What is the book Side Hustle about?
Many people are unhappy with their financial state. However, to change it for the better, you’d have to make a difficult step, for example, change a job, create your own business or even switch to another career. The mere thoughts about possible changes can be terrifying, and usually, we try to cast them away. We prefer to have two feet on the ground rather than plunge into uncertainty in the pursuit of a better future.
However, Chris Guillebeau offers another alternative. There is no need for radical changes – all you have to do is establish a source of additional income. The modern world provides a lot of opportunities to make money, and you only require the will and time to do so. Guillebeau disagrees with the proverb «money doesn’t grow on a tree». It does – if you find the right tree. But what does he mean by saying that?
To prove his point, Guillebeau gives a couple of inspiring examples. Let’s start with example #1: one man wrote a series of fish tank reviews for a little-known website and inserted links to Amazon products in them. He knew that he would get some money if the readers follow these links. However, he didn’t expect to get a severe income from this. To his surprise, a month after the publication of the fish tank reviews, he received a check for $350. But this is not the end of the story. These links continued to earn him money, and nowadays he makes around $700 a month from them.
Example #2: the government official from San Diego never imagined he could earn $4,000 a month when he agreed to work as a photographer at his friend’s wedding. He never thought about becoming a professional photographer, he just occasionally shot pictures as a part-time job. He has his primary job and a steady source of income, and he does not plan to give it up for the sake of becoming a freelancer.
Real stories like these are great examples of how to create an additional source of income while maintaining the main one. At its core, this book is a collection of step-by-step strategies for creating various side businesses from scratch. According to the author, if you follow one of these strategies, you will be able to develop your idea into a real source of income in 27 days. Besides additional revenue, this will give you confidence in the future, because nowadays anyone can lose their job just like that. In addition to that, the part-time job gives you a solid financial footing, and hence you become less dependent on the employer.
To find a decent side job, you’ll need to generate a lot of ideas and choose the best among them. After you’ve done that, you should do the first field test of your design and see whether it needs improvement. To successfully do this you won’t need money, business partners or severe business skills. What’s really important is the desire to experiment and the will to learn new stuff. If you have that, you don’t need anything else to succeed.
As Guillebeau claims, he has been working like that all his life, which allowed him to travel around the world. He has no idea how to be a good employee, but he knows everything about creating additional sources of income. He believes that after reading his book, people will learn to find profit under any circumstances.
Summary and 10 Ideas Side Hustle
- Look for ideas that can bring you income within a short period.
- Learn to distinguish potentially profitable ideas from impractical ones.
- Try your best to turn ideas with high potential into an additional source of income.
- With time your ideas must move to a larger scale.
- You must be able to predict your future income easily.
- Learn from the mistakes made by people with views similar to yours, and avoid repeating them.
- For starters, try to discuss the features of your products or services with imaginary customers.
- Try to transform your opinion into a real offer.
- Make up your mind on the price for your products or services.
- After you’ve thought your offer through and settled on the price, bring your approach to life.
Review Side Hustle
The book is efficient and easy to read. It’s filled with ideas that can be easily implemented in practice.
Having an additional source of income isn’t all about improving your financial well-being. By organizing side businesses, we can gain new opportunities and skills and eventually become more independent and self-confident. Guillebeau recommends encouraging ourselves with things that we couldn’t afford without a source of income. That could be a dinner at a fashionable restaurant, travel or a visit to the spa. We should reward ourselves for every minor victory. In addition to that, the side business gives you the opportunity to vent the stress from your primary job.
Pros and Cons
When it comes to flaws, the book contains some examples that can’t be implemented in specific economic and social realities. However, you don’t have to stick to the given patterns. Just use them as an essential algorithm for generating your ideas.
Top 25 Books Recommended by Naval Ravikant
Valuable ideas and practical advice for beginning entrepreneurs; coherent narrative; clear structure.
