The Side Hustle Show

Why should your first online business be a directory? This is one of the most overlooked yet potentially lucrative side hustles out there. I've got a little bit of experience in this space (I actually built a virtual assistant directory years before), so this is something close to me. But my experience is nothing like John Rush’s from JohnRush.me, who is a master at quickly building and marketing these little side projects. He has launched 30 directories in just the past year, managed to monetize 10 of them, and even sold one (AllGPTs.co) for a sweet five-figure exit. (If you want more resources, check out John’s full Directory Guide or his no-code builder at Unicorn Platform.) Tune in to Episode 647 of the Side Hustle Show to learn: Why directories are a great starter side hustle How to pick the right niche The tools and strategies to build your directory Full Show Notes: How to Start an Online Directory as a Side Hustle New to the Show? Get your personalized money-making playlist here! Sponsors: Airbnb — Discover how much your home could be worth and find a professional co-host today! Indeed — Start hiring NOW with a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post! Mint Mobile — Cut your wireless bill to $15 a month! Gusto — Get 3 months free of the leading payroll, benefits, and HR provider for modern small businesses!

If you create content online, sell anything—whether it’s in person, over the phone, or on a website—and want to make stronger connections, reach more people, and ultimately grow your income, here’s something to help you learn how to do it by speaking directly to the 9 types of buyers. To help us is Melanie Warren, a professional copywriter and the author of The 9 Buyers System. She has helped sell millions of dollars worth of products and services, and she has graciously agreed to stop by and give us the goods for free today. Let’s break it down, starting with a closer look at these nine buyers and how you can tailor your content to meet them where they’re at. Tune in to Episode 646 of the Side Hustle Show to learn: How to identify the 9 types of buyers Strategies to tailor your content to connect and convert effectively Expert tips from Melanie Warren on emotional and logical selling Full Show Notes: The 9 Buyers: The Key to Stronger Connections and Easier Sales New to the Show? Get your personalized money-making playlist here! Sponsors: Airbnb — Discover how much your home could be worth and find a professional co-host today! Indeed — Start hiring NOW with a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post! Mint Mobile — Cut your wireless bill to $15 a month! Gusto — Get 3 months free of the leading payroll, benefits, and HR provider for modern small businesses!

Building a remote cleaning side hustle from scratch. How crazy unique is that? This is a model that Skyler Sullivan took when he found nebraskaelitecleaning.com. He helps homeowners get the help they need while also helping on-the-ground professional cleaners get the work they want — and still makes a margin in the middle. And the most interesting part is he’s running this $60k/month operation in less than two years — all while keeping his day job. Tune in to Episode 645 of the Side Hustle Show to learn: How Skyler landed his first customers and cleaners How to market a remote cleaning business in today's world Exact tools and strategies he uses to scale a service business Full Show Notes: The $60k/mo Remote Cleaning Side Hustle New to the Show? Get your personalized money-making playlist here! Sponsors: Airbnb — Discover how much your home could be worth! Indeed — Start hiring NOW with a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post! Mint Mobile — Cut your wireless bill to $15 a month! Gusto — Get 3 months free of the leading payroll, benefits, and HR provider for modern small businesses!

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 several low-cost real estate side hustles. 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 (Greatest Hits) New to the Show? Get your personalized money-making playlist here! Sponsors: Found — Stop getting lost in countless finance apps and try Found for free! Indeed — Start hiring NOW with a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post! Mint Mobile — Cut your wireless bill to $15 a month! Gusto — Get 3 months free of the leading payroll, benefits, and HR provider for modern small businesses!

Would you believe there's a marketplace of millions of buyers eager for digital products for teachers — and it's not Etsy? Rob is a high school math and personal finance teacher at fieducator.com. He's built an impressive side hustle selling lesson plans and resources online at fieducator.store. Through the popular platform Teachers Pay Teachers, Rob has turned his passion for financial education into a growing business that regularly brings in $2,000 a month — and it’s been growing 40% a year. Tune in to Episode 644 of The Side Hustle Show to learn: How to find your niche on Teachers Pay Teachers Rob's $2k/month digital product business Rob's process for launching new products on FB groups Full Show Notes: $2k a Month in Semi-Passive Income on the Side New to the Show? Get your personalized money-making playlist here! Sponsors: Found — Stop getting lost in countless finance apps and try Found for free! Indeed — Start hiring NOW with a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post! Mint Mobile — Cut your wireless bill to $15 a month! Gusto — Get 3 months free of the leading payroll, benefits, and HR provider for modern small businesses!

It's that time of year again—Thanksgiving! What's particularly fascinating about this year's collection is the blend of traditional services reimagined for the digital age alongside completely novel business ideas. This is the 7th installment of the series, so I encourage you to check out the previous episodes if you like this format, make sure to grab the full playlist here. Here are the past editions if you want to see them individually: 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 10 Creative Side Hustles Part 6 – 2023 Let's talk about this year's most innovative money-making ideas! Full Show Notes: 10 Creative Side Hustles That Make Real Money New to the Show? Get your personalized money-making playlist here! Sponsors: Found — Stop getting lost in countless finance apps and try Found for free! Indeed — Start hiring NOW with a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post! Mint Mobile — Cut your wireless bill to $15 a month! Airbnb — Discover unique stays and unforgettable experiences – find your dream getaway today!

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.com222: 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

$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.

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!

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:

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: 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

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.

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: PersonalContrastTangibleVisualBeginning and EndEmotional 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

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

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

Ravinder Deol was a popular guy at a recent Side Hustle Nation meetup in Seattle. Why? He's a Certified Bitcoin Professional and everybody wanted to learn more about the red hot cryptocurrency market. Whether you think Bitcoin is a passing fad or a fundamental shift toward a global borderless currency, it was becoming (for me at least) a trend too big to ignore. Ravinder has fully immersed himself in the alternative currency world, teaching more than 40,000 students across 20 different...

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

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

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: 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

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?”