The Side Hustle Show

A side hustle is not only an opportunity to earn extra money but also a key to escaping the 9-to-5 grind. But launching a side hustle is not easy — just ask the many amazing guests who’ve been on the show! More often than not, solopreneurs’ business trajectories are a series of trials, errors, pivots, and adjustments. These are things we can all learn from, which is why we rounded up 14 big ideas from Side Hustle Show guests that really stood out this year. Whether you’re thinking of starting a side hustle or looking to breathe new life into an existing one, these ideas may just be what you need to give your business the best chance of success. Full Show Notes: 14 Big Ideas from the Last Year of Side Hustle Show Guests Get your personalized Side Hustle Show playlist!

This week’s guest began his side hustle with the goal of getting just 10 clients in 90 days. Four years later, he’s now the proud owner of a 7-figure business! Justin Tan is a Side Hustle Show listener who was inspired by Russ Perry’s story in Episode 248 of how he began Design Pickle. In 2014, Russ was running a creative agency when he started to hate everything about it. Not wanting to feel like a prisoner of his own creation, he sought out a new business model, one that offered reliable, affordable, and scalable creative work at a flat rate. Justin took inspiration from that model and applied it to video editing. And so, Video Husky was born. Justin’s story is one of many examples of what can happen when you combine a demonstrable business model with a novel idea and an untapped market. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear how: Justin found his first clients he scaled into a full-time business he made the ultimate decision to step away Full Show Notes: Growing a Productized Service from Zero to 7-Figures as a Digital Nomad Download Your Free Listener Bonus: 101 Service Business Ideas Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist: https://hustle.show

This week’s guest booked $100k worth of work in their first 9 months of a new side hustle they had no experience with. Haley Gallagher and her husband are serial side hustlers and were specifically looking for a side hustle they could do after hours. Seeing an opportunity at a bar he was working security for, Haley’s husband asked if they could take on the cleaning contract. That job snowballed into more jobs and as they hired employees and grew their business, MoonlightCommercialCleaning.com, they turned over $170k in revenue in their full first year. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Moonlight Commercial Cleaning found their first customers how they price their work and manage a growing team of cleaners mistakes they made along the way Full Show Notes: How to Start a Commercial Cleaning Business Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

Your next income stream might be sitting right in your driveway… This week we’re talking about how to get your piece of a $100 billion market. It’s the same model practiced by Hertz, Avis, Enterprise, National: renting cars out for a profit. It’s a business with lots of built-in demand, and new platforms like Turo help put your car or cars in front of that demand and get paid. Two years ago, Kirtis Murphy of FamilyTalksAuto.co decided to give this a shot on the side. He started with his personal vehicle, and since then and with the help of a couple of partners has grown it to a 6-figure business that now has 14 cars in its fleet. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how you can get started renting out your car for cash how to protect yourself and your vehicle assets Kirtis’ tips for setting yourself up for profitability and scaling your operation Sponsors:  EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼  Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Freshbooks.com – Start your 30-day free trial today! Full Show Notes: How to Start a Rental Car Business Download Your Free Listener-Only Bonus: 25 Unconventional Things to Rent Out for a Profit Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist: https://hustle.show

A common theme on the show: how do you make money online? In short, you do it by solving other people’s problems. We’ve got a really fun example of that today with an online business that helps people come up with gift ideas. The business is Giftlab.co; it’s a 5-year-old website that’s already earned over $1.2M as a part-time project for today’s guest Andrew Fiebert. You might recognize the name and the voice — Andrew co-hosted Listen Money Matters, a really fun podcast in the personal finance space. He’s also the co-founder of the popular affiliate link management tool Lasso, which you can find at GetLasso.co. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Andrew creates and monetizes his content how he optimizes his older posts to increase CTR and revenue his keyword research strategy for finding super-low competition longtail queries Sponsors:  EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼  Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Ladder – Get instantly approved for term life insurance—no doctors, no needles, no paperwork! Full Show Notes: The $1.2M Part-Time Affiliate Site Download Your Listener-Only Bonus: 3 Quick Ways to Stop Your Website From Leaking Money Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist: https://hustle.show

