewriter, starting with the woman’s name and the words, ‘For You.’ Soon enough he’d produced a one of a kind poem. As he read it out loud, she began to cry. She then rushed off to an ATM and paid Brian for the poem he was happy to do for free. He used the money to buy a burrito.

The moment he knew this concept could be taken beyond the street was during a poetry session at Venice Beach near Los Angeles. A big, burly realtor came up to him, gave him his number and invited Brian to be the ‘writer in residence’ at their upcoming corporate party.

A week later, he was sitting next to the bar at a swanky party typing poems for the staff and their guests. After that night, Brian’s future looked bright.

He met the challenge, successfully paid his rent for the month, and kept at it after that. The poetry side hustle was going to be his main project.

He began receiving referrals and was hired by everyone from Google to Macy’s, Mall of America to Amtrak, and even the National Parks Service. From time to time, he’d pick up some media coverage through one of these events and that led to more referrals.

At times he’s felt like throwing in the towel and moving on. But then a unique opportunity comes along that keeps him engaged. That happened recently when he was approached by a publisher for a book deal. “The Poetry of Strangers: What I Learned Traveling America with a Typewriter” will be available in the summer of 2020.

It began with a struggle, it seemed impossible … but RentPoet.com is now unstoppable!

 

 

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
"It’s been incredible to get to make my own life, to be my own boss, to get to live this surreal American dream on the most unlikely art-form."
—Brian Sonia-Wallace #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!
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Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

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

Bookkeeper Begins Banking Bonus Income

What It’s About

An self-taught bookkeeper quickly counts the ways to an annual six-figure hustle.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Andi has some important wisdom on staying true to yourself while running a business. “Be authentic, not perfect. In many ways I’m the antithesis of what your typical financial person is. I’m a queer woman with tattoos and purple hair. I don’t talk in fancy language or even care about sounding “authoritative in my niche”. Instead, I just show up as myself and I’ve found the small business owners that appreciate my voice and brand.”

Fun Fact

QuickBooks is one of the most popular pieces of accounting software in the world. In fact, there are approximately 30 million users in the U.S alone. This goes to show, becoming an expert in something many people use can open up weird and wonderful side hustle opportunities.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1149
When Andi Smiles entered the workforce in her early twenties, she never dreamed she’d become a business owner—far from it. In fact, she figured she’d stay in that workforce for decades, so she dutifully began her first job as an administrative assistant.

One day, her boss asked, “Can you learn QuickBooks to do our bookkeeping?” (QuickBooks is a common bookkeeping software for small businesses. They’ve also been a sponsor of our show in the past.)

Andi, never being one to back down from a challenge, said “Sure!” … and then totally freaked out because she had no idea what she was getting into.

Luckily, she was tech-savvy, and good at learning. She went about studying up on QuickBooks and all things balance sheet. At first it was difficult, but her tenacity and willingness to learn paid dividends.

A while later, she left that job and was hired as an assistant elsewhere. The main reason for landing the gig? She now knew QuickBooks inside and out. And she must have been doing something right! When it came to tax time, her new boss’s tax advisor raved about Andi’s bookkeeping prowess.

In fact, the advisor loved Andi’s work so much that she recommended her to her son, another tax preparation expert. He, in turn, recommended her to a customer of his. Soon, Andi had her very first freelance bookkeeping client in what became a truly word-of-mouth driven side hustle.

In fact, Andi had such an influx over the next few years that by the time she entered her mid-twenties she was able to quit her job and go all-in with her unexpected hustle. Interestingly, she did it all without any marketing or even a website.

And then she kept working smarter, not just harder. After quitting her day job, Andi realized that service based bookkeeping work had a ceiling. There are only so many hours in a week and therefore only so many clients she could serve at a time.

Therefore, rather than provide ongoing bookkeeping services for an hourly or monthly fee, she put together short-term training packages, offering financial tune-ups to educate clients on how to better handle their business finances.

In 2016, she registered the first domain name for her business, AndiSmiles.com. She blogged about the types of things she knew her clients struggled with, and marketed the posts using SEO and Pinterest. Slowly she gained a small following. A year later, she successfully launched her first online course.

