Three years ago Design Pickle didn't exist. It wasn't even an idea in founder Russ Perry's head yet. That's why it seems crazy to me that today the unlimited graphic design service is doing $400k in monthly recurring revenue! Back in 2014, Russ was running a creative agency, but he started to hate everything about it. “I felt like I was in a prison of my own creation,” he said. By January 2015, he'd shut down his agency and started working as a freelancer. Not wanting to build a similar prison again, he sought out a different business model -- one with a simpler service offering that was designed to scale. From taking on a friend as his first client to now completing more than 800 design jobs a day, it’s been an incredibly quick ascension and a great example of how to scale a service business. Tune in to hear how Russ grew his business from zero to $410k+ in monthly recurring revenue in less than 3 years. We cover his marketing strategies, his hiring best practices, and what Design Pickle does to keep customers coming back month after month. Full Show Notes: Scaling Up a Service Business: From Idea to $400k in Monthly Recurring Revenue (in Under 3 Years) New to the Show? Get your personalized money-making playlist here! Sponsors: Squarespace - Start building your professional website today! Factor — Get 50% off America's #1 ready-to-eat meal delivery service w/ code sidehustle50! Indeed – Start hiring NOW with a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post! My First Million — Explore new business ideas based on trends and opportunities in the market! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Miao Rios was listening to the Side Hustle Show episode “Rank and Rent” with Luke Van Der Veer about creating niche websites to rank them on Google, then renting out the leads to local service businesses. She decided to give it a try, and just 3 months after creating her first site, she got an unexpected call. It was from the Ministry of Education in New Zealand, inviting her new website business to bid on a large demolition project for a local school. Despite having no actual demolition capabilities, Miao took a chance responding to the tender. She partnered with a qualified local contractor, got help polishing up the bidding documents, and ended up winning the $5,000 job! In this episode, you’ll learn how Miao of blackbirdseo.com builds and ranks her sites to earn $1000-$1500 per month passively. More importantly, you’ll get a blueprint to find profitable niches and service providers to create your own side income stream. Tune in to Episode 597 of the Side Hustle Show to learn about: Finding profitable niches and locations Building out niche sites to rank locally Getting high-quality leads Partnering with reliable service contractors Full Show Notes: Website Rentals: The simple local websites that earn $1000/mo each Free Listener Bonus: 50+ Rank and Rent Niches New to the Show? Get your personalized money-making playlist here! Sponsors: US Bank — Get a 75,000-point sign-up bonus with the US Bank Business Altitude Power World Elite Mastercard, and earn 2X points on everything you buy for your business. Notion – Try Notion AI for free! Factor — Get 50% off America's #1 ready-to-eat meal delivery service w/ code sidehustle50! Indeed – Start hiring NOW with a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You may remember the story Jacques Hopkins first shared on the Side Hustle Show in 2017 about his online piano course. Over the past decade, he systematically scaled Piano in 21 Days, into a powerhouse brand that generated over $4 million in sales. Now in 2024, I connected with Jacques again to get an update on his current projects and perspective looking back on his entrepreneurial wins and lessons learned over the past years. Like all savvy business owners, his approach and focus has evolved quite a bit during that timeframe. Tune in to Episode 596 of the Side Hustle Show to learn: Jacques' online piano course business after 11 years and over $4 million in sales Elements of building a successful online course business How Jacques' passion has shifted after doing this side hustle for over a decade What Jacques is focused on next with his coaching program and podcast Full Show Notes: An Online Course Business Turns 10: Lessons from $4M in Online Piano Course Sales New to the Show? Get your personalized money-making playlist here! Sponsors: Squarespace - Start building your professional website today! Indeed – Start hiring NOW with a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post! Factor — Get 50% off America's #1 ready-to-eat meal delivery service w/ code sidehustle50! The Hustle Daily Show - Your daily news podcast about irreverent and informative takes on business & tech! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if I told you that you could launch a million-dollar business this weekend? Sounds crazy, right? I recently had the pleasure of having Noah Kagan back on the Side Hustle Show podcast. You might remember him from Episode 237 about brainstorming and validating business ideas. Noah is a serial entrepreneur and founder of AppSumo, The Noah Kagan Youtube channel, Noah Kagan Presents podcast, and several other successful ventures. He recently launched a new book called Million Dollar Weekend: The Surprisingly Simple Way to Launch a 7-Figure Business in 48 Hours. Throughout our conversation, we brainstormed numerous side hustle business ideas that listeners could pursue this year. Noah also shared his insights on idea validation, launching quickly, and much more. Tune in to Episode 595 of The Side Hustle Show to learn: How to quickly validate and launch a side hustle idea Multiple promising side hustle concepts to pursue in 2024 The importance of pre-selling a product idea before building it Why services businesses make for promising first side hustles Actionable tips for overcoming "analysis paralysis" and launching faster Full Show Notes: The Million Dollar Weekend / Business Idea Giveaway Show New to the Show? Get your personalized money-making playlist here! Sponsors: US Bank — Get a 75,000 sign-up bonus with the US Bank Business Altitude Power World Elite Mastercard, and earn 2X points on everything you buy for your business. Indeed – Start hiring NOW with a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post! Factor — Get 50% off America's #1 ready-to-eat meal delivery service w/ code sidehustle50! HubSpot — Connect your data, teams, and customers on one customer platform that grows with your business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Making an extra $100 a day through side hustles might seem out of reach for many people. So how did one side hustler earn over $10,000 in just 100 days? Jaclyn "Jackie" Mitchell (@jaclynmitchell) set out to save for a down payment on a house by breaking a big goal into bite-sized daily targets. By earning $100 every day over 100 days, she ended up netting a total of $10,972. How’d she do it while working a full-time job? By relentlessly testing quick-hitting side hustles, working in public to hold herself accountable, and opening herself up to unexpected income from building an audience. Tune in to Episode 594 of The Side Hustle Show to learn: how to break down big goals into small, daily actions how to leverage communities for advice and accountability. how to look for passive income opportunities how consistency compounds over time Full Show Notes: The $100/day for 100 Days Challenge New to the Show? Get your personalized money-making playlist here! Sponsors: Notion – Try Notion AI for free! Factor — Get 50% off America's #1 ready-to-eat meal delivery service w/ code sidehustle50! Squarespace - Start building your professional website today! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the author of more than 70 books, Steve “S.J.” Scott is one of the most productive and disciplined people I know. His latest title, Habit Stacking, became a Wall Street Journal Bestseller and served as the inspiration for this episode. (Long-time listeners might remember Steve from WAY back in the archives; he was my guest in episode 9 where we discussed how to earn money as a side hustling author.) This time though we’re diving into a few of the habits that allow Steve to continually drive his business forward, and lead a healthier and happier life. Plus, you’ll learn why we think they’re important and how you can apply them in your own life. The 10 habits we cover are: Tracking your time Reviewing your goals daily Writing down the tasks you got done Fixing your “broken windows” Wearing a step-tracking device Keeping a food diary Researching one side hustle Breaking down a big project into actionable steps Following an evening shutdown routine Practicing mindfulness As you can see, they’re not all directly business-related, but most take 5 minutes or less and are designed to increase your productivity, reduce stress, prioritize your workload, and help you find a healthy work-life balance. Tune in to hear how Steve and I incorporate these habits into our daily routines (or plan to, in my case). Full Show Notes: 10 Foundational Hustle Habits to Improve Your Health, Wealth, and Happiness New to the Show? Grab your personalized playlist here! Sponsors: Entrepreneur Franchise 500 - Check out the list of the Top 500 Franchicses to own! Factor — Get 50% off America’s #1 ready-to-eat meal delivery service w/ code sidehustle50! Indeed – Start hiring NOW with a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever done a juice cleanse or a "Whole30" challenge? While I haven't ever gone to that extreme, I DO always feel better physically and mentally after even just a few days of clean eating. So if a quick "cleanse" can work for our health, why not try it with our money? To dive deeper into this, I'm joined by Rachel Jimenez from Money Hacking Mama, one of the most popular Side Hustle Show guests of all time. Her episode on selling printables on Etsy has been downloaded almost 90,000 times. Ready for the cleanse? Let's do it! Full Show Notes: The 30 Day Money Cleanse: A Step-by-Step Detox Program for Your Financial Health Free Listener Bonus: Download the Printable Money Cleanse Checklist. New to the Show? Get your personalized money-making playlist here! Sponsors: Indeed – Start hiring NOW with a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post! Squarespace - Start building your professional website today! Factor — Get 50% off America's #1 ready-to-eat meal delivery service w/ code sidehustle50! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When school teacher Claire McCann turned a $65 used table set into $300, she discovered a profitable new side hustle model. Intrigued by the potential to multiply her money by flipping furniture, Claire set out to hone her skills and scale the venture up. Just 15 months later, Claire has earned over $35,000 in profits from furniture flipping using Facebook Marketplace and other digital platforms. Now she spreads her hard-won knowledge so others can succeed too through her The Furniture Flip brand. Tune in to Episode 592 of the Side Hustle Show to learn: Where to source profitable secondhand furniture pieces online for low buy prices Strategies to customize your outreach messages and listings so your deals stand out Which furniture styles and brands yield top resale prices? The economics behind leveraging movers and staging help to scale Best practices to avoid prevalent marketplace scams and fraudsters Full Show Notes: How One Side Hustler Turned $65 into $25k in 12 Months New to the show? Grab your personalized playlist here! Sponsors: Notion – Try Notion AI for free! Factor — Get 50% off America's #1 ready-to-eat meal delivery service w/ code sidehustle50! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We've had hundreds of inspiring side hustle stories on the show this past year, but a few really stood out from the pack. In this week's roundup episode, I'll be counting down the 10 best side hustles of 2023. To make it super easy to revisit any episode, I put together a Side Hustle Show "Best Side Hustles of 2023" playlist on Spotify with quick access to all the audio. Get ready to have your side hustle dreams ignited as we reveal the year's top ideas and strategies for earning outside of the conventional 9 to 5. The only question is - which one will you put into action this year? Let's dive in! Full Show Notes: The 10 Best Side Hustles of 2023 New to the Show? Get your personalized money-making playlist here! Sponsors: Masterclass — Get 15% off an annual membership! Factor — Get 50% off America's #1 ready-to-eat meal delivery service w/ code sidehustle50! Gusto – Get 3 months free when you run your first payroll! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever woken up one day feeling trapped in a career you used to love? The stability of a steady paycheck no longer worth the daily dread of unfulfilling work? Did you suddenly want a career change? I’m talking staring-at-the-ceiling-all-night type misery. Alex Warneke knows exactly how this feels. She found herself creatively stifled and financially limited working as a marine ecologist and park ranger. While loving the subject matter, restrictions around income growth, adventure, and location independence nagged her. She couldn't shake the feeling that her current path just wouldn't get her to the life she envisioned. Despite no prior experience, Alex strategically skilled up and gained Salesforce credentials to increase her income potential dramatically. Her story offers an inspirational template for others looking to pursue more career flexibility. Tune in to Episode 590 of the Side Hustle Show to learn: How Alex was able to increase her earning potential by changing careers The process Alex took to learn Salesforce through the Talent Stacker program What a typical day in the life looks like working as a Salesforce administrator and consultant Common mistakes to avoid on your journey to career change and advancement Full Show Notes: The Most Overlooked Way to Make More Money? Is a Salesforce Career Right for You? Join the Free 5-Day Salesforce Challenge to find out. New to the Show? Get your personalized money-making playlist here! Sponsors: Monarch Money — Get an extended 30-day free trial of the top-rated personal finance app.  Factor — Get 50% off America's #1 ready-to-eat meal delivery service w/ code sidehustle50! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stacy Caprio was desperate to leave her day job. She ended up doing just that after acquiring – and improving – a portfolio of mini online businesses. In her case, these were websites that make money from advertising. Now, this asset class can be risky, and Stacy is open about her early failures. But if you have some online skills, (or management skills to bring people in if you don’t want to run the site yourself) this can be a fast-track to the cash flow you need to fund your lifestyle. Since websites often sell for 20x monthly earnings, they’re perhaps 10-15x “cheaper” than if you were to rely solely on traditional investments and a 4% withdrawal rate. Sound like the kind of investment that suits your lifestyle? Tune in to episode 323 to hear where Stacy finds these businesses to buy, her unique filtering criteria, and a few quick ways she’s been able to accelerate the cash flow of her portfolio for even better returns. Full Show Notes: How to Replace Your Salary by Buying Mini Businesses New to the Show? Get your personalized money-making playlist here! Sponsors: Gusto – Get 3 months free when you run your first payroll! Factor — Get 50% off America’s #1 ready-to-eat meal delivery service w/ code sidehustle50! Kababi — Start your 30-day free trial today! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lou Rice was breastfeeding her son Archie one night when disaster struck—she dropped her Kindle on his head! While that experience was upsetting for both of them at the moment, it sparked an idea for Lou and her husband Ben to create a solution. Ben fashioned a silicone strap with staples to attach Lou's Kindle to her hand and prevent any future dropping incidents. Lou tested it out over the next month and absolutely loved having the grip and security of the strap for comfortable one-handed reading during those long middle-of-the-night feeds. And thus, their side hustle, strapsicle.com was born—a company now generating over $50k a month selling their innovative Kindle straps. Not only that, but Strapsicle is on pace for its first-ever 6 figures after recently going viral on TikTok and Instagram. Tune in to Episode 589 of The Side Hustle Show to learn: How an accident sparked a successful product idea Why micro-influencers were key for visibility How early demand was validated before production How diversified sales channels have inherent strengths Full Show Notes: 589: How a Simple Idea Turned Into a $50k a Month Side Hustle New to the Show? Get your personalized money-making playlist here! Sponsors: Ladder – Get instantly approved for term life insurance—no doctors, no needles, no paperwork! Masterclass — Get 15% off an annual membership! Factor — Get 50% off America's #1 ready-to-eat meal delivery service w/ code sidehustle50!

Making money in real estate typically requires owning the property, right? Coming up with a large down payment, securing financing, dealing with tenants, handling maintenance and repairs. The barriers to entry aren’t exactly low. But what if you could skip all that and still bring in serious cash flow by renting out apartments and homes without buying them? When Richie Matthews and his wife were looking to supplement their seasonal events business in late 2019, rental arbitrage seemed like an ideal side hustle. Little did they know that just a few months later, that tiny side hustle would quickly scale into a business managing 60 units and generating over $2.5 million in revenue and $700k in profits. He now runs his company, iStayUSA.com. Tune in to Ep 588 of The Side Hustle Show to: Test unfamiliar models with tiny experiments before going “all in” Stay nimble and embrace opportunities, even in uncertainty Build scalable systems and processes early on Diversify marketing channels and revenue streams Focus on profitability metrics rather than solely revenue growth Full Show Notes: Rental Arbitrage: $700k Renting Out Other People's Properties Get your personalized money-making playlist here!

It’s that time of year again—Thanksgiving! For the past years, I’ve celebrated the holiday with an annual roundup of some of the most creative, outside-the-box side hustle ideas and stories that have come across my desk. These unique money-making side hustles stand out not just for their ingenuity but for the impressive income generated by ordinary people putting their skills, passions, and sheer determination to work. This is the 6th installment of the series, so I encourage you to go check out the other episodes if you like this format: 10 Creative Side Hustles Part 1 – 2018 10 Creative Side Hustles Part 2 – 2019 10 Creative Side Hustles Part 3 – 2020 10 Creative Side Hustles Part 4 – 2021 10 Creative Side Hustles Part 5 - 2022 This year’s list features an awesome mix of unconventional side hustles spanning cleaning, gardening, rentals, social media, and more. Each profile contains key stats, actionable ideas, and an inside look you won’t find anywhere else! Full Show Notes: 10 Creative Side Hustles that Make Real Money - Part 6 Get your personalized money-making playlist here! Sponsors: Gusto - Hire, pay, and manage your team all in one place!

Can you really get paid to be curious? When Harry Duran launched the Vertical Farming Podcast in 2020, he had zero experience or connections in the industry — he just wanted to learn more about vertical farming. Yet through strategic partnerships and consistency, he has established himself as a leading voice in this emerging space. Fast forward just over three years later, the show generates over $80,000 in annual revenue. Harry is now seen as a leading authority in the space. His show generates thousands in sponsorship revenue from companies eager to get in front of this highly targeted audience. Tune into episode 586 of The Side Hustle Show to learn: What made him interested in vertical farming Tactics for landing high-profile guests Creative approaches to securing sponsors Strategies for expanding into a media network And much more Full Show Notes: Monetize Your Curiosity: How a Part-Time Podcast Generated $80k in Revenue Listener Bonus: 20 Hobby Niches to Build a Side Hustle Around Free Bonus: Your Podcast Starter Kit Sponsors: Indeed – Start hiring NOW with a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post! Masterclass — Get 15% off an annual membership! Gusto - Get 3 months free the leading payroll, benefits, and HR platform for small businesses!

We've got another round of 20 Questions from Side Hustle Nation listeners on the agenda today! I always enjoy tapping into your collective experience and the challenge of providing helpful answers off the cuff. As is customary on these episodes, I’ve filtered through a stack of questions from the Side Hustle Nation community over the past few months. Though we usually hit 20, this time around we've got 18 questions to explore. This is the 15th installment of this series, making it probably the longest-running series in the Side Hustle Show's history, so feel free to check out the older ones: 556: Pricing, Podcasting, Permission to Quit, and More: 20 Questions with Nick 498: Profitable Podcasting, Getting Clients, and $50k/mo in Passive Income: 20 Questions with Nick 451: Affiliate Marketing, Early Retirement, and Side Hustle Shifts Over 8 Years of Podcasting: 20 Questions with Nick 431: Fear of Selling, Protecting Ideas, Podcasting and More 412: Side Hustle Ethics, Charging Your Friends, the Side Hustles I’m Most Excited About, and More 365: Market Saturation, Mind Mapping, Miracle Mornings, and More 346: The Con of the Side Hustle, Beanie Babies, Affiliate Marketing, and More 320: Multiplying Money, Morning Routines, and $100k Side Hustles 291: Email, Ebooks, Platforms, and Conferences 271: Brilliant Blogging, Ruthless Productivity, and Guaranteed Success 245: Network Marketing, Imposter Syndrome, My Side Hustle Mistakes, and More 219: Growing Traffic, Monetization, List-Building, a Day in the Life, and More 198: Blogging, Branding, Book Writing, and Finding the Right Side Hustle for You 181: SEO, Affiliate Marketing, Self-Publishing, Udemy, and More Topics covered include podcast advertising, SEO resources, deciding which side hustle to focus on, and much more. You'll hear me reflect on getting sponsors for the show, recommend tools for affiliate marketing, give advice on turning a skill into a money-maker, and share what I've been reading lately. There's a little something for everyone in this episode, whether you're just getting started on your first venture or looking to take an existing business to the next level. Let's jump right into the questions! Full Show Notes: Giving Away Ideas, Getting Great Guests, Growing Your Business, and More: 20 Questions With Nick New to the Show? Get your personalized money-making playlist here! Sponsors: Kajabi — Start your 30-day free trial today! Ladder – Get instantly approved for term life insurance—no doctors, no needles, no paperwork! BetterHelp — Get 10% off your first month!

A location-independent consulting business that replaces your day job income in a matter of months? That's what Paul Minors achieved with his virtual software consulting side hustle. You might recognize Paul’s name. Paul is a productivity blogger and consultant from New Zealand. He was part of a fun productivity roundtable episode we did towards the end of 2016 -- that was episode 197 if you want to go back and check it out. At that time, Paul was putting the wheels in motion on his consulting business centered around specific software tools. If you can hitch your cart to a rising tide of interest in a particular tool, and become the go-to expert in that space, you can do really well. Paul was able to leave his day job within a couple of months of starting his business. He was then able to go traveling with his wife for 6-months while working 15-20 hours a week from his laptop. After arriving back home, he started working full-time on his consulting business. “I noticed the impact of that straight away, within a couple of months I had doubled my income,” Paul told me. It's clear Paul has figured out this business model. This episode is packed with ideas you might be able to apply to your own areas of expertise. Maybe you’ll even uncover some areas of expertise you never really considered that special before. Tune in to episode 344 hear: How Paul came across the idea of offering his first consulting services “by accident.” The several different marketing channels that drive targeted traffic to his website How he’s added more products and services to his portfolio Full Show Notes: Virtual Consulting: How to Start a Location-Independent Consulting Business New to the Show? Get your personalized money-making playlist here!

It's one thing to teach a toddler to read; it's another entirely to transform that skill into a 7-figure business. Spencer Russell built Toddlers Can Read from the ground up and achieved tremendous success in just 2 years. Despite early setbacks with initial sales, he adapted by refining the course experience and struck gold with viral content on TikTok. As Spencer innovates, scales, and plans a rebranding, he remains deeply committed to his mission—helping children everywhere unlock their reading potential. Explore his strategies, learn from his experiences, and discover why he believes in giving your side hustle full-time energy. Tune into episode 584 of The Side Hustle Show to learn: How Spencer Russell found his niche in early childhood education Strategies for delivering value and engaging customers Leveraging social media for business growth Expanding reach through blogging and paid advertising Full Show Notes: Building a 7-Figure Online Business in Just 2 years New to the Show? Get your personalized Side Hustle Show playlist Sponsor: BetterHelp — Get 10% off your first month!

David Paxton earns $1000s a month sharing the best golf gear deals on the Internet. And unlike most affiliate businesses, he didn't wait around in the Google sandbox waiting for SEO to take hold. In fact, he made $2000 in his first month! Tune in to the interview to learn how he: sources the deals gets the word out monetizes the business Could you borrow the idea in your own niche? Full Show Notes: $1000s a Month Sharing the Best Deals in Your Niche Your Listener Bonus: 20 Hobby Niches To Create A Promotional Business Sponsors: Masterclass — Get 15% off an annual membership! BetterHelp — Get 10% off your first month! Kababi — Start your 30-day free trial today!

Becky Beach’s side hustle journey began like many others—with an unhealthy relationship at a day job. After being fired from her toxic work environment, Becky was inspired to start her own business. She launched the blog MomBeach.com in 2015, but it took 6 long years of blood, sweat, and tears before it became a full-time income source. When COVID-19 struck, Becky's blog exploded from 20,000 pageviews a month to over 250,000. Riding the growth, she took the leap into full-time blogging and digital product creation. Just two years later, Becky now earns $30,000 a month, largely from digital product sales. She sells printables, courses, planners, workbooks, and more through her website, Etsy store, and TeachersPayTeachers. Tune into Ep 582 of The Side Hustle Show to learn how to: Build an audience and digital products around problems you can solve Research demand thoroughly before creating any product Funnel free content into paid digital product purchases Drive consistent traffic to maximize your sales funnel potential Full Show Notes: How to Use AI to Create Digital Products: $30k a Month New to the Show? Get your personalized Side Hustle Show playlist! Sponsors: Ladder – Get instantly approved for term life insurance—no doctors, no needles, no paperwork! Indeed – Start hiring NOW with a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post!

What if you could make your rent or mortgage payment go away? Or, what if instead of paying that expense every month, your living situation actually paid you? It’s not as far-fetched as it may sound. In fact, that’s exactly what today’s guest, Craig Curelop, has done by intentionally "house hacking" over the past few years. He’s even written a book on the topic, and it's one I wish I’d had when I was 18 or 19! I would have definitely done some things differently. The basic idea is to use other people’s rents to offset, or even profit from your own housing costs. On top of that, you'll begin building wealth through real estate and earn tax benefits as well. If you have a spare room or two in your home, or you're interested in house hacking, this episode is going to get the gears turning for you. Tune in as Craig runs through some examples of how you can do this. Whether you’re a young professional, or you have a family of your own, you can offset some or all of your mortgage payments. But keep in mind, this isn’t a common path -- this is living for a period of time like others won’t -- as you’ll hear from Craig’s story. Full Show Notes: House Hacking 101: Live Free and Turn Your Biggest Expense into a Profit Center

Ben Feys and Kevin Niehoff had a problem. As young professionals working busy day jobs, they struggled with skincare issues like acne and eczema but couldn’t find products that worked for them. Rather than accept their fate, these best friends decided to take matters into their own hands. They dreamed of creating the “Nike of skincare” — a brand built specifically for active males like themselves. In 2019, Ben and Kevin finally decided to scratch their entrepreneurial itch and turn this passion project into a side hustle reality. Little did they know their bootstrapped men’s skincare line YoPrettyBoy.com would generate over $1 million in annual revenue just a few years later. Tune into Episode 581 of The Side Hustle Show to learn: How Kevin and Ben validated the market opportunity for PrettyBoy The extensive research and preparations that went into formulating and launching their products Clever branding and positioning strategies to stand out in a crowded market Traction tactics to efficiently acquire customers and drive repeat sales Key operational areas like manufacturing, fulfillment, and inventory management Full Show Notes: Bootstrapping a $1M Direct to Consumer E-Commerce Brand as a Side Hustle

I’ve got a couple Plug and Play Side Hustles for you today that are quick and easy to start. In the first side hustle, we dive into mattress flipping through Sharetown. Find out how it works, what you need to get started, and how much you can expect to make. For the full details, check out: Sharetown Review: Inside the Mattress Pickup and Resale Side Hustle For our second side hustle, we talk with a veteran mystery shopper. Get the details on how to get started, how to avoid scams, and the best companies to work for.  For the full details, check out: How to Become a Mystery Shopper: 10 Best Companies (2023)

Making extra money on the side often requires finding ways to create leverage. Leverage means getting paid multiple times for work you only have to do once, and making money without having to actively do the work yourself. One side hustler who has cracked the code on leveraged profits is Steve Slagle. By day, Steve works construction jobs. But outside of his 9 to 5, he now earns over $2500 a month from Beachside Ice, his ice vending machine business. In this episode, Steve takes us through the world of vending machine location negotiations, landowner compensation, and the importance of maintaining positive relations. We explore the finer details of partnering with manufacturers, securing permits, and overseeing installation and delivery. Tune into Episode 579 of The Side Hustle Show to learn: Ideal locations for steady demand with ice vending machines Financing options for starting an ice vending operation Local customer promotion with grassroots marketing Maximizing profits through maintenance strategies Scaling ice vending for semi-passive income Full Show Notes: Ice Vending: $2500/Month in (almost) Passive Profits

What are the quick, simple, and maybe a little “weird” productivity tricks entrepreneurs use to get more done? Well, I’m always curious about that myself so I decided to ask 26 of my most productive and successful friends for the “hacks” and tools they use every day. (And I added in one of my own to round out the list.) This episode was a ton of fun to put together and I owe a huge thank you to everyone who participated! I know I learned of a few new tools to try and I’m sure you will to. If you like this style of show, you might consider checking out last year’s round-up episode as well, which asked 25 people how they made their first side hustle or business income. You can see the participants and the approximate timestamps of their advice below. Enjoy! Full Show Notes: 27 "Weird" Productivity Hacks You Can Try Today

Starting a side hustle is all about finding new ways to make extra money outside of your regular 9-5 job. And in today’s digital world, there are two primary paths people take — starting a local business or building an online business from your computer. But which strategy should you pursue to start earning real income as a side hustler? That’s the discussion in which Nick Huber, co-founder of Storage Squad and host of The Sweaty Startup podcast, and Miles Beckler, an online business expert, share their perspectives on both approaches. Tune into episode 578 of The Side Hustle Show to learn how to: Leverage your existing skills and interests Identify underserved needs to fill Commit for the long haul Delegate extensively Provide real value to others Full Show Notes: Side Hustle Showdown: Sweaty Startups vs. Laptop Lifestyle

Starting an online tutoring business while juggling nursing school and 6 kids sounds daunting. As a nursing student struggling to keep up with her coursework, Nicole discovered a passion for helping fellow students learn difficult concepts and develop effective study skills. This launched her on an incredible 10-year-long journey - from tutoring classmates to building a thriving online membership site, YourNursingTutor. How'd she pull it off while raising 6 kids? In this episode, we'll hear Nicole's story of pivoting from an online course to a membership model and achieving recurring revenue. Tune into episode 577 of The Side Hustle Show to learn: How Nicole revived her business after a Google algorithm collapse Pivoting from an online course to membership model Creative tactics to attract audience and drive sales How Nicole optimized her offers and funnel for maximum value How TikTok helped Nicole gain 80K+ followers fast Full Show Notes: Scaling an Online Business for Recurring Revenue: From Course to Membership Get your personalized money-making playlist here!

Growing an engaged audience is crucial but challenging when starting a podcast or online business. Chris Hutchins started the All the Hacks podcast in May 2021. Today, he reaches over 250,000 downloads per month and has released over 120+ episodes optimizing life, money, and travel and built other content to help listeners upgrade their lives. In this episode, we'll take a deep dive into Chris's approach to growing his audience quickly and how you can apply similar tactics in your own business or side hustle. Tune into episode 576 of The Side Hustle Show to learn: How Chris gained traction in the podcasting space Clever marketing tactics to grow your audience Ideas for turning listeners into paying customers Key mindsets for podcasting success Chris's #1 tip for side hustlers this year Full Show Notes: Audience Growth Hacks w/ a Multi 6-Figure Creator

I hope you're having an awesome start to your year so far. The first half of 2023 has been filled with exciting new projects, experiments, wins, challenges, and everything in between for Side Hustle Nation. In this progress report, I want to give you an inside look behind the scenes at what I've been working on so far this year. The goal is to provide a transparent view into running this side hustle that's now over 10 years old. There's been some new habit installations, email marketing tests, product launches, podcast experiments, website updates, and more. I'll share what's going well, what's still a work in progress, and what's on the horizon for the rest of 2023 and beyond. Full Show Notes: 3 Questions, a $10k Launch, and 8,516 Warners: My 2023 Mid-Year Progress Report  

Imagine going from having no business ideas and no money, to making your first sales in 2 weeks. It’s not a far-fetched goal according to this week’s guest. Alan Donegan from PopUpBusinessSchool.co.uk specializes in guiding people through this transformation, and he says that everyone has a profitable business idea in their heads – and he knows how to find it. He does this through in-person workshops that are free to attend by forming partnerships with government bodies in cities across the UK, and he’s bringing his workshops to the US soon. Alan is adamant about bootstrapping and not taking on a load of debt to start a business because he saw his family go through a multi-million dollar bankruptcy and doesn’t want anyone else to have to experience the same fate. He preaches starting a business around a passion or something that excites you. Because running a business you’re passionate about sets you apart from the competition and makes the process so much easier. He shares how he teaches his students to pre-sell and validate their side hustle ideas before putting down cash for stock that might end up collecting dust in the garage. Alan also shares how he practiced what he preaches when he sold his first PopUpBusiness workshop to a housing authority in the UK. He ended up selling his highest priced package right out of the gate, and his business has been gaining momentum ever since. Tune in to hear how Alan pulls business ideas out of people who don’t think they have any, how he has his students quickly and cheaply validate those ideas, and what makes for a successful pitch. Full Show Notes: How to Start a Business You Care About — With No Business Ideas and No Money Get your personalized money-making playlist here!  

Who would have ever thought that cheese boards could earn you $1M? When we first met Monisha Misra, she had grown her charcuterie board side hustle, BoardsbyMo, to over $100k in revenue in less than a year. Fast forward to today, BoardsbyMo generates over $1 million in lifetime revenue, and Monisha now runs the business full-time with a team of 7 employees. In this "Where are they now?" episode, Monisha catches us up on the rapid growth and evolution of charcuterie board company BoardsbyMo over the past few years. Tune into this episode 574 of The Side Hustle Show to learn: How Monisha leveraged Instagram and social media to build an audience for her charcuterie board business Strategies she used to land press features and local awards Ways she diversified her offerings into workshops, classes, and corporate gifting Why excellent customer service was key to her success How you can turn your own creative passion into a lucrative business Full Show Notes: How I Grew to $1M in All-Time Revenue, Starting as a Side Hustle Get your personalized money-making playlist here!

What if your passion project could transform into a full-time income source in just a few short years? Turning a blog into a lucrative business takes time, effort, and know-how. But by consistently publishing high-quality content, building backlinks, and monetizing through ads and affiliate offers, you can tap into income streams in your niche. That's exactly what Shelley Marmor did when she started her travel blog on a whim. The former corporate worker and travel magazine editor turned her websites, Travel Mexico Solo and Travel Blogging 101, into a thriving online business. Today, Shelley's ventures generate over $50k monthly in revenue. She now manages a team to handle the day-to-day operations of the sites. Tune in to this Side Hustle Show interview to learn: Step-by-step process for building authority and ranking your content How to monetize through affiliate links, ads, email marketing, and digital products Tips for outsourcing writing and editing tasks to scale the business Why you should niche down and "cut the line" with micro-sites Full Show Notes: How I Grew My Hobby Travel Blogs to $50K Months in Just 3 Years Get your personalized money-making playlist here!

Summer is a great time to start a side hustle and make extra money. The question is, which summer side hustles would be best for you? Check out the list below to spark some ideas and inspiration! I selected these based on: Interviewing over 500 side hustlers and entrepreneurs 15+ years of my own side hustle experience Full Show Notes: 15 Sizzlin’ Summer Side Hustles New to the show? Get your personalized money-making playlist here!

You’ve heard about building time-leveraged income streams. But what if you could instead insert yourself into an income stream that’s already happening? That’s exactly what Hannah Ingram did at the ripe old age of 22. A real estate agent by day, she bought a cash-flowing car wash with seller financing and no money out of pocket. Today, Hannah’s business generates thousands of dollars in profit every month, all for just a few hours of work every week. Tune in to this Side Hustle Show interview to learn: How to go shopping for cash flow near you what Hannah has done to improve the business after she took over how much work is actually required Full Show Notes: How One Side Hustler Bought Herself a $5k a month Income Stream -— with no Money Down New to the show? Grab your personalized playlist here!

John Logar is the king of pre-selling software. As one of The Foundation’s top students, he’s broken all their records and even broken the mold on some of the methods they teach. In fact, he sold $120k worth of software within his first 6 months of joining the program. Since he was already a consultant, doing idea extraction and finding pain points for businesses was second nature. He just knew nothing about software before so just added a new weapon to his arsenal. (Without learning how to program.) He’s a natural born salesman if there ever was one. On this call we get into just one of his pre-sales successes, but they follow a similar pattern: identifying an expensive pain, and solving it with software. It’ll definitely get your gears turning! Full Show Notes: $120K in Pre-Sales in 6 Months With No List

How can you turn what you already know into an online income stream? Or better yet, a recurring online income stream? Long-time Side Hustle Show listener Steven Foust is a retired Army Chief Warrant Officer (CW3) and Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) who recently left his corporate executive position to pursue his online side hustles full-time. His primary side hustle is NCOonFire.com, where he helps army soldiers get promoted faster and earns $14k a month in the process. Tune in to this Side Hustle Show interview to hear: How Steven came up with the idea the marketing and sales tactics that are working today how to give yourself a raise every month Full Show Notes: How I Built a 6-Figure Online Business, Starting as a Side Hustle New to the show? Get your personalized money-making playlist here!

Pallet flipping is a popular "buy low, sell high" side hustle. When you return a product to Costco, Amazon, or Walmart, it doesn’t always go back to the shelves. In most cases, that product ends up at a local liquidator that resells it to side hustlers, who then flip it for profit. Jamie McAuley has been doing just that for the past few years, and he’s earned over $25k in profit in the process. Jamie is one half of the dynamic duo behind the Jamie and Sarah YouTube channel, where they cover all things return pallets, furniture flipping, and more. Tune in to this Side Hustle Show interview to learn: The ins and outs of the pallet flipping game how to avoid scams Jamie’s tips on how to make pallet flipping worthwhile for you Full Show Notes: Pallet Flipping: How We Made $25k Flipping Liquidation Pallets Listener Bonus: The Best Items to Flip for a Profit

Starting a recruiting business can be a lucrative side hustle, especially if you love playing matchmaker. Jon Chintanaroad knows the recruiting business inside and out, having worked for staffing agencies before starting and selling his own recruiting business. Today, he helps hundreds of other people start and expand their own profitable recruiting businesses at Recruiting Accelerator. Tune in to episode 568 of The Side Hustle Show to learn: Jon’s best practices for acquiring new clients and finding candidates what he calls “stealth mode” how to set yourself up for success Full Show Notes: How to Start a Recruiting Business and Earn $10-20k Per Hire New to the show? Get your personalized money-making playlist here!

"To build income you can hustle, but to build wealth you need to build something that doesn’t require your hands." That's what this week's guest told me, and then walked me down an interesting path in building that elusive "hands-free" business. His angle? Product licensing. Product licensing is essentially selling your ideas to larger companies for a percentage of future sales. You don't have to worry about the design, manufacturing, marketing, distribution, or anything outside an initial pitch and perhaps a prototype. Stephen Key is a master of this and has been doing it decades. He's the author of One Simple Idea, the bestselling licensing book, and the founder of InventRight. In this conversation, Stephen shares how you can get started in product licensing without any big upfront investment, how to protect your intellectual property without a patent, and how to get big companies to take you seriously. Full Show Notes and Free Bonus: Turn Your Ideas into Recurring Revenue Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist!  

With a ton of ways for people to make money, Amazon is at the center of lots of side hustles these days. The innovative—if not controversial—Seattle company still has its core retail business, but has expanded in many different directions. For entrepreneurs, side hustlers, and everyone else looking to earn some extra cash, Amazon probably has an option for you. In fact, I have several Amazon-related income streams myself! It's the 4th most popular website in the country, and 13th most popular in the entire world. That means there's a huge volume of traffic--and buyers--visiting every day. Let's dive in and explore some of the many ways to make money on Amazon. Full Show Notes: 20 Ways to Make Money on Amazon

AI is rapidly revolutionizing the business landscape, offering a wide range of benefits from task automation to better customer service. Despite concerns about job displacement and ethical considerations, I’m curious to learn what tools are out there and how we can best use them to work smarter and drive better results. To help with that, I’ve crowdsourced some wisdom from Side Hustle Show listeners on how you’re using AI in your businesses, and you delivered big time. Stick around to hear creative suggestions on how you can boost your side hustle using AI tools or ignite a new income stream altogether. Ready? Let’s do it! Full Show Notes: 27 Ways to Use AI in Your Business

This week’s guest learned how to tap into the massive viewership of YouTube and make viral, cash-flowing videos on autopilot. Tony Lysandrides runs several YouTube channels, and what’s unique about his videos is he’s not on them. They’re faceless videos intentionally engineered for virality. Tony now brings in up to $14k a month in ad revenue from his videos. With a little practice and a little patience, there’s no reason you can’t do the same. Tune in to the Side Hustle Show interview to hear: Tony’s research process how he decides what videos to make the automated production process that keeps the publishing machine spinning Full Show Notes: YouTube Automation: Up to $14k a Month w/ Faceless Viral Videos

I love a good rental business: buy something once and get paid for it over and over again. It’s a cool model, and this week’s guest found a creative approach to it in the mobility scooter niche. Lenny Tim from LAMobilityScooterRentals.com is a serial side hustler and entrepreneur involved in the e-commerce and YouTube space. He built his scooter rental to $3k a month in his spare time. Tune in to the Side Hustle Show interview to hear how: Lenny discovered his niche found his first customers expanded his fleet and operations Full Show Notes and Bonus PDF: $3k a Month Renting Out Mobility Scooters Part-Time

Today, we’re doing another round of business idea giveaways with Side Hustle Show listener and serial entrepreneur Steve Chou. Steve built not one but two 7-figure businesses — MyWifeQuitHerJob.com and BumbleBeeLinens.com — and started both as side hustles. We did one of these episodes back in September, episode 530, so check that out if you enjoy this format. Without further ado, let’s get into it! Full Show Notes: 19 Business Ideas Free for the Taking

Last month, I did an episode on the 17 different income streams I was working on. One of the smallest on that list generated the largest response, and that was the Amazon Influencer Program. At the time of that recording, I made only $9.50, but I mentioned it was the easiest $9.50 I ever made online. A month later, I earned over $100. Now, there were a lot of questions about the program, and we’re going to attempt to answer those in today’s episode to see whether the Amazon Influencer Program could be a new income stream for you! To better explain how the program works, I’ve enlisted the help of two Side Hustle Show listeners who’ve been in the program for longer and are now earning around $2k a month from their product review videos. The first is Jon Corres, who encouraged me to test the program. You might remember him from episode 413 where he discussed how he made $10k on YouTube without being on camera. And second is Tyler Christensen from TylerChristensen.com — a serial side hustler, university instructor, and father of four who has also been doing well with the program. Tune in to the Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how to get accepted into the Amazon Influencer Program Jon and Tyler’s best practices for review videos other revenue streams they’re involved in Full Show Notes: From Zero to $2k a Month w/ the Amazon Influencer Program

In his book “Start From Zero,” Dane Maxwell shares a simple framework to use as an engine for coming up with both business ideas and your first sales: CPSO (Customer → Pain → Solution → Offer). Thanks to this framework, Chris Panteli from Linkifi.io found a common pain point and started selling the solution from zero to $50k a month in recurring revenue. Tune in to the Side Hustle Show interview to hear: How Linkifi found their first customers how they price their work Chris' tips on using HARO (Help A Reporter Out) for backlinks Full Show Notes: From Selling Fish and Chips to a $50k/mo Online Business Download Your Free Bonus: 101 Service Business Ideas

I love a business where you can get paid over and over again for work you do once. That’s exactly what Emily McDermott from PrettyArrow.com has done by selling spreadsheets online. Emily is a top 0.1% Etsy seller who went from selling $2 printables to $20 spreadysheet templates. She now helps entrepreneurs earn passive income by selling digital products, even if they’ve never made one before. Tune in to the Side Hustle Show interview to hear how: Emily differentiates herself from her competitors she took her store into six-figure territory the tools she uses to get it all done Full Show Notes: $250k Selling Spreadsheets on Etsy in Under 2 Years New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Money-Making Playlist

This week’s guest took inspiration from a previous guest — Alex Goldberg from FinvsFin.com — but more importantly, took action. In episodes 367 and 410, Alex broke down the model of the modern comparison shopping site: in-depth product reviews and comparisons that help buyers make informed decisions, and earn affiliate commissions on those referrals. Matt Oney from ZenmasterWellness.com saw what Alex was doing and how much he was earning, and thought he could do something similar. Tune in to the Side Hustle Show interview to hear: How Matt chose a niche for affiliate marketing the creative way he builds backlinks the methods he used to turn his side hustle into a full-time income stream Full Show Notes: Affiliate Marketing Example: From Pandemic Side Project to $40k a Month New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

Today’s guest is your friendly neighborhood forklift driver turned e-commerce entrepreneur. Over the last nearly 10 years, Ben Knegendorf from DropshipBreakthru.com has started, grown, and sold several different online stores. (Check out the free on-demand webinar for more.) Ben advocates for a model of “high ticket dropshipping,” where he acts as a virtual retail storefront for brands. Those brands or their distributors ship products to his customers without him ever having to touch the inventory. Tune in to the Side Hustle Show interview to hear how: Ben sold his first online store he differentiates himself from other sellers you can start your own online business in the next 30 days Full Show Notes: High Ticket Dropshipping: From $40k a year to a $40k payday  Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist!

Can you live for free? That’s what The Side Hustle Snowball framework tries to answer. The idea behind this framework is to slowly erase or eliminate monthly expenses — starting with your smallest expenses and working your way up — with new income streams. Most of the income streams I’ll share in this post are not huge but they are snowball-worthy, and I think you can use them to build momentum toward that ultimate goal of financial independence. This is the 3rd installment of the series, so check out the previous episodes if you like this format: 63: The 8 Income Streams I’m Working on Right Now 303: The 15 Income Streams I’m Working on Right Now (I’m going to follow the snowball framework and roughly go in order from smallest to largest.) Let’s do it! New to the show? Grab your personalized playlist here! Full Show Notes: The 17  Income Streams I’m Working On Right Now

I’ve got another 20 Questions episode for you today, diving into the ol’ listener mailbag. As is customary on these episodes, I’ve pulled out questions from the Side Hustle Nation community from over the last few months and will attempt to answer those for your benefit and listening pleasure. This is the 14th installment of this series so feel free to check out the older ones: 498: Profitable Podcasting, Getting Clients, and $50k/mo in Passive Income: 20 Questions with Nick 451: Affiliate Marketing, Early Retirement, and Side Hustle Shifts Over 8 Years of Podcasting: 20 Questions with Nick 431: Fear of Selling, Protecting Ideas, Podcasting and More 412: Side Hustle Ethics, Charging Your Friends, the Side Hustles I’m Most Excited About, and More 365: Market Saturation, Mind Mapping, Miracle Mornings, and More 346: The Con of the Side Hustle, Beanie Babies, Affiliate Marketing, and More 320: Multiplying Money, Morning Routines, and $100k Side Hustles 291: Email, Ebooks, Platforms, and Conferences 271: Brilliant Blogging, Ruthless Productivity, and Guaranteed Success 245: Network Marketing, Imposter Syndrome, My Side Hustle Mistakes, and More 219: Growing Traffic, Monetization, List-Building, a Day in the Life, and More 198: Blogging, Branding, Book Writing, and Finding the Right Side Hustle for You 181: SEO, Affiliate Marketing, Self-Publishing, Udemy, and More A common piece of advice you’ll hear is to take audience questions and turn them into content, so here’s a meta example of that in action. We’re talking pricing, podcasting, pre-aged domains, privacy, personal growth, permission to go full time, and lots more. Enjoy! Full Show Notes: Pricing, Podcasting, Permission to Quit, and More: 20 Questions with Nick

Today, we’ve got a killer case study for you, where my guest has built his business to almost $300k in revenue — all on the back of local SEO. Kody Smith from AwwCrap.com started his pet waste removal service as a side hustle, earning $26k his first year. He did $187k after quitting his day job and nearly doubled that last year without any paid ads! Tune in to the Side Hustle Show interview to hear how: Kody found his first customers he prices the service gets it all done Get Your Personalized Money-Making Playlist Full Show Notes: From Side Hustle to $300k a Year: Building an In-Demand Business with Local SEO

One of my favorite side hustles is buying low and selling high. This is the business model of Amazon, Walmart — pretty much every store in the history of stores. You buy inventory at one price and resell it at a higher price. It works great, but you still have to buy that initial inventory. What if you wanted to start with super low upfront costs? Turns out, there are lots of ways to get “free” stuff to resell, and I want to walk you through 10 of those methods in today’s show. Let’s get right to it! Your Free Bonus: The Best Items to Flip for a Profit Full Show Notes: Free stuff to flip for a profit

Turn the skills you already have into a new income stream! Shannon Weinstein is a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) who turned her fractional CFO (Chief Financial Officer)/tax strategy service at KeepWhatYouEarn.com into a full-time income stream — while still working a full-time job. Tune in to the Side Hustle Show interview to hear: the low-cost, high-return marketing tactics that Shannon used to start her business how she found her first customers how she took the leap to turn her side hustle into a full-time job Free Bonus: 101 Service Business Ideas Full Show Notes: How I Built a Multi 6-Figure Business While Still Working Full-Time

AI (artificial intelligence) is one of the hottest topics of the year. And today, we’re going to explore some of the actionable ways that you can capitalize on this new technology to either start a new business or grow one that you’ve already got. To help me talk through these is Matt Wolfe from FutureTools.io and the FutureTools YouTube channel. Matt’s a long-time friend who’s been doing a deep dive on this stuff for the past few months and I’m anxious to get caught up. Last week, Matt shared some of his advanced affiliate marketing strategies that helped him earn over $900k from ONE affiliate product — if you missed it, be sure to check that one out as well, but that’s where I want to start this list. Full Show Notes: AI Side Hustles

Affiliate marketing is a great business. You: help people make decisions point them to the products that will help them earn a commission on those referrals But most affiliate marketers — myself included in a lot of cases — don’t put as much effort as they could into their campaigns. And as a result, we cut ourselves short of the results we could have seen if they just went a little deeper. Today’s guest is Matt Wolfe from FutureTools.io, and he’s going to break down what that looks like in practice and the specific tactics you can use to earn more commissions and better serve your audience. Because the difference isn’t a 15% incremental improvement — it may be a 10x gain or more! Tune in to the Side Hustle Show interview to hear how Matt: made almost $1 million dollars from one affiliate product promoted his affiliate link drives traffic today Full Show Notes: Advanced Affiliate Marketing

Making a sale? That’s great. But making a recurring sale? That’s even better. This week’s guest is Ryan Golgosky from 180Sites.com. (Use promo code HUSTLE to get your first month free!) He took what is typically sold as a one-off service —  web design, in this case — and repackaged it for recurring revenue in a really creative way. Tune in to the Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Ryan started his side hustle why he picked the service business niche how he found his first customers Your Free Bonus: 50+ Web Design Niche Ideas Full Show Notes: Setting Your Side Hustle Up for Recurring Revenue

Ancient wisdom + modern science to help you live your best life. In 2021, I sat down with Brian Johnson from HEROIC. He's a serial entrepreneur who has helped thousands of people discover their true passions, purpose, and potential.  If your New Year goals are starting to wane a little, I guarantee this conversation will kick you back into high gear! Full show notes

If you’ve been around online business for some time, you’ve likely heard the saying “the money is in the list.” There’s a reasonable deal of truth to it — the more people you have paying attention to you, the easier it will be to reach their inbox and sell them your products or services or recommend to them relevant affiliate offers. That’s actually how I connected with today’s guest probably over a decade ago. Matt McWilliams is a prolific voice in online marketing who has helped some of the most prominent figures in online business dominate their product launches. His new book is “Passions into Profits,” which you can find at PassionsIntoProfitsBook.com. Tune in to learn about high-quality strategies to help you grow your email list and ensure that you have a large audience of subscribers eager to hear what you have to say and likely to contribute to your business growth. Full Show Notes: How to Build Your Email List Fast

As someone who was a pretty good student in school, I always thought about starting a tutoring business. But while I never acted on it, Matt Fuentes did. In this interview, he breaks down the steps he took to build a $1000 a week tutoring business. He focuses on the ACT, but I believe you can apply these tactics to other tests or other academic subjects — even if you're not a teacher. Full Show Notes and 101 Service Business Ideas Bonus: How to Start a Tutoring Business

TikTok side hustles promise big money for little effort, but do they really work? In this week’s episode, we’re looking at the good, the bad, and the ugly of side hustles that are popular on TikTok with Daniella Flores. Daniella runs ILikeToDabble.com and is a self-proclaimed side hustle queen who has gone from 0 to 12 income streams in 4 years, paying off over $40k of debt in the process. They now teach thousands of others how to start and grow their own side hustles, get their money right, and live their best life. We’ve got a long list of TikTok side hustles to run through, so let’s get right into it! Full Show Notes: Popular TikTok Side Hustles Follow The Side Hustle Show on TikTok New to the show? Get your personalized money-making playlist!

How do you start a side hustle? Well we can talk about side hustle ideas and marketing tactics until we're blue in the face, but in studying my catalog of past interviews, a few common traits popped up over and over again. I've compiled those into this 7-step guide to starting a side hustle. Whether you’re an established business owner, or you’re just starting out, I think you’ll find this a helpful framework for your projects. It'll also help you identify where you have the biggest opportunities for improvement this year. Full show notes: How to Start a Side Hustle New to the show? Get your personalized money-making playlist!

In this week’s episode, we’re revisiting some of the most inspiring, creative, and popular side hustles on the show from the last 12 months. If you missed any of these, make sure to go back and add them to your podcast app. Let’s dive in! Full Show Notes: The Best Side Hustles of 2022 New to the show? Get your personalized money-making playlist!

This week’s guest is a long-time Side Hustle Show listener who reached out with a unique side hustle: a part-time lead generation website. Link Moser runs NHFineHomes.com, which features high-end, lakefront real estate listings in New Hampshire. How it works is prospective buyers find the website, usually through Google, and when they reach out for more information, Link can either work with them himself as a real estate agent or pass along the lead to one of his referral partners in exchange for a percentage of the agent’s commission if and when the lead eventually buys a house. Tune in to the Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Link started his side hustle his lead generation strategies for real estate his advice for people looking to replicate his success Full show notes: How to Start a Local Lead Generation Website Get your personalized Side Hustle Show playlist 

This week, we’re diving into a really cool business model that scales and has really low overhead: paid newsletters. Danielle Desir started the Grants For Creators newsletter earlier this year and has already built it up to around $1,300 a month in recurring revenue. Danielle also hosts The Thought Card Podcast, which is all about affordable, luxury travel and personal finance. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear how: Danielle came up with her newsletter idea she found her first subscribers she sold the premium version of her newsletter Full show notes: How to Start a Paid Email Newsletter Get your personalized Side Hustle Show playlist

For his side hustle, this week’s guest didn’t start from scratch. Instead, he bought a business that was already profitable, then he went out and tripled the revenue in his first year — all while working a full-time job. Jono Santamaria from Melbourne, Australia is the proud owner of Nina’s Laundrette, a local self-service laundromat. Jono bought the business a year and a half ago to diversify his investments. When he took over, he implemented several changes to dramatically improve his side hustle. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Jono found and vetted the laundromat the quick win actions he took to multiply revenue some of the surprises he encountered along the way Full show notes: I Bought a Laundromat as a Side Hustle and Tripled Revenue Get your personalized Side Hustle Show playlist

No matter how you shake it, that first sale is a powerful one. What's the story of your first job-free income? I asked people to tell me how they first started making money on the side, and got 25 different voicemails! In this episode, you'll hear first-hand the steps your fellow listeners took to put themselves back in the driver seat of their own financial well-being.  Full Show Notes: How 25 Side Hustlers Made Their First Job-Free Income Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

Want to bring in extra money but don’t know where to start? Well, you’re in luck. This week, we’re diving into a special Thanksgiving episode on 10 creative side hustle ideas that make real money. This is the 5th installment of the series, so be sure to check out the previous episodes if you like this format: 10 Creative Side Hustles Part 1 – 2018 10 Creative Side Hustles Part 2 – 2019 10 Creative Side Hustles Part 3 – 2020 10 Creative Side Hustles Part 4 – 2021 Let’s get right to it! Full Show Notes: 10 Creative Side Hustles That Make Real Money - Part 5 Get your personalized Side Hustle Show playlist!

A side hustle is not only an opportunity to earn extra money but also a key to escaping the 9-to-5 grind. But launching a side hustle is not easy — just ask the many amazing guests who’ve been on the show! More often than not, solopreneurs’ business trajectories are a series of trials, errors, pivots, and adjustments. These are things we can all learn from, which is why we rounded up 14 big ideas from Side Hustle Show guests that really stood out this year. Whether you’re thinking of starting a side hustle or looking to breathe new life into an existing one, these ideas may just be what you need to give your business the best chance of success. Full Show Notes: 14 Big Ideas from the Last Year of Side Hustle Show Guests Get your personalized Side Hustle Show playlist!

This week’s guest began his side hustle with the goal of getting just 10 clients in 90 days. Four years later, he’s now the proud owner of a 7-figure business! Justin Tan is a Side Hustle Show listener who was inspired by Russ Perry’s story in Episode 248 of how he began Design Pickle. In 2014, Russ was running a creative agency when he started to hate everything about it. Not wanting to feel like a prisoner of his own creation, he sought out a new business model, one that offered reliable, affordable, and scalable creative work at a flat rate. Justin took inspiration from that model and applied it to video editing. And so, Video Husky was born. Justin’s story is one of many examples of what can happen when you combine a demonstrable business model with a novel idea and an untapped market. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear how: Justin found his first clients he scaled into a full-time business he made the ultimate decision to step away Full Show Notes: Growing a Productized Service from Zero to 7-Figures as a Digital Nomad Download Your Free Listener Bonus: 101 Service Business Ideas Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist: https://hustle.show

This week’s guest booked $100k worth of work in their first 9 months of a new side hustle they had no experience with. Haley Gallagher and her husband are serial side hustlers and were specifically looking for a side hustle they could do after hours. Seeing an opportunity at a bar he was working security for, Haley’s husband asked if they could take on the cleaning contract. That job snowballed into more jobs and as they hired employees and grew their business, MoonlightCommercialCleaning.com, they turned over $170k in revenue in their full first year. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Moonlight Commercial Cleaning found their first customers how they price their work and manage a growing team of cleaners mistakes they made along the way Full Show Notes: How to Start a Commercial Cleaning Business Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

Your next income stream might be sitting right in your driveway… This week we’re talking about how to get your piece of a $100 billion market. It’s the same model practiced by Hertz, Avis, Enterprise, National: renting cars out for a profit. It’s a business with lots of built-in demand, and new platforms like Turo help put your car or cars in front of that demand and get paid. Two years ago, Kirtis Murphy of FamilyTalksAuto.co decided to give this a shot on the side. He started with his personal vehicle, and since then and with the help of a couple of partners has grown it to a 6-figure business that now has 14 cars in its fleet. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how you can get started renting out your car for cash how to protect yourself and your vehicle assets Kirtis’ tips for setting yourself up for profitability and scaling your operation Sponsors:  EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼  Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Freshbooks.com – Start your 30-day free trial today! Full Show Notes: How to Start a Rental Car Business Download Your Free Listener-Only Bonus: 25 Unconventional Things to Rent Out for a Profit Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist: https://hustle.show

A common theme on the show: how do you make money online? In short, you do it by solving other people’s problems. We’ve got a really fun example of that today with an online business that helps people come up with gift ideas. The business is Giftlab.co; it’s a 5-year-old website that’s already earned over $1.2M as a part-time project for today’s guest Andrew Fiebert. You might recognize the name and the voice — Andrew co-hosted Listen Money Matters, a really fun podcast in the personal finance space. He’s also the co-founder of the popular affiliate link management tool Lasso, which you can find at GetLasso.co. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Andrew creates and monetizes his content how he optimizes his older posts to increase CTR and revenue his keyword research strategy for finding super-low competition longtail queries Sponsors:  EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼  Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Ladder – Get instantly approved for term life insurance—no doctors, no needles, no paperwork! Full Show Notes: The $1.2M Part-Time Affiliate Site Download Your Listener-Only Bonus: 3 Quick Ways to Stop Your Website From Leaking Money Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist: https://hustle.show

This week we’re exploring a unique opportunity to turn the world’s largest buyer of goods and services into a customer of yours. That’s right, we’re talking about selling to the government. There’s nothing like having a client that can literally print the money. But there’s a lot of confusion and misunderstandings around getting government contracts so I’ve enlisted some expert help to help us learn how to do it the right way. Retired Lt Col Ricky Howard of DoDContract.com spent years on the purchasing side for the U.S. Department of Defense and now helps small businesses like yours get their foot in the door. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: why there are so many lucrative opportunities with government contracts Ricky’s tips and best practices for winning contracts how you can also win contracts acting as matchmaker or partnering with other business owners Sponsors: EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼  Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Freshbooks.com – Start your 30-day free trial today! Full Show Notes: How to Win Government Contracts Get your personalized Side Hustle Show playlist

This week you’re going to meet an entrepreneur who recently left her 6-figure job in biotech to become a full-time podcaster and online business owner. Gill Tietz of SoberPowered.com started the Sober Powered podcast in mid-2020 and has released over 100 episodes on the science of alcohol addiction and other content to help listeners get and stay sober. In that time she’s also grown her Instagram account to over 43k followers, created a podcast network for other sober-related podcasts, and created several other income streams. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Gill made her podcast stand out from the crowd how she’s grown her audience through different platforms the different ways she’s monetizing her business Full Show Notes: Growing an Online Business from Scratch Download Your Free Bonus: The Podcast Starter Kit Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

By the end of this episode, you’ll have at least a dozen new backlinks for your website. For those who are new to SEO, quality backlinks will help you climb the ranks in Google — which means you’re going to make more money. To talk through his best link-building quick wins and link-building tactics, I’m joined by Jeremy Poland. Jeremy is a long-time Side Hustle Show listener, he’s a former Pastor and non-profit worker turned SEO pro, and he’s gone from digital marketing freelancer to agency owner. Jeremy specializes in helping small businesses leapfrog the competition with easy SEO wins. The backbone of what Jeremy does is build backlinks, and best of all he does it without needing a huge marketing budget. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: some of the quickest and easiest ways you can pick up backlinks why industry-specific links are so important and how to build those some of Jeremy’s best “special plays” backlinking tips Full Show Notes: 5 Easy Ways to Build Backlinks and Outrank the Competition Don’t have a site of your own yet? Check out my free video series on how to start a website of your own. New to the show? Get your personalized Side Hustle Show playlist!

I wish I was half as smart now as I was at 16! But learning everything you don't know is part of the process. One thing I love about my work is I feel like I learn new things every day. Sometimes they're small little tweaks and hacks, and other times they're broader strategies or ideas. I'm incredibly fortunate to have a healthy family and to get to work on stuff I love every day. Each year that goes by makes me more and more aware of that fact. But the life I have today didn't happen overnight. It's the result of literally decades (well, at least 2) of entrepreneurial education, trial and error, hustle, and if I'm being totally honest, luck. In any case, here are 40 life lessons I've picked up in my 40 years on this planet. Full Show Notes: 40 Things I've Learned in My 40 Years New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

Nathan Barry went from working at Wendy's to running a software company doing $2.5M in revenue every month. But there were several steps along the way — and those steps are the topic of today's episode. In 2019, Nathan penned The Ladders of Wealth Creation to explain why to level up your earning power, you usually need to level up your skills. In this episode, we cover: The 4 Ladders of Wealth Creation How you may be able to add new income streams to an existing side hustle or business A marketing strategy that's working well for Nathan right now Full Show Notes: The Ladders of Wealth Creation New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

On the side from his day job, Beau Hunter is a professional shoe flipper. His flipping side hustle has helped his family erase over $100k in debt! In this episode, Beau explains why shoes are an excellent choice for beginners and how you can find shoes to flip for up to a 10x return. If you're looking for an extra $500-1000 a month in profit, I'm confident you can go out and find it footwear with the help of Beau's insights. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: why Beau narrowed in on flipping shoes where he sources inventory and how he prices his shoes how Beau cleans, preps, and lists his shoes for sale Full Show Notes: Flipping Shoes for Profit Download Your Free Bonus: The Best Items to Flip for a Profit New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

Today we’re giving away a bunch of business ideas, and to help me do it is Steve Chou. Steve is a serial entrepreneur who runs a 7-figure e-commerce business at BumbleBeeLinens.com, a 7-figure blog and podcast at MyWifeQuitHerJob.com, and also a conference in the e-commerce space called Sellers Summit. It’s been 7-8 years since Steve was last on the podcast back on episode 128, so it was long overdue to get him back on. In this one, we go back and forth brainstorming some side hustle ideas that we think should exist in the world - or maybe they already do and we’re just not aware of them. Here are 17 business ideas we came up with that you’re welcome to take for free and run with! Full Show Notes: 17 Business Ideas Free for the Taking New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

In this week’s episode, we’re catching up with the 6-figure houseplant blogger, Raffaele Di Lallo of OhioTropics.com. You might remember Raffaele from a blog coaching episode we did last year with the help of Matt Giovanisci from Money Lab. At that time, Raffaele was generating over 300,000 pageviews per month, which translated into around $10k in income, mostly from display ads and a little slice of affiliate commissions as well. The biggest change since I last spoke to Raffaele is that he’s been able to leave his day job and now works on his blog full-time. In this episode, we focus on that core of the business and what made that possible: creating SEO-friendly content and monetizing it on autopilot with ads. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: How Raffaele’s business has changed from last year His best tips for optimizing content for higher ad RPMs How Raffaele has doubled down on what’s driving the most revenue Full Show Notes: The 6-Figure Houseplant Blogger My Free Course: How to Start Your Own Blog Download Your Free Bonus: 20 Hobbies to Monetize w/ an Online Business Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist: https://hustle.show

To find out what’s working today across a wide range of industries, I’ve crowdsourced some wisdom from Side Hustle Show listeners. I asked listeners to share a marketing tactic that’s working well for them this year, and I got back a ton of great responses. Here are 16 of the best marketing tips that were submitted, many of which you can apply to your business today. Full Show Notes: 16 Marketing Ideas from Side Hustle Nation Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

Today I’ve got an awesome story for you — on the one hand, it’s about matching your interests and skills with a hungry market, but maybe more importantly it’s about documenting your work. When you do those two things, like Craig Odem has, you start to see some fun results. I found Craig through the Side Hustle Nation Facebook group; he’s a pastor in Tennessee but as a side hustle he sells plants out of his backyard. Craig’s backyard nursery does around $10k in sales every year, which is awesome. But where things get even more interesting is when you factor his Savvy Dirt Farmer YouTube channel. Craig started his YouTube channel in early 2021. It’s already hit 1 million views and is starting to bring in some pretty significant revenue on its own via multiple revenue streams. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Craig came up with the idea to sell plants how he is growing and selling plants what he’s done to grow his YouTube channel Full Show Notes: The Backyard Nursery Side Hustle and the Value of Working in Public Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

Rene Delgado started an online high ticket dropshipping store with no ideas and no inventory and went from $0-300k in sales in his first year in business. It was the search for an extra stream of income that led Rene Delgado to consider e-commerce; selling physical products online. (GH = Greatest Hits) Full Show Notes: How to Start an Online Store with No Ideas and No Inventory Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

This week’s episode is about self-publishing, which we’ve covered before. But this week’s guests have turned the success of their book into a full-time business that’s still growing in momentum. In late 2020, Justin and Alexis Black self-published their first book Redefining Normal: How Two Foster Kids Beat The Odds and Discovered Healing, Happiness and Love. Redefining Normal currently has over 200 reviews on Amazon and has sold more than 9,000 copies in the two years since it was published. That’s an accomplishment in itself for a title that’s kind of categorized as a memoir, where typically unless you’re already famous, nobody’s buying your memoir. In addition to book sales, Justin and Alexis are also doing workshops, keynote speeches, and other paid gigs related to the content of their book. So, in this episode we’re going to dive into everything Justin and Alexis did to set the book up for success, and how you can borrow the same tactics for your own side hustle. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: where the inspiration to write Redefining Normal came from how Justin and Alexis build and used a launch team how they’ve created several other revenue streams Full show notes

Starting a pressure washing business may be a great seasonal side hustle opportunity. These types of blue collar businesses tend to have low startup costs and you may already have the skills and equipment you need to get started. Full Show Notes: How to Start a Pressure Washing Business Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

Megan Champion is a mom of 3, a 15-year elementary education teacher, and in the past year, she’s started a side hustle that has brought in $20,000. Megan’s side hustle is in the parenting niche and has 3 main parts: An Instagram account to drive awareness A podcast called On The Hard Days to drive connection And a paid membership to drive community — and recurring revenue. In this episode, you’ll learn how all three of those work and how they work together to build Megan’s business — and how you may be able to apply some of the same strategies to your own business. The exciting thing here is that the audience numbers that Megan shares aren’t huge, but they’ve still been enough to build a pretty substantial extra income stream and help a lot of people at the same time. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how and why Megan had the idea to start a podcast and paid membership the ways she has leveraged a small but dedicated social media audience how Megan validated her membership idea and launched it Full Show Notes: How to Make Money with a Small Podcast Ready to Grow Your Show? Get a Special Discount on my Podcast Growth Playbook Course Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

When it comes to sharing your side hustle with your boss, is honesty always the best policy? In this post, we’ll explore whether or not you should clue your boss in about your side hustle(s). Full Show Notes: Should You Tell Your Boss About Your Side Hustle? Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

This week’s guest started his side hustle with the goal of earning an extra $1,000 a month. Four summers later and it’s now a 6-figure business. Blademir Hernandez of LitterFreeLots.nyc is a long-time listener of the Side Hustle Show who was inspired by Brian Winch’s story in episode 266 to start his business. Additional Resource: CleanLots Brian built a $650k a year operation picking up litter and cleaning parking lots, something Blademir told me he knew he could also do. Blademir ended up reaching out to Brian and running the idea past him, before going out and finding property managers in this area to pitch his litter picking service to. This story is a perfect example of what can happen when you take inspiration from a proven business model and execute your own game plan. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: more on where Blademir got the inspiration to start his litter pick-up business how he found his first customers by driving around his neighborhood how Blademir has scaled his business by hiring contractors to carry out the work Full Show Notes: How to Start a Parking Lot Cleanup Business Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

The most popular side hustles aren't necessarily the best fit for you. In this episode I'm breaking down the pros and cons of 5 common side hustles — and what you might consider doing instead. Full Show Notes: 5 Popular Side Hustles (and what to do instead) Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

With her hours cut due to the pandemic and a new house to pay for, this week’s guest set out an action plan to make 6-figures in 2021. To achieve that, Heather Johnson of HeatherXStudio.com decided to start an Etsy store selling print-on-demand goods like t-shirts, mugs, and other apparel and items. Fast forward two years and Heather is now a former MRI tech who’s taken her print-on-demand side hustle full-time and is averaging $15k a month in revenue and $4-5k in monthly profit. How’d she do it? By following the trends with her own unique spin, putting 100s of products up for sale, and implementing some savvy marketing strategies you can apply in your own business. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: why and how Heather created a “high-volume listing store” how she evaluates competition and finds new creative ideas heather’s best practices for maximum organic exposure on Etsy Full Show Notes: Building a Print on Demand Business on Etsy Download Your Free Bonus: 100 Print on Demand Niches Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

Matt makes $200+ a month sharing his writing on Medium.com. It's a hobby he genuinely enjoys doing anyway, so the revenue it brings in is a bonus! Here's how to get started making money on Medium. Links and resources: Matt on Medium  Matt's site Episode 510: The 6-Figure Bird Blog New to the show? Get your personalized playlist here!

We're halfway through the year, and 2022 is flying by! In these quarterly Progress Reports, I break down how the business grew (or shrunk), what I worked on, and other happenings from the last three months. I worked more hours the first half of 2022 than I did in 2021, and (not surprisingly) I feel like I'm getting more done as a result. I'm still struggling to come to terms with a to-do list that's never going to be done, but do feel like I'm making progress on building a business that serves me and serves others. Full show notes: My $10k Launch (and Other Projects)

“You have a skill, but you’re not using it correctly.” That the tough love advice Vincent Pugliese’s father gave him. Vincent was working what he thought was his dream job as a photojournalist. He’d just won the most prestigious award in his industry (International Sports Photographer of the Year), and he and his wife Elizabeth had a baby on the way. Yet the newspaper job didn’t pay well. With the impending arrival of their son, Vincent took a hard look at his financial picture: he was in his mid-30s, 6-figures in debt, and earning $15 an hour. Not great. Something had to change, and something did. Full Show Notes: Freelance to Freedom: From $30k a Year to $30k in a Day New to the Show? Get your personalized playlist

This week’s guest took a pain point she was experiencing - finding a nanny for her 3-month-old - and turned it into a multi 6-figure full-time business with 500 nannies across 5 states. Kristy Bickmeyer started TwinkleToesNanny.com back in 2011 in response to not being able to find a nanny herself. At least not without going through the “traditional” agency model of paying $1,500-3,000 upfront and with few guarantees it will work out long-term. Kristy decided to start her own agency without the upfront fees, and with a more streamlined approach and robust guarantees for parents - and it’s snowballed from there. I love this strategy of taking a fragmented, localized industry and adding a layer of branding and professionalism to it. This is what 1-800-Got-Junk did in junk removal, and is what Belay Solutions has done in the executive assistant space. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Kristy found her first customers how she’s scaled into a full-time business with locations in multiple states the mistakes and challenges she faced along the way Full Show Notes: Building an Offline Agency to Multiple 6 Figures Download Your Free Bonus: 101 Service Business Ideas New to Show? Get Your Personalized Money-Making Playlist

Play matchmaker between pallet buyers and sellers to flip pallets for profit. Varnie Sambola started his pallet flipping business in 2020, and has already scaled it to $1000 a day (and beyond). He credits another Side Hustle Show guest — John Wilker from episode 274— and his Simplest Biz course with helping him get started. Full Show Notes: Pallet Flipping 101 New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Playlist

“Nothing puts a smile on a consumer's face quicker than a good peach.” This week’s guest is Shannon Houchin of RoadsideRepublic.com, and she’s passionate about peaches, fresh produce, and delivering an awesome customer experience. Shannon actually reached out to me and said, Nick, you’ve got episodes on flipping books and mattresses, clearance products, domain names, flea market finds, and a ton of other stuff - but have I got a side hustle for you: I flip peaches. So, of course, I had to call her up to learn more. Turns out Shannon has been doing this for 10 years and has scaled up to operating up to 100 roadside stands at once. Whether you’re looking for a way to make extra money on the weekend, or to scale to something larger, Shannon has a compelling story for starting a roadside produce stand. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how to find suppliers and price your produce the best places to set up your stand some of the common mistakes to avoid Full Show Notes: How to Start a Roadside Produce Stand Grab Your Free Bonus: The Best Items to Flip for a Profit New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Playlist!

Escaping the rat race is simple, but not always easy. In this episode, I break down the 3 most common ways out of the rat race, and the pros and cons of each. (This was originally recorded for YouTube, which explains the faster-than-normal pacing and some video sound effects.) Full Show Notes: How to Escape the Rat Race New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Playlist!

Your voice has value — both figuratively, and maybe even literally. To prove this point, I’m joined on the show this week by a side hustling couple who have turned their voices into an income stream worth thousands of dollars a month. Dom and Nicole Draper from TheVoiceoverCouple.com are multi-award winning voice over artists - they get paid to talk. As professional voice over artists, they’ve done all kinds of interesting jobs and worked with some of the biggest brands in the world, including Nike, Netflix, and Adobe. In this episode they share how they went from hustling on Fiverr outside of their 9-5, to working with voice over agents and agencies and turning this into a full-time business. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Dom and Nicole got their first voiceover gigs how they scaled up their business and raised their prices the broader tactics you can apply to your own side hustle Full Show Notes: How to Start a Voiceover Acting Business New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Playlist!

Creating the right retirement plan for your business income can save you thousands of dollars in taxes. But between LLCs, IRAs, SEP IRAs, Solo 401(k)s, and more, it's a confusing acronym jungle out there. To help cut through the clutter, Matt Ruttenberg stopped by and schools us on how to choose the right plan for you and the key differences between them. Important Links: Matt's site - Retirement plans for solopreneurs  Retirement plan evaluator tool  Matt on LinkedIn Matt on TikTok 

This week’s guest, Scott Keller, left his high-paying but not super satisfying career in insurance to run a bird blog full-time. Scott started BirdWatchingHQ.com as a side hustle back in 2016 and has since turned it into a full-time income with half a million monthly pageviews and more than 1 million monthly YouTube views. But like all businesses, it’s been an evolution to get to that point. Scott started out chasing high-ticket affiliate commissions but pivoted into creating one of the best bird watching resources online with multiple revenue streams. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: what’s driving traffic for Scott today the creative ways Scott has grown his email list to over 50,000 subscribers how you can borrow some of the same tactics for your business Full Show Notes: The 6-Figure Bird Watching Blog Download Your Free Bonus: 20 Hobbies to Monetize with an Online Business Ready to Start Your Own Site? Here's My Free Video Series on How to Get Your Site Online Quickly and Affordably New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Playlist!

Do you love weddings? Professional wedding officiants can make $100s an hour and usually do it as a side hustle. In this episode, you'll meet Maria Romano, who's officiated more than 4000 weddings in her career. She shares what you need to get started, how to get your first customers, and more. Full Show Notes: How to Become a Wedding Officiant New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

Quizzes can help you: Grow your email list Serve your audience better Make more money We’ve been talking a bit about the power of quiz funnels over the last few months, and so I thought, why not call up the guy who’s famous for implementing these things and helping others do it as well? Ryan Levesque is the bestselling author of Ask: The Counterintuitive Online Formula to Discover Exactly What Your Customers Want to Buy...Create a Mass of Raving Fans...and Take Any Business to the Next Level, and CEO of The Ask Method Company. Using the exact methods we’re talking about today he’s built a highly-profitable 8-figure/year business across 23 different niche markets, amassing an email list of over 4 million people along the way. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: what exactly quiz funnels are and why they are so effective how you can get started building your own quiz funnels how to drive lots of targeted traffic to your funnel for next to no cost Next Steps: Register for the upcoming live quiz funnel training (use code SIDEHUSTLE to make the $100 registration free!) Full Show Notes: Quiz Funnels 101: Sell Smarter, Serve Better, and Earn More Money Need More Traffic? Use promo code PODCAST for a special discount on The Traffic Course New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

If you had 2 years to earn $1 million, what would you do? In this episode Chad Carson from the Real Estate and Financial Independence Podcast breaks down his strategy. (And I share mine at the end.) Links and Resources: CoachCarson.com 222: 5 Ways to Get Started in Real Estate Investing on the Cheap 460: Side Hustle Showdown: Investing in Real Estate vs. Buying a Small Business

From serious health issues and being $500,000 in debt to earning 7-figures a year in ad revenue. That’s the short story of this week’s guest, Brandon Gaille. Brandon has been around online business since the 90s, he’s made a ton of money, battled some really scary health issues, and today is one of the top bloggers in the world earning a collective 6 million visits a month across his three sites. Brandon is also the founder of RankIQ.com, an AI-powered SEO tool that helps bloggers find keywords and outline their articles, and The Blogging Millionaire Podcast. In this episode, Brandon goes into detail explaining how new bloggers can choose a niche to enter, how he finds low competition keywords, the best ways to monetize a blog, and much more. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: Brandon’s best-proven processes for getting more traffic to your site how Brandon evaluates if a niche is worth entering how to use your blog to create a funnel and sell your own digital products Full Show Notes: SEO and Blogging Tips to Make More Money Need More Traffic? Use promo code PODCAST for a special discount on The Traffic Course Ready to Start a Site of Your Own? My video series will help you get online quickly and affordably.

Find an expensive problem, and solve it.  Jonathan Stark is a pro at finding these expensive problems, and walks us through idea generation and validation, pricing, and growth strategies. Full Show Notes: How to Start a Consulting Business

“If you’re bored walking up the hill, try running up it.” That was what this week’s guest William Wadsworth of ExamStudyExpert.com told me when I asked him about how he got his side hustle off the ground. Four years ago, William was working full-time in a corporate job, but he wanted to build his own dream, not someone else’s. Finding it difficult to balance a full-time job and his side hustle, William left his job and took on some part-time tutoring so he could spend more time on his business. Today, William earns thousands of dollars a month doing what he loves - writing, podcasting, and coaching people about memory psychology, learning science, and how to study smarter. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: why William decided to leave his job and go all-in on his business how he’s gone from doing one-on-one tutoring to having multiple income streams how he’s grown his blog, podcast, and coaching clientele Full Show Notes: Building an Online Business from Scratch: A Listener Success Story Your Free Bonus: 3 Quick Ways to Optimize Your Website Start Your Own Website: My free video course The Traffic Course - Use promo code PODCAST for a listener-only discount.

Top podcasts make thousands of dollars an episode, but sponsorships are only one way to ring the cash register. In this episode, I'm breaking down the different ways you can monetize a podcast, including some that don't require any listeners at all. Full Show Notes: How to Monetize a Podcast New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Playlist

There has never been a better time to build an online business around a topic you care about. This week’s guests on The Side Hustle Show are proof of that. Garret Kruger and Sabrina Ricci are the husband and wife team behind IKnowDino.com, which started as a side hustle and is now the world’s #1 dinosaur podcast. Not bad for a couple of non-paleontologists. It wasn’t an overnight success. In fact, it took 6 years for the two of them to feel comfortable going full-time in the business. But they’ve had a blast along the way and they’re doing what they love doing most - interviewing paleontologists, talking about dinosaurs, and building a passionate dino-loving community. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Garret and Sabrina grew their audience the different ways they monetize their podcast how you may be able to borrow some of the same tactics for your business Full Show Notes: How a Part-Time Podcast Became a Full-Time Income Stream Download Your Free Bonus: The Podcast Starter Kit Need More Traffic? Join The Traffic Course w/ promo code PODCAST New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Playlist

Staci and her husband are earning $3,000-$4,000 month reselling like-new furniture with risk-free inventory sourced from Sharetown. Sharetown is a “reverse logistics” company that helps online, name brand furniture companies deal with customer returns. As a Sharetown rep, you get notified of these return requests, pick up the items, clean and store them, and resell them on Facebook Marketplace or other outlets. Per Staci, you only have to pay Sharetown for your inventory once each item sells. IMPORTANT LINKS: Sharetown (referral link) Full Sharetown Review

This week it’s the 500th episode of The Side Hustle Show, which just seems crazy to me. It feels like just yesterday I started this thing in a lot of ways. But it’s been 9 years — I guess time flies when you’re having fun. In honor of the 500 episode milestone, I wanted to reflect back on 10 big ideas and 10 common themes over the last 9 years. It took longer than I care to admit to go back through the archives and pull out some of these forgotten soundbites, but I think you’ll like ‘em. Tune in to this episode of The Side Hustle Show to hear 10 of the big ideas I’ve gotten from speaking with hundreds of guests of the years, and how you can implement these ideas within your business today. Full Show Notes: 10 Big Ideas from 500 Episodes of The Side Hustle Show New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Playlist

Devyn Ricks, a mom of 4, isn't a Twitch celebrity or a big time YouTuber, but she's still earning thousands of dollars a month playing video games part-time. In this episode, she breaks down how she does it and how you can follow the same strategies to monetize your hobby! IMPORTANT LINKS: Outschool Devyn's YouTube Channel Devyn on Outschool MissDevyn.com How to Make Money Playing Video Games How to Make Money on Outschool

It’s time once again to dive into the ol’ listener mailbag and answer a few questions in this week’s edition of The Side Hustle Show. I’ve had quite a few interesting questions come in since the last Q&A episode, and picked 18 to talk through in today’s show. We're covering podcasting, affiliate marketing, passive income ideas, my proofreading side hustle, customer service issues, and more. Join Side Hustle Nation for free! Full Show Notes: Profitable Podcasting, Getting Clients, and $50k/mo in Passive Income: 20 Questions with Nick

Anita Smith saw the writing on the wall when she was furloughed and ultimately laid off in 2020. The hospitality industry was among the hardest hit when travel ground to a halt. So she decided to use the time to level up her skills and launch a new career, piggybacking on the popularity of the Salesforce software. In just a few months, she landed a new job making twice as much as her old salary! In this episode she shares the steps she took to make it happen. Sponsor: Tailor Brands (use code SIDEHUSTLE for 40% off!) Links: Free 5-Day Salesforce Challenge Anita on LinkedIn Anita on YouTube Bradley Rice on the Side Hustle Show ($200k/year working 20 hours a week)

“There is no plan B, I’m going to make this work.” That’s the kind of determination that is often the difference between success and failure, and this week’s guest is a perfect example of that. In this episode, you’ll meet Brien Gearin, a side hustler who battled through 11 months of not getting a single client. However, during those 11 months, Brien was learning new skills and growing as an entrepreneur and has since grown his digital marketing agency into a 6-figure business. Today, customers are happy to pay Brien and his agency RicochetDM.com $1500 a month and up to spearhead their online marketing efforts. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: the methods Brien uses to connect with customers how to navigate the “freelance trap” of selling your own skills how to keep customers coming back month after month Full Show Notes: From Imposter Syndrome to $1500 Recurring Clients: Building a 6-Figure Agency New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Money-Making Playlist

The cocktail content business wasn't paying the bills, but a slight pivot changed everything. Chris and Julia Tunstall from ABarAbove.com were disappointed with the quality of existing barware on the market. So they placed a big bet that they could do better—and sold out in 3 weeks. This is a story about the power of being a part of your community and listening to what they really want.

From working 40-50 hours a week in an engineering job to working 5-10 hours a week in a “lifestyle business”. That’s the lifestyle and business shift Chris Lollini created for himself by white labeling someone else’s software tools. White labeling is a super interesting business model. It’s basically putting your brand, your sales and marketing, and your frontline customer support on top of an existing software product. And it comes with a lot of the benefits of SaaS — recurring revenue, good margins — without the upfront development time and expense. To make it work, you essentially play matchmaker — finding a common problem and pairing that with a software solution. Chris was a self-described “recovering engineer” who started a marketing agency as a side hustle 9 years ago, which has evolved into a multi-6 figure white labeling operation called Reputation Igniter. Through Ignite.Reviews, Chris Lollini helps small businesses earn more positive reviews for their work. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Chris got the idea to start white labeling SaaS products how he identified his customer's pain points and provided a SaaS solution the methods he uses to add value and create healthy profit margins Full Show Notes: Reselling Software as a Side Hustle Download Your Free Bonus: 20 White Label Software Niches New to the Show? Generate Your Free Money-Making Playlist

Rob's side hustle was crushed by the pandemic, but he found a winning spinoff buried deep in his YouTube stats and Google Analytics.  This one will definitely have you thinking about the simple long-tail search questions you can answer — and monetize — for your own audience. Full Show Notes: The $5k Side Hustle Spinoff

There’s profit out there, you just have to learn how to find it. On this week’s show, I’m joined by a pair of Side Hustle Show listeners who’ve been learning that skill and have translated it into tens of thousands of dollars in sales over the last 16 months. Jack and Joan Ferrell of SecondTimeSellers.com are resellers. They find used items at flea markets, yard sales, online auctions, and flip those items for anywhere up to 10x what they paid for them. Inspired to start reselling after listening to episode 406 with Stacy Gallego, they’ve hit the floor running and have set themselves the goal of turning over $250,000 in the next 12 months. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: the creative ways Jack and Joan source inventory how they handle the shipping and logistics the most effective ways they’ve found to grow their business Full Show Notes: Building a Reselling Business Free Flipping Training    

Here are the projects I've been working on lately and how they're shaping up, my favorite business and lifestyle upgrades of the quarter, a few things that sucked, and what books made my reading list. Full Show Notes: My Latest Online Business Experiments (Q1 2022 Progress Report)

From being a “bored stay at home mom” to running a multi 6-figure business in just a few short years. That’s the story for this week’s guest, Jayne Havens of TheSnoozeFest.com who decided to take a sleep certification course “on a whim.” This is a 2-for-1 episode where we’re going to learn about starting a service business from scratch — in Jayne’s case that’s coaching parents how to help their babies and toddlers sleep through the night. Jayne started earning thousands of dollars a month doing the coaching, before deciding to add the addition of an online course component teaching other people how to do what she did. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Jayne got started coaching parents on how to get their babies and toddlers to sleep better why she decided to start the online course component of her business the methods she’s used to grow both sides of her business Full Show Notes: How to Start a Sleep Consulting Business Download Your Free Bonus: 101 Service Business Ideas

“How I bootstrapped a 6-figure e-commerce brand in its first year with zero ad spend.” That was the subject line that Side Hustle Show Connor Meakin sent me that grabbed my attention and earned him a spot on this week’s show. The brand Connor is talking about is BluebirdProvisions.co, an organic bone broth, and bone broth powder company. Connor started Bluebird Provisions after suffering a devastating foot injury that doctors said he would never fully recover from and be able to run again. Searching for alternative, holistic ways to heal his foot, Connor decided to try drinking bone broth. He accredits healing his foot injury, in part, to the healing properties in bone broth and decided to manufacture his own line of bone broth products. Connor now sells his products through retail stores like Whole Foods, on Amazon, and through his own e-commerce site, and saw a 225% growth last year. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Connor came up with the idea to sell bone broth how he’s turned it into a reality for a relatively low startup cost the creative and effective ways he’s driving sales on and off of Amazon today Full Show Notes: How I Bootstrapped a 6-Figure E-Commerce Brand in 1 Year

Today we’re geeking out on the awareness problem — how to spread the word about your business. And how to do it in a way that aligns with your style and your budget. To help me out with this is long-time Side Hustle Show listener, Larry Towner. He’s a real estate investor, a handyman, and co-host of the Handyman Pros Radio Show podcast. Larry runs a local handyman service in the North Atlanta area and always has his work calendar booked up months in advance. He uses a wide range of free and low-cost ways to get his business in front of the right customers, so there’s going to be more than enough ideas you can use for your own business. Tune in to this episode of The Side Hustle Show to hear 16 free and low-cost marketing ideas, including: how you can use your website and business cards as an “electronic brochure” why it’s so important for local businesses to use Google My Business how Larry gets so much business through referrals both online and offline Full Show Notes: 16 Free and Low Cost Marketing Ideas Download Your Free Bonus: 10 Proven Local Marketing Ideas

"Changing the world with chess" and making $100,000 per year on the side. That’s the story of today’s guest, Jeff DiOrio from EliteChess.net. Jeff went from working in summer camp chess programs teaching kids how to play chess, to running his own summer camps and earning five times as much. He then transitioned to an online recurring membership model, in part due to the pandemic, while also keeping the in-person coaching side of his business alive. Jeff’s approach to growing his student numbers so rapidly? Organic growth through giving to charities and delivering a value-driven service. All while doing something he loves -- teaching chess. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Jeff built his minimum viable audience the methods he used to set up the business for recurring revenue how you can borrow some of these same tactics in your business Full Show Notes: From $17/hr to 6-Figure Side Hustle Download Your Free Bonus: 20 Hobbies to Monetize with an Online Business  

How does risk-free profit sound? That’s the promise and of the consignment business — getting paid to sell other people’s stuff. To help school me on how it all works I’ve invited Megan Church from PineappleConsignment.com onto this week’s show. Megan experimented with her first popup consignment event in October 2018 with the goal of breaking even and to do something creative with her time. Megan did a little better than break even with that first show, and more importantly, validated her business idea and had a lot of fun doing it. She has since broadened her business into online sales, estate sales, and now has her own warehouse and storefront open to the public. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how you can get started throwing popup consignment events right away how Megan sources and manages her inventory the creative ways she’s found to market and grow the business Full Show Notes: Get Paid to Sell Other People's Stuff: Building a Successful Consignment Business

What’s one thing people want? They want to get great deals on great products, and for you as a side hustler, that spells a business opportunity to curate and spread the word about those deals. This is exactly what Side Hustle Show listener Camron Stover from HuntingGearDeals.com is doing. Camron stumbled into the business, starting with his hunting hobby and a passion for finding good deals. He ended up acquiring the site from the original owner and has accelerated its revenue growth to $90k last year. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how the site is making money the creative ways Camron gets free content and products how you may be able to apply similar strategies in your own business Full Show Notes and PDF Bonus: The $90k Niche Daily Deals Blog

Today’s guest, Matt Bochnak of HowToMotorcycleRepair.com, is one of my favorite examples of how you can dedicate part of your week to generating time-leveraged income. This is Matt’s third time on The Side Hustle Show, and every time we speak he’s made huge leaps forward with his business. Matt first appeared on the show back in 2016 when he was making around $1,000 a month recording himself performing motorcycle repairs in his garage and selling digital products. When Matt appeared on the show for a second time in 2019 he was making $4,000-5,000 a month from a combination of digital product sales, YouTube ad income, affiliate commissions, Patreon, and sponsored content. As you’ll discover in this episode, Matt is now making almost $20,000 a month in revenue. He’s completely shut down the service side of his business, expanded into physical products, and more. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Matt’s business has changed since we last spoke in 2019 where the idea for a physical product came from and how he validated it the various revenue streams ringing the cash register for Matt right now Full Show Notes: Turning a Service Business into a Passive Income Stream - Part 3

When the pandemic hit, Timmy Bauer from DinosaurHouse.com pivoted his business from being a traveling children’s book author to running a children’s book production company. Timmy was enjoying working as a traveling children’s book author, but he was forced to change directions when schools started locking down and not allowing guests. His story is the perfect example that you don’t always need to make a complete 180 if your business hits a wall. Sometimes you just need to make a slight re-calibration, a couple degrees one direction or the other that can set you off on a new path. This new path has taken Timmy from “just over the poverty line” to running a 6-figure business in the last 12 months. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Timmy pivoted his business model when the pandemic hit how he uses content-based marketing and other people’s events to drive sales the ways you might also be able to take your existing skills and knowledge to serve a different customer base Full Show Notes: 6 Figures in 12 Months: Pivoting from Low-Ticket Products to a Productized Service

From a $10,000 a month “blog” to a 7-figure “Media Company” — a lot can happen in six years. Today’s guest is one of my most important real and virtual online business mentors — I’m always trying to pay attention and keep an eye on what Robert Farrington from TheCollegeInvestor.com is up to. Fun fact: Robert was one of the very first guests on The Side Hustle Show back in 2013. Our last update was 6 years ago, in early 2016. Back then, The College Investor was earning $10k a month and Robert was still working full-time at Target. There have been lots of life changes since then, plus some exponential growth on the business side. Today, The College Investor is one of the biggest personal finance media brands in the world. With over 1 million visits a month, covering student loans, taxes and tax software, investing, insurance, budgeting — if it’s related to money, you’ll find it at The College Investor. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: what the biggest changes Robert has seen in his online business are since 2016 what marketing channels are driving traffic for him today why he’s started a new brand and the future of his business Full Show Notes and PDF Bonus: From 6-Figure Blog to 7-Figure Online Business: Catching Up with Robert Farrington

There are a million and one ways to make money online, but they almost always come down to helping other people. Today’s guest, Kat Norton aka Miss.Excel, has been doing plenty of that. She’s reaching hundreds of thousands of followers as a spreadsheet influencer — you didn’t know there was such a thing, did you? Kat started on TikTok in June 2020 and already has over 734k followers, she later branched out onto Instagram and has already built a following of more than 573k followers there, too. She hit 6-figures in sales within 6 months and has since scaled to consistent 6-figure months and even the occasional 6-figure DAY - which is absolutely nuts. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Kat built her following so quickly her tips for viral success on TikTok and Instagram how she’s turned those views into real-life revenue and profits Full Show Notes: 6 Months to 6 Figures … Helping People with Excel

While he was a full-time student, Johnny Robinson built OrangeWindowCleaning.com into a $700k a year operation. If you want to start your own business, it doesn’t necessarily take a never-before-seen business idea to have a never-before-seen impact on your life. Johnny's a long-time Side Hustle Show listener, and we actually recorded this on his last day of college. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: How Johnny got his first customers The marketing engine you can borrow for your own business How he fulfills the work and the tech and tools he uses to manage the whole operation Full Show Notes PDF Bonus: Building a $60k a Month Business as a Full-Time College Student

People out there will pay for your skills, you just have to find them. One person who’s done an excellent job of finding them over the last 9 months or so is Georgia Austin from WizardOfContent.com. Georgia took her skill of writing, and despite a crowded world of other writers out there, did over $500k worth of work through the Fiverr platform last year, including $90k the month before we recorded. In this episode, Georgia shares her top tips for getting started on Fiverr and quickly gaining traction. As well as explaining why being a Fiverr seller doesn’t have to be a race to the bottom and how you can command high rates by knowing your worth. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: Georgia’s best practices for getting started on Fiverr how she manages her huge order volume how Georgia is transitioning to a standalone agency Full Show Notes PDF Bonus: $90k a Month on Fiverr: From Freelancer to Agency

Inside my biggest wins, best purchases, favorite books, most popular episodes, and most important projects. Full show notes

Happy New Year! May this be a year of stacking up incremental improvements and optimizations — getting 1% better every day — that’s the idea. To help out with that goal, I’m excited to introduce Chris Hutchins. He's a serial entrepreneur, a new dad, a professional life optimizer, and host of the new AllTheHacks podcast. The stated mission of All the Hacks is to help listeners upgrade every aspect of their life while spending less and saving more. I think that’s a mission we can get on board with since this show is also about upgrading your life through entrepreneurship. Chris shared a full docket of hacks in this episode to help you start your year off right, and I did my best to chime in as well. Many of these are quick actionable ideas you can apply to make little upgrades to your life. Tune in to this episode of The Side Hustle Show to hear 33 hacks covering work and productivity, networking, money, travel, and health. Full Show Notes: 33 Life Hacks to Experiment With in 2022

The Side Hustle Show is a top-rated podcast featuring the ideas, actions, and results you need to start and grow a successful business. Put a little hustle in your earbuds as I extract the actionable tips and business strategies from successful entrepreneurs. Each week you’ll get new business ideas, side hustle opportunities, and high-value content to help you make extra money and make the most of your time.

Selling JPEGs and other digital collectibles - do NFTs present some of the hottest investment opportunities right now? You could hardly open your laptop or unlock your phone this year without reading about NFTs or non-fungible tokens. When you start to see jpegs selling for tens of thousands of dollars, you can’t help but ask, wait, what’s going on here? And as is often the case when these new shiny things pop up, I try to learn from those who are a few steps ahead. In this episode you’ll meet Michael Quan from FinanciallyAlert.com, he’s a father of 2 who retired at 36, and calls himself “an accidental NFT investor.” I met Michael at FinCon this fall, and called him up to try and get some clarity on the murky world of NFTs, and where opportunity may lie for side hustlers, on the buying, trading, and creating side. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: why Michael is investing in NFTs and the returns he’s seeing where you can get started creating or buying NFTs yourself how to avoid scams and what Michael thinks the future holds for NFTs Full Show Notes: How to Make Money with NFTs: Opportunities for Side Hustlers and Creators

Smart side hustlers go where the cash is already flowing… One place it’s been flowing at a rapidly increasing pace is Facebook Marketplace. What started as a Craigslist competitor — a place to buy and sell secondhand stuff — has morphed into an e-commerce powerhouse in its own right. How Facebook Marketplace works will not be new to most reading this. But how today’s guest, Andrey Kozlov is taking advantage of this platform will be a real eye-opener to most. So, how can you take advantage? In this episode, you’ll learn how Andrey Kozlov is making hundreds of dollars a day, selling stuff on Facebook he never even has to touch. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to learn: how dropshipping on Facebook marketplace works how to find profitable products and make your listings stand out the risks and pitfalls to avoid Full Show Notes and PDF Bonus: $500 a Day Selling Other People’s Products with Facebook Marketplace Dropshipping

How does turning a passion into a profitable side hustle sound? That’s exactly what this week’s guest, Luke Lorick of Tailgating-Challenge.com has done. Luke took his passion for tailgating — the pre-game parking lot party variety, not the annoying driving habit variety, and turned that into a long-running and profitable online side hustle. It wasn’t an overnight success. In fact, Luke says himself that “Overnight successes don’t happen overnight.” Luke has put in years of hard work building strong relationships with brands - some of which are huge household names - and growing an audience of more than 250,000 across his social media accounts to get where he is today. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to learn: how Luke drives traffic and revenue how he’s grown some substantial social followings ways you can emulate his strategies in your niche Full Show Notes and PDF Bonus: How One Football Fan Turned Tailgating into an Online Business

Turning a passion into a 6-figure business is the goal of many entrepreneurs, and that’s what this week’s guest, Jennifer Sobel has done. Jennifer has combined her lifelong passion for belly dancing with her skills in digital marketing to create TheBellyDanceSolution.com, one part of what’s become a 6-figure online business. There are 3 big ideas in this episode that you may be able to use to improve your own sales funnel: The power of combining two or more things to come up with a new idea - The combination game can help you stand out from the crowd like Jennifer did and become a market of one. Mentorship - If there is such a thing as a shortcut or cheat code, I believe mentorship is it. You’ll hear how Jennifer applied that and relaunched her funnel. The power of micro-optimizations - I loved Jennifer’s call to always be testing and I think it’s something we can all apply. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Jennifer made her first sales without an audience the creative ways you may also be able to acquire customers how she’s transitioning from one-time sales to a recurring membership Full Show Notes and PDF Bonus: The 6-Figure Belly Dancing Course

100 members of the Side Hustle Nation community shared their path to $1000 and beyond in my latest book, $1,000 100 Ways. I just got approval for the audiobook edition, narrated by yours truly. Here's a sneak peak of the stories inside. Learn more: http://1k100ways.com Get the audiobook free with an Audible trial

Struggling to perform at your best from the moment you wake till you go to sleep at night? In today’s episode, we’re talking about a key component of your physical and mental foundation to be a high-performing human, and one that we probably don’t give a lot of thought to. Still, it’s something you spend roughly a third of your life doing, so it’s a huge lever to pull in terms of optimizing your energy and your output in the world. Yes, we’re talking about sleep. I promise this episode won’t put you to sleep as we explore 9 quick ways to optimize your horizontal hours to wake up feeling superhuman. To help walk me through these is Riley Jarvis from TheSleepConsultant.com and SleepForSideHustlers.com. Riley started through his own health journey many years ago and discovered that sleep was the missing link that brought everything together. After some biohacking and learning from top doctors in the field, he now helps others get the root of their sleep issues rather than masking the symptoms — all about building that foundation so you can feel amazing and be the best version of you. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear 9 of Riley’s top tips for getting a better night’s sleep. Full Show Notes: 9 Quick Ways to Optimize Your Sleep and Feel Super Human

This week — in what has become a Thanksgiving tradition on the show — we’re diving into 10 creative side hustles that make real money. This is the 4th installment of the series, so I encourage you to go check out the other episodes if you like this format -- those are episodes 310, 363, and 420. Tune in to learn about how real people are making real money from everything from tarantulas to luxury picnics, from invisible sculptures to reselling driftwood that you can go pick up for free. Full Show Notes: 10 Creative Side Hustles That Make Real Money - Part 4

From hating photo booths to seeing an opportunity in the market and taking her photo booth side hustle to 6-figures in 18 months… That’s the story of today’s guest, Cat Bloch. Cat told me you would never “catch me dead” using a photo booth at a party. That was until she came across a modern photo booth, and it completely changed how she looked at this popular wedding venue and Gala attraction. Cat saw a gap in the market for an upmarket, modern, photo booth. Something that does much more than you’d expect from a photo booth, such as being used for corporate branding, immersive virtual experiences, and more. Starting with one photo booth out of her front closet, Cat and MDRN Photobooth Company now operate 20 photo booths in multiple cities all across Canada. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to learn: how Cat got her first customers how she prices and positions her service to stand out from the competition and really smart and intentional ways she’s found a steady stream of bookings Full Show Notes and PDF Bonus: 6 Figures in 18 Months: Building a Photo Booth Rental Business

Can you really make money flipping phones? To find out, I sat down with pro cell phone flipper Jeff Duhon from the Smart Flippers Facebook group. In a typical week, Jeff resells 20-30 used iPhones with a target profit of $100 per flip. If you did half that volume, you could be earning $1000 a week. Flipping phones for profit can be a lucrative side hustle or grow into a full-time income stream, but, like any business, there are some pros and cons. The used cell phone industry is already huge, and growing bigger all the time. Estimates project the global market for secondhand phones to be worth between $39 and $52 billion by 2025. Here's how to carve out your piece of that massive pie. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to learn: How to source profitable inventory The easiest places to resell your phones How to not get scammed After all, being able to go out into the world and find profit is a skill to recession-proof your life. Full Show Notes and PDF Bonus: $1K/Week: How to Flip Phones for Profit

Struggling to come up with a side hustle or business idea? To help get the creative idea juices flowing, I’ve invited Joel Hansen, a member of the founding team of Kern.al on the show. Kern.al is kind of like Reddit or Product Hunt, but for business ideas that don’t exist yet. Just a few minutes on the site definitely sparked some creativity for me so I encourage you to check it out. In this episode, Joel and I bounce some different business ideas back and forth that are free for you to run with and should be enough to get the cogs turning on your own ideas. Tune in to this episode of The Side Hustle Show to hear 16 business ideas that are free for the taking, including: why I’d be interested in an “erase me” button for personal data online ideas that have been posted on Kern.al for shadowing CEOs and elevating “Open” signs in shop windows a cool idea Joel has for autotext reminders and more Full Show Notes: 16 Business Ideas You're Free to Run With: The Business Idea Giveaway Show

Like it or not, we’re all marketers. Whether we’re selling ourselves in a job interview, pitching our product or service, or trying to get people to pay attention to our content — we’re all marketers. And you should know this is one of my all-time favorite topics. So, how do we solve the awareness problem? How do we position ourselves so the right people can find us — and the wrong ones leave us alone? To spark some inspiration and maybe breathe new life into your own marketing efforts, I asked members of Side Hustle Nation to share what’s working for them right now. Tune in to this episode of The Side Hustle Show to hear 16 of the best marketing wins and tips, including: how you can dominate local search for your business and get a steady flow of organic leads the best social platforms to use to grow and engage with your audience some different and highly effective ways you can build your network and more Full Show Notes: 16 Marketing Ideas from Side Hustle Nation to Grow Your Business

At the end of nearly every episode of The Side Hustle Show, I ask my guests for their “#1 tip for Side Hustle Nation.” There’s always a great variety of responses, and I wanted to take some time today to go through some of my favorites from the past 50-ish interviews. This has become an annual tradition on the show, which is now almost 8.5 years old and recently passed 17 million lifetime downloads. If you like this short-and-sweet meta-style show, be sure to check out the others in this series: Episode 50 - 2014 Episode 124 - 2015 Episode 177 - 2016 Episode 236 - 2017 Episode 288 - 2018 Episode 338 - 2019 Episode 392 - 2020 Full Show Notes: What I’ve Learned and Applied from 49 Awesome Entrepreneurs Part 8   

Where there’s pain, there might also be profit… That was the case for today’s guest, Pete Mockaitis. Pete was seeing some traction with his podcast, the HowToBeAwesomeAtYourJob Podcast, but was struggling to keep up all the off-air tasks — the show notes, the editing, the social media. For Pete Mockaitis, that pain turned into AwesomePros.co, a niche drop-servicing company that he co-founded with Brian Kearny and is now doing $10k a month in recurring revenue. This is something that will work in just about any niche where you can outsource tasks remotely, and in this episode, Pete and Brian break down exactly how they grew their business. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to learn: how Pete and Brian took this from an in-house solution to a $10k/mo business the tactics they’ve used to grow their client roster how you can figure out niche and pricing if you want to replicate this in another vertical Full Show Notes: Online Drop Servicing - Building a $10k/mo Niche Productized Service Agency

One challenge that most new businesses face is the awareness problem – nobody knows you exist. To help erase this problem, I’ve invited Dustin Lien from JumpXmarketing.com back on the show. Dustin first appeared on episode 251 back in 2017. Back then, he was just ramping up JumpX after shutting down his own physical product business. Since then he’s grown it into a 6-figure operation and built it in such a way that it only requires part-time attention. What’s been his key driver? Partner workshops, which are essentially virtual lunch-and-learn sessions where he can showcase his expertise and build his client roster without ads or bidding for work. This works in just about any niche and in this episode, Dustin breaks down his exact process so you can go out and apply it in your own business. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to learn: Dustin’s fast-track strategy to getting in front of the right audience how he builds his email list quickly with his top tips for creating warm outreach emails and connecting with customers Full Show Notes: 6-Figure Growth Hack: Partner Workshops

Ever thought about turning your expertise in an everyday subject or topic into an online business? For Delilah Orpi, her expertise was on taking care of her curly hair — and starting as a side hustle, she turned that into an online business earning around $8k a month at HolisticEnchilada.com. Delilah has some interesting strategies she used to grow her audience, build her email list, diversify her multiple income streams -- all of which can be applied to a topic of your choosing. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to learn: why Delilah started blogging about curly hair how she has grown her audience through Pinterest and organic search the multiple income streams she’s created and a high-converting tripwire Full Show Notes: The $8k a Month Curly Hair Blog

There are tons of ways to make money online — the root of all of them comes down to helping people. Two common ways entrepreneurs help a wide audience is by packaging up their knowledge and experience into an online training course or a membership program/community. But which model makes the most sense for your business? To find out, it’s time for another Side Hustle Showdown. For the debate, I’ve invited back two Side Hustle Show favorites: Jacques Hopkins has sold over $2 million worth of his flagship online course PianoIn21Days.com and teaches others how to create their own courses at TheOnlineCourseGuy.com. Shane and his wife Jocelyn sold their primary membership website for over $1M and now help other people create and grow membership sites of their own at flippedlifestyle.com Tune in the week to learn: how Jacques and Shane approach creating content for their businesses the differences in business models between memberships and courses the time commitment involved for both business models tips for pricing and increasing conversions and more Full Show Notes: Memberships vs. Online Courses: Which Business Model is Right for You?

