428: Hot Tub Cash Machine: Zero to $1000s a Month

You’ve heard of Hot Tub Time Machine, but how does Hot Tub Cash Machine sound?

That’s effectively the business model this week’s guest, Steve Nadramia.

Steve is a high school history and economics teacher in New York, and a listener of the show.

He reached out after our Thanksgiving episode, which touched on renting out attic space and even camper vans and semi-trucks as potential sources of recurring revenue.

His unconventional rental business?

Portable hot tubs!

Steve started a hot tub rental business to replace his summer job income, with the goal of earning $1000 a month. Today, he’s got 25+ tubs in his “fleet,” delivers them with his pickup truck, and is doing thousands of dollars in bookings every month.

Steve explained renting hot tubs is quite common in Europe, but doesn’t have much competition in the US yet.

Tune in to hear:

• how Steve got the idea for this business
• how he’s marketed and grown his business
• the logistics of how it all works

Want more unconventional rental ideas?

Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Hot Tub Cash Machine: Zero to $1000s a Month

427: Masterpiece Days: Laying the Groundwork for a Flourishing Life

A masterpiece life starts with masterpiece days stacked on top of masterpiece moments.

Whatever your future looks like, to get there you’re going to need to build masterpiece days.

To help us build more of those masterpiece days and work toward being the best versions of ourselves in our life and work starting today is Brian Johnson.

Brian is a serial entrepreneur who combines ancient wisdom with modern science to help people live their best lives.

You’ll find him at optimize.me, the app version of which has lived on the homescreen of my phone for the past few years, ever since my brother introduced me to his work.

This is an episode about taking a break from chopping down trees to sharpen the saw. This is about the seemingly small actions you can take on a daily basis to get from where you are to where you want to be.

Tune in to hear:

• what it means to have a masterpiece day and where you should start
• the framework Brian uses with his students and coaches
• which virtues he sees having the biggest impact on his students

Full Show Notes and Bonus Habit Tracker: Masterpiece Days: Laying the Groundwork for a Flourishing Life

426: My $550k Side Hustle: An Online Business from Idea to Exit

In October, I sold a website.

It wasn’t a 7-figure, never-work-again type of exit, but when the funds were deposited, it was the largest single amount ever to hit one of my accounts.

Over the course of 9 and a half years of running Virtual Assistant Assistant–including the proceeds from the sale–the site generated over $550,000 in revenue.

This is the story of how I started, grew, and sold a very part-time online business.

I hope it inspires you to start one of your own.

Full Show Notes: My $550k Side Hustle: An Online Business from Idea to Exit

425: Best of 2020: My Top Books, Tools, and Moments of a Wild Year

I know most people are ready to put 2020 behind us for good, but there were some bright spots in the midst of all the craziness.

With that in mind, here were some of mine I’d love to share.

Full Show Notes: Best of 2020: My Top Books, Tools, and Moments of a Wild Year

424: How I Sold 64,000 Pounds of Onions Online: A Creative Drop Shipping Case Study

What comes first, the domain name or the business idea?

For Peter Askew, the author of a viral blog post called “I Sell Onions on the Internet,” the answer is always the domain name.

Peter is fascinated by expiring domain names and how they’re treated like physical assets.

This is how he ended up with VidaliaOnions.com long before he had any plans on starting an e-commerce site shipping onions.

Peter took that domain name, partnered with an award-winning onion farmer, and last season shipped more than 64,000 pounds of onions!

(Prices range from $2.50-$7 per pound so you can estimate the site doing multiple 6-figures in revenue.)

Like the product itself, this is a business with layers worth exploring. From the domain name to the farmer/supplier relationship, to the marketing efforts, and to the logistics and customer support that make it all work.

Tune in to hear:

• why Peter says starting with an expired domain name gives you “a small unfair advantage”
• how he found a supplier and manages the logistics of his business
• his marketing and customer support methods

Full Show Notes: How I Sold 64,000 Pounds of Onions Online: A Creative Drop Shipping Case Study

423: $3500 a Day in Etsy Sales in 6 Months

What started as a 2-week challenge with a friend 6 months ago, has turned into a business processing $3,500 in orders a day!

Luke Emery has a background in design and portrait painting. So, he decided to utilize these skills and his e-commerce experience and start a business selling custom pet portraits.

Van Woof specializes in putting your dog or cat into a Renaissance-style oil painting, looking like they really posed for the portrait.

This isn’t Luke’s first e-commerce business, but it’s taken off like a rocket!

Tune in to hear:

• how Luke markets and sells these paintings on Etsy and his own store
• how the fulfillment logistics work
• the tools and platforms he uses to create a smooth workflow and great customer experience

Full Show Notes: $3500 a Day in Etsy Sales in 6 Months

422: $1000 a Week Cash Flow … from a Semi Truck?

Ever thought about buying a semi truck and renting it out?

Yeah, me neither, until I came across Ericka.

Apparently there’s big money to be made in trucking, but like any other side hustle, there’s some strategy, risk, and nuance to the business.

Ericka Williams owns 12 of these giant 18-wheelers, which can generate thousands of dollars a month in profit.

Ericka has gone from delivering pizzas as a side hustle to owning a painting company, to now managing an investment portfolio that includes both real estate and semi-trucks.

If you’re interested in real estate, there’s a parallel to consider with this business model. Trucks are assets you can acquire with leverage (meaning other people’s money), and essentially rent it out for weekly or monthly cash flow.

Tune in to hear:

• how Ericka came across the idea of buying semi-trucks
• what to look for when buying your first truck
• the math, marketing, and mistakes to avoid in this side hustle

Full Show Notes: $1000 a Week Cash Flow … from a Semi Truck?

421: $6k a Month Blogging About Gray Hair

Interested in growing a community and building a profitable blog around something you – and most other people – will inevitably go through?

That’s exactly what Katie Emery did when she decided to stop dying her hair after 25 years and transition to natural gray hair.

Kate had questions about the transition, but couldn’t find the answers she wanted online. In fact, the information she found was mostly negative.

So, she decided to start her own blog, KatieGoesPlatinum.com, to provide comprehensive information about gray hair, and to show women that growing out their grays could be fun and empowering.

In just two years Katie has grown her blog to an average of $6,000 a month in revenue. She’s also grown a passionate community and is helping other women go through the transition to natural gray hair.

Ready to start a blog of your own? My free video course will help you get online quickly and affordably.

Tune in to hear:

• how Katie started her blog and got it off the ground with no prior experience
• how she creates content that drives traffic
• the revenue streams bringing in an average of $6,000 per month

Full Show Notes: $6k a Month Blogging About Gray Hair

420: 11 Creative Side Hustles That Make Real Money

Our annual Friendsgiving celebration has been put on pause this year, but one tradition lives on.

This is year 3 of a special Thanksgiving Side Hustle Show episode showcasing creative side hustle ideas that make real money.

If you like this format, I’d love for you to check out the first two in this series — those are episodes 310 and 363 — both are in the Top 10 all-time most popular episodes.

Ready? Let’s do it!

Full Show Notes: 11 Creative Side Hustles That Make Real Money

419: Zero to $50k: How to Grow and Monetize an Email Newsletter

Zero to 55k subscribers and $50k in revenue in 8 months?

That’s exactly what Codie Sanchez with Contrarian Thinking, her newsletter about investing and entrepreneurship.

Codie’s a former journalist, turned institutional investor, turned online business owner. 

I’ve thought about content businesses mostly in the context of blogging, podcasting, or video — but what if email is your content channel?

After all, the challenge that many other content channels face is “how to get people to join your list.”

Codie’s model, in a true “contrarian” way, cuts out that middleman.

This episode is sure to have you thinking a little differently about how you approach building an audience and building an online business.

Tune in to hear:

• what you might create a newsletter about
• what makes newsletters such an interesting business model
• how Codie’s grown and monetized her’s so far

Full Show Notes: Zero to $50k: How to Grow and Monetize an Email Newsletter