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[00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:06.240] Look, adulting can be a challenge, but there is an easy button for at least one item on your to-do list.
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[00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:02.080] And now, onto the show.
[00:01:02.400 --> 00:01:03.680] This is awesome.
[00:01:03.680 --> 00:01:05.920] You've got a great side hustle idea.
[00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:08.240] Now you just need the money to get it off the ground.
[00:01:08.240 --> 00:01:19.440] Even though lots of small businesses have pretty low startup costs, especially the ones that we cover on the side hustle show, most are still going to require at least some startup capital.
[00:01:19.440 --> 00:01:25.360] In fact, the problem of money is a pretty consistent one among side hustle show listeners in our annual surveys.
[00:01:25.360 --> 00:01:27.520] Time, I don't have enough time to do this thing.
[00:01:27.520 --> 00:01:29.360] Money, I need the startup costs.
[00:01:29.360 --> 00:01:31.360] Ideas, I don't know what idea to start.
[00:01:31.360 --> 00:01:33.040] And then marketing and growth.
[00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:38.560] Those are the four issues, four struggles that are almost always at the top of the list.
[00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:44.960] According to CB Insights, 38% of startups fail because they can't raise new capital.
[00:01:44.960 --> 00:01:56.640] And while most side hustles aren't going to fall into that venture capital category of needing to raise hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, it is still important to have the funds you need to get the business off the ground.
[00:01:56.640 --> 00:01:59.560] It could be that critical infrastructure.
[00:01:59.560 --> 00:02:01.880] It could be licensing and insurance.
[00:02:01.880 --> 00:02:06.120] It could be equipment or inventory, software, key personnel, perhaps.
[00:02:06.120 --> 00:02:07.640] And of course, we're going to try to stay lean.
[00:02:07.640 --> 00:02:11.240] We're going to try to be creative about it, but some stuff just costs money.
[00:02:11.240 --> 00:02:21.640] And in this episode, I want to share the most popular ways to raise those funds for your new business so you can choose the path that makes the most sense for you, along with some real life examples along the way.
[00:02:21.640 --> 00:02:26.360] And before we get into it, you should know there's three primary types of startup funding.
[00:02:26.360 --> 00:02:29.160] That would be number one, bootstrapping, self-funded.
[00:02:29.160 --> 00:02:30.680] That's the self-funded option.
[00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:32.200] Number two is debt financing.
[00:02:32.200 --> 00:02:34.520] And number three is equity financing.
[00:02:34.520 --> 00:02:38.120] And the main difference between those is ownership.
[00:02:38.120 --> 00:02:40.680] Bootstrapping, you maintain all ownership.
[00:02:40.680 --> 00:02:44.520] You're investing your personal savings and funding the business that way.
[00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:48.840] Debt financing involves borrowing money from an external source.
[00:02:48.840 --> 00:02:50.280] It could be a bank.
[00:02:50.280 --> 00:02:51.320] It could be a credit union.
[00:02:51.320 --> 00:02:53.240] It could be an equipment lender.
[00:02:53.240 --> 00:02:57.480] And you agree to repay that borrowed amount plus interest over a set period of time.
[00:02:57.480 --> 00:03:03.240] But both of those options, bootstrapping and debt financing, they allow you to maintain ownership, maintain control of the business.
[00:03:03.240 --> 00:03:09.720] On the other hand, equity financing involves selling shares or selling ownership stakes to investors.
[00:03:09.720 --> 00:03:15.560] They don't expect necessarily any interest payments on that, but they have a share in the upside of the business.
[00:03:15.560 --> 00:03:24.040] If your business becomes a $10 million operation, you gave away 10% of it, all of a sudden that could turn into a pretty substantial return for those investors.
[00:03:24.120 --> 00:03:29.640] So be careful, be wary of giving away too much equity early on.
[00:03:29.640 --> 00:03:31.960] All right, the first method is what we've talked about already.
[00:03:31.960 --> 00:03:32.920] That's bootstrapping.
[00:03:32.920 --> 00:03:37.000] This is how most side hustles, this is how most small businesses get started.
[00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:46.000] So instead of seeking funds from lenders or investors, you're going to rely on your own money and your own hard work, your own savings to fund the business.
