Frugal Side Hustle: Digital Products with Ellie Diop

We'll see how many of how many guests we can get, but we want to start presenting to you more frugal side Hustles, ways that you can start to make money in your spare time that are not like taking surveys or doing mystery shops, but things that could potentially evolve into actual busin this is and ones that you can start frugally. Yes, and this we are so jazzed about.

We just wrapped up talking with Ellie. I love it when we record our intros after doing the interview, so we know that this is some incredible interview content for you all. If you are driving, that's fine, just be prepared that you might need to pull over and take notes. If you're sitting down, then great, pull out your computer or your pen and paper, because there's some motivation and

tangible tips about to come at you. And I will say that we don't typically we get like every day a pitch for somebody to talk about creating online courses, selling digital products, Yada, Yada, get rich quick online people. Every day requests for people to be on our show and we always say no. And Ellie was the first time, when we got her pitch, that I was like, this is the story of someone in our audience and somebody's

going to hear it. It's going to be practical, it's going to be actionable, it's going to be something they can do and they're they're really going to have their lives changed by it, by this money, and you're going to get that. That Ellie is different from most like get rich online people. So I'm very excited and relatable for that reason. Okay, so, before we get into that and our incredible intro, which is just Ellie's bio, this episode is also brought to you by the Internet. Baby.

It seems like it's been around for forever, but it's only getting started. You can try the Internet out by going on your phone or computer checking out the worldwide web, www for short. Some cool stuff that you can find on the Internet includes our e book. It's free, it's online and it's got hundreds of tips for saving money. Get Yours at Frugal Friends PODCAST DOT COM. Slash E book.

The Internet coming at you with the free stuff, one of those free digital products that you might hear a smidge about in in our interview, but this is something that we have done for years. It's something that I mean both Jill and I are experienced and I'm like, I've been in this world for a really long time.

So it's something I'm always hesitant to talk about because it is mired with delusions of grandeur, Um, Um, and luck and privilege that got people to a place that is unattainable for others to get to, but then they get even more rich off of telling people that it is attainable and that's fresh. So there's just so much a keyness. But digital products are actually a legit way to make money, Um, in your spare time. So very excited to start this frugal side Hustle series. Will will

have a lot more in the months to come. But Um, if you want a few more making money without a lot of wasted time or money on on businesses. We have a few other episodes. So episode one nine is how to make more money with a side business, and then all the way back at episode twenty three, we actually did our first episode on like side Hustles and side gigs that are affordable to start and not a waste of your time. So those are specific, I think,

mostly to people paying off debt. And then episode one nine is more for people who want to create a sustainable form of income. That may not move the needle so fast on paying off debt, but we'll be a long term thing to rely on. So we are so excited to share Ellie with you. Um, Ellie talks money. Ellie diepe is a business and strategy coach. She's the founder and CEO of Ellie talks money and Elevated Academy, Um,

and she's the host of the get elevated podcast. At Twenty eight years old, after being rejected from over fifty jobs, not like this girl and dry hard enough, Ellie took her stimulus check to start a business that she turned into a multimillion dollar business in less than one year. So that is where she started from. Yes, it sounds great, but you'll also hear about the work it took to get there and it's realistic, it's authentic and very excited

to share with you. And multimillions doesn't have to be your goal, but Ellie shares some really amazing, tangible things to help at whatever your goal is for a digital product side hustle. So we let's get into it. Ellie, welcome so much to the frugal friends podcast. Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. We've been looking forward to it for a while. You've got such an incredible story and background and I think it's gonna be really

rich for our listeners and for us. I think. I'm just so curious to hear more about what you've journeyed through and the tips that you have. So glad to have you here. Thanks for being here. I am so excited to be here. Thank you all so much again for having me. It's gonna be a great show. Yeah, I think so too. So tell us in this theme of Frugal side Hustles, how how did digital products save

your financial life? Yeah, I mean honestly, digital products are what helped me to make money when I had no money. So when I started my business, I was living at home at my mom's house. It was just freshly after a divorce I had. I'm a mother of four, so my twins at the time were maybe eight or nine months, really young, and I wasn't able to find a job. I had a lot of work experience and start up world and in sales and insurance, but I applied to over fifty four jobs and no one was hiring me.

