Speaker 1: Episode two fifty two is episode on how to make
Speaker 1: extra money with a side business. Welcome to the Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, rights,
Speaker 1: and liberal your life. Here your host Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Mm hmmm m m m m m m. Welcome to
Speaker 1: the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name
Speaker 1: is Jill, and today we are talking about side businesses
Speaker 1: or side hustles. The side hustle word, I think kind
Speaker 1: of gets a little convoluted because everything falls under this
Speaker 1: side hustle term. So we're gonna just take out side
Speaker 1: business and this is what this episode focuses on. I
Speaker 1: sold something on Facebook market Place for ten dollars. It's
Speaker 1: a side hustle, right, I mean, and and reselling we'll
Speaker 1: talk about can be a side business. But I think
Speaker 1: I want to, like, I want to take out the
Speaker 1: you know, the driving for Uber Postmates, or you know,
Speaker 1: walking dogs for Rover, Like those are side hustles, but
Speaker 1: those aren't side businesses. Those you're just a contractor for
Speaker 1: somebody else's business. So we're talking about kind of starting
Speaker 1: your own little side business, becoming like a part time entrepreneur,
Speaker 1: and those things are worthwhile. This is just a particular
Speaker 1: person who is interested and maybe starting their own business
Speaker 1: with that focus. So that's how we're approaching this episode.
Speaker 1: But first, this episode is brought to all of us
Speaker 1: by Wicked Smart. You all know this one. If you're
Speaker 1: listening to this podcast, you are very familiar with this sponsor.
Speaker 1: It's not just Smart, it's Wicked Smart reminding us that
Speaker 1: we can be very shrewd with all of our resources
Speaker 1: and decision making. Speaking of Wicked Smart, it's a super
Speaker 1: good idea to keep your money you've been saving, like
Speaker 1: that emergency fund you're sinking fund your holiday money in
Speaker 1: a high old savings account like the one offered at
Speaker 1: c I T Bank. Currently they're at two point one
Speaker 1: five a p Y Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash
Speaker 1: Wicked Smart Just kidding Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash
Speaker 1: c I T slash Wicked Smart. Won't take you anywhere,
Speaker 1: but you can try it. Slash c I T get
Speaker 1: yourself a high old savings account. Yes, two point one
Speaker 1: five is really good, especially without the hoops to jump
Speaker 1: through that. A lot of other maybe hire a p
Speaker 1: Y places have like you have to be a customer
Speaker 1: here or you have to keep so much in here,
Speaker 1: have to put so much in every month, or connect
Speaker 1: your breke deposit that's CT has none of those, And
Speaker 1: we would never recommend a high yeld tamings account that
Speaker 1: requires that stuff because you don't know where you're going
Speaker 1: to be in in two, three, five years, and we
Speaker 1: want this to be something you keep. So I think
Speaker 1: it does require at least a hundred dollars to open
Speaker 1: up a minimum start um, but then you can like
Speaker 1: drain it to fifty or twenty five if if something
Speaker 1: goes wrong and they don't penalize you for it. So,
Speaker 1: but hopefully you won't train it down to that um,
Speaker 1: but you can so forgol Friends podcast dot Com, slash
Speaker 1: c I T. It's great if you are interested in
Speaker 1: small time entrepreneurship or even big time entrepreneurship, we don't
Speaker 1: cover that on this show. We're we're more like basic level.
Speaker 1: I just stopped myself because I always say something else
Speaker 1: after basic. But there are several other episodes that you
Speaker 1: can queue up to listen to after this that are
Speaker 1: really good. So episode one seventy Your Guide Too Simple
Speaker 1: Solo Preneurship with Laura Adams. So Laura Adams is a
Speaker 1: business and finance expert, and she kind of debunked some
Speaker 1: of the myths and fears people have about taxes and
Speaker 1: bank accounts and all this logistical stuff when starting a
Speaker 1: side business. So that's episode one seventy and then episode
Speaker 1: two forty two, which we just recently did Frugal side Hustles,
Speaker 1: Digital Products with Ellie talks money and so this is
Speaker 1: the frugal side hustles thing is something we are going
Speaker 1: to be doing periodically. So every other month we're going
Speaker 1: to feature a new frugal side hustle, and Digital Products
Speaker 1: with Ellie was just our first one. We're going to
Speaker 1: have another one next month on freelance writing, which is
Speaker 1: how I was able to leave my full time job.
Speaker 1: So I am very excited about showcasings. Some of these
Speaker 1: side businesses or side hustles that can grow to the
Speaker 1: point where you can make them a full business, but
Speaker 1: you don't have to quit your job in order to
Speaker 1: be successful with them. So those are those are some
Speaker 1: great ones, and then we've got more good ones to come.
Speaker 1: But yeah, let's stop wasting time. Let's get into the episode.
Speaker 1: Do It Today is about what mindset shifts do we
Speaker 1: need to make and what strategies can we use UM
Speaker 1: to make more money outside the workplace UM, but not
Speaker 1: selling your soul to an app. So that's where that's
Speaker 1: the headspace I want you to be in UM. And
Speaker 1: speaking of headspace, our first article UM is from hack
Speaker 1: the entrepreneur dot com. It's called Entrepreneurial Mindset how to
Speaker 1: Think like an Entrepreneur and it's really foundational. I have
Speaker 1: found in my entrepreneurial journey actually having the accurate mindset.
