How to Find the Right Side Hustle | Nick Loper from Side Hustle Nation | The Financial Independence Show Podcast
In today's episode, you'll hear from the side hustle king Nick Loper from Side Hustle Nation.
Nick got an eye-opening opportunity in college and knew he had to be his own boss.
He would eventually work three years in the corporate world. During that time he was building his side hustle.
It was quickly covering his expenses and he never looked back.
Listen and learn all about side hustles and let us know what you think.
Episode Summary
He started paying attention to money when he started realizing how expensive things were
Things such as renting a tux for prom
His parents didn't let on that they had the money that they didn't
It wasn't that they were rich but they did well
His first memorable job was through a program called College Works
They pitch entrepreneurship, sales, and customer service
You don't know what the job is until the pitch is over
It turned out to be house painting
They gave him an area of responsibility and taught him several skills
He was in charge of hiring, firing and solving customer issues
They warned Nick that he may never be able to work for someone after this experience
Nick mentioned how important this experience was to applying his education
He would go on to work for three years in corporate America
Nick's 1st Side Hustle
Nick built his first side hustle at 22
It was a comparison shopping tools for footwear
Every day he'd come home and work on the side hustle from 7-10pm
At his normal job Nick was making ~$50k per year
Before long the shoe site began earning enough to cover his expenses
At this point, Nick was ready to take the side hustle full time
What really flipped the switch for Nick was a quote from a conference
It was "Work on your business, not in your business"
Nick took this to focus on growing the business and less of the day to day grunt work
That lead to the next side hustle which was a yelp type site for finding a virtual assistant
Choosing Your Side Hustle
Nick recommends finding two areas you're in the top 50% in
Then find a way that those two things intersect
He also suggests trying out things to experiment
You'll often find your true golden idea once you get started on a project
If you begin to dread the work, it may be time to stop working on that side hustle
Tiers of Side hustles
Nick says side hustle fall into three categories: Service, Product, Audience
For Services, Nick really recommends branding fragmented services
He gives the example of building a maid service that has great customer service and ease of booking
For Product he recommends a "buy low, sell high" model like print on demand shirts
Then for an audience, you can sell clicks to ads or affiliate links
Also once the audience gets large enough you can sell something like an ebook or course
Key Takeaways
Expertise not required: Nick's first side hustle was comparing shoes and Nick knew very little about shoes
Be better, not necessarily different: It's more important to provide a great experience than something that's never been done
Think in scale: When building a side hustle focus your energy on how it will scale. Remember work on the business not for the business
Call to Action
Go check out Nick's giant list of Side Hustles and find a few today
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Learn more about Nick
Via his blog at Side Hustle Nation
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