We’ve been on a bit of an audience building kick lately in our conversations with Dickie Bush about Twitter, with Tori Dunlap about TikTok. Today you’ll meet a long-time listener of the show who built her audience on Facebook. Chantal Lavergne is the founder of FunSensoryPlay.com, which started as a Facebook page in early 2020 — and that’s important because that’s years after the supposed death of organic Facebook page reach. Since then she’s grown the page to nearly 80,000 followers using some specific and proven engagement strategies, and turned that following into a business with multiple revenue streams. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to learn: how Chantal came up with the idea to start a sensory fun Facebook page how she has grown her audience so fast by creating an “ecosystem” the multiple income streams she’s created for her business Full Show Notes and PDF Bonus: Zero to 50,000 Followers in 12 Months: How to Build and Monetize an Audience on Facebook

Tired of toiling away on social media for lackluster results? Tori Dunlap earned her first 200,000 TikTok followers in just a couple weeks, and has added another 1.4 million since then. All that attention has helped her turn a healthy 6-figure business into a multi-7-figure operation.  Tori is the founder of HerFirst100k.com and host of the Financial Feminist podcast, where she helps women become more financially confident. She argues that TikTok is the best social media platform on which to grow a targeted audience right now. For a start, TikTok has more than a billion monthly active users and is still seen as an up-and-coming social media platform where you can easily connect with your target audience. In addition to the huge user base, Tori explained that "there are more consumers than creators," which gives content creators like you an edge.  Tune in to The Side Hustle Show to learn: how to get started on TikTok and what type of content works best how Tori creates viral videos that helped her gain more than 1.6 million followers in 13 months the ways she's driving TikTok traffic to affiliate offers and paid products Full Show Notes PDF Bonus: How to Grow and Monetize a TikTok audience: 1.6M Followers in 13 Months

If you’re looking to add some time-leveraged cash flow to your bottom line, two of the best options are investing in rental real estate and buying small businesses. Both are viable options, and to help you figure out if either or both of these investment options are right for you, it’s time for another Side Hustle Showdown. For the debate, I’ve invited back two Side Hustle Show favorites: Chad Carson is the owner of over 100+ properties and the author of Retire Early with Real Estate. Codie Sanchez is the owner of several so-called “boring” small businesses, including a laundromat and a podcast production service. (In Chad's first appearance, we covered 5 low-cost ways to get started in real estate. With Codie, we explored how to grow and monetize an email newsletter.) Tune in the week to learn: what kind of portfolios Chad and Codie have built up how you can get started buying real estate and small businesses some of the creative financing options available the mistakes they made along the way and more Full Show Notes: Side Hustle Showdown: Buying a Business vs. Investing in Real Estate

Online arbitrage is the process of buying inventory from one site to resell on another (usually Amazon). To help school me on this side hustle is Chris Grant, a longtime Amazon seller and the founder of ClearTheShelf.com and OAChallenge.com. Chris has been involved in the online arbitrage space for the last 10+ years and is currently selling $75,000-80,000 per month. In this episode, Chris explains the systems he’s built and the tools he uses to help him find more “winners”, minimize the risk of losses, and how anyone can make money with this side hustle in just 1-2 hours a day. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to learn: Where Chris finds inventory to sell on for profit The tools and tech he uses to automate and streamline his product sourcing How he minimizes risk on the downside and some hacks for finding discounts when buying in bulk Full Show Notes: Online Arbitrage: Make Money with Amazon FBA from Home

Few words will get as polarizing a response among freelancers and side hustlers as Upwork. Depending on who you ask, it’s either a fantastic platform to connect with well-paying gigs and quality clients … or it’s a hopeless, desperate race to the bottom, overly-competitive bloodbath with no chance of success. Like a lot of things, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle, and a lot of your outcome will depend on your strategy and how well you show up. Upwork is the world’s largest freelance marketplace. The platform booked $2.5 billion worth of work last year, so there's no shortage of cash flowing — if you know how to get it flowing toward you. To help is do that, I invited 2020's most popular guest, Chris Misterek, back to the show.  Chris is a web design pro who’s booked over $80k worth of work through Upwork.  (We’re going to focus on Upwork but these same rules apply for other freelance platforms as well, like Fiverr or Thumbtack — so get ready to set yourself up for success.) Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to learn: how you can set up your Upwork profile for success why Chris says niching down will help you secure more jobs how to pitch clients the right way to increase your chance of landing your ideal jobs Full Show Notes: $80k on This Site: How to Get More Freelance Gigs

Today’s guest has gone from zero to almost 50k followers in the last 12 months and has turned that newfound attention into a 6-figure online business. This is impressive in itself, but what’s even more impressive about this story is that Dickie Bush has built his audience on Twitter. You know, that social media platform that's always just ... been there. One of several platforms that I’d kind of written off. In fact, in 8 years and 450 episodes, we’ve never done a dedicated conversation on Twitter as an audience-building platform. Dickie has been a frequently-requested guest over the last few months. He’s a former college athlete turned portfolio analyst. But on the side, he’s the creator of Ship30for30.com, a cohort-based online course that helps you build an online writing habit. Dickie opens up enrollment for Ship 30 for 30 every 6 weeks, and in the last enrolment, he had 476 students paying $350 each. That’s $166,600 in gross revenue. If you’ve been focusing on YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok, you may be missing out. In this episode, Dickie explains why Twitter is the perfect platform for quickly building an engaged audience. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to learn: why Dickie uses Twitter and says it’s the best platform for building an audience how he writes tweets that go viral and attract followers why he opted to build a cohort-based course over evergreen content Full Show Notes: Growing a 6-Figure Side Hustle in 12 Months

What's the best way to write a bestselling book? Ask a hundred people and you'll get 100 different answers. Sure, I've had some book launch success before, and have certainly learned a lot about self-publishing since my first title in 2012. But there are always new and different tactics to try, and you never really know how audiences and algorithms are going to react. You can check out my latest book at 1K100ways.com.  I asked several fellow authors "What's your #1 book launch or book marketing tip?" Here are their answers. Full Show Notes and PDF Checklist: 16 Marketing Tips for Books (and Other Products) From Bestselling Authors

I want to introduce a concept I call The Side Hustle Snowball. If you've heard about Dave Ramsey's "Debt Snowball" framework, this may sound familiar. Here's how The Side Hustle Snowball works: You itemize out your expenses and then aim to come up with side hustle income to cover them, starting with the smallest and working your way up. Once you reach the bottom of your list, you don't need your job anymore! In this episode, I'll share 11 of our real household expenses and how we zero those out with side hustle income. Full Show Notes: The Side Hustle Snowball: Erase Your Expenses One Extra Income Stream at a Time

Some ideas just won't die. This project was one of them. My latest book is called $1K 100 Ways, and it features 100 case studies from the Side Hustle Nation community on how to earn an extra $1000 or more in your spare time. The first flicker of the idea came into my head way back in early 2015. This is the story of how it finally came to life. Full show notes

Today we’re diving into the easy wins — the quick updates you can make to your websites to drive more traffic and sales. To help me out on that topic is Mushfiq S., a side hustler who has been building, buying, growing, and selling websites since 2008, all on the side from his full-time career. During that time he’s done over 175 transactions and has a wealth of knowledge on what it takes to make money and build equity online. You can think of it a little like flipping houses — trying to find these undervalued fixer-upper projects, and making 'em shine. Only it’s better suited to those who are more comfortable creating content than they are replacing countertops and cabinets -- and your upfront costs may be a lot lower too. You can find out more about Mushfiq over at TheWebsiteFlip.com and EasyWins.io where you can buy a copy of his “easy wins” spreadsheet listing the things he does to fix up sites he purchases. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to learn: where Mushfiq finds “distressed assets” he knows he can fix up and flip for a profit the buying criteria he uses to find the best deals some of his best “quick wins” that have the biggest impact on a site’s revenue Full Show Notes: Easy Website Wins: Marketing and Monetization Lessons From 175 Website Flips

Want to drive more organic traffic to your website? I’m sure you do. At the heart of organic traffic is SEO or Search Engine Optimization. The better optimized your site is for search engines, the higher you’ll rank for your target keywords, and the more visitors you’ll get. For everyone interested in SEO, I have an excellent round-up style show for you today. To help you get up to speed with the latest SEO techniques and methods that are working right now, I invited a bunch of friends of mine and experts who make a living online to share their top SEO tips. I asked them what’s working today in terms of driving more search traffic to their sites, and they shared some insights, resources, and tips that are easily replicable for your sites. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show this week what's working now in the world of SEO, including how to: find easy-to-rank-for keywords perform a free SEO site audit and identify easy SEO fixes use content editors to write better-optimized content Full Show Notes: 12 Expert SEO Tips for 2021: Get More Free Traffic

If you’re starting an online business, you’re almost certainly going to create content. But should you focus on written content on your blog, or video content to try and tap into the massive YouTube audience? Which is better to focus on for audience growth, monetization, and for the best ROI on your limited time? To help you figure out which type of content is best for you, it's time for another Side Hustle Showdown. For the debate, I found two gracious volunteers. Both are from the food and recipe niche, so we can compare proverbial apples to apples. They are: Blogger Jannese Torres-Rodriguez, who started DelishD’Lites.com as a side hustle to share her love of Latin food. She has since turned it into one of several income streams under her multi-6-figure business umbrella. YouTuber Nisha Vora, who is a former lawyer who started RainbowPlantLife.com and the Rainbow Plant Life YouTube Channel to share how to master vegan cooking at home. She’s closing in on half a million YouTube subscribers and has more than 20 million lifetime views. Tune in to hear: Which type of content takes the longest to create How they go about creating content that ranks well on each platform The pros and cons of "owning" your blog content vs. relying on YouTube How monetization compares on the two platforms And more This is a fun one, and by the end, you’ll have an idea which platform is going to be best for your business. Full Show Notes: Blogging vs. YouTube: Which Platform is Best to Grow an Online Business?

It’s time to dive into the ol’ listener mailbag and answer a few questions in this week’s edition of The Side Hustle Show. I’ve had quite a few interesting questions come in since the last Q&A episode, and picked 20 to talk through in today’s show. Click here to join Side Hustle Nation for free! The questions: How I can use my knowledge for a blog or a podcast or affiliate marketing? How have your attitudes about side hustling changed over the last 8 years in the space? How do bundle sales work? Why would these product creators give their work away for so little? What's the table of contents plugin you're using on your site? How is the "You Might Also Like" box in your newsletter working for you in terms of boosting clicks, pageviews, etc.? I noticed that you are using Teachable -- any particular reason? Which WordPress theme should I use? How much do podcasters get paid by sponsors? What made you “jump” [from your day job]? How did failure not become an option for you? Should you build a review site around a single product or service, or broaden it a bit to the whole family of products of services? What are some good potential side hustles for retirees? How can you protect yourself from legal liability related to online content? What's your take on services like Skimlinks? Do you still recommend putting your books in Kindle Unlimited / KDP Select? When registering a business, can I be my own registered agent? I have 11 separate websites for the local towns where we operate. Should I consolidate domains? I'm just getting started. Should I write and publish a book or start a service business? How much is enough to retire at 35? What side hustles or gigs grew the most in the last year? How would you speed up the process of growing a community? Full Show Notes: Affiliate Marketing, Early Retirement, and Side Hustle Shifts Over 8 Years of Podcasting: 20 Questions with Nick

Royalties from book sales is one of the most passive of all my income streams. After you create a book, with print or digital distribution handled by Amazon,  you can collect royalties for years. And while I enjoy the writing process and have published several titles myself, I have yet to venture into the world of children's books.  (Despite having the outlines of a couple kids books on my phone for the last two or three years!) This week I connected with Matthew Ralph, a children’s book author from England, who recently quit his full-time marketing job to focus on his publishing and freelancing business. His bestselling work to date is Sam the Speedy Sloth. The idea of which came to him while walking through an airport, and by the time his flight landed, the book was almost written. Matt has since added more books to his portfolio, while freelancing to help other self-publishing authors. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to learn: what the children's book creation process is like the most effective ways he’s found to market his books how he’s expanding his portfolio and entering different markets Full Show Notes: How to Make Money with Kids Books on Amazon

What advice would you give your 18-year-old self? Here's my actual valedictorian speech from 20 years ago!

Creating assets you can sell over and over again -- that’s the passive income dream, right? This is exactly what Rachel Jones at MoneyHackingMama.com has done by creating and selling downloadable printables on Etsy. This year she’s averaging over $10,000 a month in sales, all while balancing a full-time job and two young kids. Rachel has only been doing this for two years, and she’s planning on leaving her full-time job in the near future and going in full-time on her Etsy business. Big thanks to Cody from Gold City Ventures and The FI Show for the intro! Note: I call this the Buy Buttons strategy. To kickstart your business, find the mini-marketplaces your target customers are already shopping at. Go where the cash is already flowing! Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to learn: how to find profitable niches to sell digital products in on Etsy some of the categories Rachel likes the tools and technology she uses to get it all done Full Show Notes: $10,000 a Month Selling Digital Products on Etsy

What if you could rent out digital real estate just as you would traditional real estate, but without all the headaches that come with maintaining a property? That’s exactly what Luke Van Der Veer is doing with his digital “Rank and Rent” business. I found Luke through the Side Hustle Nation Facebook group, where he shared a unique take on online business, kind of at the intersection of service businesses, SEO, and real estate. Really taking a page out from all of those playbooks. What Luke does is he builds a local service business website, then “rents” it out to a local, less digital-savvy business that is more than happy for the extra leads. Luke has been doing this for several years but said it took about 6 months to replace his day job income, and 12 months to hit 6-figures. Today he runs a portfolio of over 100 different websites using this “rank and rent” model, earning predictable recurring revenue taking up just a few hours per week. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to learn: how Luke picks a niche and evaluates the competition how to price your service how to find qualified “tenants” for your digital properties Full Show Notes: Rank and Rent: $1000 a Month From Simple Local Websites

Earning up to $2,000 for 45 minutes doing something you love -- who wouldn’t want to do that? That’s exactly what Brian McGovern of McMagical.com does. Brian is a party entertainer — he’s been practicing magic and performing since he was in high school. The success of the side hustle allowed him to walk away from a well-paying, but stressful, career on Wall Street. Despite the pandemic forcing him to perform shows from his living room, he’s still making up to $2,000 for an hour's work. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to learn how to: Get started, even if you don’t have any experience Attract event producers and party planners for high-paying events Turn something you love into something that can make you an extra $1000-2000 in just a few hours on weekends Full Show Notes: $10k a Month Going to Parties

"Apples to Apples meets Shark Tank" in SideHustle, the party game for entrepreneurs. After a successful crowdfunding campaign, the team behind the game is looking for ways to raise awareness and stand out on the crowded Amazon marketplace. In this coaching episode, you'll meet co-founders Darby Rollins and Tomer Soran, who (along with a 3rd co-founder, Tim Palladino) are looking for some ways to expand on the initial traction and grow a brand in the "productive play" space. To help out with this one, I enlisted Side Hustle Show alumni and e-commerce and branding pro, Scott Voelker.  Full Show Notes: From Kickstarter Success to a Sustainable Brand [Side Hustle Coaching]

With a full-time job, a baby at home, and a thriving side hustle, Troy Parker was becoming a master juggler. He was excited about the growth of his Etsy shop, Goober Prints, but was beginning to reach the ceiling of his own capacity. Troy specializes in fun, quirky, customizable direct-to-garment printing. Goober Prints had a breakout year in 2020, jumping to $80,000 in total sales — up from about $10,000 in 2019. Could it become his full-time focus? Is it possible to scale sales without sacrificing even more sleep? I reached out to Side Hustle Show alum and Etsy growth pro Melissa MacDonald, because I knew she'd have some great ideas for Troy. And she didn't disappoint! Tune in to check out our full conversation. Full Show Notes: $80,000 in Etsy Sales: How to Grow from Here? [Side Hustle Coaching]

Side Hustle Show listener Raffaele Di Lallo has built a successful house plant website, earning $10k a month — on the side from his day job. Still, he explained that 90% of that income was from advertising, and he wanted to diversify his revenue sources and earn more from affiliate marketing. To help me talk through Raffaele's business is a long-time friend and online business mentor of mine, Matt Giovanisci. Matt runs SwimUniversity.com, BrewCabin.com, and MoneyLab.co and the Money Lab Pro membership community. I knew he'd have some suggestions to grow the income pie and "future proof" Raffaele's business. Tune in to check out our full conversation. Full Show Notes: $10k a Month Blogging: How to Grow from Here?

With Mother's Day coming up, I wanted to share some of the best advice and lessons I got from mom growing up. Most of the time, this was pretty literal advice, but I found a lot of it has a broader application to entrepreneurship.  Mom has always been probably my biggest advocate and supporter. For background, she essentially had a couple different careers, first in nursing and then as a library assistant. (At the library, she actually helped me get one of my first jobs in high school.) Lots of wisdom I hope to be able to pass along to our little ones! And if you like this format, be sure to check out the companion list/episode on dad's advice! Full Show Notes: 10 Life and Business Lessons from Mom: The Best Mom Advice

$100 MBA Founder Omar Zenhom shares his perfect first business, plus why live courses are so hot right now. Check out the full $100 MBA Show archives in your podcast app of choice and learn more at 100MBA.net. 

$10,000 a month working 20-hour weeks sounds like a pretty sweet gig! And for Jade Weatherington, it's been a dream come true to make a living in education--while working from home. Her financial success didn't happen overnight. She had months of earning less than $100 from her online private tutoring. But when she discovered a then-new platform called Outschool, things really started to take off. In her first month on the platform, Jade made $32. Still, she was encouraged by the possibilities and scale of teaching online classes there. By the third month, she made almost $5,000. Today she’s making $10,000+ from a combination of online classes, pre-recorded courses, and other teaching products -- all while working around 20 hours a week. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to learn: how to decide what topics to teach the online teaching platforms Jade likes how to price and market your courses or classes Full Show Notes: $10k a Month Teaching Online Part-Time

Last year, Brad Rice booked $225,000 worth of Salesforce consulting work. That's impressive on its own, but what's crazier is he only worked an average of 18 hours a week. Brad took his existing skills and experience with a popular software product, and pivoted to become a remote freelance consultant. This is the "SWAS" strategy: Software with a Service. (We’ve heard from guests following a similar path with Asana and Quickbooks.) If you're not familiar with Salesforce, it's the #1 CRM (customer relationship management) software in the world. Businesses and non-profits of all sizes use the software to organize and manage the back-end of their sales efforts. And on the other side, there’s a community of salesforce professionals who support those customers … and earn up to $230 an hour to do so. Why are the rates so high? Supply and demand — there's a gap between the popularity of Salesforce and the number of experts like Brad who can help with it. That's the opportunity I think you should know about. To learn more and see if Salesforce consulting is the right career upgrade for you, check out Brad's Free 5-Day Salesforce Challenge. Tune in to hear: why there's such a high demand for Salesforce professionals how you can get started today earning your Salesforce certifications the progression steps Brad took to go from $40,000 a year to $225,000 part-time Full Show Notes: $225k in 18 Hours a Week: The Path to High-Paying Consulting Gigs

Amanda Austin has a healthy 6-figure part-time business drop shipping dollhouse miniatures. From the My Wife Quit Her Job podcast, Steve Chou takes over hosting duties today! If you want to learn more about building an e-commerce business, check him out at MyWifeQuitHerJob.com and subscribe to his show for more!

Rachel cash-flows $10k a month from her portfolio of mobile homes. When most people think of real estate investing, mobile homes probably don't come to mind. In fact, technically speaking, mobile homes are personal property--not real estate. Still, this is a sub-niche in real estate that comes with the familiar cash-flowing opportunity of buying a building and renting it out for a profit. Rachel Hernandez has been investing in mobile homes for over 10 years. She made her first mobile home purchase for $3,600, re-sold it for $10,000 on a leas-to-own contract, and hasn’t looked back since. Rachel is the author of Adventures in Mobile Homes and she blogs and podcasts about her work at AdventuresInMobileHomes.com. Tune in to hear: why mobile homes make an attractive investment how to find potential deals near you how Rachel markets for tenants Full Show Notes and Free Bonus: $10k a Month Investing in Mobile Homes  

With over 500 million users and growing all the time, your target customers are probably on Pinterest. To help catch us up on all the latest strategies and best practices for getting more traffic, more sales, more leads from Pinterest is our resident Pinterest marketing expert, Kate Ahl from SimplePinMedia.com. It’s been a couple of years since I last spoke with Kate and a lot has changed on the Pinterest platform. The user base has doubled, they’ve released new pin formats, and I’m actually starting to see some signs of life from my own account. Which I’d kind of written off for a while to focus on SEO instead. Tune in to hear: what’s working on Pinterest right now how to optimize your content for Pinterest search some cool things coming to the platform around selling your own products Full Show Notes: 500 Million Users: Pinterest Marketing in 2021

Here's an inside look at what I've been working on the last few months. Tune in to hear: The projects / experiments on my mind Personal / lifestyle updates What books I read My plans for what's coming next Important links: TheTrafficCourse.com SideHustleNation.com/join Thanks so much for tuning in!

Anthony and Jhanilka Hartzog erased $114k of debt in 23 months. The couple were making good money at their day jobs, but realized there's only so much you can cut from your budget. That’s when they turned to the income side of the equation and started a ton of different side hustles. They picked up second jobs at their gym, rented out their car on Turo, dogsitted, and — inspired by my episode with Chris Schwab — they started a residential cleaning business called Maids2Match.com. Today, that business is doing $20-25k in sales a month, with other people doing the cleaning. Anthony and Jhanilka are fully in business-owner mode, dedicating just a few hours a week to it. You can follow along with their journey on Instagram @thehartrimony. Tune in to hear: how they got this business off the ground while working full-time how they find reliable cleaners the marketing tactics that are paying off Full Show Notes and Free Bonus: From Idea to 6-Figure Side Hustle: A Listener Success Story

Can you still make money in domain flipping? Last year, Mark Levine flipped 70 domain names, for around $160k in gross profit. Of that, he spent a little over half on renewal fees for his domain name portfolio and acquiring new domains to add to it, netting $70-80k for the year. Not bad for a part-time hobby! In his spare time, Mark manages a portfolio of 3500-4000 domains. That's not huge by domain investor standards, but still a good-sized collection. With established investors like Mark, I was curious to find out if there was room for new players to earn a profit. (Several Side Hustle Show listeners requested this topic as well!) Tune in to hear: what it takes to buy low and sell high in the world of digital real estate where to buy and sell domains how new up-and-coming extensions level the playing field for new investors Full Show Notes and Free Bonus: Domain Flipping: $70k+/yr Investing in Domain Names Part-Time

Speedos, systems, and niche strategy -- this episode has it all. John Lee Dumas to share some insights from 2000+ interviews with successful entrepreneurs. (Turns out, I have an informal tradition of hosting John every 4 years. In 2013 we chatted podcasting and monetization, and in 2017 we dove into productivity, discipline, and focus.) His latest project is a book: The Common Path to Uncommon Success: A Roadmap to Financial Freedom and Fulfillment. Inside, he unpacks a 17-step guide to business success -- based on his own experience in building Entrepreneurs on Fire into a 7-figure operation and lessons learned from his thousands of interviews. Tune in to hear: John’s take on the common path to uncommon success an outline of the steps you need to take to create a successful business some of the tips and tricks John has implemented in his own businesses over the years Full Show Notes: John Lee Dumas' Advice for Side Hustlers: Be "The Only"

How do you make time for a side hustle? That's one of the questions I get the most, and one of the reasons we return to the theme of productivity so often. In this post (and podcast episode), I'll share a 10-step process for making — and optimizing — time for your business, inspired by Side Hustle Show guests. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: 10 Steps to Make Time for Your Side Hustle

Last May, Monisha Misra reluctantly accepted her first customer. Nine months later, she'd eclipsed $100k in total sales -- all on the side from her day job. BoardsByMo.com is a charcuterie board prep company, and the early success and attention in that arena has spun off other revenue streams including virtual live charcuterie board building classes. Click here to join Side Hustle Nation for free! Monisha has covered a lot of ground in the last year. She started out donating snack platters to essential workers during the beginning of the pandemic. Now she’s scaling up her B2B operations, running online classes several times a week, and holding several business workshops a month. Tune in to hear: how Monisha has grown her Instagram following to over 20,000 people the actions she took to build a 6-figure operation on the side in less than a year how she’s been streamlining her business and adding additional income streams Full Show Notes: $100k in Sales in 9 Months: Instagram, Salami, and Fun

Are laundromats "the ultimate side hustle," like my guest Jordan Berry described? These simple, local, cash-flowing businesses have been around forever, but surprisingly this is the first time discussing them in detail on the show. Click here to join Side Hustle Nation for free! Jordan is a former pastor turned laundromat mogul. Along the way, he's become an advocate for the industry through his website and podcast at LaundromatResource.com. Jordan got the idea to buy a laundromat after his wife told him about a family friend quitting his day job in tech after buying one. It wasn’t just the income potential that intrigued Jordan. He wanted a business that would generate passive income -- and yield better returns than real estate. Jordan has been able to achieve both of those things through buying laundromats.  Tune in to hear: why a laundromat makes a great side hustle and investment vehicle some of the expensive mistakes to avoid where to look for financing and some creative marketing and monetization ideas Here's a look at the 10 most compelling reasons why owning a laundromat is -- according to Jordan -- “the best investment you can make." Full Show Notes: Simple, Local Cash Flow: Are Laundromats the Ultimate Side Hustle?

From burned out freelance writer to making $200+ a day in affiliate sales ... all in less than a year. That’s Tami Smith's story. Tami was writing affiliate content for clients when she had a “why don’t I try that?” moment. Starting in late 2019, Tami went from watching clients make money from the articles she wrote, to making her own affiliate commissions on a site of her own. Her effort and results on FitHealthyMomma.com are extraordinary, all while combining two things she loves -- fitness and writing. Tune in to hear: how Tami gained traction and traffic so quickly the tools she uses to get the job done how you can follow a similar path with a side hustle of your own If this inspires you to start a blog of your own, my free video series will help you get online quickly and affordably. Full Show Notes and Free Bonus: How a New Blogger Went from Zero to $200/day in a Year

It’s time to dive into the ol’ listener mailbag and answer a few questions in this week’s edition of The Side Hustle Show. I’ve had quite a few interesting questions come in since the last Q&A episode, and picked 20 to talk through in today’s show. Click here to join Side Hustle Nation for free! Here are the questions I cover: How do you get over the fear of asking someone to buy your service or product? (1:42) Should I gain a skill to start a side hustle or just jump on some ones that have little barrier to entry? (3:45) How do you combat shiny object syndrome? (5:14) Do you have to have an established site to qualify for affiliate programs? (6:52) I'm thinking of expanding the focus of my website. Should I rebrand? (7:59) Are there tasks too small for virtual assistants? (9:32) What are your thoughts about leaving a side hustle as a "hustle" instead of a business? (10:08) Can you send it to me in French? (10:58) What low startup cost businesses can a 14 year old do? (12:07) Is there a service you would recommend for monetizing newsletters through sponsorships? (13:55) What are the top three things you would do to monetize a (new) podcast? (17:21) What’s the hardest part about hosting a podcast? (18:59) How do block days work if there's a conflict between your schedule and someone you're trying to meet with? (20:17) What's your take on the best length of time for a podcast? (21:26) How do I transition from my full-time career to my side hustle? (22:44) I have a idea that if shared with anyone or investors could be easily stolen. How do I protect it? (25:04) I just made my first $5 in passive income! How can I keep this newfound motivation alive? (27:51) I'm finding it difficult to grow my Facebook page. Any ideas or advice? (29:29) How would you go about getting your first freelance clients? (30:37) What makes a good KPI? (33:02) Full Show Notes: Fear of Selling, Protecting Ideas, Podcasting and More: 20 Questions with Nick

Service businesses can get a bad rap. After all, there are clients to deal with, and actual labor involved in fulfillment. They’re just not as glamorous as other more “passive” income models. But you should know that more Side Hustle Show guests started with a service-based business model than any other. This week’s guest has a unique approach to service businesses -- one that doesn't rely on your skills as the expert. Tyler Gillespie has built two successful service businesses and had a clean exit from both -- the last being just 13 months from startup to sale. Tune in to hear: how Tyler comes up with ideas for productized service businesses the processes he implements to put his business in a position to exit how he outsources the mechanism of his businesses Full Show Notes and Free Bonus: Built to Sell: How to Design a Business to Run Without You

How does the idea of taking your part-time hobby, and turning it into a full-time income sound? That’s exactly what Carey Adam of RunningMoms.com has done. Carey has turned her passion for running and fitness into a full-time business by creating paid products and a membership model. To do this, she tapped into the massive Facebook audience -- over 2 billion people -- to connect with her target customers. I’m calling this the Facebook Funnel. It's a unique and systematic way to make money on Facebook. Tune in to hear how: New prospects enter Carey’s ecosystem She provides them with helpful, valuable content and an “experience” They ultimately become long-term paying customers Full Show Notes and Free Bonus: The Facebook Funnel: A Proven Path from Strangers to Paying Customers

You’ve heard of Hot Tub Time Machine, but how does Hot Tub Cash Machine sound? That’s effectively the business model this week’s guest, Steve Nadramia. Steve is a high school history and economics teacher in New York, and a listener of the show. He reached out after our Thanksgiving episode, which touched on renting out attic space and even camper vans and semi-trucks as potential sources of recurring revenue. His unconventional rental business? Portable hot tubs! Steve started a hot tub rental business to replace his summer job income, with the goal of earning $1000 a month. Today, he’s got 25+ tubs in his “fleet,” delivers them with his pickup truck, and is doing thousands of dollars in bookings every month. Steve explained renting hot tubs is quite common in Europe, but doesn’t have much competition in the US yet. Tune in to hear: how Steve got the idea for this business how he’s marketed and grown his business the logistics of how it all works Want more unconventional rental ideas? Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Hot Tub Cash Machine: Zero to $1000s a Month

A masterpiece life starts with masterpiece days stacked on top of masterpiece moments. Whatever your future looks like, to get there you’re going to need to build masterpiece days. To help us build more of those masterpiece days and work toward being the best versions of ourselves in our life and work starting today is Brian Johnson. Brian is a serial entrepreneur who combines ancient wisdom with modern science to help people live their best lives. You’ll find him at optimize.me, the app version of which has lived on the homescreen of my phone for the past few years, ever since my brother introduced me to his work. This is an episode about taking a break from chopping down trees to sharpen the saw. This is about the seemingly small actions you can take on a daily basis to get from where you are to where you want to be. Tune in to hear: what it means to have a masterpiece day and where you should start the framework Brian uses with his students and coaches which virtues he sees having the biggest impact on his students Full Show Notes and Bonus Habit Tracker: Masterpiece Days: Laying the Groundwork for a Flourishing Life

In October, I sold a website. It wasn't a 7-figure, never-work-again type of exit, but when the funds were deposited, it was the largest single amount ever to hit one of my accounts. Over the course of 9 and a half years of running Virtual Assistant Assistant--including the proceeds from the sale--the site generated over $550,000 in revenue. This is the story of how I started, grew, and sold a very part-time online business. I hope it inspires you to start one of your own. Full Show Notes: My $550k Side Hustle: An Online Business from Idea to Exit

I know most people are ready to put 2020 behind us for good, but there were some bright spots in the midst of all the craziness. With that in mind, here were some of mine I'd love to share. Full Show Notes: Best of 2020: My Top Books, Tools, and Moments of a Wild Year

What comes first, the domain name or the business idea? For Peter Askew, the author of a viral blog post called “I Sell Onions on the Internet,” the answer is always the domain name. Peter is fascinated by expiring domain names and how they’re treated like physical assets. This is how he ended up with VidaliaOnions.com long before he had any plans on starting an e-commerce site shipping onions. Peter took that domain name, partnered with an award-winning onion farmer, and last season shipped more than 64,000 pounds of onions! (Prices range from $2.50-$7 per pound so you can estimate the site doing multiple 6-figures in revenue.) Like the product itself, this is a business with layers worth exploring. From the domain name to the farmer/supplier relationship, to the marketing efforts, and to the logistics and customer support that make it all work. Tune in to hear: why Peter says starting with an expired domain name gives you “a small unfair advantage” how he found a supplier and manages the logistics of his business his marketing and customer support methods Full Show Notes: How I Sold 64,000 Pounds of Onions Online: A Creative Drop Shipping Case Study

What started as a 2-week challenge with a friend 6 months ago, has turned into a business processing $3,500 in orders a day! Luke Emery has a background in design and portrait painting. So, he decided to utilize these skills and his e-commerce experience and start a business selling custom pet portraits. Van Woof specializes in putting your dog or cat into a Renaissance-style oil painting, looking like they really posed for the portrait. This isn’t Luke’s first e-commerce business, but it's taken off like a rocket! Tune in to hear: how Luke markets and sells these paintings on Etsy and his own store how the fulfillment logistics work the tools and platforms he uses to create a smooth workflow and great customer experience Full Show Notes: $3500 a Day in Etsy Sales in 6 Months

Ever thought about buying a semi truck and renting it out? Yeah, me neither, until I came across Ericka. Apparently there's big money to be made in trucking, but like any other side hustle, there's some strategy, risk, and nuance to the business. Ericka Williams owns 12 of these giant 18-wheelers, which can generate thousands of dollars a month in profit. Ericka has gone from delivering pizzas as a side hustle to owning a painting company, to now managing an investment portfolio that includes both real estate and semi-trucks. If you're interested in real estate, there’s a parallel to consider with this business model. Trucks are assets you can acquire with leverage (meaning other people’s money), and essentially rent it out for weekly or monthly cash flow. Tune in to hear: how Ericka came across the idea of buying semi-trucks what to look for when buying your first truck the math, marketing, and mistakes to avoid in this side hustle Full Show Notes: $1000 a Week Cash Flow ... from a Semi Truck?

Interested in growing a community and building a profitable blog around something you - and most other people - will inevitably go through? That’s exactly what Katie Emery did when she decided to stop dying her hair after 25 years and transition to natural gray hair. Kate had questions about the transition, but couldn’t find the answers she wanted online. In fact, the information she found was mostly negative. So, she decided to start her own blog, KatieGoesPlatinum.com, to provide comprehensive information about gray hair, and to show women that growing out their grays could be fun and empowering. In just two years Katie has grown her blog to an average of $6,000 a month in revenue. She’s also grown a passionate community and is helping other women go through the transition to natural gray hair. Ready to start a blog of your own? My free video course will help you get online quickly and affordably. Tune in to hear: how Katie started her blog and got it off the ground with no prior experience how she creates content that drives traffic the revenue streams bringing in an average of $6,000 per month Full Show Notes: $6k a Month Blogging About Gray Hair

Our annual Friendsgiving celebration has been put on pause this year, but one tradition lives on. This is year 3 of a special Thanksgiving Side Hustle Show episode showcasing creative side hustle ideas that make real money. If you like this format, I’d love for you to check out the first two in this series -- those are episodes 310 and 363 -- both are in the Top 10 all-time most popular episodes. Ready? Let's do it! Full Show Notes: 11 Creative Side Hustles That Make Real Money

Zero to 55k subscribers and $50k in revenue in 8 months? That’s exactly what Codie Sanchez with Contrarian Thinking, her newsletter about investing and entrepreneurship. Codie's a former journalist, turned institutional investor, turned online business owner.  I've thought about content businesses mostly in the context of blogging, podcasting, or video -- but what if email is your content channel? After all, the challenge that many other content channels face is "how to get people to join your list." Codie's model, in a true "contrarian" way, cuts out that middleman. This episode is sure to have you thinking a little differently about how you approach building an audience and building an online business. Tune in to hear: what you might create a newsletter about what makes newsletters such an interesting business model how Codie’s grown and monetized her's so far Full Show Notes: Zero to $50k: How to Grow and Monetize an Email Newsletter

What little purchases or changes have you made that had an outsized impact on your overall happiness? This is something of a sport in our house. Bryn and I kind of joke that we have this mission to optimize everything, whether that’s the: limited space in our house hours in the day money in the bank We've taken great joy in these incremental improvements. We often ask ourselves, “How can we make this 1% better?” If we can make those 1% improvements consistently over time, they start to compound and we’re way better off than when we started. I put the call out to several friends and listeners: What little life upgrade or optimization have you made recently -- with great results? Tune in to hear 21 little life upgrades -- the habits, products, or tools that don't cost a lot of time or money, but make a big impact. Full Show Notes: 21 Little Life Upgrades: Small Optimizations to Improve Your Days

We’re in the middle of a massive labor shift from employees to entrepreneurs. In this episode, I want to try and equip you with some skills, frameworks, and mindsets to help navigate that shift. If you want to make money online, there are a million ways to get it done, but it usually boils down to one thing: helping people. To help me walk through this stuff I’m joined by Austin L. Church. Austin’s a writer, brand consultant, and online entrepreneur. He’s been making his living online for the last 12 years, with some of the exact strategies we’re talking about today. Tune in to hear: how to identify your marketable skills how to land clients in a crowded marketplace the tips and tactics Austin has used to grow his business over the last 12 years Full Show Notes: Make Money Online: The Freelance Business Blueprint

Want to get started with an online business but don’t feel like you’re an expert in anything? Maybe you’ve started a business but you’re struggling to monetize it? A few short years ago, Shane Sams and his wife Jocelyn were school teachers. In their off-hours, they built several successful online businesses, including ElementaryLibrarian.com, which sold for over $1 million in 2017. Today they run FlippedLifestyle.com along with the Flipped Lifestyle podcast, to help others try and replicate the success they’ve had online, and specifically take advantage of the membership model. Tune in to hear: how to set up your membership site the right way why you might be closer than you think to getting your first paying members the payment tiers that work for Shane and his students how Shane and Jocelyn continue to grow their community year-over-year Full Show Notes: Minimum Viable Memberships: Build a Recurring Revenue Online Business

Josh Belk is a full-time college student, he works full-time in web design, and in what little spare time, he’s started a $6,000 a month mobile detailing business with his younger brother. This idea came about when Josh connected the dots between obsession and opportunity. On the obsession side, Josh would always see his brother out in the driveway cleaning his car. On the opportunity side, he received an email about business ideas anyone could start, and mobile car washing was one of them. He asked his brother if he wanted to team up to see if they could make some money cleaning cars -- and with that, Belk Mobile Detailing was born. Tune in to hear to the full podcast episode to hear how the pair: landed their first mobile detailing customers price their service stand out from the competition Full Show Notes: How a Couple College Students Started a $6000 a Month Side Hustle

How can you instill the skills and values of innovation and entrepreneurship in kids? And if you can teach it to kids, why can’t you teach it to grownups? This week I’m joined by Don Wettrick, an award-winning middle school, and high school teacher and the CEO and co-founder of StartEdUp, which has a mission to empower students and teachers to apply innovation and entrepreneurship in the classroom. He’s author of Pure Genius: Building a Culture of Innovation and Taking 20% Time to the Next Level, and also the host of the StartEd Up Podcast. Tune in to hear: how to get kids AND grownups excited about this stuff the rules Don uses for brainstorming his processes for turning problems into real solutions for real customers how those of us with young kids can encourage them to be producers not just consumers Full Show Notes: Raising Innovative and Entrepreneurial Kids: The Next Generation of Problem Solvers

$18k in 9 months ... from ONE YouTube video? And that's without even filming or putting your face on camera! Jon Corres identifies trending topics on YouTube and produces viral videos to ride that trend. Or at least videos he hopes will hit the algorithm just right. It's a numbers game -- not everything you publish will get traction. In fact, Jon said most of his videos don't even breakeven on their production costs right away. But when you have one that hits, it washes away all those expenses and more. When I spoke with Jon, he told me about one of his videos that had gone viral earlier in the year. This video quickly hit 1 million views in February, netting Jon $3,200 in ad revenue. That same video has carried on bringing in passive income. At the time of our call, it had made Jon more than $18,000 and received 8 million views. All from a short video that cost $80 to produce and comprises of short clips from other videos. Tune in to hear: how Jon comes up with ideas for his videos how he and his team create videos without filming any new content the types of videos most likely to go viral the math and metrics behind a successful viral video Full Show Notes: $10k a Month on YouTube - Without Filming or Being on Camera

It’s time to dive into the ol’ listener mailbag and answer a few questions in this week’s edition of The Side Hustle Show. I’ve had quite a few interesting questions come in since the last Q&A episode, and picked 20 to talk through in today’s show. Like this format? This is the 10th installment of “20 Questions” so feel free to go back and binge on the older ones too: 365: Market Saturation, Mind Mapping, Miracle Mornings, and More: 20 Questions, with Nick 346: The Con of the Side Hustle, Beanie Babies, Affiliate Marketing, and More: 20 Questions with Nick 320: Multiplying Money, Morning Routines, and $100k Side Hustles: 20 Questions with Nick 291: Email, Ebooks, Platforms, and Conferences: 20 Questions with Nick 271: Brilliant Blogging, Ruthless Productivity, and Guaranteed Success: 20 Questions with Nick 245: Network Marketing, Imposter Syndrome, My Side Hustle Mistakes, and More: 20 Questions with Nick 219: Growing Traffic, Monetization, List-Building, a Day in the Life, and More: 20 Questions with Nick 198: Blogging, Branding, Book Writing, and Finding the Right Side Hustle for You: 20 Questions with Nick 181: SEO, Affiliate Marketing, Self-Publishing, Udemy, and More: 20 Questions with Nick A common piece of advice you’ll hear is to take audience questions and turn them into content, so here’s a meta example of that in action. This episode covers side hustle ethics, the side hustles I'm most excited about right now, the best traffic drivers, and lots more. Enjoy! Full Show Notes: 20 Questions with Nick: The Side Hustles I'm Most Excited About Right Now, Side Hustle Ethics, Charging Your Friends, and More

"I allowed the business to coast and it's coasted wonderfully well," Nate Dodson explained. In this episode you'll hear about the power of an evergreen digital product that makes sales on autopilot. It's allowed Nate to shift his focus to some offline projects, including several real estate renovations. In Nate's first appearance on The Side Hustle Show (episode 314 in late 2018), he shared the simple sales funnel that ultimately earned over $1 million in total online course sales. Tune in to hear how Microgreens Farmer continues to make sales every week, how COVID has impacted Nate's business, and his plans for the future. Full Show Notes: $40k a Month in 15-20 Hours a Week  

How does a new blog get to $50k a month within 2 years?  It takes great content, a consistent SEO strategy, and building strong partnerships. When we last heard from Alex and Healy from FinvsFin.com in episode 367 at the very end of 2019, the site was earning around $20k a month in affiliate commissions. Just 9 months later, that's jumped to $50k! Tune in to hear what's changed and what's working today in terms of content, SEO, and affiliate partnerships. Full Show Notes: $50k a Month Online in 2 Years

When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail, right? Well, when you're a knife sharpener, every house is a potential customer! Matt Rowell was earning $250-500 a month when we caught up in episode 308 back in late 2018. Since then, he's grown to a consistent $1500 a month, working maybe an hour a day. Tune in to hear: The most important new marketing channel for Matt. How the pandemic has impacted his sales. How he's leveled up his skills to broaden his customer base. How new sharpeners can get started today. Full Show Notes: How Matt Tripled His Business

The mobile notary business is booming for Brian Schooley, a long-time Side Hustle Show listener. When we last caught up with Brian in mid-2018 (episode 286), he was earning $1500-2000 a month as a loan signing agent. In this "where are they now?" edition of the show, he shares how he's grown to $10k a month and quit his day job to focus on the notary gig full-time. Tune in to hear: when he felt comfortable quitting his job how the pandemic has impacted his business how he builds relationships with escrow officers Full Show Notes: $10k a Month Watching Ink Dry

$1000 a week cleaning backyards? Erica Krupin turned some earbuds at the start of the year with her fast-growing pet waste removal business.  Since we spoke, she's added another 50+ recurring weekly customers and expanded to a new location. Tune in to hear: What's working on social media today. How she's grown 50% in 9 months, in spite of a global pandemic. The software she's testing to manage her customers, team members, and jobs. Full Show Notes: 135 Recurring Weekly Customers

Want to scale back on your day job? Want to travel more, and spend more time with your family? That’s exactly what Stacy Gallego has been able to do thanks to her part-time flipping business. What’s cool is that this income stream was actually inspired by a former side hustle show guest, Rob “the flea market flipper” Stephenson, who we last heard from in episode 298. Stacy is one of Rob’s star students, and I’ve loved watching her share some of her sales results for quite a while. In just two years, Stacy has gone from flipping her first item to hitting $10,000 in sales in a month. The ability to find profit in your hometown is one I think is really valuable in recession-proofing your own income. If that appeals to you, I encourage to you check out Rob and his wife Melissa’s free training to learn more. Tune in to hear: how Stacy sources profitable inventory how she deals with the logistics of shipping huge items which items/categories are selling best her advice for new flippers to start making money Full Show Notes: $4000 a Month in Flipping Profits

We all live by a set of unwritten "money rules." These guide the decisions we make on how we spend, save, earn, and invest. But are your rules really serving you? In this episode, we’re looking at 10 "unconventional" money rules. These are suggestions that hopefully spark some introspection and conversation. Because the "conventional" wisdom clearly isn't working for a whole lot of people! To help me talk through these is Rich Jones. He’s the host of the award-winning Paychecks and Balances podcast, which is all about helping you navigate your finances and career. Rich is a frequent speaker at both podcasting and personal finance events. More impressively, he’s done it all on the side from his day job. Tune in to hear why: your best side hustle might be your day job all dollars earned are not equal the “best” financial advice might not be right for you All that, and more "unconventional" financial wisdom coming at you! Full Show Notes: 10 Unconventional Money Rules

Build your email list! Get your first 100, 1,000, 10,000 subscribers. “The money’s in the list,” right? That's the chorus of advice you hear from all the marketing experts. But what do you send someone after they join your list? That’s what we’re diving into in this episode with Daniel Throssell of PersuasivePage.com. Daniel is a copywriter and has been called “The best marketer in Australia” by a prominent client of his. His journey started as a side hustle while working 12-hour shifts as an electrical engineer. Daniel started using any spare time he had and a special way of writing proposals - and landed high paying jobs from week 1. It wasn’t long before he was charging $200/hr and up, working with the bestselling author in Australia, and he now has his own audience he writes emails to daily. Tune in to hear: how to come up with the best lead magnet for your target audience how to get people to sign up for your email list the 3 kinds of emails you’ll send after someone does sign up the 3-part email structure that can work in just about any niche Full Show Notes: Email Marketing Tips from Australia's Best Marketer

This week I’m excited to share a unique side hustle that’s turning hobbies into profits, through what I’m calling “local” e-commerce. This is a story of building a following for homemade or handmade products -- without shipping anything, without advertising, and without relying on 3rd party marketplaces like Amazon or Etsy for exposure. We’re going to explore this through the lens of So Here’s the Dough, a local cottage kitchen cookie operation run by a friend of mine here in Livermore, Jenn Fei. Jenn is an attorney and real estate broker by trade, but those professions have now become the side hustles to her thriving cookie business. Tune in to hear: when it's time to turn your hobby into a business how to grow a loyal and hungry (pun intended) following for your products how to consistently generate new product ideas other growth ideas for artisan products Full Show Notes: "Local" E-Commerce: Building a Following for Homemade Products

Create a design. Upload it to a store. Earn passive royalties whenever it sells. That’s the passive income dream, and that’s the premise behind the Merch by Amazon and print-on-demand side hustles. But does it really still work? To find out, I invited Michael Essek on to the Side Hustle Show. Michael has been designing and selling t-shirts online since 2013, and he’s seen how the market has changed over the years. For the past 4-5 years, Michael's earned $100,000+ licensing and selling his designs, so he has his finger on the pulse of what’s working right now. Tune in to hear: how you can get started selling merch online -- even if you don’t have design skills how to come up with product ideas -- without being a copycat some interesting ways to level up your merch business as a gateway to bigger opportunities Full Show Notes: Merch by Amazon and Print on Demand in 2020 and Beyond

We’re all dealt 24 hours a day. I believe how you spend that time, or maybe rather how you invest it, should give you some sort of return. That could be a monetary return, sure. But it could also be a return in personal satisfaction or impact on others. Today, I want to introduce a productivity framework I’m calling The Productivity Pyramid. Like most frameworks, it’s a work in progress, but here’s how it shapes up: Vision / Goals Projects Tasks Tools and Tactics Full Show Notes: The Productivity Pyramid: A Simple Framework to Make Real Progress

Starting a business doesn't have to be expensive -- in fact, low startup cost business ideas are everywhere. Just last week, Nate and Alysha Jackson explained how they started their Amazon retail arbitrage business with just $100 -- and had since grown to over $1 million in total sales. Inspired by their story, along with a couple of threads in the Side Hustle Nation Facebook group that asked for some real-life low startup cost business ideas, I put together this episode. Stick around to hear how several Side Hustle Nation members got their business off the ground on the cheap. In most cases, you don’t need outside capital to get started. Instead, my hope is you’ll use these stories as inspiration to start lean and start now. Full Show Notes: Low Startup Cost Business Ideas from Side Hustle Nation

“It was costing me money to go to my job,” Nate told me. That was just a year after Nate and Alysha Jackson started their Amazon FBA retail arbitrage business -- with just a $100 investment. Since then, the former public school teachers have sold over $1 million worth of products on Amazon! Amazon FBA retail arbitrage is the art of buying low locally and online, and reselling for a profit on Amazon. After hearing about the opportunity on Side Hustle Nation, they turned that $100 in initial inventory into more than $180,000 in total sales in 12 months. It didn't take much longer than that before they both quit their jobs to focus on the Amazon business and their growing family. Tune in to hear: the product categories Nate and Alysha like for new sellers (interestingly enough, they’re known as the bra flipping couple in FBA circles). where they source profitable inventory. tools of the trade to scale up your reselling business. Full Show Notes: From $100 to 7-Figures: Amazon FBA Retail Arbitrage Case Study

If you want to start an online business, you’re probably going to need to build a website. But could you shortcut the process by just buying one that’s already working? In this episode, which is the fourth and final episode of our Showdown series this month, we’re comparing two ways you operate a revenue-generating website; building your own site vs buying an established website. For this debate, I’ve got a couple of powerhouse guests: Mark Webster from AuthorityHacker.com and the Authority Hacker podcast, one of my favorite resources for all things SEO and affiliate marketing. He’ll be representing the build side of this conversation. Dom Wells from Onfolio.co is on the buy side. Onfolio, among other things, has a management service for website investors. He’s been in the website building, buying, and monetizing space for years. There are pros and cons to both starting and buying websites. But, as you’ll hear discussed, there are some key differences between each method and might help you lean one way or the other. Tune in to hear both Mark and Dom discuss the different strategies behind: Getting started Finding a site to buy Quick wins and monetization Marketing Pros and cons of each model And more These guys both have a lot of experience in building and buying websites. By the end of this one, you’ll have a good idea which path is best for you. Full Show Notes: Build a Website or Buy One that's Already Working?

A service business is one of the fastest side hustles to get off the ground, and you can scale it by hiring other people to deliver the work. But is there an advantage to staying a solo operator? In this Side Hustle Showdown we're looking at freelancing vs. building an agency. For this debate, I invited a couple members of The Side Hustle Nation community who both run cleaning companies: Chris Schwab from ThinkMaids.com represented the agency side. We last heard from Chris in episode 294, where he talked about how he’d built his cleaning business to $60k a month in revenue, and scaled back his own involvement to just 10 minutes a day. Ken Carfango from SoloCleaningSchool.com represented the solo freelance side. Ken’s a former engineer and a father of 5 who’s got his cleaning business dialed in where he can knock out the work himself in just a couple days, and enjoy 5-day weekends with his family. Tune in to hear both Chris and Ken discuss which business model is best for: Getting started Finding new clients Scaling Start-up costs How to exit And more If you’re trying to decide which path you want to take, stick around to learn how to avoid the dreaded “valley of despair” that often afflicts service businesses, and how to get started on the right foot. Full Show Notes: Should I Start a Freelance Business or Build an Agency?

In the e-commerce space, selling private label products on Amazon has been a popular side hustle for the last several years. But is it still the best way to go? Or is there a lower risk, higher reward way to turn your ideas into profits? In this episode, which is the second episode of our Showdown series this month, we’re comparing two ways you can capitalize on opportunities in the market; selling private label products and product licensing. For this debate, I’ve sourced two guests who have appeared on the Side Hustle Show before: Greg Mercer of JungleScout.com, creator of the popular Jungle Scout product research and amazon analytics software. We last from Greg on episode 263, when he talked about how to find your first Amazon FBA private label product. (Try Jungle Scout for half off your first month with my referral link.) Stephen Key of, InventRight.com and author of the One Simple Idea: Turn Your Dreams into a Licensing Goldmine While Letting Others Do the Work. We last heard from Stephen on episode 113, when he talked about how you can turn your ideas into recurring revenue. Both business models allow you to exercise our creative muscles. But, as you’ll find out, each model is suited to a different personality type and has a different balance of risk and reward. Tune in to hear both Greg and Stephen dig into the different strategies behind: Getting started Marketing and discoverability Start-up costs Beating the competition Monetization And more There is some interesting insight into these business models. By the end of the episode, you’ll have a clearer idea of which business model is best for you. Full Show Notes: Private Label vs. Product Licensing: Which is the Better Side Hustle?

