The Side Hustle Show

Creating the right retirement plan for your business income can save you thousands of dollars in taxes. But between LLCs, IRAs, SEP IRAs, Solo 401(k)s, and more, it's a confusing acronym jungle out there. To help cut through the clutter, Matt Ruttenberg stopped by and schools us on how to choose the right plan for you and the key differences between them. Important Links: Matt's site - Retirement plans for solopreneurs  Retirement plan evaluator tool  Matt on LinkedIn Matt on TikTok 

This week’s guest, Scott Keller, left his high-paying but not super satisfying career in insurance to run a bird blog full-time. Scott started BirdWatchingHQ.com as a side hustle back in 2016 and has since turned it into a full-time income with half a million monthly pageviews and more than 1 million monthly YouTube views. But like all businesses, it’s been an evolution to get to that point. Scott started out chasing high-ticket affiliate commissions but pivoted into creating one of the best bird watching resources online with multiple revenue streams. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: what’s driving traffic for Scott today the creative ways Scott has grown his email list to over 50,000 subscribers how you can borrow some of the same tactics for your business Full Show Notes: The 6-Figure Bird Watching Blog Download Your Free Bonus: 20 Hobbies to Monetize with an Online Business Ready to Start Your Own Site? Here's My Free Video Series on How to Get Your Site Online Quickly and Affordably New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Playlist!

Do you love weddings? Professional wedding officiants can make $100s an hour and usually do it as a side hustle. In this episode, you'll meet Maria Romano, who's officiated more than 4000 weddings in her career. She shares what you need to get started, how to get your first customers, and more. Full Show Notes: How to Become a Wedding Officiant New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

Quizzes can help you: Grow your email list Serve your audience better Make more money We’ve been talking a bit about the power of quiz funnels over the last few months, and so I thought, why not call up the guy who’s famous for implementing these things and helping others do it as well? Ryan Levesque is the bestselling author of Ask: The Counterintuitive Online Formula to Discover Exactly What Your Customers Want to Buy...Create a Mass of Raving Fans...and Take Any Business to the Next Level, and CEO of The Ask Method Company. Using the exact methods we’re talking about today he’s built a highly-profitable 8-figure/year business across 23 different niche markets, amassing an email list of over 4 million people along the way. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: what exactly quiz funnels are and why they are so effective how you can get started building your own quiz funnels how to drive lots of targeted traffic to your funnel for next to no cost Next Steps: Register for the upcoming live quiz funnel training (use code SIDEHUSTLE to make the $100 registration free!) Full Show Notes: Quiz Funnels 101: Sell Smarter, Serve Better, and Earn More Money Need More Traffic? Use promo code PODCAST for a special discount on The Traffic Course New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Side Hustle Show Playlist

If you had 2 years to earn $1 million, what would you do? In this episode Chad Carson from the Real Estate and Financial Independence Podcast breaks down his strategy. (And I share mine at the end.) Links and Resources: CoachCarson.com 222: 5 Ways to Get Started in Real Estate Investing on the Cheap 460: Side Hustle Showdown: Investing in Real Estate vs. Buying a Small Business

From serious health issues and being $500,000 in debt to earning 7-figures a year in ad revenue. That’s the short story of this week’s guest, Brandon Gaille. Brandon has been around online business since the 90s, he’s made a ton of money, battled some really scary health issues, and today is one of the top bloggers in the world earning a collective 6 million visits a month across his three sites. Brandon is also the founder of RankIQ.com, an AI-powered SEO tool that helps bloggers find keywords and outline their articles, and The Blogging Millionaire Podcast. In this episode, Brandon goes into detail explaining how new bloggers can choose a niche to enter, how he finds low competition keywords, the best ways to monetize a blog, and much more. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: Brandon’s best-proven processes for getting more traffic to your site how Brandon evaluates if a niche is worth entering how to use your blog to create a funnel and sell your own digital products Full Show Notes: SEO and Blogging Tips to Make More Money Need More Traffic? Use promo code PODCAST for a special discount on The Traffic Course Ready to Start a Site of Your Own? My video series will help you get online quickly and affordably.

Find an expensive problem, and solve it.  Jonathan Stark is a pro at finding these expensive problems, and walks us through idea generation and validation, pricing, and growth strategies. Full Show Notes: How to Start a Consulting Business

“If you’re bored walking up the hill, try running up it.” That was what this week’s guest William Wadsworth of ExamStudyExpert.com told me when I asked him about how he got his side hustle off the ground. Four years ago, William was working full-time in a corporate job, but he wanted to build his own dream, not someone else’s. Finding it difficult to balance a full-time job and his side hustle, William left his job and took on some part-time tutoring so he could spend more time on his business. Today, William earns thousands of dollars a month doing what he loves - writing, podcasting, and coaching people about memory psychology, learning science, and how to study smarter. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: why William decided to leave his job and go all-in on his business how he’s gone from doing one-on-one tutoring to having multiple income streams how he’s grown his blog, podcast, and coaching clientele Full Show Notes: Building an Online Business from Scratch: A Listener Success Story Your Free Bonus: 3 Quick Ways to Optimize Your Website Start Your Own Website: My free video course The Traffic Course - Use promo code PODCAST for a listener-only discount.

