The Side Hustle Show

“There is no plan B, I’m going to make this work.”

That’s the kind of determination that is often the difference between success and failure, and this week’s guest is a perfect example of that.

In this episode, you’ll meet Brien Gearin, a side hustler who battled through 11 months of not getting a single client.

However, during those 11 months, Brien was learning new skills and growing as an entrepreneur and has since grown his digital marketing agency into a 6-figure business.

Today, customers are happy to pay Brien and his agency RicochetDM.com $1500 a month and up to spearhead their online marketing efforts.

Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear:

Full Show Notes: From Imposter Syndrome to $1500 Recurring Clients: Building a 6-Figure Agency

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The cocktail content business wasn't paying the bills, but a slight pivot changed everything.

Chris and Julia Tunstall from ABarAbove.com were disappointed with the quality of existing barware on the market. So they placed a big bet that they could do better—and sold out in 3 weeks.

This is a story about the power of being a part of your community and listening to what they really want.

From working 40-50 hours a week in an engineering job to working 5-10 hours a week in a “lifestyle business”.

That’s the lifestyle and business shift Chris Lollini created for himself by white labeling someone else’s software tools.

White labeling is a super interesting business model.

It’s basically putting your brand, your sales and marketing, and your frontline customer support on top of an existing software product.

And it comes with a lot of the benefits of SaaS — recurring revenue, good margins — without the upfront development time and expense.

To make it work, you essentially play matchmaker — finding a common problem and pairing that with a software solution.

Chris was a self-described “recovering engineer” who started a marketing agency as a side hustle 9 years ago, which has evolved into a multi-6 figure white labeling operation called Reputation Igniter.

Through Ignite.Reviews, Chris Lollini helps small businesses earn more positive reviews for their work.

Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear:

Full Show Notes: Reselling Software as a Side Hustle

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Rob's side hustle was crushed by the pandemic, but he found a winning spinoff buried deep in his YouTube stats and Google Analytics. 

This one will definitely have you thinking about the simple long-tail search questions you can answer — and monetize — for your own audience.

Full Show Notes: The $5k Side Hustle Spinoff

There’s profit out there, you just have to learn how to find it.

On this week’s show, I’m joined by a pair of Side Hustle Show listeners who’ve been learning that skill and have translated it into tens of thousands of dollars in sales over the last 16 months.

Jack and Joan Ferrell of SecondTimeSellers.com are resellers. They find used items at flea markets, yard sales, online auctions, and flip those items for anywhere up to 10x what they paid for them.

Inspired to start reselling after listening to episode 406 with Stacy Gallego, they’ve hit the floor running and have set themselves the goal of turning over $250,000 in the next 12 months.

Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear:

Full Show Notes: Building a Reselling Business

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Here are the projects I've been working on lately and how they're shaping up, my favorite business and lifestyle upgrades of the quarter, a few things that sucked, and what books made my reading list.

Full Show Notes: My Latest Online Business Experiments (Q1 2022 Progress Report)

From being a “bored stay at home mom” to running a multi 6-figure business in just a few short years.

That’s the story for this week’s guest, Jayne Havens of TheSnoozeFest.com who decided to take a sleep certification course “on a whim.”

This is a 2-for-1 episode where we’re going to learn about starting a service business from scratch — in Jayne’s case that’s coaching parents how to help their babies and toddlers sleep through the night.

Jayne started earning thousands of dollars a month doing the coaching, before deciding to add the addition of an online course component teaching other people how to do what she did.

Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear:

Full Show Notes: How to Start a Sleep Consulting Business

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“How I bootstrapped a 6-figure e-commerce brand in its first year with zero ad spend.”

That was the subject line that Side Hustle Show Connor Meakin sent me that grabbed my attention and earned him a spot on this week’s show.

The brand Connor is talking about is BluebirdProvisions.co, an organic bone broth, and bone broth powder company.

Connor started Bluebird Provisions after suffering a devastating foot injury that doctors said he would never fully recover from and be able to run again.

Searching for alternative, holistic ways to heal his foot, Connor decided to try drinking bone broth.

He accredits healing his foot injury, in part, to the healing properties in bone broth and decided to manufacture his own line of bone broth products.

Connor now sells his products through retail stores like Whole Foods, on Amazon, and through his own e-commerce site, and saw a 225% growth last year.

Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear:

Full Show Notes: How I Bootstrapped a 6-Figure E-Commerce Brand in 1 Year

Today we’re geeking out on the awareness problem — how to spread the word about your business.

And how to do it in a way that aligns with your style and your budget.

To help me out with this is long-time Side Hustle Show listener, Larry Towner. He’s a real estate investor, a handyman, and co-host of the Handyman Pros Radio Show podcast.

Larry runs a local handyman service in the North Atlanta area and always has his work calendar booked up months in advance.

He uses a wide range of free and low-cost ways to get his business in front of the right customers, so there’s going to be more than enough ideas you can use for your own business.

Tune in to this episode of The Side Hustle Show to hear 16 free and low-cost marketing ideas, including:

• how you can use your website and business cards as an “electronic brochure”
• why it’s so important for local businesses to use Google My Business
• how Larry gets so much business through referrals both online and offline

Full Show Notes: 16 Free and Low Cost Marketing Ideas

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"Changing the world with chess" and making $100,000 per year on the side.

That’s the story of today’s guest, Jeff DiOrio from EliteChess.net.

Jeff went from working in summer camp chess programs teaching kids how to play chess, to running his own summer camps and earning five times as much.

He then transitioned to an online recurring membership model, in part due to the pandemic, while also keeping the in-person coaching side of his business alive.

Jeff’s approach to growing his student numbers so rapidly?

Organic growth through giving to charities and delivering a value-driven service. All while doing something he loves -- teaching chess.

Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear:

Full Show Notes: From $17/hr to 6-Figure Side Hustle

Download Your Free Bonus: 20 Hobbies to Monetize with an Online Business