So, how much money can a finance expert make? Andi’s business now brings in a comfortable six figure income. A sum large enough that she has recently been able to purchase a home with her partner.

What started as an accidental side hustle built by word of mouth is now a lucrative website and consulting service. One that has Andi needing to do more bookkeeping, but this time for herself.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Learn more about Andi and her business from at her website, AndiSmiles.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
"In many ways I’m the antithesis of what your typical financial person is. I’m a queer woman with tattoos and purple hair. I just show up as myself and I’ve found the small business owners that appreciate my voice and brand."
—Andi Smiles #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

Designer’s Love Of Color Earns Greenbacks

What It’s About

Facing a dull period, a designer colors her world and embraces a bright future.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Jen shares some important words of encouragement regarding a side hustler’s journey: “Celebrate your successes. I didn’t in the beginning and still need to remember to do it. Celebrate a new product launch, a new client, a new sale. Be grateful every day.”

Fun Fact

Scientists have shown that we can see up to 10 million different colors which are all based on different intensities of red, green and blue. With that many colors to choose from, it’s no wonder there’s room in the market for a color stylist to help you select one.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1144
In 2012, Jen Thoden found herself going through a messy divorce. The night she moved out was one of the hardest of her life: everything felt dark and colorless! She sat alone in the townhouse she’d lived in for years, surrounded by moving boxes and wondering “What am I going to do?”

But, like many strong women before her, it didn’t take long for Jen to start figuring things out and begin building a new life. One of the things she decided to overhaul was her wardrobe.

Because she felt off-color a lot of the time, she investigated ways to make herself feel better—and eventually stumbled upon the world of color styling. It’s a concept that suggests everyone has colors they look especially good in and that can make them feel great.

She decided to start a blog based on color styling. She registered the domain name Outfitideas4u.com and began writing posts on outfit ideas, color analysis, and how other women can go about selecting the perfect colors for themselves. Everything she’d learned so far she put down in black and white on the blog.

From her day job as a User Experience (UX) designer, Jen had experience with both SEO and video production, both of which helped to bring traffic to her site. She soon began acquiring email subscribers, and had over two thousand people signed up a year later. On top of that, she was constantly being emailed for color and outfit advice.

Jen realized this was a golden opportunity.

She noticed a gap in the market she believed she could fill: the market of color fans. The fans would be similar to paint swatches, but all the colors ‘fan’ out, so you can easily compare them. That way, anyone could hold it up to their skin to see what looked good. Jen felt it would be the perfect product for her audience, so she looked into having them printed.

This is where she told her first white lie. (It wasn’t really a lie, but we liked the pun.) The fans weren’t ready or printed yet so Jen sold them through a pre-sale link. What followed came completely out of the blue.

She sold five thousand dollars worth of fans in just two days. The benefit of the sale was more than money—it also gave Jen the green light (sorry) to try and turn her project into a real business.

After two years as OutfitIdeas4U, she rebranded to YourColorStyle.com and compiled her ebooks, blog content, and color fan product into a fresh new design. She wanted to focus more on the transformational power of color. Her goal was to help women everywhere who might be feeling blue to brighten their day and shine with confidence.

All this success has certainly brought in the greenbacks. Your Color Style now turns over a tidy profit of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars per year. A fantastic success by any standard.

Next up, Jen plans to offer a business training program so that stylists from anywhere can learn the science of color and offer that knowledge to their own clients. For her, the experience has led to a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Learn more about color styling and get your own fan at Jen’s website, YourColorStyle.com.

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

WEB HOSTING @ $2.49/MONTH

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
"Celebrate your successes. I didn’t in the beginning and still need to remember to do it. Celebrate a new product launch, a new client, a new sale. Be grateful every day."
—Jen Thoden #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

Journalist Gets Paid to Host Outdoor Activities

What It’s About

In need of a “Maine” hustle, a former journalist creates a fun, fitness-focused social club.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Facing a job transition can be challenging but it can also be the motivation one needs to create a hustle. Try to capitalize on any opportunity of momentum that pushes you to move forward with your project.