Creating content online can be a super-effective way to build an audience and ultimately to make money. If you’re just starting out or trying to grow your business, you might be wondering what type of content makes the most sense to create. In this episode, we’re going to compare and contrast two of the most popular content channels going today: podcasting and YouTube. This is actually the first of several friendly debate-style episodes this month I’m calling the Side Hustle Showdown series. For each debate, I tried to source guests in a similar niche so they could best speak each other’s language. To fire shots over the pros and cons of starting an online business with podcasts or YouTube, I enlisted the help of: Podcaster Jonathan Mendonsa, co-host of ChooseFI, a personal finance show. We last heard from Jonathan in episode 287, where he talked about how his show took off and how he was able to quit his job just 10 months in. YouTuber Marko Zlatic, who started his personal finance channel Whiteboard Finance as a side hustle also in 2017. Since then he's amassed 370k subscribers and quit his job to produce videos full-time. Tune in to hear both Marko and Jonathan go back and forward discussing which of the platforms are best for: Marketing and discoverability Content production Monetization Start-up costs And more This is a fun one, and by the end, you’ll have an idea which platform is going to be best for your business. Full Show Notes: Podcasting vs. YouTube for Building an Online Business

Businesses evolve over time, but I don’t think anyone could have prepared for the pace of change this year. To gauge how some of you have been handling everything the pandemic has thrown at you, I reached out to Side Hustle Nation and asked what pivots and changes you’ve been making in your business over the last few months. What I got back were some interesting and innovative ways some business owners and side hustlers have found to actually grow their businesses during the pandemic. Here’s a look at some of the hardest hit industries, and some of the ways business owners have been pivoting and adapting. Full Show Notes: Pandemic Pivots: How Entrepreneurs are Adapting to "Obliteration"

In honor of father’s day, I wanted to share some of the best advice I’ve received from my dad over the years, and how we can all work to apply it in life and in business. For the sake of background, dad is a chemical engineer — he spent decades of his career at one company — but still had lots of entrepreneurial experiences and insights along the way. The funny thing is almost all of these were very literal conversations, which I’ve extrapolated out (30 years later!) to have a broader meaning. And as I think about the kind of advice I want to be passing along to my own kids, I think these kinds of concrete illustrations may be a really effective way to do it. Especially if they turn out to be the over-analyzing types like me! Full Show Notes: Best Dad Advice: 10 Life and Business Lessons from Dad

At the end of nearly every episode of The Side Hustle Show, I ask my guests for their "#1 tip for Side Hustle Nation." There’s always a great variety of responses, and I wanted to take some time today to go through some of my favorites from the past 50-ish interviews. This has become an annual tradition on the show, and we just passed 7 years and 12 million downloads! If you like this short-and-sweet meta-style show, be sure to check out the others in this series: Episode 50 Episode 124 Episode 177 Episode 236 Episode 288 Episode 338 Full Show Notes: What I've Learned and Applied from 49 Awesome Entrepreneurs - Part 7

How did a butcher shop's side project turn into "the best snacks in the world" -- and $500,000 in sales in their first year? And more importantly, could you apply the same strategies to help local businesses take their products online? This story features Dustin Reichmann, a long-time Side Hustle Show listener. He has a blog called EngagedMarriage.com, and with the online marketing skills learned there, started a new consulting business to help other businesses build their online presence. One of his clients was a local butcher shop. Impressed by one of their products--a higher-end, clean-ingredient meat stick--Dustin felt there was an opportunity to reach a lot more customers online. So, he made Ryan -- the owner of the butcher shop -- a low-risk offer to partner and launch the product online. What followed was a series of wins across multiple marketing channels and through a number of innovative promotional tactics. Tune in to hear: How Dustin approached Ryan with a win-win partnership. The marketing channels and techniques they used to sell more than $500,000 worth of FireCreek snacks in their first year. How they got their product into 50+ Walmart stores. And how anyone can apply the same online and offline marketing strategies into their own business. Full Show Notes: Taking Local Businesses Online: $500k in Sales in Year 1  

How does a YouTube channel with less than 300 subscribers generate 6-figures a year? In Joshua Lisec's case, he does it by answering targeted questions, and selling high-value services to those viewers. Joshua is an award-winning, celebrity-recommended, #1 international bestselling Certified Professional Ghostwriter. He’s also a TEDx speaker, a novelist, and has ghostwritten over 45 books for entrepreneurs, executives, and public figures. Over the last few years, Joshua's freelance work has gone from $1.67 an hour on his first writing project, to over $500,000 a year! (Long-time listeners might remember him; Joshua appeared on episode 201 in late 2016. In that classic Side Hustle Show episode, we talked through the OPA strategy -- tapping into Other People's Audiences -- to sell your services.) In this episode, we're diving into another innovative marketing strategy involving YouTube. It's one you can apply to your own business right away. Tune in to hear Joshua explain: How he’s generating high value leads on YouTube with less than 300 subscribers The tools and techniques he’s using to optimize his YouTube videos to rank well How he bundled individual low paying freelance gigs for a high-value service Full Show Notes: YouTube for Freelancers: The Surprising 6-Figure Strategy

Liam Austin made $50k off his first online event, and hasn't looked back. Since then, Liam has hosted another 17 virtual summits and online business networking events. In total, these events have brought together more than 400 speakers and 100,000 business owners. Virtual summits allow you to connect with industry leaders and influencers in your niche while growing your own audience. Hosting a virtual summit sounds pretty straightforward: interview a bunch of influential people in your niche collect registrations of people who want to watch those interviews sell access to the recordings after they expire But the virtual summit model has a lot of nuance and strategy, and behind-the-scenes action that all has to come together to make it a hit. That's why I invited Liam on the show. If you’re looking for ways to grow your business and make meaningful connections within your industry, this episode lays out that blueprint for you. Tune in to hear Liam talk through: The core benefits of hosting a virtual summit How he made $50k from his first summit and learned some valuable lessons What it’s going to take to create your own virtual summit in your industry And more Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Host a Successful Virtual Summit for Influence, Impact, and Income

Are you stuck with the idea that you don’t have the skills to start a side hustle? Today’s guest, Chris Misterek of SelfMadeWebDesigner.com didn’t let that hold him back. He went from being in a tight spot personally and financially, to bringing in an average of $3k a month on the side through his new web design business. With no previous experience with web design, Chris decided to start at the ground up by working through some free online courses. Within a few months, he was introducing himself as a web designer, and within 18 months he was earning double his day job salary on the side! Tune in to this episode to hear Chris explain how he: Picked up this new skillset on the cheap Found his first clients Marketed and grew his business Recommends you replicate this across any number of industries Full Show Notes: From “No Skills” to $3k a Month on the Side

$15,000 a month for 30 minutes of work? The passive income dream is real for Dustin Heiner. Dustin achieved this by following a systematic approach to buying homes and renting them out. He started with his first property back in 2006. Within 6 years he had 19 properties, and within 9 years he had 26 properties and had retired from his day job at the age of 37. Today he has more than 30 properties bringing in (mostly) passive income supporting him and his family. Dustin is a serial side hustler, but once he realized the benefit of getting paid over and over again for work he did once – he doubled down on real estate. Tune in to hear Dustin talk through: His approach to property sourcing The 6 ways he makes money with rental properties How he’s been able to grow his portfolio so quickly His advice for those looking to replicate his success Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Retiring Early with Real Estate: $15k a Month in Passive Cash Flow

Side Hustle Show listener Kate Johnson started her bookkeeping business in 2017, and now serves several recurring clients. She targets an effective rate of $70 an hour, and is able to work from home. With her youngest starting preschool, Kate found herself with an extra 9 hours a week. "I wanted to be a good steward of that time," she explained. Tune in to this episode to hear Kate explain: Why she decided to start working as a virtual bookkeeper How she landed her first clients How she’s grown her client base with little marketing The surprising new side hustle this work has spun off Full Show Notes: $70 an Hour from Home as a Remote Bookkeeper

Is trading stocks a legit way to make money from home? Or is it just another get-rich-quick-scheme? Admittedly, I’ve always kind of looked at stock trading as a glorified form of gambling. And to be sure, there are risks involved. In this episode, Teri Ijeoma does a good job of convincing me there really is an art and a science to it -- and that it is a winnable game. Teri is a former assistant principal at an elementary school, who turned her stock trading side hustle into a full-time income. To replace her day job salary, the MIT grad set herself a goal of making $300 a day. By trading stocks before school started and during her lunch break, she was hitting that goal in about a year. Today, Teri’s on a Million Dollar a Day mission -- that is, to help 1,000 people start making $1,000 a day trading stocks through her online course. Tune in to hear: Teri’s trading criteria Her advice for new traders Why small players like you and me may have an advantage over billion-dollar hedge funds and Wall Street quants Where and how you can get started trading today Full Show Notes: $1000 a Day Trading Stocks From Home?

Reports of email's death are greatly exaggerated. Andrew Allemann has gone from zero to up to $10,000 a month in just 3 years with a low overhead side hustle: An email newsletter and an online directory that helps connect podcasters with guests. Finding it difficult to find guests for his own podcast, he wanted to create a solution that would not only help himself, but the greater podcasting community as well. It’s a business model I’m excited about right now, and Andrew is proof that if you provide value through email, people are willing to pay for it. Tune in to hear why Andrew decided to start a newsletter and an online directory, how he’s grown his audience to more than 19,000 subscribers and 500 paying directory members in 3 years, and how he’s turned this into a profitable business. Full Show Notes: From Zero to $10,000 a Month with a Niche Newsletter and Directory

Would 10 new clients solve all your business worries? That was the position Helen Pritchard was in back in 2008. On the back of a financial and personal crisis, Helen needed 10 clients paying £250 each to pay her bills. She turned to LinkedIn to find those clients, and it didn’t take her long. Since then, Helen has pivoted her business and now teaches other people how to get clients and grow their business using LinkedIn. In fact, I found out about Helen through a listener of the show: I do not work for Helen. Nor do I do her PR. I just want to nominate her because she changed my life. Thanks to her, I have filled my client roster and have more money coming in as an entrepreneur than I ever did working for someone else. That’s an awesome testimonial for Helen, and solid proof that her methods work. If your goal is to leave your job in the near future, you don’t want to miss this one. What Helen teaches is probably the fastest way to start your own business with the least upfront expense. Tune in to hear Helen talk through: the processes she teaches students on her LinkedIn mastermind how to set up your LinkedIn profile as a landing page that converts how to connect with potential clients and more Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: LinkedIn Lead Generation: How to Attract Your Ideal Clients on LinkedIn

Chris Guillebeau is a tremendous advocate for the lower risk brand of entrepreneurship we cover on the show. He’s the bestselling author of several books including, The $100 Startup, Side Hustle, and The Art of Non-Conformity. On top of that, he’s hosted over 1,100 episodes of The Side Hustle School podcast. His latest project is The Money Tree: A Story About Finding the Fortune in Your Own Backyard. I've been a fan of Chris' work for years, so it was about time we had a meeting of the side hustle minds! Tune in to this episode to hear Chris’ take on: How you can come up with side hustle ideas What actions you should take next What may be coming down the road in the world of side hustles. Full Show Notes: Going to Side Hustle School with Chris Guillebeau: Planting Your Money Tree

Are you struggling to get traction with your blog? Are you concerned your niche is too competitive or you’re starting too late? If so, you’re going to come away from this episode with loads of actionable tips to put those questions to the side. “I have learned, it is never literally too late to ever start anything,” today’s guest Jennifer Marx from JenniferMaker.com told me. Jennifer has taken her DIY/crafting site from a part-time hobby blog earning $33/mo to bringing in more than 6-figures every month in just a few years. She knows a thing or two about entering a competitive niche, finding, and cultivating an audience. First, she mastered Pinterest, then Facebook, and just over a year ago she entered YouTube and already has an audience of more than 225k subscribers! Dominating a source of traffic and growing an audience is something Jennifer excels at, and in the blogging world, there’s huge profit in doing so. Tune in to hear how Jennifer found her initial traction in a competitive niche, what’s driving traffic for her today, how her site makes money, and how she’s built an email list that’s almost the population of Cleveland! Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Grow a Blog to 6 Figures a Month with Jennifer Maker

Do you enjoy hunting for bargains that you can buy low and sell high? Charlie William does, and his book flipping business is proof that this business model still works. He’s become a master deal-hunter, selling more than $9,000 worth of used books last month on Amazon.  The best part? Anyone with access to thrift stores, yard sales, and local charity shops can get started with this side hustle for just a few bucks a month. I connected with Charlie through the Side Hustle Nation Facebook Group and invited him on the show to learn more about the book-flipping business. Tune in to hear: How Charlie got started flipping books. The tools and software he uses to run his business. Where he sources profitable inventory. What it takes to make this side hustle profitable and successful. Full Show Notes: Flipping Books for Profit: How to Make $4000 a Month Selling Used Books

Tough times don’t last, but tough people do. As you know, one of the core themes of Side Hustle Nation is to control what you can control, even when the world seems to be spinning out of it. I’m still wrapping my head around what the coronavirus outbreak means for all of us. I mean, we’ve never been through a global pandemic before! We’re all learning as we go. But at this point, it feels weird NOT to address the issue, so here goes. In this episode, I'll attempt to cover: Why I think this is a temporary setback, and how science says we can make that prediction come true How to stay sane while working at home Businesses that are positioned to thrive in this environment and on the other side Some awesome free resources to help if you’re hurting right now

Do you want to generate more leads for your business? Are you struggling to turn prospects into paying customers? If you’re saying “yes” to either of those questions, you’re going to get tonnes of value out of this episode. I invited Kai Davis of KaiDavis.com and DoubleYourEcommerce.com back onto the show as he’s a pro when it comes to this stuff. (Kai was actually guest #4 on The Side Hustle Show way back in 2013, he also had an encore performance a year later in episode 59.) This time around, Kai walks us through the 3 levers that anyone can use to grow their business: Find new customers Get referrals from existing customers or your network Sell more to existing customers With a little creativity and tenacity, you can begin to implement his strategies right away. Tune in to hear the techniques Kai is using to generate more leads for his business, how he’s turning these prospects into sales and profit, and the 3 specific actions anyone can use to generate leads for their own business. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: 3 Ways to Get More Leads for Your Business

Melissa Fassel Dunn has built a thriving - and profitable - online community serving residents in her small town. The interesting part is that she didn't start her Facebook group or website with the goal of making money. She did so to solve a pain point she was experiencing finding information about services in her town of Milton, a suburb of Boston. “I needed information about kindergarten, I needed information about a plumber, an electrician, and I felt like there wasn’t a go-to place for any of that. “So, I thought, I’m going to start a group, I’m going to add some of my friends and we can exchange information with one another,” Melissa told me. She started Milton Neighbors, a Facebook group for residents of Milton to share information and recommend local services. That was in 2013, today the group has more than 11,000 members and is almost a 6-figure business. Tune in to hear how Melissa built up her group, how she keeps people engaged, her monetization methods, and how you can replicate her model with a Facebook group of your own in just about any niche. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Facebook Groups: Grow and Monetize a Community Around Something You Care About

From personal pain point to a 7-figure payday! That’s what Donald Spann did when he started -- and eventually sold -- his virtual receptionist company, Vicky Virtual. Donald took a personal pain point of his -- handling incoming phone calls in his cleaning business -- and built out a fully remote virtual call center. Tune in to hear how he found his first clients, what worked in terms of marketing and sales, and how you can apply some of the same strategies to a business of your own. Full Show Notes: How to Start Virtual Call Center: From Idea to 7-Figure Exit

What would it take to make the 4-Hour Workweek a reality? Since we last caught up, this stay-at-home-mom blogger has been on a mission to automate and simplify her business. Yes, by request, Rosemarie Groner from BusyBudgeter.com is back for a 4th round on the podcast! If you are just joining us, let me catch you up on the backstory... In her past life as a state trooper and home daycare operator, Rosemarie made an incredible transformation in her own household’s finances -- reducing expenses and paying off debt. She shared her winning money strategies on a blog for “chronically disorganized” moms.  Within her first year, she was making $5k a month, mostly from ad income. A year after that, $20-25k, mostly from affiliates and her own email list. And a year after that, she’d even touched the 6-figures a month mark by creating her own products. Tune in to hear how Rosemarie: Turned her best content into a 2-year automated email sequence. Fine-tuned that sequence to earn affiliate commissions and sell her products. Drives traffic today. Decided to cut off a profitable segment of her audience. Full Show Notes: Audience Engagement, Affiliate Sales, and Automated Product Funnels

Can you build a new income stream on your lunch break? This week's guest says yes, and shares how. In this episode, I’m joined by Mike Zima from ZimaMedia.com -- a full-service digital marketing agency that got its start with a single $5 sale on Fiverr. It’s been a while since we talked about Fiverr, but the way today’s guest has used the platform to start and grow his freelance business is an eye-opener. Mike’s claim to fame: He’s the only Fiverr seller who’s mentioned in Fiverr’s IPO pitch deck. But it all started with one $5 order. He’s now doing thousands of dollars a month, perhaps tens of thousands of dollars a month in Fiverr sales. Tune in to hear what’s working on Fiverr today, Mike’s “rapid gig prototyping" strategy to test out new offers, and how to wean your reliance off of Fiverr while building your agency. Full Show Notes: Rapid Side Hustle Prototyping: A New Income Stream on Your Lunch Break?

Are you operating online fully compliant with GDPR and CCPA regulations? Do you have the right type of liability insurance to cover you should the worst case happen? If you’re unsure about any of the legal stuff surrounding you, your business, or side hustle, it should be a lot clearer by the end of this episode. This is because Mariam Tsaturyan from FreelanceandMarketing.com has graciously agreed to do some legal listener Q&A for us in today’s show. She’s a licensed and practicing attorney, who helps bloggers and online business owners navigate the often-murky waters of legal regulations and compliance. Tune in as we tackle some of the big topics like entity selection, GDPR, and liability insurance. Then we'll dive into some specific questions from the Side Hustle Nation FB group. Full Show Notes: Side Hustle Legal Q&A with Mariam Tsaturyan

Do you know how much cash flows through your hometown on a monthly basis? In this episode we explore how to get some of that cash flowing toward you! I'm joined by Nick Huber, co-founder of Storage Squad and host of The Sweaty Startup podcast. Storage Squad, a student storage service, has grown to over $3M in sales since starting it as a little part-time project back in 2011. I invited Nick on The Side Hustle Show to help walk us through his "sweaty startup" framework. That is, how you can start a low-risk, low-overhead, local, service-based business, set it up for success, and let that be the vehicle that drives you away from a lifetime of cubicle slavery. Tune in to hear Nick’s thoughts on generating service business ideas you could start today, evaluating the market and competition, and scoring your first customers. That’s why I think this is pretty exciting -- it really doesn’t take many customers to begin to make a meaningful income here. Full Show Notes: The Sweaty Startup: How to Start a Local Service Business

Early last summer I joined Teachable’s “Creator Challenge.” The premise was to research, create, and launch an online course over the next three months. On top of that, Teachable provided expert support, a community of fellow instructors, and a little friendly competition. People have been asking me about creating an online course for years — but since I tend to work better with a deadline, I jumped in on the challenge.

Creating your own website can definitely be a great side hustle–if you take the time to monetize it. But the problem is that many people who create websites have no clue how to actually make money with them. When this happens, your website becomes a liability. You’re sinking precious time and money into something that isn’t giving you a return. However, it’s entirely possible to prevent that from happening or to fix the problem if it has already started. You just need to know how to use your website to generate income, and in this article, I’m going to show you how. Let’s look at 15 great ways you can monetize your website and turn it into a proper revenue-generating machine. Full Show Notes: 15 Ways to Monetize a Website

As we turn the calendar on a new decade, I thought I'd reflect back on the last 10 years. To paint the picture of where the 2010s started for me, I was: coming off a great year in business, and had high hopes for the future about to get married blogging at nickloper.com, on a bunch of random topics $150k underwater in our house, which was a huge source of stress Let's see what happened next! Full Show Notes: Decade in Review: My Most Important Moments and Lessons from the 2010s

Rob brought in $40k last year hosting tours in of Washington, D.C. -- all on the side from his day job, and with no marketing budget. However, if you Google “Washington, D.C tour guide”, Rob Pitingolo's TripHacksDC.com is nowhere to be seen. So what's secret sauce? He’s been creating helpful tourist-friendly content on YouTube, and outlet largely ignored by his better-funded competitors. His channel has had more than 1.4 million views to date, and he’s funneling those viewers to his site where they can sign up for a tour. In fact, his channel has grown so much that he’s partnered with YouTube and ad revenue from his videos has become another income stream for his business. Tune in to hear how Rob has grown his business into a fun and cash-flowing side hustle, how he leverages YouTube to reach his target customers rather than traditional tour marketplaces, and how he’s growing the business beyond just himself giving tours. Full Show Notes: How to Market a Local Business on YouTube: $40k on the Side

How do you start a side hustle? Well we can talk about side hustle ideas and marketing tactics until we're blue in the face, but in studying my catalog of past interviews, a few common traits popped up over and over again. I've compiled those into this 7-step guide to starting a side hustle. Whether you’re an established business owner, or you’re just starting out, I think you’ll find this a helpful framework for your projects. It'll also help you identify where you have the biggest opportunities for improvement this year. Full Show Notes: 7 Key Steps to Start and Grow Side Hustle

Is there gold in your backyard? Or, more accurately ... dog poop? Erica Krupin found $1000 a week in hers, with a side hustle that can easily be replicated in your local area. Erica started Kroopin’s Poopin Scoopin, a pet waste removal business in her spare time, and now has more than 80 recurring weekly customers. With an average price of $15 per customer per week, that’s over $1,000 a week, picking up dog poop. Sometimes it’s the simplest businesses that are the fastest to get started and see some results. Erica just left her day job to pursue this full-time, and with the plans she has in place, it looks like her business is set to continue growing. Tune in to hear how she landed her first customers and markets this business, how she prices the service, and how she delivers on her promises. Full Show Notes: How to Start a Pet Waste Removal Business: $50 an Hour Part-Time

Helping people make decisions is a big business! In fact, these two Side Hustle Show listeners started a website to do just that, and it's now bringing in $17-20k a month. Oh, and the project is only a little over a year old. Alex Goldberg and Healy Jones run a site called FinvsFin.com, which focuses on reviews and comparisons of direct to consumer brands. They earn money as affiliates -- basically earning a commission on sales that are referred through the site. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Affiliate Marketing Case Study: Zero to $20k/month in a Year Ready to Start a Site of Your Own? My free video series will help you get online quickly and affordably. FinvsFin is an example of what I’ll call the modern comparison shopping site -- helping readers make decisions and getting paid for it. And since comparison shopping was my original side hustle over a decade ago, this was especially fun to dive into. The impressive part is that this is still very much a side hustle. Both Alex and Healy have full-time jobs, and their business falls under the “passive income" business model. Tune in to hear how Alex and Healy prioritize and create their content, what they’re doing to market the site and drive traffic, and how you can borrow some of their same strategies in your own niche.

Etsy is no longer just the marketplace of handmade crafts! Yes, you can sell digital products like printables and even drop ship physical goods without ever touching your inventory. We haven’t really discussed Etsy in detail for a while. But I thought it was time to take a closer look at this platform again, as it’s seen tremendous growth in recent years. Opening the doors for you to create your own passive products -- both through digital downloads and drop shipping physical products. In fact, since 2015, the number of Etsy buyers has more than doubled -- far outpacing the growth of Etsy sellers. So, if you are currently selling online or have an idea in the pipeline, you’d be crazy to ignore the potential Etsy holds as a "Buy Buttons" platform. Melissa MacDonald is a long-time Etsy seller who now focuses her efforts on Etsy marketing and optimization for other shop owners. Tune in to hear Melissa’s process for coming up with new passive income product ideas, her favorite tools for running a hands-off Etsy shop, and how to optimize your listings for conversion and sales. Full Show Notes: Drop Shipping and Digital Products on Etsy

It’s time to dive into the ol’ listener mailbag and answer a few questions in this week’s edition of The Side Hustle Show. I’ve had quite a few interesting questions come in since the last Q&A episode, and picked 20 to talk through in today’s show. Like this format? This is the 9th installment of “20 Questions” so feel free to go back and binge on the older ones too: 346: The Con of the Side Hustle, Beanie Babies, Affiliate Marketing, and More: 20 Questions with Nick 320: Multiplying Money, Morning Routines, and $100k Side Hustles: 20 Questions with Nick 291: Email, Ebooks, Platforms, and Conferences: 20 Questions with Nick 271: Brilliant Blogging, Ruthless Productivity, and Guaranteed Success: 20 Questions with Nick 245: Network Marketing, Imposter Syndrome, My Side Hustle Mistakes, and More: 20 Questions with Nick 219: Growing Traffic, Monetization, List-Building, a Day in the Life, and More: 20 Questions with Nick 198: Blogging, Branding, Book Writing, and Finding the Right Side Hustle for You: 20 Questions with Nick 181: SEO, Affiliate Marketing, Self-Publishing, Udemy, and More: 20 Questions with Nick A common piece of advice you’ll hear is to take audience questions and turn them into content, so here’s a meta example of that in action. This episode covers market saturation, getting up earlier, mapping out content, and lots more. Enjoy! Full Show Notes: Market Saturation, Mind Mapping, Miracle Mornings, and More: 20 Questions with Nick

Looking for a part-time side hustle where you get can your inventory for free and there are almost no startup costs? This week, I’m excited to introduce the side hustle of public domain publishing. This is the art and science of republishing classic literature - where the copyrights have expired - and earning passive royalties when your version sells. Because these works are so old, they’re available online for free - but many Amazon shoppers and Kindle owners will pay to have them delivered straight to their device. I think any business where you can get your inventory for free is pretty compelling! Since 2013, Aaron Kerr has pocketed over $110k in royalties through this very part-time side hustle. You can see all his public domain projects over at TimelessReads.com. Tune in to hear how this business model works, Aaron’s advice on what to publish and how to get past Amazon’s gatekeepers, and how to differentiate your public domain books from everything else out there. Full Show Notes: Public Domain Publishing: $100,000 Selling Classic Books on Amazon

This week’s show is a re-take on last year’s Thanksgiving episode on 10 Creative Side Hustles that Make Real Money. That show was a hit, so I’m returning to that format for another round. Some of these will you have kicking yourself not thinking of it yourself, and some of these are 6-figure businesses you could literally start tomorrow. Here are the 10 creative side hustles I cover in this episode: The 7-Figure Lemonade Stand The World's Most Boring Podcast Local Dog Poop Pick-Up The 6-Figure Dog Walking Business The 7-Figure Email Newsletter Business The Ambient Noise Alexa Skill Big Bat Houses The Niche Service Provider Directory The Niche Productized Service In-Person Classes Enjoy! Full Show Notes: 10 Creative Side Hustles That Make Real Money - Part 2

Can you really get paid to answer questions? That’s exactly what Debbie Gartner from TheFlooringGirl.com does - and her answers are earning her $20,000 a month. Debbie used to run a local hardwood flooring consultation business. She’d estimate jobs, make recommendations, and match homeowners with reliable installers. In her spare time, she started her blog with the goal of showing up in some local search results to generate some more business. “I wrote blog posts that were questions that my customers would have,” Debbie told me. But as you might have guessed, the site soon started to reach an audience well outside her local area. A couple of years later Debbie got out of the brick and mortar flooring business and decided to monetize her blog. She was already pulling in more than 100,000 visitors and by simply turning on ads she made $1,100 in her first month. From there she continued to grow her traffic numbers, added affiliate posts, created her own products, and is now making more than $20,000 a month. Tune in to hear how Debbie is driving traffic, how her site earns money, and how you may be able to replicate some of Debbie’s tactics in your own niche. Note: If you don't have a blog of your own yet, my free video series will show you how to get up and running quickly and affordably. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Get Paid to Answer Questions: How I Make $20,000 a Month Online

Would you trade $200 for $4,000? That’s exactly what today’s guest, Josh Elledge is doing. Josh runs a kind of modern PR service for small businesses and has developed a unique and innovative way to break through the marketing clutter and have real conversations with real prospects -- and do it at scale. He’s found a way to create what he calls “a speed dating environment.” That's his metaphor for the revolving door of new prospects he’s interviewing and selling his services to. To do this, Josh has created a podcast called The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. It serves as a platform for business owners to talk about their businesses, and for Josh to demonstrate to them how he can improve their visibility. It’s a win-win, and with streamlined processes in place, Josh is seeing a return of around $4,000 for every $200 he spends on producing his show. If you’re a current or aspiring freelancer, consultant, coach, or agency owner… this is gold.  Tune in to hear how Josh does his proactive prospecting, how he’s turning his content creation into sales conversions, and the foundational ground game he’s got set up that makes this all work. Full Show Notes: How to Get More Clients … By Interviewing Them

He knew his $12 an hour gig at Walmart was a dead-end job. His escape route was a business idea you probably walk past at least a couple times a year without even thinking about it. What's he do? Today, Larry McGee's the guy who takes care of the aquarium at the dentist office and other commercial waiting rooms. And it earns him around $70,000 a year, doing something he enjoys and working just 15-hours a week. Larry’s aquarium maintenance business started as a lunch break side hustle with a friend while working at Walmart. More than a decade into the operation, he's got dozens of predictable retainer clients that pay him every month. In this episode, Larry shares some interesting tactics he’s used over the years to find new clients and keep them around for years. I'm confident he'll give you some food for thought as to what type of local service business could be right under your nose. Full Show Notes: From $12/hr at Walmart to a $70k a Year Part-Time Business

Just because a niche is insanely competitive, it doesn’t mean you can’t start an affiliate site and claim a slice of the revenue. At least, that’s what Sa El of SimplyInsurance.com has done, and the way he lays out how he’s done it will pique the interest of affiliate marketers out there. Sa was a door-to-door insurance salesman in Atlanta. He wanted to get into the online space and build an affiliate site, and with more than 11 years’ experience in the insurance industry, it made sense to enter the insurance niche. He took Brain Dean’s SEO That Works course to learn the ropes. But, when he told Brian he was going to build a site in the insurance niche, he was advised against it. Did Sa go back to the drawing board and look for a new niche? Nope. Sa told me there were two reasons why he decided to go ahead and build his site: He likes a challenge, and If the niche is that competitive, most of his competition is already at the top, leaving room for him to work his way up. That was 2 years ago. Today, Sa’s site is bringing in 6000 visitors a month and $13k-$15k in revenue. These numbers prove how competitive the insurance niche is. That’s a huge revenue number for 6k visitors, and Sa told me that only around 4.5k of those visitors are landing on his "money pages." (Some examples linked below.) Tune in to hear how Sa strategically built out his content to capture longtail traffic, how he builds backlinks (lots of them) to rank his money pages, and the tools he’s using to accelerate his efforts. Full Show Notes: Profitable Affiliate Marketing, Even in an Insanely Competitive Niche

What if you could make your rent or mortgage payment go away? Or, what if instead of paying that expense every month, your living situation actually paid you? It’s not as far-fetched as it may sound. In fact, that’s exactly what today’s guest, Craig Curelop, has done by intentionally "house hacking" over the past few years. He’s even written a book on the topic, and it's one I wish I’d had when I was 18 or 19! I would have definitely done some things differently. The basic idea is to use other people’s rents to offset, or even profit from your own housing costs. On top of that, you'll begin building wealth through real estate and earn tax benefits as well. If you have a spare room or two in your home, or you're interested in house hacking, this episode is going to get the gears turning for you. Tune in as Craig runs through some examples of how you can do this. Whether you’re a young professional, or you have a family of your own, you can offset some or all of your mortgage payments. But keep in mind, this isn’t a common path -- this is living for a period of time like others won’t -- as you’ll hear from Craig’s story. “Typically you’re going to sacrifice comfortability with profitability,” Craig explained to me. But living for a few years like others won’t has given Craig the financial independence to potentially live decades like others can’t. Full Show Notes: House Hacking: Live for Free and Turn Your Biggest Expense into a Profit Center

You’ve started a business. You’ve created a product or a service. You’re selling it to clients and getting great feedback. That’s great, you’ve overcome so many of the hurdles we face as entrepreneurs. But the next step is finding a way to keep new customers coming through the doors and scaling up your services. That’s the challenge today's guest Matt Rudnitsky of Platypusbooks.com is facing. Matt helps entrepreneurs and other interesting people turn their ideas and expertise into books. For this, Matt earns $30k and up per project. But, as you might have guessed, it takes a ton of work and the client pipeline is sometimes dry for months at a time. Matt has also created an online course teaching self-publishing, but hasn’t enrolled any students yet. So, I invited Kurt Elster from EtherCycle.com back onto the show. (Some of you will remember Kurt from episode 71 back in 2014 where he talked about productized consulting). Kurt hosts the unofficial Shopify podcast and is a leader in productized consulting in the Shopify space. He’s faced all the same problems Matt, and a lot of you reading this are currently facing. Tune in to hear our take on Matt’s business and Kurt's recommendations for next steps. As you listen in, put yourself in Matt’s shoes and see how a similar product or service ladder can apply to your own business. Full Show Notes: Productized Service Coaching: Building a Product Ladder

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the most effective. This post (and podcast episode) are inspired by my presentation at FinCon last month. I broke my own rule of not seeking out any speaking gigs, and submitted for a breakout session. The idea was a bit of an homage to the conference: 10 FinCon Breakthroughs that Tripled My Business. The powers that be stripped the "FinCon" part from the title, but I was still able to highlight some of my favorite -- and most impactful -- takeaways from the annual conference. I've been every year since 2015, and have seen some great steady business growth since then. This chart tracks my yearly profit: While there are certainly other factors that went into that growth, there is absolutely a concrete, positive ROI from attending. And on top of that, it's super energizing to hang around a group of motivated, talented, and generous individuals. So here we go with the 11 simple ideas! Full Show Notes: 11 Simple Ideas that Tripled My Business

If you have an online business, chances are you’ve tried your hand at outreach. If you want to expand and grow your business, especially from an SEO standpoint, you need good quality links pointing to your site from other websites. The problem is that getting other sites to link to you is not easy, as I’m sure you’ve found it. The “traditional” method is to send out dozens, even hundreds of emails to other site owners trying to land a guest post. But, as today's guest Brendan Hufford explains, this takes an awful lot of work, has a low chance of success, and the links you do get might not actually be doing much for your site’s SEO. Brendan is an SEO master, a long-time entrepreneur, and a master at building win-win relationships. His approach to SEO and link building is a little different. “Build friend’s first, not links,” is Brendan’s motto when it comes to outreach. He’s come up with his own Dream 100 Strategy for SEO, and he’s seen it work wonders with his own businesses and for his students. Tune in to hear Brendan explain how you can create your own Dream 100 list of the sites you’d like to work with to grow your business. He explains why most outreach is awful, how you should be reaching out to people, why there is long-term value in building friendships, and how you can improve your SEO and grow your online business. Full Show Notes: The Dream 100: Stop Building Links and Start Building Friendships

Sick of trading time for money? Looking for ways to turn a service or a skill you already have into a digital product? This is exactly what Matt Bochnak of HowtoMotorcycleRepair.com has done. He’s turned a "blue collar" service business--repairing motorcycles--into a lucrative business with multiple streams of time-leveraged income. This is a “Where are they now?” episode. I first caught up with Matt early in 2016 when he was a guest on episode 160 of the Side Hustle Show. Back then, Matt’s revenue split was about 50/50 between repairing bikes and selling the video guides of the repairs. Overall, his business was doing around $800-$1,000 a month. Fast forward almost 4 years later and Matt is earning $4,000-$5,000 a month, still on the side from his day job. What’s more impressive is that this boost in revenue is mostly from passive income streams, and he’s spending less time than ever in his garage. If this sounds like a side hustle you’d like to replicate with your own business, tune in to hear how Matt’s creating content without repairing customer's motorcycles, and the various passive income streams he’s built up over the past 4 years. Full Show Notes: Turning a Service Business into a Passive Income Stream - Part 2 Related: Need a website for your service business? Here’s the fastest and cheapest way to get one online.

A small blog doesn't have to mean a small income. By helping a specific group of people solve their problems, Carol Tice has attracted more than 1500 members -- at $25 a month -- to join her community. Carol went from working as a freelance writer, to coaching others how to become freelance writers, to building one of the largest online membership sites for freelance writers. (I found Carol while doing keyword research for terms like “get paid to write” and “make money writing” – and Carol OWNS this space.) The best part is that the paid membership model is an awesome way to build an online business, and it’s a model that can be applied to just about any niche. It didn’t come without sacrifice for Carol, who was working full-time and had two preschoolers when she started her blog. “I didn’t see a TV show, I didn’t go out to a movie, I didn’t go to dinner parties,” Carol explained. But with hard work, a laser-focused attitude towards her goals, and good communication with her audience, Carol has built something special for freelance writers. Tune in to hear how Carol built her membership site from the ground up. She explains how she uses funnels to constantly bring in new members, and how she keeps members engaged (any paying) for the long-haul. You’ll learn loads of actionable stuff, and how you can also apply the same tactics to develop a recurring revenue business of your own. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Small Blog, Big Income: Recurring Revenue from a Low-Traffic Site

I wish I was half as smart now as I was at 16! But learning everything you don't know is part of the process. One thing I love about my work is I feel like I learn new things every day. Sometimes they're small little tweaks and hacks, and other times they're broader strategies or ideas. I originally drafted this list 7 years ago, after my 30th birthday, but decided it was due for an update. (I updated it at 35, too, but keep learning more!) For context, that was pre-Side Hustle Nation, pre-podcast, pre-kids, and pre-almost everything I'm working on now. I'd been a full-time entrepreneur for 4 years already at that point, but my business had seen lots of ups and downs. Turning 30 had hit me harder than I expected it to, and I'm guessing it was because I really wasn't where I wanted to be. I'd been battling with flaky developers, fighting with the state Assembly in Sacramento over affiliate marketing tax laws, and we were in the process of short-selling our home -- which had been a major source of stress. Seven years later, that stuff is thankfully in past, and I’m in a better place today. That's not to say I'm completely stress-free, but I'm incredibly fortunate to have a healthy family and to get to work on stuff I love every day. Each year that goes by makes me more and more aware of that fact. But the life I have today didn't happen overnight. It's the result of literally decades (well, at least 2) of entrepreneurial education, trial and error, hustle, and if I'm being totally honest, luck. In any case, here are 37 life lessons I've picked up in my 37 years on this planet. Enjoy! Full Show Notes: 37 Things I Have Learned in My 37 Years

The fastest way to multiply money? It might be reselling. That is, buy low, sell high, repeat. Keely Stawicki started reselling when she was just 12 years old, flipping a horse saddle on Craigslist and making $100 profit. Fast forward 15 years--and more than $270,000 in sales--and reselling is now her full-time gig. Today, Keely focuses mostly on vintage goods, clothing, and furniture--all items in great demand right now. Reselling is a business model we keep coming back to because it checks some of the boxes for an awesome side hustle: Anybody can do it It doesn't require a huge upfront investment It’s quick to get started and see results If this sounds like a side hustle you’re interested in, listen in to hear Keely’s top tips for sourcing profitable inventory, the types of products she sees doing well today, and where she lists and markets her items for maximum exposure and profitability. Full Show Notes: Thrifting for Profit: How I Made $270k in Sales Reselling Vintage Items

Buy a house. Rent it out. Tenants pay it off for you. It’s possibly one of the oldest side hustles in the books, right? Done right, owning rental properties can be an attractive long-term income and wealth-building strategy. But done wrong, it can be a recipe for headaches and a mountain of debt.  It’s a side hustle that I know a lot of the Side Hustle Nation readers and listeners are interested in (as am I). For this one, I collected my own real estate investing questions, and gathered more from the Side Hustle Nation Facebook community. On the other end of the line is Zach Evanish, a remote real estate investor and Director of Retail for Roofstock.   Roofstock is a marketplace designed to make it easy to shop for, compare, and purchase rental properties. (Zach was Roofstock employee #3 -- and has bought 11 rental properties of his own through the platform.) Full Show Notes: Is Real Estate Your Next Income Stream? Rental Property Q & A

She always knew she wanted to start her own business, she just didn’t know what kind of business. Sound familiar? So, Sylvia Inks asked friends and colleagues what they saw her as an expert in, and what they go to her for advice and help with. Their answers? “They said I’m great with finances, and they said I have great research skills,” Sylvia told me. This helped Sylvia narrow down her focus to financial coaching. From there she started networking, wrote a book, and worked diligently on her presentation and speaking skills. Her business has taken off as a result. Tune in to hear how Sylvia found her niche, found her first clients, and continues to level up her impact and income. As you listen in, you'll notice the common theme throughout the call: conversations + action. Full Show Notes:  How to Start and Grow a Local Consulting Business: Effective Marketing Ideas

Creating content. Marketing your site. Monetizing your traffic. There’s a lot that goes into running a money-making website! In this episode, I want to shortcut your learning curve a little bit. To do that, I’m joined by a couple of gracious volunteers. The first is Side Hustle Show listener, Jamie Robe, who’s started a new website to help people in the path of hurricanes and tropical storms. As a resident of Central Florida, it’s a topic he knows plenty about! My second volunteer is professional blog coach Kim Anderson. (You might remember Kim from an earlier appearance on The Side Hustle Show, in which she shared how she made financial independence a reality for her and her family through her blog, Thrifty Little Mom. Listen in to our coaching call with Jamie as we try and guide him toward clarity on his content, promotion, and monetization strategies. What strategies could you apply to your own site? Full Show Notes: Blog Coaching: Building Traffic and Income to a Brand New Site

Michele Mattix of SedonaMeditationExperiences.com has a unique side hustle where she gets paid to breathe. As a tagline that sounds great, but there’s a lot more to her side hustle than just breathing. In fact, in Michele’s own words she describes her business as helping, “people experience the spiritual side of Sedona and to bring more awareness and wellness into their life through meditation, mindfulness, and a deep connection with nature.” Michele is able to offer all of this because she is a certified meditation instructor. The interesting part is how she's managed to carve out a profitable business model in the experience economy using Airbnb’s Experiences platform. When travelers book a stay in Arizona using Airbnb, they are also offered one of Michele’s meditation experiences -- at a cost of course. This enables Michele to take advantage of the huge marketing machine that is Airbnb. They drive the traffic and raise awareness of her meditation experiences, and it’s paying off. Tune in to hear how Michele found her first experience customers, what she’s done to market and grow her business, and how you may be able to apply the same strategies to an experience of your own. Full Show Notes: Paid to Breathe: Make Money Hosting a Unique Local Experience

It’s time to dive into the ol’ listener mailbag and answer a few questions in this week’s edition of The Side Hustle Show. I’ve had quite a few interesting questions come in since the last Q&A episode, and picked 20 to talk through in today’s show. Like this format? This is the 8th installment of “20 Questions” so feel free to go back and binge on the older ones too: 320: Multiplying Money, Morning Routines, and $100k Side Hustles: 20 Questions with Nick 291: Email, Ebooks, Platforms, and Conferences: 20 Questions with Nick 271: Brilliant Blogging, Ruthless Productivity, and Guaranteed Success: 20 Questions with Nick 245: Network Marketing, Imposter Syndrome, My Side Hustle Mistakes, and More: 20 Questions with Nick 219: Growing Traffic, Monetization, List-Building, a Day in the Life, and More: 20 Questions with Nick 198: Blogging, Branding, Book Writing, and Finding the Right Side Hustle for You: 20 Questions with Nick 181: SEO, Affiliate Marketing, Self-Publishing, Udemy, and More: 20 Questions with Nick A common piece of advice you’ll hear is to take audience questions and turn them into content, so here’s a meta example of that in action. This episode covers the dark side of side hustling, beanie babies, affiliate marketing, and much more. Full Show Notes: The Con of the Side Hustle, Beanie Babies, Affiliate Marketing, and More:  20 Questions with Nick

Jaime Masters has interviewed more than 500 millionaires. On top of that, she runs some premium mastermind programs and is a sought-after business coach. I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to get on the podcast for years, and I think we came up with something unique and hopefully compelling. Jaime agreed to actually coach me on a couple of areas of my business. In preparation, she: took a look at the last 12 months of my business finances asked me to complete a time-tracking study to see what I was actually spending my time on had both my wife and I complete a 5-year vision document So, if you want to hear what a millionaire coach thinks of my operations and what I could or should be doing differently, or just want hear the kinds of questions that come up, tune in. I think you’ll find the insights applicable to your own business, no matter what level you’re at. Full Show Notes: A Millionaire Business Coach Takes a Look Inside My Day-to-Day

A location-independent consulting business that replaces your day job income in a matter of months? That's exactly what Paul Minors accomplished with his virtual software consulting business. You might recognize Paul’s name. Paul is a productivity blogger and consultant from New Zealand. He was part of a fun productivity roundtable episode we did towards the end of 2016 -- that was episode 197 if you want to go back and check it out. What I now know, is that at that time Paul was putting the wheels in motion on his consulting business centered around specific software tools. Which as a side hustle tactic, is fantastic. If you can hitch your cart to a rising tide of interest in a particular tool, and become the go-to expert in that space, you can do really well. And, that’s exactly what Paul has done. Paul was able to leave his day job within a couple of months of starting his business. He was then able to go traveling with his wife for 6-months while working 15-20 hours a week from his laptop. After arriving back home, he started working full-time on his consulting business. “I noticed the impact of that straight away, within a couple of months I had doubled my income,” Paul told me. It's clear Paul has figured out this business model. This one’s packed with ideas you might be able to apply to your own areas of expertise. Maybe you’ll even uncover some areas of expertise you never really considered that special before. Tune in to hear how Paul came across the idea of offering his first consulting services “by accident”. As well as how he’s used several different marketing channels to drive targeted traffic to his website, and how he’s been adding more products and services to his portfolio and seen his revenue increase as a result. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Virtual Consulting: How to set up your location-independent Consulting Business

We all have a limit to our capacity. For some entrepreneurs and small business owners, that’s a tough pill to swallow . But when you’re up against that ceiling you have to decide between two options. You can: Settle in. Ask for help in breaking through. This episode is about growing your team in such a way that you have some breathing room in your schedule and in your mental bandwidth to do the work that’s required of a business owner. Even though I’ve been hiring virtual help in my businesses since 2005, I’ve still got a lot to learn! This is something that’s been on my mind this year as I think about where I want to my current operations to go and who can help get me there. To help dive into this topic, I’m excited to welcome John Jonas and Nate Hirsch to the show. Between them, they’ve got more than 60 virtual team members and have been practicing remote management for more than a decade. They both run platforms to help you make your first virtual hire as well: John heads up OnlineJobs.ph, the largest remote job board and resume database for workers in the Philippines. Nate created FreeeUp.com, a curated freelance marketplace for workers all around the world. Tune in to hear John and Nate’s take on when it’s time to hire, how to find the best talent for your budget, and some common mistakes to avoid. Full Show Notes: Hiring Your First Virtual Assistant: When, Where, and How to Do it Right

Is options trading legit? Is it a viable side hustle? In this episode, we’re tackling trading options -- a topic that’s been frequently requested by listeners, but is somewhat foreign to me. To help school me on this, I’m excited to welcome my friend Kirk DuPlessis to the show. Kirk runs the super popular site OptionAlpha.com, where you can get all sorts of free options trading training. He’s been at this for over 10 years and the site has over 150,000 members. Options trading (when done right) is a high probability form of investing, but as with all investments it’s based on risk. Kirk explained options contracts are like insurance. As a trader, you can either be a buyer of insurance or a seller of that insurance. On the buying side, it’s a way to kind of amplify your trading power through leverage. Instead of buying 100 shares of a certain stock and hoping it goes up, for example, you could buy contracts for a fraction of the share price that give you the option to buy the stock at today’s price should it go up by a defined amount in a certain amount of time -- the contract term. If it does, you exercise your option and make a big gain on a small initial investment. If it doesn’t, you just lose your initial option contract purchase price, kind of like your car insurance premium if you don’t get into a wreck. On the seller side, you’re the person selling that insurance. You collect the cash upfront, and as long as the trigger event doesn’t happen, you keep it. Kirk argues that just like insurance companies are some of the most profitable in the world, option sellers are most often the winners in the options trading game. In this post and podcast episode, Kirk explains in more detail about how this all works in practice and shares his 8 rules for success in options trading. Full Show Notes: Options Trading 101: 8 Rules for Success for Total Newbies

Amy Feierman and Kristin Ostrander of MommyIncome.com have generated over $2 million in sales on Amazon over the last 12 months with a unique strategy that has high margins and lower costs per sale. What are they selling on Amazon? Bundles -- Think shampoo and conditioner, peanut and butter, or any 2-6 products that compliment each other and provide some added value and convenience to the buyer. Amy and Kristin have both been selling online for over 10 years, but recently they have shifted their focus onto this specific strategy of wholesale bundles – and it’s working really well for a number of reasons. These bundles make life easier for the 1-click ordering, free Prime shipping Amazon customer, and they make life better for you as a seller because you face less competition and can earn better profit margins. Tune in to hear how Amy and Kristin go about their product research that leaves them confident their bundles are going to sell without any paid ads, product reviews, or marketing efforts. You'll also learn how they're sourcing their inventory, the kinds of upfront investment needed, and the price points and margins they're working with. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Make Money with Wholesale Bundles on Amazon FBA

Over the last 10 years, the bulk of my energy and attention has been on building audience businesses.  These types of businesses (usually) involve creating some helpful resource, and then figuring out a way to monetize the people who come by to use it. In my case, that's primarily been through affiliate marketing and more recently, advertising on this podcast. But you also have the flexibility to sell products and services to your audience once you have their attention. In this episode, I'll play a section from my latest book on Building an Audience Business of your own, and share why I'm giving it away for free on Amazon.

Robert Brandl is a German entrepreneur now living in Spain with his wife and twin 16-month olds, but 10 years ago he was working full-time, wanting to travel, and was just trying to figure out how to get a blog online. He did what most aspiring bloggers would do--he turned to Google for answers. But he was disappointed with what he found. Nobody was doing a great job answering his question and comparing all the different options. With that, WebsiteToolTester.com was born. This is Robert’s flagship affiliate site that now has in-depth reviews of all the top website building software. I invited Robert on the show because this is a really common side hustle business model: the affiliate review site. How it often works is you write product reviews, hopefully attract some organic search traffic, and then collect your commissions when someone buys through your links. We saw this most recently in the physical product space with Kieran MacRae in episode 313, where he was reviewing mattresses and other sleep-related products. But like most businesses, there’s an art and a science to doing this right and building a truly helpful resource as Robert has. And, he’s applied the same model to a number of different niches too, including email service providers, live chat tools, and more. You can check out his whole portfolio at ToolTester.net. Tune in to hear how Robert structures his review content to make it easy to consume, how he optimizes it for SEO, and how you might apply the same strategies to an affiliate review site of your own. Or even just to review content on your existing blog. Full Show Notes: Affiliate Review Sites Done Right: How to Market and Monetize Like a Pro

This week I’m excited to introduce one of the hottest side hustles of the moment, and that is low-content self-publishing. What is low-content publishing? Let me explain -- self-publishing has been around for a decade, and we’ve covered that quite a bit in both fiction and non-fiction -- it’s one of my favorite and perhaps most passive side hustles. Write the book, hit publish, collect royalties for years. Cool, right? Well, it’s the whole write the book part where a lot of people get stuck. You might not know what to write about, and even if you do, it can be really time-consuming, and at the end of the day, it still might turn out to not be a huge seller on Amazon. What low-content publishing aims to accomplish is to accelerate your product creation by focusing on a very specific sub-set of books: journals diaries planners notebooks sketchbooks and more With these types of books, the value doesn’t come from your years of experience and a 35,000-word brain dump. Instead it comes from how you’ve structured the mostly-blank internal pages and prompts, and who you’re targeting as your customer. With Amazon’s print-on-demand KDP print service, you can upload these products as digital files, hold no physical inventory, and collect passive royalties whenever they sell. But there’s an art and a science to it, and that’s why I’ve assembled a panel of experts in today’s show. I’m joined by three experts in the low-content publishing space with more than 1,000 titles between them: Rob Cubbon from RobCubbon.com - Long-time listeners might remember Rob from episode 81, back in 2014. Rob’s been in the low-content game for the last year or so and in that time has published over 1,000 titles. Flav Maderios from SideBusinessLaunch.com - Flav was a guest on episode 300 of The Side Hustle Show last summer, where we were talking about his merch business. Since then he’s expanded to the self-publishing space with around 300 titles so far. Rachel Harrison-Sund from RachelHarrisonSund.com - Rachel built her low content business to 6-figures a year on a very part-time basis. But as you’ll hear in this episode, there’s some seasonality that comes into play, there are some competitive factors that come into play, and there’s a little bit of a gold rush feel to all of this. Tune in to hear how these low content publishers go about their product research (so they don’t waste their time), how they price and market their books to maximize sales and royalties, and how they manage such wide-ranging portfolios. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Low Content Publishing: Can You Make Money Selling Blank Books on Amazon?

At the end of nearly every episode of The Side Hustle Show, I ask my guests for their #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation. There’s always a great variety of responses, and I wanted to take some time today to go through some of my favorites from the past 50-ish interviews. This has become an annual tradition on the show, and we just passed 6 years and 8.5 million downloads! If you like this short-and-sweet meta-style show, be sure to check out the others in this series: Episode 50 Episode 124 Episode 177 Episode 236 Episode 288 And even though my primary motivation is to extract helpful tactics for you, the listener, I can’t help but learn from my guests as well. You never know when inspiration will strike or where you’ll hear the one insight that has a huge impact. These episodes are a lot of fun to put together, and give me an excuse to revisit some of my favorite moments and wise words from the show. From the last 49 guests, the 3 most common theme I heard was to "Take action. Just start!" While it might sound overly generic, don’t be quick to dismiss it. If all these really smart and successful people keep saying these episode after episode as their “#1 tip,” I think it's worth paying attention to. My #1 tip this time? Surround yourself with people on the same trajectory. Full Show Notes: What I've Learned and Applied from 49 Awesome Entrepreneurs - Part 6

Dr. Shirag Shemmassian decided to take action on a particular skill of his, and is seeing some impressive results -- all on the side from his day job as a research psychologist. What do I mean by impressive? How about $650k in revenue last year, which was more than double of 2017, which was more than triple of 2016. He’s on a serious growth curve! Full Show Notes: Multi Six-Figure Consulting on the Side

“Everyone is researching a product, I’m telling you to research a problem,” Chad told me. Chad Rubin runs ThinkCrucial.com, a profitable e-commerce business that he’s built by selling products that solve a pain point for people. Every product follows a direct-to-consumer strategy that lets him source and sell in-demand products efficiently and inexpensively. Chad’s story began when he was laid off from his job on Wall Street. He started helping out at his parent’s vacuum shop, selling some of their inventory online. He came to the realization that the profit margins were being eaten up by intermediaries along the supply chain, so he decided to get closer to the manufacturers to make more profit per sale, while still selling at a competitive price. His first products, starting with what he knew, were vacuum filters. Once he had the blueprint down for selling at a higher margin than his competitors, Chad started sourcing new products to expand his product line, and he has an interesting and unusual way of finding product ideas. Tune in to hear Chad’s unique take on product research, what he calls the “anti-Amazon opportunity,” and some sneaky ways you can connect with expert manufacturers. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Direct to Consumer Product Research - How to Find Your Next Profitable Product

He'd just gained 3000 subscribers and made $8000 in a matter of days, but Chris Ritter's first virtual summit didn't deliver the result was looking for. As a personal trainer for swimmers, he was looking for more clients to coach online. Not a single one signed up. Still, the summit was a serious turning point in his business--one that turned into a 6-figure side project in its first year. He started serving an entirely different set of customers, and went from working one-on-one to one-to-many. His multi-year journey includes in-person personal training, seeking online clients, writing blog posts, selling an e-book, hosting a hit virtual summit, and more. Listen in because you’ll pick up some tactics and ideas you can apply to your own side hustle as this is one that’s ripe for replication across different niches. It’s a story about leveling up your reach and impact and income, and evidence that opportunities start to appear once you’re in motion. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: The 6-Figure Pivot: How Shifting Your Customer Can Dramatically Shift Your Results

There's a topic that no one really talks about in entrepreneurship or online business, and that's the unfair advantages someone had starting out. Behind every killer case study, every income report, every "overnight" success, there's a backstory you don't always hear. The truth is, no one ever really starts from scratch. We bring our own history, perspectives, and baggage to the table. We also have the advantage of learning from everyone who's gone before us. Like Newton said, we "stand on the shoulders of giants." In this episode, I'll share some unfair advantages that undoubtedly helped me, and offer up some you probably have working in your favor as well. Full Show Notes: Unfair Advantages: How to Find Yours—and 10 of Mine

Kimberly Gauthier has been running KeepTheTailWagging.com since 2011, but things really started to take off when she niched down her focus to raw feeding for dogs. Raw feeding is basically the paleo diet for dogs -- attempting to mimic their ancestral diet. Her blog had than 2 million page views last year -- almost entirely from organic search in Google, and she’s monetized the traffic with a few different income streams. Tune in to hear how Kimberly arrived at his niche, what drives content and marketing today, and how the business makes money -- all on the side from her day job. Full Show Notes: The Raw Truth About Blogging - How a "Dog Mom" Built her Online Business on the Side

WTF man!? Are you willing to fail! Let that be your new mantra. That's the rule Brian Scudamore -- the founder and CEO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK -- lives by. What started with a $1000 investment (Brian's life's savings at the time) has turned into a home services empire that does $1 million in sales on any given day. Brian's come a long way since that beat-up pickup truck going door-to-door that first summer. His portfolio now includes house painting, moving services, and home detailing--all under the umbrella of Ordinary 2 Exceptional Brands. He’s formulated some unique and effective ways to build teams of passionate employees that share his goals and has leveraged the franchise model to grow his businesses and revenue from $0 to $444 million and beyond. Tune in to hear how Brian started the junk hauling business as a soon-to-be college student, his thoughts on marketing and hiring, and how you can apply nearly 30 years of his own successes and failures to your business. Full Show Notes: The Junk Hauling Business: From $0 to $300 Million and Beyond

A few years ago, a side hustler named Brock McGoff reached out to me with a guest post pitch. The post detailed how he was making, at that time, $4,000 a month, from his blog about men’s fashion, on the side from his day job. Since then, Brock has turned TheModestMan.com into his full-time focus, into a 6-figure income, and into a media empire that expands well beyond the blog itself. In this episode, Brock talks me through how he generates content ideas, how the business makes money, where he’s focusing his energy for the best results, and how he’s taken his site from a side hustle to a full-time business. Don't have a website of your own yet? Check out my free video series on how to get up and running in no time. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: A Look Inside a 6-Figure Online Business: Traffic, Monetization, and More

Roberto Chavez started his raw land flipping side hustle a little over a year ago, and with persistence, has already built it into 5-figure of monthly revenue. This is a business model that was first introduced to me by Mark Podolsky, from TheLandGeek.com, in episode 108 of The Side Hustle Show. He called it "the best passive income model" because it avoids "the 3 T’s" of traditional real estate investing: tenants, toilets, and termites. How the model works is you: acquire parcels of land on the cheap because the owners don’t want them anymore re-sell them either for a quick cash flip, or more commonly, as an owner-financed sale. This is where the passive income comes in as you collect monthly payments for a period of 3-7 years, or whatever terms you agree on. For example, buy a $10,000 parcel upfront for $2,500, and resell it for $199 a month for 5 years. In that scenario, your total payments collected would be almost $12,000, and you'd breakeven on your initial investment after about a year. Where the persistence comes in, is the initial seller outreach. It’s very much a numbers game, as you’ll hear Roberto explain. I think that’s what separates those who have success in it from, those who don’t. Tune in to learn how Roberto finds parcels to buy for 25 cents on the dollar, how he figures out how much to offer, the due diligence that goes into these deals, and how he re-sells them for profit. Full Show Notes: Land Flipping Revisited: From Zero to $10,000 a Month on the Side Note: Roberto is actually a student of Mark's. When I told Mark we were recording this episode, he offered his Land Investing Launch Kit (normally $97) free for Side Hustle Show listeners. I'm also an affiliate for his paid program; use code "sidehustle" for $500 off.

