Dan Faggella sent me an email last month that essentially said, "Hey Nick, I'm a fan of the show. I have some expertise in email marketing, and I know many of your listeners are working to build their online presence and their email lists. Would it make sense to do an episode on some list building and email best practices?" And then he added the kicker: "I'm making $50k/mo selling martial arts training videos right now, and I have other businesses as well..." OK, I'm listening!
Apr 02, 2015•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week my friend Alex Barker co-hosts and interviews me on my entrepreneurial beginnings, my first side hustle, and the origins and future of Side Hustle Nation. We also go through a few listener questions as well. I realized I've told some of these stories only in bits and pieces on the show and on the Side Hustle Nation blog before, despite having mentioned them on several other podcasts. This episode is admittedly a little "fluffy" -- so I promise a return to the hard-hitting tactical stuf...
Mar 26, 2015•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nate and his brother earned $300,000 in passive income by licensing one of their ideas to Mattel. They didn't have to design it, produce it, or sell it. But they found someone who could, and they cashed the checks. And to be fair, Nate will be the first to tell you these kind of results aren't typical -- but he's proof they ARE possible. Nate's actually a dentist by day, but a pretty serious side hustler by night, and on this call we take a deep dive into the world of product licensing.
Mar 19, 2015•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast John Corcoran is well-known in online business circles for being "the connections guy," but I was more curious in how he's built his own online business than networking tips. Today he sells his own premium course on Connecting with Influencers, plus earns money as an affiliate for other high-dollar, high-value online products. In January, he earned $30,000 in one month, through sales of his own product and as an affiliate for others. In this call we get into building and selling a course of your...
Mar 12, 2015•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast In Hawaii and on the plane home I read two books with very similar themes: The ONE Thing by Gary Keller Essentialism by Greg McKeown Both titles share the common message of FOCUS -- de-cluttering your day, your work, your mind, and your life. They came at a good time because I was starting to feel overwhelmed with projects and wanting to pursue new ideas and opportunities as they came up.
Feb 27, 2015•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Twenty months and 90 episodes ago, I was introduced to the incredible story of AnarchoFighter, the Top-Rated Fiverr seller who earned enough cash on the platform to buy a house. That episode convinced me to give Fiverr a shot as a seller myself, and it's turned into a fun side hustle income stream. Since we last spoke, Fiverr has implemented a bunch of changes, including the option to create custom quotes up to $10,000. And Mark was the first to make that $10k deal, taking a buyer from $5 to 5-f...
Feb 26, 2015•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast It's tax season, and I think it would be foolish to give Uncle Sam more than you're legally required to. This week I'm joined by Joshua Sheats from RadicalPersonalFinance.com and the host of the Radical Personal Finance podcast. He explains there are 2 tax codes: the personal tax code and the business tax code. As a business owner, even as a side hustler, there are a number of distinct tax advantages available to you. Listen in and keep your hard-earned dollars!
Feb 19, 2015•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dayne Shuda runs GhostBlogWriters.com, a done-for-you blogging service that commands premium prices, and oversees a team of 20 part-time writers to deliver the work for clients around the country. But like most businesses, Ghost Blog Writers came from some pretty humble beginnings. In fact, Dayne started it as a side hustle with $0 upfront investment.
Feb 12, 2015•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Here's a guy who built an online business, and had the courage to up and move to Cozumel, Mexico -- with his wife and 3 young daughters. It's not your typical single-23-year-old-dude digital nomad type of story, though Sean's business itself is simple enough to be replicated. This is a fun chat about hustling for business and building a lifestyle on your own terms. I think you're going to like it, even if you have no desire to move abroad.
Feb 05, 2015•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast This may surprise people, but I'm a pretty slow writer. I have a challenging time writing in "rough draft" mode. You know, where you just brain dump onto the page and clean it up later. That's one reason I wanted to have Chandler Bolt back on the show; because he's got a cure for that I'm anxious to try out. In this episode, we talk about his 3-step writing process to quickly create a new book project, along with Kindle launch tactics for new and aspiring authors.
Jan 29, 2015•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast You want traffic? You want readers? You want customers? You'll want to listen to this episode. Your free book is essentially your epic "guest post" -- only a MUCH bigger site than you could ever hope to publish on regularly. Like a good guest post, it leads readers back to more of your content, where they opt-in with their email to continue their relationship with you. This works for authors and non-authors alike. In fact, Nick pretty much convinced me I need to be doing this as well!
Jan 15, 2015•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast I'm thrilled to welcome Benny Hsu back to The Side Hustle Show! Remember Benny from way back in episode 17, when we talked about dominating the app store? In 2014, his app business took a backseat to a new side hustle: selling t-shirts through Teespring. I ran into Benny at Podcast Movement last summer, where I was proudly rocking my "Every day I'm hustling" tee, and we got to chatting about his new Teespring business.
Jan 08, 2015•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast If you're not already following Bryan Harris, I recommend you do. The guy is super smart and has a unique way of breaking things down so that they're easy to understand and implement. He doesn't mess around, and gives super-detailed actionable advice with some awesome examples, but gives the caveat that it takes real work. This is not a 4-hour workweek passive income system -- at least not at first. But that's OK, because we're hustlers and ready to make something happen in 2015, right?
Jan 01, 2015•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast Scott Oldford sent me a proposal for a podcast episode about part-time podcasting, and included the hook, "I've made $1900 in revenue from my first episode." OK, I'm listening! In this episode we discuss how a podcast can be a very part-time venture but still reach a wide audience and begin to earn revenue on its own.
Dec 18, 2014•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you're having an amazing holiday with friends and family, and taking a moment to reflect and recharge. Even though it's an American holiday, the idea behind giving thanks for what we have is universal. What's your Turkey Day tradition? I'm behind the mic solo this week, talking about 6 habits I believe have made me a better entrepreneur, and how you can implement them in your own life.
Nov 26, 2014•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast When I asked listeners last month who they'd like to hear on the show, Rob Cubbon is a name that came up from a couple different people. Rob's been crushing it lately between is online teaching efforts and his Kindle publishing business, and as luck would have it, is a Side Hustle Show listener himself. I've been following Rob's blog for some time myself, and have been really impressed with his journey. In fact, it's pretty inspiring and eye-opening to see some his quarterly income reports, with...
Nov 20, 2014•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast J. Massey discovered real estate as a business out of necessity. He and his wife were both in poor health, and as he explains, had a 398 credit score and $75 to their name. Then, introduced to real estate wholesaling, the picture began to turn around. This strategy allowed J. to develop some cash flow without risking his own limited assets, and he says he got started by dedicating just 2 hours a day, or 10 hours a week to this new side hustle.
Nov 06, 2014•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, Alexis Grant runs a social media, content marketing, and blog management agency and manages a team of 10 people to get it all done. But like many of us, she started off as a side hustler, working her way up and adding clients until it was time to make the leap. She took some very strategic steps along the way, including setting up clients on a retainer model instead of a one-off project basis, and building a "personal brand" and audience of her own through her blog.
Oct 16, 2014•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast One of the surprising bright spots in my side hustle portfolio (my strategy of building multiple income streams) has been Fiverr. After hearing the incredible story of AnarchoFighter last year, I knew I had to give the platform a shot! While I haven't exactly earned house-buying money, it has turned into a nice little revenue source. I'm up $7490 through 14 months, or a little over $500 a month on average.
Oct 09, 2014•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Everybody's an expert in something, right? Well this week's guest, Matt Giovanisci, is an expert in pool care. He describes it as the most boring industry that serves such a fun product. He's taken an innovative approach to rank his site, SwimUniversity.com, in Google and monetize it with affiliate relationships and private advertising. I feel like Matt's process is proven and repeatable -- but takes real work.
Sep 25, 2014•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ryan Finlay from ReCraigslist.com makes a full-time living (and supports his family of 7) buying and selling items on Craigslist. In fact, he used this business to pull himself out from $25,000 in debt and now teaches others to do the same. This is really one of the most fascinating side hustle stories I've come across because there's a Craigslist for your city that is probably teeming with "inventory" for you to run a similar business.
Sep 18, 2014•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast One of my favorite questions to ask guests on The Side Hustle Show is how they got their first customer. Because that's an empowering moment! So today, I'll take you through how I got my first customers in a half dozen different business ventures. This show covers some formative moments in my journey, my struggles with sales, and some of my biggest takeaways from these businesses.
Aug 22, 2014•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast It's been quite a while since our last discussion of a software business here on the show. Even though we touched briefly on Long Tail Pro with Spencer Haws, I really have to go all the way back to Josh Isaak in episode 12 to find an in-depth breakdown of a Software as a service business. So that means today's conversation with Garrett Moon from CoSchedule is long overdue! After all, the low incremental cost and recurring revenue potential of the SaaS model is such a trendy holy grail of busines...
Aug 21, 2014•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast Corrina Gordon-Barnes is a sought-after coach and mentor, and today she shares with Side Hustle Nation exactly how she built her business from the ground up. There are some surprising turns and some eye-opening responses in this one, as I ask Corrina about how she prices her services, how she landed her first clients, how she's scaling her business, and how she made blogging work as an effective marketing channel.
Aug 07, 2014•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast I'm excited to welcome Scott Britton from Life-LongLearner.com and The Competitive Edge podcast to The Side Hustle Show. In this chat, we talk about how he built up a passive income stream from online courses on Udemy, which gave him the freedom to travel and live in South America for several months. He's a super smart guy and really delivers a ton of excellent tips in this episode. I think you'll like it! Full Show Notes: How to Make Money on Udemy
Jul 31, 2014•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast It's a special Friday edition of The Side Hustle Show, and I'm flying solo on this one discussing the 8 income streams I'm working on right now. Add a little diversity to your revenue sources to protect yourself if any one of them gets cut off suddenly (been there!). You'll hear what's working well for me, as well as some challenges, opportunities, and plans going forward.
Jul 25, 2014•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jesse Krieger is THE Lifestyle Entrepreneur, and author of the book of the same name, subtitled Live Your Dreams, Ignite Your Passions and Run Your Business From Anywhere in The World. Today we're chatting about how aspiring side hustlers can come up with new business ideas, validate them quickly, and begin earning money outside of their day job. It's a fun session with a lot of brainstorming out loud on various ideas and methodologies of going to market.
Jul 24, 2014•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this edition of The Side Hustle Show I'm joined by Ryan Grant, founder of OnlineSellingExperiment.com, and a guy who turned his online selling side hustle into a full time gig. Ryan and I connected on Twitter after I published a post from Travis Scott on how he earns $500 per month with Amazon's FBA program. I'm pretty fascinated by this opportunity, but by how smart Amazon is to crowdsource their inventory, and by how real people are making real money with this side hustle.
Jul 17, 2014•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Through his best-selling books, Jon Acuff may be one of the most prominent advocates for the side hustle "brand" of entrepreneurship. Jon's a sought-after author, speaker, and consultant, with a share of side hustle stories to tell. While some flopped, one was almost an overnight success: his Stuff Christians Like blog. We talk about all that and more during our call.
Jul 10, 2014•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Consulting can be a beautiful business model because it transitions you from selling what you do to selling what you know. So what do you know that other businesses might pay for? What could you consult on? We cover all that and more with Kai Davis this week on The Side Hustle Show. We talk everything from landing more clients, increasing your rates, getting paid to do work you used to do for free, how to get clients on a monthly retainer agreement, and if you stick around to the end of the show...
Jul 03, 2014•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast