You have been thinking about Side Hustles all wrong.
First Know Yourself, then Know Your Customer.
Everyone starts a side hustle to add to or replace some of their income. Good idea.
Because of the online gurus, you usually get into the mindset that “If I can eventually scale this, then it can replace my regular job.”
You jump right to big ticket items. the $99 course, or sometimes even more $$. Crickets…no sales.
Or even worse, you post and post and give away free stuff, hoping for that conversion to buying your PDF, or signing up for your Patreon, or (now) Substack subscription.
“I am getting the likes and engagement, what is the problem?!”
The issue is that you are farming for Likes, not value. You have not identified your customer. What is your customer’s problem that you are trying to solve?
Are you making a difference?
How to know your customer.
Observe actions over words. Don’t just ask people what they want—watch what they actually buy.
For example, go to the farmer’s market. Stand still. Look around. Watch what is going on. Pay attention to what people are buying.
As Homestead Padre and I talked about in Ep.56, people at the farmer’s market are not buying produce. Sure, some do. But most people are there for the experience. They are there for the food truck. They are there for community (even if they don’t realize it).
Most of the produce vendors at the farmer’s market take home their produce or trade it with other vendors for their stuff. Maybe that is the key - the community.
That is a great non-monetary side benefit from being a vendor or the farmer’s market. (But as a vendor that is really not why you are there).
The gap between what people say and what they do is the opportunity. It is the line between where side hustles Thrive or side hustles go to die.
Now let’s look at this problem - a vendor at the farmer’s market doesn’t sell enough of their produce to make it worth their time, and they usually have to pay a fee for selling at the market.
What are some solutions? You could sell value added products, or crafts alongside your produce.
Many people who used to sell at the farmer’s market are creating roadside farm produce stands along the road at the corner of their property. (You need enough traffic, and you need to have a high-trust area for this to work).
Maybe join together with other people at the farmer’s market and have a local food co-op. Some small farmers and gardeners do this with a CSA. Create a Facebook page or a simple app. Now you see the thought process to start solving problems.
But be careful not to wedge yourself into a solution with no problem, or a solution that everyone else is trying to solve (if “everyone is doing it” then you will be treated like a commodity, with commodity pricing).
Start with your Intention
So stop just building side hustles—and start building skills.
Before you do anything else, complete an analysis of your life and your life intention.
Clarify what you actually want your life to look like. Your side hustle should move you toward that intentional life, not just generate random income.
Start with: What are you good at?
Use the eight forms of capital framework to inventory what you have and what you can do — skills, materials, living capital, financial capital.
* Financial Capital
* Material Capital
* Living Capital
* Social Capital
* Cultural Capital
* Intellectual Capital
* Experiential Capital
* Spiritual Capital
Listen to Thriving the Future Podcast Ep. 3 - You Are More Wealthy Than You Think for more information on the 8 forms of capital.
What are you good at?
What solutions have you solved for yourself and others? That is your sweet spot.
The best approach - Sell to people like you.
Speak to yourself - where you were 2 years ago. Speak to that person, with their problems. You now have the solutions.
I started Grow Nut Trees because the chestnut trees I bought from the Pacific Northwest or Northeast did not survive the harsh Kansas climate. The seeds and trees had a “memory” of where they originally grew. They were successful there. A tree that is used to the wet, cloudy environment in the Pacific Northwest would not thrive, let alone survive, in Kansas. So I grew my own trees, and culled the ones that did not do well.
Likewise, the easiest customer to find is someone who shares your values. You’re not looking for people just like you —you’re looking for a shared worldview. You’ll naturally attract these people through how you go about things.
Grow Nut Trees Success Story
Yesterday I received a $100 order for chestnut trees. The customer said in the notes, “If you have any questions, call me on my cell phone rather than email.”
Since it is the last week of Fall shipping and I am now transitioning into Spring orders, and he lives in the midsection of the country, I called him to ask him if he wanted me to ship immediately or hold onto them and ship to him in the Spring.
This was an excellent opportunity to ask him what problem he is trying to solve: Why is he planting chestnut trees and how does he plan to use them?
He just bought 20 acres of pasture and he wants to plant chestnuts. He asked how close to plant them, and what to do about deer pressure? I shared my experience and my recommendation - in his case I recommended 20 - 25 feet spacing between trees because it was important to him to be able to run a bush hog mower between the trees and rows. And adding tree tubes for the first year or two to counter the deer pressure.
He asked how many more chestnut trees I had available and he bought many more, even ones that I did not have on my website. I didn’t have to upsell to him.
Depending on his problem, I could have offered him a more in-depth consult or even a permaculture design.
When you share you experience and knowledge one-on-one it creates a social “debt”.
“The more value you give them, the more they owe you. And they will know subconsciously.” - Perpend
This social “debt” doesn’t happen in e-mail or online ordering. It doesn’t happen when someone reads your blog or Substack (that’s why they are not subscribing).
If possible, move toward a personal interaction. But don’t force it, and don’t give it away too easily (don’t spend all your time on Free Zoom consult calls).
Sometimes your customer is not who you think it is
One of the most surprising things about my Grow Nut Trees side hustle/biz is that nut trees are not my best selling product. Elderberry seedlings sold on FB marketplace are my best selling product. They are also the easiest to create: Take some elderberry cuttings, poke them into the ground or into a pot of soil and the elderberry will grow really fast. I can also dig up offshoot sprouts where the elderberry is spreading, stick those in spoil and it works very well. No messing with seeds.
I can grow them into 2 gallon $20 plants from Spring into early Fall. I can even buy some sprouted elderberry cuttings in late Summer and grow them out more to sell later in the Fall.
Most of the elderberry that I sell are Wyldewood variety. This year I will try some other varieties to extend my market. I am really excited about growing more Black Lace elderberry, although it is not as vigorous as the Wyldewood variety.
(By the way, Elderberry cuttings are now available at GrowNutTrees.com)
Not everyone is your customer.
Early in my Grow Nut Trees journey, a guy contacted me by email to ask questions about chestnuts. I was kind of green at that point, and didn’t understand the need for the interaction that I just discussed. After the third email I internally grumbled: “Are you going to buy or what?”
Eventually, after 4 or 5 emailed questions, he came back and ordered over $150 worth of trees. That was the biggest order I had at that point in my journey.
Don’t go chasing after a person who is not your customer. Leave some space. (maybe they will be your customer some day).
“The biggest word in the English language is no.”
Buffalo Ron from The Buffalo Wool Company shared on Twitter/X a customer horror story:
That lady was not his customer. She is a Walmart and Amazon customer.
I just shared many side hustle tips and details that you usually don’t hear unless you pay someone for an ebook or online class. If you got value from it, then Subscribe to the Thriving the Future Substack.
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