More Money Podcast - 125 Mastering the Side Hustle - Chris Guillebeau, Side Hustle School

Episode Date: November 1, 2017

I talk with the guy who wrote the book on side hustles (literally), Chris Guillebeau, author of Side Hustle: Idea to Income in 27 Days, who shares his tips on how to start and master your side hustle ...to take your finances to the next level. Long description: I had the pleasure of chatting with side hustle master and best-selling author Chris Guillebeau from Side Hustle School for this episode, and it’s honestly one of my favourites.  If you know me, then you know I am all about the side hustle. It could because I’m just another typical millennial who needs to earn more to afford $10 bottles of organic juice and my expensive Uber habit (sarcasm, if you didn’t get that), but it’s actually because things have changed a lot since the last generation. It’s not longer possible to stick with a job for 40 years and retire with a cushy pension. Now, if you want to be able to afford to live in an expensive city (and actually enjoy city living), travel, save up to buy a home and invest for your retirement, most likely your full-time job income won’t be enough. That’s where the side hustle comes in. But here’s the thing, as Chris explains a side hustle isn’t just a second-job at night or on the weekends. It’s about starting your own mini-business that either sells products or offers a service that matches your skill-set and meets a need not currently being met on the market. If you’ve ever thought about starting a side hustle, but was too afraid to start, didn’t know where to start, or thought if you start one you’d have to keep it forever (newsflash, you can stop it whenever you want), then Chris shares his wisdom and boy is it juicy. He also literally wrote the book on side hustles called Side Hustle: From Idea to Income in 27 Days, so make sure to buy or check out a copy from the library because it’s not just about side hustles in theory. It’s about how to take action and what steps to take to get yours going. Side Hustle Case Studies Chris Mentioned Woman on Food Stamps Earns $86,000 Teaching People to Bake Bread Cruise Vacation Turns into Highly-Profitable Hustle British Man Earns $700/Month Writing Fish Tank Reviews For full episode show notes, visit https://jessicamoorhouse.com/125. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to episode 125 of the Mo Money Podcast. I'm your host, Jessica Morehouse. Thank you so much for joining me for another fabulous episode because this one really is fabulous. I'm talking with the master of the side hustle, Chris Gillibeau. He is the author of the recently released book, Side Hustustle from Idea to Income in 27 Days. And he's also the author of the New York Times bestselling book, The $100 Startup. He's also a podcaster himself at Side Hustle School. And you can find out more information about him at sidehustleschool.com. But he is a powerhouse, super awesome guy. We talk about the power of the side hustle, how it can really kind of take you to that next level. And since the season is all about earning, I always, when people ask me like, oh, I can't afford that or how do I make more money? Yeah, well, I always recommend getting a side hustle. I have had a side hustle pretty much my whole adult life starting, you know, back right when I graduated university. And when I got my first full-time job,
Starting point is 00:01:11 you know, my side hustle was being a teleprompter operator for the news. And then I also did, you know, some things on weekends and random gigs. And then I also started my own blog. So I am all about side hustles. They definitely helped me get to where I am today. It helped me earn more than I was making at my full-time job. So a big fan of side hustles. And we talk all about that good stuff in this interview. But before I get to that interview,
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Starting point is 00:03:09 Thanks, Chris, for joining me on the Momany Podcast. I'm so excited to talk side hustles with you for this episode. I'm so excited, too. Thanks, Jessica. You are welcome. So before we kind of dive in and I pick your brain all about side hustles because you literally wrote the book on side hustles, I would love to know a little bit more about yourself, your background. I know one of the kind of really interesting things about you is that you visited every single country in the world. I've never met anyone who's been able to say that and you're
Starting point is 00:03:37 not like 100 years old. So I'm sure that's part of your story and your background. So how did you get to where you are now? Yes, how did I get to where I am now? So the short version, let's see. I've kind of had a side hustling life myself. Never actually had a real job. From about 19 onwards, I did a series of random projects, at least for the first five to 10 years, just trying to find a way to make a
Starting point is 00:04:05 living. So I was selling things online with online auctions. I learned to do some different kinds of business consulting, some affiliate marketing, just all kinds of stuff when it was starting up. And I spent about four years, four of those years, overseas in West Africa as an aid worker. And out of that travel experience, that's kind of how I had that idea to go to every country in the world. I was always big on goal setting, like setting goals, making lists, right? Well, every day I would make my list. I had a whole series of lists, and one of my lists was my list of countries that I'd been to. And so I came back to the US after West Africa and began that 11-year quest. So my goal was to finish by my 35th birthday, which I did. That was three years ago.
