Everyone should have a side hustle!
Period. End of blog post. Thanks for reading and for supporting this website.
Not convinced yet? OK! But before digging into this book, let’s start with the basics: what is a side hustle?
As defined by Chris Guillebeau, a side hustle is…
…a moneymaking project you start on the side, usually while still working a day job.
Definition of “Side Hustle” by Chris Guillebeau
So, it’s something we can do to make more money without going all-in and quitting our day jobs. More money, huh? That sounds mighty fine to me!
It is a modern form of job security whereby multiple sources of income offer a safety net should anything happen to your job, which is probably bullshit anyway according to David Graeber and his book, Bullshit Jobs.
Much more importantly… making money for yourself is a transformative experience!
I have been an employee my entire life. I made things happen, but for other people. With a side hustle, you are responsible for impacting the world, and you get paid for it! I started this website and have already made my first $0.27 cents! (Which I have pledged to donate, by the way.) It’s nothing, but I made it happen and I earned it. That feels pretty good.
On top of that, you don’t have to follow orders unless you want to. You can choose to listen to “experts” or do things your own way. You can follow conventional wisdom or not. If you want employees, great. If not, awesome. If you want to expand, super. If not, wonderful. It’s your call, and that feels pretty good.
Technically speaking, there is no right or wrong way to have a side hustle. As long as it works for you, helps people, and makes money, it’s a side hustle. Sure, there are tips and processes that will help make you more successful. In the end, however, you will interpret these ideas in your style.
Fat, Broke and Stupid is my first side hustle. This book helped me immensely as I figured out what I wanted my side hustle to be. I just finished reading it for the 3rd time, and I continue to get new ideas about what I should be doing next and how I can improve.
A word of caution: perfectionists do not make good hustlers. I should know. Its one of the reasons I never had a side hustle until now!
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Key Idea
Side hustles are all about action!
-Chris Guillebeau
Get an idea and launch it! Do this before you feel ready. Just do it! Once it is out in the world you can use your initial results to regroup.
Things you will need:
- a willingness to learn
- a willingness to experiment
- a willingness to act
Things you will not need:
- much money
- much time
- an MBA… it quite possibly will make side hustling more difficult!!!
According to the book, the only way to master side hustling skills is by doing. Action is perhaps the most important concept to take away from the entire book. It was for me. I took action. My side hustle actually exists. Three weeks ago when I started I had nothing, just an idea. Now I have something, and $0.27.
NOTE: This book is jam-packed with awesome ideas, resources, exercises, etc. that I used while formulating my large scale, long-term side hustle. I cannot recommend this book enough. I hope you enjoy what I have to share. Remember, however, that the ideas in this post come from Chris Guillebeau. Only the commentary is my own. To learn more, read his book! It inspired me. It might inspire you, too!
The book conveniently breaks down creating a side hustle into 27 days, sub categorized into weeks. It’s super helpful to have a day-by-day guide on how to launch your side hustle in about a month. For time, and not to give too much away, I will break it down into weeks.
Week 1 – Build an Arsenal of Ideas
Your side hustle starts with an idea. If you are like me, ideas are not the issue. I’ve had at least 83 brilliant side hustle ideas in my life. The thing is: I’ve only taken action on 1 of them.
Brainstorm and make a list of your initial ideas. You might find that generating ideas is more of a skill than an art. This means that the more you exercise the skill, the better you will get at it.
There are an infinite number of ideas out there waiting to be turned into money. To find the right one for you, the idea must be:
- Feasible
- Profitable
- Persuasive
If you nail all three of these, you are off to a great start. Read the book to find out more details on each.
But how can you turn an idea into an income generating asset?
You can think about this question from the book:
- “What are [insert any group of] people doing, and what do they need?”
There are essentially three types of side hustles:
- Sell a product
- Provide a service
- Be a middle man
Starter ideas are fine to begin with, but if you can generate a “next-level idea” you might be on to something special. The examples from the book are pretty inspiring and surprising simple.
If you are still having trouble, Chris Guillebeau offers a list of free side hustles ready to choose from today!
Remember that along the way there may be obstacles. Good side hustlers figure out ways around them, and can even turn these obstacles into new opportunities. Keep your eyes and ears open.
Aside from brainstorming and researching your ideas, don’t forget to do a simple forecast of your expected profits. You must have a clear path to make money, otherwise, you may just be starting a hobby.
And that’s it. Brainstorm ideas, see if there is anything “next-level” in your list, and do some simple money projections.
Week 2 – Select Your Best Idea
Once I started writing ideas down for Fat, Broke and Stupid I could not stop. It was like a creative floodgate opened that I didn’t even know existed. I am sure it will happen to you, too.
Having lots of options is good, but now it’s time to find the best matches for you. To do so, you will need to figure out if the side hustle is:
- Feasible
- Profitable
- Persuasive
- Efficient
- Motivating
There is a great exercise in the book to help you figure it out. Complete it for your best ideas and see which idea you should take action on first.