Speaker 1: What do you think, Joe? Yeah, I think that this
Speaker 1: article is a really good foundation for what we need
Speaker 1: to be aimed at if we want to take the
Speaker 1: next step in our side hustle side business journey. And
Speaker 1: of course mindset is where it begins thoughts of whether
Speaker 1: or not I can do this absolutely sets the trajectory
Speaker 1: for whether or not we are going to take the
Speaker 1: next step in that direction. So mindset is a big
Speaker 1: part of this and we hope to encourage you in
Speaker 1: this process and also give you a couple of tools
Speaker 1: from this article on what you can do even related
Speaker 1: to your thought processes to help you feel confident too
Speaker 1: and prepared to do this. Yeah, and I want to
Speaker 1: reiterate like over and over throughout this episode that you
Speaker 1: do not have to be like a living in your
Speaker 1: mom's basement or in Silicon Valley or something. You don't
Speaker 1: have to be the next startup CEO. You don't have
Speaker 1: to be great at selling or be the stereotypical entrepreneur
Speaker 1: that you think of. You can have like a low
Speaker 1: impact side business that you do on the weekends or
Speaker 1: you do some in the mornings, and you can commit
Speaker 1: to it as much or as little time as your
Speaker 1: life requires um and still have a side business. So
Speaker 1: that is kind of something we want to reiterate throughout
Speaker 1: the episode. And I do want to say at the
Speaker 1: start of this episode, we're not going to be giving
Speaker 1: all a whole list of ideas of what you can
Speaker 1: do for a business. We are hoping to water and
Speaker 1: give a little bit sunlight to possibly ideas that are
Speaker 1: already stirring inside of you wherever your skill set already is,
Speaker 1: if you've had that and I like what this article describes,
Speaker 1: so I will absolutely direct people to this article because
Speaker 1: we're not going to go through it in its entirety.
Speaker 1: Talks about that I that feeling in the pit of
Speaker 1: your stomach that a lot of us have sometimes of
Speaker 1: there's more I could be doing, or I'm not utilizing
Speaker 1: this aspect of my skill set, or I really have
Speaker 1: a desire to teach people how to such and such
Speaker 1: or solve this problem for so and so, And that's
Speaker 1: what we're talking about. So when you've got the rumblings
Speaker 1: of that idea, this is the episode to help you
Speaker 1: water that idea. A couple of examples and as I
Speaker 1: mentioned this of maybe some things that that we've done.
Speaker 1: First of all, this podcast is one of those. This
Speaker 1: is this is a side business for us. Yeah right, Uh,
Speaker 1: so you know you can try to start a podcast.
Speaker 1: As we've talked about in previous episodes, it is not
Speaker 1: the most lucrative for at least the first two years,
Speaker 1: low impact, that's for sure. My husband and I have
Speaker 1: also DJ that's a weekend thing, so it didn't pull
Speaker 1: us from our regular daytime jobs. Uh. And that was
Speaker 1: our own business that that we had. We also did
Speaker 1: some bartending on the side. That was our own business
Speaker 1: that we would show up to weddings and bartend b
Speaker 1: y oh events. Uh what about for you, Jen, any
Speaker 1: examples of side businesses. Yeah, we rented out our guest
Speaker 1: room on Airbnb. Uh, so we were able to control
Speaker 1: the pricing and who was there. Um. I My very
Speaker 1: first one was a T shirt company. I designed t
Speaker 1: shirts um, and then publishing on Amazon. And really my
Speaker 1: entire business is just a collection of smaller businesses. So
Speaker 1: it's and they make up one full of on income.
Speaker 1: So I feel like this is all I'm doing. It's
Speaker 1: just all under your name and your social starting number.
Speaker 1: It's great. Yeah, well not my employee I D number. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And we'll talk about more of this in our lightning ground.
Speaker 1: But I wanted to say that from the start that
Speaker 1: we're gonna we are watering and providing sunlight to you. Yes, okay,
Speaker 1: let's go. Let's go to the first one. There's a
Speaker 1: five on here. Yeah, so five five mindset things that
Speaker 1: are going to be able to help us prepare to
Speaker 1: do this whole startup business thing. And the first one
Speaker 1: is decisiveness. Holy smokes, couldn't agree more. I but I
Speaker 1: don't know that I would have fully put this towards
Speaker 1: But I'm discovering more and more how important it is
Speaker 1: to be decisive. I think even just financially and as
Speaker 1: we are on this frugal journey. It is a really
Speaker 1: important skill and muscle to develop in ourselves, the ability
Speaker 1: to say yes or no to something, to know what
Speaker 1: we want in the future. A decisiveness. And so they
Speaker 1: say that your ability to make a decision could make
Speaker 1: or break your future successes, even in a small business,
Speaker 1: because you will be making decisions constantly. So this is
Speaker 1: even if you are good at making decisions, it's still
Speaker 1: something that we can regularly be intentional about improving our
Speaker 1: decisiveness and quick decision making skills. They give an example
Speaker 1: here of practicing this in daily life, even just when
Speaker 1: ordering lunch, like do you want a sandwich or a salad?
Speaker 1: Just decide, just pick something, look over the menu wants
Speaker 1: and order that thing and confidently. And as you continue
Speaker 1: to do that and practice that, you will become better
Speaker 1: and better at making decisions on things that might be
Speaker 1: a little bit more important than whether or not you
Speaker 1: eat a sandwich or a salad. Yeah, and that leads
Speaker 1: into the second one, which is confidence. So I feel
Speaker 1: like I have been um practicing at this since day one.
Speaker 1: Um so, And the first question that is on here
Speaker 1: is like, how do you act company when confidently when
Speaker 1: you don't know what you're doing. That's like the entrepreneur
Speaker 1: like imposter syndrome. Um just everybody goes through that. I
Speaker 1: don't know one entrepreneur that hasn't felt like they don't
Speaker 1: know what they're doing. And if you do know what
Speaker 1: you're doing, you just don't know enough to know that
Speaker 1: you don't know what you're doing, um and there, and
Speaker 1: their solution is pretend you know what you're doing. You
Speaker 1: literally have to fake it till you make it. Like,
Speaker 1: obviously you shouldn't be in a field you know nothing about.
Speaker 1: But if you are in a field that you are
Speaker 1: fairly knowledgeable about, you kind of you kind of know
Speaker 1: what you're doing. In essence, then even when you feel
Speaker 1: like you don't know what you're doing, you just have
Speaker 1: to force it. You have to pretend because the truth
Speaker 1: is is you probably know a little bit more than
Speaker 1: what you're giving yourself credit for. Imposter syndrome is so real.
Speaker 1: But I love what Amy Porterfield from online Marketing made easy.
Speaker 1: She says, you just have to have a ten percent edge.
