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July 10, 2017By Paula Pant

#85: How to Side Hustle Your Way to Success, with Nick Loper

Nick Loper Afford Anything Podcast

Like many people, Nick Loper used to work a full-time job that didn’t excite him.

Unlike most people, Loper decided to escape his uninspiring work life.

First, he launched a shoe-comparison website that began collecting side income. Over time, this side project grew increasingly profitable, until — finally — he thought he could run this website full-time.

Loper quit his job.

That’s when all hell broke loose.

Within days, Loper’s website lost 80 percent of its search traffic and advertising revenue. Loper found himself both unemployed and without a viable business.

He spent several months correcting course, making his business solvent again. More importantly, he learned the importance of creating multiple streams of income.

Loper launched multiple small side businesses in order to diversify his income. Some succeeded; others quietly fizzled out. He made enough ‘small bets’ that he wound up with a handful of winners.

Today, his income comes from a cacophony of different sources. He’s diversified.

Loper joins us on this week’s episode to explain how to develop a “side hustle,” a small micro-business that provides a supplemental source of income.

Here are some of his suggestions:

#1: Tap the Sharing Economy

We’ve heard about Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, Instacart and TaskRabbit — popular ‘sharing economy’ platforms that allow people to turn their car, home and/or time into extra cash.

But beyond those obvious examples, there are plenty of sharing-economy websites that niche down into higher-paying specializations, such as:

Turo.com — A website in which you can rent your car; no driving required. You make money from the asset, not from your time.

EatWith.com — A dinner-party-hosting website ideal for people who are skilled cooks, chefs, or party hosts, but don’t necessarily have the capital to start their own restaurant.

“Each of these is a little mini-search-engine,” Loper says.

2. Freelancing / Expertise-Based Businesses

The stronger your expertise, the more money you can potentially earn. After all, you’re not just selling your time; you’re selling your knowledge.

Websites that help people profit from their expertise include:

  • TheExpertInstitute.com — A website where attorneys look for expert witnesses.
  • Thumbtack.com — A website for service professionals, from CAD designers to nutritionists to CPR training.
  • Wyzant.com — A website for expert tutors in every subject from calculus to piano.
  • Clarity.fm — A website for on-demand coaching or consulting from experts.

3. E-Commerce

Loper outlines two models for selling physical products online:

  1. The Retail Arbitrage Model: Under this model, you find and flip items online.
  2. The Private Label Model: Under this model, you design, manufacture, package and import your own product.

Loper dives into details about all of these side hustle opportunities — and also describes the biggest mistakes that he sees entrepreneurs and wantrapraneurs make — in today’s episode.

Enjoy!

Resources Mentioned:

  • Side Hustle Nation
  • 200 Sharing Economy Platforms
  • #34 – How I Built a Six-Figure Online Store, with Steve Chou

Thanks to our sponsors, Sanebox and Freshbooks!

Sanebox

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They also automatically track emails that you’ve sent to others that are still pending response, so that you know to follow-up.

The basic plan only costs $7 a month, and it’s brought relief to my email.

They’re offering both a free trial AND an additional $25 credit to anyone who signs up at https://www.sanebox.com/paula.


Freshbooks
You’re busy. You don’t need to junk up your schedule with mundane tasks.

Here’s a question: if you’re an entrepreneur or someone with a side hustle, how much time do you spend organizing invoices, chasing your clients down for late payments, and messing with receipts and reimbursements?

Yeah — more than you’d like to.

Save time by using Freshbooks, an easy-to-use, cloud-based accounting system that takes the stress and hassle out of bookkeeping and, especially, invoicing. You can create an invoice in a few seconds, and Freshbooks’ automated system will handle the rest. They’ll help you get paid faster, with less hassle.

Wanna try them for free?

Visit Freshbooks.com/paula for a free 30-day trial. Please mention this show when they ask how you heard about them.

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#86: Ask Paula - Should I Keep my Properties in an LLC?
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#84: Ask Paula - No, Really, I'm Asking for a Friend! -- How to Crush $500,000 in Debt
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