This week we’re exploring a unique opportunity to turn the world’s largest buyer of goods and services into a customer of yours. That’s right, we’re talking about selling to the government. There’s nothing like having a client that can literally print the money. But there’s a lot of confusion and misunderstandings around getting government contracts so I’ve enlisted some expert help to help us learn how to do it the right way. Retired Lt Col Ricky Howard of DoDContract.com spent years on the purchasing side for the U.S. Department of Defense and now helps small businesses like yours get their foot in the door. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: why there are so many lucrative opportunities with government contracts Ricky’s tips and best practices for winning contracts how you can also win contracts acting as matchmaker or partnering with other business owners Sponsors: EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼  Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Freshbooks.com – Start your 30-day free trial today! Full Show Notes: How to Win Government Contracts Get your personalized Side Hustle Show playlist

This week you’re going to meet an entrepreneur who recently left her 6-figure job in biotech to become a full-time podcaster and online business owner. Gill Tietz of SoberPowered.com started the Sober Powered podcast in mid-2020 and has released over 100 episodes on the science of alcohol addiction and other content to help listeners get and stay sober. In that time she’s also grown her Instagram account to over 43k followers, created a podcast network for other sober-related podcasts, and created several other income streams. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Gill made her podcast stand out from the crowd how she’s grown her audience through different platforms the different ways she’s monetizing her business Full Show Notes: Growing an Online Business from Scratch Download Your Free Bonus: The Podcast Starter Kit Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

By the end of this episode, you’ll have at least a dozen new backlinks for your website. For those who are new to SEO, quality backlinks will help you climb the ranks in Google — which means you’re going to make more money. To talk through his best link-building quick wins and link-building tactics, I’m joined by Jeremy Poland. Jeremy is a long-time Side Hustle Show listener, he’s a former Pastor and non-profit worker turned SEO pro, and he’s gone from digital marketing freelancer to agency owner. Jeremy specializes in helping small businesses leapfrog the competition with easy SEO wins. The backbone of what Jeremy does is build backlinks, and best of all he does it without needing a huge marketing budget. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: some of the quickest and easiest ways you can pick up backlinks why industry-specific links are so important and how to build those some of Jeremy’s best “special plays” backlinking tips Full Show Notes: 5 Easy Ways to Build Backlinks and Outrank the Competition Don’t have a site of your own yet? Check out my free video series on how to start a website of your own. New to the show? Get your personalized Side Hustle Show playlist!

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'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 40 life lessons I've picked up in my 40 years on this planet. Full Show Notes: 40 Things I've Learned in My 40 Years New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

Nathan Barry went from working at Wendy's to running a software company doing $2.5M in revenue every month. But there were several steps along the way — and those steps are the topic of today's episode. In 2019, Nathan penned The Ladders of Wealth Creation to explain why to level up your earning power, you usually need to level up your skills. In this episode, we cover: The 4 Ladders of Wealth Creation How you may be able to add new income streams to an existing side hustle or business A marketing strategy that's working well for Nathan right now Full Show Notes: The Ladders of Wealth Creation New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

On the side from his day job, Beau Hunter is a professional shoe flipper. His flipping side hustle has helped his family erase over $100k in debt! In this episode, Beau explains why shoes are an excellent choice for beginners and how you can find shoes to flip for up to a 10x return. If you're looking for an extra $500-1000 a month in profit, I'm confident you can go out and find it footwear with the help of Beau's insights. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: why Beau narrowed in on flipping shoes where he sources inventory and how he prices his shoes how Beau cleans, preps, and lists his shoes for sale Full Show Notes: Flipping Shoes for Profit Download Your Free Bonus: The Best Items to Flip for a Profit New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