So that was the moment where I realized, okay, maybe all these skill sets that I have that I would normally give to a job, maybe I need to package them up and give them directly to the market, to other people who might need this information, versus just a company. Um. And that's when I created, you know, my first e book. That was fifteen dollars at the time. Um. One of them was on business credit, so teaching businesses how to

establish funding for themselves. And then the second product that I made was teaching businesses how to market on instagram and make sales, and that was twenty dollars Um. And I I remember my breakthrough moment when I really believe

like okay, this I might be able to do something here. Um, is when I had my first five hundred dollar day, and that was with my fifteen dollar product, and so that doesn't sound like a lot to a lot of people, but coming from zero and seeing that, wow, I could really show up on social media and make five hundred dollars in a day was a huge moment and since then I haven't looked back. What I was a story.

I'm still caught up on the four children and I have a hard time finding work and then like cut too. You didn't let that stop you and you started this business. Of course, some of the things we love to dive into is some of like the mindset behind that. I know that we're going to get into some of the more like minutia and details, but I'm curious at this point what you would say about what it took for

you mentally and emotionally to experience that level. I don't know if you would attach the word rejection to it, but not not getting the jobs that you're applying for, fifty plus jobs, and then pivoting too. Well, could I do something on my own that's lucrative? What did that take mentally and emotionally for you? I mean, it was definitely Um not easy. Number One, you know, I never want because I've achieved success in a short period of time.

I never want to minimize the work it took to get through that, and there were definitely days where it was just all two years, you know, just Holler and crying, like not understanding what is going on. But I think from me, what really got me through and encouraged me to keep going is I felt like I was already at the bottom. You know, I had a moment where it was like, okay, from here, I don't think I

can really fall anymore. So the only place to go is up, you know, and that was when I made a decision and felt I have already cried, I've gone through the pain, I've these jobs have already told me, no, what else worse can happen besides me just trying to

start this business? Right, I've already seen what it's felt like to not get a job, so why not go out and market myself in another place, you know, and I think that I really had to come to terms with the fact that a rejection and the know wasn't going to be scary anymore, it wasn't going to hurt me anymore. I think when you go through so many of them, we choose. Some of US choose to stay in that place for a very long time and let

it hold us back. I just made a different choice and said, you know what, I already know what this feels like, so how much worse could it be? You know, I might as well just go after it and see what happens. Um and I think another huge factor for me were my children, you know, looking at them and not wanting to have this be our reality for two

plus years, four years, five years. Um. I remember a moment specifically where I decided what I was going to be afraid of, and on one end I was afraid to start my business and face more rejection, but on the other end I was very afraid to look back in three years and still be living at my mom's house, still beyond, you know, social welfare, still be unemployed, and so that fear was much scarier to me, and so like okay, well then, I'm gonna have to suck it

up and we're gonna have to get to work, you know. And so that's why what I encourage a lot of my clients and Um students to do now when they face that fear of not wanting to put themselves out there. I asked them, well, what are you more afraid of? Are you more afraid of just not getting followers on Instagram, or are you more afraid of looking up and still being in the same place? You know, in twenty four months,

being in the perceived worst place of life. It sounds as though sometimes might not be the worst place because it's the catalyst for something else. Like it is risky to start your own business, but when you're in a place where nothing else is working out, it's like that, if you can't go over it, can't go under, it can't go around it, go through it and let's see what happens here. Let's see what happens. You know that

is that is amazing. Like I I know. So I was laid off like eight weeks before I gave birth to my first child, and that it was that timing and that forcing me out of my job was the, I. The biggest reason that I started, like my freelance writing career that led me into doing this full time. Like I don't think I would have had the courage to do it on my own, especially like knowing I was

going to have a newborn. So like having these constant reminders is that the worst thing may not be the worst thing, like it maybe forcing you into something like of greater potential, and so I love seeing that in your story, Um, but I don't want to minimize like the hard work that you did, like, because it's not this in digital products, and like we know this because we have digital products. It's not if you build it, they will come. So you had to to build the

product and then you had to market it. So, like, what was that process like, and what do you think was Um, how were you able to do it like so successfully? Absolutely, Um. For me, what really worked was doing a lot of market research. So I took more time than maybe others to really discover, okay, what does my audience actually need, and let me build trust with

them before I sell them anything. So, because I was already not making money, Um, and because I was already in the process of really wanting to start this business the right way and also figure out what it even means to have a business, I took a lot of time to just create content in general, just sharing value with my audience. So, before I had a paid product, I had a lot of free guides that I made.