Top podcasts make thousands of dollars an episode, but sponsorships are only one way to ring the cash register. In this episode, I'm breaking down the different ways you can monetize a podcast, including some that don't require any listeners at all. Full Show Notes: How to Monetize a Podcast New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Playlist

There has never been a better time to build an online business around a topic you care about. This week’s guests on The Side Hustle Show are proof of that. Garret Kruger and Sabrina Ricci are the husband and wife team behind IKnowDino.com, which started as a side hustle and is now the world’s #1 dinosaur podcast. Not bad for a couple of non-paleontologists. It wasn’t an overnight success. In fact, it took 6 years for the two of them to feel comfortable going full-time in the business. But they’ve had a blast along the way and they’re doing what they love doing most - interviewing paleontologists, talking about dinosaurs, and building a passionate dino-loving community. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Garret and Sabrina grew their audience the different ways they monetize their podcast how you may be able to borrow some of the same tactics for your business Full Show Notes: How a Part-Time Podcast Became a Full-Time Income Stream Download Your Free Bonus: The Podcast Starter Kit Need More Traffic? Join The Traffic Course w/ promo code PODCAST New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Playlist

Staci and her husband are earning $3,000-$4,000 month reselling like-new furniture with risk-free inventory sourced from Sharetown. Sharetown is a “reverse logistics” company that helps online, name brand furniture companies deal with customer returns. As a Sharetown rep, you get notified of these return requests, pick up the items, clean and store them, and resell them on Facebook Marketplace or other outlets. Per Staci, you only have to pay Sharetown for your inventory once each item sells. IMPORTANT LINKS: Sharetown (referral link) Full Sharetown Review

This week it’s the 500th episode of The Side Hustle Show, which just seems crazy to me. It feels like just yesterday I started this thing in a lot of ways. But it’s been 9 years — I guess time flies when you’re having fun. In honor of the 500 episode milestone, I wanted to reflect back on 10 big ideas and 10 common themes over the last 9 years. It took longer than I care to admit to go back through the archives and pull out some of these forgotten soundbites, but I think you’ll like ‘em. Tune in to this episode of The Side Hustle Show to hear 10 of the big ideas I’ve gotten from speaking with hundreds of guests of the years, and how you can implement these ideas within your business today. Full Show Notes: 10 Big Ideas from 500 Episodes of The Side Hustle Show New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Playlist

Devyn Ricks, a mom of 4, isn't a Twitch celebrity or a big time YouTuber, but she's still earning thousands of dollars a month playing video games part-time. In this episode, she breaks down how she does it and how you can follow the same strategies to monetize your hobby! IMPORTANT LINKS: Outschool Devyn's YouTube Channel Devyn on Outschool MissDevyn.com How to Make Money Playing Video Games How to Make Money on Outschool

It’s time once again 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 18 to talk through in today’s show. We're covering podcasting, affiliate marketing, passive income ideas, my proofreading side hustle, customer service issues, and more. Join Side Hustle Nation for free! Full Show Notes: Profitable Podcasting, Getting Clients, and $50k/mo in Passive Income: 20 Questions with Nick

Anita Smith saw the writing on the wall when she was furloughed and ultimately laid off in 2020. The hospitality industry was among the hardest hit when travel ground to a halt. So she decided to use the time to level up her skills and launch a new career, piggybacking on the popularity of the Salesforce software. In just a few months, she landed a new job making twice as much as her old salary! In this episode she shares the steps she took to make it happen. Sponsor: Tailor Brands (use code SIDEHUSTLE for 40% off!) Links: Free 5-Day Salesforce Challenge Anita on LinkedIn Anita on YouTube Bradley Rice on the Side Hustle Show ($200k/year working 20 hours a week)

“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: the methods Brien uses to connect with customers how to navigate the “freelance trap” of selling your own skills how to keep customers coming back month after month Full Show Notes: From Imposter Syndrome to $1500 Recurring Clients: Building a 6-Figure Agency New to the Show? Get Your Personalized Money-Making Playlist

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: how Chris got the idea to start white labeling SaaS products how he identified his customer's pain points and provided a SaaS solution the methods he uses to add value and create healthy profit margins Full Show Notes: Reselling Software as a Side Hustle Download Your Free Bonus: 20 White Label Software Niches New to the Show? Generate Your Free Money-Making Playlist

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: the creative ways Jack and Joan source inventory how they handle the shipping and logistics the most effective ways they’ve found to grow their business Full Show Notes: Building a Reselling Business Free Flipping Training    

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: how Jayne got started coaching parents on how to get their babies and toddlers to sleep better why she decided to start the online course component of her business the methods she’s used to grow both sides of her business Full Show Notes: How to Start a Sleep Consulting Business Download Your Free Bonus: 101 Service Business Ideas