"Growth isn't the byproduct of success," Paul Jarvis told me. "Or at least it shouldn't be. The byproduct of success should be freedom." Paul is a talented writer and designer who’s made a living--and a name for himself--by often taking the counterpoint to the conventional wisdom, especially when it comes to entrepreneurship and business growth. His latest book, Company of One, caught my attention. It’s about why building a better business doesn’t necessarily mean building a bigger business. In this episode Paul talks me through: The decision-making frameworks he uses in his business and how you can apply them to yours How he’s intentionally set up his own operation to maximize time leverage and freedom How he’s built a list of 33k+ email subscribers over the 8 years and how this list drives his business today Full Show Notes: Get Better, Not Bigger: On Growth, Freedom, Online Marketing, and "Enough"

As we’ve mentioned, “scaling” a service business can be one of the biggest challenges with this business model. In fact, it’s a sticking point that keeps a lot of people away from freelancing altogether. But if your goal is to get big or even to just avoid trading time for money your whole life, there are lots of ways to scale a service business. If you'd like to learn more about starting a service business and connecting with your first clients, check out this in-depth interview with Abbey Ashley (Episode 328). Abbey's claim to fame is she booked enough virtual assistant work during her maternity leave that she didn't have to back to that job she hated when her leave was up! Abbey also put together this killer free training on how to launch and grow your freelance business. In the meantime, here are the 7 Ways to Scale a Service Business from this episode: Raise your rates Go From one-to-one to one-to-many Hire subcontractors Create productized packages Play Matchmaker Look for affiliate opportunities Create a product Enjoy!

Starting a service business on the side is one of the fastest ways to build extra income. It's flexible, low-overhead, and you can probably start with skills you already have. “I had a lot of drive underneath me," Abbey Ashley told me, about starting her service business back in 2013. "I was super pregnant and I hated my job so much,” Abbey started offering her services as a virtual assistant, and connected with her first clients at local networking events in Washington, DC. My the time her maternity leave was up--just a few short months--Abbey had booked enough work to not have to go back to that job she hated. On top of that, she only had to work 20 hours a week to do it, and could work from home. There are almost no barriers to entry to starting a freelance service business, and the startup costs are minimal. (All Abbey did was make business cards for networking.) In fact, it was a service business, a house painting business in my case, that was one of my first entrepreneurial adventures. Over time, Abbey scaled her virtual assistant business from just herself at $20-30 an hour, to her own little virtual agency, to $75 an hour and up for some specialized work. Before long, the questions started coming in: How can I do what you do? How can I work from home and set my own hours? How can I do work I enjoy? In response, she built up a complete training program for would-be virtual assistants. She's helped thousands of people start their own service businesses and has built a thriving free community of virtual assistants.  If you want to dive in deeper, check out her free training called Become a Booked Out Virtual Assistant. (That's an affiliate link; if you buy her full program, I'll receive a commission.) Full Show Notes: How to Start a Service Business to Replace Your Income, Step-by-Step

Todd Tresidder took his own personal net worth from less than zero at 23, to self-made millionaire and retired at 35. When it comes to building wealth, he's the smartest guy in the room. His latest book is The Leverage Equation: How to Work Less, Make More, and Cut 30 Years Off Your Retirement Plan. We met through the FinCon community several years ago and I've learned a ton from our conversations. Todd has a unique perspective on business and investing, and our conversations over the years always get me thinking a little differently. He blogs at FinancialMentor.com. Tune in to hear Todd talk me through his 6 types of leverage and how you can apply those as needed in your business: Financial Leverage Time Leverage Technology and Systems Leverage Communications and Marketing Leverage Network and Relationship Leverage Knowledge and Experience Leverage Enjoy! Full Show Notes: How to Get Unstuck: 6 Levers to Pull to Level Up Your Business

Jessica Larrew and her husband Cliff have been reselling on Amazon for years. And though it started as a part-time side hustle, it turned into a serious business--they've sold more than $1 million worth of stuff on Amazon! What's surprising – and I think exciting – is that they’ve done this is by finding profitable products to resell primarily in nearby retail stores. How Reselling on Amazon Works Jessica takes advantage of Amazon’s FBA program, or Fulfillment by Amazon. This is Amazon's way of crowdsourcing its inventory, and letting regular people like us tap into its world-class logistics network. That means this Selling Family doesn't have to ship anything to the end customer, handle returns, or write up product descriptions. How the business works is like any other retail business: you profit on the spread between the cost of your product and what it sells for. Now you have to account for Amazon's fees and shipping costs, but it's basically buy low, sell high. And the best part of this side hustle is that you can get started today with whatever initial inventory investment you're comfortable with. Full Show Notes: Reselling on Amazon with a $1 Million Seller: Let’s Go Pick Up Profit!

Marc Andre made over $1.1 million dollars from his photography hobby. But what’s interesting is that he never: got paid to take pictures sold any of his photos held any photography workshops So, what did he do instead? He built and subsequently sold 3 websites related to photography – that sold digital products to other photographers. His journey started in 2012. Marc wanted to upgrade from a point-and-shoot camera to a nice DSLR and some lenses but couldn’t justify the $5k price tag for the equipment. Instead of settling for something else, Marc set himself a challenge to see if he could raise the $5k starting a photography-related side hustle. Things escalated quickly, from starting a site to creating digital products, he made that $5k in a few months. Marc carried on scaling his business, creating more products, starting two more photography-related sites, and over the next 6 years pulled in more than a million dollars in revenue. Tune in to hear Marc’s unique process for starting and growing sites, why he decided to create products before having an audience to sell to, how he used sites that already had traffic to drive sales, and how he scaled up his business to more than a million dollars in revenue in such a short space of time. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: The Million Dollar Hobby: How to Monetize What You’re Already Interested In

Mitch Davis is selling around $9,000 per month with private label products on Amazon Japan on the side from his day job. (Of that, around $3000 is profit, which cover's his family's living expenses.) Selling on Amazon Japan via FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) opens up a whole new marketplace for Amazon sellers, and one that Mitch says is a lot less competitive than the US. Tune in to hear Mitch talk me through: his process for researching profitable products how he deals with manufacturers and the shipping process, some of the nuances that come with selling on a platform that’s not in your native language For more, be sure to check out Mitch's YouTube channel and join his free Amazon FBA Japan Facebook Group. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Amazon FBA Japan: Make $3000 a Month Selling Private Label Products

Stacy Caprio was desperate to leave her day job. She ended up doing just that after acquiring – and improving – a portfolio of mini online businesses. In her case, these were websites that make money from advertising. Now, this asset class can be risky, and Stacy is open about her early failures. But if you have some online skills, (or management skills to bring people in if you don’t want to run the site yourself) this can be a fast-track to the cash flow you need to fund your lifestyle. Since websites often sell for 20x monthly earnings, they're perhaps 10-15x "cheaper" than if you were to rely solely on traditional investments and a 4% withdrawal rate. Sound like the kind of investment that suits your lifestyle? Tune in to hear where Stacy finds these businesses to buy, her unique filtering criteria, and a few quick ways she’s been able to accelerate the cash flow of her portfolio for even better returns. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Financial Independence Fast-Track: How to Replace Your Salary by Buying Mini Businesses

"We are simultaneously gods and worms.”—Abraham Maslow Power plus humility, right? It's a great combination and something to keep in mind as we try and build our businesses. We can accomplish amazing things, and yet, we're gone in a flash. Mere blips on the historical radar. But let's be the gods of our side hustle universe today, and focus on shaping that business in a way that best serves ourselves and others. In this special solo edition of The Side Hustle Show, I'm breaking down my Top 5 books from last year, and the actions I took (or am taking) as a result of reading them. Hopefully there are a few nuggets you can borrow! Full Show Notes: My 5 Favorite Books of the Year and My Top Takeaways from Each

Can you make money hosting trivia nights at local restaurants and bars? I’m a bit of a trivia nerd, so this week’s show was especially interesting to put together! To help walk me through how this business works, is probably the best-qualified guy in the country to do so. Adam Johnston is the co-founder of LastCallTrivia.com, a business that started with just $300 and now powers trivia nights all around the country and provides tools for side hustlers to do the same. Over the last 10 years, Adam has managed to help turn "useless knowledge" into a 7-figure operation. Tune in to hear how this business works, how to pitch and price a trivia night, how to get a new venue off the ground, and most importantly, what makes for a great game. Adam and I even fire some trivia questions at each other, so have your score sheets ready! Full Show Notes: Hosting Trivia Nights for Fun and Profit: Turn Useless Knowledge into Cash

It’s time to dive into the ol’ listener mailbag and answer a few questions in this week’s edition of The Side Hustle Show. I’ve had quite a few interesting questions come in since the last Q&A episode, and picked 20 to talk through in today’s show, including: Let’s say you’ve got $100. How do you turn it into $200? What's your #1 morning ritual? Should I create a course around self-care? Am I even qualified to? I haven't made a single sale (on Etsy) and am super demoralized. What can I do? How hard is it to make a website? How do you find a "tech" person for a reasonable rate? Why don't you use ads to monetize your website? In starting my online business, which social media platforms should I focus on? What side hustles do you recommend that could generate $100k a year within a year? When you started Side Hustle Nation, how'd you get engagement from Day 1? No one is buying my book. How can I market it? What WordPress template do you suggest? How do you refer to affiliate links when you haven't used the product? How big of a content backlog do you have / should you have? I'm a college senior interested in entrepreneurship. What do you recommend with the "real world" fast approaching? How was your trip to Mexico? Did you feel unsafe? How do you balance family, job, and business? What's the goal of your local meetups? Why'd you give away the PDF version of The Progress Journal for free? How do you organize your side hustle financially? Which gigs should I create first on Fiverr? Full Show Notes: Multiplying Money, Morning Routines, and $100k Side Hustles: 20 Questions with Nick

“What I want is immortality," Jack told me. "But I don’t want it in my name, I want it in actions of others.” With the size of his audience today and the number of people he’s helped along the way, there is a very real chance of this happening. Jack Spirko of is a little bit of a legend in the podcasting space, and he’s built a really cool and unique business on the back of his show--which of course started as a side hustle. Actually, it started with him recording the first year and a half of episodes in his car on his commute to work! For the last 10 years and 2300+ episodes, The Survival Podcast has covered topics related to “modern survival.” That is, things like growing your own food, generating your own power, and of course starting your own business. Tune in to hear how Jack built an incredibly loyal and active listener base, how he started leveraging his audience to help grow his podcast, how he built his no-extra-content-required membership site model that drives 90% of his revenue, and his tips for starting and growing your own podcast and audience today. Full Show Notes: Master, Multiply, and Monetize your Message: From Ranting in His Car to "Immortality"

With 250 million active users, Pinterest is a content discovery platform nearly every blogger and business owner should be spending some time on. The Pinterest tactics shared on this podcast in late 2015 by Rosemarie Groner were extremely effective ... for a while. But I began to see declines in traffic, and today Pinterest brings in perhaps a quarter of the visitors it used to. Still, I’m convinced I could be doing better on the platform to reach more people and help more people with my content. Just like Google, a top-ranking pin can bring in consistent qualified traffic month after month after month. But also like Google, there’s a certain science to the Pinterest algorithm. To help me breathe new life into my account — and walk through how you can do the same even if you’ve never used Pinterest before, I invited Kate Ahl from SimplePinMedia.com to join me on the show. She’s an expert on all things Pinterest marketing, and in this episode, she breaks down everything I’m doing wrong and what you and I should be doing instead to start reaching more people and driving more traffic. Tune in to hear the right way to set up your profile, how to set up and optimize your pins and boards to increase your reach, and how to rank you content in Pinterest's search results to drive more traffic to your site. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Pinterest Marketing for 2019 and Beyond: How to Get More Traffic

“It’s a business with training wheels,” Timika told me. Timika Downes is a school nurse by day but was looking for ways to add income after hours, and ended up licensing someone else’s business idea. Her side hustle is a lice clinic; a brick-and-mortar facility that helps parents and kids get rid of lice. Not the most glamorous niche in the world, but Timika’s clinic did 6-figures in her first year, all on the side from her day job, and it now runs with little time investment from her. The lice clinic is actually just one of several side hustles Timika has going on – she also co-hosts the House of FI podcast, blogs at ReluctantFrugalist.com, and she has 3 kids. Her story is an interesting one. It highlights the differences between licensing and franchising a business, and Timika explains how you can leverage the support of a licensing company to get a business off the ground quickly. Tune in to hear how Timika evaluated the risks and benefits of the licensing opportunity, how she drives business, and how she’s set this up to be a hands-off 6-figure business. Full Show Notes: Licensing or Franchising a Business? How a School Nurse Started a 6-Figure Side Hustle

Meredith Marsh is a “total introvert with over 3 million views on YouTube.” When Meredith started VidProMom.com she didn’t set out to be a “YouTuber”. She started a blog and YouTube channel because she wanted to help families better capture those classic, picture-perfect family moments. What she discovered was “a pretty big gap in the whole video creation side of things for people who are creating videos for fun,” Meredith said. She started creating a video series on how to use a GoPro and some of the software - and things quickly snowballed. Her YouTube channel was getting more subscribers than all her other social media metrics and blog visitors added together – so it was obvious that YouTube was the ideal platform for her content. A year after starting her channel Meredith left her day job, and her blog/YouTube channel that started as a side hustle is now her full-time job. Tune in to hear how to set up your YouTube channel for success, how to master the YouTube algorithm to reach more people, and how to make money from your new video content. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: YouTube for Bloggers: From "Accidental" YouTube Channel to Full-Time Income

“There was no safety net, it had to work,” Kelly told me. Kelly Hardwick was talking about her business and blog, FemmeFataleAirsoft.co.uk. It’s a site she built to write about her new hobby in airsoft, which Kelly described as a war games sport, like the Call of Duty video games in real life. Kelly started playing airsoft regularly in 2014. However, she was disappointed with the lack of airsoft content online for women. "Be the change you want to see in the world, right?" she told me about why she started her blog.  She started her blog along with an Instagram account, and it’s actually been her Instagram following that has become the linchpin of her business. Her Instagram following has gone from 0-65k in less than 4 years, and it's this popularity on Instagram that has helped her land paid guest posts, social media sponsorships, grow her social media management business, and secure other business opportunities. Tune in to hear how Kelly has grown her audience from 0 to more than 60k followers, how she first monetized her blog, and how she develops profitable relationships with other companies in the airsoft space. Full Show Notes: From Toy Guns to a Full-Time Business

Here's a behind-the-scenes look at my latest experiment, an Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing skill called The Money Making Minute. I think there's an opportunity for entrepreneurs to begin creating content for the popular smart speaker while competition is relatively low.  Here's how I'm getting started with it and how you can join in. To learn more, visit TheMoneyMakingMinute.com. 

After sitting in on a free webinar and seeing dozens of people buying a course about urban farming, Nate knew he could also create and sell his own course. Nate Dodson of MicroGreensFarmer.com began urban farming initially to take greater control over the food he was eating and to combat Crohn’s disease. But he soon found himself growing more than he could reasonably consume, so like any good entrepreneur, he started selling his produce – and specifically microgreens. With a little bit of effort, he was selling $400 a week worth of microgreens to farmer’s market vendors, local restaurants, and home delivery in his town. But Nate’s little side project has absolutely exploded in the last 2 years, and it hasn’t come from selling more produce. Instead, it’s come from teaching other people how to do what he did. Today Nate is selling $40-50k worth of his microgreens business course a month, mostly on autopilot, and he’s followed a very straightforward path to get there that anyone can apply to their own business. Tune in to hear how he created his product, how he drives consistent traffic, the simple sales funnel he uses to convert browsers into buyers, and the changes he’s made in his business to increase his revenue to $50k+ a month. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: The Simple Way to Finally Set up and Sell Your Online Course (And Scale to $40k a Month and Beyond)

“Everyone needs it, people tend not to get enough of it – so that’s how the site came about,” said Kieran. Kieran MacRae is talking about sleep. The site he started is called TheDozyOwl.co.uk, a UK-based site that Kieran has taken from $0 to $2.5k a month in revenue in its first 12 months. Do you remember Alan Donegan from PopupBusinessSchool.co.uk in episode 306? He told the story of one of his students getting frustrated with the business generation process; they were having a hard time coming up with anything that really got them excited. "I just really like sleeping," they said in exasperation. And for a while, Alan didn't have a great response. That is, until he learned about Kieran, who was earning a full-time income blogging about sleep and sleep-related products. Tune in to hear how Kieran came up with the idea for his site, how he creates the content, and how the site makes money – without a server-shattering volume of traffic. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Making Money in Your Sleep - By Blogging About Sleep

If you're still doing all the work in your side hustle or business yourself, you're limiting your growth. This is an episode about getting out of your own way--about the transformation from technician to business owner. To help me work through the 6 Rules of Scale, I invited Sean Marshall from FamilyRocketship.com back to the program. We last heard from Sean way back in episode 92 in early 2015. I think he’s someone worth paying attention to because he’s set up his business (an online marketing agency) in such a way that the day-to-day operations don’t require much of his direct involvement at all. On the surface, his is a freelancing business, but Sean has avoided the common freelancing trap (or ceiling) of trading his own time for money. In doing so, that affords him and his family a pretty cool lifestyle. Last time we caught up they were living in Cozumel Mexico, and today, he and his wife and 3 daughters are spending several months in Scotland. Before we dive into the 6 Rules with Sean, he proposed two questions to ponder as pre-requisites: Why did you start your business in the first place? What do you want out of it? How big do you want it to be? What’s the highest and best use of your time? To achieve that ultimate why from question #1, what things do you need to do to get there, and equally important, what are the things you need to stop doing. So those are 2 questions to keep in mind as we go through this episode. Full Show Notes:  6 Rules to Scale any Side Hustle

Her escape plan was an interesting one. April Whitney was staring at a future of pharmaceutical copywriting, and wanted out. Today, April is the leading voice in the niche of petite fitness. Where the story gets exciting, is that it’s a niche that for all intents and purposes, April invented. Nobody was searching for this stuff, which would normally be a huge red flag. But when women came across April and her content, something resonated. Starting a little over a year ago, she’s built a tribe of over 10,000 followers, raised $8,000 on Kickstarter for her first product, and now sells $1000 worth of that product on autopilot every month. April built most of her tribe on Instagram, a platform that’s saturated with fitness-related content and notoriously difficult to convert followers into customers. Tune in to hear how April found her tribe, converted them into followers and customers, and the products and services she created that ultimately funded her quitting that cubical job to do something she loves. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Create Your Own Niche—and Your Own Income

In this episode of the Side Hustle Show I’ve put together a round up of creative side hustle ideas that people have shared with me over the last couple of years. Here are the 10 creative side hustles I cover in this episode: 1. Flyer Distribution Business   2. Moose Poop Art   3. Tumbleweed Sales   4. BabyQuip 5. Subleasing Airbnb   6. Snuggling   7. Waiting in Line   8. Penny Posters 9. Funeral Cryer Service 10. The Death Reminder App Full Show Notes: 10 Creative Side Hustles that Make Real Money

Nikko Mendoza is one listener who’s taken a lot of action this year building his side hustle He runs a really cool business in the 3D printing niche that today has 2 main revenue streams: Selling digital files for masks and customer armor inspired by well-known comic book characters, where customers can print out their own physical products at home with their own 3D printers. A Patreon campaign, where fans of Nikko pay him monthly for behind the scenes access and members-only content. Currently, those 2 income streams combine to earn around $2k a month, but Nikko told me he had the goal of 10x-ing that income in the next year. To help me brainstorm ways to get that done, I invited Don the Idea Guy back to the program for this special coaching episode. As you listen in, we talk traffic generation and revenue generation for Nikko’s business, and I’m confident you’ll find some parallel opportunities to pursue in your own business too. Full Show Notes: Side Hustle Coaching: How Can I 10x My Current Business?

Busy doesn’t always mean effective! It's not just about getting more stuff done; it's about getting more of the right stuff done. So how can we be more intentional, proactive, and destination-driven with our days, instead of just reacting to everything life throws at us? Today I want to share 5 ways -- 5 key habits -- I’ve found that will help you be more effective, excited, satisfied every day. And because I've seen their power firsthand, these are the 5 habits I've baked into my brand new Progress Journal. (Official subtitle: A Simple Daily Planner to Make Meaningful Progress on Your Most Important Work.) Click here to order yours on Amazon today! Now let's dive into those 5 ways to be more effective every day.

Every house in the country is a potential repeat customer... Matt Rowell set himself the goal of generating an extra $5k over 5 years to fund some passion projects, and he’s well on his way. Matt runs AmericanEdgeSharpening.com on the side from his day job as captain of a research vessel. It’s a knife sharpening business, which was up to $250-500 a month when we spoke and is earning him $30-60 per hour. He saw an ad while posted abroad with the Navy that gave him the idea for his business.  And then he took action. Matt: Picked up a knife sharpening kit Taught himself how to sharpen knives by watching YouTube videos Offered to sharpen knives for family and friends for the practice Found paying customers The best thing about the knife sharpening business? “If you drive down the road, every house that you pass has a bunch of knives in it,” Matt said. That means an almost limitless number of potential customers. Tune in to hear how Matt got started with this idea while he was deployed in Djibouti, Africa, including his equipment, how he learned how to do it, and how he’s marketed and priced his service. Full Show Notes: How to Start a Knife Sharpening Business

Can you find Amazon FBA profit from the comfort of your couch? Amit Desai of CreditCard101.us has built a business doing exactly that, and now he’s on track to sell $250k worth of stuff this year – all on the side from his day job. We’ve covered Amazon FBA and retail arbitrage before on the Side Hustle Show, but Amit has a unique angle in that he sources most of his inventory online. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Finding Amazon FBA Profit from Home Amit’s side hustle background is actually as a travel hacker. He’s one of those guys that racks up a bunch of points and frequent flier miles, so he can go on awesome trips for free. It was at a travel hacking conference where one of the speakers presented about his Amazon business, and how he was racking up tones of credit card points by buying inventory for his business that a light bulb went off for Amit. Flipping Items for Profit on Amazon Amit realized that if he could figure out a way to flip items on Amazon and breakeven he could step up his travel game. However, he soon found out there was real profit out there, not just from credit card cashback offers and free flights. He shares some interesting examples of how he's stacked cashback and other discounts on the items he's flipping to effectively increase the ROI on his products while being able to sell them at a competitive price. You'll hear where you should be spending your time if you’re starting out in the FBA space, loads of cool apps, websites, and tools that have helped automate most of his business, and the criteria he uses when sourcing goods. Tune in to hear Amit’s favorite tools for sourcing profitable inventory, his buying criteria, and how you can stack different discounts and rewards offers to improve your margins and get a leg up on the competition.

From no business ideas and no money, to making your first sales in 2 weeks. It’s not a far-fetched goal according to this week’s guest. Alan Donegan from PopUpBusinessSchool.co.uk specializes in guiding people through this transformation, and he says that everyone has a profitable business idea in their heads – and he knows how to find it. He does this through in-person workshops that are free to attend by forming partnerships with government bodies in cities across the UK, and he’s bringing his workshops to the US soon. Alan is adamant about bootstrapping and not taking on a load of debt to start a business because he saw his family go through a multi-million dollar bankruptcy and doesn’t want anyone else to have to experience the same fate. He preaches starting a business around a passion or something that excites you. Because running a business you’re passionate about sets you apart from the competition and makes the process so much easier. He shares how he teaches his students to pre-sell and validate their ideas before putting down cash for stock that might end up collecting dust in the garage, and he outlines what makes a successful pitch. Alan also shares how he practiced what he preaches when he sold his first PopUpBusiness workshop to a housing authority in the UK selling his highest priced package right out of the gate, and his business has been gaining momentum ever since. Tune in to hear how Alan pulls business ideas out of people who don’t think they have any, how he has his students quickly and cheaply validate those ideas, and what makes for a successful pitch. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Start a Business You Care About — With No Business Ideas and No Money

Could ethically “hack” the minds of your customers and prospects to persuade them to take action? It’s not some kind of magic or marketing trick. I’m talking about triggering a response in someone by triggering a response in their primal or reptilian brain. Patrick Renvoise of Salesbrain.com is a neuromarketing specialist, he’s the author of his recently released book - The Persuasion Code, and his TEDx talk has more than 140,000 views. Patrick argues that we basically have two systems competing in our head. Our 500 million year old primal brain, and our more modern rational brain. And however rational we think we are, it’s that ancient, self-centered, emotional, visual, primal brain that really drives decision making. In this episode, you’ll learn how, as entrepreneurs, marketers, and side hustlers, we can tap into that ancient “buy button” to be more persuasive. Tune in to hear how to more clearly explain the value proposition, and ultimately make more sales and grow your business. Patrick breaks down the 6 stimuli that matter to the primal brain, and how you can work your marketing techniques around these “triggers”, which are: Personal – Patrick explains how certain words in your sales copy can trigger a person’s “Buy button” and stimulate the response you’re aiming for. Contrast – He explains why it’s important to show customers a contract between you and your competitors, and how you can do this in your industry. Tangible – He explains why you should be using marketing information that a 4-year old would understand, and how using a story can impact our reptilian brains. Visual – “Around 90-95% of all brain activity it about processing images,” Patrick said. He explains how you can use images to make a more powerful impact than the written or spoken word. Beginning and End – By design, we remember more about the beginning and end of a conversation, film, book, and so on, so understanding the importance of writing a compelling hook and call-to-action can make a difference in sales conversions. Emotional – We make decisions based on our emotions, then rationalize them later. He explains how to tap into your customer's emotional responses. Tune in to hear Patrick explain the 6 stimuli of the reptilian brain you need to be aware of, his Pain/Claim/Gain/Brain framework for crafting effective emails, marketing materials, sales copy, etc, and how you can apply these techniques in your business to ethically make more sales. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Sell More by Finding the “Buy Button” in Customers’ Heads

Jodi Carlson has been running her blog LeaderConnectingLeaders.com part-time since 2014 and has slowly built it up to $5-6k a month in revenue. The earnings come from a combination of mostly digital product sales, as well as advertising, and affiliate relationships. The surprising thing – to me at least – is that she’s done this in a niche that theoretically doesn’t have any money. Her readers and customers are almost all volunteers and they’re donating their time to local non-profit groups – in this case, Girl Scout groups. On the surface that makes it seem like it’s as tough a niche as any to tackle, which makes Jodi’s results even more impressive. She brings more than two decades of experience in Girl Scouts to the table, as a scout, then as a troop leader, and even though the blog didn’t start out with dollar signs in mind she’s turned it into a substantial income stream. “I actually started it to help myself, and to then help troop leaders in my community,” Jodi said. Jodi started documenting the activities she was doing with her Scout Troops in her blog and making PDF books so she could refer to them again in the future, and shared her articles with a small circle of other leaders in her community. It wasn’t long before Troop leaders further afield started asking for her activity books. This sparked the idea to start selling her books and growing her blog. Tune in to hear how Jodi comes up with product ideas and prices those, how she made her first sales, how she’s grown her traffic to more than 100k pageviews a month, and income to $5k + a month – all while working full-time and raising a family. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: The $5k a Month Part-Time Girl Scout Blog Related: Check out my free video series on how to start a blog.

Could you live for free? That's what The Side Hustle Snowball framework proposes: to erase your expenses with new income streams. Start out with your smallest monthly expenses and work your way up: Gym memberships Life insurance Netflix Utilities Cell phone bill Car payments Car insurance Day care Student loan payments Rent or mortgage We all want our business to cover our costs of living and then some, but the "Snowball" framework (apologies to Dave Ramsey) allows you to work your way up to that ultimate goal of financial independence. Celebrate the small wins along the way. In this post / podcast episode, I'll break down the 15 income streams I'm working on right now. Which ones can you start or add to your existing business? Full Show Notes: The 15 Income Streams I'm Working on Right Now

Things were going great; he had a bunch of happy customers, he’d quit his engineering job to focus on it full-time, and he was doing what he loves. You might remember Jacques Hopkins from episode 223, where he broke down how he turned his hobby of playing piano into a solid $20k a month online business at Pianoin21days.com. BUT…. Between customer support, email, social media, phone sales, and all the other day-to-day tasks, it was taking a full 40 hours a week to run. Since then, Jacques set out to automate, optimize, and outsource different elements of the business. Those initiatives cut back his time commitment to maintain the biz to just 10 minutes a day — and still grew revenue to $30k a month. Jacques isn’t one to sit still, he’s using his newfound time freedom to work on more strategic growth projects and his other project; TheOnlineCourseGuy.com. He’s launched a podcast interviewing other people who have successfully launched online courses, and sells his own course giving customers a behind the scenes look at how he built and sold his courses on Pianoin21days.com. Tune in to hear how Jacques “plugged holes” in his course, outsourced time-consuming repetitive tasks to a virtual assistant, and successfully increased his revenue while reducing the time spent on his business. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Catching Up with the $30k a Month Piano Teacher — How He Grew His Business While Cutting Back His Hours 97%

At a certain point, you reach the ceiling of your own capabilities, of your own capacities, and no amount of productivity hacks are going to get you to the next level. So what do you do? You hire some help! That’s exactly what Bonnie Fahy started doing when she needed help with the day-to-day tasks running her real estate consulting business. Soon after she put a virtual team in place -- headed up by a US-based project manager -- she was able to free up more of her time to focus on sales, marketing, and other areas of her business. Those shifts ended up quadrupling her income in just a few months. With more than 300 hires behind her, Bonnie now runs LiveMoreFormula.com where she teaches other entrepreneurs the skills of “Hybridsourcing” she’s learned over the years. This means finding a balance between hiring domestic and international virtual assistants with the right skills to take some of your workload off your hands – at a cost-effective price. She uses some interesting techniques too. Preferring to put candidates through “Interview dates” over traditional interviews, she explains the types of questions you should be asking potential hires, and what you should expect to pay for skilled international workers. Tune in to hear the simple 4-step process Bonnie has refined over the years to make finding hires quick, identify top performers, and start adding virtual assistants to your team. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel:  Accelerate Your Business with Outsourcing: Best Practices from Hiring Over 300 Freelancers

300! In this special 300th edition of The Side Hustle Show, I’m excited to feature 5 listeners who took action on specific ideas they heard on the show or read on the Side Hustle Nation blog -- and turned that action into concrete results. Those results range from their first $1000 on the side, up to a $700k e-commerce empire, but the point is they made something happen. Tune in to hear how they got it done, and check the text summary below. Full Show Notes: 5 Listeners Who Took Action and Are Seeing Awesome Results

Remember the Red Paperclip Guy from a few years ago? In 2005, an out-of-work Kyle MacDonald started with a single red paperclip and traded his way up to a house in Kipling, Saskatchewan. Remarkably, this barter adventure took only 14 trades and was completed in less than a year. Kyle started out small, each time seeking something “bigger and better” in exchange. For example, his first trade was the red paperclip for a pen shaped like a fish. Then he traded the fish pen for a doorknob, and on and on up the ladder. The story certainly has some feel-good elements to it, and after a while the media attention definitely helped speed the process along, but I think it’s worthwhile to revisit because we’re all trying to “trade up.” By “trading up”, it’s important to note I’m not necessarily talking about acquiring a bigger house or a better car, but more along the lines of making bigger impacts and living better stories. I was reminded of the red paperclip story by last week's episode with Rob "The Flea Market Flipper" Stephenson. He talked about a challenge inside his community to start with something small and keep flipping the profits into bigger deals to see how much you could trade up over the course of a year. I think we all have a red paperclip story. Like Kyle, even starting with almost nothing, you can make big things happen with a little initiative and a little help from others along the way. This episode is about connecting the events that got you to where you are today, and thinking about where you want to go tomorrow. What’s the next trade you’d like to make? In the spirit of the red paperclip story, I’m going to use my own entrepreneurial journey to illustrate this; and similar to Kyle, I’ll use a series of 14 key decisions or trade points. But unlike Kyle, this took me a lot longer than a year! Full Show Notes: Trading Up: From $8.65 an Hour to Retired at 25, Plus the Next 10 Years

Rob is a professional "money multiplier." The good news, he says, is it's a skill that can be learned. You might remember Rob "The Flea Market Flipper" Stephenson from episode 147 in late 2015. At that time, he was earning $30,000-$40,000 a year flipping random products on the side from his day job. Since then, the father of 3 has taken his buy low, sell high model and turned it into a full-time 6-figure operation. Rob doesn’t discriminate what the products are he’s flipping, as long as he can pick it up for a great price he’ll flip it. I can’t blame him, since some of these single deals are worth thousands of dollars in profit. In fact, Rob only buys items he estimates he can 10x when he flips them. Since we last spoke Rob has fine-tuned his processes for finding and flipping items. He still hits the flea markets weekly, but he also uses some interesting tools and apps to find more items. He’s also found a way to save big on shipping cost, enabling him to go after bulky items with even bigger markups. In this “where are they now” episode, I invited Rob back to learn how he scaled up his business, what his buying criteria or flipping process looks like today, and what he’s got cooking next. Full Show Notes: $100k a Year Flipping Random Items: The Return of the Flea Market Flipper

"I'm this close to firing you right now." That's what Hung Pham's boss told him when he reached out about ways to get his team more engaged with the company's overall mission. "If you want passion and purpose," she said, "you've got to look somewhere else." Frustrated with the internal cultures at the organizations he worked in, Hung wanted to attend a culture-building conference. The only problem? That event didn't exist. Sensing a void in the market, Hung was inspired to create Culture Summit. With nothing more than a website, a few contacts booked as speakers, and a whole load of enthusiasm, Hung started emailing prospective attendees and getting the word out within the right circles. He had more than 200 attendees for that first event and was profitable from day one. By year two, Hung’s Culture Summit, at CultureSummit.co was a 6-figure business – all on the side from his day job. This was after Hung almost gave up and his partner left the business when they didn’t sell any tickets for the first three months. Tune in to hear how Hung validated his idea for his conference, how he sold his first tickets, and how he’s grown this side hustle into a full-time business with attendees from 5 continents, and where he wants to go from here. Full Show Notes: Event Hosting: How to Bring Your Tribe Together and Build a 6-Figure Conference on the Side

“I feel like this is the most important project I’ve ever worked on,” Mike said about his blog YoungArchitect.com. Mike Riscica runs a blog, podcast, and has built a thriving community for young professionals in the architecture field. The idea for the blog came from a pain point in Mike’s life, and for many others – passing the Architect Registration Examination (ARE). After failing to pass the exam 4 times (before passing) and seeing his peers struggling, Mike started blogging about his challenges. “[My story] resonated with people in a pretty serious way,” he said, and he started seeing traction within the community. He started monetizing his blog from day one with affiliate products and continued to add more revenue streams to scale up his business with courses, speaking gigs, books, videos, and more as his traffic grew. Today his blog in a full-time business. He's had the opportunity to travel the country with his dog doing speaking gigs, has helped hundreds of students pass their ARE, and has some interesting plans for the future. Tune in to hear how Mike grew his blog, how it rings the cash register in at least half a dozen different ways, and the strategies you may be able to lift for your own project. Full Show Notes: Blogging for Multiple Income Streams – How a Part-Time Blog Became a Diverse Revenue Engine

“I tell people I work on my cleaning business about an hour a day because 5 minutes doesn’t seem believable,” Chris Schwab said. Chris is the founder of ThinkMaids.com, a residential house cleaning service in the Washington DC area he started on the side while still a university student. Less than two years later, the business is doing $60k a month worth of cleaning work, all without Chris ever lifting a mop or dusting a shelf himself. In this episode, Chris shares some of the unique tactics he used to start and grow his cleaning business, and then remove himself from the day-to-day operations. Tune in to hear how Chris came up with the idea for his cleaning business, how he found his first customers and cleaners, and how he manages the entire business remotely. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: A Local Service Business that Scales - From Zero to $60k a Month in Revenue

Rene Delgado started an online drop shipping store with no ideas and no inventory and went from $0-300k in his first year in business. It was the search for an extra stream of income that led Rene Delgado to consider e-commerce; selling physical products online. “Drop shipping” is a form of e-commerce where your suppliers ship products directly to customers on your behalf. Your role is to drive traffic to your storefront, forward the purchase order details to your supplier when a visitor makes a purchase, collecting the retail price and buying the goods at wholesale. Rene went through a very specific product research process and ended up starting BounceHouseStore.com, where he sells bounce houses and other products related to bounce houses. He’s already started scaling his business on the success of his bounce house store. Rene has now outsourced the day-to-day operations of this store and started a new drop shipping store that has already turned over double what his bounce house did in its first year. There’s no luck here. “It’s hard work,” Rene said. That and some careful planning and execution. Tune in to hear why Rene was attracted to drop shipping, the criteria he used to find the bounce house niche, and how he generated $300k of sales in his first year in business. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Start an Online Store with No Ideas and No Inventory (and still sell $300k in your first year)

Bill Nowicki has a unique side hustle. He has a podcast show called MariettaStories named after Marietta GA, a suburb of Atlanta with a population of about 60,000. Having a podcast show isn’t unique but producing a show that’s focused on a local community is something a little different – and something you might consider doing for your local community after hearing Bill’s story. Bill is a former Navy submariner, still a nuclear engineer by day, and had different side hustle aspirations at first – he wanted to make videos for local businesses but was finding it hard to land clients. After meeting a charismatic 78-year-old woman at his local church he had the idea to start a podcast about people in his local community, for his local community. He thought this would be a great way to generate videography leads. But as his show has grown and become a profit-center of its own, Bill realized that not only in his time better spent on his show but the medium of audio is more enjoyable and profitable for him than video. Tune in to hear how Bill started his podcast show, how he marketed his show and became known in his local community, how he’s monetized the show to turn it into a revenue generating side hustle and some of the exciting things he has planned for the future. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Local Podcasts: How to Become the Voice of Your Community — and Get Paid

Austin Miller built a $1.2 million real estate portfolio at 31 years old -- for free. He's a side hustling real estate investor specializing in "creative" financing deals -- houses he can buy without using his own money. Austin is the author of Free Houses: How To Build Your Real Estate Investment Portfolio With No Money. His basic strategy is this: Find a killer deal on a house that needs some work. Buy it with the creative financing methods Austin talks about in this episode. Either do the work yourself or hire contractors. Put a paying tenant in the newly rehabbed home. Refinance the home with a traditional bank loan and pay back the original funding source. The end game is positive monthly cash flow from rental income, plus building a long-term wealth through tenants paying off the mortgage. Austin has developed some unique and interesting ways to hard money and private money to fund his property purchases. The best part – it’s truly a side hustle that can be done in a few hours a week the end result is passive income from rental revenue. Tune in to hear how Austin finds killer deals, buys the houses without risking his own capital, and then rehabs them to get ready to rent. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Free Houses: How to Build a $1 Million Real Estate Portfolio on the Side

It’s time to dive into the ol’ listener mailbag and answer a few questions in this week’s edition of The Side Hustle Show. I’ve had quite a few interesting questions come in since the last Q&A episode, and picked 20 to talk through in today’s show. Like this format? This is the 6th installment of “20 Questions” so feel free to go back and binge on the older ones too: 271: Brilliant Blogging, Ruthless Productivity, and Guaranteed Success: 20 Questions with Nick 245: Network Marketing, Imposter Syndrome, My Side Hustle Mistakes, and More: 20 Questions with Nick 219: Growing Traffic, Monetization, List-Building, a Day in the Life, and More: 20 Questions with Nick 198: Blogging, Branding, Book Writing, and Finding the Right Side Hustle for You: 20 Questions with Nick 181: SEO, Affiliate Marketing, Self-Publishing, Udemy, and More: 20 Questions with Nick A common piece of advice you’ll hear is to take audience questions and turn them into content, so here’s a meta example of that in action. This episode covers questions on conferences, affiliate marketing, ebooks, staying motivated and organized, and even bulletproof coffee. Tune in to hear my responses to those questions and a dozen more below. Full Show Notes: Email, Ebooks, Platforms, and Conferences: 20 Questions with Nick

Willpower predicts academic and professional success better than IQ, or charisma, or having rich parents. It’s not the only ingredient in our success recipe, but it’s a critical one -- and one I certainly struggle with at times. Derek Doepker of ExcuseProof.com is an expert when it comes to increasing willpower and strengthening this critical success muscle we all have. He is the author of 7 bestselling books in personal development, a speaker, consultant, trainer, and specializes in helping individuals create permanent change and achieve mind, body, and business success in as little as 5 minutes a day. In this episode, we walk through several powerful willpower strategies you can start with today. Big thanks to my brother Chris for the inspiration for this one. Check out his excellent willpower article at BecomingBetter.org. Full Show Notes: Willpower 101: 8 Ways to Strengthen This Critical Success Muscle

May Najafabadi earned $12,000 in 8 weeks -- working just 1 hour a day. Her side hustle? After school enrichment classes teaching crafts and jewelry making. As a long-time entrepreneur in the e-commerce space, May was used to enrolling her son in these classes to buy herself an extra hour in the afternoons. Over the last couple years though, she wanted to diversify her income away from Amazon and wondered if she could be the one selling those classes instead. May chose arts and crafts, a subject her son enjoyed in first grade but didn’t see available for second grade and above. With no experience working with crafts or teaching children May jumped right in with a lunchtime demonstration and handing out flyers to the kids. “The kids went crazy, they just loved the crafts. It was a big hit,” May said. With her hopes set on 6 or more kids for that first class, May had 18 sign up at $120 each. She soon expanded to larger schools, with larger groups of kids, and hired helpers. She's released a book, a training course, and hosts birthday parties and summer camps, and has hopes of franchising her model. Tune in to hear how May has grown her after school class business and how you may be able to borrow this creative side hustle idea. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Make $200 an Hour Playing with Kids: An Intro to After School Programs

At the end of nearly every episode of The Side Hustle Show, I ask my guests for their #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation. There’s always a great variety of responses, and I wanted to take some time today to go through some of my favorites from the past 50-ish interviews. This has become an annual tradition on the show, and we just passed 5 years and 5.5 million downloads! If you like this short-and-sweet meta-style show, be sure to check out the others in this series: Episode 50 Episode 124 Episode 177 Episode 236 And even though my primary motivation is to extract helpful tactics for you, the listener, I can’t help but learn from my guests as well. You never know when inspiration will strike or where you’ll hear the one insight that has a huge impact. These episodes are a lot of fun to put together, and give me an excuse to revisit some of my favorite moments and wise words from the show. From the last 49 guests, the 3 most common #1 tips I heard were: Take action; learn as you go. Be persistent. It doesn't happen overnight. Charge more. Don't undervalue yourself. While those might sound overly generic, don’t be quick to dismiss them. If all these really smart and successful people keep saying these episode after episode as their “#1 tip,” I think they’re worth paying attention to. What action can you take today to apply those tips? My #1 Tip this time? Make progress every day. Full Show Notes: What I've Learned and Applied for 49 Awesome Entrepreneurs - Part 5

10 months! Just 10 months after starting his side hustle, Jonathan Mendonsa was ready to quit his 6-figure job and take the business full-time. What's the hustle? A podcast called Jonathan co-hosts with this partner Brad Barrett ChooseFI. “You need to either be first or be different. We couldn’t be first, so we wanted to pivot and be a little different,” Jonathan said. When the project started, he was working full-time as a pharmacist, living a frugal lifestyle, and was an avid consumer of financial independence content. From the offset, he knew that, “If we can create a show that’s information, accurate, good, entertaining, and also inspirational, that’ll be addictive.” In this episode Jonathan shares some of the unique tactics and tips he and Brad used to grow their audience, community, and business so fast. Tune in to hear how ChooseFI earned 2 million downloads in its first year, and how they monetize the show to support two families. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Choose Financial Independence: A Case Study in Audience Building

“It’s the best-kept secret in the real estate industry,” Mark said, talking about becoming a loan signing agent. You can make $100 an hour as a part-time, and the only real requirements are that you know what you’re doing, and you have a notary license. (A loan signing agent is the person who walks you through the giant stack of forms and contracts you have to sign when you close on a new home loan.) I was first introduced to this side hustle early last year, when I first sat down with Mark Wills and his business partner Roman Rosario. That conversation turned into episode 215 of the Side Hustle Show, where the pair walked me through how they built and sold an online course starting with no audience. At that time, the Loan Signing System course, which he teaches people how to become loan signing agents, was doing around $4k a month. A year and half later, and they're doing around $30k a month and hosting a national conference! But what we didn’t really cover in that episode was how to become a loan signing agent and what that business is actually like -- to the frustration of many listeners. So in response to audience feedback and several listener testimonials, I invited Mark back on the show, along with one of his successful students, to dive into the loan signing side hustle. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Become a Loan Signing Agent and Earn $100 an Hour Part-Time

“I set up a big business just selling somebody else’s stuff,” Wes said. Wes runs TheSalesWhisperer.com and is the host of The Sales Podcast which started around the same time as The Side Hustle Show back in 2013. He’s an Air Force vet, a father of 7, and has built up an interesting side hustle that on the surface looks like a typical consulting business but is done in such a way that it’s set up to generate recurring passive income. Wes has been side hustling since the 90’s and started his online business around a decade ago. He saw an opportunity to become one of the first Infusionsoft resellers, a piece of software that not only streamlined his own business but offered attractive recurring affiliate commissions. Wes became one of the top earners in the world and was netting $15k a month in mostly passive income, all on the side from his primary consulting, speaking, and sales training practice. He’s adapted his strategies over the years and diversified his income streams but his business model stays similar to this day – scalable affiliate marketing with recurring passive income. Tune in to hear how Wes started generating passive income through affiliate marketing and how you may be able to use a similar strategy in your service business. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: The Passive Income Service Business

When Abbey made $8000 from her 1000-person email list, she knew she was on to something. Over the last several years, Abbey Ashley has gone from earning $25 as a virtual assistant, to coordinating monster 6-figure launches of her own product. I actually met Abbey at the bar during Traffic and Conversion Summit. Her “Virtual Assistance Is My Jam,” t-shirt caught my attention and I had to know more. Eight months pregnant with her first daughter, she couldn't imagine putting her child in day care just to go back to work at a job she hated. So she started devouring everything she could find online about working from home and virtual assisting. Before long, she'd landed her first clients and booked enough work not to have to go back to her old job when her leave was up. Eventually she started subcontracting out some of the work, which was her first taste of passive income. As some of her clients were doing really well selling online courses, Abbey tried to enter that world as well. Her first course launches were major flops. Then she did what all good entrepreneurs do when a first attempt doesn’t go as planned. She looked at what went wrong, made the necessary changes, and tried again. She pre-sold her next course idea to the tune of $8000 from a 1000-person list. Her second launch generated $40k in sales, and 6 months later her next launch generated $160k in sales. Tune in to how Abbey walked The Side Hustle Path, her actionable hacks and strategies along the way, and how she built and sold her online course even without a huge audience starting out. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: From Active to Passive Income: From $25 an Hour to 6-Figure Launches

You've got less than 3 seconds to make a first impression online. Is your website turning would-be customers away without you even knowing it? Your site and the words you use -- your copy -- could either be making you money or costing you big time. I invited copywriting pro Laura Belgray on the show to do some live "copy audits" of listeners' sites. Laura is a professional copywriter with nearly 20 years of experience. During this time, she has written everything from TV promos, launch campaigns, online content, and tons more. She is also the co-creator of The Copy Cure, an online copywriting course with Marie Forleo to help you "write like you talk and make people love and buy what you sell." In this episode, we check out the sites from our brave volunteers and critique their language and structure. We looked at sites in e-commerce, service businesses, and blogs. Listen in for some common mistakes that could be killing your conversion rates along with Laura's copywriting tips for compelling lead magnet offers and taglines. I'm confident you'll get a ton of value from listening in on these website reviews and have some homework to go home and implement on your own site right away. Full Show Notes: Your Copy Sucks! Website Reviews from a Professional Copywriter

FoodTruckEmpire.com generates $60k a year on the side from Brett Lindenberg's marketing consulting job. Why'd he start a blog about the food truck industry? “I started the blog at a time in my life when I was looking at just a whole bunch of different business ideas,” Brett said. Originally, Brett wanted to start his own food truck. While researching how to start a food truck business he discovered there wasn’t enough quality information online. So, he did what all good entrepreneurs do – capitalized on this gap in the market and started his own blog. Brett creates the bulk of his content interviewing food truck owners and influencers in the industry. He’s grown his blog to $60k a year in just 4 years through building an academy course, securing paid advertising, running AdSense, and selling ebooks. And spoiler alert: he never ended up starting that food truck! Tune in to hear Brett's content strategy, the different ways he monetizes his business, and how you can apply these methods to your own blog. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Build a $60k a Year Part-Time Blog

In his first 3 months, he'd booked more than $4000 worth of work. “I’ve never been very good at working with people, so I wanted something that was flexible,” James said. Sound familiar? These are the words of someone who was not happy being a shoe salesman and wanted out. James was looking for that location independent lifestyle, and when he was approached to ghostwrite a book for $300 he knew what he wanted to do from that point on. Fast-forward a couple of years and James now charges $300 per 1000 words for his freelance writing, and most of his work is at least 2500 words ($750). He’s also started up a cool business at FreelanceWritersSchool.com teaching others how to follow in his footsteps. Tune in to hear how James landed his first clients, his strategies for growing a portfolio, and some of his favorite hacks to overcome writer's block. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Start a $1000/Month Freelance Writing Business in 60 Minutes a Day

Corey Jeffreys turned an $800 investment into $3k in the first year and has been growing his business and adding more automated processes each year. His entrepreneurial adventure began by exploring the world of real estate investing, when he happened upon a slightly different rental business model: inflatable bounce houses. Corey started out renting a bounce house to his aunt as his first customer and doing all the labor himself, to where he is now with a virtual assistant from Upwork taking bookings and a delivery guy from Craigslist handling the delivery. This is a very different side hustle from the online businesses we see more often, but Corey managed it with a small up-front investment and it set the cogs turning with possibilities of other industries this can be applied to. Tune in to hear how Corey found his first customers, grew his business through word-of-mouth and online marketing channels, and hired help to automate his business processes and remove himself from the day-to-day operations. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Start a Bounce House Rental Business (Investing in "Inflatable" Real Estate)

“Go big or go home, that’s kinda my whole philosophy with SEO,” Matt said. And his results speak for themselves. It’s been more than 200 episodes since we last heard from Matt Giovanisci. Back then, Matt was explaining how he was growing his authority site SwimUniversity.com with epic content and strong SEO. Since then he’s started 3 more authority sites and has fine-tuned his SEO practices for even bigger and quicker results. His latest site BrewCabin.com is just a few months old and Matt is already ranking well for high traffic “money” keywords – without building backlinks or promoting this content. How is he doing this? It’s not through longtail keywords. Quite the opposite, Matt goes after those high traffic keywords and outranks his competitors by producing epic content that people want to read. Tune in to hear Matt explain how he does his keyword research, how he formats his content to ensure strong on-page SEO, and why he’s seeing such rapid growth across all of his sites. Note: This is "round 2" of SEO for Bloggers. Round 1 was this conversation with Joseph Hogue last year.) Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: SEO for Bloggers: The Simple Way to Get More Free Traffic From Google

A $425k exit on a 2.5 year old business!? Recently a friend of mine posted about how he sold his 2.5-year-old Amazon FBA business for over $400k, which I thought was incredible. The twist was it turned out the buyer was a familiar face as well. Spencer Haws of NichePursuits.com was the seller, and Ace Chapman of AceChapman.com was the buyer. They are both previous guests of the show. Spencer was on episodes 18 and 70 of The Side Hustle Show talking about niche sites and software, and Ace was a guest on episode 182, talking about investing in digital real estate. Why did Spencer decide to get into the Amazon FBA business? “I had an idea for a product I used every day, couldn’t find exactly what I wanted on Amazon. So, I decided to find a manufacturer that can make a variation of what I like,” Spencer said. Why was this business an attractive deal for Ace and his investors? “The thing that I liked about the deal was the different sources of income,” Ace said. I decided to invite them both on the Side Hustle Show to give you both sides of the deal. You’ll hear how Spencer built up the business so quickly, why he decided to sell up, and how Ace found himself on the other end of the deal. Tune in to hear how Spencer built an FBA business from $0-400k in less than 3 years with no prior experience in this private label space, and how Ace helps his clients raise the funds to buy online businesses. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Selling an Amazon FBA Business: My $425k Exit ... and the Guy Who Bought It