Starting point is 00:04:46 Wow. And somewhere along the way, I started writing about this journey and found this amazing community of people all over the world that I'm fortunate to write for and connect with. And eventually, I wrote this new book called Side Hustle. And I'm excited to go out in the world and share it with people. Absolutely. So you kind of say that you never had a real job. Why is that? hustle. And I'm excited to go out in the world and share it with people. Absolutely. So you kind of say that you've never had a real job. Why is that? Were you always just drawn to like, I'd rather make my own money than be an employee? Did you never kind of go in that route? Like, I'm going to go to university and get an office job and work my way up the ladder like most of us? Yeah, I think I'm kind of unemployable. I think that's what it comes down to, basically. What does that mean? Did you get fired a lot?
Starting point is 00:05:29 Yeah, well, I got fired, but I also just kind of quit. I stopped showing up, is what I meant to say. I would just walk out, basically. These are all menial jobs. It's not my real job that I just walk out of. But I like to work. I really enjoyed my own projects. And I was kind of creative. And so it's just a matter of like, how can I find a way to use those skills? Because I don't have skills that, you know, would work very well in a traditional office environment. How can I actually make a living for myself? And so interestingly, though, even though like I'm not necessarily telling people to be entrepreneurs these days, I'm really helping people start a side hustle. I feel like I have the perfect background for that because I have this whole decade of hustling to make my little way.
Starting point is 00:06:14 Yeah. I really like that because basically you're not doing what I feel like a lot of people out there are doing, which is selling this dream. You can have a pina colada on the beach every single day if you just follow my five steps to, you know, sidlehustle your way to be an entrepreneur. You're all about actually having a side hustle while having your full-time job, but having that side hustle kind of get you to where you want to go a bit quicker, especially, you know, without, you know, taking on more debt or, you know, just kind of taking ownership and having more freedom, which I thought is really interesting. Do you kind of taking ownership and having more freedom, which I thought is really interesting. Do you kind of have that perspective because you know it's so hard to do it full time
Starting point is 00:06:49 and be an entrepreneur and it isn't for everybody? I think people get tired of having a pina colada on the beach every day. I think it would be fun for like a week. I don't know. Well, maybe you wouldn't get tired of the pina colada, but I think you would get tired of doing nothing. And I think,
Starting point is 00:07:07 I think most people want to do something like they want to do something purposeful and meaningful, you know, with their time. So I think, I think kind of what I've learned just in interacting with my community, like going around the world and talking with people is like a lot of people are being told, like you should quit your job and you should work for yourself.
Starting point is 00:07:22 And there's something wrong with you if you don't do that. Right. And you know what I mean? And like, it's like almost, almost like you're shamed in some way. That's weird, you know, because, you know, lots of people can't quit their jobs for all sorts of reasons. And lots of people like their jobs, like they actually like that social environment, or they're contributing to something that they find meaningful as part of a team, you know, working for the right company or organization. So not everyone should quit their jobs. But I do think everyone should quit their jobs.
Starting point is 00:07:49 But I do think everyone should have more than one source of income. And I do think everyone should create options for themselves. And I've seen over and over that when people do this, they feel really empowered. When they have some money coming in that's not coming through their paycheck, it just feels really great. It doesn't mean that they will walk away from their job. Some of them will eventually. But others will just like, well, I have a thousand dollars a month that I didn't have before. Like I can pay off debt. I can save, I can save for my vacation and my pina coladas or I can do something else, like whatever it is that's, that's meaningful to me. So I think that's, that's why I'm really focusing on that. Yeah, no, exactly. It's when you have multiple, and I'm totally on board with that. I always think it's so important to have multiple streams of income.
