Do you have a side project you’re working on?
If so, I want to hear about it.
And I’ll be featuring several of you on my upcoming podcast, The Side Hustle Project.
Want to be interviewed?
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Comment below, telling me 2 things:
1. A little bit about your side hustle and any milestones you’ve hit with it that feel meaningful to you (income goal, building a skill, career advancement, working with your hero, and so on)
2. Why you’re working on it and what motivates you to press on.
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Your side hustle doesn’t need to be earning tons of money in order to get featured—in fact, you can still be in the idea phase.
I want to hear from every one of you that are working on a side project today.
My goal with the upcoming podcast, The Side Hustle Project is to show you what successful entrepreneurs look like before they’ve made it big.
So if you’re ambitious and driven, tell me about your side hustle regardless of what stage you’re in.
This week, I’ll be choosing readers to feature.
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Hurry up and comment below sharing your 2 things!
41 replies to “What’s your side hustle story?”
The side hustle is a natural beast inside my working life and my desires and dreams. I have never been good at just chasing one thing…I am an adventurer, a designer, an author, a humanitarian and so much more. My main focus currently is hitting the career advancements inside my national and international speaking gigs. A few years ago I broke a Guinness World Record on my motorcycle and have been creating a path of success to utilize this achievement. I have been able to book a few Keynotes this summer and look to book more and expand not just into the travel industry but also into the corporate world of motivational lectures for employees.
I am motivated to press on – mainly by the people I meet at the events who tell me they feel inspired, or that they know now that they too can do great adventures or achieve those “unachievable dreams”…
I am working on my book of the journey ( I finished a raw book version for at my speaking events) and am looking at all the avenues of growth in hopes of creating the life I dream. Thank you. www.DanellLynn.com
I always knew I wanted to be a stay at home mom. And my husband and I worked hard to make that happen. We saved everything we could when we first got married so that when I became pregnant I would be able to cherish every moment at home with my little one.
Even though I studied for years, worked every summer as an intern bulking up my resume and began my career in the prestigious Operations Management Leaderships Program, I was okay stepping away from it all for the joys of motherhood.
But I often feel torn between the wonders of motherhood and the excitement of the outside world. Admitting that I’m struggling allows me to shake the unnecessary guilt we so often place upon ourselves.
Two years ago I shared this with my husband as I stood in tears trying to explain that I love motherhood, but I miss my career too. He’s a wonderful man and listened to my incoherent sentences.
He suggested that I look into either a part time job or something I could do from home. We were also pregnant at that time with our second daughter, so the additional income would be a huge help.
I explored all kinds of work from home opportunities, from direct sales, to fulfilled by Amazon, to crafting and sewing. I knew that if I could grow a small side hustle while being at home with my little ones, that it may just be the perfect combination between motherhood and self-fulfillment.
After spending weeks browsing Pinterest for ideas I finally stumbled upon blogging. I knew from the start that it would be the perfect fit. It’s flexible, inexpensive to start and can grow to thousands of dollars per month. The only drawback was that it took time to grow a blog. But I had the time, so I went for it!
I’ve been blogging for two years now and have grown my current blog to over $17,000 per month. It’s mind blowing that I can do this while being home with my little ones. We are also pregnant now with #3 and due in October.
It’s been a lot of hard work and what keeps me motivated is knowing that hopefully one day my husband can stop working 12 hours a day and come home to spend more time with us. (Secretly I would also love more help parenting three little ones!)
I hope that’s what you’re looking for Ryan! Love your site!
My first comment does not seem to be showing up, so giving this another go.
I’ve wanted to start my own business in some form for more than a decade. Recently, I’ve finally been able to keep shiny object syndrome at bay long enough to start an animation coaching and training site.
I’ve been in the animation industry for 20+ years, and have been teaching at the University level for 3 years. Getting a great response from my students helped boost my confidence enough to dive in online. I created www.animationcoaching.com and www.myanimationfeed.com.
The feed website is designed to be a hub, curating content from animation blogs and news sites. My hope is to advertise my coaching and courses on the feed site.
I’ve interviewed about 30 professionals to learn their pain points and I’m analyzing those interviews in preparation of creating my pilot coaching program.
I’ve created a lead magnet to start building my email list and have about 50 people on my list after two weeks. I’m surveying some of the people that get my lead magnet so I can learn what courses I should create first.
I’m pleased with my recent progress. It is a lot for me. But I still struggle with shiny object syndrome, wanting to chase new ideas and opportunities that are more exciting than pushing through the resistance I meet trying to move my animation business forward.
What keeps me going is knowing that I can support my family without worrying about getting laid off, or worrying about jobs getting sent overseas, or dips in the industry. My own business means I’m limited only by myself, and I’m challenged to become a better person in order to have a successful business.
Hi Ryan,
Thank you for your post. As far as I am concerned, I am in the beginning stage of freelancing. I worked many full time jobs in the past,and later resigned as it was not my cup of tea. I am a certified digital marketer and am looking to work on freelance projects related to FB marketing and transcription. I have done a couple of them. I have also just started a youtube channel(https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO8X5mk5h7xCl9N5Cl7Z2GQ) that wherein I share videos related to whatever I learn that would help people make money online. I am struggling right now, as I have not been approved for a single project yet on Upwork. Although my profile is 100% complete and I write killer proposals. Any advice from you on how to make the most as a freelancer, as a youtuber or any way of making money online would be highly appreciated.
Thanks
Hi Ryan,
Thank you for this, I have been hustling way back from school and developing educational base applications and it has not been easy. many times, i find it add to convince people while our educational system in Nigeria needs the right tools to aid information processing and currently in my hustle, I have just developed a screening management system to aid admission processing in our tertiary institution in Nigeria but getting the market and pushing it up is so so difficult. here is a demo link https://zeusweb.herokuapp.com
I run an environmental blog and podcast, including running an initiative to support subscribers experimenting with greener, lower-impact habits and behaviors.
Milestones –
My Facebook launch video for my ‘Sustainable 2017 Challenge’ picked up real traction and led to big boost in subscribers (http://www.paulgehres.com/#3).
Likewise I’ve been thrilled to have success in getting some great podcast guests. It’s also been a treat (to begin) learning the art of video and audio editing.
The big ‘Why’ –
After years of working with big companies on environmental initiatives, it’s clear that big companies and governments both struggle to (1) achieve lasting progress on many of our environmental challenges with the traditional top-down approach, while also struggling to (2) draw normal, everyday people in meaningful discussions on these issues.
At a time when everyone’s stressed out and sick of hyper-partisan politics, I’m motivated by the great opportunity to make discussing these issues more fun, more accessible, and less polarizing.
Hey Ryan,
My side hustle idea is to set up a virtual assistant business supporting charities and the public sector primarily. This sector is in need of modernisation, a culture change and the right support to deliver important services on tight budgets and I feel that hiring skilled freelancers on a project by project basis will be a major shift in the right direction.
My motivation to do this comes from being an employee in this sector and seeing the potential for alternative ways of working.
What an interesting opportunity, especially the fact that you want to hear from people who may not have actually gotten their side hustle going just yet!
That’s what I’m struggling with right now – fitting in my side hustle and all my “tangential” work among the work I do for clients that pays the bills.
Y’see, I have a variety of interests – I’m an automotive historian and a design psychologist in addition to my regular work in the publishing industry. I do a lot of academic conferences (an unpaid side hustle that’s hard to fit into the rest of life) and I’m an occasional voice actor.
I’m trying to combine all of these passions into a two different side hustle projects.
Side Hustle #1: I’m working on launching a digital magazine for driving enthusiasts, focused on awesome classic car designs, roadside attractions, suggested driving routes, and automotive history. Instead of featuring gorgeous, insanely expensive restored cars, it’ll spotlight cars that people actually get out and drive, despite having a few dings or rust spots.
I love cars with a passion and I want to get other people my age (millennials) to engage with our automotive history as something other than a footnote…and to engage with cars as something other than a toaster-like appliance. I think the history of car design and car tech is super-fascinating and road trips are amazingly fun, so I want to share this!
Of course, it helps that I used to work in the automotive industry and I have some connections to photographers and writers who might be willing to contribute content, but I want to do this right from the get-go, and so this side hustle is on hold due to the logistics involved in setting it all up right.