Paul Brodie is a former special needs teacher turned 11-time Amazon bestselling author. What started as a side hustle writing about his own weight loss journey turned into a string of bestselling titles on Amazon, $3000 paid speaking gigs, 1-on-1 self-publishing coaching, and ultimately the group coaching program I invited Paul on the show to share more about. Why go down the group coaching route? After working with other authors on a 1-to-1 basis and seeing them achieve similar success self-publishing their books on Amazon, Paul had "an epiphany.” By developing a group coaching program there was no limit to the number of authors he could work with. Paul dove right in with a live webinar to test his idea for a group coaching program without a huge audience or list of his own. With 5 students signing up on the spot at $1.5k each, he started work on the content and drip-feeding modules out on a weekly basis. Tune in to hear how Paul used the momentum from self-publishing books on Amazon to open up several other business opportunities before landing on the group coaching program. He covers how he set the price for his program, the methods and tools he uses to automate accepting new students, delivering the weekly modules, and where he goes from here. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Set Up and Sell a Group Coaching Program

What are the quick, simple, and maybe a little "weird" productivity tricks entrepreneurs use to get more done? Well, I'm always curious about that myself so I decided to ask 26 of my most productive and successful friends for the "hacks" and tools they use every day. (And I added in one of my own to round out the list.) This episode was a ton of fun to put together and I owe a huge thank you to everyone who participated! I know I learned of a few new tools to try and I'm sure you will to. If you like this style of show, you might consider checking out last year's round-up episode as well, which asked 25 people how they made their first side hustle or business income. You can see the participants and the approximate timestamps of their advice below. Enjoy! Full Show Notes: 27 "Weird" Productivity Hacks You Can Try Today

It's such an elegantly simple -- yet powerful -- way of looking at what really matters in your business. Perry Marshall's "Tactical Triangle" identifies the 3 primary levers in any business as: Traffic Conversion Economics And even more powerful, there's an 80/20 Pareto Principle inside each of those. Start tweaking a few of the most important variables and you start to see some serious impact on your bottom line. (image credit) Perry is the author of one of my all-time favorite books, 80/20 Sales and Marketing. (You can get it on Amazon, but you might want to get it at PerryMarshall.com for just "a penny plus shipping" -- which will get you a front row seat to some of the best copywriting and upsell sequences in the biz.) Over the last 15+ years, Perry has built a business as a copywriter, an author, and a sought-after trainer and consultant. In this episode we dive into the Tactical Triangle, looking for areas to improve traffic, conversions, and economics to double your business in the next 30 days. Tune in to hear Perry’s Star Principle, how to position your business to be #1, how to run an 80/20 survey to find out what your customers really want, and why you might consider adding a Power Guarantee to your business. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: The Tactical Triangle: How to Double your Business in 30 Days

John made $1614 before 11am the day we recorded this episode. His business model? Buying industrial byproducts, the kind of stuff that’s used for shipping like pallets, cardboard boxes, crates, and so on, and selling them on for a profit. John Wilker started out buying or being given pallets free by businesses that had no need for them and selling them to pallet yards. Realizing the pallet yards were selling them on for a profit to businesses that did have a need for them, John saw an opportunity. “Bottom line is I’m a middleman,” John said. John hit the pavement and started knocking on the doors of industrial businesses, large warehouses, distributors, and scrap yards. He asked if they had pallets and other shipping byproducts they didn’t need, what they were currently doing with these items, if they needed any items, and explained how he could help. Wanting to operate without storage space and employees John has found the perfect balance between supply and demand. He spends his mornings picking up items from one business and selling them on to another just a few miles away. “It’s quite simple…but has to be set up in the correct manner for it to work,” John said. It’s certainly one of the more interesting side hustles, and it sets the cogs turning to think of other niches that can fit this model. Tune in to hear how John found his first suppliers and buyers, how he sets his prices, and how he transports this stuff without having to store it. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: The Middleman Method: A Real-Life Example of Turning Trash into Treasure

Getting paid to turn away work? Being in the position to turn away work as a freelancer or consultant is an envious place to be in, but being in the position to turn away that work AND get paid for it? Even better! John Doherty had spent years working in the digital marketing space, both as an employee and a freelancer. As his SEO consulting business crew, he reached the capacity of how much he wanted to work, and started essentially selling leads to friends and colleagues he trusted. That little side side hustle is now John's full-time focus, and today GetCredo.com is generating $500-600k worth of deals for its partner digital marketing agencies. As the connector and facilitator of those deals, John takes a commission. It's affiliate marketing, just with a bit of a twist from the kind we've covered before. “I purposely set out to build a brand that is outside of just me,” John said. “I’m really trying to make this a high-touch service to really help businesses connect with the right agencies for their needs.” Tune in to hear how John earned his first finder's fee, how he's built up both sides of the Credo marketplace, and how he's priced his service in this high-touch affiliate marketing model. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: High-Touch Affiliate Marketing: How to Get Paid to Play Matchmaker in Your Niche

How much will you save from the new tax law? It turns out that while there are some great "gives" from Uncle Sam for entrepreneurs, there are several potentially costly "takes" as well. Death and taxes, right? To help talk through how some of the most important tax law changes will impact your bottom line, I invited Josh Bauerle from CPAonFire.com back on the show. You might remember Josh from episode 208 where he answered tax questions from the Side Hustle Nation community. This time, Josh talks through the new benefits for pass-through entities, changes in C-Corp taxes, the new standard deduction amounts, changes to child tax credits, and more. Tune in to hear Josh talk through the most important tax changes and how they affect you as a small business owner or side hustle entrepreneur. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How the New Tax Law Impacts Entrepreneurs and Side Hustlers

It’s time to dive into the ol' listener mailbag and answer a few questions in this week’s edition of The Side Hustle Show. I’ve had quite a few interesting questions come in since the last Q&A episode, and picked 20 to talk through in today’s show. Like this format? This is the 5th installment of "20 Questions" so feel free to go back and binge on the older ones too: 245: Network Marketing, Imposter Syndrome, My Side Hustle Mistakes, and More: 20 Questions with Nick 219: Growing Traffic, Monetization, List-Building, a Day in the Life, and More: 20 Questions with Nick 198: Blogging, Branding, Book Writing, and Finding the Right Side Hustle for You: 20 Questions with Nick 181: SEO, Affiliate Marketing, Self-Publishing, Udemy, and More: 20 Questions with Nick A common piece of advice you’ll hear is to take audience questions and turn them into content, so here’s a meta example of that in action. This episode covers questions on blogging, affiliate marketing, productivity, my new email system, making time for your side hustle, the idea of guaranteed success, and more. Tune in to hear my responses to those questions and a dozen more below. Full Show Notes: Brilliant Blogging, Ruthless Productivity, and Guaranteed Success: 20 Questions with Nick

How would you like to add thousands of dollars a month to your bottom line, on autopilot? Sounds pretty good, right? Greg Hickman of System.ly has achieved this for his own 6-figure a month business and does the same for his clients using marketing automation and effective sales funnels. If you're wondering what marketing automation is, in Greg’s own words it's, “How to use technology to enable your sales and marketing and fulfillment strategy.” Greg is a master in the art of offering compelling lead magnets to attract potential customers, setting up onboarding sequences and follow-up emails to keep them interested, and converting them into paying customers. The best part is that it doesn’t need to be complicated as his own simple 4-step formula from Facebook ad to paying customer proves. Plus, when your marketing automation sequence is set up it runs itself bringing in new clients all year round. Tune in to hear the types of lead magnets and sales strategies Greg sees working today, the questions you have to ask yourself before writing any email sequence, and how he communicates with prospects on an ongoing basis. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Systemize Your Business with Marketing Automation

Women pay up to $2000 a month to hang out with Natalie Eckdahl for a few hours. The mother of 3 has turned her BizChix podcast (which started as a side hustle) into a thriving business based largely on paid mastermind groups. She curates groups of high-performing female entrepreneurs – and gets paid handsomely to do it. Is this a revenue stream you could add to your business? If you’re in a consulting, freelancing, or coaching role and trying to figure out what the next step is to scale up your business, a group mastermind program could be the answer. In fact, a paid mastermind was the first thing I sold on Side Hustle Nation, but I put the program on hold after our son was born. All of a sudden that extra hour or two in the evening became a lot harder to part with! I wanted to pick her brain on how she set everything up and sold it to her audience. “What I’m trying to create is an amazing brainstorming opportunity for the women that join the group,” Natalie said. Today she’s running five separate premium-priced masterminds for 5- and 6-figure entrepreneurs, with prices ranging from $600 to $2000 a month. But it almost didn’t happen. She was a few weeks away from putting BizChix on pause, when a fateful few customers sparked a major turning point. Tune in to hear how Natalie sets up her groups for success, structures the meetings, and 20x’d her rates in 3 years. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Set Up and Sell a Paid Mastermind Group

Could a part-time blog really bring in that kind of cash? Rosemarie swears she only works 20 hours a week! Yes, The Busy Budgeter is back for her 3rd round on The Side Hustle Show, and it's a good one. If you missed the first two: In episode 142, Rosemarie Groner's blog was about a year old and earning $5k a month. She shared a step-by-step system for generating massive traffic from Pinterest, which I immediately implemented myself. A year later, in episode 199, she was earning $20-25k a month, and shared her "date your list" and "core affiliate strategy." A few months after that recording, she started posting consistent $100k months from her blog, so of course I had to invite her back to hear what changed. If you guessed creating her own products and driving paid traffic, you'd be the big winner. “I eliminated anything that wasn’t important for my growth,” Rosemarie said. Tune in to hear how Rosemarie started selling her own products, the sales funnels tactics and tools she uses to turn subscribers into customers, and her tips to keep improving your ROI so you spend less time working while increasing your revenue. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Blogging ROI: From $18 to $100k a Month in 2.5 Years

This should probably be episode 1, not 267, but if I'm being totally honest, I probably wasn't in a place personally or professionally to record it as episode 1. I’ve avoided doing a “mindset” episode for almost 5 because I didn’t think it was necessary. I thought if people are seeking out business information, entrepreneurship information, they’ve already got the right mindset. They know what’s up. They get it. But older and (hopefully) wiser, I’ve come to see the mindset conversation as an important one, and one I’ve been overlooking for a long time. This is foundational stuff, and before you dismiss this as way to fluffy for a Side Hustle Show episode, let me give you a couple points to consider on the mindset front. The first comes from one of my favorite podcasts, Tropical MBA. Their theory is for entrepreneurs making: $0-100k - the barrier is mindset $100k - $1M - the barrier is marketing $1M + - the barrier is your team I’m sure there are counterpoints but I think there’s a lot of truth in that breakdown. The second point to consider comes from Dane Maxwell, who was a special guest on episode 119 of The Side Hustle Show, during my public coaching experiment. Dane created several software businesses before founding The Foundation to teach others what he’d learned. He said the easiest way to test if your mindset is in the right place is to ask if you have or are you getting the results you want? If not, something must be missing, right? There’s some brutal honesty in that question, and it took me a minute to wrap my head around it, but the gist of it is this: if you’re not where you want to be, there’s room for some mindset growth or changes. In this episode I’ll share 10 traits of the hustler’s mindset and do my best to illustrate those with examples from either my own businesses or those of my guests. Full Show Notes: The Hustler’s Mindset: The 10 Traits of Successful Side Hustle Entrepreneurs

Brian Winch calls it “America’s Simplest Business.” What started as a side hustle way back in 1981 has now grown into a $650k a year operation. So what does Brian do? His company picks up litter from parking lots. Sadly, it's still an essential service (boo litterbugs!), but has very low startup costs and Brian says you can earn $30-$50 an hour doing this on the side. What prompted Brian to pick up the phone and ask property management companies if he could handle their litter picking contracts? “I decided I liked my job but I couldn’t see myself doing this for the rest of my life and I wanted more,” Brian said. In just a few months he was earning more part-time in this side hustle than he was at his full-time job. It's freelancing -- brick-and-mortar style. Tune in to hear how Brian landed his first clients, how he priced his service, and how he scaled the business to remove himself from the day-to-day trash pickup. With the decent pay, hours that fit around most day jobs, minimal start-up costs, and no prior experience necessary, it’s a side hustle success story that's worth checking out. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: The Simplest Side Hustle Ever? How to Earn $30-50 an Hour Picking up Trash

With a user base of 800 million people, there are enough potential customers for everyone on Instagram, regardless of your type of business. Instagram is the first app I check in the morning, but I don't really use it for business. To help school me on this massive social media channel, I invited Allie McAdam on the show. Allie is an Instagram strategist and the host of the Passion in Business podcast, which is primarily an Instagram marketing podcast. Allie started off on the platform as many of us do, using it for personal pictures and keeping in touch with family and friends. It wasn't until she started working for an MLM company and seeing some of the top earners leveraging Instagram for sales that she saw the potential for Instagram-specific marketing. Allie started to reverse engineer what they were doing. She went from 300 followers to 3k in just six weeks, now has more than 10k followers, and teaches others how to do the same. The first question everyone asks is, “Is there a market for my business on Instagram?” “More often than not your audience is there. What matters is how you’re going to market to them,” Allie said. Tune in to hear Allie explain how to find and market to your audience on Instagram, her top tips to increase your followers, and why Instagram might be the social media platform to take your business to the next level. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Instagram Marketing – How to Get More Followers and Customers on Instagram

"I teach women how to get dressed in the morning." That's how Kelly Snyder from AdoreYourWardrobe.com introduced herself to me at FinCon. (The more "official" tagline is that Adore Your Wardrobe teaches women how to confidently dress their unique bodies through the principles found in math and science.) There's a niche for everything, right! It’s a really cool business idea that sits firmly outside of the usual internet marketing space and has helped thousands of women be less frustrated and a lot happier with their wardrobe. Kelly has used an interesting strategy of challenge marketing to grow her business to multiple 6-figures in under two years. But the 14 Day from Frustration to Functional Closet Challenge is just one piece of the puzzle, or one piece of the "customer success path," as she put it. As the challenge wraps up, she invites participants to join her flagship course, and she's added a couple more upsells beyond that as well in response to customer feedback. So how about results? Each time she runs a challenge she adds another $100k in revenue to her business! There are some interesting and unusual techniques to her challenge marketing strategies, and definitely some scope to apply these techniques to your own business if you sell courses or any other service. Tune in to hear how Kelly structures her challenges, how she gets people in the door, and how she converts free participants into paying customers. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Challenge Marketing – How to Explode Your List and Revenue with Free Challenges

It's no secret that Amazon FBA is one of the hottest side hustles going right now, and it shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. FBA is Fulfillment by Amazon, the program that allows you to list your own products for sale on Amazon, tap into their giant audience of customers, and have them handle all the shipping when orders come in. The trick is figuring out which which products to sell, and that's where Greg Mercer comes in. Greg has launched over 100 successful products on Amazon, including a few public examples like bamboo marshmallow sticks and hooded baby towels he shared on the JungleScout.com blog. Just those two products alone are earning $12k a month in profit, and he’s formed some cool partnerships with Doctors without Borders and Pencils of Promise to put the proceeds to good use. Now, you might remember Greg from an episode we did a couple years ago, How to Find Your First Amazon FBA Private Label Product. At that time, we talked about private label research and strategies for starting an FBA business. Since the landscape has changed a bit since then, I invited Greg back on the show to dive into how he's picking products today. The 3 strategies we cover are: Big demand / bad reviews. Big sales / poor marketing. New markets / immature listings. Greg also breaks down the criteria he likes to see in new private label products, how Amazon ranks products in their internal algorithm, and how he successfully launches his new products quickly. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: The Top 3 Amazon FBA Private Label Product Research Strategies for 2018 and Beyond

Is your website guilty of these common sins? How secure is your site, really? WordPress is like the new toy you unwrap on Christmas morning -- you know it's going to be awesome, but there's some assembly required. To break down some of the most common website mistakes, I invited my friend Anthony Tran on the show. Anthony runs MarketingAccessPass.com, a web design and development agency, as well as AccessWP.com, a WordPress support company offering unlimited support for a low monthly subscription. (Get $20 off your first month of Access WP through my affiliate link) With years of experience building websites for himself and for clients, he definitely knows his stuff. In this episode, we walk through how you can tighten up the security of your site, speed up your load times, and some quick changes that’ll improve your SEO and user experience. Whether you’re new to WordPress or have been blogging for years, I think you’ll take something away from this episode as Anthony shares his tips, tools, and best practices from years of working online for himself and for clients. Note: If you don't have a website up and running yet, my free video series will show you how to get online quickly and affordably. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: The Most Common Website Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)

I felt gross. I was tired from chasing a toddler around, out of shape, and fighting a series of frustrating injuries. And I realized it was hurting my output at work. Building a business takes real energy and real brainpower, and I wasn't performing optimally because my body wasn't performing optimally. I knew I had to do something about it. A friend introduced me to Rob Dionne, a certified personal trainer who works with clients online and in person. He also co-hosts the Open Sky Fitness podcast with his wife Devon and runs the really active Open Sky Fitness Facebook group. Since we started working together, I've lost 5 pounds, gained strength, and generally feel more energized during the day. On the surface, investing 20 minutes in a workout seems like going backward; that's 20 minutes I should be working! But I've found it pays dividends in better energy the rest of the day and better sleep at night. During our coaching calls, I'd often find myself saying, "This is really good stuff, we should be recording this." And that's how this episode came to be. Tune in to hear the most important health and fitness factors, how they can fit into any schedule, and Rob's analysis of one Side Hustle Show listener's daily routine. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Health and Fitness for Busy Entrepreneurs - The Most Overlooked Productivity Hack?

A lot has changed in Ryan's "buy low, sell high" business built on Amazon's FBA program. This week’s episode is a “where are they now?” show as I catch up with Ryan Grant from OnlineSellingExperiment.com. Ryan first appeared on the show back in 2014 on episode 61. Back then he had just quit his $50k a year job to sell online full-time using retail arbitrage. (He’d started out flipping textbooks in college and then got into Amazon FBA retail arbitrage; buying low from stores locally and re-selling on Amazon.) Fast forward 3 years and Ryan’s business has grown at an incredible pace. He’s had some pretty impressive media exposure off the back of a Reddit AMA and is on track to sell more than $4 million worth of stuff in 2017. What were the driving forces behind this accelerated growth? “I wanted to make it a true business,” Ryan said. He now has a team of 11 people working for him, has put processes in place to find more items in retail stores, has started buying at wholesale, and can now use his own time more efficiently to work on growing his business and finding expansion opportunities. Ryan’s success is proof that retail arbitrage is still a viable side hustle. In this episode he explains what he’s learned over the last 3 years, and how the retail arbitrage landscape has changed for new sellers. Tune in to hear Ryan explain how he grew his business into a multi-million-dollar operation, how he grew his team and developed processes to scale up, and what he’s focusing on in 2018. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: From Flipping Textbooks to $4 Million in Sales: How to Scale Your Amazon FBA Retail Arbitrage Business

This week’s show is a roundtable episode on the topic of YouTube, and specifically how 3 different channel hosts have gone about growing their presence and profits on the YouTube platform. My esteemed panelists are: Jon Shanahan from The Kavalier, a men’s style / men’s fashion channel. Pete Sveen from DIY Projects with Pete and DIYPete.com, a home improvement channel and website. Matt Tran from Engineered Truth and EngineeredTruth.com, a career advice channel. They explain how and why they started using the free YouTube platform to grow significant followings and income streams, and share some actionable advice on how you can do the same. They each raise some interesting points as they have very different approaches to how they publish content and monetize their channels, proving there are many ways to turn a YouTube channel into a side hustle or a full-time business. Jon uses what he calls a “spray and pray" strategy for content creation. Pete’s DIY videos are edited down from 3-5 hours of footage to just 8-12 minutes and he releases one a month, while Matt publishes once a week (usually interviews) to, “try to get the weekend crowd.” On the monetization side, Jon has opted to go ad-free for a better viewer experience and earns $4-5k per month from affiliate income part-time. Pete has taken a different approach making around $1400 a month from YouTube ads, but has several other income streams including courses, affiliate offers, sponsorship deals, website ad revenue, and direct donations. Matt makes $10k a month funneling his subscribers to his money-making videos selling a digital marketing course, and $3k a month from YouTube ad revenue. With more than 450k subscribers between them, this episode is packed with actionable tips to grow and monetize a YouTube channel that has worked for Jon, Pete, and Matt. Listen in for actionable advice on how to grow and monetize your own YouTube channel. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: YouTube Roundtable: How 3 Video Creators Built an Audience and a Business on YouTube

It's like owning a parking lot, Jefferson Lilly explained. And you can earn 20% cash on cash returns too. That got my attention, though those returns are coming from a surprising real estate niche: mobile home parks. Jefferson Lilly is a mobile home park investment expert, educator, and industry consultant who has been featured in the New York Times, Bloomberg Magazine, and on the ‘Real Money’ television show. Through his company Park Street Partners, they currently own about $50 million worth of mobile home parks coast-to-coast. Jefferson is also the host of the Mobile Home Investors podcast, so it’s fair to say he knows this niche inside and out. The mobile home park niche doesn’t fit the typical real estate guidelines. It’s a shrinking market and offers some interesting and unique investment opportunities if you know where to look. In addition to the shrinking supply, the tenant turnover is lower than other real estate niches, and most tenants own their own homes -- meaning lower maintenance costs. Tune in to hear how Jefferson went from purchasing his first park after receiving 58 "no's" from banks when trying to raise the capital, to forming Park Street Partners and boasting a rapidly growing portfolio with more $50 million invested in mobile home parks. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: 20% Cash on Cash in Mobile Home Park Investing? The Real Estate Side Hustle You Probably Hadn’t Considered

You might know Michelle Schroeder-Gardner from her super-popular blog MakingSenseofCents.com where she gets hundreds of thousands of readers and makes 6-figures a month. Around $50k of that monthly revenue (or more) comes from affiliate marketing. Michelle’s online journey started in the summer of 2011 when she decided to start blogging about paying off her student debts, “I didn’t know what blogs were at the time… I literally didn’t know that you could make money with a blog,” she said looking back. It was when she made her first $100 six months later with a sponsored post that she knew she wanted to build an online business. “It became super addicting,” Michelle said. Fast-forward just two years and Michelle had become a full-time blogger making money through affiliate marketing sponsored posts, working as a freelance staff writer and selling display advertising. She started to focus on affiliate marketing, and with her most profitable post making more than $400k to-date it's fair to say she's nailed the right way to do affiliate marketing. The secret to her success? Listening to her audience and providing relevant content that solves a pain point. Sounds simple, right? Tune in to hear Michelle explain how she finds the right affiliate products to promote to her audience, as well as her tips to maximize conversions, increase your social media following, diversify your traffic sources, and much more. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers: How Michelle Makes $50,000 a Month Selling Other People's Products Don't have a blog yet? My free video course will help you get started!

In my annual member survey, one of the 3 most common obstacles I hear is the money needed to start a business. As in, "I don't have enough money to start a business." (The other 2 are time and ideas.) It's kind of a chicken vs. egg problem: you need money to start the business and you need the business to earn the money! But the truth is that most side hustles these days don't take a ton of cash to get off the ground. In fact, most of the businesses I've started have cost less than $500 to start. In this episode I'll share 8 business models that have no startup costs, and one of them even has a "better than zero" startup cost -- meaning you can get paid to acquire your inventory. The 8 Models: The Perceived Value Plan The Dealmaker Model The Connector Email Model The Curator Email Model One Man’s Trash is a Another Man’s Treasure Repackaging The Pay for Performance Model The Agency Model Tune in to hear my examples of real businesses making it work under each of those models. It's sure to get your creative juices flowing on what kind of side hustle you could start! Stick around to the end of the show and I'll also share the actual startup costs for all of my businesses over the last 20 years. Full Show Notes: Bootstrapped Business Idea Brain Dump: 8 Business Models You Can Borrow w/ Zero (or Better than Zero) Startup Costs

By day, Bryan Orr helps runs an air conditioning company in Central Florida, and by night he’s a father of 9 -- yet somehow he's found the time to build his HVAC School podcast into a 5-figure a month business in less than a year. And it might sounds like an overnight success, but Bryan's actually been side hustling for quite a while, mostly in the podcasting and freelance audio production space. Tasked with training technicians at his day job, he had the idea to put it into an on-demand audio format, and that's where he found his side hustle sweet spot. It was on a whim he decided to publish the content online and make it available to a wider audience. “In the process it just exploded, I never thought there would be an audience like the audience that I found,” Bryan said. With 1000 downloads in the first 48 hours and synergy with his day job, Bryan started allocating more time to his show. As his audience grew he started negotiating sponsorship deals with large companies in the HVAC niche. Less than a year into this new side hustle, he's built an email list of over 7500 subscribers, generated more than 500,000 podcast downloads, and is earning $11k a month in sponsorship revenue. Tune in to hear how Bryan promoted his show to gain that initial traction, how he worked with influencers in his niche for extra exposure, and how he secured sponsors to monetize his show. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Finding Your Sweet Spot: How Talking About Air Conditioning Turned Into a 5-Figure a Month Side Hustle

“You have a skill, but you’re not using it correctly." That the tough love advice Vincent Pugliese's father gave him. Vincent was working what he thought was his dream job as a photojournalist. He'd just won the most prestigious award in his industry (International Sports Photographer of the Year), and he and his wife Elizabeth had a baby on the way. Yet the newspaper job didn't pay well. With the impending arrival of their son, Vincent took a hard look at his financial picture: he was in his mid-30s, 6-figures in debt, and earning $15 an hour. Not great. Something had to change, and something did. Four years later, the family was debt free and self-employed, thanks to the success of their freelance photography side hustle. I met Vincent at Podcast Movement and invited him on the show to share his inspiring and relate-able story. With a growing trend toward freelance workers, his transition is one many people will need to make over the next few years. With his newfound time freedom, Vincent has kept busy with a number of new projects including his upcoming book Freelance to Freedom, and an online course teaching parents how to take better sports pictures of their kids. (Even though Vincent had no "audience" of his own to sell to, the course did over $30k on launch day, giving us the hook for this episode.) Tune in to hear how he and his wife got it done and how you can apply the same strategies to the skills on your own resume. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Freelance to Freedom: From $30k a Year to $30k in a Day

Quit my job? “That’s stupid,” Kim Anderson said. But she eventually did, and it turned out to be a really smart move. Together with her husband Cressel, they paid off $93k in debt in less than 2 years, setting themselves up for a life of “financial flexibility.” They did it through a combination of conscious spending, creative side hustles, and having a clear goal in mind. And perhaps what’s more exciting is what that new time freedom has allowed: starting a family, starting new businesses, and most recently even “retiring” Cressel from his engineering job. In this inspiring episode, Kim and Cressel break down their path to financial freedom, which I think will get your gears turning on how to do the same. Full Show Notes: Your Escape Plan: How to Make Early “Retirement” a Reality

Would you trade $1000 for $2000? How about $10,000 for $18,000? If you're anything like me, I'll make those trades all day long! Well, Deacon Hayes is doing exactly that every month through his blog, Facebook ads, and affiliate marketing. Although he'd been blogging for years, his traffic and revenue had kind of stagnated. Inspired by the success of The Penny Hoarder using a similar strategy in a similar niche, Deacon decided to jump in and throw $1000 toward his new Facebook Ads experiment. Within a month he'd effectively doubled his investment. Ten months later he's built a beautiful machine that combines compelling helpful content, affiliate relationships, and the massive reach of Facebook. In this episode, you'll hear the type of content Deacon has found most profitable to promote, the types of ads he runs, and how he's able to get his costs per click down to around $0.05. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Facebook Ads Arbitrage: How to Drive Consistent Profitable Traffic to Your Blog

Dustin Lien from StrategicSauce.com reached out to me with an interesting pitch for an episode. Dustin had experienced a side hustle failure and wanted to know if the Side Hustle audience would be interested in hearing his story. I threw the idea out to the Side Hustle Facebook Group and received an overwhelming amount of feedback saying, “Yes,” they wanted to hear the “other side” of a side hustle when it fails. In this episode Dustin lifts the lid on a business he invested a large chunk of time and money into, only to pull the plug on it a year and a half later. He designed a great product that solved a pain point for people in the fitness community. So, what went wrong? Tune in to hear exactly what did and didn’t work for Dustin, and why he decided to throw in the towel on this project. Dustin shares what he would do differently if he had to start over, as well as what he's working on today. He's loaded with valuable insight for anyone starting a new venture. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: When a Side Hustle Fails - Lessons, Pivots, and Next Steps from a Less-Than-Successful Side Project

The holy grail of side hustle business models is software, right? Built it once and sell it over and over again for almost zero incremental cost! Having built the online graphic design tool Snappa to $33k in monthly recurring revenue in 2 years, Christopher Gimmer rounds out our "recurring revenue" theme for the month. The software as a service aims to help bloggers and content creators make perfectly sized social media graphics or blog images easily and professionally. “Create online graphics in a snap,” the tagline says. The cool do-it-yourself tool is sold on a freemium or monthly/annual subscription model. “I just wanted to know whether people were having the same issues I was having,” Christopher said, talking about the hassle he experienced creating quick and professional looking social media and blog graphics. This is the fourth episode in this series of recurring revenue shows. If you’ve missed any of the previous episodes, be sure to check out: How a full-time cop built a subscription box service to $15k a month. How a massage therapist built a $15k a month business with short-term rentals. How a former alcoholic built a service business to $400k a month in under 3 years. In this episode, Christopher shares how he validated his idea, successfully launched his new tool just months later and generated $2-3k in the first week, and grew the business to where it is today. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: SaaS Case Study: How Snappa Bootstrapped Their Way from Idea to $33k MRR in 2 Years

Three years ago Design Pickle didn't exist. It wasn't even an idea in founder Russ Perry's head yet. That's why it seems crazy to me that today the unlimited graphic design service is doing $400k in monthly recurring revenue! Back in 2014 Russ was running a creative agency, but he started to hate everything about it. “I felt like I was in a prison of my own creation,” he said. By January 2015, he'd shut down his agency and started working as a freelancer. Not wanting to build a similar prison again, he sought out a different business model -- one with a simpler service offering that was designed to scale. From taking on a friend as his first client to now completing more than 800 design jobs a day, it’s been an incredibly quick ascension and a great example of how to scale a service business. Tune in to hear how Russ grew his business from zero to $410k+ in monthly recurring revenue in less than 3 years. We cover his marketing strategies, his hiring best practices, and what Design Pickle does to keep customers coming back month after month. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Scaling Up a Service Business: From Idea to $400k in Monthly Recurring Revenue (in Under 3 Years)

Zeona McIntyre is earning $12-18k a month through her portfolio of vacation rental properties and her "co-hosting" service for other property owners. All this has afforded Zeona financial independence at a very young age, as she built her operation largely by piggybacking on the growing popularity of Airbnb (get $40 off your first trip!). She first became aware of Airbnb and the potential to earn some extra revenue back in 2011. She was in massage school at the time, but a friend of hers in New York subletted his apartment on Airbnb to the tune of $50k for the year -- all while traveling full-time. “I couldn’t ignore it from then; I started right away,” Zeona said. She started by subletting a room in her apartment, then her whole apartment, and now owns five rental properties and manages or "co-hosts" another 15-20 properties on the behalf of her clients. With a small team, some smart decisions, and some online tools, Zeona now manages her business from her home in Boulder, Colorado relatively hands-off. This is the second episode in our recurring revenue series this month. If you missed last week, be sure to check out how a full-time cop built a subscription box service to $15k a month. This week, tune in to hear how Zeona chooses vacation rental properties, how she calculates the potential ROI, and how you can get started in this location independent side hustle today with just a spare room in your home. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How To Shortcut Your Financial Freedom with Short-Term Rentals

From the spare bedroom to $15k in monthly recurring revenue, Sam Gonzalez has grown the subscription style service UrbaneBox.com (affiliate link) all on the side from his day job as a police officer. He noticed his wardrobe was getting pretty outdated and with family and work life, he didn’t have any time (or desire, really) to go shopping. So he decided to do something about it and create an online subscription box business with a cool value proposition: $120 worth of designer clothes for $60. In this episode Sam talks through the steps he took from building his website, pitching suppliers, experimenting with different pricing models, and outsourcing the order fulfillment. He’s used a combination of AdWords, social media promotion, collaborating with other bloggers and YouTube influencers, and an interesting Facebook “hack” to rapidly grow his business. Tune in to hear how Sam went from idea to 6-figures in 3 years, from packing and shipping his first order from his spare bedroom to a business that now does $15k in monthly recurring revenue. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Start a Subscription Box Service: From Spare Bedroom to $15k in Monthly Recurring Revenue

It’s time to dive into the ol' listener mailbag and answer a few questions in this week’s edition of The Side Hustle Show. It’s been 6 months since the last Q&A show I did (where does the time go??) and I’ve had quite a few interesting questions come in since then. I picked 20 to talk through in today’s show. Like this format? This is the 4th installment of "20 Questions" so feel free to go back and binge on the older ones too: 219: Growing Traffic, Monetization, List-Building, a Day in the Life, and More: 20 Questions with Nick 198: Blogging, Branding, Book Writing, and Finding the Right Side Hustle for You: 20 Questions with Nick 181: SEO, Affiliate Marketing, Self-Publishing, Udemy, and More: 20 Questions with Nick A common piece of advice you’ll hear is to take audience questions and turn them into content, so here’s a meta example of that in action. This episode covers questions on affiliate marketing, audience building, network marketing, imposter syndrome, my income streams today, and my side hustle mistakes. Tune in to hear my responses to those questions and a dozen more below. Full Show Notes: Network Marketing, Imposter Syndrome, My Side Hustle Mistakes, and More: 20 Questions with Nick

Chris Green is one of the foremost advocates for the side hustle lifestyle. He has 10+ years’ experience as an Amazon seller, author, software provider to others involved in the Amazon ecosystem, and most recently as a t-shirt designer selling shirts on the Merch by Amazon platform. Chris calls Merch by Amazon “the best side hustle out there right now.” With no upfront capital, no shipping or returns, no customer service, and no risk, it’s certainly one of the easiest side hustles to get started with. If you’re just getting started with Merch, Elaine Heney (who made $50k selling shirts last year) shared how to sign up and get your first t-shirts for sale on the Merch platform back on episode 216. Chris picks up where Elaine left off and goes into detail sharing some of his best tips for optimizing your listing, where he finds ideas for t-shirt designs and a few of the methods he uses to market his shirts. Tune in to hear some the unique and interesting ways Chris comes up with t-shirt designs ideas, as well as how he markets them through paid ads and organic outreach. You can find out more at merch.life, and pick up a free copy of Chris’ book Merch Resources (just pay shipping). Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Merch by Amazon Marketing: How to Drive Traffic and Sales to Your T-Shirt Designs

Sarah Miller is still in college (and plays soccer for her school) but that hasn't stopped her from starting a pretty cool side hustle: painting custom pet portraits. She's done 300 paintings so far! But the business isn't without its challenges. She'd like to raise her rates, expand her marketing efforts to land new clients, and figure out how to make her work less of a time-for-money tradeoff. To help me brainstorm some ideas for Sarah, I invited Don the Idea Guy back on the program to join us on a call. As you might remember, Don is a creative genius and in this episode he definitely doesn't disappoint. Together we walk through a dozen different ways Sarah could take her operation to the next level and open up new income streams. Even if your business has nothing to do with painting wiener dogs, I think this conversation will get your gears turning because the broader strategies can apply to lots of different business models. Among the suggestions: Raise prices for the custom work. Create off-the-shelf prints for the most popular breeds (from the library of work Sarah's already done). Use print-on-demand marketplaces to instantly expand inventory and sales options. Her various upsell and cross-sell opportunities. Partner with influential pet bloggers and Facebook group administrators. Partner with pet-related stores w/ a low-tech coupon code-based affiliate program. Partner with other pet-related Etsy sellers to cross-promote each other's products. Tap into your database of existing customers for upsells and referrals. Turn the preliminary pencil sketches into other product offerings and maybe even adult coloring book templates. Teach others the skill of painting on Udemy. I think you'll like it! Full Show Notes: Side Hustle Coaching: I've Got Some Traction, Now What? Here's an example of Sarah's work:

John Cavendish of FBA Frontiers started his Amazon FBA business three years ago and has become an advocate for the e-commerce and FBA scene in Europe. If you already have experience with Amazon FBA in the US, expanding into Europe is easier than you’re probably thinking and opens up a much wider customer base. John says that Europe is about five years behind the US in terms of growth so it’s on that steep rise, and with “double the customers and half the competition,” it was a side hustle opportunity I was intrigued to learn more about. You don’t need to be based in the UK, have a UK-based business, or be fluent in any other languages either. In this episode, John talks through the few simple steps it takes to get started selling on the European Amazon marketplaces. He outlines his product research process, how the EU bestselling ranks differ to the US, his supplier best practices, the tool he made to calculate profitability, and more. Tune in to hear how John has gone from a $5000 investment just three years ago to a selling hundreds of products daily across the UK, German, French, Spanish, and Italian Amazon marketplaces. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Amazon FBA Europe: The Next E-Commerce Frontier

Over the last decade, Cathy Heller has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars from her music and helping other musicians license their songs. In fact, you've probably heard some of her music without realizing it. Songs of hers have been featured in ads for huge brands, like McDonald’s, Walmart, Kellogg’s, as well as many popular TV shows. Today, the mother of 3 balances family, her art, her agency, her online course, and her new Don't Keep Your Day Job podcast, where she interviews other entrepreneurs, artists, and influencers. Cathy's story is an inspiring one, and it follows a familiar trajectory: freelancer to agency to product. When she moved to LA to be a rockstar, she didn't know where it would lead. That didn't pan out, but she landed at something perhaps even more fulfilling. She called it reverse engineering her dream job, and thinks other people can do the same. Tune in to hear how Cathy walked The Hustler's Path from freelancer to agency to product, and how you can apply her ideas and tactics to find your dream job. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Reverse Engineer your Dream Job: How a Struggling Songwriter Built a Multiple 6-Figure Business Doing What She Loves

Teresa Greenway is a mother of 10 who went from working part-time in a bakery to making $5k a month doing what she loves – baking and teaching others how to bake. More specifically, she teaches how to bake perfect sourdough bread. Teresa has built a really cool business around this niche at NorthwestSourdough.com. In the past couple of years, her main revenue driver has been Udemy courses, to the tune of several thousand dollars a month. The main driving force behind this? It turns out Teresa's secret weapon is a huge Facebook group of engaged followers, fans, and fellow bakers. With almost 35,000 members, it's one of the largest baking groups on Facebook, and Teresa said it all started “by accident” back in 2013. Since then her business and revenue have grown faster than a loaf of her sourdough bread. Teresa earned $1k in the month she released her first Udemy course in April 2015, and it was a life-changing moment. She went on to earn $20k in her first year, and now consistently brings in $4-5k a month. Teresa did all of this will little to no promotion or marketing. Tune in to hear how she grew her Facebook group so fast, why she decided to start selling courses on Udemy, and how she also uses YouTube and ebooks to drive traffic to her courses and group. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Why a Facebook Group Should be Part of Your Marketing Strategy

You can be a creator or a consumer, but it’s the creators that get paid. I’ve argued before that creativity is the most important skill for entrepreneurs because before you can sell anything, you have to create that value proposition. But what if you’re not creative? I believe we all have that innate creative spirit in us somewhere, it’s just a matter of flexing that creative muscle. In this episode, I talk with Carol "Stash" Stanley of StashSports.com, and David Fedewa who is an inventor mentor at InventRight.com. Stash holds six patents related to products in the baseball and softball world, as well as footwear safety. She’s worked on these products as a side hustle while working full-time at the University of Virginia. David Fedewa is a serial inventor who has taken the product licensing route as described by Stephen Key in episode 173 to earn passive income from his product ideas. Tune in to hear how they come with ideas, how to unleash the creativity in your own head, and what to do with those ideas once you have them. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Cultivate Creativity Like an Inventor

As the author of more than 70 books, Steve "S.J." Scott is one of the most productive and disciplined people I know. His latest title, Habit Stacking, became a Wall Street Journal Bestseller and served as the inspiration for this episode. (Long-time listeners might remember Steve from WAY back in the archives; he was my guest in episode 9 where we discussed how to earn money as a side hustling author.) This time though we're diving into a few of the habits that allow Steve to continually drive his business forward, and lead a healthier and happier life. Plus, you'll learn why we think they're important and how you can apply them in your own life. The 10 habits we cover are: Tracking your time Reviewing your goals daily Writing down the tasks you got done Fixing your "broken windows" Wearing a step-tracking device Keeping a food diary Researching one side hustle Breaking down a big project into actionable steps Following an evening shutdown routine Practicing mindfulness As you can see, they're not all directly business-related, but most take 5 minutes or less and are designed to increase your productivity, reduce stress, prioritize your workload, and help you find a healthy work-life balance. Tune in to hear how Steve and I incorporate these habits into our daily routines (or plan to, in my case). As you'll see in the links section below, there are a lot of books, apps, and resources mentioned. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: 10 Foundational Hustle Habits to Improve Your Health, Wealth, and Happiness

Noah Kagan is Chief Sumo and founder of Sumo.com and AppSumo.com. He blogs about his personal and business experiences at OkDork.com, and his new podcast is called Noah Kagan Presents. Noah has built up a number of successful businesses and is always toying with new ideas or looking for the next big business opportunity, so he was the perfect person to brainstorm with. If you’re stuck at the idea generation phase or pulling the trigger on your ideas, this episode is going to give you food for thought. Noah is a master at this stuff and doesn't sugarcoat anything. And if you already have an idea you’re sitting on, he explains exactly how he validates his own ideas before moving forward and what steps you need to take. Don’t be afraid of failure either. “I’ve never actually met someone who has made money or grown successful businesses that hasn’t had things that didn’t work out,” Noah said. Tune in to hear how Noah comes up with interesting and unique business ideas, how he validates them, and how he splits his time between content creation and marketing. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Quickly Brainstorm and Validate Business Ideas, with Noah Kagan

The best advice from my last 49 guests. At the end of nearly every episode of The Side Hustle Show, I ask my guests for their #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation. There’s always a great variety of responses, and I wanted to take some time today to go through some of my favorites from the past 50-ish interviews. I first did this for episode 50, which was my first-ever solo podcast recording, and then again in episode 124 and episode 177. If you like this short-and-sweet meta-style show, be sure to check out those ones from the archives as well. And even though my primary motivation is to extract helpful tactics for you, the listener, I can't help but learn from my guests as well. You never know when inspiration will strike or where you'll hear the one insight that has a huge impact. These episodes are a lot of fun to put together, and give me an excuse to revisit some of my favorite moments and wise words from the show. From the last 49 guests, the 3 most common #1 tips I heard were: Get started. Take action. Build your audience. While those might sound overly generic, don't be quick to dismiss them. If all these really smart and successful people keep saying these episode after episode as their “#1 tip,” I think they’re worth paying attention to. What action can you take today to apply those tips? My #1 Tip? Find your WHY. Why side hustle? What are you trying to build? What will that afford you? At the end of this episode, I share a new #1-ish tip: if success is owning your calendar and being free to spend your time how you like, start doing it today in some small but meaningful way. Full Show Notes: What I've Learned and Applied from 49 Awesome Entrepreneurs - Part 4

As one of several side hustles, Ryan Dowd runs HomelessLibrary.com, a training program that teaches librarians how to confidently and compassionately deal with their homeless patrons. It’s something a little different from the business-to-consumer model we usually see with online course sales and comes with some advantages over the B2C market — namely potentially higher prices and the ability to perform direct outreach. By day Ryan is the executive director for a homeless shelter in Illinois, but on the side he’s also an adjunct professor, a practicing attorney, and he’s writing a book — in addition to the 3-15 hours a week he spends on HomelessLibrary.com. (And he’s married with a couple kids, so it’s fair to say he’s a busy guy.) Ryan was working at the homeless shelter when a friend asked if he would speak at a local conference about homelessness to a group of librarian executive directors. His talk went so well he started receiving offers to deliver training in person at libraries. Not having the time to travel to different locations, Ryan recorded a 30-minute video, posted it on YouTube, and sent people the link. Now with over 13,000 views, his video has become a staple training tool for librarians across the country and there was a demand for more. Ryan capitalized on this by recording a longer, more in-depth training. He broke it up into modules and began selling it to libraries across the US. Tune in to hear how that first conference speaking gig Ryan did for a friend turned into a successful side hustle selling B2B online courses and started what he calls, “A crazy wild ride with a completely accidental start.” Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Selling Digital Products to Business or Government Clients: An Online Business Success Story with a Twist

Listen in on a real-life side hustle coaching call with customer acquisition and retention strategist David Hutcherson (he's the client), and sales pro Brendan Alan Barrett (he and I share the coaching duties). On the heels of last week's sales-themed episode, I invited Brendan on because of his sales background both with companies large and small. We're joined by our "client" David, who's seeking to grow his freelance/consulting side hustle and build on his decade of experience in customer service. We dive into where David is at in his business today, how he got his first few clients, and where he'd like to go from here. The good news is he's not starting from scratch. He's had a handful of clients for community management and customer market research gigs, including the world famous improv theater Second City, but nothing recurring and not much in the pipeline at the moment. We do our best to point him in the right direction and get him to try and figure out what exactly is the service he offers and who he offers it to. And we just might have a breakthrough on that front about 20 minutes in. Tune in to hear the types of questions you'll have to ask yourself in a service-based side hustle. Put yourself in David's shoes as you listen and think about what you'd do in his position -- and your own. Full Show Notes: Side Hustle Sales Coaching: What Do I Do and Who Do I Do it For?

“People don’t buy intellectually, they buy emotionally,” Jim Brown told me. By taking a unique approach, understanding your demographic, and identifying the pain points you can solve, you can attract clients and increase sales. Jim is a former professional wrestler, a Marine Corps vet, a sales coach, and is the founder and host of the SalesTuners podcast at SalesTuners.com. In this year’s survey results, a lot of Side Hustle Nation readers said they needed help growing their business and attracting new customers. This is exactly what Jim does with his clients, and he shares his tactics and processes in this episode. As entrepreneurs and side hustlers, we are all the VP of sales for our own businesses. The only person driving a company forward in the early stages is the founder, and nothing happens until someone sells something to someone else. Tune in to hear how you can 10x your service business by setting a revenue goal, breaking down the numbers and planning out a step-by-step approach, and making outreach calls the way Jim does with his clients. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to 10x Your Service Business in Under Two Years

Ben Foley started writing about how to use mindfulness to reduce stress and anxiety at FullyRichLife.com a little over 6 months ago. Since then, his little side project has generated over 6000 email subscribers and $10,000 in revenue. His secret sauce? Tapping into the big audience of readers on Medium.com. Having overcome stress and anxiety issues himself, he knew this was a niche he could enter and help others. And, with a different approach to using mindfulness in the modern world to help reduce stress working for him, he knew he had a unique angle to blog about. Before starting his site in December last year Ben had never even written a blog post. However, after finding a passion for writing and encouraged by positive feedback, he “tripled down” on content and started getting huge exposure almost right away -- something new sites often struggle with. Related: My free video series on how to start a blog. Tune in to hear how you can use Medium to growth hack your new or existing site, and how Ben is turning those readers into subscribers and revenue. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Going Big on Medium: How a New Blogger Got His First 6000 Email Subscribers (and Made $10k) in 6 Months

Perrin Carrell is a senior contributing editor at AuthorityHacker and well-known within the internet marketing community for building niche/authority sites. He has built several successful sites from scratch, including one recent project that went from a valuation of $0 to $200,000 in just under 20 months. Perrin started learning about internet marketing and SEO while working a day job at a global communications consulting firm. Desperate to escape the day job and turn his side hustle into a full-time business he started building sites and learning from his failures along the way. He now has the blueprint nailed for building profitable sites with several different income streams. From planning the site structure, ordering content, carrying out keyword research, to link-building, Perrin shares exactly how he builds his sites in this episode. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Affiliate Marketing the Authority Hacker Way: Build a Profitable Website from Scratch

What's the story of your first job-free income? To celebrate the 4-year anniversary of The Side Hustle Show, the Side Hustle Nation community joined me in creating a really fun episode. I asked people to tell me how they first started making money on the side, and got 25 different voicemails! In this episode, you'll hear first-hand the steps your fellow listeners took to put themselves back in the driver seat of their own financial well-being. And no matter how you shake it, that first sale is a powerful one. Full Show Notes: How 25 Side Hustlers Made Their First Entrepreneurial Income

Steve P. Young is a side hustler turned full-time entrepreneur. He has hosted more than 500 episodes of the AppMasters podcast, a podcast dedicated to helping app makers get more downloads and sales of their apps. Steve was working full-time when he decided to start his podcast interviewing app developers and putting out content for the app community. Using lunch breaks, early morning, and late nights, Steve found the time to put out two episodes a week and start building up authority and an audience in the app space. Within four months he had his first consulting client, and within seven months he was handing in his notice at his day job as AppMasters became his full-time business. Tune in to find out how Steve built up several income streams around his podcast: The apps (how it all started) Consulting Podcast sponsorship Digital products and courses A private mastermind group A live in-person event You'll hear the hacks he used to grow his audience in a short time period, and how interviewing influential people in the app space helped double sales on his own apps. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How a Part-Time Podcast Turned into Multiple Streams of Income

Kamila Gornia is the “Blow Up, Scale Up” Marketing Strategist who helps entrepreneurs blow up and scale up their businesses to become true leaders online. And often that means helping them reach a broader audience on Facebook. If you’re a freelancer or blogger, Facebook Ads could be a way to grow your business faster. With the social network closing in on 2 billion active users, no matter what you're selling or where you're selling it, odds are your target customer is on Facebook. Whether you’re new to Facebook and setting up a business page from scratch, or you’ve run ads before, Kamila shares tips and advice to help you turn your ad campaigns into a positive ROI. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Facebook Ads 101 for Freelancers and Bloggers

Don't you just love a good outsmarting the casino story? Bring me an Ocean’s Eleven, bring me a Bringing Down the House -- I’m all about it. Colin Jones is a professional card counter whose blackjack teams won almost $4 million, and he earned over $500k himself. Now a father of 6, Colin's playing days are mostly over, but he's turned his unique skill into a profitable online business at BlackjackApprenticeship.com. Did you catch the Holy Rollers documentary about the Christian card counters? Yeah, it was about Colin and his team. When we met at a Side Hustle Nation meetup in Seattle over the holidays, Colin explained that card counting -- though glamorized by Hollywood -- is "a hard way to make easy money." He also pointed out that the math involved is elementary-school level, and done right, it really can be seen as an investment and not a gamble. Today, his Blackjack Apprenticeship site has more than 500 members and in this episode, you'll hear how he's grown this business, how he's priced his different offerings, and how he keeps customers sticking around for more. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How a Professional Card Counter Beat the Odds in Online Business

Scott Voelker is the host of the super popular Amazing Seller podcast, where he’s recorded more than 300 episodes about the Amazon FBA business model. He's a family man and a serial hustler, having been involved with a number of businesses ranging from construction to photography to ecommerce. His latest project is the 1k FastTrack Challenge, where he takes a group of students through the paces of making their first $1000 selling online. One of the biggest challenges people struggle to overcome is deciding on, or even finding a side hustle they can start and take those important first steps. In this episode of The Side Hustle Show, Scott takes you through the 5-steps he uses when guiding his students to earning their first $500 online in just 7 days. He also shares some powerful words of motivation and some success stories he’s been part of, helping you to see just how easy it really is when you follow these 5 simple steps. "You’re probably sitting on a few hundred, if not thousands of dollars in your possession right now that you’re not even aware of," Scott explained. Tune in to find out exactly what Scott is talking about, and how you can start your own challenge today to earn $500 in the next 7 days. No investment needed, no prior experience selling online, just the motivation and willingness to stick to a deadline. Sound good? Join the free SH Nation Facebook group and look for the #7daychallenge thread to post about your results. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Earn Your First $500 on the Side in the Next 7 Days - No More Excuses!