“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: how Connor came up with the idea to sell bone broth how he’s turned it into a reality for a relatively low startup cost the creative and effective ways he’s driving sales on and off of Amazon today 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 Download Your Free Bonus: 10 Proven Local Marketing Ideas

"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: how Jeff built his minimum viable audience the methods he used to set up the business for recurring revenue how you can borrow some of these same tactics in your business Full Show Notes: From $17/hr to 6-Figure Side Hustle Download Your Free Bonus: 20 Hobbies to Monetize with an Online Business  

How does risk-free profit sound? That’s the promise and of the consignment business — getting paid to sell other people’s stuff. To help school me on how it all works I’ve invited Megan Church from PineappleConsignment.com onto this week’s show. Megan experimented with her first popup consignment event in October 2018 with the goal of breaking even and to do something creative with her time. Megan did a little better than break even with that first show, and more importantly, validated her business idea and had a lot of fun doing it. She has since broadened her business into online sales, estate sales, and now has her own warehouse and storefront open to the public. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how you can get started throwing popup consignment events right away how Megan sources and manages her inventory the creative ways she’s found to market and grow the business Full Show Notes: Get Paid to Sell Other People's Stuff: Building a Successful Consignment Business

What’s one thing people want? They want to get great deals on great products, and for you as a side hustler, that spells a business opportunity to curate and spread the word about those deals. This is exactly what Side Hustle Show listener Camron Stover from HuntingGearDeals.com is doing. Camron stumbled into the business, starting with his hunting hobby and a passion for finding good deals. He ended up acquiring the site from the original owner and has accelerated its revenue growth to $90k last year. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how the site is making money the creative ways Camron gets free content and products how you may be able to apply similar strategies in your own business Full Show Notes and PDF Bonus: The $90k Niche Daily Deals Blog

Today’s guest, Matt Bochnak of HowToMotorcycleRepair.com, is one of my favorite examples of how you can dedicate part of your week to generating time-leveraged income. This is Matt’s third time on The Side Hustle Show, and every time we speak he’s made huge leaps forward with his business. Matt first appeared on the show back in 2016 when he was making around $1,000 a month recording himself performing motorcycle repairs in his garage and selling digital products. When Matt appeared on the show for a second time in 2019 he was making $4,000-5,000 a month from a combination of digital product sales, YouTube ad income, affiliate commissions, Patreon, and sponsored content. As you’ll discover in this episode, Matt is now making almost $20,000 a month in revenue. He’s completely shut down the service side of his business, expanded into physical products, and more. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Matt’s business has changed since we last spoke in 2019 where the idea for a physical product came from and how he validated it the various revenue streams ringing the cash register for Matt right now Full Show Notes: Turning a Service Business into a Passive Income Stream - Part 3

When the pandemic hit, Timmy Bauer from DinosaurHouse.com pivoted his business from being a traveling children’s book author to running a children’s book production company. Timmy was enjoying working as a traveling children’s book author, but he was forced to change directions when schools started locking down and not allowing guests. His story is the perfect example that you don’t always need to make a complete 180 if your business hits a wall. Sometimes you just need to make a slight re-calibration, a couple degrees one direction or the other that can set you off on a new path. This new path has taken Timmy from “just over the poverty line” to running a 6-figure business in the last 12 months. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: how Timmy pivoted his business model when the pandemic hit how he uses content-based marketing and other people’s events to drive sales the ways you might also be able to take your existing skills and knowledge to serve a different customer base Full Show Notes: 6 Figures in 12 Months: Pivoting from Low-Ticket Products to a Productized Service

From a $10,000 a month “blog” to a 7-figure “Media Company” — a lot can happen in six years. Today’s guest is one of my most important real and virtual online business mentors — I’m always trying to pay attention and keep an eye on what Robert Farrington from TheCollegeInvestor.com is up to. Fun fact: Robert was one of the very first guests on The Side Hustle Show back in 2013. Our last update was 6 years ago, in early 2016. Back then, The College Investor was earning $10k a month and Robert was still working full-time at Target. There have been lots of life changes since then, plus some exponential growth on the business side. Today, The College Investor is one of the biggest personal finance media brands in the world. With over 1 million visits a month, covering student loans, taxes and tax software, investing, insurance, budgeting — if it’s related to money, you’ll find it at The College Investor. Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to hear: what the biggest changes Robert has seen in his online business are since 2016 what marketing channels are driving traffic for him today why he’s started a new brand and the future of his business Full Show Notes and PDF Bonus: From 6-Figure Blog to 7-Figure Online Business: Catching Up with Robert Farrington

With a ton of ways for people to make money, Amazon is at the center of lots of side hustles these days. The innovative—if not controversial—Seattle company still has its core retail business, but has expanded in many different directions. For entrepreneurs, side hustlers, and everyone else looking to earn some extra cash, Amazon probably has an option for you. In fact, I have several Amazon-related income streams myself! It's the 4th most popular website in the country, and 13th most popular in the entire world. That means there's a huge volume of traffic--and buyers--visiting every day. Let's dive in and explore some of the many ways to make money on Amazon. Full Show Notes: 20 Ways to Make Money on Amazon