On any given weekend in San Francisco, out of earshot from the barking harbor seals at Pier 39 and the clang of the cable cars, a small group of urban hikers are exploring the city from a different vantage point. For three hours, they walk, climb, and even slide their way through historic neighborhoods and scenic outlooks. They’re led by Alexandra Kenin, or one of her carefully selected guides, and have paid $49 apiece for this unique travel experience. Alexandra runs UrbanHikerSF.com on the side from her day job as a content writer and editor. More than 1000 people take her urban hikes each year, and she now oversees a team of 4-5 guides that can lead the hikes in her place.

Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Getting Paid to Show Off Your City: How to Start a Tour Guide Side Hustle

Kara Lamerato is a work-at-home-mom of 2, but runs a successful business in her spare time. Kara's Vineyard Wedding supplies brides with wine-themed wedding decorations, and has shipped thousands of orders. Kara started the business before having kids while she was still working full-time in private banking. The idea came from her own wedding and thinking there might be other brides out there looking for similar DIY-style items. She put a listing up on Etsy, and a couple of weeks later, she had her first order!

Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Starting an Ecommerce Empire on Etsy

Tom Morkes has worked on the book launches for a number of previous Side Hustle Show guests, including John Lee Dumas, Dan Norris, Taylor Pearson, and Neil Patel. What I wanted to do in this conversation was reverse engineer some of the steps that go into producing, launching, and marketing a bestselling book, even if you don't have thousands of fans waiting for it. And selfishly, I wanted to get some insight on what I could do to make my latest book project, Buy Buttons, hit the top of the charts. Tune in to hear Tom's top tips from more than a dozen different bestselling launches.

Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Reverse-Engineering a Bestselling Book Launch

Rachel Pedersen was using social media to bring customers to her hairdressing chair, but never really imagined it would turn into a full-time business of its own. One of her hairdressing clients owned a popular restaurant chain, but was struggling with online marketing and social media. Rachel offered to help and the rest is history. Today her little social media management side hustle is a 6-figure business and she has even built a training program to help other people follow in her footsteps.

Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How a Former Hairdresser Turned Her Side Hustle Into a 6-Figure Business, with Rachel Pedersen

Dropshipping is also a topic we haven't really covered in depth in the past, but many listeners have been requesting to learn more about it. I reached out to Anton Kraly, who's one of the most successful people I know in this space. He's been selling online for almost 10 years and he and his team have built out an impressive portfolio of drop-ship stores. Dropshipping is where you sell a product and the manufacturer or supplier ships it directly to your customer.

Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Start an Online Store – Without Touching Any Inventory (Drop Shipping 101)

Matt is a former Air Force pilot who was looking into various side hustles to support his family after some salary cuts at work. After hustling and selling used books (among other things), he realized it really wasn't sustainable and took up too much of his time. That's when he found a gumball vending machine for sale on eBay for $36. The seller was local in Houston so he drove over with two of his kids and picked it up. Filling it with candy from Sam's Club, he knocked on doors of businesses until he found a home for it at a local karate studio. A couple weeks later, he went back and it was filled with quarters!

Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Matt’s Passive Income Empire Started With Just $36 … and a Bag of Gumballs

Before people can do business with you, they have to know about you, and before they know about you, they have to find you.

And that’s universal, whether you’re running a brick-and-mortar shop, an ecommerce store, a blog, or a virtual consulting business.

Neil Patel is a master at solving the first step in that equation: getting people to find you. Through SEO, content marketing, and social media, we go through the traffic generation tactics that are working today.

Neil runs a handful of online projects, including NeilPatel.com, QuickSprout.com, and the heatmap software tool CrazyEgg.com. His latest project is a book called HUSTLE (a title I can definitely get behind), due out in September and all about how you can (and must) make your own luck in an economy rigged against you.

This episode is all about how new and experienced content creators can get more visitors to their work.

Don’t have a blog yet? My free blogging course shows you step-by-step how to get started.

Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Traffic Hacks for 2016 and Beyond, with Neil Patel

Dan Harris had me at "meditation for skeptics." In the last 5 years, it seems like meditation has gone from a weird woowoo practice to a daily staple of most top entrepreneurs, executives, and leaders. But so far, I haven't been able to get into it. Have you? I've tried a few of the guided meditation apps, including Headspace and Calm, but when I tried meditating in the morning, I had this impatient feeling like I should just get on with my day and start work.

Full Show Notes: Happiness is a Skill, and This 5-Minute Habit Can Help You Get Better at It

Eight years ago this month I pulled out of the parking lot of my corporate job for the last time. It was a weird moment, filled with hope and excitement, but also nervousness. Sure, I'd built my side hustle to the point I was comfortable taking the leap, but it was still a leap. The responsibility of cutting your own paycheck each month is stressful! In this episode I attempt to pull out 8 of the most important takeaways from the last 8 years.

Full Show Notes: I Quit My Job 8 Years Ago! Here Are 8 Lessons I’ve Learned Since Then That You Can Apply Today

Teaching what you know in the form of an online course has become the bread and butter for many online entrepreneurs. You can see the appeal: package all your best stuff into a logical and well-presented lesson plan, record it, and sell it over and over again.

Course creation has the potential to be a fantastic passive income business, just like book sales or software. Build an asset that has low-to-zero incremental costs, and sell as many copies as you can — sometimes for $1000 or more.

In this episode I’m chatting with Bailey Richert and her advice for budding “infopreneurs.” In her words, you don’t need a huge audience to start building a successful business, but you would be wise to follow a few important steps.

Related: To build an online business, you need to get online. My free video course will show you how to quickly and affordably set up your first website.

Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: How to Create, Market, and Sell Your First Online Course – Even With a Small Audience