Speaker 1: So you just have to have ten percent more knowledge
Speaker 1: than your client, or ten percent more um like opportunities
Speaker 1: or assets or whatever than your customer. Ten percent ahead
Speaker 1: of whoever you're serving um. And sometimes I found that
Speaker 1: to be even better than somebody who's leaps and bounds
Speaker 1: like expertise. Because the richer you are, the bigger you are,
Speaker 1: the more successful you are, the more out of touch
Speaker 1: you are, like a table that are far yeah, that
Speaker 1: are far behind you. And so I think it's better,
Speaker 1: and I think more people should be starting businesses with
Speaker 1: products or certain is that are closer to and more
Speaker 1: in touch with your ideal customer. We were not podcasters are,
Speaker 1: but we started a podcast. I had no I'm a writer,
Speaker 1: I had no desire to talk. Yeah, and you all listened,
Speaker 1: and so we kept going and here we are, thank you.
Speaker 1: And and when when you need more confidence, just put
Speaker 1: on some lipstick. That's when I did to comb your hair.
Speaker 1: It's so true. You can. If your hair is not curly,
Speaker 1: can you comb your hair? That's a side tangent. Third
Speaker 1: on this list is accountability, and what this is referring
Speaker 1: to is holding yourself accountable and taking on responsibility, which
Speaker 1: really we all should be doing just as adults. Welcome
Speaker 1: to adulthood, but recognizing that everything that we do or
Speaker 1: that happens at work when we are starting our own business,
Speaker 1: whether small or large, you are responsible for everything that
Speaker 1: happens in your business. You are responsible whether it moves
Speaker 1: forward or falls flat. You are responsible. And that's not
Speaker 1: to to be a fear, that's not to induce fear
Speaker 1: in this process, but to help us to be to
Speaker 1: recognize where the onus is to be able to pick
Speaker 1: up that responsibility, because it's going to be helpful as
Speaker 1: far as mindset goes in being able to move forward
Speaker 1: with the business that you're starting. Yeah, I get a
Speaker 1: lot of emails, um and direct messages from people who
Speaker 1: really have a lot of things that are in circumstances
Speaker 1: that are legitimately unfortunate. Um. But I've also seen a
Speaker 1: lot of stories, and I'm sure we all have, because
Speaker 1: it's the stories of people who are in very unfortunate
Speaker 1: circumstances and come out of them and are successful. Those
Speaker 1: are the ones you hear all about and so and
Speaker 1: I know those people personally, and so I can't believe
Speaker 1: that people can't come out of their unfortunate circumstances. Um.
Speaker 1: I've seen too many people, and sometimes I like belittle
Speaker 1: my own circumstances. But I'm learning more and more that
Speaker 1: like the circumstances I came out of them are also legitimate.
Speaker 1: So to to be somebody who has overcome things and
Speaker 1: then to also see people that have come overcome even
Speaker 1: bigger things, like you have to believe that, like your
Speaker 1: I love this quote. Your circumstances may not be your fault,
Speaker 1: but they are your responsibility, and so to overcome them.
Speaker 1: I think it's also empowering too. While it's scary in
Speaker 1: some way, it's also empowering to know you do have control.
Speaker 1: And so where we feel like like the locus of
Speaker 1: control is inside of us. You've talked about that a lot.
Speaker 1: Favorite is my favorite concept. Yeah, then we are able
Speaker 1: to move forward in in health towards greater opportunities, and
Speaker 1: we have an ability to when we feel as though
Speaker 1: we actually are able to influence our surroundings and make
Speaker 1: changes within our immediate circumstances, we fare better and your
Speaker 1: business is likely to fare better. Yeah, for sure. Um.
Speaker 1: The fourth one I think is the most important one
Speaker 1: on the list, um, and it's resilience because as an entrepreneur,
Speaker 1: as a human being, you'll make mistakes and you'll fail,
Speaker 1: and you'll have things, Um, you'll have products or whatever
Speaker 1: that you think are going to go great, that you've
Speaker 1: mark at research, that you're just really confident in, and
Speaker 1: then they just fall flat and you don't know why.
Speaker 1: Like you will do everything right and everything will go wrong. Uh,
Speaker 1: and but you'll have as many times where you do
Speaker 1: nothing right and every and everything goes right. So in
Speaker 1: the time, but we always remember the times that go
Speaker 1: wrong right. We never remember the times we get lucky
Speaker 1: or the times we really succeed. We always remember the
Speaker 1: times where everything went wrong. And so you have to
Speaker 1: develop resilience to move past those things and uh, devalue
Speaker 1: them to the level they actually exist at. And resilience
Speaker 1: is something that we can build. I know sometimes we
Speaker 1: talk about resilience as something people are just born with.
Speaker 1: Of some people thrive and other people don't yet given
Speaker 1: the same circumstances, and we think it might just be
Speaker 1: innate or you're born with it. But the reality the
Speaker 1: is is that resilience can be built upon. We can
Speaker 1: grow our resilience factors inside of ourselves, and some of
Speaker 1: that has to do with picking ourselves back up after
Speaker 1: a failure and continuing to move forward to allow ourselves
Speaker 1: room for failure and not allow it to completely derail us,
Speaker 1: to remind ourselves of our strengths, to engage in self
Speaker 1: care practices, and also all of the other three things
Speaker 1: that we've just mentioned before this resilience piece. So there
Speaker 1: are ways to engage in this and and build upon
Speaker 1: it inside of ourselves. It's not as if you're just
Speaker 1: born with it. If I don't have it, well, oh
Speaker 1: well absolutely. And number five, the last on this list
Speaker 1: is humility. I like how they describe it. Humility is
Speaker 1: freedom from pride or arrogance, and it is a necessary
Speaker 1: characteristic of entrepreneurship or starting our own businesses again, even
Speaker 1: if very small. It's the ability to be able to
Speaker 1: be coachable and to learn, and to be able to
Speaker 1: fail and learn from those mistakes and do something different
Speaker 1: next time. UM engaging others in the process and asking
Speaker 1: them to speak into the situation and not imagining that
Speaker 1: we know everything or exactly how something should be done.
Speaker 1: And this humility is going to be a major component
Speaker 1: in seeing success in your business. Yeah, So those are
Speaker 1: the mindset shifts to go through, and in general, I
Speaker 1: think even if you don't want to start a side business,
Speaker 1: they are important characteristics to have. But especially UM, if
Speaker 1: you want to do something entrepreneurial, even if it's small,
Speaker 1: because I can name all of these every times I've
Speaker 1: needed all of these things in mine, um, and sometimes
Speaker 1: the humility has been forced, but um yeah, it's they're
Speaker 1: definitely all necessary. Uh So, where where do we even
Speaker 1: go from here? I'll tell you where we go. Uh
Speaker 1: So we're going to entrepreneur dot com. Perfect, yes, so.