So I was showing people how to make an extra thousand dollars a month or five hundred dollars a month doing focus groups. That was one of my first free guides because that's something I had done. I was in and out of focus groups three or four times a week. Just think some extra money at that time. So I said, wow, this might help people. Let me just put this together in a free guide and create content. So that kind of got me to see, okay, my audience is like me.

They're needing additional money. They have a business but they're not really sure how to get it started. And so then I started creating more content around what I knew how to do in my previous life as director of sales. How to make sales, how to market Your Business, how to position Your Business for funding, because I worked in the startup, and so by dropping all these little nuggets of content, I was able to see what was really getting the most engagement and that's what I zoomed in on.

So when I saw that people responded the most too, how to position themselves for funding, how to scale their business, that's what I just went in on and continue to create content for, and then eventually my first paid product, which is my fifteen dollar business credit class. And so the key for me in marketing has been organic marketing. I've always created three or four pieces of content per day on instagram and I was also going live twice a day, pretty much five times a week, Um, at

that very beginning, you know, first year. I think of my business and I found that that is what really helped it to scale quickly, because I wasn't just this person on Instagram who's all of a sudden coming out and teaching something, but I really wanted my audience to

trust me. So I made myself overly available. I made all this content so that they could know I really knew what I was talking about, and then I felt that going live was going to be a great way for them to ask me a question on the spot. I would be able to answer the question on the spot. So then they would also have that additional comfort of, okay, this person is giving an information sh and as well, the information is working so cirtainly I'm going to go

ahead and buy from them Um. And so having that cycle on rotation is what really scaled me up quickly.

I believe being overly available, being consistent, creating more content and having a product that was low ticket enough to where a volume of people could afford it, versus at a five hundred dollar price point, I might have narrowed myself into one section of the Internet, but at a twenty dollar price point, everyone more than likely has twenty dollars, especially if it's for something that is valuable to them, such as their business. Well, and it sounds like you've

chosen a niche that you are expert in. It wasn't just kind of grasping at straws to what can I just put out there to make money off of, but what am I good at? What do I have to offer? What can I what problem and I be solving for people that I have something to say in this space, and I think when it comes to side Hustles, that's

a really important thing to look at. I know we've got a lot of people even in our community, asking questions about, hey, how can I make money off of digital products and things that, you know, I don't have to physically ship to people, knowing that there's some money to be had, but there's a lot of know how in some of the technology and the back end and the marketing, and so, from your perspective, with the journey

that you've taken so far. Elliot, I'm curious what was it like for you to start it, I mean so so if you want to talk about some of the startup costs, how you kind of began, and then if there's anything that you would have done differently too, I think that'd be interesting to hear. Yeah, definitely. So for me, starting with very low cost, low capital. You know, I use my stick elish check essentially. So when those stimulus checks arrived back in Um, I think the first round

was twelve dollars maybe, if I'm not mistaken. So of course my kids got their portion, but I didn't touch that. That just went for them. And then the twelve dollars that came to me, I had a moment where I was like, all right, this feels like a sign, so we're just gonna go ahead and use this. So I spent money on some domains. I purchased domains, I purchased,

you know, like a shopify account as well. I hired like a designer on fiber for maybe thirty dollars just to kind of help me make the website landing page look decent. Um, I paid for a Kansas subscription so I could do my own graphic designs. I upgraded my phone at that time to an iphone twelve Um. I got a ring light, just things that could help me look good on Camp Mara. I remember I purchased a couple of things from roths just so I could have a little bit of a background, and a part of

that money also went towards me creating my llc. So those are my initial costs really, Um, I always say that the rest of my costs were in time. You know, I didn't spend a lot of money, but I did use time. So some of the other things that I did at the beginning of this business we're making a list of what I knew how to do and the list of accomplishments I had in life and in business.