Dr. Kenyon Meadows MD is a practicing Radiation Oncologist by day, but by nights and weekends he’s a self-proclaimed alternative investment enthusiast. His new book is called Alternative Financial Medicine: High-Yield Investments in a Low-Yield World, and you can find out more about Dr. Meadows and his adventures outside the world of traditional stocks and bonds at AlternativeFinancialMedicine.com. In this episode of The Side Hustle Show, Dr. Meadows and I dive into three different areas of alternative investments: Turnkey Rental Properties Real Estate Private Lending Business Lending Dr. Meadows explains why turnkey rental properties are a becoming a popular investment vehicle right now, and a couple platforms and markets to consider. He shares how he evaluates the numbers on each deal (he now owns 7 turnkey properties) and what search criteria he uses. (Am I the only one who can't read "turnkey" with thinking "turkey"??) He also explains why real estate private lending is perhaps less risky than peer-to-peer lending, the sites he uses to find opportunities, and how you can get a 10-14% return on 6-18 month loans. Business lending has also been a profitable alternative investment for Dr. Meadows, netting him an average yield of 14.5% over the last 2 years on one platform. He shares the sites he uses to find investment opportunities along with tips to help you find lower risk investment opportunities. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: High-Yield Investments in a Low-Yield World

Derek Murphy's book portfolio is bringing in $5k a month. He's is a world traveler, book cover design extraordinaire, and the author of a dozen different books, mainly in the young adult fantasy genre. A lot of the self-publishing content and interviews on the Side Hustle Show has been related to non-fiction books, and to me, it's a more straightforward process: help someone solve a problem. Fiction is a bit of a different animal, and something Derek covers in detail over on his site at CreativIndie.com. Derek started out editing books and designing book covers while completing his Masters and PhD in literature. Having an interest in reading fiction and wanting to get away from client work, Derek started writing fiction books. He explained there's a lot more demand for fiction than non-fiction, and because of that it can be easier to make more money. It’s not as competitive as you may think either. Although there are literally millions of fiction books available, when you cut through to the books that are being marketed and targeted to the right audience, Derek says it’s not that difficult. Tune in to hear how Derek starts by finding keywords and researching what the readers want based on what's already selling, then testing the market for demand before committing to a series of books. He also shares the methods he used to grow an email list of more than 32,000 as well as advice on how to launch a book with an email list of zero. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: $5k a Month as a Self-Published Author - in Fiction

Jacques Hopkins is a former full-time engineer who turned his passion for playing piano from a side hustle into a full-time business at the end of 2015. With more time and energy to devote to Pianoin21Days.com, the business continued to reach new heights. It was after reading the entrepreneurial handbook that’s inspired a generation to start side hustles – The 4-Hour Workweek, by Tim Ferriss – that Jacques knew he wanted to start "something on the side that could make money." That was back in 2007, and after several failed ventures, each of which has played a part in getting him to where he is now, Jacques is crushing it with his YouTube videos, ebook sales, and online course. Tune in to hear how Jacques realized there was a market for teaching “regular people learn to play modern songs on the piano in as little time as possible.” You'll hear how he used YouTube to generate lots of free traffic and build his email list, how he doubled his conversions by picking up the phone and talking to potential customers, and how he now lives the lifestyle wants and spends his time promoting the business. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Turn Your Hobby into an Online Business

Chad Carson is a 30-something semi-retired real estate mogul, who together with his business partner, oversees a portfolio of 90+ rental units. In fact, he and his wife are in the middle of an exciting adventure — a year abroad in Ecuador with their two daughters. But of course he didn’t start there. Fresh off the football field at Clemson, Chad’s real estate career started more modestly by “bird dogging” and house hacking — two of the tactics he shares in this week’s show. You can learn more about Chad and his real estate business at CoachCarson.com, where he writes about using real estate investing to retire early and do what matters. In this episode, Chad walks me through 5 real estate side hustles you can start on the cheap. Tune in to hear: How to use house hacking to earn rental income and live for free How to take advantage of tax-free live-in flips How anyone can start master leasing How to become a leasing agent How to start “Bird-dogging” Chad proves that you that you don’t need a large down payment to get started in real estate. You can even learn “how to do one of the more important parts of the rental business on someone else’s dime” if you’re smart about it. This episode is packed with actionable advice to help get you started with a side hustle in the real estate market, as well as some long-term options to set you on the path to building long-term wealth. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: 5 Real Estate Side Hustles You Can Start on the Cheap

Dan Meadors is one-half of TheWholesaleFormula.com. He and his partner Eric Lambert began selling on Amazon as a hobby with an original investment of only $600. They would work nights and weekends buying products on clearance at local retail stores and selling them on Amazon for profit. It took only a few months before they saw the potential to turn this hobby into a business and they both left their day jobs to sell on Amazon full-time. Since then they have been able to generate over $13,000,000 in total sales on Amazon. Most of Side Hustle Nation will be familiar with the Amazon FBA program, but Dan's strategy is a bit different from the retail arbitrage and private label strategies we've covered in the past. In Dan's case, he's buying inventory at wholesale prices from a brand or manufacturer, instead of trolling the clearance section at Walmart or having a product built specifically for him by a manufacturer. Then, like the other Amazon FBA business models, it's on him to list and sell it through Amazon. In this episode, Dan talks me through everything you need to know to get started with wholesaling on Amazon, including how to target potential products and brands to sell, and how to reach out to them in a helpful way. Full Show Notes and Full Highlight Reel: Wholesale on Amazon: From Part-Time Hobby to $13 Million in Amazon FBA Sales

Joseph Hogue is a Marine Corps veteran, a former investment analyst, an author, a blogger, a freelancer, and an all-around super-smart dude. We met through FinCon and hit it off right away. Maybe because we have the same haircut?? He blogs at MyWorkFromHomeMoney.com (and several other sites) and his latest book is called Google SEO for Bloggers: Easy Search Engine Optimization and Website Marketing for Google Love. Joseph runs a number of blogs, and through smart keyword research, great content, and some techniques he uses to attract lots of high authority backlinks, Joseph has seen his traffic, and more importantly his revenue increase quickly in the last two years. Search engine optimization (SEO) doesn’t need to be difficult, time-consuming, or expensive. Joseph uses a simple process to find keywords with “buyer intent”, optimizes his content with on-page SEO, and uses some innovative, but simple techniques to generate powerful backlinks that Google will love and in turn boost your posts in the search results. Tune in to hear Joseph’s SEO tips, techniques, and hacks. He shares examples of his own link building techniques, loads of useful tools to help you gain that competitive advantage over others in your niche, and ultimately ways you can increase your blog revenue. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: SEO for Bloggers: How to Get More Free Traffic to Your Website

It’s time to dive into the ol’ listener mailbag and answer a few questions in this week's edition of The Side Hustle Show. It's been a few months since the last Q&A show I did and I’ve had quite a few interesting questions come in since then. I picked 20 to talk through in today's show. A common piece of advice you'll hear is to take audience questions and turn them into content, so here's a meta example of that in action. I'll cover questions about my daily routines, driving traffic, growing a subscriber base, staying motivated, making sustained sales, and what I'm struggling with today. Full Show Notes: Growing Traffic, Monetization, List-Building, a Day in the Life, and More: 20 Questions with Nick

Kendell Rizzo made over $100,000 in profit in 18 months part-time selling services, workbooks, and other downloadable products on Fiverr.  In addition to being a 6-figure Fiverr seller, Kendell is a crowdfunding expert, a world traveler, an ironman triathlete, and runs her blog at leadandlaunch.com. It’s been more than 100 episodes since our last Fiverr episode where Mark (AnarchoFighter) talked me through how he was the first person to make a $10k sale on Fiverr. Fiverr is still going strong, and it’s a great example of a Buy Buttons platform – there's no bidding for work and no outside marketing necessary. This is what attracted Kendell to Fiverr after being frustrated with other freelance endeavors that sap time bidding for jobs or submitting resumes. Within a year and a half Kendell turned over more than $100k in profit, and went from the $5 gigs everyone starts out with to averaging between $500-$900 an order. And with digital products for sale, this was all possible while working part-time. Tune in to hear how she made her gigs stand out from the crowd in the competitive Fiverr marketplace, and why “over-delivering” is a fast-track to Fiverr success. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Build a 6-Figure Side Hustle on Fiverr

Nathan Chan is the founder of FoundrMag.com. The digital magazine started as a side hustle in 2013, and has since transformed into a multi-million dollar media company. Nathan is perhaps best-known for growing his business through Instagram, a platform where Foundr now has almost a million followers. But today I want to dive into a different angle of Nathan’s business, and that’s crowdfunding. Time, money, and ideas are the big 3 challenges I hear from Side Hustle Nation over and over again, and this conversation attempts to address one possible answer to the money question. Nathan and his team are fresh off a $200,000 Kickstarter campaign for the first volume of Foundr books, a really high-end, beautifully designed coffee table book, which you can find at foundrmag.com/book. In this episode, Nathan shares why Kickstarter is such a powerful platform -- even if you don’t have a big built-in audience, and everything he did to make their campaign a hit. Stay tuned for his advice on why you might consider crowdfunding, how to make the most of your Kickstarter exposure, and some examples of other side hustler’s products that have taken off. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Crowdfunding 101: How to Raise Money for Your Next Project

I’m excited to introduce you to a new Buy Buttons opportunity under the Amazon ecommerce umbrella called Merch by Amazon: it’s a print-on-demand service for t-shirts now (and perhaps other merchandise in the future). My wife and I have already made our first sales on this platform and it's become our latest side hustle obsession. To help me explore this business model, I invited Elaine Heney on the program. She’s an app entrepreneur, a former Amazon FBA seller (a biz she actually sold), and last year she sold over $128,000 worth of t-shirts through Merch by Amazon program, of which $53k was profit. You can follow along with Elaine's Merch adventures at MerchEntrepreneur.com. The advantage Amazon has over other print-on-demand sites is their massive daily organic traffic. Elaine doesn’t even need to do any marketing to promote her shirts, and using their interface is as easy as uploading a design, choosing colors, and clicking a button to list your shirts. There are no monthly fees, and no inventory risk. In this episode, Elaine takes you through the steps you need to take to start an account on the Merch by Amazon program. She shares how she finds graphic designers to help with her t-shirt designs, how to use the Merch by Amazon platform, and some of her best tips for creating designs that will sell well. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Merch by Amazon: $53k in T-Shirt Profits in 10 Hours a Week

Mark Wills is a professional notary public loan signing agent. It's something he started doing as a side hustle that eventually turned into a full-time business. While his friend Roman Rosario was between startups, Mark showed him how to do loan signings to make extra money. Loan signing agents are the people who walk you through the final paperwork when you are buying or refinancing a home. The signing agent is required to make sure you understand all the paperwork, answer any questions you have, and sign off the documents. These appointments take around 1-2 hours and the signing agent can earn anywhere between $75 and $200. Mark's system worked and Roman had his first signing -- and his first payday -- right away. And that sparked an entirely new business idea. If Mark could teach him how to do this in just a few hours, he could probably teach others online as well. Although Mark had no online or social media presence or audience to speak of, he and Roman set out to validate, create, and sell an online course teaching other people to do what he does. That became LoanSigningSystem.com. Fast forward a year and the guys are making $4k a month selling their course. In this episode they talk you through the steps they took to validate their idea, how they built their course using content from free webinars, their marketing techniques, email responder series, and more. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Quickly Build an Online Business When You Don't Have an Audience

John Lee Dumas is the undisputed king of productivity, discipline, and focus--the guy is a machine! John is the host of EOFire, where he interviews today’s most successful entrepreneurs 7-days a week. (I was a guest on episode 932!) JLD has grown EOFire into a multi-million dollar a year business with over 1,500 interviews and 1.5 million monthly listens. His latest project is The Mastery Journal: Master productivity, discipline, and focus in 100 days. You can learn more at TheMasteryJournal.com. Longtime listeners may remember hearing John way back on episode 15 of The Side Hustle Show. Three and a half years and 199 episodes later, I’m excited and honored to have him back on the show. In this episode, John takes you through some of his top productivity, discipline, and focus tips that anyone can incorporate into their day, business, and lifestyle. He explains why planning your day helps you avoid OPA (Other People’s Agenda) and keeps you on a productive and focused path. These are the things I struggle with at times--especially focus--and things I constantly hear as challenges from Side Hustle Nation. In fact, I’ve asked thousands of subscribers “what’s holding you back?”, and the lack of time and focus are among the most popular responses. John has developed The Mastery Journal based on his own success building his 7-figure business, and in this episode he shares some of his top tips and gives an insight into the habits and routines that got him where he is today. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Become a Master of Productivity, Discipline, and Focus

Possessing creative powers beyond those of mere mortals, Don "The Idea Guy" is back to help talk through a common but tricky situation side hustlers run into. You might remember Don from episode 170 of the show, where he gave us his 7 rules for business idea brainstorming and took a few live listener calls as well. This week I invited Don back to help wrestle with the dreaded "conflict of interest" that might arise between your day job and your side hustle. Inspired by an email from someone in the Side Hustle Nation Community, Don offers some suggestions on how to deal with this at your place of work. He covers how you can test ideas in your day job within a lower risk environment, and perhaps even leverage a raise from your boss based on the results. Tune in to hear what options you have if your side hustle overlaps a little too closely with your day job. It's a little bit of a different style of episode, so I'm curious to hear what you think? Would you like to hear more of this "talk show" style show? Or should I stick with the regular interview format? Full Show Notes: How to Avoid Conflict of Interest Between Your Side Hustle and Your Day Job

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." That line from Aristotle may be one of the most overused quotes in history. But it's overused for good reason; it's a good quote. At least the first part. Aristotle was onto something for sure: we are what we repeatedly do. I agree with that 100%. The issue I have is with the second part: Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. There’s no such habit called excellence; you can’t wake up tomorrow and start your morning routine with a quick session of excellence before you go grab breakfast. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about setting new year’s resolutions or goals for the year, which I think is only natural when the calendar flips, but I’m had a hard time coming up with a SMART goal or set of SMART goals for the year I was really excited about. It’s easy to pick a number out of the sky, like I want to make $1 million, or I want to reach 100,000 subscribers, or I want to become a #1 New York Times Bestseller, and those kinds of goals are great -- if they motivate you and you can reverse engineer a path to get there. But on the flipside of Big Hairy Audacious Goals like these, to borrow a phrase from Jim Collins, is the micro habit. And that brings us back to Aristotle: we are what we repeatedly do. I’ve seen the power of consistent execution first-hand; this podcast is probably my best most recent example of that. It started out as an experiment, it cost less than $100, and over the last 3.5 years, I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s been life-changing. So if you’ve found yourself in kind of the same boat, with everyone around you sharing their resolutions and their ambitious goals for the year and not quite knowing what you should be aiming for yourself, I invite you to consider the micro habit as an alternative. Full Show Notes: Micro Habits: The Too-Small-to-Fail Plan for Big Results

Perhaps what we need isn't more hours in the day, but more energy in our hours. That's ultimately what this episode is about: feeling better and more alive so we can get more results from our businesses. Yuri Elkaim is a former professional soccer player, a Registered Holistic Nutritionist, the author of The All-Day Energy Diet, several other books, and you can find out more about Yuri and his health adventures at YuriElkaim.com. Yuri promotes "energy through tranquility rather than stimulation," which is an ideal that resonated with me. In this episode, Yuri runs through 7 energy commandments to be aware of going into 2017 if you want to be your most energized self to-date. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Double Your Energy in 7 Days

Nagina Abdullah turned her weight loss blog, MasalaBody.com, into a 6-figure side business. By day, she works for a large consulting company, and with a busy work schedule, a young family, and limited time to work on her side hustle, Nagina has been very smart about her marketing and pricing. After struggling with her weight for all of her adult life, she finally hit on something that worked and dropped 40 pounds! With friends, colleagues, and neighbors asking how she did it, she started her blog to share recipes and tips. But she soon discovered that people didn't want recipes; they wanted to lose weight! Quickly, Nagina adapted and used her own success story as a catalyst to begin helping other women make some serious lifestyle changes. Her sales funnel process is applicable across a broad range of industries and business models, and I think you'll find a way to put some of her tactics and strategies into practice for your own hustle. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Steal This Process: A Step-by-Step System to Consistent $10k Months

As a private label seller on Amazon, Andy has seen his revenue grow from $400k in year one, to $900k in year two, and he is closing in on $1.8 million for year three! I last spoke with Andy "Slamazon" Slamans on episode 84 of The Side Hustle Show. Back in 2014, Andy was wrapping up his first year as a full-time Amazon seller and on the podcast he shared all his best tips for product research and getting started as an FBA private label seller. I was excited to have Andy back on the show along with his Amazon FBA business partner Liran Hirschkorn. Both Andy and Liran are now running 7-figure Amazon private label businesses! In this episode, they share how the FBA landscape has changed over the last couple of years, and how they have moved with the changes to build successful businesses. Tune in to hear Andy and Liran explain the process they are currently using to perform product research so they know they are sourcing products that will sell. You'll also learn how they create “bundles” and unique products that separate them from their competitors, and how they launch their products and gain initial traction within the Amazon search engine. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Amazon FBA Private Label Strategies for 2017 – Featuring Two 7-Figure Sellers This episode is packed with everything you need to know to start your own FBA private labeling business or start taking your business to the heights that these guys are at. You can find out more about how they run their businesses at AmazingFreedom.com/hustle.

Josh Bauerle is the CPA on fire at cpaonfire.com. Josh specializes in tax preparation, tax planning, booking keeping, and general consulting services to take the accounting side of your business to the next level. Just 30 minutes with Josh about a month ago saved me thousands of dollars, so you owe it to yourself to listen to this episode and see if you can put some money back in your pocket too. In this episode, Josh goes into detail about the tax implications with each type of business entity you can form, as well as how you can potentially save thousands of dollars by registering as an S-Corp. Josh also covers which expenses are deductible to your business, how to include health insurance as a tax-deductible, and how you can reduce your tax bill by investing more into retirement accounts. He also spends some time explaining the often confusing issue of how much sales tax FBA sellers should be paying and under which state tax laws, as well as recommending a service to automate the process. Tune in as Josh answers several questions from the Side Hustle Nation community and shares some of his best tax saving tips and advice. This isn’t another one of those dry conversations around tax, it’s packed with actionable tips and advice to help you put more money back into your pocket. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Pay Less Taxes - Your Side Hustle Tax Questions Answered

Thomas Frank is the College Info Geek and you can find him at collegeinfogeek.com. Thomas also has a podcast, and a YouTube channel with an impressive following of over 400,000 subscribers and over 14 million views. Thomas’ blogging journey started back in 2010 when he applied to join a team of writers working on a blog in the college/student niche - but he was unsuccessful. He decided to publish his post on his own site, started introducing different forms of multimedia over the years, and stumbled across a love for producing entertaining YouTube videos. “There wasn’t a whole lot of really compelling content for how to study, how to take tests, how to read text books, all the kinds of questions students were asking me about as a blogger.” Thomas told me. This was an open door for him to produce high-quality informational videos in his niche and provide the kind of content his audience wanted. Thomas is now a “YouTuber”, and although he has many income streams his YouTube channel ad revenue makes up a large portion of his monthly income. Tune in to hear how Thomas grew his YouTube channel to 400k subscribers in 2.5 years. He shares his marketing hacks, tips he used to write more compelling titles that perform well in YouTube’s search algorithm and attracts more clicks, and how he developed a lead magnet that not only attracts email subscribers but earns decent revenue too. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Use Video and YouTube to Grow Your Business

I’d like to introduce some of the characters in my latest book Buy Buttons, and also give you a sample of the audiobook version I recorded. I knew I wanted to create an audiobook for this title, because Audible is yet another “Buy Button” marketplace for me to test out, and because I’ve heard audiobooks can actually perform really well for authors. Note: If you’re new to Audible, you can get Buy Buttons and another title of your choosing free! But even for someone who’s been editing audio for the last 3.5 years on this podcast, it was quite a challenge to get the book recorded and approved for sale. In fact, it was rejected by Audible 4 or 5 different times for various reasons.  Just reading my own words without messing up and with intonations that made sense was hard enough!  That put a little damper on my timeline, as I’d hoped to get it out much closer to the launch date of the Kindle and paperback editions. Still, now that the audiobook is approved, it’s already been selling well with very little promotion. In this episode I share the full introduction to Buy Buttons plus you’ll meet a few of the side hustlers I connected with during the writing process. As you know, most business books follow a familiar format: big picture thesis, supported by case studies and examples. Feeling no need to reinvent the wheel, Buy Buttons follows this formula as well. The big picture thesis is that the fastest way to earn extra money is to go where money is already being spent: the hundreds of peer-to-peer marketplaces. I was able to source several stories from The Side Hustle Show archives and the blog archives to back that thesis up, but still had a bunch of gaps to fill in. For those, I turned to HARO, the Side Hustle Nation Facebook group and email list, and even reaching out to the marketplaces directly to see if they had any successful sellers I could potentially feature. Full Show Notes: Go Where the Cash is Already Flowing

Gabe Arnold is the founder and chief pencil sharpener at CopywriterToday.net, a subscription based article writing service. In his early 20’s Gabe saw his construction business hit by the downturn in the property market to the tune of a $1 million bankruptcy, and began freelancing to support his family. One common hold-up on his website projects was the words to paste into the pages, which gave him an idea. Tune in to hear how he took that idea from zero customers to $20k in monthly recurring revenue. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: From a $1 Million Bankruptcy to $20k in Monthly Recurring Revenue: A Productized Service Case Study

As a small business attorney, Elizabeth Potts Weinstein helps entrepreneurs, small business owners, coaches, artists, etc, get all their legal affairs in order so they can focus on their businesses. In this episode, Elizabeth agreed to answer some legal questions from members of the Side Hustle Nation Facebook Group. We cover disclaimers, business registration requirements, entity selection pros and cons, trademarks and copyrights, and licensing. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Your Legal Questions Answered

Nothing gives me a shot of inspiration more than when I look at my podcast feed and see episodes like “Zero to 20K a Month” or “Building a Multi-Million Dollar Ecommerce Brand on the Side.” Those are some incredibly sexy and enticing titles, aren’t they? Then, you dive deep and you listen in. You hear Jon Haws say, “Once a book is out there, you’re always making money,” and think to yourself, “Damn, Why aren’t I doing that? Why him and not me?” Full Show Notes: How to Stop Just Listening to The Side Hustle Show and Start Taking Action

Erin Chase is a busy mother of 4, a former teacher, and today runs 5DollarDinners.com and the 5dollarmealplan. Back in 2008, after some number crunching, Erin was excited at saving 50% on her grocery bills. She shared how she did this on her family blog, but with a low amount of interest she decided to start her own blog to help others make savings on their own grocery bills. You may have heard the saying, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” – well there is such a thing as free meal plans. Erin carried on publishing free meal plans and tips how to feed your family on a budget and her viewership kept growing. In this episode, you will hear how Erin capitalized on the momentum of viral social media posts to set up paywalls and start generating more income. You’ll learn how she transitioned from ad networks and affiliate income to selling directly to her audience, and how she set up membership programs for recurring revenue. Today, her online empire brings in a healthy 5-figure monthly income. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Blogging for Recurring Revenue: Turn Readers into Members Related: Want to start a blog of your own? Check out my free guide on how to start your blog.

In 2011, Joshua Lisec landed his first freelance gig--on Fiverr of all places. He said he wound up making $1.67 an hour from that job, but it sparked his entrepreneurial journey. Since then, he's gone from "dumpster-diving for clients" to consistently landing 4- and 5-figure contracts and earning $167 an hour on one recent project, effectively 100x-ing his hourly rate. In this episode, we take a deep dive into what I'll call the OPA Plan: borrowing other people's audiences to grow your business, a strategy that's earned Joshua $9000 in just the last couple of months. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: The OPA Plan: How to Borrow Other People’s Audiences to Explode Your Sales

As co-host of the #1 marriage podcast in iTunes, the ONE Extraordinary Marriage show, Tony DiLorenzo speaks to a worldwide audience about sex, love, and commitment. Along with his wife Alisa, their goal is to reach as many couples around the world as they can, equipping them with the tools and strategies they need to create an extraordinary marriage. With a hugely popular blog and podcast, Tony is a little modest in saying, “that’s consistency over 7 years.” Tony and Alisa sell coaching services, their own products, promote affiliate products, and have sponsorships as some of their income streams. Over the last 7 years they have come a long way with their brand from a side hustle hobby to a full-time business. Want to start an online business of your own? It starts with a website, and my free 6-part video series walks you through how to set it up without breaking the bank. Tune in to hear Tony taking me through the steps he took to build up his podcast to over 150k downloads a month, the tools and techniques he uses to drive traffic to his lead magnets, how he has a tiered upsell funnel, and how he and his wife have built up profitable and diverse income streams. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: From Content to Cash Flow – Affiliate Marketing and Automated Sales Funnels

You may remember Rosemarie Groner from episode 142 of the Side Hustle Show last year. She revealed how her blog Busy Budgeter was just a year old and receiving around 400,000 pageviews and making around $5k a month — primarily through Pinterest traffic. It’s almost a year later now and I had to have her back to see how things were progressing. Rosemarie is now regularly making more than $20k a month, and while her pageviews are still at a similar number she has improved her ROI and diversified her traffic and income sources. Rosemarie is still getting a ton of traffic from Pinterest and explains how she has moved with the changes on the platform to maintain her numbers. She also talks about how she has started focusing on SEO, has built different email lists to sell different products to, and why calculating the ROI on a project should be one of your first considerations. Her first appearance on episode 142 was one of the most popular shows of last year and I expect this episode to be just as popular. It’s packed with actionable tips and information you can use to increase your own traffic numbers and earnings, along with some of the new tips and tricks Rosemarie has implemented in the last year. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Building a Blog to $20k a Month and Beyond Related: Want to start a blog of your own? Check out my free step-by-step tutorial series on how you can get up and running in no time.

It’s time to dive into the ol’ listener mailbag and answer a few questions in this week's edition of The Side Hustle Show. It's been 3 months since the last Q&A show I did and I’ve had quite a few interesting questions come in since then. A common piece of advice you'll hear is to take audience questions and turn them into content, so here's a meta example of that in action. Full Show Notes: Blogging, Branding, Book Writing, and Finding the Right Side Hustle for You: 20 Questions with Nick

This week’s episode was something a little different as I was joined by three of my favorite productivity podcasters, Erik Fisher, Mike Vardy, and Paul Minors. Combined they have more than 300 productivity-themed podcasts under their belts and represent 3 different countries! Since getting the most out of our limited time is a ongoing struggle for side hustlers, I invited them on the show for a unique roundtable format to see what's working today and what wisdom we can glean from their archives. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Prioritization, Elimination, Automation, and Delegation for Side Hustle Nation: A Productivity Roundtable

Last month I compiled a killer round-up post with book launch and marketing tips from 25 authors, entrepreneurs, and leaders in the self-publishing space. When I sent my weekly newsletter out about it, one subscriber replied and said something to the effect of, "That's cute, but let me show you how it really works." As you might have guessed, that subscriber was this week's guest, Adam Houge. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How Book Marketing Really Works: Tips from a 6-Figure Self-Published Author

"Find a hot trend and piggyback on it," Toni Anderson told me. And that's exactly what she did in launching her ecommerce business last year in the jewelry niche. It's not just generic jewelry, but jewelry designed to specifically ride on the "essential oils" trend. Toni said 90% of her business comes through Amazon vs. her own storefront, but that she and her partner did $190k in sales in their first 7 months! Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: A 6-Figure Amazon FBA Business in 7 Months

On any given weekend in San Francisco, out of earshot from the barking harbor seals at Pier 39 and the clang of the cable cars, a small group of urban hikers are exploring the city from a different vantage point. For three hours, they walk, climb, and even slide their way through historic neighborhoods and scenic outlooks. They’re led by Alexandra Kenin, or one of her carefully selected guides, and have paid $49 apiece for this unique travel experience. Alexandra runs UrbanHikerSF.com on the side from her day job as a content writer and editor. More than 1000 people take her urban hikes each year, and she now oversees a team of 4-5 guides that can lead the hikes in her place. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Getting Paid to Show Off Your City: How to Start a Tour Guide Side Hustle

Kara Lamerato is a work-at-home-mom of 2, but runs a successful business in her spare time. Kara's Vineyard Wedding supplies brides with wine-themed wedding decorations, and has shipped thousands of orders. Kara started the business before having kids while she was still working full-time in private banking. The idea came from her own wedding and thinking there might be other brides out there looking for similar DIY-style items. She put a listing up on Etsy, and a couple of weeks later, she had her first order! Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Starting an Ecommerce Empire on Etsy

Tom Morkes has worked on the book launches for a number of previous Side Hustle Show guests, including John Lee Dumas, Dan Norris, Taylor Pearson, and Neil Patel. What I wanted to do in this conversation was reverse engineer some of the steps that go into producing, launching, and marketing a bestselling book, even if you don't have thousands of fans waiting for it. And selfishly, I wanted to get some insight on what I could do to make my latest book project, Buy Buttons, hit the top of the charts. Tune in to hear Tom's top tips from more than a dozen different bestselling launches. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Reverse-Engineering a Bestselling Book Launch

Rachel Pedersen was using social media to bring customers to her hairdressing chair, but never really imagined it would turn into a full-time business of its own. One of her hairdressing clients owned a popular restaurant chain, but was struggling with online marketing and social media. Rachel offered to help and the rest is history. Today her little social media management side hustle is a 6-figure business and she has even built a training program to help other people follow in her footsteps. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How a Former Hairdresser Turned Her Side Hustle Into a 6-Figure Business, with Rachel Pedersen

Dropshipping is also a topic we haven't really covered in depth in the past, but many listeners have been requesting to learn more about it. I reached out to Anton Kraly, who's one of the most successful people I know in this space. He's been selling online for almost 10 years and he and his team have built out an impressive portfolio of drop-ship stores. Dropshipping is where you sell a product and the manufacturer or supplier ships it directly to your customer. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Start an Online Store – Without Touching Any Inventory (Drop Shipping 101)

Matt is a former Air Force pilot who was looking into various side hustles to support his family after some salary cuts at work. After hustling and selling used books (among other things), he realized it really wasn't sustainable and took up too much of his time. That's when he found a gumball vending machine for sale on eBay for $36. The seller was local in Houston so he drove over with two of his kids and picked it up. Filling it with candy from Sam's Club, he knocked on doors of businesses until he found a home for it at a local karate studio. A couple weeks later, he went back and it was filled with quarters! Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Matt’s Passive Income Empire Started With Just $36 … and a Bag of Gumballs

Before people can do business with you, they have to know about you, and before they know about you, they have to find you. And that’s universal, whether you’re running a brick-and-mortar shop, an ecommerce store, a blog, or a virtual consulting business. Neil Patel is a master at solving the first step in that equation: getting people to find you. Through SEO, content marketing, and social media, we go through the traffic generation tactics that are working today. Neil runs a handful of online projects, including NeilPatel.com, QuickSprout.com, and the heatmap software tool CrazyEgg.com. His latest project is a book called HUSTLE (a title I can definitely get behind), due out in September and all about how you can (and must) make your own luck in an economy rigged against you. This episode is all about how new and experienced content creators can get more visitors to their work. Don’t have a blog yet? My free blogging course shows you step-by-step how to get started. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Traffic Hacks for 2016 and Beyond, with Neil Patel

Dan Harris had me at "meditation for skeptics." In the last 5 years, it seems like meditation has gone from a weird woowoo practice to a daily staple of most top entrepreneurs, executives, and leaders. But so far, I haven't been able to get into it. Have you? I've tried a few of the guided meditation apps, including Headspace and Calm, but when I tried meditating in the morning, I had this impatient feeling like I should just get on with my day and start work. Full Show Notes: Happiness is a Skill, and This 5-Minute Habit Can Help You Get Better at It

Eight years ago this month I pulled out of the parking lot of my corporate job for the last time. It was a weird moment, filled with hope and excitement, but also nervousness. Sure, I'd built my side hustle to the point I was comfortable taking the leap, but it was still a leap. The responsibility of cutting your own paycheck each month is stressful! In this episode I attempt to pull out 8 of the most important takeaways from the last 8 years. Full Show Notes: I Quit My Job 8 Years Ago! Here Are 8 Lessons I’ve Learned Since Then That You Can Apply Today

Teaching what you know in the form of an online course has become the bread and butter for many online entrepreneurs. You can see the appeal: package all your best stuff into a logical and well-presented lesson plan, record it, and sell it over and over again. Course creation has the potential to be a fantastic passive income business, just like book sales or software. Build an asset that has low-to-zero incremental costs, and sell as many copies as you can — sometimes for $1000 or more. In this episode I’m chatting with Bailey Richert and her advice for budding “infopreneurs.” In her words, you don’t need a huge audience to start building a successful business, but you would be wise to follow a few important steps. Related: To build an online business, you need to get online. My free video course will show you how to quickly and affordably set up your first website. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Create, Market, and Sell Your First Online Course – Even With a Small Audience

Last fall, Chris Deardorff had a passion for startups and entrepreneurship, but wasn't sure which direction to go. He had -- and still has -- a good job doing product marketing. But as he studied the local startup scene, he noticed a common problem. Many startups struggled to gain traction for the products and services; a problem an experienced product marketer could solve. In this episode, you'll hear how Chris landed his first clients, the suite of services he decided to offer, and how he's delivering the work in addition to his full-time job. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Zero to $30k on the Side in 6 Months

As you know, I'm excited about alternative investments like peer-to-peer lending. And if your aim is to replace your income, I think it makes sense to invest for cash flow. This week's Side Hustle Show guest argues when you want something in other areas of your life, you go out and buy it: a pair of shoes, a computer, a new car. You don't make it from scratch! So why are we so insistent on building income from scratch? He says there's a faster way, and that's to "buy" assets that are already generating positive cash flow. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Digital Real Estate Investing for Cash Flow

It's time to dive into the ol' listener mailbag and answer a few questions in this special Friday edition of The Side Hustle Show. The last Q&A show I did was back in November and I've had quite a few interesting questions come in since then. Today we're chatting about SEO tools and strategies, affiliate marketing, self-publishing, Udemy, real estate, taxes, consulting, and more. Full Show Notes: SEO, Affiliate Marketing, Self-Publishing, Udemy, and More: 20 Questions with Nick

Scott Tarcy reached out to me with a listener success story of taking some of his on-the-job skills and turning them into a business on the side. Scott's a mechanical engineer by trade, and his job involved lots of product design work, including computer aided drafting and 3D modeling. Recognizing that other individuals and companies might have a need for those skills, he took to the interwebs. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Listener Success Story: From Zero Customers to Full-Time Business

More than 150,000 women have completed Tiffany “The Budgetnetista” Aliche’s Live Richer Challenge. The roughly 30-day challenge participants step-by-step instructions on how to get their financial lives in order, get out of debt, and start saving money. Collectively, Tiffany’s tribe has saved $17 million and paid off $1.5 in debt! I first heard Tiffany tell the story of how she started the challenge and how that’s turned into a thriving business at FinCon last year, and am excited to share it with you this week. This year, The Budgetnetista expects to bring in more than $500,000 from speaking, book sales, sponsors and affiliate relationships, and a new private membership academy. I think her model can be replicated across a number of different niches and industries so you can apply these same strategies and tactics in your business. Tune in to hear how she came up with the idea for the challenge, the innovative way she grew her tribe, and how giving it all away for free turned into a very profitable venture. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How a Free Challenge Turned into a $500,000 a Year Business

Darrel is a full-time Operations Manager for a startup in Atlanta, but has built a sizable side hustle on eBay. In the last 12 months, he's sold over 6-figures worth of merchandise. eBay still gets massive traffic; it's currently the 7th most popular site in the US and 26th most popular in the world. That's a lot of eyeballs, and more importantly, that's a lot of buyers! In this conversation, Darrel breaks down his inventory acquisition strategies, his step-by-step auction strategy, and how he batches packing and shipping to make the most of his time. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How To Build a 6-Figure eBay Business Part-Time

At the end of nearly every episode of The Side Hustle Show, I ask my guests for their #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation. There’s always a great variety of responses, and I wanted to take some time today to go through some of my favorites from the past 50-ish interviews. My #1 Tip? Find your WHY. Why side hustle? What are you trying to build? What will that afford you? Full Show Notes: What I’ve Learned and Applied from 49 Awesome Entrepreneurs – Part 3

Matt Inglot was following the hustler's path. He built some skills on his spare time, and began selling those skills as a freelancer. The first project he sold was to build a website for $300. Soon, he had a full-time freelance business, and decided to grow into an agency. But before long, Matt found himself working 80 hour weeks and stressed out during down months about covering rent and payroll. While outwardly successful, Matt knew the business was broken. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Freelance Transformation: From $300 Technician to $20,000 Consultant, with Matt Inglot

If you want to learn English, you may have come across one of Gabby Wallace's hundreds of YouTube videos on the subject. Her channel, which started only because the video she recorded for her classroom students was too big to email, has grown to more than 170,000 subscribers and nearly 9 million views. Gabby is a long-time teacher and found a way to turn her subject matter expertise into a business. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: YouTube Marketing: How to Use Free Videos to Build a Full-Time Online Business

Jesse Gernigin is a professional stage hypnotist and online freelancer. He used to do up to 200 shows a year and even sold his own products, but realized there was always going to be a ceiling to his earning power. Turning to the world of online work, Jesse applied his performance and sales skills to land freelance work in his spare time. Today he specializes in copywriting for email sequences, sales letters, and crowdfunding campaigns. He shares some of his favorite tactics for figuring out what type of service you can offer, identifying high-value clients, and writing winning proposals. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Get Freelance Jobs (Tips from a Professional Hypnotist)

"To build income you can hustle, but to build wealth you need to build something that doesn’t require your hands." That's what this week's guest told me, and then walked me down an interesting path in building that elusive "hands-free" business. His angle? Product licensing. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Turn Your Ideas Into Recurring Revenue, with Stephen Key

Carey Green had spent the last 20 years as a pastor, before making the leap into entrepreneurship. As he studied to become a licensed mortgage broker, an idea took hold to put his study notes online. Today Carey helps other aspiring mortgage brokers pass their certification exam, a test he says was the hardest he ever took. That business, which actually derives most of its traffic from YouTube, generates $1000 a week! But Carey didn't stop there. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Case Study: Creating a $1k per Week Online Authority Business and a Service Business From Scratch

Want to get paid to create content? Jason Zook is the undisputed king when it comes to sponsored content. You may know Jason as the IWearYourShirt guy, where he earned over $1,000,000 wearing t-shirts for various companies. He's even sold his last name (twice -- each for $40k+), formerly going as Jason Surfrapp and Jason Headsetsdotcom. In this episode, he shares his tips for getting sponsors for your work, even if you're just starting out. I think you'll like it! Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Get Paid to Create Content – Even When You’re Just Starting Out

In my recent annual member survey, one of the biggest challenges named was coming up with the right side hustle idea. Over the years, I've been on both ends of the idea spectrum: feeling hopeless in search of a business idea, and (more recently) feeling like there are more ideas than I could ever hope to tackle. Still, if you're in the brainstorming stage, I think this week's podcast session with Don "The Idea Guy" Holliday will help. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Side Hustle Idea Brainstorming: The 7 Rules of Business Idea Generation Plus Live Listener Feedback 

This is the second in what will (at least) be a 2-part series on side hustlers earning income from their land investment endeavors. In this special Friday edition of the show, I'm joined by Chris Pritchard. Chris is a software developer by day, but has built his land investing business up to $1500/mo in recurring revenue. In addition, Chris does the occasional cash flip and also has more than $70,000 worth of land payments under contract. Not bad for a year of dedicated focus and effort! Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: The Best Passive Income Model: Raw Land INvesting Update (Part 2)

In episode 108 of The Side Hustle Show last year, we met Mark Podolsky, a real estate investor specializing in raw land. He called it "The Best Passive Income Model," because there are no products to build, no tenants or toilets, and you can start without a huge upfront investment. This year, I wanted to feature a couple of listeners who took action based on that episode. The first is my friend Josh Brooks, an Army Battalion Commander and founder of The Enduring Charity Foundation. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: The Best Passive Income Model: Raw Land Investing Update (Part 1)

The Sharing Economy is one of those "too-big-to-ignore" trends, and I think it's a great opportunity to get your feet wet in side hustling. We've talked about Uber and Airbnb before, but there are literally hundreds of different platforms where you can put your buy buttons. These app-powered peer-to-peer transactions are unlocking an estimated $300 billion in economic activity by 2025. Want your piece of the pie? Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Getting Started in the Gig Economy

We first heard from Robert Farrington back in 2013, on episode 10 of The Side Hustle Show. At that time, he was earning $3-4k a month from a portfolio of different sites, and looking to expand his online empire. This week, we catch up on what’s changed since then. Robert’s doubled down on his main site, TheCollegeInvestor.com, narrowed his focus, and roughly tripled his earnings. Oh, and he’s still working full-time too. We chat content, traffic, and monetization strategies, as well as how he manages the business in his spare time. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: $10k a Month Blogging Part-Time I think you’ll like it! If you don’t have a blog of your own yet, use my free 6-part video course to get started today.

Kenny Azama has worked with massive global brands like Nike, Samsung, Apple, Chevrolet, and Coca Cola, but he's not an ad agency or a top secret marketing mogul. He's a professional brand ambassador, "someone who is temporarily hired to represent a brand in a positive light, and provide consumers with a memorable face-to-face experience." I think this in an interesting side hustle, and one we haven't covered on the site before, because as Kenny explains, there are always gigs nearby, they're fun, and they can actually pay pretty well. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Become a Brand Ambassador

Gina Horkey has come highly recommended by a number of listeners, and I’ve seen her work what seems like “all over the Internet” for the past couple years so I’m excited to finally connect and bring her on the show. She’s a freelance writer extraordinaire, but also a virtual assistant, and someone who now helps others follow in her footsteps. Gina successfully built her freelance writing and virtual assistant business to be earning several thousand dollars a month; enough to quit her day job and go full-time. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Start a Freelance Business

Do you know Jon Dykstra from FatStacksBlog.com? I've been following his work since last summer and have been really impressed. Jon is a former attorney turned full-time entrepreneur, and he’s the master of building high quality niche blogs and monetizing them to $10k-20k per month in record time. (Sixty days to $10k in one case.) Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Build a 6-Figure Blog Fast On the call, we use the example of a snow sports site, which in years past may have been considered too broad. Niche down to something like “powder ski reviews,” experts might have said. Jon takes the opposite approach: broader appeal means more visitors and more ad revenue. Inspired to start a blog of your own? My free video course will show you how.

Voiceover acting may be -- at least in my mind -- one of the most universal side hustles. I mean, almost all of us can speak, right? My guest this week, Carrie Olsen, assures me there's a little more to it than that, but also says it's a business with low startup costs and low barriers to entry. Carrie went from her first audition to quitting her job in a span of just 4 months. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Getting Started in Voiceover Acting

Parenthood has got me thinking, every BIG victory is built on the back of a ton of mini victories. You don't wake up one morning and win the Super Bowl. You win it one quarter at a time, one possession at a time, one down at a time, one yard at a time. We all want the BIG win; quit our jobs, passive income, early retirement, location-independence, whatever it is. But what's the next mini win to help get us there? Full Show Notes: The Mini-Victory Theory

A couple months ago, Matt Bochnak sent me a note about his motorcycle repair side hustle. As someone who is, shall we say, less-than-savvy when it comes to mechanics, I was impressed. But Matt shared that the passive income from this service business now actually exceeds his revenue from "turning wrenches." Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: From Active to Passive Income with a Service Business Don't Miss our Follow-ups with Matt:  Part 2: Episode 354 up to $5k a month Part 3: Episode 484 up to $20k a month

Teaching online is a fantastic way to earn money from your experience, skills, and expertise Phil's built up a HUGE library of more than 50 online courses and teaches more than 130,000 students. While he now focuses on his business full-time, he hit the 6-figure income mark before leaving his day job. In this episode we chat about how he comes up with course ideas, how he structures his content, and he markets his material, along of course with the tech he uses to get it all done. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Make Money with Online Courses

I'm happy to introduce Greg Mercer, who is the go-to guy for Amazon product research. His own ecommerce empire has grown to $400k per month in revenue -- yes, per month -- and he's the founder of the popular Jungle Scout software tool that helps make the product research process faster and easier. In this call we dive into his specific sales criteria and next steps in evaluating a product's profit potential and how to bring it to market on Amazon. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Amazon FBA Private Label Product Research

Assad's a Finance Director by day so he's got some street cred when it came to offering consulting, and quickly built that business up to around $1000 a month. In April, he mentioned he'd also started selling products on Amazon FBA using the clearance arbitrage model Travis Scott shared on the show. Nine months later, that little experiment had grown into a six-figure side hustle. Check out our conversation to learn how it happened. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Amazon FBA Retail Arbitrage Tips

When it comes to your side hustle, the words you use matter. In so many businesses, our first impressions with customers often come from a website, an email, or a product description. Are you sending the right message? Is it unique and powerful enough to stand out from the crowd? Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Copywriting Tips for Side Hustlers

My guest this week, Brian Swichkow, is a viral marketing pro, having achieved outsize results on several different projects. Having one viral hit could be considered a lucky fluke, but to be able to do it again and again, and you start to recognize a repeatable, learnable pattern. That's what listeners can look forward to in this episode; how you can apply Brian's tactics to your own side hustle to get more visitors, leads, and customers. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Get Traffic from Reddit

Jonathan Stark says the key to side hustle success -- for consultants, at least -- lies in finding an expensive problem, and solving it. Jonathan's a pro at finding these expensive problems, having run a successful online consulting business for several years, focusing on mobile-ready web development. At the recommendation of two-time Side Hustle Show guest, Kai Davis, he dropped by to share some of his insight on how to get a side hustle consulting business off the ground. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Start a Consulting Business

We've heard of niche sites seeing success with AdSense or Amazon Associates income, or even with selling private advertising, but Jon Haws took a completely different approach.  Since last November, Jon has: Released more than 150 podcast episodes. Written nearly 3 dozen Kindle books. Created the definitive course on pharmacy medications. Built a nursing test-prep app that gets 100+ downloads a day. Started to sell physical products for nursing students with Amazon FBA. All told, these different channels -- that didn't even exist a year and a half ago -- are earning more than $20,000 a month! If you're looking at a niche or authority business and need some new ideas on how to serve your audience, this is a can't miss episode. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Zero to $20k a Month in a Year: 5 Ways to Completely Dominate Your Niche, with Jon Haws

What separates the 5% of fulfilled, successful people from the 95% rest of the population? Author Jeff Olson argues it's The Slight Edge. Successful people have harnessed the power of relentless incrementalism, the daily practice of making progress toward their goals -- even if imperceptible at the beginning. Today is a brief solo show to discuss how you can find your slight edge in 2016 and beyond.

Three years ago, Bryn and her business partner Brooke had each made less $500 from their photography hobby -- far less than they'd spent on equipment. Fast forward to this year, and they shot more than a dozen weddings and booked top-line revenue in excess of $40,000. Listen in to hear what happened in between. Remember, every professional starts as an amateur, and there are parallels in this conversation I think will apply to any freelance service-based side hustle. Full Show Notes: How to Turn Your Hobby Into a Business

Recurring revenue models are all the rage these days, and for good reason. You can make a sale once and continue to earn from it as long as you keep your customer happy. There are quite a few recurring revenue business examples from The Side Hustle Show archives, but today I'm excited to introduce Ross Simmonds, a side hustler turned full-time entrepreneur, and the founder of Hustle & Grind, a coffee subscription box service. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Start and Market a Subscription Box Service

Elizabeth Colegrove and her husband are budding real estate moguls. So far they've acquired 7 houses, and neither of them are 30 years old yet. Between their 7 properties, they're earning around $1800 in cash flow every month, and their tenants are paying off $1650 in loan principal. But real estate side hustles are not without risks and Elizabeth joked that I just have easily could have called the episode 27 and $1.1 million in debt. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Building a Real Estate Empire on the Side

This week I'm excited to welcome Rob Stephenson to The Side Hustle Show. Rob is the "Flea Market Flipper" and he's got an interesting take on the age-old Buy Low, Sell High business model. In fact, it earned him $30,000 last year working just 10-15 hours a week. This is on top of his day job as a real estate inspector. Full Show Notes: How to Make Money Flipping Items

We've covered Kindle publishing in a variety of ways on The Side Hustle Show in the past, and it's one of my favorite side hustles. But one area of frustration, at least for me, is that for all the effort put into writing, editing, publishing, and launching the book, it's still tough to sustain sales for long periods of time. My guest this week has a way to keep moving units month after month, and it works for both books AND physical products (for all you FBA sellers out there). Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Amazon SEO Tips for Books and Physical Products

This is my attempt at a Q&A show, based on some questions of the interesting questions that have hit my inbox or the Facebook group over the past couple weeks. It actually stems from a new inbox "trick" I've been playing with lately. Maybe I'm a super-latecomer to this game, but I just created 2 new "labels" in Gmail: one for Questions and one for Testimonials.

If you've ever been frustrated with the products in your life, and thought "there's gotta be a better way!," this conversation is sure to hit home. Jeremy Michael Cohen and Fred Perrotta created Tortuga Backpacks after an awesome trip to Europe -- and a less-than-awesome experience with their luggage. They resolved to create a better travel backpack, and did it, starting as a side hustle of course. Full Show Notes: Building a Multi-Million Dollar Ecommerce Brand on the Side

Rosemarie Groner is a former state trooper turned blogger and stay at home mom. In the last 12 months, her site The Busy Budgeter has grown from zero to 400,000 page views per month. More importantly, Rosemarie earned $5000 from the site last month while working on it part-time. Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: $5k per Month Blogging Case Study Want to start a blog of your own? My free video course shows you how. (For the sake of comparison, SHN was around 73,000 pageviews for the last 30 days at the time of recording.) I met Rosemarie (and several other members of her mastermind group) at FinCon in September, where she shared a surprising secret weapon to her success: Pinterest.

It's a special Friday-before-Halloween edition of The Side Hustle Show! Today we're diving into some of the scary moments in my business and some frightening tales from Side Hustle Show listeners. Even though we're told to "punch fear in the face," I think it's something that will be a constant in our lives. There's always something to be afraid of.

The self-publishing world has changed quite a bit in the last couple years. Amazon is constantly changing the rules and rewards for authors, and more and more writers are entering the fold. In today's show, I'm joined by Jyotsna Ramachandran, a "stay at home mom entrepreneur" and best-selling author. She shares candidly how she built her Kindle empire to more than 50 titles in less than 2 years, primarily with ghost-written content. As the game has changed, she's shifted her focus to produce more quality products and less quantity.

I'm excited to introduce you to John Rouda, an IT manager near Charlotte, North Carolina. He's built a variety of non-job income streams on the side, while still working full time. In fact, we recorded this session from his office at work! John calls his side businesses for-profit hobbies, which I think is a great attitude to take. He has a handful of books on Amazon, dozens of apps in the app store, is a part-time professor, and runs a local IT/computer maintenance service business.

I first met Ryan Gray at New Media Expo in 2014. He introduced himself and when I asked what he did, he said he was a doctor. Turns out that Dr. Gray, along with his wife (also a doctor), was building MedicalSchoolHQ.net, a resource for med school and premed students. It's another perfect example of building an authority site around a particular area of expertise.

The battle for attention is one that almost all new businesses find themselves mired in. You may have the greatest product or service in the world, but if no one knows about it, how will you get paid? You can write the best blog articles, guest pitch big sites, and tweak your SEO until you're blue in the face, but despite all our new media channels, it's still hard to trump the pull and power of traditional media.

Brian Clark has been content marketing since before the term even existed. In fact, he left a miserable corporate job and built several successful businesses using these effective new marketing techniques. Then he started this little side project called Copyblogger to share some his findings, tactics, and ideas with the rest of the world. Fast forward 10 years and Copyblogger is now Rainmaker Digital on track to do more than $10 million in sales this year.

I've had an idea for a new affiliate site kicking around in my head for a while now, so I thought I'd do a live walk-through of my thought-process and analysis of whether this is an opportunity I should pursue or not. The idea? A comparison and review site for meal delivery services like Blue Apron, Plated, Hello Fresh, Gobble, and others.

Tyler Zey turned his web development side hustle into a full-time business, but not without a few twists and turns along the way. Tyler's actually a classically trained musician (clarinet), but now runs EasyAgentPro, one of the leading marketing services for real estate agents -- despite having no background in real estate. What he lacked in real estate knowledge he made up for with hustle.

Jon Schumacher is a side hustler turned full-time entrepreneur. In fact, when we met at Podcast Movement this summer, he'd punched the clock for the last time just a few weeks before. He mentioned he'd been side hustling for years, and finally had hit on a business and marketing plan that worked. His target was $5k in monthly income before he quit, which he achieved this year and made the leap.

A viable startup business in 7 days ... sound to good to be true? Dan Norris is the co-founder of WP Curve, a service that offers unlimited 24/7 WordPress support for small jobs for $79 per month. He went from idea to paying customers in less than 7 days. Based on his experience, Dan penned the bestselling book The 7 Day Startup, and stopped by The Side Hustle Show to share some of his insights.

Navid had been blogging and podcasting about lifestyle business topics, but wrote one epic "round-up" post that went viral on the subject of personal branding. Sensing he was on to something, and noticing the success of virtual summits in other industries (like health and fitness), he decided to put together The Branding Summit. At the time, Navid had a modest list of 1000 email subscribers. The summit quadrupled that number and generated $20,000 in revenue the month it went live.

Should you quit your side hustle? My guest this week says you should, and argues that what you should do instead is find an apprenticeship. Taylor Pearson is the author of the bestselling The End of Jobs, and one of those super-smart individuals we should all pay attention to. The book is largely a historical perspective on where our economy is today and where we're going; and it's at once terrifying yet optimistic.

I met Steve Chou at New Media Expo this spring, and was fascinated by his story. He's built three different six-figure businesses, all while still working a day job in Silicon Valley. In fact, I was really surprised to find out he's still working TODAY, despite all this side hustle success. Those businesses are an ecommerce store at BumblebeeLinens.com, his blog and podcast at MyWifeQuitHerJob.com, and his online course teaching others how to get started in ecommerce.

John Logar is the king of pre-selling software. As one of The Foundation's top students, he's broken all their records and even broken the mold on some of the methods they teach. In fact, he sold $120k worth of software within his first 6 months of joining the program. Since he was already a consultant, doing idea extraction and finding pain points for businesses was second nature. He just knew nothing about software before so just added a new weapon to his arsenal. (Without learning how to program.)

I was really excited to sit down with Travis Scott from StuffParentsLike.com to share his success with the Amazon FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon) clearance arbitrage business, and also to get his insight since I just started playing around with this side hustle myself. Travis has seen impressive results with Amazon, netting $25,000 so far this year through July, in addition to his full-time job and duties as a dad. You may remember Travis from a guest post he contributed on his FBA adventures last year.

At the end of nearly every episode of The Side Hustle Show, I ask my guests for their #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation. There's always a great variety of responses, and I wanted to take some time today to go through some of my favorites from the past 50 interviews. (I first did this for episode 50, which was my first-ever solo podcast recording.) If all these really smart and successful people keep saying these episode after episode as their “#1 tip,” I think they're worth paying attention to. What action can you take today to apply those tips?

If you're looking for ways to squeeze more out of your limited side hustle hours, this is the episode for you. I'm excited to introduce Julie Sheranosher, host of the Time Hackers podcast. Julie and I met at World Domination Summit in 2013 -- she flew in all the way from Israel -- and she is one of my favorite people and true time management pro. I feel like my productivity has improved over the years, but I'm always learning about new systems and "hacks" to test out. One of those hacks was simply writing down my top 3 priorities for the next day the night before.

This week, I'm joined by fellow online entrepreneur and freedom-seeker, Natalie Sisson. Natalie is a masterful marketer, blogger, podcaster, and speaker, and on this call she breaks down how a blog post idea became a major turning point in her business, and was eventually re-purposed and repackaged more than a half-dozen ways -- all ringing the cash register in some unique fashion. The breakthrough moment was going from $0 to $15,000 in one month, with what I thought was a pretty savvy strategy.

Tim Johnson is a man of many hustles. In fact, when he applied for my Inner Circle Mastermind last year, I had a hard time keeping them all straight. Between his day job as a product engineer, his awesome self-publishing business, his Amazon FBA activities, and an upcoming brick-and-mortar project -- and twin 2 year old boys -- there's no doubt he's keeping busy! On this call, we focus on his book business, which has earned a consistent $1000-1500 a month in author royalties.

One podcast I've been following for a really long time is the Empire Flippers show with Justin Cooke and Joe Magnotti. It's been fun to watch their evolution from building tiny Adsense sites, running an outsourcing company in the Philippines, selling WordPress themes, and now really focusing in on their website brokerage business. Consider this: it's MUCH easier to buy an existing cash flow than to create one entirely from scratch. In this episode we get into the business model of investing in sites, where to look for these "digital real estate" opportunities, some pitfalls to avoid, and even some creative financing options.

Travis Marziani is the co-founder of BDancewear.com, an ecommerce store specializing in dance-clothing handmade in the US. On this week's show, Travis joins me to talk about why ecommerce is such an awesome business model, especially for side hustlers, and the story behind the dance site -- since he is clearly not the target demographic. He's got some innovative content marketing ideas for online stores as well as how people can get started in ecommerce without massive overhead or investment.

Ankur Nagpal is the founder of Fedora, an online course-hosting platform with more than 4000 instructors. From his unique vantage-point, he's got some insight into what separates top-selling courses from the rest of the pack. Ankur gives some innovative ideas on how to use free distribution platforms like YouTube and even Udemy to build an interested audience and drive them to your premium course. We get into how to come up with your course topic, the tools to create your course quickly, and some pricing strategies as well.

