The Side Hustle Show

Before we begin, I should note that the single BEST way to make your side hustle feel official is to get paid.

As soon as you’ve got your side hustle idea, go sell something.

Seriously.

That first income — no matter how small — is an empowering moment.

In fact, I did a whole episode describing how I got my first sale in 6 different businesses, and later another 25 members of Side Hustle Nation shared their story in this fun round-up episode.

But I also understand that many people — myself include — often want some level of “establishment” before they feel comfortable saying they’re open for business.

I opened my first LLC while I was still in college and really had no idea what I needed it for. But it felt good, and if I’m being honest, made me feel smart and important too.

And later I got plenty of use out of it.

And that’s what this post is about. Even though in the early days of your side hustle, you’re better off focusing on getting customers, sometimes you need a little foundation before you’re mentally ready to focus on getting customers.

My only caution is not to use this list as fodder for procrastination, but to use it as a checklist to build positive momentum and keep going.

Again, before you pull my hustle card, know that you don’t need any of these to get started. But you will need to do most of these eventually, and if you’re the person who likes to get everything in order first, let’s get that excuse out of the way.

Ready? Let’s do it.

Full Show Notes: 10 Ways to Make Your Side Hustle Feel More Official

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You know those endless hours you've spent perfecting your Fortnite skills or learning how to defeat a Guardian in Zelda games?

There is a chance those skills aren't just good for bragging rights or racking up likes on Twitch.

In fact, it is possible to make money out of these games without being an online streamer.

I'm talking about teaching video games online, and the demand for these is exploding.

In this "Where Are They Now?" series, we have once again Devyn Ricks from missdevyn.com share how much her online gaming teaching business has grown over the last years since we talked in Episode 499.

When Devyn and I connected a couple of years ago, she was making around $4,000/month.

Today, her business has more than doubled, earning her the title of "six-figure video game mom." She has since expanded her team to 14 teachers.

Tune in to Episode 611 of The Side Hustle Show to learn:

Full Show Notes: The 6-Figure Video Game Mom

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$70k in profit at age 19?

Not bad for a summer business. Jack Fleming started his lawn care journey with just one lawn mower, knocking on his neighbors' doors.

He grew Yard Boyz to generate tens of thousands in profit, allowing him to pay for college debt-free, before selling the business for a six-figure sum.

In this inspiring episode, we cover:

Full show notes:

How to Start a Lawn Care Business: $70k in Profit at 19

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101 Service Business Ideas

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What if we looked at our businesses like professional sports teams?

That’s what Vincent Pugliese from Membership Freedom shared, drawing parallels between running a successful business and how sports franchises operate.

Vincent helps people build successful membership sites and communities around topics they care about.

He previously shared his freelance-to-freedom story of going from making $30k a year to earning $30k in a single day through freelancing.

In this episode, Vincent explains the "Stadium Model of Entrepreneurship." This model draws inspiration from how sports franchises operate, offering various levels of access and products to their audience.

Full Show Notes: The Stadium Model of Entrepreneurship: How to think like a sports franchise to unlock more profit from your business

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Billboards are timeless.

And they remain a successful advertising strategy even with the rise of digital technology.

With that said, you probably never imagined that a solopreneur could rake in $30,000 a month from it (part-time!).

But that’s exactly what Chris Brown from Signs of Good and wantmore.org has done for the past decade.

Chris retired early at the age of 42 and now owns approximately 30 billboards around Bentonville, Arkansas.

Tune in to Ep 608 of The Side Hustle Show to learn:

Full Show Notes: How to Start a Billboard Business: $30k a Month Part-Time

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Do you want to get rich? To build real, lasting wealth that can change your family's circumstances for generations?

Prepare to be disappointed because there are no get-rich-quick shortcuts or overnight secrets.

Building wealth takes time, discipline, and sustained effort.

But the good news is you can absolutely do it, no matter your current situation or starting point. All it takes is following some proven rules and principles to put you on the path.

I'm talking about 10 fundamental rules that will help turn your financial dreams into reality. And they come from my recent conversation with Robert Farrington, founder of the famous personal finance site The College Investor and a longtime guest on The Side Hustle Show.

This conversation is based on his article 10 Rules to Get Rich and Grow Wealth.

Full Show Notes: 10 Rules to Get Rich and Build Wealth

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How can one income stream turn into a whole lot more?

Simplify first, diversify second—that’s an idea I have always advocated on the show.

The first step towards diversifying is to have something working. But how do you know it’s time to diversify?

That is exactly what Bjork Ostrom (our previous guest from Ep 46) has done as he (and his wife Lindsay) masterfully “stacked” multiple online businesses that have developed out of their original food blog, Pinch of Yum.

This 10-year-old blog has been a launchpad for Food Blogger Pro (a guide for aspiring food bloggers), Clariti (for optimizing your site's content), and the holding company, TinyBit.

And this is the framework he uses to decide if an idea is worth pursuing.

Full Show Notes: Side Hustle Stacking: How One Extra Income Stream Can Lead to More

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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.

Full Show Notes: How to Start a Service Business to Replace Your Income, Step-by-Step

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Google's Helpful Content Update (HCU) hit a lot of online businesses hard with its new update.

Even well-established and authoritative websites experienced a significant drop in their rankings.

That's why I went behind the scenes with Kelan Kline from The Savvy Couple, whose online blogging side hustle did well even after the update.

Kelan built his online business up from making $50 in the first year to now seeing around 500k pageviews a month. That led to his online business making seven figures last year.

Tune in to Episode 605 of the Side Hustle Show to learn:

Full Show Notes: Blogging in a Post-HCU World: The Savvy 7-Figure Online Business

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Ever wish you could get a piece of the Amazon pie?

Corey Ganim of coreyganim.com did just that, banking $3.2 million in sales by selling other people's products on the e-commerce giant's platform.

And he didn't have to deal with the massive upfront costs and headaches of manufacturing his own products.

Corey got started in early 2019 and went full-time with his unique wholesale business model by mid-2020.

He's since built a multi-million-dollar business buying brand-name inventory at wholesale prices and reselling it on Amazon at a profit.

In this episode, Corey shares his best tips and insights featured in his book, The 5 Pillars of Amazon Wholesale and his free Wholesale Challenge training.

Full Show Notes: How to Make $3.2M/Year Reselling Products on Amazon

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