Today we’re giving away a bunch of business ideas, and to help me do it is Steve Chou. Steve is a serial entrepreneur who runs a 7-figure e-commerce business at BumbleBeeLinens.com, a 7-figure blog and podcast at MyWifeQuitHerJob.com, and also a conference in the e-commerce space called Sellers Summit. It’s been 7-8 years since Steve was last on the podcast back on episode 128, so it was long overdue to get him back on. In this one, we go back and forth brainstorming some side hustle ideas that we think should exist in the world - or maybe they already do and we’re just not aware of them. Here are 17 business ideas we came up with that you’re welcome to take for free and run with! Full Show Notes: 17 Business Ideas Free for the Taking New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

In this week’s episode, we’re catching up with the 6-figure houseplant blogger, Raffaele Di Lallo of OhioTropics.com. You might remember Raffaele from a blog coaching episode we did last year with the help of Matt Giovanisci from Money Lab. At that time, Raffaele was generating over 300,000 pageviews per month, which translated into around $10k in income, mostly from display ads and a little slice of affiliate commissions as well. The biggest change since I last spoke to Raffaele is that he’s been able to leave his day job and now works on his blog full-time. In this episode, we focus on that core of the business and what made that possible: creating SEO-friendly content and monetizing it on autopilot with ads. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: How Raffaele’s business has changed from last year His best tips for optimizing content for higher ad RPMs How Raffaele has doubled down on what’s driving the most revenue Full Show Notes: The 6-Figure Houseplant Blogger My Free Course: How to Start Your Own Blog Download Your Free Bonus: 20 Hobbies to Monetize w/ an Online Business Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist: https://hustle.show

To find out what’s working today across a wide range of industries, I’ve crowdsourced some wisdom from Side Hustle Show listeners. I asked listeners to share a marketing tactic that’s working well for them this year, and I got back a ton of great responses. Here are 16 of the best marketing tips that were submitted, many of which you can apply to your business today. Full Show Notes: 16 Marketing Ideas from Side Hustle Nation Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

Today I’ve got an awesome story for you — on the one hand, it’s about matching your interests and skills with a hungry market, but maybe more importantly it’s about documenting your work. When you do those two things, like Craig Odem has, you start to see some fun results. I found Craig through the Side Hustle Nation Facebook group; he’s a pastor in Tennessee but as a side hustle he sells plants out of his backyard. Craig’s backyard nursery does around $10k in sales every year, which is awesome. But where things get even more interesting is when you factor his Savvy Dirt Farmer YouTube channel. Craig started his YouTube channel in early 2021. It’s already hit 1 million views and is starting to bring in some pretty significant revenue on its own via multiple revenue streams. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Craig came up with the idea to sell plants how he is growing and selling plants what he’s done to grow his YouTube channel Full Show Notes: The Backyard Nursery Side Hustle and the Value of Working in Public Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

Rene Delgado started an online high ticket dropshipping store with no ideas and no inventory and went from $0-300k in sales in his first year in business. It was the search for an extra stream of income that led Rene Delgado to consider e-commerce; selling physical products online. (GH = Greatest Hits) Full Show Notes: How to Start an Online Store with No Ideas and No Inventory Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

This week’s episode is about self-publishing, which we’ve covered before. But this week’s guests have turned the success of their book into a full-time business that’s still growing in momentum. In late 2020, Justin and Alexis Black self-published their first book Redefining Normal: How Two Foster Kids Beat The Odds and Discovered Healing, Happiness and Love. Redefining Normal currently has over 200 reviews on Amazon and has sold more than 9,000 copies in the two years since it was published. That’s an accomplishment in itself for a title that’s kind of categorized as a memoir, where typically unless you’re already famous, nobody’s buying your memoir. In addition to book sales, Justin and Alexis are also doing workshops, keynote speeches, and other paid gigs related to the content of their book. So, in this episode we’re going to dive into everything Justin and Alexis did to set the book up for success, and how you can borrow the same tactics for your own side hustle. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: where the inspiration to write Redefining Normal came from how Justin and Alexis build and used a launch team how they’ve created several other revenue streams Full show notes