Starting point is 00:08:25 And kind of since I finished university and kind of got my first real job, at the time I had also a side hustle. It was kind of just an in-between job while I was trying to find a full-time job. And I ended up keeping that because I liked the idea of having multiple streams of income. And I've been like that ever since. And I tell everybody it's so great. But what I really liked was I read somewhere that you kind of said that having a side hustle is kind of like the real job security because there really isn't true job security these days anyway, not like kind of, you know,
Starting point is 00:08:54 older generations where you would be actually able to work for one employee, one employer, one company for 40 years. It's like, I don't know anyone who's actually sticked with a job for longer than like seven years. Yeah, and seven years is a long time. It is a long time. And so, I mean, especially I think for younger people, they're smart and they kind of realize that the traditional path that other people or other generations have followed
Starting point is 00:09:14 is not really accessible to them. One, it's not necessarily accessible and they may not even want that, right? They want to do more of a hybrid lifestyle and they want to kind of pursue work that accentuates their values and allows them to do what they believe in. Absolutely. So I want to now get more into side hustle specifically. In your create, is not a part-time job. So it's not like I work my 40-hour regular job and then I go work another job for 20 hours or 30 hours or
Starting point is 00:09:50 whatever. A lot of people are doing that. And I mean, technically, I guess it's the side gig, but that's just like stressing people out and it's not sustainable in the long term. So when I think of a side hustle, I'm thinking of some kind of asset that you create for yourself, something that has the potential, at least, to create income for you without you actively working on it all the time. And so that's a key distinction, I think. And I think I'm trying to show people where these kinds of ideas come from, what are the steps that you need to take to create one for yourself. Once you launch it, then what do you do when you see how people respond? How do you regroup? So that's what I think of as a side hustle as an asset and i mean for me i feel like
Starting point is 00:10:29 everyone's talking about side hustles especially uh millennials that's all they talk about almost everyone my age that i know has one which is great um but why do you think they're becoming more popular and have been for the past couple years like it seems like everyone everyone's just talking about them or getting them why in the past couple of years. Like it seems like everyone's just talking about them or getting them. Why in the past couple of years are they booming? I mean, I've noticed that too. Like last year I did a tour and probably half the questions I got from the audience were about side hustles.
Starting point is 00:10:53 And I was really surprised because I've been writing about it for eight years, but there hasn't been this much of a focused interest. So I think it's a few things kind of coming together. It's perhaps like the disillusionment that you kind of alluded to with like a traditional path. Perhaps it's also like, you know, increased access to technology and globalization that allows us to like trade with people essentially like all over the world. You used to just have to like trade with people in your village, your neighborhood or whatever.
Starting point is 00:11:18 And then also like e-commerce in general is just becoming like mainstream. Like, like my grandma has a PayPal account, you know? And like, I was like, as soon as I heard that, I was like, man, PayPal has jumped the shark, you know? So it used to be kind of like, even when I started 20 years ago, you know, I'm 39, like I started doing this 20 years ago and it was kind of weird. Like, I didn't think it was weird. It was fun for me, but like a lot of people didn't understand what I was doing, you know? And now I would say like you walk into your Starbucks or whatever coffee shop and you see like 10 people like, you know, working on their little consulting project or building their WordPress website or making an app or whatever. And so I think that's,
Starting point is 00:11:56 maybe that's like why all this has converged to be like right now, this time, this season. And yeah, it does seem like, you know, a big reason why I think there's a big boom is it's just so easy to, there's so much access. Everyone has access to the internet now. And yeah, it does seem like a big reason why I think there's a big boom is it's just so easy to... There's so much access. Everyone has access to the internet now. Anyone can sign up to one of those companies and make a website in 5 minutes and all that kind of stuff. I guess the thing that's on my mind is in order to have a side hustle and actually generate some revenue or passive income, do you also have to be a salesperson? Because lots of people don't like sales. They don't think they're good at sales. You know, I mean, I'm, for me, I used to
Starting point is 00:12:30 kind of struggle with that because I'm like, in general, I hate, I used to work in sales too, like straight up newspaper ad sales. And I, it was not my forte, but like, what is your kind of thoughts on like, do you have to be a salesperson to have a side hustle? Right. I think it's important to be aware of your personality and your strengths and your skills. And if you are a natural salesperson, then yes, you can use that skill in lots of different ways. But I would say like for me, I don't even think about sales like in my own business
Starting point is 00:12:59 and what I've done. I don't even really think about marketing, but even marketing itself is just essentially connecting with people. And so I would say like you certainly don't have to do cold calls or you don't have to do like a hard sales process or anything like that. But I would encourage you if you're going to create something that you believe in, if you're creating a service, you know, it's going to help people. You're creating a product that's going to make the world a better place or at least better for your customers. You know, you should be proud of it. And so you shouldn't be afraid to charge
Starting point is 00:13:25 a price for it and to kind of delve into that world. And so to me, it's kind of like public speaking. Everyone's afraid of public speaking, but then if you actually do it, you realize, oh, it's not that scary. People actually want me to succeed. Same with your side hustle. I think people want you to succeed. And if you make a product, people want to see that you are proud of that work. So I don't think it's something to shy away from. And I guess kind of another part to that is, I think a lot of people that think of, oh, I should start a side hustle, they don't necessarily consider it as a real business. Like, what would you say to those types of people? I mean, for me, again, you know, I started my side hustle, you know, kind of blogging, and I never thought of it as a business.
Starting point is 00:14:04 And then it kind of morphed into that. Yeah, I mean, well, it was fun, presumably, right? Like you enjoy doing it. You looked forward to it. Yeah. You looked forward to it. And it's kind of the best kind of hobby because it's a hobby that pays you money now. Right. So, so it's fun. So I would say that, you know, these kinds of projects, they're very flexible and they can adapt to people's different motivations. And some people that I talk to, like they are actually trying to leave their job and they're like, I hate it there. I'm trying to create something for myself.
Starting point is 00:14:30 So for them, it's like, it very much is like, this is going to be a business. For lots of other people, it's exactly like what you just said. Like I'm going to figure out something that I'm good at. I'm going to hopefully find something that other people are also interested in. I'm going to pursue that.
Starting point is 00:14:43 We'll see how it goes. It's going to be a creative outlet. I'm going to pursue that. We'll see how it goes. It's going to be a creative outlet. I'm going to start quickly so I don't waste all my time. I'm not going to spend a lot of money on it, so there's no risk. And that's it, basically. And then within a month, we'll know if it's working or not. So I always encourage people, try to spend 20 minutes a day on your project. We're all busy. I know everybody's busy, but 20 minutes of focused work and like identify in advance what you're going to do during that 20 minutes so that you're not just kind of like, you know, circling around or looking at email or whatever. Um, I would say that's, that's important and it's a good habit to adopt.