Last year, Lise "came out of nowhere" as they say, and published 13 books in 6 months, and now earns between $3000 and $4000 a month in author royalties. Of course the truth is she didn't come out of nowhere at all; she came out of New Zealand and had already built a successful freelance writing business. However, the hustle of delivering work for clients all day had her seeking a more time-leveraged use of her skills. Since she already knew how to write well and write quickly, she figured book publishing was a natural next step.

Creation, connection, and contribution are the 3 C's I believe everyone needs to live a happy healthy productive life, whether that life contains a side hustle or not. In this episode I share the audio from my TEDx talk, which breaks down the 3 C's and why they're so important. The idea for this episode came from an email I wrote last week in response to the statistic that only 30% of workers say they're "inspired and engaged" at work.

Freelancing or selling some useful service is one of the fastest ways to earn more money. It may not be as sexy as "passive income" but it does come with instant gratification. Make deals, deliver awesome work, and get paid. In today's show, I'm excited to welcome back Daniel DiPiazza from Rich20Something.com. You may remember Daniel from Episode 35, where he talked about how his "marsupial method" took his tutoring business from $18 an hour to $1000 an hour.

On this week's show, I'm joined by Steph Halligan, who runs ArtToSelf.com. She's a talented cartoonist who began a daily blog and email newsletter with inspirational and affirmational art -- all created by her. The site is 100% supported by donations from her followers, and even though it's very early in the journey, I think there's enough validation to say she's on the path her 1000 true fans doing work she loves.

I was very excited to sit down with Mark Podolsky, The Land Geek, to talk about his side-hustle-turned-full-time-biz of investing in raw land. In fact, he was able to replace his day job income and quit his job only 18 months after starting. Mark calls it the best passive income model because you don't have to worry about building a website, building a product, dealing with tenants, dealing with repairs, or selling a service.

Dorie's latest book is called Stand Out: How to Find Your Breakthrough Idea and Build a Following Around It, and it is the perfect companion to anyone trying to build a personal brand, an authority website, or an audience-based business. This episode is a little different from other Side Hustle Show episodes because we actually don't talk much about Dorie's personal story or experience at all, but rather dive into the research and examples that went into Stand Out. Listen in to learn how you can generate your next killer idea, get people to pay attention to you, and find a way to monetize it.

I've been medium-obsessed with the idea of early retirement ever since I discovered this little blog called Mr. Money Mustache a couple years ago. The basic formula goes like this: once you have 25x your annual spending in invested net worth, you can theoretically live off growth/interest/dividends in perpetuity. On today's episode you'll meet Jeremy Jacobson, who retired at 37 and now spends his days traveling with his wife and soaking up new cultures and experiences -- and blogging about financial independence.

Four months ago, Andy Slamans gave us a detailed look at Amazon FBA product selection, working with manufacturers, and bringing those products to market. But the most common question I get from listeners is how to find that first product to import. How do I find a profitable product? How do I measure the competition? How do I validate the demand and the pricing? In today's episode, I sit down with Will Mitchell from StartupBros.com to dive into those exact questions.

Dan Faggella sent me an email last month that essentially said, "Hey Nick, I'm a fan of the show. I have some expertise in email marketing, and I know many of your listeners are working to build their online presence and their email lists. Would it make sense to do an episode on some list building and email best practices?" And then he added the kicker: "I'm making $50k/mo selling martial arts training videos right now, and I have other businesses as well..." OK, I'm listening!

This week my friend Alex Barker co-hosts and interviews me on my entrepreneurial beginnings, my first side hustle, and the origins and future of Side Hustle Nation. We also go through a few listener questions as well. I realized I've told some of these stories only in bits and pieces on the show and on the Side Hustle Nation blog before, despite having mentioned them on several other podcasts. This episode is admittedly a little "fluffy" -- so I promise a return to the hard-hitting tactical stuff next week!

Nate and his brother earned $300,000 in passive income by licensing one of their ideas to Mattel. They didn't have to design it, produce it, or sell it. But they found someone who could, and they cashed the checks. And to be fair, Nate will be the first to tell you these kind of results aren't typical -- but he's proof they ARE possible. Nate's actually a dentist by day, but a pretty serious side hustler by night, and on this call we take a deep dive into the world of product licensing.

John Corcoran is well-known in online business circles for being "the connections guy," but I was more curious in how he's built his own online business than networking tips. Today he sells his own premium course on Connecting with Influencers, plus earns money as an affiliate for other high-dollar, high-value online products. In January, he earned $30,000 in one month, through sales of his own product and as an affiliate for others. In this call we get into building and selling a course of your own, the best ways to get it done, and maybe a little bit about building the partnerships to make a powerful impact.

In Hawaii and on the plane home I read two books with very similar themes: The ONE Thing by Gary Keller Essentialism by Greg McKeown Both titles share the common message of FOCUS -- de-cluttering your day, your work, your mind, and your life. They came at a good time because I was starting to feel overwhelmed with projects and wanting to pursue new ideas and opportunities as they came up.

Twenty months and 90 episodes ago, I was introduced to the incredible story of AnarchoFighter, the Top-Rated Fiverr seller who earned enough cash on the platform to buy a house. That episode convinced me to give Fiverr a shot as a seller myself, and it's turned into a fun side hustle income stream. Since we last spoke, Fiverr has implemented a bunch of changes, including the option to create custom quotes up to $10,000. And Mark was the first to make that $10k deal, taking a buyer from $5 to 5-figures:

It's tax season, and I think it would be foolish to give Uncle Sam more than you're legally required to. This week I'm joined by Joshua Sheats from RadicalPersonalFinance.com and the host of the Radical Personal Finance podcast. He explains there are 2 tax codes: the personal tax code and the business tax code. As a business owner, even as a side hustler, there are a number of distinct tax advantages available to you. Listen in and keep your hard-earned dollars!

Dayne Shuda runs GhostBlogWriters.com, a done-for-you blogging service that commands premium prices, and oversees a team of 20 part-time writers to deliver the work for clients around the country. But like most businesses, Ghost Blog Writers came from some pretty humble beginnings. In fact, Dayne started it as a side hustle with $0 upfront investment.

Here's a guy who built an online business, and had the courage to up and move to Cozumel, Mexico -- with his wife and 3 young daughters. It's not your typical single-23-year-old-dude digital nomad type of story, though Sean's business itself is simple enough to be replicated. This is a fun chat about hustling for business and building a lifestyle on your own terms. I think you're going to like it, even if you have no desire to move abroad.

This may surprise people, but I'm a pretty slow writer. I have a challenging time writing in "rough draft" mode. You know, where you just brain dump onto the page and clean it up later. That's one reason I wanted to have Chandler Bolt back on the show; because he's got a cure for that I'm anxious to try out. In this episode, we talk about his 3-step writing process to quickly create a new book project, along with Kindle launch tactics for new and aspiring authors.

You want traffic? You want readers? You want customers? You'll want to listen to this episode. Your free book is essentially your epic "guest post" -- only a MUCH bigger site than you could ever hope to publish on regularly. Like a good guest post, it leads readers back to more of your content, where they opt-in with their email to continue their relationship with you. This works for authors and non-authors alike. In fact, Nick pretty much convinced me I need to be doing this as well!

I'm thrilled to welcome Benny Hsu back to The Side Hustle Show! Remember Benny from way back in episode 17, when we talked about dominating the app store? In 2014, his app business took a backseat to a new side hustle: selling t-shirts through Teespring. I ran into Benny at Podcast Movement last summer, where I was proudly rocking my "Every day I'm hustling" tee, and we got to chatting about his new Teespring business.

If you're not already following Bryan Harris, I recommend you do. The guy is super smart and has a unique way of breaking things down so that they're easy to understand and implement. He doesn't mess around, and gives super-detailed actionable advice with some awesome examples, but gives the caveat that it takes real work. This is not a 4-hour workweek passive income system -- at least not at first. But that's OK, because we're hustlers and ready to make something happen in 2015, right?

It had been several years since I'd given any thought to my LinkedIn account, and it was due for a serious overhaul. Enter Joshua Jordison, a former side hustler turned full-time entrepreneur (primarily in the event production industry). Joshua, who goes by JJ, walked me through step-by-step on how to turn my LinkedIn profile from zero to hero.

Scott Oldford sent me a proposal for a podcast episode about part-time podcasting, and included the hook, "I've made $1900 in revenue from my first episode." OK, I'm listening! In this episode we discuss how a podcast can be a very part-time venture but still reach a wide audience and begin to earn revenue on its own.

Selling on Amazon is one of the hottest side hustles around, and I'm not talking about selling books! In this show, we'll dive into sourcing and selling your own physical products on Amazon by finding what's hot in the marketplace, making smart purchases, and out-marketing the competition. I'm joined by Andy Slamans, an Amazon seller who turned his online side hustle into a full-time business this May, and expects to finish the year with over $400,000 in top line revenue. (And $33k in 30 days and over $5k in one day on Cyber Monday!) Incredible!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you're having an amazing holiday with friends and family, and taking a moment to reflect and recharge. Even though it's an American holiday, the idea behind giving thanks for what we have is universal. What's your Turkey Day tradition? I'm behind the mic solo this week, talking about 6 habits I believe have made me a better entrepreneur, and how you can implement them in your own life.

When I asked listeners last month who they'd like to hear on the show, Rob Cubbon is a name that came up from a couple different people. Rob's been crushing it lately between is online teaching efforts and his Kindle publishing business, and as luck would have it, is a Side Hustle Show listener himself. I've been following Rob's blog for some time myself, and have been really impressed with his journey. In fact, it's pretty inspiring and eye-opening to see some his quarterly income reports, with much of the money coming from Udemy.

Jasper Ribbers is one of the leading experts on building an Airbnb side hustle, having done it himself with his Amsterdam apartment and having co-authored the bestselling book on the topic, Get Paid for Your Pad. (He also runs a blog and podcast by the same name.) I was introduced to Jasper by Jesse Krieger (Episode 62, Generating Lifestyle Business Ideas That Work), and grew fascinated by his story. He gets to travel the world while his asset back at home earns roughly $60,000 a year from short-term Airbnb rentals.

J. Massey discovered real estate as a business out of necessity. He and his wife were both in poor health, and as he explains, had a 398 credit score and $75 to their name. Then, introduced to real estate wholesaling, the picture began to turn around. This strategy allowed J. to develop some cash flow without risking his own limited assets, and he says he got started by dedicating just 2 hours a day, or 10 hours a week to this new side hustle.

Carrie Smith's CarefulCents blog is one of my personal favorites. Why? Because she's a side hustler who's been there, done that. She's built her part-time freelancing business to the point where she was able to quit her job and become a full-time entrepreneur. In the process, she's built up a popular blog and personal brand, paid off $14k in debt, and commands significantly above-market rates for her work.

When I learned the results Kellie Gimenez was seeing in her business, I knew I had to hear the story firsthand. She's a former co-worker of mine, who became a Beachbody coach in the spring of 2013. After following along with her journey on social media, I finally reached out to invite her on the show. In just 18 months, she's built her business up to more than $4k per month, with plans to push it to $10k by mid 2015! And the crazy part is she says she only works on it an hour or two a day.

Today, Alexis Grant runs a social media, content marketing, and blog management agency and manages a team of 10 people to get it all done. But like many of us, she started off as a side hustler, working her way up and adding clients until it was time to make the leap. She took some very strategic steps along the way, including setting up clients on a retainer model instead of a one-off project basis, and building a "personal brand" and audience of her own through her blog.

One of the surprising bright spots in my side hustle portfolio (my strategy of building multiple income streams) has been Fiverr. After hearing the incredible story of AnarchoFighter last year, I knew I had to give the platform a shot! While I haven't exactly earned house-buying money, it has turned into a nice little revenue source. I'm up $7490 through 14 months, or a little over $500 a month on average.

Everybody's an expert in something, right? Well this week's guest, Matt Giovanisci, is an expert in pool care. He describes it as the most boring industry that serves such a fun product. He's taken an innovative approach to rank his site, SwimUniversity.com, in Google and monetize it with affiliate relationships and private advertising. I feel like Matt's process is proven and repeatable -- but takes real work.

Ryan Finlay from ReCraigslist.com makes a full-time living (and supports his family of 7) buying and selling items on Craigslist. In fact, he used this business to pull himself out from $25,000 in debt and now teaches others to do the same. This is really one of the most fascinating side hustle stories I've come across because there's a Craigslist for your city that is probably teeming with "inventory" for you to run a similar business.

If you've been in the "niche site" game at all over the past few years, this week's conversation will open your eyes to a whole new world of possibility in the realm of making money with Adsense. Kurt Elster is the co-founder of EtherCycle, an online marketing strategy and web design and development firm. But on top of that, his company also runs a plethora of one-page micro-sites that earn advertising revenue with Adsense.

One of my favorite questions to ask guests on The Side Hustle Show is how they got their first customer. Because that's an empowering moment! So today, I'll take you through how I got my first customers in a half dozen different business ventures. This show covers some formative moments in my journey, my struggles with sales, and some of my biggest takeaways from these businesses.

It's been quite a while since our last discussion of a software business here on the show. Even though we touched briefly on Long Tail Pro with Spencer Haws, I really have to go all the way back to Josh Isaak in episode 12 to find an in-depth breakdown of a Software as a service business. So that means today's conversation with Garrett Moon from CoSchedule is long overdue! After all, the low incremental cost and recurring revenue potential of the SaaS model is such a trendy holy grail of business right now.

Corrina Gordon-Barnes is a sought-after coach and mentor, and today she shares with Side Hustle Nation exactly how she built her business from the ground up. There are some surprising turns and some eye-opening responses in this one, as I ask Corrina about how she prices her services, how she landed her first clients, how she's scaling her business, and how she made blogging work as an effective marketing channel.

I'm excited to welcome Scott Britton from Life-LongLearner.com and The Competitive Edge podcast to The Side Hustle Show. In this chat, we talk about how he built up a passive income stream from online courses on Udemy, which gave him the freedom to travel and live in South America for several months. He's a super smart guy and really delivers a ton of excellent tips in this episode. I think you'll like it! Full Show Notes: How to Make Money on Udemy

It's a special Friday edition of The Side Hustle Show, and I'm flying solo on this one discussing the 8 income streams I'm working on right now. Add a little diversity to your revenue sources to protect yourself if any one of them gets cut off suddenly (been there!). You'll hear what's working well for me, as well as some challenges, opportunities, and plans going forward.

Jesse Krieger is THE Lifestyle Entrepreneur, and author of the book of the same name, subtitled Live Your Dreams, Ignite Your Passions and Run Your Business From Anywhere in The World. Today we're chatting about how aspiring side hustlers can come up with new business ideas, validate them quickly, and begin earning money outside of their day job. It's a fun session with a lot of brainstorming out loud on various ideas and methodologies of going to market.

In this edition of The Side Hustle Show I'm joined by Ryan Grant, founder of OnlineSellingExperiment.com, and a guy who turned his online selling side hustle into a full time gig. Ryan and I connected on Twitter after I published a post from Travis Scott on how he earns $500 per month with Amazon's FBA program. I'm pretty fascinated by this opportunity, but by how smart Amazon is to crowdsource their inventory, and by how real people are making real money with this side hustle.

Through his best-selling books, Jon Acuff may be one of the most prominent advocates for the side hustle "brand" of entrepreneurship. Jon's a sought-after author, speaker, and consultant, with a share of side hustle stories to tell. While some flopped, one was almost an overnight success: his Stuff Christians Like blog. We talk about all that and more during our call.

Consulting can be a beautiful business model because it transitions you from selling what you do to selling what you know. So what do you know that other businesses might pay for? What could you consult on? We cover all that and more with Kai Davis this week on The Side Hustle Show. We talk everything from landing more clients, increasing your rates, getting paid to do work you used to do for free, how to get clients on a monthly retainer agreement, and if you stick around to the end of the show -- Kai lays out his exact one-hour-at-a-time plan on how he would get a new consulting business off the ground.

I've been anxious to share the results of my Work Smarter Kindle launch with you, including all the behind-the-scenes work and strategy that went into it. In this special edition of The Side Hustle Show, I break down start-to-finish everything I did to create the book, market it, and set it up for success on Amazon after the free promotional period ended.

What do you do when your side hustle demands being available (and even traveling) during normal business hours? It's a challenge that a lot of us are facing and this week on The Side Hustle Show my guest shares is unique way to get around it and build a successful business. Grant Baldwin is a youth motivational speaker and host of the "How Did You Get Into That?" podcast. We talk about how entrepreneurs can hustle their way into new income streams while working day jobs following Grant's formula.

This edition of The Side Hustle Show is probably one of the most inspiring yet. I'm joined by Kimanzi Constable, who shares his story about the struggle of entrepreneurship and his dream of becoming a writer. We talk about the specific steps he took to get out of debt, build an audience of buyers for his books. This is powerful one because Kimanzi opens up how serious he needed to make some changes in his life.

In this edition of The Side Hustle Show, I'm joined by Chandler Bolt, co-author of The Productive Person: A how-to guide book filled with productivity hacks & daily schedules for entrepreneurs, students or anyone struggling with work-life balance. When Chandler first reached out, I was excited to learn we had a lot in common, including both being Eagle Scouts and both having run house painting companies in college. In fact, he cites selling candy at summer camp as one of his first entrepreneurial pursuits -- just like me.

Kim Palmer stopped by The Side Hustle Show this week to talk about her various side hustles and how you can get started. As the author of The Economy of You: Discover Your Inner Entrepreneur and Recession-Proof Your Life, Kim has connected with dozens of part-time entrepreneurs and is one of the biggest advocates for having a "side gig" as part of your financial backup plan. Even though she loves her job as a journalist, she shares how the recession inspired her to become a little more self-reliant and open up an Etsy shop.

In this edition of The Side Hustle Show, I'm joined by Cameron Rambert all the way from Melbourne Australia! He's a freelance marketing strategist and the founder of DigitalMined.com, a growing resource for struggling freelancers. We talk about how aspiring side hustlers can get started earning their first dollars outside of their day job as freelancers -- and I agree -- freelancing is one of the fastest ways to make more money.

Nick Reese is an accomplished entrepreneur and sought-after business coach. We set out to record an episode on the mindset necessary to succeed as an entrepreneur, and I think we reached that goal, but along the way, Nick shared a fascinating way to build a lucrative side hustle by starting out freelancing. And on top of that, he shares why he started taking cold showers 2 years ago, and why he's actually got me hooked on the cold shower thing in the couple of months since we recorded the episode.

I'm excited to welcome Alex Genadinik back to The Side Hustle Show as the first-ever repeat guest. Alex reached out and told me how he'd applied many of the strategies and tactics discussed on the show over the past year, and I thought it would be fun to highlight some of those along with his progress. Alex's "year of hustle" has created at least 4 new income streams, including a couple more "passive" channels. This episode illustrates the power of starting today, so you can look back a year from now and see how far you've come.

The best thing about starting a podcast is the excuse to talk to awesome and inspiring people on a weekly basis. I've learned so much from The Side Hustle Show guests over the past year, I thought it would be an appropriate time to recap some of their shared wisdom, how I've applied it to my own projects, and how you can apply it to yours. This is episode 50 -- the big 5-0, and it's also my first-ever attempt at a solo show.

Here we are in Episode 48 of The Side Hustle Show, and I'm joined by Jeff Steinmann from HowtoQuitWorking.com (and author of the book by the same name). Jeff's a real hustler who left his corporate gig a few years ago to pursue the entrepreneurial path. He's got a unique perspective on side hustle businesses, including how to bring them to market quickly to minimize your risk and failure rates. This is a good one for anyone struggling to get started and find what they can sell.

Nicklas Kingo joins me all the way from Copenhagen in Episode 47 of the Side Hustle Show to share how he's building a lucrative Amazon Kindle publishing business. He's made the public goal of earning $4260 per month from his Kindle business before he starts university in the fall. When we recorded this at end of February, he was already up to $1500 with big plans to continue growing.

In episode 46 of The Side Hustle show, we get to hear the incredible story of Lindsay and Bjork Ostrom, who built PinchofYum.com up to a massive audience all while working a day job. In fact, they spent a full year volunteering in the Philippines but still managed to keep the site growing and thriving! In January, the site generated more than a million pageviews and earned over $17,000! In this interview we dive into how they got started, how the readership grew, and how they monetize the site.

In Episode 43 of The Side Hustle Show, I'm joined by Pat Flynn from ChroniclesOfStrength.com, one of the leading sites on "fitness minimalism." Pat is a kettlebell enthusiast who shares exactly how he built his blog from a side hustle hobby in college into a thriving business with multiple revenue streams. We talk how to generate traffic and email subscribers, how to craft viral facebook posts, and how to sell products, services, and subscriptions through your site.

In Episode 42 of The Side Hustle Show, Alex Harris (aka AlexDesigns) joins me to talk niche service businesses. He shares how he built his business, AlexDesigns.com, in his spare time, how he landed his first customers, how he scores big name clients, how he prices his services, and how he's recovering from a Google algorithm update.

I'm Nick and I have a confession. When I recorded this episode with Alex Barker from AlexBarker.org (The Leadership Dojo podcast), I had never been in any sort of formal mastermind group. Listen to the collective gasp in my blogger/podcaster/entrepreneur-type circles, that information is blasphemy! It's totally my fault. Masterminds are something I see huge value in but just never made a priority -- until now. In this episode, we talk all the details of what a mastermind is and why they're important for side hustlers. Alex knows a thing or two about the topic, having written the book on the subject: Hangout and Grow Rich: How to Build Your Virtual Mastermind in 30 Days (which he generously offered for free to Side Hustle Nation if you visit his site and send him a message). Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on Stitcher! Learn: What a mastermind is. ("Your personal board of directors.") What I picture when I hear the word "mastermind." Why you should have one. How to set it up (where to find potential members). The technology to run the meetings. The 4-part structure/format of the meetings so everyone benefits. Alex's #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation. Links: AlexBarker.org Dan Miller | 48 Days to the Work You Love Hangout and Grow Rich on Facebook  Fire Nation Elite Mike Kawula Alex's Udemy course (Use code SIDEHUSTLE for 50% off!) Have you ever been in a mastermind group? Did you get value from it? Let me know in the comments below, and I'm especially curious if you'd be interested in joining an upcoming group specifically for side hustlers. Ready to get your hustle on? Check out the details here and fill out an application.

In Episode 39 of The Side Hustle Show, I'm joined by Mike Newton from HackingPhotography.com. We discuss how to make a name for yourself in any business, how to score corporate clients (and why you'd want to), and how to generate passive income streams from a service business.

Fellow side hustler Freddie Mixell from ProjectPassive.com joins me on Episode 38 of The Side Hustle Show to discuss how to flip digital real estate assets. We cover the criteria to build an income-producing website from scratch, what buyers are looking for, and how to use this strategy to accelerate your side hustle earnings. Freddie shares how to find profitable niches, avoid "webmaster welfare" aka AdSense, and maximize profit when it's time to sell.

Melissa Witmer runs UltyResults.com, a strength and conditioning membership site for ultimate frisbee players that generates a full-time income. In episode 36 of The Side Hustle Show, learn how she took the concept from idea to side hustle to full-time business and how can replicate her success. A big thank you to David from ThePowerofPartTime.tv for the introduction!

In episode 35 of The Side Hustle Show, I learn how Daniel DiPiazza from Rich20Something.com went from earning $18 an hour to $1000 an hour using his "Marsupial Method" for side hustle businesses. It sounds hype-y, but it happened. Pretty crazy stuff, with parallels you can takeaway and apply to your own biz.

In episode 34 of The Side Hustle Show, fellow side hustler Ryan Cote from WPAmplify.com discusses how he's built his part-time service business into a high-value recurring-revenue machine. We talk scoring customers, pricing, delivering the goods, retention, and much more.

In episode 33 of The Side Hustle Show, I'm joined by Virginia Roberts from TheHeartographer.com. Virginia shares an awesome story of side hustle success, turning a personal skill into a hobby, then into a part-time coaching business, eventually quitting her job to be a full-time entrepreneur.

A subscription-based business is a beautiful thing, because you have a predictable recurring revenue stream you can grow over time. Online, one of the most popular subscription business models is a membership site, where customers pay for exclusive content, exclusive networking, and exclusive access to you, the site owner.

Could you actually earn more money for your side hustle work by letting customers choose their own price? Tom Morkes, author of The Complete Guide to Pay What You Want Pricing, shares why the strategy works and when to use it. His extensive research and case studies show how entrepreneurs can at once reach a wider audience by eliminating the price barrier, and earn more money from their biggest fans and supporters.

In Episode 30 of The Side Hustle Show, we learn how to build a real estate wholesaling side hustle, without any experience and without risking your own money or credit score. Veteran investor Nick Ruiz shares how he earns $10,000+ per deal with his "Flipping Factory" system. This is definitely an interesting one! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on Stitcher! Learn: The 2 neighborhoods in your city you need to focus your efforts on How to find and market to motivated sellers The most important question to ask when they call you The "get out of jail free" clause to include in your contracts One smart/sneaky way to build your network of buyers Nick's #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation Listen in for our full discussion and hear why Nick says bankruptcy was the greatest thing to happen to his entrepreneurial career. Links: RecycledGoGetter.com AlphaHomeFlipping.com Facebook.com/AlphaHomeFlipping YellowLettersComplete.com <-- Direct mail resource What do you do to stay productive and build your business? Leave a comment below and share what works for you.

In Episode 29 of The Side Hustle Show, Timo Kiander of ProductiveSuperdad.com shares his top 6 productivity hacks for side hustlers to maximize their time and output. We also get into a fun discussion about managing email, something I definitely have an unhealthy addiction to. This conversation is built on years of experience and research, as well as the habits of top-performing online entrepreneurs. In fact, Timo is the perfect guy to discuss this with since he literally wrote the book on the subject. Online Business Productivity: How to Start a Productive Online Business and Get Sh*t Done - Even When You Are Working 9-5! is now available on Amazon and is available as a free download at OnlineBusinessProductivity.com. I was given an advance copy for review, and can say it was a quick, fun, and inspirational read. It's actually a series of 18 short chapters, each from a different well-known online business personality -- many of whom got their start as side hustlers. Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on Stitcher! The 6 Tips: Prepare in advance. Make the most of your travel time. (For example, by listening to this podcast) Working in small chunks of tasks and time. Elimination -- your not-to-do-list. Slow down. Get a coach. Listen in for Timo's explanation and reasoning behind these points, as well as our tips on managing email overload and Timo's surprising #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation. Links: nozbe.com Alan Lakein | How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life Getting Things Done | My review Efficise unroll.me LessDoing.com | My interview w/ Ari | Ari's Udemy course Danny Iny | FirepoleMarketing.com What do you do to stay productive and build your business? Leave a comment below and share what works for you.

In Episode 28 of The Side Hustle Show I sit down with Scott Bold to discuss how Airbnb bookings pay the majority of his rent. Just imagine, if a side hustle could cover your living expenses, would that give you a sense of freedom from your job? Airbnb.com is the peer-to-peer accommodations site where you can rent a room from a local resident instead of paying for a hotel. And similarly, you can rent out space in your house to out-of-town guests, and make some great side hustle cash doing so! On top of that, it's a cool opportunity to meet people from around the world and show off your home town. Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on Stitcher! Learn: How to get started as an Airbnb host. Considerations if you don't own your home. How to screen your potential guests. The unexpected upsides and downsides of hosting. How Airbnb's liability insurance protects you. Pricing strategies to maximize your income / occupancy / happiness. Scott's #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation. Links: Airbnb.com Couchsurfing.org How I Made Money This Summer Without Working Airbnb as a real estate investment strategy Check out Scott's blog and connect with him on twitter to follow along with his upcoming adventure. What do you think? Could Airbnb be a good side hustle for you? Have you tried it already? Leave a comment below and let me know!

In Episode 27 of The Side Hustle Show, Jonathan Shank and I geek out over outsourcing, microsourcing, and crowdsourcing for side hustlers. This is an action-packed episode with some high-value takeaways for everyone looking to get started with outsourcing. Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on Stitcher! Learn: Why side hustlers should consider outsourcing. Outsourcing as an investment in the business, rather than a cost. The broad range of jobs other people can do for your. Jonathan's A.P.P.L.E. method of outsourcing. How to craft your job description to set yourself up for success. How to screen the candidates, and when you might consider someone with limited feedback ratings. Why "grade inflation" is inherent on Elance and oDesk and the red flags to look for. Why you should "do it yourself" first (if possible) before hiring someone else. One smart strategy that I screwed up on during my outsourced writing project. The websites, tools, and resources to leverage your time and money to make something happen. Links: Elance.com oDesk.com Episode 12 of The Side Hustle Show w/ Josh Isaak Fiverr.com Virtual Staff Finder OnlineJobs.ph Fancy Hands (half of your first month w/ this link) Efficise My Tasker Jing (free screen capture software) Tweaky (out of business) WP Curve 99designs Be sure to check out Jonathan at Facebook.com/TheOutsourceGuy and YourFirstVirtualAssistant.com. If you have any questions or comments about outsourcing, virtual assistants, or our conversation in general, please drop a note in the comments below.

In episode 26 of The Side Hustle Show, I'm joined by Josh and Jill Stanton from ScrewtheNinetoFive.com. This pair is living the digital nomad dream, coming to us all the way from Chiang Mai, Thailand! Thanks to Adam from TropicalNomad.com for the intro! They earn a living running their location-independent affiliate marketing business from their laptops, and share the five keys to their success during our call. I can't believe we made it to episode 26 without having an affiliate marketing conversation! This has been my "main hustle" for the past 5 years. There are a ton of great, actionable tips here to get you started with an affiliate side hustle. In fact, we use one of my neglected sites as lens and a conversation piece to move through the discussion. Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on Stitcher! You'll learn: 3 strategies for selecting a niche. How to do the keyword research and competitive analysis. Why Josh says, "competition is more important than search volume." 2 unique SEO strategies, in addition to guest posting. Some sweet content creation ideas to make your site more compelling without making it "sales-y" The most important thing to consider when building an email list. The 5 Pillars: Niche selection Keyword research / competitive analysis Traffic generation Content creation List building Links mentioned: Stop Building Affiliate Sites LiveChatSoftwareHQ.com Long Tail Pro (affiliate link) | My interview w/ Spencer Haws Open Site Explorer PRPowerShot.com ScrapeBox.com Xenu broken link sleuth | Article explaining this Marie Forleo Aweber Reachmail BadAssGuestBlogging.com What do you think? Could affiliate marketing be your ticket to quitting your job and working from exotic locations around the world? Be sure to stop by ScrewtheNinetoFive.com, say hi to Josh and Jill, and grab their free Art of Authority guide. Trust me, it's a good one. If you have any questions about the episode, be sure to leave a note in the comments below and I'll guarantee you get an answer from one of us.

Episode 25 -- we made it to the quarter-century mark! Learn how to create valuable and profitable time-leveraged online courses utilizing the skills and experience you already have. Vasavi Kumar, a certified life coach, shares her transition from a one-to-one business model to a one-to-many model that funds her lifestyle and freedom. This is a "meat and potatoes" conversation filled with both the strategies and actionable steps and tactics you can take to get started down this path today. Many thanks to Herby from BillionSuccess.com for the intro! Vasavi was kind enough to offer her 21-day Conquer course (normally $30) to Side Hustle Nation for free. Check it out through the link below and get a first-hand look on what a paid online course can look like. Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on Stitcher! Get your learn on: Vasavi's pivotal "ah ha" moment (at just 4 years old). How she got fired from her first and only job after 2 weeks. How she landed her first coaching clients. How she found a mentor and why she invested over $100,000 in herself outside of traditional education. The paradox of "expansion by scaling back." The 3-step process for figuring out what you can teach. The technical steps and tools of putting a course together. How to set the courses up to run on auto-pilot. The power of in-person events. Vasavi's #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation. The 3 Step Process: Right down everything bad that's ever happened to you. Right down anything positive that resulted from those bad things. Consider the "bridge" of you got from bad to good. Is it replicable / teachable? Boom: course idea! Links: VasaviKumar.com Your free access to her Conquer course David Siteman Garland | The Rise to the Top Infusionsoft | Aweber | Mailchimp | Office Autopilot Lisa Nichols Spreecast Fiverr Udemy <-- for more on selling on Udemy, check Episode 16 Sellfy.com We also talk about the value of design and of building your personal and professional network. What do you think? Could you set up an online course as part of your side hustle strategy? Using her 3-step process, what would you teach? If you're liking The Side Hustle Show, show me some love w/ a 5-star iTunes review!

In this edition of The Side Hustle Show, Laurel Staples from GoFireYourself.com shares 6 questions and tips you can implement to determine the best side hustle idea for you. Laurel brings a wealth of business experience to the table, from retail to coaching to photography, and priceless education along the way. You'll walk away from this episode with some concrete actions to take toward building your business. Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on Stitcher! Learn:  How Laurel launched a brick-and-mortar retail store at the onset of the recession and why she ignored other people's fears and advice. Her unique "referral partnership" technique for getting coaching and photography clients. The 3 questions to ask yourself when evaluating your side hustle options. The 3 follow-up tips for choosing the best side hustle idea for you. Laurel's #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation The 3 Questions: What lights you up? What talents and skills do you have? What do you want your ideal day to look like? The 3 Follow-up Tips: What problems/issues have you dealt with in your own life? Schedule "creative" down time Brainstorm with business owners For our full discussion and dialogue of each point, be sure to check out the full episode. Links mentioned: 79 Side Hustle Ideas You Can Start Today Your Perfect Average Day GoFireYourself.com What do you think? The idea of helping part-time entrepreneurs build their side hustle businesses definitely gets me excited, and hence the creation of this site. What does your ideal work day look like? Let me know in the comments and who knows, maybe we'll set up a skype call to see what steps we can take to make it a reality.

In Episode 22 of The Side Hustle Show, Jullien Gordon of SideHustla.com gives the detailed story about how he transitioned from employee to entrepreneur and built his speaking business into a 6-figure a year enterprise. I discovered his site through David Hutcherson from ThePowerofPartTime.tv, another awesome side hustler. Jullien is a super-smart guy, a talented speaker, and is deliberately shaping his own way in the world. I was really excited to have him on the show, and he'll definitely get you thinking in this one. Know what I was most surprised by? He considers himself an introvert. Me too! Even if you have no interest in public speaking, there are some important takeaways for every side hustler here as it relates to personal branding, pricing strategy, leveraging your time, and more. Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on Stitcher! Covered in this episode: How a "bridge job" can set you up for entrepreneurial success. The easiest way to establish your personal brand (give yourself a "superhero name"). Suggestions on landing those first few speaking gigs. The single most important element of your website for aspiring speakers. How Jullien was selected to speak at TEDx (3 times!). The "open door" pricing strategy for speakers. How to anchor your rates against the value delivered. The "lightbulb" moment for side hustlers -- when they get that first check outside their day job. What Jullien would do differently if he had to start over. How to transition a speaking business into a more time-leveraged enterprise. Jullien's #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation. Links mentioned: Toastmasters APCA NACA NODA BPAID, Jullien's private coaching program My 3 favorite quotes: "We are part of the standardized test generation ... but life is not multiple choice." "Marketing is 80% of the game." "Go sell something!" To find out more about Jullien, check out his personal website, SideHustla.com, or hit him up on Twitter. Let him know you heard him on Side Hustle Nation. Want more? Check out one of TEDx speeches below. This one definitely had some good stuff in it. What did you think of this episode? Ever thought about doing any public speaking? Let me know!

In Episode 20 of The Side Hustle Show, local SEO expert and entrepreneur Adam Steele shares how local side hustlers can set their business up to generate more leads than they can handle. We discuss the exact tools and tactics to use to get to the top of the local search results. Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on Stitcher! In exchange for your 31 minutes, you'll learn: How Adam quit his job to start an online marketing agency. How to use Google Places without showing your home address. How to use Google Places without showing your personal phone number. The best ways to rank in Google for local searches today. Trust signals you can add to your site easily and cheaply. A smart and fast way to manage basic social media for your side hustle. Adam's #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation. Links mentioned: CreatureLocal.com wickedfire.com - online marketing forum known for somewhat "aggressive" tactics Google+ Local Adam's full meal deal post on local lead generation <-- Want the basics w/o listening? This is the spot. At the bottom of the above post, enter your email to get free access to Adam's list of 500+ local citation sources. Twilio Hootsuite schema.org If you want to learn more about Adam's company, check out Magistrate, Inc. Also, LeanMarketing is a pretty serious blog with tons of killer content. I even contributed a "lean marketing" post of my own there back in January. Did you like this information? Hit Adam up on Twitter and let him know!

In Episode 19 of The Side Hustle Show, Lee Drozak from MyOfficeAssist.com shares how she got started as a virtual assistant and how you can do the same. We talk setting up shop, getting your first clients, setting your prices, establishing a niche, and more. Quick background on this side hustle if you’re not familiar - a virtual assistant is not Siri, despite how much Apple wants to hijack the term, it’s a real-live person that works for you remotely as an independent contractor. This is a huge industry overseas in countries like India and the Philippines, with giant call centers staffed with low-cost workers. But you might be surprised to learn there is a thriving VA industry right here at home, and many VAs are side hustlers like you, or started their business as a side hustle. And we’re not talking about a race to the bottom on price either. According to a recent survey, nearly 90% of VAs charge $20/hr or more, and nearly 60% charge $30/hr or more. Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on Stitcher! In this episode, you'll learn: The "eureka" moment of working from home. How Lee got her first clients. How to get paid what you're worth. How to determine which virtual assistant tasks you love and should build your business around. Why industry certifications might be overrated. The best free resource for aspiring virtual assistants. Lee's #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation. Links mentioned: ivaa.org VirtualAssistantForums.com (Thank you, Tess, for the introduction to Lee!) Zirtual | eaHELP | Fancy Hands | Contemporary VA Elance VAclassroom.com Suzanne Evans You can connect with Lee on her site, as well as on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. What do you think of virtual assisting as a side hustle? Pretty basic, right? Identify your skills and find someone who'll pay for them. Kind of like a real job except you can do it from anywhere.

In Episode 18 of The Side Hustle Show, Spencer Haws of NichePursuits.com shares his detailed process for niche site creation and monetization, including idea generation, competitive analysis, content creation, link building, and much more. Spencer is the leading expert in this field, which is one of the most popular side hustles around. If you know a thing or two about WordPress (or are willing to learn) and can follow a few simple rules that Spencer lays out, there's no reason why you can't borrow his process to get started with a niche site or ten of your own. Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on Stitcher! In this episode, you'll learn: One smart way to generate "seed" keyword ideas. Why worm farms and buffalo nickels hold a special place in Spencer's heart. The tools and metrics used to evaluate a niche. How Spencer overcame a $10,000/month ban from Google Adsense. Why rumors of the death of "exact match domains" are false. The link-building strategies Spencer uses to rank new sites quickly. Links mentioned: Long Tail Pro - Spencer's powerful and proprietary keyword analysis and competitive research tool. Use that (affiliate) link for $30 off. Elance Textbroker Pat Flynn's Niche Site Duel Google Keyword Planner Moz (formerly SEOmoz) Open Site Explorer LayeredLinks.com Ubersuggest Learn more about Spencer at his blog, NichePursuits.com or hit him up on twitter. And of course, you're welcome to leave a comment here as well and I'll make sure he sees it. What do you think? Are niche sites a viable side hustle? Have you ever built one (or several)? Let me know!

In episode 17 of The Side Hustle Show, veteran app entrepreneur Benny Hsu shares his insider tips on how to get app ideas, build them out (even if you don't know how to code), launch them, and promote them in the App Store. In 2011, Benny famously made $30,000 in 30 days from his first app. Now he has a portfolio of different apps and quit his job earlier this year to be a full-time "app-preneur." More importantly, he has a new excitement for life that simply wasn't there before discovering this side hustle. Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on Stitcher! I was lucky to run into Benny by chance at World Domination Summit, and I'm so glad I did because his story is really inspiring. This interview is filled with tons of actionable advice for aspiring side hustle entrepreneurs and app developers, including: The letter Benny wrote to himself to “Get Busy Living.” Overcoming self-doubt and a string of side hustle failures. How to validate your app idea. Where to find developers and how to sort through all the bids. How to test your app throughout development. How to optimize your app for the best exposure in the App Store. How to reach out to app review sites and bloggers to gain traction for your app. Why Apple users are more attractive than Android users. How the freemium model can work for you. Benny's #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation. Links mentioned during this show: Smart Passive Income | Pat's podcast episode on app development Elance TestFlight Episode 3 of The Side Hustle Show w/ Alex Genadinik appadvice.com List of app review sites App Academy - Benny’s course on Udemy If you want to connect with Benny, check out his blog, Get Busy Living, or hit him up on twitter. Do you have an app idea? Have you had any experience with the App Store? Let me know in the comments below!

In Episode 15 of The Side Hustle Show, I'm excited to have the hardest working man in radio, John Dumas on the show. John's Entrepreneur on Fire podcast is tearing up the airwaves and earning him a healthy six-figure income less than 1 year after launching. We discuss the viability of podcasting as a side hustle as well as the monetization strategies he uses to bring home the bacon giving away free audio content. Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on Stitcher! In exchange for your half an hour, you'll learn: What makes podcasting an awesome medium. How an investment in coaching "paid back in spades." The savvy way to find and pitch sponsors for your show. How to expanding the brand beyond the earbuds. John's strategy for podcasting as a $500 per month side hustle. Links and resources mentioned: Jaime Tardy | EventualMillionaire.com John's sponsorship rate sheet for July 2013. John's Book Podcast Launch Cliff Ravenscraft | PodcastAnswerMan.com Pat Flynn's podcasting tutorial video series Check out John's awesome show on iTunes or through his site, EntrepreneuronFire.com. You can also hit him up on Twitter. This post wraps up Podcast Week on Side Hustle Nation. You'll also want to check out: How Much Does it Cost to Start a Podcast? How to Get a Podcast to the Top of iTunes in 8 Weeks — With No Audience or “Celebrity” Guests [Case Study] What do you think of podcasting as a side hustle? Have you ever thought of launching your own show?

In Episode 14 of The Side Hustle Show, Chris Guthrie helps me explore the idea of buying income-producing websites as a side hustle investment strategy. It takes a little bit of capital to play in this game, but Chris explains the first site he bought cost just $500 and has paid for itself many times over. Buying websites is a risky endeavor, which is in part why the potential returns are so attractive. In the interview, we talk about how to mitigate your risk, find some winners, and make some money! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show in iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on Stitcher! Listen to the episode to learn: How websites are typically priced. How Chris finds sites to buy that aren't even "for sale." How to identify sites that might be undervalued or under-monetized. How to do your due diligence to avoid getting screwed. Ways to increase the earning power of a website acquisition. How to transfer the site into your ownership. Chris' #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation. Links mentioned during the show: Flippa.com - the leading marketplace for buying/selling websites 3dtvreviews.org - Chris' first website purchase CopyCatCrafts.com - a site he bought for public case study semrush.com - shows what keywords the site is ranking for moz.org compete.com - can give an estimate of site traffic ahrefs.com - link analysis tool Copyscape - tool to determine if a website's content is original or not Vibrant Media / Kontera - contextual advertising services Escrow.com - for safe funds transfer WordPress Search and Replace Plugin - for swapping out affiliateIDs on a newly acquired site. One thing we didn't talk about during the show but is worth mentioning is an inexpensive software tool Chris built to help filter and sort through the madness on Flippa. It's called SiteFinderPro, and I actually used it a lot last year when I was spending time looking through all the Flippa listings. Ultimately, I didn't find anything  attractive enough to pull the trigger on, but that tool definitely saved me time. You can learn more about Chris at MakeMoneyontheInternet.com and check out his Kindle books here. What do you think about buying sites as a side hustle strategy? Faster (and potentially more affordable) than building one yourself, but without the DIY satisfaction. This is one I would certainly love to get more involved in, so curious to hear what you think. Let me know!

In this edition of The Side Hustle Show, I'm joined by Side Hustle Nation member Melanie Ida Chopko. Melanie has an awesome side hustle story to share about her journey as a visual facilitator, bringing ideas to life with beautiful visuals in real-time. Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show in iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on Stitcher! Listen and you'll learn: Melanie's awesome strategy for connecting with mentors. How to exercise your atrophied creative muscles. Why you may be targeting the wrong customers (and how to find the right ones). How to build a portfolio and generate referral business. The habit of doing the work, whether paid or not. Links mentioned: What Color is Your Parachute? Orbiting the Giant Hairball The Side Hustle Show w/ Kai Davis The Side Hustle Show w/ Jeremy Blanchard Google Streak International Forum for Visual Practitioners Check out some of Melanie's visual facilitation work at NotesinPictures.com, and her music here. As mentioned during the show, you can also find her side hustle business on Facebook. What do you think?

Robert Farrington is more successful than 99% of all bloggers on the planet. He routinely earns between $3000 and $5000 a month from his blogs. And the kicker? Yeah, he still has a full-time job completely unrelated to this amazing side hustle! His sites: TheCollegeInvestor.com KidsAintCheap.com EntrepreneurshipLife.com MyMultipleIncomes.com (inactive) BeatThe9to5.com. He shares his tips for blogging success as well has his plan to leave the corporate world behind in the next two years. Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on Stitcher! In this episode, you'll learn: Why other bloggers in your niche are NOT your competition. Why content-rich sites like blogs will outlast and out-earn thin niche sites. The smart strategy that got his content tweeted out by the Shark Tank hosts The importance of building a real brand around your blog. The unique monetization strategy that blows Adsense out of the water. One savvy way to identify sites that might be for sale. The important action most bloggers overlook. Mentioned during the interview: Derek Halpern - "Newsjacking" or "drafting" SmartPassiveIncome | NicheSiteDuel 2.0 Spencer Haws - NichePursuits.com Help a Reporter (HARO) Yakezie Financial Bloggers Conference What do you think? Is blogging a good side hustle? Hey just a quick favor to ask -- if you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to drop in a quick review in iTunes. It's a huge help, thank you so much! Transcript Download the transcript here.

I love the idea of having something for sale in an established marketplace, and I think there's no better example of that than Amazon. If you don't have a book for sale on Amazon you're missing out on a huge audience of buyers. You might not make a fortune, but self publishing is a viable side hustle and one I'm particularly excited about. And even though I have a couple titles myself and am earning a little bit of "passive" income from them, there are a ton of authors with far more success than me. One of those is Steve Scott, the author of 15 (and counting) Kindle books. He's created this impressive portfolio in a little over a year, and it's turned into a business that generates thousands of dollars in royalties every month. Plus, it allows for the freedom and flexibility to work from wherever he wants. A couple days after recording this session, Steve was jetting off to Greece for a month with his girlfriend. Ready to learn how it's done? Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on Stitcher! In this episode you'll learn: How to write your book in just an hour a day. How long your book has to be. Whether it's better to write fiction or non-fiction. Why a book might earn you more money than a blog with the same content. The proven path to $300 a month in royalties. Why giving your book away for free can actually help sell more copies. One innovative way to use Amazon to build your email list. The importance of building your own brand, independent of Amazon. Mentioned in this episode: Pat Flynn's Facebook group for authors Steve's blog Steve's author page on Amazon My 30 Day Writing Challenge Elance Problogger job board Steve's new habits website What do you think? Do you have a book in you? What's stopping you from writing it? Have you already published on Amazon? What's your experience been like? Let me know in the comments below!

In this episode of The Side Hustle Show, we meet Jeremy Blanchard, a soon-to-be full-time Life and Leadership Coach. While working as a web developer, Jeremy has been cultivating his coaching business as a fun, profitable, and fulfilling side hustle. During our interview, he shares his passion for the business of helping others, and gives his firsthand advice on how you can do the same. Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show via iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on Stitcher! In exchange for your 34 minutes, you'll learn: The value proposition of coaching. The importance of having a mentor who's walked the path. How to get your first paying customers. How to overcome the common objections. The sales strategy that produces a 50% conversion rate. Why coaching is "the best job ever." Links mentioned in this episode: BlanchardJeremy.com/hustle <-- claim your free coaching session! The Academy for Coaching Excellence Are you considering hiring a coach? Have you ever worked with a coach before for non-athletic pursuits? I'm curious to know how it went. Let me know in the comments below!

In Episode 6 of The Side Hustle Show, I have a chance to sit down with Emma Perez of OrlandoWeddingDances.com to discuss how she's built her side hustle business by leveraging her passion for dance along with some savvy marketing moves. This show has some great tips on how to crack the multi-billion dollar wedding market without spending a fortune on advertising. Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show via iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on Stitcher! In this episode you'll learn: How to get paid for your skills and passions. Why word of mouth and social proof is crucial in a business without (hopefully) many repeat customers. Emma's killer free strategy for breaking into the multi-billion dollar wedding market. The opportunity in local SEO for an offline business. Where to find targeted, local advertising opportunities online. How to use Kickstarter to fund ambitious, big idea projects. Her #1 tip for side hustle entrepreneurs. Links mentioned in the show: OrlandoWeddingDances.com (no longer online) Rhythm of the World (no longer online) Rhythm of the World Kickstarter Project If you have any questions or comments for Emma, please leave a note below and I'll make sure she sees it. What do you think? Is there an opportunity for you to create a similar part-time business in your area?

This podcast interview wraps up Fiverr Week here on Side Hustle Nation. From earlier: 15 Ways to Start, Grow, and Expand Your Side Hustle Using Fiverr 19 Fiverr Gigs to Help Start Your Side Hustle Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show via iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on Stitcher! In this episode of The Side Hustle Show I'm joined by AnarchoFighter, a Top-Rated Fiverr seller who earned enough money in his first year on Fiverr to buy a house in cash. His inspiring story holds some valuable tips and actionable strategies for aspiring side hustlers looking to make something happen on this exciting new platform. You'll learn: Why Fiverr is the perfect place to start a side hustle. How to "level up" and open up new earning opportunities. How to earn far more than $5 per sale The best time to make an upsell "recommendation." The actual feedback request script used to generate tons of positive ratings. Why the fortune is in the follow-up. The best way to structure your gigs to maximize your hourly rate. How to create a winning "Top Seller" application. Why Fiverr might be a path to world peace. “The fastest and surest way to change the world is to find a way to make a profit doing it.” --AnarchoFighter Mentioned in this episode: fiverr.com/AnarchoFighter And a special thanks to madmoo for the introduction! If you have any questions about Fiverr or any of the points made during this episode, please leave a comment below. What do you think? Is Fiverr a worthwhile platform on which to set up shop? What kind of experience have you had on the site?

In Episode 4 of The Side Hustle Show I'm joined by fellow entrepreneur Kai Davis, who built an impressive freelance business in his spare time that allowed him to move from Oregon to Hawaii. Kai's a real hustler and drops a ton of great value in this interview. Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show via iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on Stitcher! In this episode you'll learn: How a teenage Kai first turned a hobby into a profitable business. Why he stood in the middle of his university campus yelling, "Get your weekly enema!" How he crafted the escape plan that allowed him to move to Hawaii. How to overcome your fear of raising prices. How to pitch freelance services as a long-term investment. The importance of figuring out your big-picture vision of success. Kai's #1 tip for side hustle entrepreneurs. Mentioned in this episode: Fancy Hands | Kai's Free Guide to Getting Started w/ Fancy Hands Fiverr Look Shiny (Kai's business) Patrick McKenzie Patio11 Kai on Twitter If you want to learn more about Kai, feel free to ask questions in the comments below, and check out his blog as well.

In Episode 3 of The Side Hustle Show, I'm joined by Alex Genadinik, a smartphone app developer whose apps have been downloaded more than 100,000 times! I love his story because it's about building an audience from scratch and learning along the way. Plus, the cool thing about Alex's apps is they're built to help aspiring entrepreneurs plan, market, and grow their businesses. If all goes well, we'll see tens of thousands of new side hustle enterprises as a result! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show via iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show via Stitcher! In the interview, we talk about: The 4 options for getting an app developed. The importance of listening to your customers. The downsides of outsourcing app development. How to get your apps discovered in the app stores. How to prevent negative reviews. Why business planning is still important, even for the smallest side hustle operations. Why in-app advertising might not be the best monetization strategy. Alex's #1 piece of advice for side hustle entrepreneurs. Mentioned in this episode: GlowingStart.com (Formerly Problemio, where you can find Alex's apps) Elance (to find outsourced app developers) Stack Overflow (helpful developer's forum) Google Keyword Tool The Oatmeal cartoon Tapjoy (mobile ad network) Apptopia (app marketplace) This is the longest Side Hustle Show interview to date, and I feel like we still only just scratched the surface of the fascinating world of apps. If you have any questions for Alex or regarding app development in general, please leave a quick note in the comments below. See you in Episode 4!

In Episode 2 of The Side Hustle Show, I have my good friend and "genyus" Theresa Campbell as my guest. By day she's helping Ford reclaim the American Road and by night she's helping people harness their superpowers and ignite meaningful lives. Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show via iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show via Stitcher! In this interview we talk about: When to start charging money. Why the "average" customer doesn't matter. Why it's so difficult to put a price tag on your work. Why her first customer had her in tears. Her #1 tip for side hustle entrepreneurs. Mentioned in this episode: Her Life, Her Legacy (coming soon) GenYus Happier by Tal Ben-Shahar (book) Dying to Live (book -- coming soon) I'm Fine, Thanks (the documentary I couldn't remember the title of) Brandi Holmes (co-founder of GenYus) The Art of Exceptional Living by Jim Rohn Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield World Domination Summit What did you think? If you have any comments or questions for Theresa, feel free to leave a quick note below. Thanks for listening and I'll see you in Episode 3!

In the inaugural episode of The Side Hustle Show podcast, I have Chris Kilbourn as my guest. Chris is one of those guys who started more companies by the time he graduated college than most people will start in their lifetime. He's a tremendous entrepreneur, full of hustle, and a perfect guest to kick off the podcast. So young but so wise! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show via iTunes! Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show via Stitcher! In the interview we talk about: Landing your first customers (and what types of clients to target). Building an international business while still in college. Outsourcing the outsource-able tasks. How running one business can open your eyes to other business opportunities. Automating your side hustle business. Managing your time to avoid "getting caught up in the busyness rather than the business." Mentioned in this episode: Chelsea Grin – Chris’ metal band Monolith Management -- Chris' band management company TaskBullet.com TOFU Marketing The Lifestyle Business Podcast: Rip, Pivot, and Jam University Venture Fund InfusionSoft The Foundry in Salt Lake City SEOmoz.org Unbounce.com Technorati Neil Patel – QuickSprout.com Do you have any questions for Chris? If so, please drop them in the comments below and I'll make sure he sees them. Thanks for listening and I'll see you in Episode 2!