Starting a pressure washing business may be a great seasonal side hustle opportunity. These types of blue collar businesses tend to have low startup costs and you may already have the skills and equipment you need to get started. Full Show Notes: How to Start a Pressure Washing Business Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

Megan Champion is a mom of 3, a 15-year elementary education teacher, and in the past year, she’s started a side hustle that has brought in $20,000. Megan’s side hustle is in the parenting niche and has 3 main parts: An Instagram account to drive awareness A podcast called On The Hard Days to drive connection And a paid membership to drive community — and recurring revenue. In this episode, you’ll learn how all three of those work and how they work together to build Megan’s business — and how you may be able to apply some of the same strategies to your own business. The exciting thing here is that the audience numbers that Megan shares aren’t huge, but they’ve still been enough to build a pretty substantial extra income stream and help a lot of people at the same time. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how and why Megan had the idea to start a podcast and paid membership the ways she has leveraged a small but dedicated social media audience how Megan validated her membership idea and launched it Full Show Notes: How to Make Money with a Small Podcast Ready to Grow Your Show? Get a Special Discount on my Podcast Growth Playbook Course Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

When it comes to sharing your side hustle with your boss, is honesty always the best policy? In this post, we’ll explore whether or not you should clue your boss in about your side hustle(s). Full Show Notes: Should You Tell Your Boss About Your Side Hustle? Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

This week’s guest started his side hustle with the goal of earning an extra $1,000 a month. Four summers later and it’s now a 6-figure business. Blademir Hernandez of LitterFreeLots.nyc is a long-time listener of the Side Hustle Show who was inspired by Brian Winch’s story in episode 266 to start his business. Additional Resource: CleanLots Brian built a $650k a year operation picking up litter and cleaning parking lots, something Blademir told me he knew he could also do. Blademir ended up reaching out to Brian and running the idea past him, before going out and finding property managers in this area to pitch his litter picking service to. This story is a perfect example of what can happen when you take inspiration from a proven business model and execute your own game plan. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: more on where Blademir got the inspiration to start his litter pick-up business how he found his first customers by driving around his neighborhood how Blademir has scaled his business by hiring contractors to carry out the work Full Show Notes: How to Start a Parking Lot Cleanup Business Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

The most popular side hustles aren't necessarily the best fit for you. In this episode I'm breaking down the pros and cons of 5 common side hustles — and what you might consider doing instead. Full Show Notes: 5 Popular Side Hustles (and what to do instead) Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

With her hours cut due to the pandemic and a new house to pay for, this week’s guest set out an action plan to make 6-figures in 2021. To achieve that, Heather Johnson of HeatherXStudio.com decided to start an Etsy store selling print-on-demand goods like t-shirts, mugs, and other apparel and items. Fast forward two years and Heather is now a former MRI tech who’s taken her print-on-demand side hustle full-time and is averaging $15k a month in revenue and $4-5k in monthly profit. How’d she do it? By following the trends with her own unique spin, putting 100s of products up for sale, and implementing some savvy marketing strategies you can apply in your own business. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: why and how Heather created a “high-volume listing store” how she evaluates competition and finds new creative ideas heather’s best practices for maximum organic exposure on Etsy Full Show Notes: Building a Print on Demand Business on Etsy Download Your Free Bonus: 100 Print on Demand Niches Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

Matt makes $200+ a month sharing his writing on Medium.com. It's a hobby he genuinely enjoys doing anyway, so the revenue it brings in is a bonus! Here's how to get started making money on Medium. Links and resources: Matt on Medium  Matt's site Episode 510: The 6-Figure Bird Blog New to the show? Get your personalized playlist here!