Starting point is 00:15:18 So yeah, you kind of mentioned something. How should someone, you know, maybe they, I mean, everyone has ideas. I have a million ideas. And I feel like, I mean, I have a ton of friends who always have a t-shirt idea. And so they're like, maybe I should sell that. Like at what point or how do you discern whether your potential side hustle is actually a good idea and it is actually something that you should, you know, invest some of your money in and your time into? Yeah. Great question. So some people struggle with finding ideas and some people are exactly like you said, I've got so many ideas. How do I know which one to choose or whatever? How can I just choose which one right now? I use kind of like an intuitive process. It's called the side hustle selector. It's actually in the book,
Starting point is 00:15:59 but if you don't have the book, I can just explain it really quickly. It's basically like, not trying to sell the book, like I'm happy to help people for free. Basically, it's like you take your three or four ideas and just like you write them down and then you kind of rank each one based on a couple of different criteria. Number one, like how feasible is it? Like, do you understand more or less
Starting point is 00:16:18 how to get this idea up and running like in the next 30 days? If your idea is to build an app and you're not a programmer, then it's not very feasible, at least like not right away. Second is, is profitability or profit potential. And you're just estimating here because nobody really knows until you do it, but all things being equal, like how profitable do you think each idea has the potential to be? And then the third factor, there's like six in the book, we'll just do three. The third factor
Starting point is 00:16:41 is your motivation. Like when you think about all three ideas, like which one are you most excited about? So you kind of rank each one based on like high, medium and low. And you kind of look for a pattern. And so sometimes something emerges and you're like, oh, I should do that. You know, if all three things are equal, then you just pick one. And the last point I would make is people feel a lot of pressure over making these decisions. And they think they're making a decision like for the rest of their life. Yeah. So I would just like try to remove that pressure over making these decisions. And they think they're making a decision like for the rest of their life. Yeah. So I would just like try to remove that pressure
Starting point is 00:17:07 as much as possible. You're making a decision for like a few weeks, maybe. Maybe a few months or something. Like if this project doesn't work or you get tired of it, then you can go back to one of the other ones. I think the bigger danger is just not making a choice at all. So don't worry about trying to commit to something forever. Just find what's best for you
Starting point is 00:17:25 right now. Totally. No, I think you definitely hit something there because I remember even when I, you know, decided to do the blog thing. And again, it was just a hobby, but I'm like, I'm going to give it a year and a year to be sounded like eternity and terrified me. And also even just like putting yourself out there, whatever it is, there's that big fear of a taking a risk and maybe you're not used to taking risks and failure. So what would you say to people that are just like, you know, kind of have that analysis paralysis and just are afraid to even like take this step to try? I mean, that's kind of sometimes the hardest step is to just do it. Sure. I mean, I think we've all been in those, you know, those places, different times in our lives. I certainly have. I would just say, like, let's try to get it down to some really small steps, you know, like, what is the smallest step that you can do to move? Can you register a domain? You know, can you like write some basic copy or whatever? And like, like, you should ask yourself, not not just like, what if it fails? Because sure, some things fail, things succeed, things fail, it's life. You should ask yourself, like, how if it fails? Because sure, some things fail. Things succeed, things fail.
Starting point is 00:18:25 That's life. You should ask yourself, like, how are you going to feel if you have this idea and you don't do anything about it? Like that to me is a far worse feeling. And that's why I went to every country in the world because I had this idea
Starting point is 00:18:36 and I thought that's crazy. Like that's absurd, you know? And then I had it again and I just couldn't stop thinking about it. And finally I was like, damn, if I don't do this, then I'm going to feel really bad. I'm going to regret it. And so thankfully, a side hustle is a much
Starting point is 00:18:48 easier commitment than going to every country in the world. Even traveling around the world. Yeah, exactly. But you can use the same logic and say like, hey, I'm listening to this interview. Obviously, I've come to your show because I'm actually interested in this concept and I want to create more assets for myself. So I'm already in the right mindset that what am I going to do? If I don't do something, am I not going to regret it? I think most people, that will help a lot of people. Absolutely. So one thing that I've been thinking, so I was lucky enough to turn my side hustle into my full-time job back this January, which is really exciting. Wow, congratulations. Thank you. And then recently I saw this stat online from NASDAQ that said,
Starting point is 00:19:28 in 2016 it said there's like 34% of the workforce were freelancers. And now they're projecting in 2020 it'll be 43%. Again, it's kind of going back to that idea of the gig economy and side hustles kind of becoming more popular, but especially freelancers. Like, why do you think this shift, this huge, I mean, that's a huge number to jump to in 2020, which really isn't that far off.
