212: Micro Habits: The Too-Small-to-Fail Plan for Big Results
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." That line from Aristotle may be one of the most overused quotes in history. But it's overused for good reason; it's a good quote. At least the first part. Aristotle was onto something for sure: we are what we repeatedly do. I agree with that 100%. The issue I have is with the second part: Excellence, then, is not an a...
11m Jan 19, 2017
11m
211: Double Your Energy in 7 Days
Perhaps what we need isn't more hours in the day, but more energy in our hours. That's ultimately what this episode is about: feeling better and more alive so we can get more results from our businesses. Yuri Elkaim is a former professional soccer player, a Registered Holistic Nutritionist, the author of The All-Day Energy Diet, several other books, and you can find out more about Yuri and his ...
39m Jan 12, 2017
39m
210: Steal This Process: A Step-by-Step System to Consistent $10k Months
Nagina Abdullah turned her weight loss blog, MasalaBody.com, into a 6-figure side business. By day, she works for a large consulting company, and with a busy work schedule, a young family, and limited time to work on her side hustle, Nagina has been very smart about her marketing and pricing. Note: Click here to download Nagina’s sales funnel and high-end coaching tips from this episode. After ...
49m Jan 05, 2017
49m
Amazon FBA Private Label Strategies for 2017 – Featuring Two 7-Figure Sellers
As a private label seller on Amazon, Andy has seen his revenue grow from $400k in year one, to $900k in year two, and he is closing in on $1.8 million for year three! I last spoke with Andy "Slamazon" Slamans on episode 84 of The Side Hustle Show. Back in 2014, Andy was wrapping up his first year as a full-time Amazon seller and on the podcast he shared all his best tips for product research an...
35m Dec 29, 2016
35m
208: Pay Less Taxes - Your Side Hustle Tax Questions Answered
Note: Click here to download Josh's top tax saving tips and advice from this episode. Josh Bauerle is the CPA on fire at cpaonfire.com. Josh specializes in tax preparation, tax planning, booking keeping, and general consulting services to take the accounting side of your business to the next level. Just 30 minutes with Josh about a month ago saved me thousands of dollars, so you owe it to yours...
36m Dec 23, 2016
36m
207: How to Use Video and YouTube to Grow Your Business
Note: Click here to download Thomas' top YouTube tips from this episode. Thomas Frank is the College Info Geek and you can find him at collegeinfogeek.com. Thomas also has a podcast, and a YouTube channel with an impressive following of over 400,000 subscribers and over 14 million views. Thomas’ blogging journey started back in 2010 when he applied to join a team of writers working on a blog in...
43m Dec 22, 2016
43m
206: Go Where the Cash is Already Flowing
I’d like to introduce some of the characters in my latest book Buy Buttons, and also give you a sample of the audiobook version I recorded. I knew I wanted to create an audiobook for this title, because Audible is yet another “Buy Button” marketplace for me to test out, and because I’ve heard audiobooks can actually perform really well for authors. Note: If you’re new to Audible, you can get Bu...
24m Dec 15, 2016
24m
205: From a $1 Million Bankruptcy to $20k in Monthly Recurring Revenue: A Productized Service Case Study
Gabe Arnold is the founder and chief pencil sharpener at CopywriterToday.net, a subscription based article writing service. In his early 20’s Gabe saw his construction business hit by the downturn in the property market to the tune of a $1 million bankruptcy, and began freelancing to support his family. One common hold-up on his website projects was the words to paste into the pages, which gav...
42m Dec 08, 2016
42m
204: Your Legal Questions Answered
As a small business attorney, Elizabeth Potts Weinstein helps entrepreneurs, small business owners, coaches, artists, etc, get all their legal affairs in order so they can focus on their businesses. In this episode, Elizabeth agreed to answer some legal questions from members of the Side Hustle Nation Facebook Group. We cover disclaimers, business registration requirements, entity selection pr...
46m Dec 01, 2016
46m
How to Stop Just Listening to The Side Hustle Show and Start Taking Action
Nothing gives me a shot of inspiration more than when I look at my podcast feed and see episodes like “Zero to 20K a Month” or “Building a Multi-Million Dollar Ecommerce Brand on the Side.” Those are some incredibly sexy and enticing titles, aren’t they? Then, you dive deep and you listen in. You hear Jon Haws say, “Once a book is out there, you’re always making money,” and think to yourself,...
14m Nov 24, 2016
14m
202: Blogging for Recurring Revenue: Turn Readers into Members
Erin Chase is a busy mother of 4, a former teacher, and today runs 5dollardinners.com and the 5dollarmealplan. Back in 2008, after some number crunching Erin was excited at saving 50% on her grocery bills. She shared how she had done this on her family blog, but with a low amount of interest she decided to start her own blog to help others make savings on their own grocery bills. Erin says it...
35m Nov 17, 2016
35m
201: The OPA Plan: How to Borrow Other People’s Audiences to Explode Your Sales
In 2011, Joshua Lisec landed his first freelance gig--on Fiverr of all places. He said he wound up making $1.67 an hour from that job, but it sparked his entrepreneurial journey. Since then, he's gone from "dumpster-diving for clients" to consistently landing 4- and 5-figure contracts and earning $167 an hour on one recent project, effectively 100x-ing his hourly rate. In this episode we take...
39m Nov 10, 2016
39m
200: From Content to Cash Flow – Affiliate Marketing and Automated Sales Funnels
As co-host of the #1 marriage podcast in iTunes, the ONE Extraordinary Marriage show, Tony DiLorenzo speaks to a worldwide audience about sex, love, and commitment. Along with his wife Alisa, their goal is to reach as many couples around the world as they can, equipping them with the tools and strategies they need to create an extraordinary marriage. With a hugely popular blog and podcast, Ton...
48m Nov 03, 2016
48m
199: Building a Blog to $20k a Month and Beyond
You may remember Rosemarie Groner from episode 142 of the Side Hustle Show last year. She revealed how her blog Busy Budgeter was just a year old and receiving around 400,000 pageviews and making around $5k a month -- primarily through Pinterest traffic. It’s almost a year later now and I had to have her back to see how things were progressing. Rosemarie is now regularly making more than $20k ...
37m Oct 27, 2016
37m
198: Blogging, Branding, Book Writing, and Finding the Right Side Hustle for You: 20 Questions with Nick
It’s time to dive into the ol’ listener mailbag and answer a few questions in this week's edition of The Side Hustle Show. It's been 3 months since the last Q&A show I did and I’ve had quite a few interesting questions come in since then. A common piece of advice you'll hear is to take audience questions and turn them into content, so here's a meta example of that in action.
28m Oct 20, 2016
28m
Prioritization, Elimination, Automation, and Delegation for Side Hustle Nation: A Productivity Roundtable
This week’s episode was something a little different as I was joined by three of my favorite productivity podcasters, Erik Fisher, Mike Vardy, and Paul Minors. Combined they have more than 300 productivity-themed podcasts under their belts and represent 3 different countries! Since getting the most out of our limited time is a ongoing struggle for side hustlers, I invited them on the show for...
54m Oct 13, 2016
54m
I Stopped Chasing Recurring Revenue, and 10x’d My Business
“The conversion rate ended up being about 10 times better than it was before,” Steve Cunningham told me. While attending meetings for the family business Steve would spot some of the business books he had read sitting on the shelves in clients' offices and saw this a good conversation starter. However, he would find out that more often than not that they had not read the books. This presented...
33m Oct 06, 2016
33m
How Book Marketing Really Works: Tips from a 6-Figure Self-Published Author
Last month I compiled a killer round-up post with book launch and marketing tips from 25 authors, entrepreneurs, and leaders in the self-publishing space. When I sent my weekly newsletter out about it, one subscriber replied and said something to the effect of, "That's cute, but let me show you how it really works." As you might have guessed, that subscriber was this week's guest, Adam Houge.
39m Sep 29, 2016
39m
A 6-Figure Amazon FBA Business in 7 Months
"Find a hot trend and piggyback on it," Toni Anderson told me. And that's exactly what she did in launching her ecommerce business last year in the jewelry niche. It's not just generic jewelry, but jewelry designed to specifically ride on the "essential oils" trend. Toni said 90% of her business comes through Amazon vs. her own storefront, but that she and her partner did $190k in sales in th...
39m Sep 22, 2016
39m
Getting Paid to Show Off Your City
On any given weekend in San Francisco, out of earshot from the barking harbor seals at Pier 39 and the clang of the cable cars, a small group of urban hikers are exploring the city from a different vantage point. For three hours, they walk, climb, and even slide their way through historic neighborhoods and scenic outlooks. They’re led by Alexandra Kenin, or one of her carefully selected guides...
36m Sep 15, 2016
36m
Starting an Ecommerce Empire on Etsy
Kara Lamberato is a work-at-home-mom of 2, but runs a successful business in her spare time. Kara's Vineyard Wedding supplies brides with wine-themed wedding decorations, and has shipped thousands of orders. Kara started the business before having kids while she was still working full-time in private banking. The idea came from her own wedding and thinking there might be other brides out there...
38m Sep 08, 2016
38m
Reverse-Engineering a Bestselling Book Launch
Tom Morkes has worked on the book launches for a number of previous Side Hustle Show guests, including John Lee Dumas, Dan Norris, Taylor Pearson, and Neil Patel. What I wanted to do in this conversation was reverse engineer some of the steps that go into producing, launching, and marketing a bestselling book, even you don't have thousands of fans waiting for it. And selfishly, I wanted to ge...
32m Sep 01, 2016
32m
How a Former Hairdresser Turned Her Side Hustle Into a 6-Figure Business
Rachel Pedersen was using social media to bring customers to her hairdressing chair, but never really imagined it would turn into a full-time business of its own. One of her hairdressing clients owned a popular restaurant chain, but was struggling with online marketing and social media. Rachel offered to help and the rest is history. Today her little social media management side hustle is a 6...
33m Aug 25, 2016
33m
How to Start an Online Store – Without Touching Any Inventory (Drop Shipping 101)
Dropshipping is also a topic we haven't really covered in depth in the past, but many listeners have been requesting to learn more about it. I reached out to Anton Kraly, who's one of the most successful people I know in this space. He's been selling online for almost 10 years and he and his team have built out an impressive portfolio or drop ship stores. Dropshipping is where you sell a prod...
37m Aug 18, 2016
37m
Matt’s Passive Income Empire Started With Just $36 … and a Bag of Gumballs
Matt is a former Air Force pilot who was looking into various side hustles to support his family after some salary cuts at work. After hustling and selling used books (among other things), he realized it really wasn't sustainable and took up too much of his time. That's when he found a gumball vending machine for sale on eBay for $36. The seller was local in Houston so he drove over with two o...
34m Aug 11, 2016
34m
Traffic Hacks for 2016 and Beyond, with Neil Patel
Before people can do business with you, they have to know about you, and before they know about you, they have to find you. And that's universal, whether you're running a brick-and-mortar shop, an ecommerce store, a blog, or a virtual consulting business. Neil Patel is a master at solving the first step in that equation: getting people to find you. Through SEO, content marketing, and social m...
26m Aug 04, 2016
26m
Happiness is a Skill, and This 5-Minute Habit Can Help You Get Better at It
Dan Harris had me at "meditation for skeptics." In the last 5 years, it seems like meditation has gone from a weird woowoo practice to a daily staple of most top entrepreneurs, executives, and leaders. But so far, I haven't been able to get into it. Have you? I've tried a few of the guided meditation apps, including Headspace and Calm, but when I tried meditating in the morning, I had this i...
26m Jul 28, 2016
26m
I Quit My Job 8 Years Ago! Here Are 8 Lessons I’ve Learned Since Then That You Can Apply Today
Eight years ago this month I pulled out of the parking lot of my corporate job for the last time. It was a weird moment, filled with hope and excitement, but also nervousness. Sure, I'd built my side hustle to the point I was comfortable taking the leap, but it was still a leap. The responsibility of cutting your own paycheck each month is stressful! In this episode I attempt to pull out 8 of...
23m Jul 22, 2016
23m
How to Create, Market, and Sell Your First Online Course – Even With a Small Audience
Course creation has the potential to be a fantastic passive income business, just like book sales or software. Build an asset that has low-to-zero incremental costs, and sell as many copies as you can -- sometimes for $1000 or more. In this episode I'm chatting with Bailey Richert and her advice for budding "infopreneurs." In her words, you don't need a huge audience to start building a succes...
38m Jul 21, 2016
38m
Zero to $30k on the Side in 6 Months
Last fall, Chris Deardorff had a passion for startups and entrepreneurship, but wasn't sure which direction to go. He had -- and still has -- a good job doing product marketing. But as he studied the local startup scene, he noticed a common problem. Many startups struggled to gain traction for the products and services; a problem an experienced product marketer could solve. In this episode, y...
29m Jul 14, 2016
29m
Digital Real Estate Investing for Cash Flow
As you know, I'm excited about alternative investments like peer-to-peer lending. And if your aim is to replace your income, I think it makes sense to invest for cash flow. This week's Side Hustle Show guest argues when you want something in other areas of your life, you go out and buy it: a pair of shoes, a computer, a new car. You don't make it from scratch! So why are we so insistent on bu...
39m Jul 07, 2016
39m
SEO, Affiliate Marketing, Self-Publishing, Udemy, and More: 20 Questions with Nick
It's time to dive into the ol' listener mailbag and answer a few questions in this special Friday edition of The Side Hustle Show. The last Q&A show I did was back in November and I've had quite a few interesting questions come in since then. Today we're chatting about SEO tools and strategies, affiliate marketing, self-publishing, Udemy, real estate, taxes, consulting, and more.
28m Jul 01, 2016
28m
Listener Success Story: From Zero Customers to Full-Time Business
Scott Tarcy reached out to me with a listener success story of taking some of his on-the-job skills and turning them into a business on the side. Scott's a mechanical engineer by trade, and his job involved lots of product design work, including computer aided drafting and 3D modeling. Recognizing that other individuals and companies might have a need for those skills, he took to the interwebs.
31m Jun 30, 2016
31m
How a Free Challenge Turned into a $500,000 a Year Business
More than 150,000 women have completed Tiffany "The Budgnetista" Aliche's Live Richer Challenge. The roughly 30-day challenge participants step-by-step instructions on how to get their financial lives in order, get out of debt, and start saving money. Collectively, Tiffany's tribe has saved $17 million and paid off $1.5 in debt! This year, The Budgnetista expects to bring in more than $500,00...
32m Jun 23, 2016
32m
How To Build a 6-Figure eBay Business Part-Time
Darrel is a full-time Operations Manager for a startup in Atlanta, but has built a sizable side hustle on eBay. In the last 12 months, he's sold over 6-figures worth of merchandise. eBay still gets massive traffic; it's currently the 7th most popular site in the US and 26th most popular in the world. That's a lot of eyeballs, and more importantly, that's a lot of buyers! In this conversation...
36m Jun 16, 2016
36m
What I’ve Learned and Applied from 49 Awesome Entrepreneurs – Part 3
At the end of nearly every episode of The Side Hustle Show, I ask my guests for their #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation. There’s always a great variety of responses, and I wanted to take some time today to go through some of my favorites from the past 50-ish interviews. My #1 Tip? Find your WHY. Why side hustle? What are you trying to build? What will that afford you?
24m Jun 09, 2016
24m
Freelance Transformation: From $300 Technician to $20,000 Consultant
Matt Inglot was following the hustler's path. He built some skills on his spare time, and began selling those skills as a freelancer. The first project he sold was to build a website for $300. Soon, he had a full-time freelance business, and decided to grow into an agency. But before long, Matt found himself working 80 hour weeks and stressed out during down months about covering rent and pay...
35m Jun 02, 2016
35m
YouTube Marketing: How to Use Free Videos to Build a Full-Time Online Business
If you want to learn English, you may have come across one of Gabby Wallace's hundreds of YouTube videos on the subject. Her channel, which started only because the video she recorded for her classroom students was too big to email, has grown to more than 170,000 subscribers and nearly 9 million views. Gabby is a long-time teacher and found a way to turn her subject matter expertise into a bu...
34m May 26, 2016
34m
How to Get Freelance Jobs (Tips from a Professional Hypnotist)
Jesse Gernigin is a professional stage hypnotist and online freelancer. He used to do up to 200 shows a year and even sold his own products, but realized there was always going to be a ceiling to his earning power. Turning to the world of online work, Jesse applied his performance and sales skills to land freelance work in his spare time. Today he specializes in copywriting for email sequences...
31m May 19, 2016
31m
How to Turn Your Ideas Into Recurring Revenue
"To build income you can hustle, but to build wealth you need to build something that doesn’t require your hands." That's what this week's guest told me, and then walked me down an interesting path in building that elusive "hands-free" business. His angle? Product licensing.
31m May 12, 2016
31m
Case Study: Creating an Online Authority Business and Service Business From Scratch
Carey Green had spent the last 20 years as a pastor, before making the leap into entrepreneurship. As he studied to become a licensed mortgage broker, an idea took hold to put his study notes online. Today Carey helps other aspiring mortgage brokers pass their certification exam, a test he says was the hardest he ever took. That business, which actually derives most of its traffic from YouTube...
34m May 05, 2016
34m
How to Get Paid to Create Content – Even When You’re Just Starting Out
Want to get paid to create content? Jason Zook is the undisputed king when it comes to sponsored content. You may know Jason as the IWearYourShirt guy, where he earned over $1,000,000 wearing t-shirts for various companies. He's even sold his last name (twice -- each for $40k+), formerly going as Jason Surfrapp and Jason Headsetsdotcom. In this episode, he shares his tips for getting sponsors...
36m Apr 28, 2016
36m
Side Hustle Idea Brainstorming: The 7 Rules of Business Idea Generation Plus Live Listener Feedback
In my recent annual member survey, one of the biggest challenges named was coming up with the right side hustle idea. Over the years, I've been on both ends of the idea spectrum: feeling hopeless in search of a business idea, and (more recently) feeling like there are more ideas than I could ever hope to tackle. Still, if you're in the brainstorming stage, I think this week's podcast session ...
48m Apr 21, 2016
48m
The Best Passive Income Model: Raw Land Investing Update (Part 2)
This is the second in what will (at least) be a 2-part series on side hustlers earning income from their land investment endeavors. In this special Friday edition of the show, I'm joined by Chris Pritchard. Chris is a software developer by day, but has built his land investing business up to $1500/mo in recurring revenue. In addition, Chris does the occasional cash flip and also has more than...
21m Apr 15, 2016
21m
The Best Passive Income Model: Raw Land Investing Update (Part 1)
In episode 108 of The Side Hustle Show last year, we met Mark Podolsky, a real estate investor specializing in raw land. He called it "The Best Passive Income Model," because there are no products to build, no tenants or toilets, and you can start without a huge upfront investment. This year, I wanted to feature a couple listeners who took action based on that episode. The first is my friend J...
26m Apr 14, 2016
26m
Earn up to $1700/mo Part-Time: Profit Stacking in The Sharing Economy
The Sharing Economy is one of those "too-big-to-ignore" trends, and I think it's a great opportunity to get your feet wet in side hustling. We've talked about Uber and Airbnb before, but there are literally hundreds of different platforms where you can put your buy buttons. These app-powered peer-to-peer transactions are unlocking an estimated $300 billion in economic activity by 2025. Want y...
23m Apr 07, 2016
23m
$10k a Month Blogging Part-Time
We first heard from Robert Farrington back in 2013, on episode 10 of The Side Hustle Show. At that time, he was earning $3-4k a month from a portfolio of different sites, and looking to expand his online empire. This week, we catch up on what's changed since then. Robert's doubled down on his main site, TheCollegeInvestor.com, narrowed his focus, and roughly tripled his earnings. Oh, and he's...
33m Mar 31, 2016
33m
How to Earn an Extra $1000 a Month as a Brand Ambassador
Kenny Azama has worked with massive global brands like Nike, Samsung, Apple, Chevrolet, and Coca Cola, but he's not ad agency or top secret marketing mogul. He's a professional brand ambassador, "someone who is temporarily hired to represent a brand in a positive light, and provide consumers with a memorable face-to-face experience." I think this in an interesting side hustle, and one we have...
20m Mar 24, 2016
20m
$4k a Month within 6 Months: Marketing and Growing a Freelance Side Hustle
Gina Horkey has come highly recommended by a number of listeners, and I’ve seen her work what seems like “all over the Internet” for the past couple years so I’m excited to finally connect and bring her on the show. She’s a freelance writer extraordinaire, but also a virtual assistant, and someone who now helps others follow in her footsteps. Gina successfully built her freelance writing and ...
32m Mar 17, 2016
32m
How to Build a 6-Figure Blog in Less Than a Year
Jon is a former attorney turned full-time entrepreneur, and he's the master of building high quality niche blogs and monetizing them to $10k-20k per month in record time. (Sixty days to $10k in one case.) We've covered niche sites in the past, but the type of sites Jon focuses on are a different animal. In a way, he sets out to build an authoritative brand in a particular space.
38m Mar 10, 2016
38m