Fun Fact

Shannon also had the opportunity to do a segment on local TV a couple times a month. It started as a gig for her old job at a newspaper. When she left the paper, the TV station kept her on, so now she gets to plug Fit Maine there, as well.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1134

Dream jobs are only great until they aren’t. For ten years, Shannon Bryan got to write for a major news outlet in Maine. She covered popular happy hours, brunches, and the best hills for sledding. But layoffs rolled through every couple years, wages froze, and some of her bosses didn’t seem to value what she brought to the table. Shannon was frustrated.

So in early 2015, she decided to create something that she had more control over. She started a small website where she wrote about paddleboard yoga, cross-country skiing, and lesser-known sports such as lightsaber combat as aerobics—basically the things she did with her friends on weekends.

Her followers on social media were already asking questions like “How hard was that class?” “Do they do it every Thursday?” and “Can I use rechargeable batteries for my lightsaber?”

Shannon suspected that if active people in Maine were asking these questions of her, it meant they were probably searching for this information as well. And there wasn’t a single website that answered them, so she created FitMaine.com.

$150 bought her a domain, hosting, and a WordPress theme. Her only other expenses starting out were the costs of taking the classes and attending the events she was writing about. This ranged from an additional $40 to $150 a month, and she was occasionally able to work out deals from the studios.

At first, Fit Maine was just for fun, and she didn’t intend to make it profitable. It was something she worked on for a few hours here and there when she could squeeze it in. She’d schedule a day or two each week to go to classes, then write up content. Even with the classes, Fit Maine took up only 10 to 15 hours per week.

The real change happened in January 2019 when Shannon launched the Fit Maine Social Club: a paid membership club that ventures out to do all the fun, adventurous things she writes about.

When Shannon launched the club, she mailed a knit hat embroidered with the phrase “Maine is my gym” to every person who signed up that first month—her early adopters, so to speak. Of the twenty or so people who paid to hang out with her and be part of a club that didn’t really exist yet, Shannon didn’t know half of them.

This excited her: people who didn’t know her signed up because they thought this was a good idea. But it was also scary … what if they didn’t like the club or hated the events? Shannon almost hoped they didn’t show up.

But they did. And they kept showing up. The club was growing beyond her network, but she still needed to get the message out to more people.

Fit Maine has seen progress in its first five years. Businesses now comp Shannon to cover classes and events, and between the club memberships (now up to 84!), content and event promotion, selling a little bit of swag, and sponsorships, Fit Maine is making about $2,500 a month.

Her aim is to grow considerably before the end of the year.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • FitMaine.com: Learn more about Shannon’s business at her website, FitMaine.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

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
"My passion for the work has grown, and my understanding that what I’m doing really matters. Yes, I want to make more money at it, but I also genuinely love this work."
—Shannon Bryan #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 scale a pen-to-paper greeting service?

What It’s About

A listener wants to know if a choose-what-you-pay model will work for her creative lettering hustle.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1128

Remember, I want to know about your projects! I heard about a really cool one today – you’ll hear about it too – and I very much enjoyed the first month of our Year of Interaction.

We’ll be ramping things up as we go along, with more questions, the new Throwback Thursday series (we’ve done two so far), and something special I’m saving for April, when I’ll begin an all-new tour.

This listener started a pen-to-paper initiative to connect people through snail mail. It’s starting well, but how can it scale—and is a Pay-What-You-Will pricing model the best option?

I launched the XO Project, a pen to paper initiative to connect humans offline through snail mail. The idea was to put my interest in calligraphy to use by writing short greetings on behalf of others. It’s a simple process. A person submits their message and details through an online form on my website. I calligraph the message on a card and address the envelope. Add postage and mail it up.

At first I offered this for free to test the idea and refine the process. Now it’s offered at a choose what you pay model to keep it accessible. The cards are branded and have a message on the back inviting the recipient to participate as well. Fifty-nine notes were mailed out the first year of the project, and sixty-seven notes were sent out last year in twenty nineteen.

My question is twofold; how do I figure out who is the best audience for this and how might a service based project like this scale would also be curious what you think about the choose-what-you-pay price model?

 

Listen to today’s episode to learn more…

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Learn more about Niki’s creative business The XO Project at her website.

 

SEE ALSO:

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

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