So I always tell people when you want to Start Your Business, specifically when you want to start a digital product business, don't look outside of yourself, right because typically what you're most qualified to teach or what you're most qualified to make money from you've already lived through, you've already experienced. You just need to make that list and determine what is it. So I made a list of all the things what have I done my job? What did I learn in school? What did I achieve at

my job? How many people did I help? How many sales did we make? Just all the things, and from there I narrowed down to okay, what is the path of least resistance? So for me that means what is something I can show up and talk about and do every day without it feeling heavy, without it feeling very hard,

what comes the most natural to me? And for me it was talking about business, sales, marketing and funding, and so that's how I made the decision to kind of be in that realm with regard to Um my business. So I always tell my audience that, you know, it doesn't cost a lot of money to make a lot of money. You know, when people want to start a business and create additional income streams, it really does come

down to maybe less than a thousand dollars. And the rest of that is narrowing and looking at what do you already know how to do? For example, if you're Vegan, you can make digital products showing people how they can transition to becoming Vegan. Let's say you're really good at saving money. Maybe you have ten thousand dollars saved in

the bank. Somebody out there needs to know how to save ten thousand dollars right and so you creating products that educate people on how you've transitioned from point a to point B. There are so many people out there who are still stuck at point a, who need to get to point B, and that is this is the center of Your Business, essentially. Oh, you're making this sound

so attainable. It's so gold because you're everyone is on the internet pushing like make money through this type of digital product or make money through this type of course, or Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, and it's it's not. It's not simple, but you have given people a an actionable way to find out what they could be successful on it. It is so customized like that is I hope people will go back and re listen to what you just said,

because that is the blueprint. If you try and do it some like, if you try to do it the same way somebody else did or do the same thing somebody else did because it worked for them, you will find it very hard to be as successful as they are. You have. Yeah, and the and also the part about like what are the things like looking at your accomplishments and your expertise and then deciding what are the things

I would like to talk all day about? So maybe not the thing that I'm most accomplished in or most experienced in if I hate it, what are the things that I am experienced and accomplished in that I like talking about, because there's a difference between giving your audience what they want and being true to yourself, and that's also something that isn't talked about as much. So everything

was just so gold and it's so true. You know, you have to find something that isn't going to exhaust you because, as we mentioned, having a business is not easy. There's so many things that come with it, like taxes and making sure you have a business bank account and, you know, tracking your receipts and just all the things

outside of getting the guts to start the business. So you want to make sure that, in addition to all those things, that you can actually sustain and that's why I always say choose the path of least resistance, something that you could actually continue to talk about every day and not be tired of it, because you're going to need that love for it in order to continue to push through all the other things that come with starting

a business. Right. You know, I think that sometimes entrepreneurship is glorified and there are all these new seven figure earners that are like, you know, I made all this money and you know, and and I understand they're selling whatever they're selling, but I think it's very important for

people to understand that that's one side of it. Being an entrepreneur and achieving that level of success is great, but it's work as well, right, it's work, it's consistency, its dedication and as business coaches, you know, I take my role very seriously and my responsibility very seriously to not paint a picture for people that isn't real right, to make people understand you can achieve this, but here's the foundational work you're going to have to do to

get there, and that's why I always want to make those steps that I just say shared so clear Um and so attainable, because it is attainable. You just got to do the work. You know, and this has gone well for you, clearly, low startup costs and set the know how and solving a problem and just doing it. Well, I think it's not just about doing the steps, it is about being interested in what you're talking about and

putting your best foot forward. And I also love how you gave yourself permission to hire some things out inexpensively, but you didn't, even in the startup, do everything all yourself. Help, getting help with design and utilizing some of these resources that are kind of plug in play for the starting of your business is fantastic. Even with how well it's gone for you, Ellie, is there anything that you would do differently, like if you were to go back, is

there anything that you would have shifted? Yeah, that's a great question. I think for me well, number one, I definitely would have started a lot sooner, a lot sooner. I would have leaned into myself a lot sooner. I think we rely so much on validation from the outside, like getting a job. That's what tells us what we're worth,

and that's not the case at all. You know, I think I wish I would have seen it way before and said, you know what, maybe I don't have to wait for a job to tell me how much I can make, because they're paying me for what's in here. So if they're going to pay me for what's in here, someone else will also pay me for what's in here on a much wider scale. So I would have started sooner. I think the second thing that I would have done is probably brought on like a customer service person sooner

as well. So made my first hire sooner. And this is something you know hindsight is but I was doing all my own service, D ms, emails, everything and that first pretty much first year by myself, and that was a challenge and it also kept me from making more money, because once I did hire my first customer service person, who's still on the team, I immediately started to make more money because I was able to stay in my zone of genius, which is the creation, the marketing, the content,

and allows someone else who it's their zone of genius to serve customers, to own that domain Um. And so for the business owners that are listening, it can be a challenge to to look at now paying someone because your immediate default is to keep the money, you know, just keep the money for yourself, but it's really owning a business means expanding it beyond yourself and making sure that it can exist and operate outside of you, and

that was a lesson that I had to learn. So I wish I would have learned a little sooner, but now we have a team of seven, so I think I'm getting better. You know, I think it'll getting better, um, but it's definitely key, you know, to put someone else in place so that you stay in your zone. And then that's how you really start to see something and grow, to really exist and become this entity that is a representation of that initial list, you know, that you make

at the very beginning. So yeah, that's that's awesome. That is something that, Um, going back, we would have done as well as higher earlier, Um, and higher for like specific roles, not just like a general one person does everything, but maybe higher for fewer hours each like more specialized roles. Definitely. So I want to go back to to this Um marketing, because you put in three to four pieces of content a day, obviously short for social media, and two lives

a day. And and yes, volume definitely helps you grow faster. Um. For somebody who may not like have you know for this, this may not be their full time thing. They're starting this out on the side, and also it's a different landscape on social media now than what would you like tell somebody? How should they start to think about social media, because it is such a great way, such a low barrier to entry, to get in there, get a targeted audience and and start building a brand. Absolutely. So I

would say that. Now, what that person could do, if this is their side thing, take a day on the weekend or whenever you have some time, to schedule out all of your content. So now what's really working well on social media is basically direct, you know, person to audience information. So the first thing I would have that person do is go to answer the public dot com, one of my favorite websites, and input your topic. Right. So let's say we are going to create a digital

product on becoming vegan. So we would go to answer the public dot com. I want you to type in how to become Vegan or just the word Vegan, and a huge web of questions are going to pop up that are how do I become Vegan? All of the questions people have asked in the last basically forty eight hours, is where it's accumulated from, all about being Vegan, and you're going to sit down in front of your phone or camera just like this and record content less than

sixty seconds, answering each one of those questions. What can I eat if I'm Vegan? How do I become Vegan? Will my kids like being Vegan? All the possible questions you could think of that someone who wants to adapt this lifestyle would ask you about. Sit Down and answer those. Then you're going to download an APP called later or Planoli and schedule those videos as reels or videos into

instagram and TIKTOK. Soe. TIKTOK wasn't really popping like it is now two years ago, but now you have to have Tiktok in your marketing and you'll grow very quickly. So schedule those to post for you, so you really are working one or two days a week recording all

that content and then scheduling it out. And so what that's going to do this activity, if you repeat this on a weekly basis now you're going to inundate your corner of instagram and social media all about being Vegan, and the algorithms on both those platforms are going to recognize that your content is all about Vegan lifestyle, healthy lifestyle, etcetera, and show your content to the people that are interested in that and as a result, you're going to grow

a following and from there. What you want to do is ensure and each of those posts that you make in your caption or at the end of your video, that you have a call to action. And so that call to action should be, you know, if you're ready to lose this way or if you're ready to change your lifestyle and try going Vegan, get my thirty days

Vegan Guide or whatever. Your class is going to be linked by it, right, and so having that repetition of people seeing you show up, deliver free value and then always have a call to action that encourages them to take the next step, you're going to start seeing your following grow and you're going to start seeing your sales grow, as well as getting additional engagement on your content, simply

by having that repetition. So now, you know, before, I think in reels had to be really, you know, pretty and your content had to be all these things, but now I think that people just want the information, and so if you can turn your phone around and talk straight to them, this is what it's going to help you grow. So that would be like my routine for someone who works the job. Take one or two days out of the week, a couple hours. Record, record, record, schedules,

real schedule and do it again. So many tangible tips here, Ellie. I mean you've given the blueprint and more. I think if anybody is interested in starting an online business and selling digital products, this is like the one stop shop. You've given all of the links and resources and the websites to go to that man. Thank you. This is beautiful and really inspiring and motivating. Yeah, I really hope they do it. You know, and I don't want it to sound easy. It's not that it's easy, but it

is attainable and consistency is the cheat code. I tell my audience all the time consistency is the cheat code. It's not money, it's not looks, it's not I mean sure you know privilege is key to right, but consistency really is what will separate you from the rest of the path. You know, I didn't have any of those other things. All I had was my consistency and continuing

to show up no matter what. There are a lot of people that I started with who aren't doing what I'm doing anymore and I think that the difference maker is just the consistency and also the love for it to you know, wanting to deliver that information and then deciding to do it every day will really set you apart. Well, and delivering quality, I think. Yes, yes, consistency and quality.

That was what I said with this podcast. I'm like, I'm pretty convinced that if we just keep doing it, someday we'll make money, and that is turning out to be true. Although, yeah, I do think it's a little bit more than just showing up, because if you just show up consistently with something terrible, it's not going to go well. But it is a massive part of it. Right, you can have one without the other, like it's so true.

And it's yeah, people that we started podcasting with for, you know, four and a half years ago aren't doing it anymore and it's I mean and there are shows were just as good, if not better than ours, but it's really the consistency that that makes a huge difference. And it's sometimes it's a slow build, sometimes you get lucky and something happens and you like take off, Um, but more often that takeoff is after a slow build. Yeah, so it's Um, it's definitely something to be aware but yeah,

it's not easy, but it is it is attainable. It loves that phrase it is. It is speaking of consistency and just showing up every episode. I don't actually know if if there's quality to it, but there is consistency. I think there's quality. The bill of the week. That's right, it's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.

Tough bills, buffalo bills, Bill Clinton. This is the bill of the week, Ellie. Every week we invite our listeners or guests to share with us their bill of the week, and we would love to hear yours today. Oh boy, I've been thinking about this one. Yes, see, I think it's so fun. Um, I think that my bill of the week right now is actually all going to food.

That's my biggest bill, Um, and the reason for that is I've decided to get heavy on my fitness journey and my Christian journey, and so I'm saying that I'm spending more on quality food, like on the good stuff, and it's a big bill. I think our grocery bill this week was maybe like two hundred and fifty dollars, which is a lot to be I'm like, listen, it doesn't matter how much money I start making, that's still

a lot for groceries. But I am grateful for it because one thing that's become important to me recently is, the same way that I am encouraging and inspiring people in the entrepreneurial field and in my business life, I also want to be able to show people that, you know, I am balanced all around. So the same way I'm encouraging you guys to Start Your Business and build wealth, I also want you to take care of yourself and I want to show you that I'm taking care of myself.

So just giving my audience visibility into the other side of, you know, going to sleep one time, you know, eating vegetables and fruits and and not having burnout in order to have success, but making sure that I am taking my role seriously and showing people that you can have a healthy dose of everything, you know, success and also taking care of yourself. So it's a big bill, but I think it's a worth it bill. Absolutely when you're spending on the things that you value and they're aimed

at the goals, then we can afford those things. It might be big compared to what it was, but also it sounds as though you weren't feeding your body with the nutrients that you wanted. To know, I was even too many honeybuns. Okay, amazing. It's also quite interesting to me.

I see this trend happen a lot for people when they start to experience growth in one aspect of life, it then does begin to bleed over as much as there's this vortex and maybe negative cycle that can happen for us when we're making non beneficial decisions and it just kind of leads to more non beneficial decisions. The opposite is true. When we start to experience growth and strength and success and achievement of goals in one area, it can positively impact other areas of our life too.

And so for you, seeing what has happened in your business and the way that you've helped others and then how that's bleeding into okay, what else? How else can I be caring for myself well, physically and emotionally? So we cheer you on in this two grocery bill. Thank you. I'm excited about it. It's hard. I hired back my trainer a personal trainer, and it's just like, why did I do this? Why? We're gonna be okay in two months from now if you stick with it, if you

just do that consistency piece, you'll see why exactly. I'm like telling myself, because to consistent. If you all listening, are hearing this and feeling inspired to share your bill, whether it's about improvements being made, things you're happy to spend on, things you don't have to spend on anymore, tell us about it, frugal friends, podcast, dot com, slash bill. We want to hear it, and now it's time for well, so today we're all going to share. What is your

Dream Side Hustle? Like no UM consumer surveys, no reason that it should succeed, just like a dream, like I would do this to make money. I wouldn't do this for fun, but I would do this to make money. What's your Dream Side Hustle? Could be crazy. My Dream Side Hustle is actually to have. I thought about this a lot. Is actually to have of like an event space that also provides birthday parties for kids, like whole

themed birthday events. And in addition, we've got this whole bus situation where we can take your jumpers to you as well. The bus can like pick up the kids. And you know how we have party busses for adults with like yeah, right, right, but instead we have party busses for kids with like juice and chips and candy and all these fun things, and then they come to the events space and it's just like this huge party. I would totally do that my hands down. Yes, you

are such a fun mom and twins. Throw it into the mix of the four kids. Yeah, and I wanted to show them a good time. That's a good time. So I'm like, as soon as I have some time, I think I'm gonna go for it. This is just like a dream side party. Yeah, like this is gonna Happen. You'RE gonna do it, party bus. It's a I think that's innovative. I love to I mine is not as fun,

but okays. I've always I've always thought it would be cool to like have Um, like greeting card packs that you could buy and there specifically to give to your neighbors so people can get to know their neighbors on their street better, so you can form like relationships just specifically with your neighbors and they would be funny cards, like it's cool living next to you, or they're just funny, like only appropriate for people that like live on your

street or something. Yeah, or like let me know if you ever need some sugar, whatever the case. Right. Yeah, that's stuff like that. I would give those out to my neighbors, like I'm that Baxterson. So, yeah, I love it. First customer right here, you guys, with your like actual ideas. I went a completely selfish route. I think I'm basically describing the type dream. It's a dream that will never this one won't actually happen. I think I'm just describing the vacation I want and I want to get paid

for it. Like I want people to pay me to try their wine in beautiful places while I arrange flowers, flower, flower, I go through their field, you're arranging flowers, and they're

just like, Jill, try. Yeah, well, first it starts with it starts with travel, it starts with let me pay for your flight first class to my winery flower field, and then I walk through their flower field and I and I pick their flowers and then they're like here, try our wine while you arrange the flowers, and then sleep in our beautiful Arabian Day and we'll bring you breakfast and then we'll hey you. Oh, this is a

that's a dream. Happened Somehow, some way, owner exactly. I actually love that and I feel like I want that. To do that. This sound like a great vacation as well. Would I would skip the arranging of the flowers, but I would definitely try people's wine. Definitely take that job. Yeah, Ellie, thank you so much for joining us today. Um, this has been so fun, so actionable. I know this will be an episode people listen to again and again, because if you weren't able to take notes the first time,

you're gonna need to the second time. So, Um, Ellie, where can people get even more from you? Yes, absolutely. I would love for you all to stay connected. You can find me at Ellie E L L I. E. Ellie talks money on all platforms, and then, as well, you all can enroll in my classes at my academy,

which is elevated. So ellivated the Elevated Academy Dot Com Um, and that is where I had my classes on business funding, instagram, marketing, brands, side Hustles, all the things you're gonna need to start and scale your business, you can go well. So, yeah, come and find me before. I love that you have a perfect name for a little bit of a playoffs. When I read that business eated. I know, if you've got a fun name and you're not doing this digital

product side Hustle, get on it and assets. There's too much money out there for y'all to be making and you know, just start. I think sometimes two we want to go from Mike Zero to twenty thousand a month so fast, and it's okay to just have that first hundred dollar day, that first five hundred dollar day. You know. That's why I always share that story because it really

was an eye opener. If you can make a hundred dollars in a day, you can make two hundred, then you can make a thousand, then you can make three thousand. You know, it is a climb. Don't worry about going from zero to ten thousand. Go from zero to a hundred and then just do that ten more times and then another ten more times and before you know it you gotta started for Your Business. Yes, Sally, thanks for the motivation and actual tangible tips. It's been so chatting

with you. Yes, that is the blueprint. I think I can't say it any more clearly than that. It is not a guarantee for success, but you just you won't get rich replicating somebody else's aroduct or method. And we say the same thing about personal finance. It's likely you won't succeed if you're just, word for word, following somebody else's definition of success. So I just I love that she made it you know, it's not easy, but it is attainable to do something like this. I'm thrilled to that.