We're halfway through the year, and 2022 is flying by! In these quarterly Progress Reports, I break down how the business grew (or shrunk), what I worked on, and other happenings from the last three months. I worked more hours the first half of 2022 than I did in 2021, and (not surprisingly) I feel like I'm getting more done as a result. I'm still struggling to come to terms with a to-do list that's never going to be done, but do feel like I'm making progress on building a business that serves me and serves others. Full show notes: My $10k Launch (and Other Projects)

“You have a skill, but you’re not using it correctly.” That the tough love advice Vincent Pugliese’s father gave him. Vincent was working what he thought was his dream job as a photojournalist. He’d just won the most prestigious award in his industry (International Sports Photographer of the Year), and he and his wife Elizabeth had a baby on the way. Yet the newspaper job didn’t pay well. With the impending arrival of their son, Vincent took a hard look at his financial picture: he was in his mid-30s, 6-figures in debt, and earning $15 an hour. Not great. Something had to change, and something did. Full Show Notes: Freelance to Freedom: From $30k a Year to $30k in a Day New to the Show? Get your personalized playlist

This week’s guest took a pain point she was experiencing - finding a nanny for her 3-month-old - and turned it into a multi 6-figure full-time business with 500 nannies across 5 states. Kristy Bickmeyer started TwinkleToesNanny.com back in 2011 in response to not being able to find a nanny herself. At least not without going through the “traditional” agency model of paying $1,500-3,000 upfront and with few guarantees it will work out long-term. Kristy decided to start her own agency without the upfront fees, and with a more streamlined approach and robust guarantees for parents - and it’s snowballed from there. I love this strategy of taking a fragmented, localized industry and adding a layer of branding and professionalism to it. This is what 1-800-Got-Junk did in junk removal, and is what Belay Solutions has done in the executive assistant space. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Kristy found her first customers how she’s scaled into a full-time business with locations in multiple states the mistakes and challenges she faced along the way Full Show Notes: Building an Offline Agency to Multiple 6 Figures Download Your Free Bonus: 101 Service Business Ideas New to Show? Get Your Personalized Money-Making Playlist

Play matchmaker between pallet buyers and sellers to flip pallets for profit. Varnie Sambola started his pallet flipping business in 2020, and has already scaled it to $1000 a day (and beyond). He credits another Side Hustle Show guest — John Wilker from episode 274— and his Simplest Biz course with helping him get started. Full Show Notes: Pallet Flipping 101 New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Playlist

“Nothing puts a smile on a consumer's face quicker than a good peach.” This week’s guest is Shannon Houchin of RoadsideRepublic.com, and she’s passionate about peaches, fresh produce, and delivering an awesome customer experience. Shannon actually reached out to me and said, Nick, you’ve got episodes on flipping books and mattresses, clearance products, domain names, flea market finds, and a ton of other stuff - but have I got a side hustle for you: I flip peaches. So, of course, I had to call her up to learn more. Turns out Shannon has been doing this for 10 years and has scaled up to operating up to 100 roadside stands at once. Whether you’re looking for a way to make extra money on the weekend, or to scale to something larger, Shannon has a compelling story for starting a roadside produce stand. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how to find suppliers and price your produce the best places to set up your stand some of the common mistakes to avoid Full Show Notes: How to Start a Roadside Produce Stand Grab Your Free Bonus: The Best Items to Flip for a Profit New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Playlist!

Escaping the rat race is simple, but not always easy. In this episode, I break down the 3 most common ways out of the rat race, and the pros and cons of each. (This was originally recorded for YouTube, which explains the faster-than-normal pacing and some video sound effects.) Full Show Notes: How to Escape the Rat Race New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Playlist!

"To build income you can hustle, but to build wealth you need to build something that doesn’t require your hands." That's what this week's guest told me, and then walked me down an interesting path in building that elusive "hands-free" business. His angle? Product licensing. Product licensing is essentially selling your ideas to larger companies for a percentage of future sales. You don't have to worry about the design, manufacturing, marketing, distribution, or anything outside an initial pitch and perhaps a prototype. Stephen Key is a master of this and has been doing it decades. He's the author of One Simple Idea, the bestselling licensing book, and the founder of InventRight. In this conversation, Stephen shares how you can get started in product licensing without any big upfront investment, how to protect your intellectual property without a patent, and how to get big companies to take you seriously. Full Show Notes and Free Bonus: Turn Your Ideas into Recurring Revenue Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist!