Creating a Dope Side Hustle #035

What do you think do I'll get the blood flowing. I'd like it all right done. Next next podcast, we'll start off that way. I also wonder too, if we recorded earlier, if that would if we would seem more alert, you know, like in the morning. Do you do you think better earlier in the morning. Yeah. But the tough thing is, man would drink a beer. We have to go into work or do something the rest of the

day and be productive. And you know, any time you drink a beer before noon, it's just gonna throw your whole day off. And in America it is definitely frowned upon to drink before noon. Uh. So I want to tell you one little life hack I did this week that for me has been really helpful and larded from our friend Andrew, and he keeps his phone on the gray scale mode, and so I just gave that a try.

I switched my phone over in the settings to gray scale mode, so my it looks like a black and white photograph essentially, And uh, for me, it's actually made my phone a lot less visually appealing, which means I want to look at it less. And so it's been really helpful. I don't want to look at Facebook or Instagram or any of that stuff nearly as much, just

because it's not nearly as advertising. It's so I'm using my my phone in a little more utilitarian way as opposed to just kind of like binging out on stuff. It's been really nice to not care about my phone nearly as much. Yeah, I've tried that, and you know, I kind of went back to color because I like

the colors. I think I am curious to know how much time I am actually spending, you know, on my phone on certain apps, in particular Instagram, because with photography I'm on their a bunch from with my company and doing things like that. But I tried it out maybe last year, I think, and yeah, I just switched back. I can't remember a specific reason. I think I just

I was just kind of sick of it. Well, I think for listeners out there who feel like they're on their phone too much, it's worth at least given it a shot, right going to your settings, try the great scale mode. Uh. We have a friend, Matt, that we just ran into random the other day at a brewery because that's where we run with our friends. And he had switched a flip phone. But apparently flip phones have gotten really expensive and he dropped like a hundred dollars

on his flip phone, which I'm not an advocate of. Yeah, we weren't cool with that, but uh, yeah, so he switched to flip phone. And the odd thing was, he said it wasn't necessarily because he was on his phone too much, but he decided to switch anyway. I guess it was gonna save it money on his service, which doesn't make sense to me anyway, because there are a lot of really really cheap cell phone services out there.

But I love that idea though part part of me, you know, part of me has wanted to go back to kind of the pre smartphone days just because I feel get sucked up so much of my life right and my attention, and so this gray scaling thing for me is kind of like that happy medium, Right, I'm not going back to that flip phone where I can't you know, access some of the articles I want to read or or whatever it may be, or you know, a post a picture that my family and friends can

can check out of my kids, or the fun weekend that we had or something like that. But it does like help me put it down more and just not be as interested in the gadget altogether, which yeah, for me, is a really really good thing. Yeah, I think I remember.

One of the biggest things about that being was that the notification colors didn't pop up, you know, and so you don't really see the little red dot, at least on the iPhones that I don't know what color it shows up on yours, probably like purple or something like that.

But like the notification, you know, whether it's it's like, oh, you've got one new email or you know, five new years or whatever, and so it doesn't sort of stand out because that's sort of, uh, the sort of red alert look, and you're like, oh, I gotta answer that, or I gotta I gotta check that if you see it on your home screen, I do remember that not nearly fee feeling the urgency to sort of check something in particular text. So I yeah, i'd recommend that to folks.

Give it a shot. See if it maybe makes a difference for you, if if you're like me, where I feel like I'm even really conscious of it, Like it's something that I try to be thoughtful about, and even still I feel like I'm on my phone too much and and so you know, there are a lot of people that just mindlessly do it and aren't even thinking about it. Um, and I'm trying to be conscious of it. But this is helping me actually do something about that consciousness and put it down a little bit more so.

Um yeah, gray scale on your phone in your settings. Check that out. Uh, Matt, Let's get to the beer that we're drinking today. Yeah, man, that's right. Today we are drinking Tears of My Enemies. And this is a beer by Monday Night Brewing. This is an Imperial Milk Stout aged and Scotch barrels. So this is our second beer from Monday Night Boom. It's gonna be so good.

They're the second return brewery, and I think we've mentioned a couple of times on the show that they're one of our favorite breweries in our state and locally they're just super awesome. And I'm really pumped about this because Matt, you and I both really like Scotch Scotch Scotch Scotch, and it's really hard to find a beer agent in Scotch barrels and this is and so I'm really excited to have it tonight. Yeah, and this beer specifically was donated to us by the guys over there Monday Night.

And aside from that, we've had the bourbon barrel aged version of this. I don't know if you remember, but it was fantastic. So this one is I think it's set to be even better. But I wanted to mention that, so thank you guys for donating this beer to the show. We really appreciate it. And this bottle actually has this artwork. I guess it's watercolor. I'm not sure, but there's super cool. It definitely seems like it's hamp painted. I guess you

can't tell if it's necessarily water color. But yeah, the artwork that they've been putting on the labels is really cool and they all involve like woodland creatures and yeah, for the most part, yeah, there's just super neat um. Okay, So, by the way you pour this beer, it pours like a really nice shade of black with like a brown lacing at the top. And I had a question for you. It's fantastic. The name of this beer is Tears of My Enemies. So let's say that this be actually was

like the physical tears of your enemy. Matt who whose tears would you be drinking tonight? I'll do I I got a naswer for you. Is it possible for a

bank to cry? Because I recently found out. I was talking to my mother in law, Kate's mom, and we were talking about banks for some reason, because she was talking to me, probably, and she was recounting the story how they switched to a local bank last year, a couple of years ago, because they'd had some issues, some fraud on their Wells Fargo accounts, specifically before I know and specifically UH fives had left their checking account and been transferred to a new account that they didn't open,

but that was open in their name and the money was sitting there, and so they had gone in and wrath trying to figure out why this account had been opened, and the people were not helpful at all. She said, they just kind of we're looking at her. And it took them two or three hours in the middle of a work day that my father in law how to not be at work while they tried to figure this

situation out. And I told her, you're you were a victim, Like that's why Wells Fargo was in the news and that's why they had gotten fined, was because they got caught opening all those fraudulent accounts in order to hit the quotas right. And so the branch managers were basically pressuring the that what the tellers to meet the quotas to to get the new accounts opened, and they all but said, open up fake accounts behind people's backs exactly

because that's your job now. And I had no clue that they were one of the victims of that terrible behavior that that Wells Fargo is doing. So specifically, let's drink to you want to drink to well well Wells Fargo teers. We're gonna say these are the Tears of Wells Fargo of this beer from Monday Night, and maybe they'll come out with a you know, another different barrel aged version of this that's literally called Tears of Wells Fargo. Maybe i'd be awesome. All right, we'll see what we

can do on that tears. Man. Before I sip at, I can smell that chocolate, vanilla chocolate. Definitely get the vanilla, the chocolate. The coffee is a little little reserved on this one. It's there in the back, but it's almost like a clove. It's almost got like this sort of warming like interspice to it. The coffee. It almost tastes like their cinnamon in there. Yeah, yeah, like cinnamon. I don't know if there is, but we taste like that. I dig it though It's not what I was expecting,

but man, this is delicious. And I'm getting just like a touch of that p D Scotch, but not not a ton. It's like just kind of they're like underlaying everything. So I kind of don't like it as much maybe as the bourbon barrel aged version. But the you know me, man,

I like I like my Scotch. So this is fantastic. Yeah, I think if anything like a little more time and some Scotch barrels, because I love like when Scotch comes through majorly in a beer, and and like we said, it so rarely happens that you get a Scotch barrel aged beer. So I get I think maybe leaving this beer in the Scotch barrels a little bit longer. We

kind of do it well. But man, it's delicious and the base beer in particular is so good um on this one that I mean, there's just another home run for Monday night. I feel like, yeah, thank you guys for donating this beer. All right, Matt, let's start talking about creating a dope side hustle. Yeah, you wanna get into it, let's do it. So there are a couple of problems, Matt, that I think the side hustle actually really is the solution for. And the first problem is

that people want to make more money. And in a time where we've seen wage growth stagnation, workers wanting to make more and they just can't seem to make enough to get ahead. You know, I think a side gig is one of those perfect solutions. For people in that boat. Yeah, man, absolutely, you know, unemployment rates are crazy lower right now, which is awesome, But over the past even decades, like the real wage growth has been pretty flat and it's been stagnant.

And and yeah, like you said, folks aren't able to really get ahead, and side gigs are the answer. Yeah, And another problem is that a lot of people lack the necessary skills in order to get increased pay. So right now there's a skills gap, especially for some of the skills that the millennials are bringing in. The people in the in the workforce that are a little bit older, maybe they don't have some of those skills that they need.

For instance, let's say video editing or writing, you know, some of these skills that are coming back in content creation that are important. A lot of older workers or middle aged workers, or even young workers that just are just not quite as a depth as some of the young millennial workers at at some of those ski els. And so a side gig can kind of help you figure out ways to increase your skills that are sorely

lacking for you right now in today's job market. Yeah, and especially if you're looking to kind of take that side gig and replace your nine to five and sort of transforming your side gig into your main gig. I mean, you can't beat a side gig to act as sort of this financial bridge to kind of get you there. Um, you get to sort of try out the waters a little bit while you still have a full time gig.

And it's a great way to sort of figure out a new profession, a new position, something that you may not be completely comfortable and willing to go in, you know, head first and quit your job. It's a good way to just transition to it. I think it's great. All right, So we know the problems and let's talk about the solutions. How a side hustle can actually go about serving you, helping you develop those skills, helping you get to that

point where you're able to make more money. Uh. And so one of the things I want to mention is in our country, kind of in our culture, a lot of the wealth ultimately ends up flowing to owners and creators in our society, and so having a side hustle, it provides you with a lot of skills, but it also gives you this ownership of something and you become a creator in a way. With many of these side

hustles that we're going to talk about. And that doesn't necessarily mean you're gonna start a business, you know, based on that side hustle next year, you know, but it gives you all these options. And there are a lot more options in our society for people that own a business or that creates something interesting and unique, and I just think that's a really good thing for people to

aim for. Yeah, man, that's right. I mean, and just like you said, like it doesn't necessarily mean that someone's going to become like a business owner, but it gives you that option, right, Like you said, we're gonna cover some some side gigs, some side hustles that for some folks, they don't want to pursue being a business owner, you know, a small business owner, or have that become their sort of full time job. You know, they might just be

wanting to make some extra bucks. You know, say they got an accident and they're just like, well, I want to fix my car and I don't have the cash on hand. Where I was just actually thinking about this, we're talking about phones earlier, my phone still busted. I don't have the money that aside for getting a new one. So I'm just kind of limping along and little chunks of glass are falling out on my screen. And eventually, though, I'm gonna have to sit aside enough money to get that.

You know, if you have a side gig, that's a good way to sort of supplement some of those maybe some of those unforeseen things that you thought might come a year later. I thought I might replace my phone, but in fact it's here now. But we're gonna cover I guess more of those details, the difference between one that you could sort of pursue as a long term business and a long term goal that you want to pursue, versus one that is more sort of like a current

money maker. But yeah, so some pros man side hustles autonomy. You have flexibility and a lot of times you get to enjoy what you do when you have a side hustle, you know, like you don't necessarily go and try to pursue something that you don't really enjoy doing. For a lot of people, that's the nine to five, So why would they also do that on the side. Yeah, and something that you don't enjoy doing would kind of be

more like a second job. Right in my and I think that's kind of the distinction that we want to make because you know, side hustle become this popular term, you know, over the last you know, a decade or five years or whatever it is, and there's a kind of some backlash to this term because some people say, what a side hustle, that's just a second job, right, And ultimately, I think Matt and I would say, there's something different in the distinction between getting a second job

to make more income, right to cover basic needs, or to let's say you have a goal in mind to pay down debt in twelve months or eighteen months or something like that, getting a second job to make more money to pay for that goal. That's a great idea, that's completely fine. But a side hustle to me, I think to us, it means a lot more than just that just to make some money. You're working for the man, driving for lift, whatever it is, you know, in order

to cruise some additional funds to pay down something. A side hustle is exercising some of the unique talents that you have, or exploring something that you're interested in right now that could build on itself and turn into something more important for you. You know, in the long term. So so I think that's the big distinction we want to make that first second job in the side hustle exactly a versus just say, kind of going in and sort of punching the clock and sort of being a cog.

A second job can sort of be like that. You're just not giving it much thought. It's not something you're

you're mentally or emotionally pursuing. You're you're showing up, You're doing the deed, uh, and you're getting paid and you know, and like you said, that's great if you're trying to pay off some debt, especially if you're trying to pay off some debt, or if you have a short term financial goal that you're trying trying to to achieve, if it's something sort of long term, man, there's better ways to approach a side gig in a side hustle, And

that's what we're gonna talk about. Yeah, and another pro is that you know, by having a side hustle like this, you can diversify your your income. It's becoming more and more rare that somebody just has a single source of income. They just get their their check every two weeks. They've only got one employer and they've had the employer for ten twenty years. That's just not the way things are

going in this in our current labor market. I know, our peers aren't only changing actual jobs every few years. They're even considering changing careers every you know, every several years. And so our current generation isn't really subscribing to the model of sticking with an employer and writing that out in the same way that they're not only counting on

that one employer for their full income. Yes, so it's really nice to be able to have like a little bit of side income right when you are considering changing jobs, when you're maybe ready to jump ship to another employer or to another industry altogether, it's kind of nice to have some supplemental income from something you do on the side, and a side hustle can definitely pay off in that regard.

Some of the cons though of a side hustle, if it's your only thing, right, it can be an unpredictable income. Depending on you know what phase where you're at in the development of your side hustle, you might be making nothing. You might actually be spending a little bit bit of money in the beginning in order to kind of get that thing up and running. Man, you might be in the red, that's right. So it also doesn't have benefits like retirement contribution matching in health insurance that you get

from a traditional employer. Side hustles can also take up some time with family and friends, and that can be difficult when you're trying to get started and you're still working. You're on role forty plus hour a week job, right, but you're trying to get this side side hustle started. Well, if you've got kids and family and stuff like that, it can really kind of take away from the time

you're able to spend there. So you have to really be thoughtful about how you're doing it, how you're going about it, and what you're taking away from in your normal life. Because, like Matt and I talked about, we want you to live a rich to life now, like

life is not all about work. And so if you are working your day job and then maximizing your time at night to to make this side hustle happen, well, that might be okay if you're young and you don't have a family, but but if you're missing out on obligations that are really important and meaningful to you and why you're doing it. That could lead to some real hardships and and a lot of resentment of that side hustle. Dude, you know what the solution is, just to start a

side hustle with your best friend. Yeah, so I gotta I gotta figure that out. Who would you do it with? Then let's let's little wonder But for real, I mean, that's one of the things that we are enjoying with doing this podcast. We're getting a little meta here, but being able to have somebody that we can kind to bounce ideas off of and enjoy a beer while we talk about money, you know, our favorite things, makes it

all that much better. So I completely agree. I would I would tell people to do something like a side hustle is the perfect thing to do with your best friend if you have a similar interest. You guys might both see a need in the market somewhere or something that you're both into at the same time. You can kind of pursue that interest in a way. Whatever your interest is together, or your wife or your husband, whatever that interest is that you share in common. It's kind

of fun. Even if it fails right and doesn't make you any money. It's fun and you learn something and hopefully you have fun together with that person while you're doing it. We're having a terrible tie right now, but you know, I still think it's a good idea that we do this. It's terrible, I'm joking. Obviously, do you

think you can start a business with Emily? I mean, obviously you guys work well as a family team, you know, but yeah, as far as business, do you think you guys kind of complement each other pretty well from a

business standpoint, you know, we kind of do. I feel like with the rental income, and she is actually the perfect balance to me when it comes to that because with with the rental homes, because I am kind of better at responding to the tenants, getting out there and and fixing what needs to be fixed and talking to potential contractors. And she's perfect at making the deposits at the bank exactly, running the books, all that kind of stuff. I just kind of center the documentation, and she keeps

the spreadsheets. I wouldn't know how to keep a spreadsheet or make a spreadsheet to save my life, so so she does that for us. So we kind of already have that side gig to working together. Another suggestion is don't see or view your side hustle specifically only as a second job, but instead look at it as a business and then actually treat it like a business. It's not sort of like this hobby, and it's not this thing that you're just kind of checking into, like think

of it. Go into it with the mindset that this is whatever it is that you're doing. You knows, say you're just cutting lawns, this is your law company. Don't don't see it as just a way to kind of make a buck. If you go into it with the mindset of I'm a business owner, now how can I grow my business? Certainly you'll and more ownership in it. You'll you'll be more creative, and you'll work harder, and I think in the end you also just do a

better job at whatever it is that you're doing. Yeah, So try to get into something that is potentially scalable and the business that you could own, and the cool thing is building that business will teach you a lot and we'll give you more ownership. Right if you're treating it like a business as opposed to treating it like a way to make a few extra dollars. So if you go drive for Uber left to you know, make some extra bucks, like we talked about, to pay down

a debt. That's totally cool to get a second job to do something like that, but it's not the same as creating a side gig where you are using your talents or something that you're interested in to actually build something for the long term. And so Matt a mutual friend of ours, Gary, he has an awesome example of creating a side gig that turned into his full time job. Yeah. So Gary started walking dogs and random straight dogs, right, yeah, just you you'd see dog and said you need to walk.

But he started walking dogs and started creating a business like neighborhood dog walking, right, and anybody who they're work and they can't walk their dog during the lunch break, or people that were out of town, right exactly, and it will it expanded to that, And so folks were out of town and he would meet up and he would figure out exactly how they did things. You know, I've used them multiple times and it turned into a

full fledged business man. Him and his wife originally were the old ones that were walking, but then it expanded to having multiple employees, and to be honest, I haven't talked him in a minute, but I don't know if he even walks any dogs anymore. He just handles the business and has employees on board. They're freaking crushing it. They're doing an awesome job in Atlanta. Woa Doggie is

the name of his company. And that's the perfect example of something that could be seen, certainly right as just showing up. I'm just gonna do this, make a buck, and I'm gonna be done with it. I don't really care about the dog, don't really care about the clients. I guess the clients are the dogs. No, they're not paying that, they're not paying the fee. So, but he took it a step further. You know, he went into it with that mentality of like, I could do this,

How can I take this to the next level? How can I turn this into an actual business? And so he treated it like a legitimate business. And when he started treating it like an actual business and responding to people's texts and calls and emails in a timely fashion and started doing an awesome job, well, the word got around him. Before you know it, everybody in the city wants him or wants his company to walk their dogs. I love that example though, because oftentimes you hear walking

dogs is something that a middle schooler can do. Literally, we've had middle schooler show upon our at our at our door, knocking, just asking. It's like, do you have a dog to walk? I'm like, no, you're not gonna just like show up and like walk my dog. I don't know you. I don't Seriously, I don't know these kids, but they do it, and I kind of like that

they got gumption, right. But I say that because it's something that anybody can do, but it's not everybody will take it to the next level and treat it like an actual business. Gary has and he's reaping the rewards from it. Yeah. I think that's a great example. So Gary built something right where he saw a need and he saw a place like where he could kind of fill that need, and he started off slow, but then turn it into something that became ultimately his full time profession.

And then he's backed away from and other people are walking the dogs now, and I think that's so cool. Another thing I want to mention, Matt, so look at your side hustle to develop skills and potential resume material.

So in the current world in which we work, some of those side gigs that you're doing, whether it's creating a podcast, writing a blog, developing those writing skills, taking photos and creating like a photo blog, you know, whatever it is, those sorts of skills can be so useful in our day and age, to a business, to the place where you currently work. And so I'll just kind of talk about something that I did for a little bit.

I started a blog like six years ago, and it was just to kind of get my thoughts out about money and finance and how I handle money and how I live life. And it really helped my writing skills. But in the same time, I learned a lot about search engine optimization, which then became helpful to my employer. And I learned a lot about starting a WordPress website, which also became helpful to my employer. So I wasn't doing something that was detracting from my day job. I

was learning a lot of things. The writing skills, search engine optimization, WordPress website development. I learned about all those things, and then those those things that I then had a lot of knowledge about, I was able to translate into helping my employer asked for a new position, which came with more money, and so it was basically because of that side hustle, I learned a lot in self development, but I also learned a lot that was able to help me at my day job. Yeah. Man, that's awesome.

I love that. Yeah, and it makes me think of back when I used to work for the advertising agency I used to work for. Nobody knew how to do video, and my boss kind of came to me and say, hey, do you know how to sort of set up multiple cameras and sort of put together an interview? And no was the answer here, But I said I could figure it out though, and I needed after watching some tutorials online and setting things up. That was something that our agency was able to offer a because I felt equipped

and sort of empowered by my boss. But then it was, yeah, something I learned on my own. It was something I was able to bring to the table to the agency and something that I still can sort of put to use now I haven't, but yeah, it's sort of something a little skill I got in my back pocket, you know. Yeah, it's really cool to think when your employer comes and ask you, hey, do you know how to do this or do you know someone that knows how to do it?

Developing ing, Yeah, like take a huge opportunity. Think of that as an opportunity, not as like, oh, that's not my thing. But if you can take that as an opportunity to learn a new skill and provide something for your employer, you're developing yourself at the same time, and you're making yourself more invaluable, which can oftentimes lead to another position or more pay in the job that you're

currently at, which is awesome. I love that awesome. We're gonna talk about some specific examples of some side hustles and side gigs that you can do, but first we're gonna take a quick break alright, mat back to the topic at hand and creating a dope side hustle. And we said before the break that we're going to give examples, so let's do that. There are some easy things you can do, right, You mentioned lawnmowing at one point, pressure washing.

There are all these like little things that you can do. You can learn a quick skill and build a business surrounding that one skill. Yes, pressure washing specifically, I remember you've mentioned that before, and that's something that you did back in the day, right, So it was something I did, but that was actually for me the way I classified things, that was the second job. So you were just punching

the clock earning a buck, yeah exactly. So that was like an hourly wage or a per house that I got the pressure wash like, I made a flat fee whatever it was. But what if you had purchased your own pressure washer. That was the thing too. Yeah I thought about that at some point, but ultimately that wasn't what I wanted to do. I wasn't passionate about it. I didn't care. Yeah, I think pressure washing sucks. Yeah, it sucks. I didn't enjoy it. For me, it was

everything everything. Yeah, for me, it was literally just a second job. I wanted to work in radio, and so I had to do something you know before before radio every day so I could actually make ends meet, And so pressure Washington was in. It was like the highest wage I can make at that point in my life. And so I did it for a year, um, while I was working in the job that I really loved. But that is a perfect example, right that I could have done this and learned the skill and then translated

it into my own business. So I think there's value to learning a specific skill while working for someone else and then kind of translating that into your own business. Yeah, and what's so great about those examples to like even clean this one's house, Like, these are things that anybody can do. It doesn't take a specialized skill, It doesn't require really any special equipment, I guess except for a

pressure washing machine. You can even show up with a sponge and a bucket from lows or maybe when you find on the side of the road with some dish soap and start showing up in houses and washing cars. You don't even have to bring your own water. You just use their hose and there are all your expenses. To me, that doesn't require anything. And you really could create your own business surrounding that model, start hiring other

people to do it. Granted, these are very very simple sort of models, but it's as easy or it can be as easy as that, and they can scale these these businesses exactly. So you can take this car washing business if you have an entrepreneurial mindset, and you can go gung hole on this business and ultimately you can turn it into your full time gig by hiring other people out and scaling it, and all it really takes is learning how to do something well and then work

in your butt off and finding the customer right. And so you can do that with kind of these basic things. So one thing we wanted to mention to be wary of some of these app and platform based gigs, right like Lift and Uber, like those bird scooters, Amazon Flex. These are still gigs that require you to be a cog in that big machine, working for the man, right, and it doesn't lead to anything bigger. There's no potential job independence when you work in this way, it's not

really sustainable. These might be fine as a second job, right, like we talked about, but they're not really what we're talking about when it comes to a side hustle. We're trying to talk about something that scales, or finding a passion that you have or something that you are really good at and want to develop on the side. That's the kind of side hustle that we're talking about, not

just working more hours at another job to make a buck. Yeah. Man, A lot of those sort of apps and jobs are considered part of the sharing economy and the gig economy. They're there are things that you just sort of show up to. It doesn't require much thought. People like them because they're easy. And again we talked about this earlier. But if you just want to make a buck, then sure that's something that you can you can sign up for. You can start catching birds, charging, charging the scooters at

your house. It's an easy way to do something. It requires very little commitment, it requires very little brain space and creativity that does serve a purpose. You know that that there's a spot for that for folks that are just thinking, you know what, I'm not looking to create something completely new. I don't have the mental capacity or the bandwidth for that right now. That's maybe the only time that that sort of job might be good for

those folks. When I hear folks that say, oh, I want to be a full time I want to be a career lift driver, that's not what you want to do, trust me, because eventually robots are gonna be driving those cars. Or even as an individual, even though you might have a fantastic uber driver's score, you're still beholden to that company. And if they start saying, oh, well, you're gonna start

making this much less every day, I don't. I don't even know how they get paid, but whatever the percentages, say Uber wants to start taking a bigger cut, they can't say anything. There's no union, there's no agreement that says that you can negotiate. Like Joel said, you're just a small cog in this sort of giant machine and there's not a whole lot that you can do. That being said, there's side hustles and side gigs that are app based or you know, platform based that could lead

to something bigger. These are sites like Etsy or wags Wags, a dog walking service, and you might think, well, no, that's not going to lead to something longer. But if you know, if you can try out dog walking through this app and then think, wait a minute, this is something I kind of want to do. I really love animals, I love getting exercise, I love being outside. Well, shoot,

why not? You can start your own business. And that's a great way to say, try out a new sort of PSI a gig, and the same thing with task grab it and you to me. These are sort of frameworks that you can get involved with. Right you can become a task grab it guy where you're maybe really handy and you're really good hanging up picture frames or something, or you're a teacher and you want to put an

online course out there through the site. You to me, well, you can try that out, and if that goes really well, and you know you might want to your own individual thing, well, you you feel empowered and you feel prepared maybe to have sort of gotten through that initial phase of is this going to be something I'm going to enjoy? And then at that point, all right, time to think of a name. What am I gonna call this dog walking service? All right, I'm gonna post online courses on how to program?

What am I going to call it? That's when you start getting to that sort of creative energy and and that's when it can lead to something bigger beyond just that specific job. And that's what Yeah, that's what we love so much. Yeah, it can take on your personality and the things that you know you care about, and so your customer gets to know you. It's not then this generic service that they're booking something through their booking you, right, and your ideas and your energy. And that's really cool

about what you can do with a side hustle. And so also if you have a specialized skill, you can freelance with that skill. Right, consider a site like upwork. It's great for digital gigs where all you need is a laptop like website development, design or writing. So if you have a specialized knowledge, a great side hustle for you is to write about it or use it in service of other companies through a site like up work. That's right, man. And another option is to dream up

your own side hustle. It doesn't have to be something that already exists, or where there's like an existing platform for walking dogs. You can decide, oh, I'm gonna start my own composting company. I saw that recently driving up the street, this big old truck, and I don't exactly know how it works, but it said something about composting, and I've never heard of that before. You know, this is a brand new industry, and evidently it seems that people are wanting it. I don't exactly again, I don't

know how it works. Maybe i'll look it up, but yeah, think of something that appeals to you. You know, this might be the hardest option out there, but it could potentially be the most rewarding, both financially and emotionally. Um, you can find it super fulfilling, and so you know, things like starting a podcast. This isn't like the easiest thing to do, and we're not making money yet, but hopefully maybe someday we will. And the same thing though

with airbnb and house hacking. It takes a lot of money to get that first house where you put down and you're gonna consider renting out one of the rooms on Airbnb, but that could be something that could really pay off in the long run. The same thing with blogging, right, So, I mean, so you started that blog a while back, did you immediately start seeing were you raking the money in? No? And actually, that's the thing too about blogging is it

takes years to really make any money from it. Uh. And We've got a friend right now that just started a blog and it's awesome. I really like what he's doing, but I just kind of told him up front, Hey, it's gonna be a while until you make any money off of this. So his blog is called you Can Man. He's a photographer. He takes great pictures, and he's like super handy, so he wants to help people figure out how they can do some d I y projects around their own house. So yeah, I love his site and

I love kind of what blogs can be. But the thing is it's gonna be great for your skill development and then only in the long term will it potentially actually make you money. And it's gonna take a lot of dedication for those first couple of years before you

kind of start seeing the fruit of your labors. So that's why I think side gigs are something that you actually probably need to think about long and hard before you jump in, because it might be something that's gonna be a labor of love for a long time before you actually start, you know, making it into a more of a potential full time thing. Yeah. Man, I think that is some great advice. Next, we're gonna talk about some practical tips and pointers, but first let's take a

quick break. Okay, Joel, we're back now and we're gonna talk about what to do next. So here is how to find the right side gig for you. Uh. The first thing you're gonna want to do is get inspiration from the things that you love. This might take some brainstorm and hopefully it's fairly obvious to you, but it may not be. But think about what you have a passion for right figure out a way to create some income, figure out how to generate income and how to create

value out of something that you love to do. Uh. For for those who want to pay for that, that is going to be one of the easiest ways to kind of constantly push yourself to do it because it's something that you already love to do. Hopefully it doesn't sort of smother the fire and smother that passion that you have. But as long as you're having fun with it, man, I think that's the perfect way to kind of blend

your natural talents with also a way to make some income. Alright, So another thing, get vision from what you already do. If you're a teacher, don't try and be a mechanic unless that's randomly your passion on the side and you love, you know, fixing your friends cars on Saturdays and Sundays. Instead, think about maybe writing and putting that expertise to use.

You know, my father in law was talking about starting a podcast because he teaches psychology, ap psychology and high school and so yeah, I think that'd be so interesting. People would love to hear his thoughts on what he's teaching. That's awesome, and people love to use Podcasting is another way to learn. So think about that instead, look to your unique experiences, skills, and knowledge that could naturally align with the way that you're seeing people make money out

there in the world. You know what this makes me think of as the episode You've got to invest in what you know competencies exactly. Yeah, find your core competencies, right, like we talked about that was that was the that was the key word competencease. Yes, So just like we talked about in that episode, use those competencies that you have developed well over the years and find a way

to make some income on the side. Thirdly, you want to look for an opportunity in a market where you could provide a service or product that doesn't yet exist. I think a lot of times opportunists or something it gets a bad rap right where someone's like, oh, you're taking advantage of a situation, or oh, you're just an opportunist. I don't know if that should be the case, because essentially,

what you're seeing is a need. You're seeing somewhere in a market where that's something can be provided where there's not currently a good product. Right. So specifically, I'm thinking of, you know, over ten years ago, when Kate and I started our wedding photography company. We were looking for a specific type of photographer when we were getting married, and we just weren't seeing it. We weren't seeing we couldn't find an affordable photographer who was approaching wedding photography with

a photojournalistic approach. And we saw what we saw a need and so we thought, you know what, this is something that we could do. Literally, we could do it. We know we could take pictures. Kate, now, we're both uh enjoyed photography, and so we just tried it out. And for us, it was a side gig that quickly became our main gig. It's something we did, you know, all nights and weekends for a few months, but before we know it, man, it took off and it was

something that we were able to pursue. And it's been my full time job now for ten years. And that was only something I was able to do because we were able to see that there is a need. We were able to see that there is an opportunity, and we, you know, we jumped on it. We pounced. Yes, So you've gotta be willing to pounce when you see that need. And the other thing, don't be afraid to just try

it out. Don't worry about the possibility of failing. You're going to fail on this small scale and you'll learn a lot about failing on a small scale and sometimes doing it wrong the first time can be that best way to learn. You might not realize that you enjoy writing until you do it, and starting small can allow any of the mistakes that you make to also be small. It doesn't matter if you make a mistake in your

side hustle, right, because ultimately it's about learning. It's about putting your skills to the test, and it's about kind of finding that thing that you truly are passionate about that you can all really grow into something bigger over time. All right, man, let's uh, let's get back to this beer. So Tears of My Enemies. So you mentioned that we saw we ran across a friend who was over at a brewery. This is we're actually at Monday night over

on the West Side. We're at the Monday Night garage and that's where we saw Stephen with his uh with his uber hipster flip phone, hundred dollar flip phone. Sorry Stephen, frugal fail. Yeah, but tears of my enemies, man, this was delicious. It's an Imperial milk stout aged in Scotch barrels with chocolate coffee in vanilla. Uh and that was awesome. I'm done with mine. It was really tasty. Oh you beat me to it. That's why I roll guzzling those milkstouts.

And thanks again with the fellows at Monday night for providing this beer. All right, man, let's give our quick final thoughts. So again, I just want to reiterate the difference between the side hustle and the second job, and I think it's really important. If you're thinking about starting a dope side hustle, you don't want to be thinking of it as the second job where you're going somewhere to work to make a little bit of extra money to pay for your lifestyle or to try to reach

your financial goals sooner, right. You want to think about a side hustle as either developing skills for your resume at your current employer that you are interested in learning, or to help you create a new income stream that can ultimately lead to becoming a full time gig for you, or at least something that's a fun money maker on the side. Yeah, man, that's right. So a good side gig can be, like you said, anything that you're having

fun with that you are making a buck. But like you said, a better side gig, a better side hustle is something that's scalable. And what we mean by that is that it doesn't require you necessarily to be there in order to make that money. Right, and so if you're driving for Uber or Lift, or if you're slinging packages with Amazon flex, uh, these are things that require you to be there and you're beholding to that specific company.

What you want to consider our some jobs, some side hustles where you can sort of run with it, and ultimately something where you don't necessarily have to be there. What would be ideal is if you had to a job like like we talked about with Gary, is something that he started, He kind of figured it out, he laid the groundwork for it, and now he's got employees.

He's got great folks that have come on board, and now they're the ones that are walking the pets and and he I think he still handles a lot of the business aspects of it, but he's able to pursue other things that he enjoys now like partying in Cabo because he makes that whoa doggy money. Now he actually is getting into a photography he I mean, he does amazing architectural photography now, which is super cool. And yeah, and that's probably another like side gig that he's interested

in exactly exactly. It takes me back to my roots. Maybe he's gonna expand it beyond what I've even done, and he's gonna have a whole stable of photographers that shoots for him. So yeah, that's a great way to think about it. You want to pursue side gigs that are something that might lead to something bigger that can lead to employment independence and ultimately financial independence. You know, a reason that we talked about this is because we want you guys to have options and these are things

that we're pursuing. And so try to avoid pigeonholing yourself in a sort of a dead end job that always requires you to be the one making the money. Yeah, and another thing, as side hustle can take a little bit of time to figure out, right, it takes some

trial and error, it takes a little bit of failure. Ultimately, you have to be okay with with a certain amount of failure and you'll actually learn through your failures, and you also have to be okay with it taking a little more time, and you also have to be okay not seeing the results for a little while, because the side gig can take some time to actually bring in

those profits to actually feel like it's paying dividends. So that's why it has to be something that you care about that interests you, because a dope side hustle isn't necessarily going to start bringing in the bucks right away. Yeah, man, exactly. We're talking about creating a dope side hustle and Matt, this is our side hustle. That's right, man. We are having a blast doing this podcast. And guess what, we've

hit over a hundred reviews on Apple Podcasts. So if you have enjoyed this podcast, if you're getting value from it, if you would consider leaving a review wherever you listen to podcasts, we would really appreciate it because we're pumped to come in here and create this content every week, and we're we're pumped about the community that's developing around

the show. A man to know that we've basically got the best listeners out there and they are showing their appreciation, you know, by leaving the review, leaving a little rating there that helps us out tremendously to spread the word for folks who haven't come across our podcast yet. So so all of you listeners out there who have done that, Man, thank you guys so much. To check out our home on the web, how to money dot com. We'll have our show notes up there. We'll be ready for you, Joel.

Until next time, Man, best friends out, Best Friends Out,