Side Hustle summary

The adage has it wrong; money can grow on trees. But growing a money-bearing seedling requires planting the right seed under the right conditions.

All it takes is a little thought, however, and you’ll find those fecund and productive ideas that are bound to blossom. To get going, it’s important to recognize that hustle-worthy ideas share three qualities. They need to be feasible, profitable and persuasive.

You might think it’d be difficult to make a lot of money from giving guitar lessons as a side hustle. After all, there are already plenty of guitar teachers doing the rounds. But Jake earns $6,000 a month doing exactly that. He can make this much because his offer trumps the rest.

Once you’ve got your idea, you can turn it into an offer. Every offer includes three elements: a promise, a pitch and a price.

One particular Valentine’s Day, Sarah spotted a gap in the market. No one was selling custom-printed candy hearts. So she got down to it herself and within days had multiple orders. When her supplier wasn’t able to keep up with demand, Sarah found her own printing machine to ensure the business kept chugging along.

If you, like Sarah, want to be resourceful and have the right attitude for rapidly growing your hustle, you need to have the basics covered. You need a resource shopping list which will include the following.

Each spring, Girl Scouts can be seen selling boxes of cookies at malls and outside supermarkets all over the United States. Their pitch is simple: “Would you like to buy some Girl Scout cookies?" They sell them by the truckload – 200 million boxes every year, to be precise. So what can a side hustler learn from the Girl Scouts? Well, they sell so many cookies not just because the cookies are scrumptious but because people know that they are.

When you’re selling a product or service, you’ve really got to emphasize its merits. Lead with the benefits. You might tell customers that your product will make them happier or their lives simpler and better. Ideally, you should connect with people’s emotions.

Often, when business owners are asked how their businesses are going, they’ll just respond with a perfunctory, "Oh, it’s fine." That’s not the right answer! A business is never in stasis. It’s either on an upward trajectory – or it’s sinking.

It’s important, in the early stages of your hustle, to know exactly what sort of trajectory your business is on.