Starting point is 00:19:53 Why do you think it's going that way? Is it just because what people want as consumers is changing and that's an exciting prospect for people that are potentially thinking to start a side hustle? Yeah, I mean, I don't know in terms of the statistics, where that comes from and why you predict a certain thing. I just see more and more people embracing it and more and more people finding success in it. And that's why on my show, Side Hustle School, I wanted to start it this year and do a different format and just every like do a case study and every single day,
Starting point is 00:20:25 tell a story of an employee who starts a side hustle without quitting their day job. And I wanted to do that to show like a wealth of examples, basically. And so I'm not always talking about the same kinds of people. And that's what I do with the books as well. It's like, I'm not just talking about myself. I'm not just talking about you or somebody else. Like, if you don't relate to me, if you don't relate to whoever, like here's 50 examples, or this year on the show, there's 3,300 plus don't relate to whoever, here's 50 examples. Or this year on the show, there's 300 plus examples. So I think what it is, is more and more people are realizing, oh, I can do this. Because yes, Joe next door was able to do it. And I'm like,
Starting point is 00:20:55 Joe. It's not just like somebody I saw on TV or whatever. Yeah, exactly. Perfect. It's relatability. And I think that's how people are persuaded of ideas in the first place, is that somebody they know or somebody they can relate to has done it. Well, speaking of case studies, do you want to share one or two that maybe are some of your favorites that maybe you've provided in the book or on your show? Yeah, that's great. Give me like a focus. Give me a topic or something. I've got a lot of stories.
Starting point is 00:21:20 Yeah, that's a good question. I guess, let's say if someone's listening right now and they are having trouble trying to even think what they're good at, is there just like a regular person who just does the nine to five corporate thing that was able, I thought of something else. One of my favorite stories so far, I just featured it last week on the show. This is a story of a woman named Teresa, and she was a bit older. I think she was actually in her mid-50s and left a relationship that was not good for her. And she had all kinds of other terrible stuff happening in her life, like lots of challenges, right? And so she didn't have a traditional career. She had this skill of bread making. Like she was really good at baking sourdough bread. Okay. So she creates an online course.
Starting point is 00:22:10 Like she's in her mid-50s. She hasn't, you know, done a lot of YouTube stuff and all that before. She creates an online course about baking sourdough bread. Wow. And does it through Udemy. And the first year, the course sells $25,000 worth. Whoa. Right.
Starting point is 00:22:23 So then, which is huge, right? It's enormous. And she talks about learning how to make videos and all kinds of stuff that she didn't do before. So then she decides to go deeper into it and she makes a whole bunch of other baking courses. And side note, I had no idea that sourdough bread was so popular because she has intermediate sourdough baking and advanced sourdough and like essential sour it's just crazy but um so last year 86 000 in income you know wow from bread and so i like that story because it's like a blend of like a classic skill like this is not like a technological advanced skill but using technology uh to essentially reach a wide marketplace. So that's one of my...
Starting point is 00:23:06 Yeah, I think that's interesting that, because at first when you were talking about that, I thought the story was, and she was going to sell the bread, but no, she sold the information on how to do it. And I guess that's another thing too. I think when people initially think of, I want to start a business or I want to side hustle, what kind of product should I sell or what kind of service?
Starting point is 00:23:23 But now it's becoming so much more popular to sell your expertise and your knowledge, especially like, I don't know anyone who's, you know, super into sourdough bread, but if I was really into bread myself and I found her course, I would hell yeah, I want to take it. Right, right. Yeah. So let's give another example. Let's talk about maybe like, so a younger, younger so a younger person, this guy and his wife go on a cruise for the first time. Somebody actually gives them a cruise certificate. And they were like, we're not really into cruises. It's not our thing, but we'll try to give it a fair chance. So they went, they actually had a good experience, came back and he was a copywriter. So he's using his skill that he has. And he realized before he
Starting point is 00:24:03 went, he just, he couldn't find a lot of information that he was looking for. He had a lot of questions like, can I watch Netflix on a cruise? Like he looked for that and nobody could tell him the answer to that. So he started a blog and his blog consists entirely of answers to questions about cruises. And he thinks about like what people type into Google, like, can I watch Netflix on it? Can I watch HBO? Can I watch whatever? Builds all the articles and the answers around it. Within a year, it was doing about $3,000 a month from Google AdSense. Basically, people are coming in and they're clicking other links and such.
