The Side Hustle Show

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:

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

Michele Mattix of SedonaMeditationExperiences.com has a unique side hustle where she gets paid to breathe.

As a tagline that sounds great, but there’s a lot more to her side hustle than just breathing.

In fact, in Michele’s own words she describes her business as helping, “people experience the spiritual side of Sedona and to bring more awareness and wellness into their life through meditation, mindfulness, and a deep connection with nature.”

Michele is able to offer all of this because she is a certified meditation instructor. The interesting part is how she's managed to carve out a profitable business model in the experience economy using Airbnb’s Experiences platform.

When travelers book a stay in Arizona using Airbnb, they are also offered one of Michele’s meditation experiences -- at a cost of course.

This enables Michele to take advantage of the huge marketing machine that is Airbnb. They drive the traffic and raise awareness of her meditation experiences, and it’s paying off.

Tune in to hear how Michele found her first experience customers, what she’s done to market and grow her business, and how you may be able to apply the same strategies to an experience of your own.

Full Show Notes: Paid to Breathe: Make Money Hosting a Unique Local Experience

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 8th installment of “20 Questions” so feel free to go back and binge on the older ones too:

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 the dark side of side hustling, beanie babies, affiliate marketing, and much more.

Full Show Notes: The Con of the Side Hustle, Beanie Babies, Affiliate Marketing, and More: 20 Questions with Nick