November in Review

By Lin Nguyen

For the month of November, The Community focused on side hustles. Stephanie started the month out by going over a few of her past side hustles, from an online dating profile writer to a jewelry business owner. After describing some of her side hustles and discussing pros and cons of each, she asked members to consider what skills they can leverage, what skills they’d like to develop, and how much time they have to work on a side hustle.

Our guest for the November Lounge & Learn was Julie Berninger, an absolute inspiration when it comes to side hustles. Julie hosts a podcast about financial freedom, Fire Drill, blogs at Millennial Boss, and sells bachelorette party printables in her Etsy shop, TheSwagElephant. She also launched Gold City Ventures where she teaches others how to make and sell printable products online. 

We started the Lounge & Learn by sharing recent money wins. One member moved to a city with a lower cost of living, allowing her to start saving for a house and increase her contribution to her IRA. Another member increased her 401k contributions up to 30%. Amazingly, one of our members has upped her 401k by 25% since her first meeting with Stephanie, and she also helped her 20-year-old stepdaughter get into the stock market!

After celebrating our wins, we turned to Julie to hear about her experience with side hustles. She started out selling her things on Craigslist, which was a good way to get immediate money, but she moved on to side hustles that were in line with her passions, lucrative in the long-game, and weren’t too time-consuming. This is where her blog came in, a side hustle that allows her to write about her interests whilst getting paid for ads, and her Etsy printables, which brings in six-figures of passive revenue. Talk about impressive!

Julie also provided the Community with advice about choosing a side hustle. There are different things to consider, like which skills you want, how you’ll collect money, what your goals are, and the time to first dollar. She also discussed how side hustles can affect your main job. The entrepreneurial spirit and ability to manage a number of priorities is a selling point during job interviews, and many side hustles allow you to hone other skills that can be brought into your career. For example, building up your own store provides business and marketing experience.

Closing the event, she suggested various resources to get started in launching your side business, like Calendly for scheduling appointments, Square to take card payments, Mailchimp to collect and send emails, and E-Rank , a website where people can search keywords on Etsy to get a sense of volume and competition.

The last event of the month was our November Sip & Share. Stephanie addressed some questions from the Community, like how to compete in a market that’s saturated with competition. Steph suggested getting tips from people already doing it, like on subreddits, and using your network as early customers and getting them to leave reviews.

Members then shared their dream side hustles, from being a food and wine critic to being an international mountain guide. We moved into an activity in which members shared their top three potential side hustles, which hustle was their favorite option, and if there’s anything holding members back from starting the hustle.

It was a productive brainstorming session! One member is considering being a personalized backpacking guide, dog walker on Rover, and worker for Instacart. She’s most passionate about being a backpacking guide, but she was worried about the liabilities. Members suggested creating a form for customers that would remove the liability and gave her some resources to reach out to for further research.

Every member got a chance to share her ideas for hustles and get feedback, advice, and resources from the Community. After the activity, Steph finished off the event by giving a challenge: try to make your first dollar by the new year or take the first next step!

To learn more about starting a side hustle, book a free consultation with Stephanie!