Side Hustle #2: I’m working on starting a podcast discussing the secret history of all the stuff that surrounds us every day. As a design psychologist and archaeologist, I’m fascinated by all the engineering and inventiveness that went into shaping the most mundane things around us and I want to share the stories behind their creation. From the evolution of the turn signal and the stop sign to the mystery of who invented the little plastic lids that go on our to-go soda cups with convenient buttons to mark if it’s regular or diet…there’s always a story there!
I’ve charted out about a year’s worth of topics and come up with some ideas for bonus content and possible monetization. I’ve also hit the milestone of figuring out the technical needs for doing a podcast (I’m a voice actor, but I’ve never mastered my own recordings) and I’m working with a great teacher for that.
I’m incredibly excited by the idea of combining my academic research with my love of voice acting and narration and I really want to get this show off the ground. I want to share these amazing stories of human ingenuity and get people to take a fresh look at the random stuff that surrounds us and appreciate all the insight and energy that went into creating the things we use every day.
The struggle right now is just finding the time and energy to do it while also working well more than full time for my publishing clients. Yipes!
I invest in myself WAY too much… actually kidding. Over the last year i’ve spent maybe $2,500 learning from the big guys how to make this hustle work.
It’s around teaching piano virtually to busy people, especially entrepreneurs and young business owners.
Honestly, i haven’t even seen any real income yet, but i’m not too discouraged. Working hard and getting there slowly!
Side Hustle #1 (Of many ideas I have)
One of my side hustles that I’m focusing on is my pressure washing business – a woman owned neighborhood business. I started out in March 2017 after reading a great article on the SideHustle website. Within a week of passing out flyers in specific neighborhoods, I had my first customer. In addition to the “spring cleaning special”, this customer decided he wanted more areas done – which was terrific! A couple weeks later, another person contacted me which lead to another job. She referred me to a friend of hers, which I provided the pressure washing service with additional work she wanted done. So, while I started this about 12 weeks ago, it’s beginning to gain traction.
I jump into this as my beloved and I have goals and the extra cash will help us meet those goals sooner. Additionally, I truly enjoy the “zen” of cleaning hard surfaces! But going beyond just cleaning the surface, my service provides extra time to my customers to do what they enjoy. It is a win-win situation.
Side Hustle #2
Another side hustle I’m beginning to work on is providing workshops on cursive writing – there is a great void here as we move to touch communications, however, it is an invaluable skill both from the sense of brain motor skills and interpersonal skills. A handwritten note that is beautifully written stands out in a very positive way. My plan is to implement this during the summer and continuing through the school year. It’s a great way to put my creative skills to use that will help others.
And just to add something that might be helpful to others – I’ve been doing an exercise of writing down 10 ideas a day, no matter how “dumb” they seem. It is a wonderful way to focus on what you can do now, what you can develop for the future and what ideas may be beneficial to others (who, in turn, may compensate for the idea!)
Been trying to create my freelance platform for a while….seems like I’ve gotten closer to a niche: Creative Marketing Consulting for Startups and Entrepreneurs. But, I’ve recently been inspired to try to organize a huge educational arts/music festival/movement. I’m definitely in the planning, brainstorming and building stages, but the idea really excites me!
I am a online service business owner. I have a SEO service and Web development service business. I do it because I love it.
Hi Ryan
I have established my own consultancy firm, which I have been managing since 2013. The consulting firm is specialized in providing Training Development, Community Development and Financial Advisory Services. We are targeting mostly; Non-Governmental Organizations, Community-Based Organization, Public and Private Sector, Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Individuals.
Currently, the firm is implementing a programme called Setting Personal Life Goals and Planning for Retirement. We have been trying to market this programme for the past five months. The purpose of this programme is to assist individuals still in formal employment to plan ahead and psychologically prepare for their future by exploring investment opportunities and build their financial base through savings. Our strategic approach towards implementing this programme is by working with and through companies. During our interactive meetings, workers are encouraged to explore avenues and options aimed at maximizing saving strategies while still in employment. We believe that through this strategic approach of holding awareness meetings with employees their respective firms can as well try to find creative strategies of supporting their staff and enable them to psychologically prepare for life beyond formal employment.
