Steady Grind Leads to Sustainable Side Income

What It’s About

A transport engineer puts wheels in motion for his profitable web projects.

Words of Wisdom

John has two key pieces of advice for those who want to follow in his footsteps: “1) Keep putting in the time. I find that putting in at least one hour a day goes a long way. Have patience and trust that the time investment will eventually pay off. 2) Showcase your work, even those projects you know aren’t perfect yet.”

Fun Fact

In the United States, there were an estimated 12.1 billion app downloads in 2018. By 2023, the annual amount of downloads is expected to increase to 15.2 billion. [source]

Notes from Chris

Episode 1459
John MacAdam is a self-described “nerd at heart.” That’s why he’s been making websites for more than a decade, initially just for fun.

Back then, he was simply curious. He wanted to develop his development skills, so he began to make websites for himself, his friends, family members and local churches—all for free. At that point, he says that money was not a motivating factor for him.

Instead, every new project helped him learn something new, and that was valuable. Soon, he began to expand further than just building websites. He started to create his first products, which were simple web applications.

John spent much of his free time working on these projects, never earning a dime from them. But again, he was learning … and he identified two very important things he was learning. One was the portfolio of technical skills that still help him to this day. The other was the notion of what John calls “putting in the work.”

By 2015, John was making about $5,000 a year from his hustle. Then, someone reached out to him for a potential project, and his world changed. A tech recruiter emailed him, hoping to recruit him for a project.

John agreed to work with the tech recruiter and successfully helped the company deliver a mobile app for their client. The company was happy with his work and work ethic and has kept him on as a subcontractor ever since then.

This was great for John, both financially and emotionally. His profits increased substantially, and now he earns about $40,000 a year just from his side hustle. By working with the larger team, he’s been able to work with more prestigious clients and being able to impact more people. Not only that but working with the larger business has helped polish his skills even further.

At this point, John has no idea what is next for him. Right now, he enjoys both his side hustle and his full-time job as a transportation engineer. Oh, and the extra $40,000 a year on the side isn’t bad, either!

 


 

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
"Keep putting in the time. I find that putting in at least one hour a day goes a long way."
—John MacAdam #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

Developer Earns $37,000 from Day Trading Tool

What It’s About

A day trading enthusiast creates a tool to help others beat the odds in their trading endeavors.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Focus on your product first, then initial users, then improvement and additional strategies. Doing this allowed Michael to go from $7,000 two years ago, $37,000 last year, and now on track for $90,000.

Fun Fact

Although designed for advanced traders, Michael has found many new stock traders use his tool to learn the ropes. It’s a low-risk environment that shows them how to do some of the more technical sides of the job!

Notes from Chris

Episode 487

For software developer Michael Seneadza, stock trading has been part of his life for a long time. Back in the 1990s, Michael and his coworkers first became interested in trading. They’d spend large chunks of their workday watching the market, looking at the rise and fall of their favorite stocks, and tinkering with their trades whenever they could break away from their work.

Being an attentive and patient person, Michael felt he had a knack for trading and his income began to grow. So much so that by the early 2000s, he was earning more from trading than his day job, and shortly after, he quit his day job to become a full-time trader.

Although he loved his work as a day trader, he still had a software development itch he wanted to scratch, and found himself taking a full-time job as a developer again. However, he didn’t want to make this move at the expense of his trading income and began to look for ways he could make his process more efficient.

Using what he’d learned from both stock trading and software development, Michael set about creating a tool that would help perform tasks that would take countless hours of human research, but could easily be run by a piece of software while he was at work.

Michael set about building his tool, which he called SwingTradeBot, using the Ruby On Rails framework. If you’re not familiar with this framework, Ruby is an open source code that can be used by pretty much anyone to develop and create web applications. It’s also incredibly time-efficient, which allowed Michael to build the initial framework for SwingTradeBot in just 80 hours.

Michael’s tool performs two major functions. The first is to conduct technical analysis on stocks. This means the tool uses an algorithm to look for repeatable patterns in a stock’s movement and allows you to plan for the future of that stocks life. The aim here being to make more money because you can better predict the future life of a particular stock. This algorithm can also help you to identify potential new stocks, too.