Starting point is 00:24:39 So again, he has an experience and he realizes something is missing. There's a problem. He can provide that solution. He's a writer. It's not a very difficult thing to start a WordPress blog. He figures that out. And now he has passive income, essentially. So that's why it's not a part-time job. He's going to keep working on the site. He's going to keep writing articles. But if he stopped, presumably, money is still going to arrive. So I think that's pretty cool. Absolutely. Well, I guess that's the other question. Because you mentioned when you're thinking about creating a side hustle, you're thinking of ideas.
Starting point is 00:25:05 Some people get caught up in the idea that it's forever. Uh, do you know what the like typical side hustle lasts for? Is it a few years? Is it just all over the spectrum? It's all over the spectrum. It's all over the spectrum. Like there's another story,
Starting point is 00:25:17 a lot like that cruise one of this guy who, um, writes, who wrote a review site of fish tanks, right? So people buy, buy fish tanks. Like, you know, if you're going to buy a fish tank, right? So people buy fish tanks. Like, you know, if you're going to buy a fish tank,
Starting point is 00:25:27 which I've never done, but if I was, I would Google like fish tank reviews. Like, how do I pick the best, you know? So he did that and he made that whole site in a weekend. Very different from the cruise guy because he didn't work on it actively. He just did it in a weekend. It was done.
Starting point is 00:25:39 And, but for whatever reason, he got good rankings and signed up with Amazon as an affiliate. And so he set that up three years ago. Every month since then, he's been earning $700 a month. Wow. He gets a check for $700 for something he set up in a weekend three years ago. Is it going to last forever? Probably not. Does it matter? You know, like if whenever it goes away, he's like, look at this amazing, you know, thing that was there. So I think nothing lasts forever,
Starting point is 00:26:06 but that's okay. You don't have to create something that is sustainable. This is also like in entrepreneurship, you're always like, what is sustainable? What is scalable? A side hustle doesn't have to be either of those things. Does it matter? Yeah, exactly. So just because you want to set up a side hustle, don't freak out because you think it has to be this business that lasts for the next 40 years. If it's short term, that's okay. This is like startup thinking. Yeah, this is like startup thinking that has infected our minds. And I feel like that works great for certain companies and organizations. That's really not the best approach for a lot of individuals.
Starting point is 00:26:38 Absolutely. So before I let you go, I want to talk a little bit about your book, which I also have right next to me. Oh, wow. You have the original. You have the placeholder cover. I have the original. I know. I have the special copy. Yes. Ooh, yes. Much better. I would love to know maybe just some tidbits, some really juicy things that you would like people to know about the book and why they should grab it. I mean, I think this is a great intro and just really some awesome stuff and actionable stuff about side hustles. Because for me, it's like I just kind of learned on a whim and, you know, on the internet,
Starting point is 00:27:12 but it would be nice to, it would have been nice, you know, several years ago to have kind of the playbook to side hustling. Yeah. Well, thank you for saying that. That's very kind. I'm not a salesperson to go back to the beginning part of our conversation, but I will say that I've written five books and this was the easiest book I've ever written. I felt like I knew almost exactly what I wanted to say. It was just a matter of figuring out how
Starting point is 00:27:34 to do it. And one thing I did that was different in this book is I basically wrote it as 27 mini chapters. And so it's like a 27-day plan. And so it's like you start reading and like, here's what to do on day one, here's what to do on day two, etc. You can obviously work on it at your own pace. But I just kind of created that structure. Because almost exactly what you just said, people felt like there's no process for this. Like people can figure it out. And that's great. But wouldn't it be better if there was actually like a you know follow this this thing so I tried to create like a five-week plan that can be adapted to lots of different projects products services you know whatever you're into and obviously you're going to add your own
Starting point is 00:28:14 creativity to it but there are a lot of stories and the stories kind of support the narrative and the tips so my hope is this is the last thing I'll say about it. My hope is that people will read the book and not just say like, oh, cool book. You know, like I want people to read the book and be like, oh, like I read the book and I even stopped halfway through because I got to work on something. I started my own project, like I built my blog and like now I'm making hundreds of dollars a month or whatever it is. Like, yeah, that's what I want. I want people to take action on it. Yeah, no, absolutely. I'm so excited to hear some of those. And I'm sure you'll have some of those future readers on your podcast in the future. Yeah, that'd be fantastic. Yeah, the podcast now,
Starting point is 00:28:52 it's like we started in January and probably 25% of the stories now are coming from people who were listening in the beginning of the year and then started their side hustle. That's really cool. I love that. Yeah. Yeah, that is awesome. Well, Chris, thank you so much for joining me and chatting with me about side hustles. If someone wants to learn more about you and where to grab the book, where should they go? Jessica, you are awesome. It's been a wonderful conversation. Let me say, first of all, to your listeners or viewers, if I can ever help you with something, please let me know.