Though I have not yet got a contract, I am motivated with this business idea because of its potential market. Each year there is always huge number of employees approaching retirement age and of course individuals who opt to go on early retirement.This is my side hustle Project that I am working on.
I would love to be part of your of your podcast, hoping that I would gain some insights from your sharing and input from others.
Regards
jmumba
Hi Ryan,
I am working on something, something that would help searchers find a small crashed plan, but my biggest problem is finance, you would be shocked how little finance i have, reason being, is because I am fighting a corrupt political-legal system over my murdered son, I am waiting to here from an inquiry into this now, but I do not hold my breath, as I know this system is so corrupted. I am aiming for a compensation in this matter. So I can not get much ahead with this wretched thing on my neck. Regards Ray Dale
Music production is my side hustle story. Looking forward to the podcast Ryan
Hello there! My side hustle is writing a book of ten chapters of which i’m preparing to start the sixth chapter of it. My greatest milestone is sharing ideas and quoting the pharagraphs from my book with my facebook friends and those around me, and the respond i’m receiving is so good; it does inspires me continue writing to change the lives and make people feel good about themselves, abilities,talents and skills. Because i believe each of us has the sole purpose to fulfill and as long as it is not fulfilled, one hasn’t lived fully yet.
I’m seeking the correct platform to share a message that will change the state of imagination of our fellow people, we all need each other in one way or the other to be where we supposed to be.
Hello Ryan,
I am working in company as full time job, its project of Telecom field ,Also i wanted to start side Business , please guide me in the way by that i can start my own Business.
My story:
After having my kids, I always struggled with my weight. I even had lap band surgery (also had the band removed… long story). After having my band removed my doctor told me he would see me back when I started to get the weight back again… What??? Frankly I was pissed off so I started to look for answers because I hardly ate anything and slowly the weight start to creep back on… well I found a doctor that suggested I get an allergy / intolerance test… at the cost of $850!!! But I was desperate for answers… got the results back and found out that I was allergic to gluten and dairy among other things…. I immediately went cold turkey and I realized all the issues I was having with heart burn, burping, upset stomach etc. was due to my FOOD.
Several months later my daughter (a collegiate athlete) complained of her constant upset stomach and bloating. So, I decided to find a less expensive way to get her tested… I thought I had found a good price at testing for $250.00… after getting her results (just like me, she is gluten and dairy intolerant) I decided affordable allergy testing was needed. I contacted a lab out of the UK and asked to partner with them. That is how Affordable Allergy Testing was created.
Now my mission is to spread the word of affordable testing and when you get your results it is up to you on your response… I have had some customers go all in like I did but I have also had some just keep the information in the back of their heads so they know when they eat something and they don’t feel good they know it isn’t a “bug” it is a reaction.
I am not asking everyone to change their lifestyle but I want to give you the tools to know what is happening to your body at a particular time.
Feel free to contact me with questions, remember I am not a medical professional… just a mom and a woman over 50 that wanted answers.
Lisa Blaurock
I have always loved crafting, and I have always felt like everyone can share that passion with me.
By accident, about 5 years ago, I got started doing home painting parties. The kind of thing like the wine and paint stores. Except I come to your home and my items are hand cut wood projects made by myself.
Basically, I cut out wood designs, and you get your friends together to party. I bring everything you need to leave the party with a great finished project. All you supply are the friends, and tables and chairs.
My side hustle has expanded and grown 😍- to the point that I can, now, give back by doing these parties as fundraisers!
I learned a few things in the beginning of my hustle career- one is to get your money up front!
But through the years, I have grown, and I feel like I do a pretty good job. It’s something I am passionate about, and I have many repeat customers that I can count on to keep me up and running.
I love meeting people, and being around people. This motivates me to keep going. Seriously, I feel like I am able to share God’s love and blessings through this “ministry”. My craft is a God-given talent that I do not take for granted.
Hi Ryan,
Thank you for this, I have been hustling way back from school and developing educational base applications and it has not been easy….
Nice! Good luck 🙂