The second is to alert people of anything that may affect the health of that stock. This can be based on market movements, or recent news, that may negatively impact the price of the stock. You can then use this information to decide the next steps you’ll take.

Michael set the cost of his tool at between $13.95 and $19.95 per month, which he decided upon by looking at his competition and charging a slightly lower price. This helped him to quickly onboard his first users, despite having a small following.

Although Michael hoped for a huge surge of users, SwingTradeBot had more of a humble first year, bringing in $7,000. This came from sales of the tool and banner advertising on the website.

Determined to increase his profit further, Michael began to look for ways to increase the number of users he brought in. To do this he began offering SwingTradeBot as a freemium model, with basic access for free users. This allowed them to use the fundamental aspects of the tool.

He also began to look at more marketing methods to bring more users to his website.

One of the most effective tactics he implemented was sharing information about some major stocks on his website. This led to lots of coverage for his site on websites like Yahoo finance, who linked back to the information and predictions he made. With this strategy, he gained instant publicity, and the links helped improve his website ranking in Google.

He also spent time building a following on stock specific social media channels, like StockTwits, which is basically a carbon-copy of Twitter for stock traders. Michael began to attract followers by sharing the free information about stocks on the page and has worked his way up to nearly 40,000 followers on the platform.

These tactics combined to create a surge in income. Michael made $37,000 in 2017 and he’s currently on track to make $90,000 in 2018. Combining this with the money he makes from trading, Michael has once again been able to quit his day job. Only this time he can keep trading without hiding it from his boss!


MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • SwingTradeBot: Day trade like a boss with Michael’s app!
  • Ruby On Rails: The open source code that Michael used to create his SwingTradeBot app. If you’re looking to build an app, it is pretty beginner friendly
  • Heroku: The platform as a service (PaaS) that enables developers to build, run, and operate applications entirely in the cloud
  • StockTwits: A stock specific social media channel that is basically a carbon-copy of Twitter for stock traders

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
"Hurry up and get started, but do it in a low-risk way. Don’t quit your job until the side project is showing a decent amount of promise."
—Michael Seneadza #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Get a Free Audit on Your 401k!

Side Hustle School is brought to you by Blooom. If you're still working a 9-5, make getting a 401k your side hustle!

Blooom is the simple and smart way to grow your 401k. Go online to Blooom401k.com and get your truly FREE 401k audit when you use promo code "HUSTLE" at checkout.💸 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

Serial Business Builder Creates Digital Checklist Tool

What It’s About

A serial side hustler creates a digital checklist to fast-track business training.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

If you’re someone who wants to start down the side hustle path, Chris recommends testing before investing. He would see time and time again clients coming up with really complex app ideas meant to solve a certain business problem. But before he would recommend they invest, they’d test a workflow of the concept using something inexpensive like index cards.

And you won’t believe how something so simple can reveal deal-breaking issues, thus saving so much time and money before building an app they didn’t need.

Fun Fact

Chris is what we like to call a “serial side hustler.” Before Trainual, he started six other projects including an organic shade-grown coffee imported from an entrepreneurship school in Honduras, a graduation video filming service called Happy Grads, an aerial videography service for auto dealerships using drones, and a side hustle selling guidebooks!

Notes from Chris

Episode 475

As side hustlers, we’ve all been there. A brilliant business idea pops into your head that you know could be a success if you could just pull it together. But all it really leads to are more questions than answers. This is what Chris Ronzio’s side hustle is all about. Getting your business out of your brain.

Chris, a former full-time consultant, was in the business of helping companies build systems and processes to improve their operational efficiency. Inspired by his professional experience and empowered by his side hustle stamina, he decided to launch Trainual.

Trainual, Chris defines as “the easiest way to organize how you do what you do.” This web app helps business owners build a how-to guide on how to run and organize their business. Imagine every role, responsibility, process, policy, and procedure within your company outlined in one simple spot.