Starting point is 00:29:21 And you can find me at sidehustleschool.com. Online social at Chris Gillibeau, which nobody could ever spell. But if you type in something close to it, it will bring you to me. Well, I liked on your website that you're like, this is how you pronounce it. Like, thank you, actually. Because I probably would have, yeah, said. Right. Or the podcast is on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to shows. Fabulous. Well, thanks again, Chris, for joining me. It was a pleasure. Awesome. And I'm going to give this to a friend.
Starting point is 00:29:47 Thank you. You're awesome. Thank you. Bye. And that was episode 125 of the Momente podcast with the awesome Chris Guillebeau. Make sure to check him out at SideHustleSchool.com and pick up a copy of his book,
Starting point is 00:30:01 Side Hustle, From Idea to Income in 27 Days. If you want to get inspired and have some action items on how to actually start your own side hustle if you don't already have one. I will, of course, include all this information that we talked about in the show notes. So all you have to do is go to jessicamorehouse.com slash 125 to check all of that out. And also some important info about this episode's podcast sponsor. Did you know that one in three Americans are self-employed? Because of the internet, it's now easier than ever to become self-employed or start a small business. That's why I was able
Starting point is 00:30:37 to take a huge leap of faith and leave my nine to five almost a year ago. What started as my side hustle is now my full-time job, and I can run my entire business out of the comfort of my own home. Now, it has not been a walk in the park. I will not lie to you about that. Going from employee to entrepreneur is not for the fainthearted. But what has made the transition so much easier in my life is by using software that really fits my needs. That's why I use FreshBooks as my go-to cloud accounting software. It helps me stay organized. I can pull reports within seconds. I can stay on top of payments from clients. And it basically takes a huge weight off my shoulders come tax time.
Starting point is 00:31:18 And what's really cool is FreshBooks just came out with an all new version of their cloud accounting software. And they're offering a 30-day unrestricted free trial to all of my listeners. If you want to take advantage and try FreshBooks out for yourself, all you have to do is go to freshbooks.com slash mo and enter Momany podcast in the how did you hear about a section. Once again, to try it out for free, go to freshbooks.com slash mo and enter Mo Money Podcast in the How Did You Hear About Us section.
Starting point is 00:31:48 So as always, I have another episode for you tomorrow. It is part of my listener series, so you will definitely want to check that out tomorrow. So make sure to subscribe to iTunes, YouTube, wherever you're listening so you do not miss it. Also, a friendly reminder that I have a huge library of helpful and free resources on my website. So if you go to jessicamorehouse.com slash resources, you get access to every single resource, worksheet, spreadsheet, checklist that I've created, all for free in one go. And you can just download them all in one go. It's super easy peasy. So go to jessicamoros.com slash
Starting point is 00:32:31 resources. Of course, I'll include a link in the show notes. And then you can just start getting to work, getting your stuff together, getting your financial life right. Oh, speaking of your financial life, I also have a free challenge that you may want to check out. It's called the Get Your Financial Life Right Challenge. It is a free 10-day email challenge that will guide you through the 10 important steps that you need to take action on in order to really have a good, solid financial plan for yourself. Make sure to go to jessicamorehouse.com slash financial life challenge
Starting point is 00:33:06 or just check out the show notes to sign up, get started, get your first email in your inbox and start getting stuff together. All right, that is it for me, but I will see you, of course, back here tomorrow for another episode. Thank you so much again for listening and looking forward to seeing you back here tomorrow.
Starting point is 00:33:41 This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.

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