No matter what, do not get caught in the decision-making paralysis trap! To help, remember these tips:
- Nothing for life.
- Don’t save your best ideas for later.
- Action and experience trump doing nothing.
Pick your best option and start moving forward. Think about how you can make things better than the competition, or how you can be different.
Think about your ideal customer. In my case, it is me, which is helpful. Know who “your people” are. Design your product or service to your one ideal customer. Do not try to reach everyone. Specificity, in this case, leads to more impact, better results, and more-often-than-not more money.
I particularly enjoyed the “Write A Letter to Your Ideal Customer” section, too.
Week 3 – Prepare for Liftoff
Everything is figureoutable!
-one of my favorite messages from the book
I absolutely love this quote. It has been major-league encouraging as I figure out all there is to know about my side hustle. There is no problem that you, nor I, cannot solve. That being said, you still need a plan for generating income.
Assuming you now have a product or service to sell, the book offers strategies for creating your price. The best rule of thumb seems to be to offer a great product or service and offer it at a fair price. You will never know if it was right initially. Make it, see the reaction, then adjust.
The sections on having a social media presence, resources to get paid, and his simple contract template are all very helpful, but I’d like to focus on creating a workflow…
A workflow is a series of activities or processes that must happen to complete a project. It is incredibly useful in understanding how people experience your product or service. For best results, work through the workflow as if you were a customer. You will find problem points, ways to troubleshoot, and ways to improve. The illustrations on how to do this were clear and easy to follow.
Feeling busy while not making any progress? Try focusing on these two things:
- How can you provide more value to people?
- How can you make more money?
Spend more time on these important questions and less time on trivial things. Work on growing the business as much as possible, not just the day-to-day work or irrelevant tasks that feel productive, but do not grow the business. Experience and customer interaction will help you as you make improvements.
Week 4 – Launch Your Idea to the Right People
When should you launch? The simple answer from the book is:
Usually before you are ready!
-on when to launch your side hustle.
Sooner is better than later. The faster you launch, the faster you will get feedback. This feedback will offer “proof of concept” and help you know if you are on the right track or not. The earlier you do this, the better. If you are still in doubt, just begin.
Even if you are not totally ready, never forget:
Done is better than perfect!
-Thank you, Chris Guillebeau, for this one!
Having a selling strategy will be important. The book has many key insights, the most critical to know is to focus on the benefits of your product or service, not its features. Benefit are the ways you will improve someone’s life, features just show them how. Benefits are far superior as a selling strategy. Read the book and find out why.
At this point it will also be important to do some testing. A/B testing is a common and effective approach. Data doesn’t lie, and by focusing on the results of one A/B test at a time you will know the reality of your situation. A/B test on the important things, not baby things. One example from the book is to A/B test your price!
Everyone loves getting more for less! Deals, sales, and special offers can help get the word out, encourage action, and generate some sales. Each is different and there are guidelines to consider for each. This section is very important. You can rest assured that I will organize my first deal, sale and/or special offer around the ideas in this book.
Perhaps you have seen restaurants and businesses with their first dollar earned hanging on the wall. There is a reason for that. Your first sale, no matter how small, is a special moment. Celebrate it! It’s evidence of possibility and motivation to keep moving forward. It can be done!
Here is a picture of my first sale:
This is pledged to be donated, so I personally have not made any money yet. Regardless, I made this happen, and that feels good.
Week 5 – Regroup and Refine
Getting up and running is one thing… knowing what to do next is just as important. So, how are things going? How do you know if it is going well?
As a side hustle is a business, you should probably track a few key performance indicators (KPIs). Big businesses track dozens or hundreds of them. For us, we probably only need to track 2-3 super important things:
- Profit – are you making money?
- Growth – are you gaining an audience?
- Time – how much time are you investing in the project?
Are you getting the results you want? I hope so! If not, it may be an indicator to vary your strategy or abandon the side hustle in favor of something more promising.
These KPIs will also help you to identify what’s working and what is not. Do more of what works. Focus on the winners. Don’t bother fighting tooth-and-nail to fix something that just has no traction. Your limited resources will be better spent on areas that show promise.
Headlines are misleading. Bad news is a headline, and general improvement is not.
-Bill Gates
Slow and steady wins the race, right? The technical term for this seems to be iteration, or the act of repeating a process and improving it with each step. You should also do an audit of your side hustle. Details on how, of course, are in the book.
And Then What?
I wish I knew!
There are many more ideas and resources available in the book for those who have taken the leap and made it this far. I am getting closer to this step myself. I’m pretty excited to see what happend next…
A FREE Resource for You!
Thank you for reading my blog post. As an additional resource, I have prepared a “Just a Taste” 1-Page Summary of the book for your continued reference and use. Click here to download it for FREE!
Next Steps:
- Buy this book!
- Check the prices out on Amazon now by clicking this link!
- Read this book.
- Apply this book to your life and start a side hustle.
- Download my FREE “Just a Taste” PDF summary.
- Leave a comment below and share your experience starting your side hustle.
I wish you the very best of luck! Happy side hustling! : )