During his day job as a consultant, Chris realized that there was one thing he kept seeing business owners struggle with over and over again. Not having a good system for putting their business on paper that other employees could reference to hit the ground running.

Say a new employee is hired at your organization. How do you get them up to speed on your business quickly and effectively? In Chris’ mind, so much of a new hire’s success within any company is about giving them the right tools and information to do their job. This is where Trainual comes into play. You could introduce them to your business using the web app so that they feel empowered and invested in every aspect of their day-to-day.

Once the digital product was developed, Chris focused on finding his audience. He reached out to the companies he had been working with already and offered lifetime access to Trainual for a thousand dollars. And four of them said yes which was totally awesome, but he was really hoping that 50 would. At the time, he didn’t know much about preparing for an online product launch, so while he did celebrate the validation of his idea, it wasn’t like the first few dollars he had made from his first business at 14, when he tried to swim in a few hundred bucks like Scrooge McDuck.

But before he knew it, six more businesses had signed up. What was surprising about that though was that some of the sign-ups came from outside of his network. That meant the word was spreading!

For the first few years with his investment in time being super slim, Trainual profits grew from about $300 per month to $2,000 per month after minor site hosting expenses. Once profits were able to cover his mortgage for a couple of years, Chris decided that it was truly time for celebration. Since December, his profits are up to $4,400 per month. He’s been able to triple their customer base over the last two months and now has users from 22 countries. Now that’s a side hustle success story!

In the immediate future, Chris is focusing on making Trainual the premier product for all businesses to document how their company works. His biggest challenge now is the same one that many of us have—too many projects! Fortunately, he’s got a checklist to help him keep up.


MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Trainual: Streamline your business’ training procedures—learn more on Chris’ website!
  • Evernote & OmniFocus: Some of the different organizational tools I use to organize my tasks and goals

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
"All of the income from my day job was a direct result of the time I spent physically working, but it didn’t leave much security for my family if something happened. Knowing that the mortgage would be covered for at least a couple years was a really great feeling."
—Chris Ronzio #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

FIND LOVE WITH EHARMONY

This week, Side Hustle School is brought to you by eHarmony. eHarmony is built to help you find lasting, meaningful relationships. 💕

Right now, Side Hustle School listeners can get a free month with eHarmony when they sign up for a 3-month subscription! Enter my code HUSTLE at checkout. Stop waiting and start your journey to a love-filled, compatible relationship! Sign Up 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

Engineer Reprograms Herself, Finds Confidence to Start Over

What It’s About

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

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

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

Fun Fact

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

Notes from Chris

Episode 445

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

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

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

So, she gave herself another chance.

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

It was here that Milecia had her lightbulb moment.

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

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

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


MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

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

SEE ALSO:

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

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

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

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

GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS

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

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

Sponsors & Gratitude

Get What Your Business Needs.

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

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

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

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

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

Keep in Touch

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


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Construction Company Owner Creates Gig Platform for Contractors

What It’s About

Freelance contractor builds a gig platform for other contractors.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

In this day in age, technology has a tendency to take over in areas where blue-collar workers are falling behind, but people like Teris are building something that ensures that they still have an important place in our economy. This is also a great method of finding a side hustle idea if you’re technologically inclined!

Do you know of a market that could use some streamlining?

Fun Fact

The stories that come from users are a big motivation for Teris at this point. He shared a story about a father who uprooted his decades-long construction career to move to Baltimore to be closer to his daughter and brand new granddaughter. This construction worker was not only able to find enough work through EFynch to keep him going but plans to keep using the app so that he can keep his hours flexible to help with his new granddaughter.

Notes from Chris

Episode 307

Like many of us, Teris Pantazes’ career path has been a bit circuitous. While he originally earned his Master’s in Real Estate, for over 10 years he owned and operated his own construction company in Baltimore, Maryland.

Between jobs, he would try to find any kind of work for his guys so he could still pay them something. But still some days he would have to send them home once the trucks were clean and the warehouse was spotless. Sometimes he would even try posting an ad on Craigslist to try and get his workers some gigs, but it rarely panned out.

In 2015, Teris decided he wanted to get back into real estate, and while he was working his way back into that industry he turned to the platform Upwork.com to earn some money. Around that time he was hanging a TV in his house and couldn’t lift it the final 6” by himself. He lived less than two miles away from a major university and knew that if he could somehow contact them, he’d have a line of helpers looking for some extra cash.

It was then that something clicked—why not create a platform similar to Upwork for contractors and handymen? This wasn’t a simple idea, but he thought it had real potential, so he decided to explore it further.

Within the first six months of launching, over 1,000 homeowners and contractors downloaded the app and created accounts. EFynch continues to grow each month—anywhere from 15% on a slow month to 30% on a good month. Teris explained that the home improvement industry is pretty cyclical, so those variances are to be expected. But at their 1 year anniversary, they had over 3,000 users.

While this side hustle is still in its infancy, it’s well on track and (like YourGreenPal in Ep. 123) has the potential to completely revolutionize the way that people hire contractors.


MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • EFynch: Check out Teris’ website to learn more about his contractor and handyman gig platform
  • Upwork: The online gig platform that inspired Teris to start EFynch
  • Braintree & PayPal: Two platforms that Teris used to accept payments on his gig platform

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
"If you can, start a side hustle before you have major responsibilities and debt and use whatever money you make from it as a rainy day fund. One day that side hustle might be the difference between having the ability to pursue a new business idea, taking that dream honeymoon, or making rent when you’re between jobs."
—Teris Pantazes #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Get a FREE Audiobook from Audible!

Audible is offering SHS listeners a free copy of the Born For This audiobook with a 30-day trial membership. 📚

Just go to aonc.co/bftaudible and browse the unmatched selection of audio programs and start listening.
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

Craft Beer Fan Becomes Digital Bouncer

What It’s About

A resourceful Starbucks employee picks up a new skill and breaks into the alcohol industry.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Gregg has generally brought in business through word of mouth, customer referrals and prime search engine results. He says he has strived to go out of his way to provide each client with an exceptional customer service experience—which often results in clients sticking with him for the long term.

Good customer service is especially important when you’re building a brand and/or breaking into a new industry like Gregg. Happy customers are more likely to bring you in additional business and help you make useful connections, so don’t be afraid to go that extra step!

Fun Fact

Did you know that people were drinking beer 5,000 years ago? For those (Sumerians) lucky enough to live in Mesopotamia in 10,000 BCE (it’s located around where Iraq is today), there was beer to drink! None of the beer included hops, which means it probably didn’t taste that good, but according to LiveScience.com, people had their pick of eight different barley-based beers, and eight wheat-based. (1)

Notes from Chris

Episode 226

Gregg Richter was working for Starbucks as an IT specialist at their Seattle headquarters, where he had been employed for almost a decade. Though he loved the company, he had grown bored of his position and department. His daily routine consisted half of attending meetings and half of responding to issues that arose. He was able to spend very little time thinking about product enhancements, and he began to crave something different.

Around the same time, Gregg was also making a hobby out of finding new breweries and distilleries in the area, as craft beers and whiskeys were a booming business in the Pacific Northwest.

Since his two great interests were craft beer and web development, he mentioned them both when advertising his services through his personal portfolio website. Unexpectedly, this led to his big break.

He realized that despite the rise of do-it-yourself websites such as Squarespace, there were technical areas that were beyond the reach of the average DIY-er, especially in businesses like alcohol distribution that have unique challenges and legal requirements. He officially established his side hustle—called Imbibe Digital, LLC—to build websites and web service applications.

Gregg’s business did so well that he was able to leave his job in 2015 to focus exclusively on Imbibe. In 2016, he cracked six figures. This year, he’s on track to make $120,000 to $130,000.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Imbibe Digital, LLC: Learn more about Gregg’s digital bouncing service on his website!
  • Elysian Brewing: The local and fast-growing brewery that was looking for a freelance developer to help with their website and gave Gregg his big break
  • Guinness & Bacardi: Two additional household brands that utilize Gregg’s age verifying service
  • WordPress: Gregg says he used WordPress to create his website because it allowed him full control of every pixel on the screen and also made it easy to find assistance since WordPress is completely open source. And here you can learn how to install your own WordPress site in 5 minutes!
  • LocalSip: The second SAAS-based product that Gregg created that allows breweries and wineries to easily create, edit and display their tap or wine lists online

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
"Look for a problem to solve, or find something that someone else is doing, and find a way to improve on it. Does their product lack good design; do they have bad user onboarding; are they missing a key feature? Find something and then consistently iterate on the product."
—Gregg Richter #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Cook with Blue Apron!

Supporting the sponsors keeps the show free. Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by Blue Apron. 👩🍳

Check out this week’s menu and get your first three meals FREE, with free shipping. Get ready to say mmmmmm.
Get Yours Here

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

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

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


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To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Lost & Found: How Lost Property Helps a UK Woman Find Her Side Hustle

What It’s About

Lost property helps a UK woman find her side hustle.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Glastonbury’s lost and found was based on email submissions of items and was technically difficult to navigate. Tanya felt there had to be another, more efficient way of handling the problem, so she decided to give it a shot!

There are plenty of opportunities to improve upon inefficient services or products, but like Tanya, you need a fine tuned Power of Observation in order to find them.

Fun Fact

Did you know more than $47 billion worth of items are lost every year, with the average person losing nearly $100 in property every year? That’s a big market of highly motivated people!

Notes from Chris

Episode 189

On her annual pilgrimage to Glastonbury Festival in 2014, Tanya-Jane Park checked her social media feed to see that one of her friends had posted that she’d lost her handbag containing all her belongings while inside the festival.

Trying to be helpful, Tanya recommended that she report her bag to the official lost and found service, and set about finding out how her friend could do it.

On her return from the festival, Tanya took it upon herself to find what other options were out there and saw there were relatively few to choose from. And some of them seemed older than some of the bands she’d seen on stage just a few days ago!

It was here that she came up with the idea for ReclaimHub, a cloud-based lost-and-found management system.

Using only this method of organic traffic—and a little word of mouth—they were able to generate enough users to get feedback and finally launch the paid version of their product in May 2016. Since that time they’ve been able to generate £6,000 in revenue.


MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • ReclaimHub: Learn more about how Tanya and Rob’s widget works on their website
  • Glastonbury Festival: The festival that Tanya’s friend lost her purse at and where Tanya found her side hustle
  • Google Cloud Platform: Tanya and Rob used a simple Google Cloud Infrastructure site that they built themselves, they put the first iteration online so that people could use it for free
  • Freelancer & UpWork: If you’re interested in creating an app or widget but lack the skills to create it yourself like Tanya, here are a couple of resources you could use to find someone to help you create it!

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
"For me, side hustle ideas come to be when I identify a problem or issue that needs solving, I then think about what can be done to fix the problem and identify how this can be monetized."
—Tanya Jane Park #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Create a Stunning Website With Wordpress

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

Get 15% off when you build your website with Wordpress.com—use promo code PODCAST when you check out.
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

Charter Bus Employee Creates PR Service for Bloggers

What It’s About

A charter bus employee creates blogger outreach software built to help others manage their guest post submissions.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

At his day job as director of digital marketing, Adam spent a lot of time doing promotions through guest posts on business blogs. There was just one problem: there are a lot of different blogs, and he had a really difficult time keeping up with all of them.

He started to compile detailed notes on all the blogs that accepted posts, as well as a system to track his submissions. Before he knew it, he had hundreds of blogs covering lots of different categories. Thus was born the idea: why not offer this system to other writers with the same problem?

Marketing to bloggers isn’t necessarily a new concept, but Adam used his system skills and creativity to create a fresh new take on it. This method doesn’t work for everyone, but if you’re a good systems person, think about how you can use that strength in building your hustle.

Fun Fact

90 days in, Guest Post Tracker was bringing in $1,000 a month. By systematizing the process and repeatedly testing, it was up to $2,000 a month. He used A/B testing to make quick improvements in conversion. Six weeks after we first talked, he wrote me back to say this kind of process work had helped even more: the site was now up to $3,000 a month.

The biggest challenge for Adam right now is finding time for all of his projects. Still, this one is a side hustle—he can work on it when he’s able, and money often arrives even when he’s not doing much for it.

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

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

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

RELIABLE WEBHOST FOR $2.49/MONTH

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

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

Quote of the Day
"Look for ways to solve common problems you have that would make your work easier. If there’s something that’s a problem for you, it’s likely a problem for thousands of other people, and they will often happily pay you to solve it."
—Adam White #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Cook with Blue Apron!

Supporting the sponsors keeps the show free. Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by Blue Apron. 👩🍳

Check out this week’s menu and get your first three meals FREE, with free shipping. Get ready to say mmmmmm.
Get Yours 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

“Live Snoop” Service Helps Parents Monitor Their Kids’ Internet Use

What It’s About

A recent graduate creates a service to help parents monitor their kids’ internet use.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

This service clearly responds to a major concern of a lot of parents. Most parents don’t want to completely restrict or prohibit their kids from using the internet, but of course they want them to be safe. The LiveSnoop service provides not only security but peace of mind as well… which is very valuable to parents.

This circles back to what we’ve learned with previous episodes (remember those low-cost chicken saddles?): when you focus on the needs of your customers, you’re more likely to find success with your side hustle.

Fun Fact

Ian uses a recurring revenue model with his service, LiveSnoop. Almost all software is priced this way now. It used to be that you purchased software once only, or maybe once every couple of years for a new version. But now, the industry standard is to pay monthly. This helps to support customer service and product improvements.

The beauty of it is that once you have paying subscribers, as long as they’re actively using the service, they’re not likely to cancel—at least most of them aren’t.

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
"Seeing the number of users grow over time has been the most rewarding part of my side hustle, but I also really appreciate it when I get unsolicited feedback about how my service has helped parents in various situations."
—Ian Ladd #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

Ohio IT Director Earns $31,000 Setting Up WordPress Sites

What It’s About

An Ohio IT director earns more than $31,000 helping people set up their websites.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

When Shannon was first getting started, she felt like a fraud and that at any moment, someone would come up to her and tell her that she wasn’t qualified to help others. But, to her surprise, this never happened. In fact, more and more people started signing up for her daily courses and purchasing the products she recommended.

You don’t need a degree in coaching in order to be able to give people good feedback and support. What you do need is a voice and something that people need. And just as you are qualified, here’s the other side of it—no one is going to come along and give you permission. A lot of people in life are waiting for permission, and that’s never going to come. You have to take it! You are qualified, you have permission, and the next steps are yours. Your hustle is waiting for you to take action.

Fun Fact

When Shannon was getting started with her side hustle, she created and customized websites for her clients. But as anyone who has tried to break into web development knows, it’s a lot of hard work and at times challenging to do when you have a demanding, full-time job like Shannon did. She noticed that she was getting burned out, so she started to explore other options.

She realized how much better it would be if she could provide others with the resources they needed in order to create their own websites. It was then that WP+BFF was born! Not only was she able to save herself some much needed time, but she was still able to do the work she loves to do. Better yet, with this new format, she’s been able to empower others along the way. It’s win-win!

Resources

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

RELIABLE WEBHOST FOR $5/MONTH

-Special discount for Side Hustle School listeners-

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. You can get support 24 hours a day. Don't overpay: get your own hosting plan for just $5 a month!
Learn More

Quote of the Day
"The very first day I put a link to my free course in a Facebook group, someone signed up for my mailing list and bought the products I recommended. That’s when I knew this was something people needed and it was POSSIBLE."
—Shannon Mattern #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Cook with Blue Apron!

Supporting the sponsors keeps the show free. Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by Blue Apron. 👩🍳

Check out this week’s menu and get your first three meals FREE, with free shipping. Get ready to say mmmmmm.
Get Yours 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