It felt as though ellie organically addressed a lot of the barriers that would keep someone from entering into this, whether it's lack of digital know how or feeling as though you don't have much to offer, or wondering if there's room for you on the Internet and in this space. I think she addressed each one of those things throughout this interview, that you don't have to have some certain type of degree to do this, if you have experience and know how and something to offer, at least to

the person whom be five ten steps behind you. And yes, there's room for you on the Internet and yes, you can hire out the things that you don't know how to do and yes, there's resources. Even if you don't want to hire a person, there are templates online that can be useful. So I just I think for me it was one of those like like almost like a whack of all, like what about this? What about this?

What about this? And then it's just like here, here, here, here, here, here, and this might not be for everyone, which I think is why we're talking about series of side hustles. But if this in any way piques your interest, then my goodness, Ellie is a wealth of knowledge, absolutely and thank you so much for listening. I hope you got a lot out of this. Many of them. You know, we have a private community where we help people on their financial

journey by doing monthly challenges. We offer accountability groups monthly lessons. So we want to congratulate one of our members in there for a big win. And this was during our decluttering challenge, Katherine P said, decluttering as a minimalist. Originally I was not going to participate in this challenge. I began my decluttering and minimalism journey in and I currently

live a very minimal life. I decided to go ahead and do a pass through my belongings and get rid of items I haven't used a while and items I had an excess of, and I was able to find thirty items to donate or trash as appropriate. Well done, Catherine. That's amazing and I can so resonate. I feel as though, Oh, yes, I'm minimal, I don't, I don't need to participate in decluttering, only to realize life still happens and we do accumulate, even if we feel quite vigilant in where we've come

to at this point in our journey. So I just so appreciate the humility in saying, you know what, let me give myself to this practice and see what I find and learn. And you did. You found things that you could give away or get rid of and continued to edit the lifestyle that you've built already. Well done, Catherine. Yes, so, thank you for listening. If you want to check out our monthly challenge community, head to Frugal Friends PODCAST DOT com slash club to see what challenge we have coming

up next. See you next time. Frugal friends is produced by Eric Sirianni. Oh, Dream Side hustles. It's funny that we all have these side hustles that well, I have dreams of vacation. You have dreams of vacationing, but, like, what does it say about me? My dreams are actually

of working. Nobody is surprised. Well, I mean it does have to do with, like, your desire for connection, and I think some of that question is what else lives inside of you, because I don't think either one of us have arrived or that we're not going to make future pivots or changes or do other things in life. So I think it is good to always be considering what else out there excites me. What could I see setting my hands to in the future? And clearly I

guess I'm just tired. I could see myself sipping wine in a flower field, just tired. That's what I set my sights on. I did I did mention that Ellie inspired me maybe to do more on social media. It is the bane of both of our existences. I think it's very as a writer, it's very hard for me to answer a question in less than sixty seconds. As a podcaster with an hour long podcast, it's hard for me to answer a question in less than seconds. Yeah, for me it just feels like doing the dog and

pony show. Maybe I need to dissect that a little bit more in my own internal processing, but just as like what's a dog and pony show? You know, just like do the thing, do the dance, like a puppeteering kind of thing. You know, like, Oh yeah, you gotta pull out the dog and the Pony and prance some in front of everybody and let him rate the dog and Pony at the dog and pony show. We're not going to ever have a dog or pony in any of our social media videos. You can just get that

out of your head right now. Yeah, no dogs or ponies here, just puppies and grown horses that we're not prancing in front of you. We're not going to prance. Nope, I don't prance. I'M NOT gonna put ribbons on or glitter. I'M NOT gonna play music. We're gonna sit down, we're gonna look you in the eye, we're going to answer your question. The video is going to cut us off because it's gonna take us longer than sixty seconds and you're going to be annoyed and you're going to maybe

we won't, for I'm not saying you'RE gonna lie. What I'm saying you're gonna live with it. You'RE gonna you don't even have to accept it. That's just how it's gonna be. Ye, we'll see. If you want to see more, tell us what you want to see from us. Yeah, you me. I could do it if you wanted it from someone's asking for this. Yeah, if you do, you tell me how you want me to wear the ribbon and how you want Jill to throw the glitter, and then maybe we'll do it. Then maybe we'll prance around. Yeah,

I'm not prancing. Okay, skipping then