The Side Hustle Show

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

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

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