💯 Side hustles -- more insights following last week's newsletter

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Hi everyone! We received dozens of messages after last week’s issue, indicating appetite to hear more about side hustles. So for today — let’s dive deeper into how to think about the type of side hustles/businesses to start.

For context — there are THOUSANDS of possibilities when it comes to ‘business ideas.’ This often leads to analysis paralysis (overthinking all the permutations and ‘what ifs’). For today, I’ve attempted to streamline insights into a few core buckets that (hopefully) makes it much easier to follow along, digest, and take action on.

Note: we’re minimising links to avoid going into ‘promotions’ folder (if it does end up there, please drag it into your main inbox). Look up the examples mentioned below separately if you’re curious!

1) One of the best ways to start a business or side hustle — think “what do I personally want & would pay money for?”

Example: Insomnia Cookies (a $350M+ business) launched because the founders, in university at the time, craved home-baked cookies late at night. They started baking from their kitchen for themselves, but pretty soon the entire dormitory found out and was ordering from them. Rest is history. Generational companies like Spanx, Shopify, Airbnb started the same way. If you’d pay money for a product/service, there is an almost guaranteed market of others just like you out there.

Deel (see bottom), also started the same way — reaching $100M ARR in under 2 years 🤯🤯🤯. One of the fastest (if the THE fastest) companies to reach unicorn status. We all hear a lot about startups being Software, SaaS, AI etc., but if you analyse Deel — you realise their core business is actually NOT even Tech (as much as they try to make it sound Techy). They understood the nightmare companies face when trying to hire internationally, and they literally just became experts in each country’s regulatory/legal framework + set up local entities. They then sold this service (“if you’re looking to hire in another country, just do it through us”) to thousands of companies, making it 95% easier for their customer to hire internationally.

2) Observe where the money is already flowing to.

Example: Phone apps — literally browse through the app store and see how many users an app currently has. Would you be able to build something similar? You’d be surprised at some of the apps that’s printing cash — for example, millions of people use apps like Mens Fashion for styling advice, or apps like Forest just to enforce self-control!

It’s usually a GREAT sign when product/services similar to what you want to build already have large customer bases. Instead of thinking ‘ah someone else is doing it already’, view it as almost an automatic validation that (many) people are willing to pay for the product/service. Sure, if you’re trying to build a multi-billion empire, then too many incumbents might not be a good thing. Otherwise for the 99.9% of us, this means that you can at least grab a small piece of the pie and make $!

Case in point: Deel — given the success of their business model (per point #1 above), lots of other players are now doing the same. I.e., the pie’s big enough to go around! Glints, a $200M+ company that’s traditionally known for their job board/platform, has pivoted and now doubling down on the same model as Deel. I personally know of at least 2 solopreneurs also doing this as a side hustle — setting up company entities in specific markets, and getting companies to hire employees in that market through them. They each pull in mid-to-high 5-digits a year from this side business.

3) Can you build a business that directly helps your customers make more money?

• Imagine someone comes to you and says “hey, I’ll get you 10 new paying customers. All you have to do is give me 30% of whatever those new customers pay you. If I fail to get any new customers, you pay absolutely nothing.” This kind of proposition becomes almost a no-brainer(and yes, there are companies that literally provide this service). Even if this exact model is too idealistic, see if you can get close. Products/services that directly helps customers make even more money are generally worth paying for.

• Other examples here — e.g., a service to train/improve your customer’s sales team (Hupo AI), a consulting service to help companies maximise social media/SEO/GEO conversion rates (Synscribe), an AI tool that generates hundreds of leads for customers (Clay).

• Framing matters. For example, let’s say you have a service to build websites for SMEs. Instead of pitching “I help build websites,” try “I build websites that optimise click-through and customer conversion rates.”

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📣📣📣 Next newsletter issue, we’ll have more insights (e.g., how to find & stack your ‘unfair advantages’ as part of the entrepreneur journey). Stay tuned!

Best,

Vincent (feel free to add me on LinkedIn here 🙂)