Speaker 1: Uh funny thing is that entrepreneur dot com actually has
Speaker 1: the number one result for make more money, um, since
Speaker 1: that's what I googled because it's the title of the show.
Speaker 1: But I didn't go with that article because that one
Speaker 1: was exactly like what I described at the beginning of
Speaker 1: the show. But in the article they had a link
Speaker 1: to this one UM called how to make a Fortune
Speaker 1: with a hundred dollars, And I thought was just a
Speaker 1: really interesting piece and it like gave some interesting concepts.
Speaker 1: But I think if you're not in like engulfed in
Speaker 1: entrepreneurship or not, haven't started a business, like you wouldn't
Speaker 1: even think I didn't think this way, but um, just
Speaker 1: like tips from six different really super wealthy entrepreneurs on
Speaker 1: how they would make a fortune with a hundred dollars yeah,
Speaker 1: and so they don't necessarily build upon each other. They're
Speaker 1: all from various individuals providing their insight on what they
Speaker 1: would do. And so the first one, uh comes from
Speaker 1: a gentleman named Gary. I'm not even gonna try to
Speaker 1: pronounce it, thank you, uh and he he says to
Speaker 1: buy and flip. So and this is so true. They
Speaker 1: mentioned even the poorest of us most likely has anywhere
Speaker 1: between five hundred to maybe five grand worth of stuff
Speaker 1: sitting around in our closets, in our garages, unwanted toys, jackets, shoes, tools,
Speaker 1: you name it, and being able to uh sell them
Speaker 1: but also buy online and then flip those things. So
Speaker 1: he's saying that we can figure out what these items
Speaker 1: are worth, purchase them at a lower amount at your
Speaker 1: yard sales or Craigslist or eBay, and then flip it
Speaker 1: uh at the same places eBay, Craigslist, Facebook marketplace. And
Speaker 1: Travis does this. Yes, Travis does flipping. He finds a
Speaker 1: lot of things for free and like on Facebook marketplace
Speaker 1: around the side of the road and then he'll clean
Speaker 1: it up and he'll sell it on Facebook marketplace. Um.
Speaker 1: And we try to make it our goal to pay
Speaker 1: Hey for daycare with the money he makes from flipping UH.
Speaker 1: And we don't make it all the time, but a
Speaker 1: lot of the time we do make it. So that's
Speaker 1: really fun. But I know that people can make a
Speaker 1: lot of money flipping UH, like clothing, especially shoes and outerwear.
Speaker 1: If you follow teach to Thrift on Instagram, she does
Speaker 1: that and she's super successful. But start with the stuff
Speaker 1: in your house. You can start with the stuff in
Speaker 1: your house and UH and just use it as a
Speaker 1: launch pad. So the second one is from ty Lopez
Speaker 1: UM and he says sell or service. So the best
Speaker 1: business is to start when you have a hundred dollars
Speaker 1: or less. Are either sales or service businesses because all
Speaker 1: you need is your phone and the Internet, so it
Speaker 1: can be consulting or selling cars, or life insurance, he says,
Speaker 1: even vacuum cleaners door to door. I don't know if
Speaker 1: I would do that one, he says, because these fields
Speaker 1: hone the skills that will be valuable to you when
Speaker 1: you have more capital, so you learn how to persuade, negotiate,
Speaker 1: overcome fear, and handle rejection. So a lot of these
Speaker 1: starter businesses are really learning opportunities to UM. If you
Speaker 1: have aspirations to one day leave your job and work
Speaker 1: for yourself. Yeah. I like this idea of not having
Speaker 1: much overhead, even if you are considering, well, what could
Speaker 1: be a business that I could start? Definitely one that
Speaker 1: doesn't require you to buy a brick and mortar building. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Next on this list is test before you invest. So
Speaker 1: if you do have this an idea for a small
Speaker 1: business that you can start, this suggestion talks about you
Speaker 1: to lizing a hundred dollars that you might have to
Speaker 1: be able to test your idea or try to generate leads.
Speaker 1: So they mentioned buying twenty five dollar Facebook ads and
Speaker 1: seeing what kind of results you get, whether you get
Speaker 1: a positive or negative response, and if the idea falls flat,
Speaker 1: then maybe tweak it, or if the momentum is really good,
Speaker 1: then keep going with it. So if you're uncertain if
Speaker 1: you've got a good idea or not, this could be
Speaker 1: a really good way to test the idea and have
Speaker 1: a low investment point on it before you turn it
Speaker 1: into something larger. Yeah, this is super popular in online
Speaker 1: business is because you can do a conversion ad on
Speaker 1: Facebook for as little as five dollars a day, So
Speaker 1: putting something up um that states your idea going to
Speaker 1: like a web page or landing page or something simple,
Speaker 1: and if people click on it it, uh, then you
Speaker 1: know it's popular. And if they don't click on it,
Speaker 1: you know they don't want it or it's not a
Speaker 1: popular idea. So it's very easy. You don't have to
Speaker 1: know a lot about Facebook ads um to really test
Speaker 1: the service or the product that you want to serve um,
Speaker 1: whether it's online or locally. You can really target ads
Speaker 1: um to two very specific people on Facebook, so it's
Speaker 1: good to see if your target market would be interested
Speaker 1: in it. And the next one is from Chris Plow.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's how you say his name. Uh.
Speaker 1: Utilize your expertise and so I love this one. Uh.
Speaker 1: He says the simplest way to bootstrap is to identify, share,
Speaker 1: consult or teach, and then scale. So we found when
Speaker 1: we were paying off debt, it was these side hustles
Speaker 1: that utilized the expertise we already had. So for me,
Speaker 1: it was acupuncture and I did acupuncture on the side
Speaker 1: at a rehab center. For Travis it was he's an
Speaker 1: aircraft mechanic, so there are forms that you fill out
Speaker 1: after you fix something that only a mechanic can fill out,
Speaker 1: and so he would while other mechanics were, you know,
Speaker 1: fixing stuff, he would fill out their forms and sign
Speaker 1: them for them. Um, so he made money doing that.
Speaker 1: So it was the things that used our expertise that
Speaker 1: got us the highest, like buck high spang for a buck,
Speaker 1: I guess most money per hour. But yeah, so utilize
Speaker 1: take inventory of your skills, um, the unique positions you're in, certifications,
Speaker 1: anything that you know, and see how you can capitalize
Speaker 1: on it. Yeah, even outside of your regular day to
Speaker 1: day job, it could be something that you turn into
Speaker 1: a side business because of your area of expertise. The
Speaker 1: fifth one on this list is from Steve Griggs and
Speaker 1: reminds us to not forget service. They talk about given
Speaker 1: the FedEx speed and the Ritz Carlton service and how
Speaker 1: even the way that we approach a small business on
Speaker 1: the side and going above and beyond for those that
Speaker 1: you're providing services or um products too, can be really
Speaker 1: helpful in even getting referrals and future jobs. That this
Speaker 1: because of doing a job so well, you might even
Speaker 1: be able to drum up more business with a zero
Speaker 1: marketing budget. If you are going above and beyond going
Speaker 1: the extra mile for the people that you are serving,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't cost you necessarily to be kind, maybe
Speaker 1: emotionally depending on the client, but that even if there's
Speaker 1: a ton of other people out there doing your idea,
Speaker 1: there could still be room for you to do that thing,
Speaker 1: and you still might have an edge on others doing
Speaker 1: it if you are simply kind, you do good service,
Speaker 1: you're efficient, and and that gives you that that edge
Speaker 1: that just might be able to make the business work. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Another side to the service coin is that a lot
Speaker 1: of people struggle to raise their prices or to just
Speaker 1: price them at a point that's viable. They don't think
Speaker 1: that their time is worth that or that their service
Speaker 1: is worth that. And so adding more service or more
Speaker 1: features or more bonuses that make your service or product
Speaker 1: more appealing or quote unquote worth more but don't necessarily
Speaker 1: saily take more of your time can help you charge
Speaker 1: more and more for things UM help you validated internally
Speaker 1: because most of the time increasing our prices as an
Speaker 1: internal struggle, not external UM. But it can help you
Speaker 1: to add more service UM to justify price increases. So
Speaker 1: like a digital product or even a physical product that
Speaker 1: you can give um something that you can give over
Speaker 1: and over for free, that isn't giving more and more
Speaker 1: of your time. And last on the list is from
Speaker 1: Roy McDonald. He says it's never about the money. You
Speaker 1: could start over six thousand businesses with a hundred dollars UM.
Speaker 1: But he's like, I've I've taken whole blocks of apartments
Speaker 1: with a hundred dollar option and traded them and I
Speaker 1: was like, I don't know what that means, UM. But
Speaker 1: it's never about the money. It's about how good the
Speaker 1: idea is UM. And he says it's also about partners
Speaker 1: if you have those, but it's mainly about your deep
Speaker 1: knowledge and understanding of the marketplace. UH that will accelerate
Speaker 1: your business and your business venture. So it's your job
Speaker 1: to articulate the vision of the business to people so
Speaker 1: they buy it. And so your your money or your
Speaker 1: time is better spent in marketing your product or service
Speaker 1: your business UM than actually in the business. And so
Speaker 1: you need to be able to articulate why it's important
Speaker 1: and UH do your market research and all of that.
Speaker 1: And I like his focus on getting the right people
Speaker 1: around you in that process that whether or not they
Speaker 1: even turn into a business partner. Even getting consulting or
Speaker 1: ideas and opinions from the right people who are able
Speaker 1: to speak into those aspects can be invaluable to the
Speaker 1: beginnings of this thing. Yeah, you know what other beginnings
Speaker 1: are invaluable. It's the bill of the week, that's right.
Speaker 1: It's time for the best minute of your entire week.
Speaker 1: Maybe a baby was born and his name is William.
Speaker 1: Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died
Speaker 1: and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 1: That bills Buffalo bills, Bill Clint, this is the bill
Speaker 1: of the week. Hi guys, this is Emily from ACA,
Speaker 1: New York and I'm calling with my bill of the week.
Speaker 1: And my bill of the week is light bulbs. So
Speaker 1: we decided that we were going to switch to LED
Speaker 1: light bulbs to help save on our electric bill um
Speaker 1: and since we're no spend challenge, I was like going
Speaker 1: to buy them right away. So I was price checking
Speaker 1: and seeing how much they would be a different places
Speaker 1: and found that the cheapest was probably gonna be about
Speaker 1: twenty bucks for a twelve pack. But today we got
Speaker 1: an email from our electric companies that they have a
Speaker 1: sale on light bulbs and they were six dollars for
Speaker 1: a twelve pack instead of like twenty bucks. So we
Speaker 1: bought two twelve packs of light bulbs today and I
Speaker 1: was just so excited that I had to call and
Speaker 1: tell you guys that how much we saved on light bulbs.
Speaker 1: And then we're going to be saving so much on
Speaker 1: our electric bill switching all of our light bulbs because
Speaker 1: we have like a million light bulbs to switch over.
Speaker 1: All right, Thanks guys, love the podcast. That's so fun.
Speaker 1: I love it that people think of us now when
Speaker 1: they do stuff like this. Any little money savings are
Speaker 1: like small bill? Is it just I just gotta call
Speaker 1: you and tell you, And I am equally excited with
Speaker 1: you that you got a deal on something you'd already
Speaker 1: been looking for. I think that's what always stands out
Speaker 1: to me is when you're patient for something and it's
Speaker 1: something that you need, and then and then it comes
Speaker 1: along that there is a deal on that exact thing
Speaker 1: that you need, it just feels like the stars aligned
Speaker 1: you know. That's the best part. It's like it comes
Speaker 1: before you buy it and not after. Yes, that's a blessing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And the double whammy that not only did you save money,
Speaker 1: on the light bulbs. But now it's going to save
Speaker 1: you money long term on every single electric bill that
Speaker 1: you get from here on out. Well done, Emily, and
Speaker 1: while done on your no spend challenge, we just glossed
Speaker 1: over that one. Yes, she's being patient because she's on
Speaker 1: a no spend ch owl and there's so many people
Speaker 1: on no spend October right now, it's so good. Well,
Speaker 1: if you want to submit your bill of the week, please,
Speaker 1: if you save money on something you think of us,
Speaker 1: visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill and leave
Speaker 1: us a bill and we will listen to it and
Speaker 1: love it. Now it's time for this is the moment
Speaker 1: you've been waiting for. We won't talk about our side
Speaker 1: business ventures, yes, because this is all we do, and
Speaker 1: we don't talk about it a lot, but even together
Speaker 1: we don't talk about it a lot. But we're always
Speaker 1: coming up with new ways to make money that in
Speaker 1: itself is our our hobbies. Yeah, yeah, how we started
Speaker 1: our side business ventures. I don't even remember what my
Speaker 1: first side business was. Honestly, I feel like I've had
Speaker 1: so many and not all of them have have done
Speaker 1: gone anywhere, right, Like obviously, because I'm not doing like
Speaker 1: twenty different things. Most of the time, I did have
Speaker 1: like plants on the side of the road at one point,
Speaker 1: trying to make money off of that. Just like any
Speaker 1: time I see something that I'm like, this could make money, like,
Speaker 1: I just go for it. And maybe that's part of
Speaker 1: the decisiveness thing. And sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
Speaker 1: It's always fun at least exactly so. But the first
Speaker 1: one that's coming to mind is, as I mentioned earlier, Eric,
Speaker 1: my husband, and I had a DJing business and it
Speaker 1: was just something that we did on the side, and
Speaker 1: really it started because we already had the music equipment.
Speaker 1: Eric does music recording and has toured in the past,
Speaker 1: and I don't know, he just has a collection and
Speaker 1: we would get people asking if they could borrow our
Speaker 1: speakers at different points or he would utilize that them
Speaker 1: like his equipment at concerts, small concerts in the area,
Speaker 1: and I don't know. We might have been asked by
Speaker 1: a couple at one point if we would DJ their
Speaker 1: wedding or we saw that they're either one. Something happened here,
Speaker 1: something happened where we saw that, oh, we've got equipment
Speaker 1: and people want this service. At an affordable rate. We
Speaker 1: already have other businesses and work that we're doing, so
Speaker 1: this could be something that we do on the side.
Speaker 1: It could be lucrative for us and still affordable for
Speaker 1: other people. And there's really no upfront startup cost because
Speaker 1: we already had the equipment. So that was It's an
Speaker 1: example of something that we had on hand, a skill
Speaker 1: that we had in our back pockets, that we figured out,
Speaker 1: how can we make money off of this? We we
Speaker 1: don't say we don't do it anymore, although literally a
Speaker 1: week and a half ago we did d J a
Speaker 1: wedding and I don't know, we just can't get out
Speaker 1: of it. Um. Yeah, it was for good friends and
Speaker 1: we were so pleased to do it. But I would
Speaker 1: say for a couple of years we would do a
Speaker 1: handful of weddings and it brought in some real decent
Speaker 1: cash for hanging out with people on the weekends and
Speaker 1: playing music with equipment we already had. For sure, hopefully
Speaker 1: there were open bars at these weddings. Um. So my
Speaker 1: first side business was the T shirt business, and that
Speaker 1: one taught me so much about business. Um it went,
Speaker 1: it went up really really fast and crashed even faster.
Speaker 1: Well done right. So I was designing T shirts. I
Speaker 1: heard about UM merch by Amazon from the side Hustle show,
Speaker 1: great podcast if you want side business ideas. So I
Speaker 1: was listening to the podcast and I was like, I
Speaker 1: could design T shirts. UM. I used Canva, which was
Speaker 1: which is free UM, and then just uploaded them to
Speaker 1: a site that would remove the background because I wouldn't
Speaker 1: even pay Canava to get transparent backgrounds. Did it all
Speaker 1: for free. UM. It only took my time and they
Speaker 1: started to sell. UM. But I towed too close to
Speaker 1: the line of copyright infringement where it wasn't copyright infringement
Speaker 1: but it was intellectual property UM. And other people were
Speaker 1: doing it, and so I was like, if they're getting
Speaker 1: away with it, I can UM. But my problem was
Speaker 1: that my shirt got very successful and it got up
Speaker 1: like sold very well, and so UM somebody else reported
Speaker 1: it and that's what happened. That was happens a lot
Speaker 1: in when people get something that's really successful. I've seen.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's happened to me with my book too.
Speaker 1: And I got really successful. UM. Somebody flagged some broken
Speaker 1: links and got my book taken down for a few days,
Speaker 1: and then magically there was another no Spend Challenge book
Speaker 1: up on Amazon. So that's that just happens. That's business
Speaker 1: people intentionally sad attage you. UM. And part of it
Speaker 1: was my fault for towing the line too close. And
Speaker 1: uh so I was taking off of Amazon, UM, and
Speaker 1: that was I got back onto Amazon, but um without
Speaker 1: that shirt. And I had some other very popular shirts.
Speaker 1: One was even more popular than that, and it was
Speaker 1: not copyright infringement. And then somebody went and trademarked the
Speaker 1: phrase and then reported my shirt and took it down.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so that was It was totally fine when
Speaker 1: I took put it up and then people trademarked it.
Speaker 1: So I learned so much about business from that UM
Speaker 1: and I'm so thankful it provided some money to help
Speaker 1: us pay off our debt faster. UM. But I no
Speaker 1: longer sell T shirts and I actually have one of
Speaker 1: If you google how to start a T shirt business, like,
Speaker 1: you'll find my article. But I no longer do it
Speaker 1: cause I knew when to give up. Like I had
Speaker 1: already been kind of wanting to do other things. I
Speaker 1: tried to outsource the shirt design and I just I
Speaker 1: picked designs that were I picked a designer that just
Speaker 1: did not jive. Um, And so I spent all this
Speaker 1: money and nobody bought a single one of your designs. Um.
Speaker 1: So I think you're making a good point though in
Speaker 1: this example, to dot your eyes and cross your te
Speaker 1: s that, yes, while we are providing water and sunlight
Speaker 1: to all of your ideas, we I also want to
Speaker 1: highlight here to make sure that you know what you're
Speaker 1: getting yourself into. I've got a good amount of friends
Speaker 1: actually who have some side businesses selling baked goods or
Speaker 1: food pre prepared, which is awesome and they're doing very
Speaker 1: well with it. But if that is it's an example
Speaker 1: of a route that you could take. But to make
Speaker 1: sure that you know is required of you regarding the
Speaker 1: type of kitchen that you're cooking in, and you know,
Speaker 1: providing items that are gluten free or what you know,
Speaker 1: whatever you're getting into, that you're aware of the liability,
Speaker 1: that you have insurance, that you know how to handle taxes,
Speaker 1: and of course there are others to help with this.
Speaker 1: You don't have to be an expert on all of
Speaker 1: these things. That's part of the team approach that we
Speaker 1: talked about in one of our articles earlier, and getting
Speaker 1: the right people around you, um and and it doesn't
Speaker 1: have to be overwhelmingly complicated. I just want to mention
Speaker 1: that caveat that it's worth doing some research as far
Speaker 1: as what will this require of me and what are
Speaker 1: the risks as I enter into this? Right? Yeah, you
Speaker 1: don't have to start with insurance or you know, a
Speaker 1: business account or getting an LLC. Like, you don't need
Speaker 1: any of those things to have a side business like
Speaker 1: those are once you start, you know, making money and
Speaker 1: want to take yourself to the X level. But you
Speaker 1: should always be uh you should know, do trademark searches,
Speaker 1: copyright searches when like you're naming things, um, and just
Speaker 1: be aware of like common sense actually yes and ask
Speaker 1: people about that. Yes, if you don't have it, ask uh,
Speaker 1: so most lucrative side businesses and what made it so? Honestly,
Speaker 1: I know that we joke about this podcast and how
Speaker 1: little money it's it has made us, so maybe this
Speaker 1: is indicative of how little my previous side hustles have made.
Speaker 1: But honestly, we are getting to the point where, thank
Speaker 1: you so much to our listeners and the support that
Speaker 1: that we received through that and through sponsorships, we are
Speaker 1: beginning to make money off of this podcast, and I
Speaker 1: think partly because of the longevity that we've had with it,
Speaker 1: um it, it is becoming lucrative. And I think because
Speaker 1: of the income to time ratio that's happening. We don't
Speaker 1: put a ton of time into the podcast and yet
Speaker 1: make some money off of it. So I think in
Speaker 1: that way that's what's making it the most lucrative. I'm
Speaker 1: not spending an entire saturday doing this like I did
Speaker 1: when I d J. It's we made a decent amount
Speaker 1: of money, but I think percentage wise, this is probably
Speaker 1: more lucrative. For sure, Yeah, it is certain. We we
Speaker 1: thank you for supporting our sponsors and buying the workbook.
Speaker 1: All this stuff helps us be able to do the
Speaker 1: podcast longer. Now for me, my most lucrative one is
Speaker 1: self publishing. So my book The No Spend Challenge Guide
Speaker 1: UM brings in around a thousand dollars a month, and
Speaker 1: then I have two other books that UM bringing much
Speaker 1: less but still UM some money. So that's I mean great.
Speaker 1: And the only thing I can attribute it to it
Speaker 1: was it was a little bit of doing everything right UM.
Speaker 1: So I really used self publishing school their their content
Speaker 1: and Chandler Bolt's book, UM, and just did everything that
Speaker 1: they said and then a little bit of luck to
Speaker 1: um getting picked up by the algorithm in the right
Speaker 1: place at the right time. Because I did the same
Speaker 1: exact things for my other books and they're not nearly
Speaker 1: as successful. Um, but just getting it, you know, making
Speaker 1: your own luck, almost being in the place to being
Speaker 1: in the right place to get lucky. Um. Because that's
Speaker 1: kind of how business works, right. UM. It's a it's
Speaker 1: a lot of work and a little luck um. But
Speaker 1: without the work, you don't get the luck. Jill, how's
Speaker 1: that DJing career going? Yes, we I don't think have
Speaker 1: dj since that podcast came out. I think we've officially
Speaker 1: sunsetted that side business and we've moved on to other things.
Speaker 1: I would say in the last two years, I've not
Speaker 1: really engaged in too many various things to bring in money.
Speaker 1: I've really focused in on what's currently right in front
Speaker 1: of me and what's currently in my hands and seen
Speaker 1: a lot of growth and progress with that, which I'm
Speaker 1: so grateful for. I don't think I could have gotten
Speaker 1: to this point without the past and kind of the
Speaker 1: things that I learned in trying new and different things,
Speaker 1: seeing what works what doesn't. And finally, now in my
Speaker 1: mid thirties old mid thirties, I'm feeling more are more established,
Speaker 1: more confident in my skill set the things that I
Speaker 1: have grown up to this point that have really been
Speaker 1: a focus for me. So I'm I'm glad for that.
Speaker 1: And I would say this podcast is my side hustle.
Speaker 1: M I know, this is a side hustle that has
Speaker 1: grown to my full time hustle, my full time business.
Speaker 1: Look at us as I know, Yeah, and it's I
Speaker 1: did not anticipated. It's so funny because I've kind of
Speaker 1: come to this point now where in business, I think
Speaker 1: it's really great to throw spaghetti against the wall to
Speaker 1: see what works early on. Really give yourself a year
Speaker 1: too to throw the spaghetti. And after you've done that,
Speaker 1: you have to you have to simplify, and you have
Speaker 1: to hone in on the thing that's working and double
Speaker 1: down on it and hopefully spaghetti like eventually got to
Speaker 1: eat it. Yeah. But like if you are doing too
Speaker 1: many things for too long, which I did, I think
Speaker 1: I was doing when we recorded this episode, you will
Speaker 1: exhaust yourself. You will burn out, and you will quit.
Speaker 1: And I was at the burnout stage a year and
Speaker 1: a half ago, and somebody had to really challenge me
Speaker 1: to simplify, and I'm so glad that I did because
Speaker 1: it's changed everything for me. And so I think that's
Speaker 1: one of the we see these quote unquote serial entrepreneurs
Speaker 1: that just do like they're doing a new business every
Speaker 1: six months. Uh and or they're they're just doing too
Speaker 1: many things in their business and it is exhausting. So
Speaker 1: I think it doesn't have to be that way if
Speaker 1: you've seen poor examples of entrepreneurship, or maybe don't compare
Speaker 1: yourself to the people on social media either, because I
Speaker 1: I know their backstory. I know a lot of their backstories,
Speaker 1: and they're not. You don't want to compare yourself, You
Speaker 1: don't you. I want to take the same path they
Speaker 1: are taking. Take your own path, and that will be
Speaker 1: the right path for you. Good wicked, smart Jen, Thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you, ah, thanks so much for listening. Guys. I
Speaker 1: hope you got as much out of this a second
Speaker 1: time around as we did. Many of you know that
Speaker 1: we have a private community where we support people in
Speaker 1: doing their side businesses, and we also do monthly challenges
Speaker 1: and offer accountability groups, and we want to congratulate one
Speaker 1: of our members for a big win. Um, this is
Speaker 1: more just congratulating Judith for being the o G. She says,
Speaker 1: I have been tracking every expense since last March. It
Speaker 1: seems there's always an unexpected expense, such as a repair,
Speaker 1: and you just have to have the money put aside
Speaker 1: for it. I watched my gas and food expenses go
Speaker 1: up monthly, and I've already consolidated trips. Can't save much
Speaker 1: more on gas, eating more meatless meals and this one.
Speaker 1: You using aquafaba, the liquid that comes in cans of
Speaker 1: chickpeas in place of eggs whenever possible. This has helped
Speaker 1: my budget. See you you are the o G. She Yeah,
Speaker 1: she is the o G. But also to say, like
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter how long you've been doing this, you
Speaker 1: need a miscellaneous fund or some kind of slush fund,
Speaker 1: because literally every month there is an unexpected expense that
Speaker 1: doesn't go away. No matter how good you get, even
Speaker 1: if you're as good as Judith, even if you're using
Speaker 1: aqua faba in place of eggs, you still need a
Speaker 1: miscellaneous fund. Yeah, which is big in the in the
Speaker 1: vegan vegetarian world. I can say It's not a shock
Speaker 1: to me, but I've never For the ten years I
Speaker 1: was vegetarian and I never never tried it. So congrats
Speaker 1: to to thank you for listening. If you want to
Speaker 1: check out our monthly challenge community had to Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: podcast dot com slash club and see what challenge we
Speaker 1: have coming up next. See you all next time. Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends is produced by Eric Syrian Jen. I have both
Speaker 1: a frugal fail and a frugal win, but I'm only
Speaker 1: going to share one with you. Which do you want?
Speaker 1: I want to hear your wins. I want to hear
Speaker 1: your successes. Which one's funnier? I want to hear which
Speaker 1: every one's funnier. Neither one's funny win. A celebratory of
Speaker 1: fail is disappointing. You don't live my life, Jill. Okay,
Speaker 1: give me the wind. Let's celebrate. Okay, I did tell
Speaker 1: this to you already, but here we are for all
Speaker 1: of our listeners. I was so pleased last Friday Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends Friday, mind you no less, I do love this one.
Speaker 1: And I had gotten this flyer in the mail for
Speaker 1: the Internet provider that we already have their mistake. I
Speaker 1: guess offering very low internet to new customers. Well, we
Speaker 1: were already a customer, but it came in my mailbox,
Speaker 1: so I had put it on my desk, kind of
Speaker 1: one of those things life admin. Hopefully I'll get to it. Well,
Speaker 1: Friday afternoon, I was tired. I was exhausted. Weary might
Speaker 1: be a good word to describe how I felt. And
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, I do not feel like calling. How much
Speaker 1: am I really going to save? It's okay, the amount
Speaker 1: that we pay right now for internet is still very reasonable.
Speaker 1: I don't feel like calling. But then I'm like, hmm,
Speaker 1: I wonder if I could make this change online look online.
Speaker 1: And then I just get to this point where they're like,
Speaker 1: give us a call. You're already a customer, And for
Speaker 1: some reason the barrier was lifted, and I'm like, all right,
Speaker 1: I'll give him a call. So I do, and I
Speaker 1: talk with this lovely person on the other end, and
Speaker 1: I say to them, hey, I know I'm already a customer,
Speaker 1: but I got this flyer offering the same speed of
Speaker 1: Internet that I currently have for twenty dollars less than
Speaker 1: what I'm currently paying. Is there anything that can be
Speaker 1: done to get me closer to this advertised rate. Sure enough,
Speaker 1: certainly we can do that. And as this person is
Speaker 1: working on getting me onto this new plan, I also
Speaker 1: noticed this small print on the flyer saying that when
Speaker 1: you sign up for that level of internet speed, you
Speaker 1: get a hundred dollar Visa gift card. So then I
Speaker 1: say to this person, I don't mean to be greedy,
Speaker 1: but can I also get that one hundred dollar gift
Speaker 1: card that's being advertised? And there was a slight pause
Speaker 1: on the other end of the phontain. They're just like, uh, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I can do that for you. So sure enough, after
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes, this is record speed. I kid you not,
Speaker 1: it was only a fifteen minute phone call. I am
Speaker 1: now paying twenty dollars less on my internet and I'm
Speaker 1: going to get a one hundred dollar Visa gift card
Speaker 1: in the mail after three months of paying my bill
Speaker 1: on time, just in time for the holidays. I love
Speaker 1: this story because it just is a perfect example of
Speaker 1: you don't know if you don't ask, and hey, if
Speaker 1: you're on the phone for a half hour and they're
Speaker 1: giving you the run around and you don't want to
Speaker 1: be on the phone anymore, hang up, Hey, it's fine
Speaker 1: at least you tried like fifteen minutes. It really was
Speaker 1: once on he was once on the phone for like
Speaker 1: six hours. Stamina with a cell phone company that shall
Speaker 1: not be named. No, no, he has then anymore. I
Speaker 1: don't know what has a lot of stamina he's got
Speaker 1: that I could never um. But you know, I felt Mary.
Speaker 1: I didn't want to call, but after that, I was
Speaker 1: jazzed for the whole weekend. You really renews a month.
Speaker 1: I'm saving on internet like it's astronomical. That's so great.
Speaker 1: I'm so proud of you. I tell you I sail
Speaker 1: next time. Okay, I can't wait. Okay Bye,