[00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:54.320] According to the Chamber of Commerce, 78% of small businesses, nearly four out of five small businesses, are going to use this method.
[00:03:54.320 --> 00:03:56.400] They're going to use their own funds to start the business.
[00:03:56.400 --> 00:03:58.000] This is how I first started.
[00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:01.520] This is how the vast majority of side hustle show guests start their business.
[00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:06.880] Now, a common path here is, especially for side hustlers, use the funds from your day job.
[00:04:06.880 --> 00:04:09.600] Use your day job salary to cover your startup costs.
[00:04:09.600 --> 00:04:16.480] We've had guests call their day job their silent partner or their unbeknownst angel investor into their side hustle.
[00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:26.080] So in episode 299, I talk a little bit about this early journey of kind of parlaying savings into the next thing.
[00:04:26.080 --> 00:04:34.640] The first step was, you know, taking my earnings from like part-time high school jobs and then buying a pickup truck to start painting houses.
[00:04:34.640 --> 00:04:38.400] The truck was like $3,500, like a 1991 Toyota pickup.
[00:04:39.200 --> 00:04:41.600] I still look for that car out on the road sometimes.
[00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:58.160] Took $13,000 from that painting business, painting houses, and then put that as a down payment in an investment property and took $10,000 from the sale of that house a couple years later and then put that into the development for my online shoe business, my first real online side hustle.
[00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:01.840] And then since then, everything else has been like less than $500 to start.
[00:05:01.840 --> 00:05:09.120] So I think I've become more risk averse in my old age, but bootstrappers allow you to be pretty risk averse.
[00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:10.480] You take this lean approach.
[00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:12.400] You focus on the essentials.
[00:05:12.400 --> 00:05:16.000] You really limit unnecessary expenses.
[00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:21.120] A mentor of mine gave me that advice: you know, mind the nickels and dimes and the dollars take care of themselves.
[00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:22.400] It's about being resourceful.
[00:05:22.400 --> 00:05:23.600] It's about stretching your dollars.
[00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:28.240] It's about doing more with less and really keeping that overhead low.
[00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:35.400] And the question you might ask if you're faced with a question about an upcoming expense: is it necessary?
[00:05:35.400 --> 00:05:37.080] Does this drive revenue?
[00:05:37.320 --> 00:05:50.360] Early on, I did a lot of work myself, like on the side hustle brand in particular, you know, had maybe a couple hundred dollars in development costs to like customize the domain name or something like that, but I did a lot of it myself.
[00:05:50.360 --> 00:05:56.280] And on the podcast side, grateful to have lots of help now, but I edited the show myself for the first three years.
[00:05:56.280 --> 00:05:58.840] This example of, you know, starting really lean.
[00:05:58.840 --> 00:06:10.920] You can also do, try and negotiate with certain suppliers, vendors, contractors, because sometimes they recognize they're dealing with a small business instead of an enterprise client and they might cut you a deal.
[00:06:10.920 --> 00:06:12.360] They might adjust their pricing.
[00:06:12.360 --> 00:06:17.400] When I was first getting the shoe site bid out, remember I was living in northern Virginia at the time.
[00:06:17.400 --> 00:06:23.560] I put the job up for bid on guru.com, which is kind of a precursor to Upwork.
[00:06:23.560 --> 00:06:27.080] And one of the guys who bids is like half an hour away from me in Virginia.
[00:06:27.080 --> 00:06:33.640] So I go over to his apartment and he kind of recognizes at a certain point during this meeting that, oh, there's, there's no company backing.
[00:06:33.640 --> 00:06:36.120] This is just a 22-year-old kid with an idea.
[00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:40.520] And so he's like, oh, okay, I'm going to adjust my quoted price down a little bit.
[00:06:40.520 --> 00:06:44.920] And so I'm able to start a little leaner in that way.
[00:06:44.920 --> 00:06:49.480] But that is funding method number one, bootstrapping.
[00:06:49.480 --> 00:06:55.400] Number two is the friends and family method, getting support from your inner circle.
[00:06:55.400 --> 00:07:04.520] These are people who want to see you succeed and they might be able to offer some kind of loan or financial backing to help you with that.
[00:07:04.760 --> 00:07:12.360] Clutch.co found that 22% of founders received funding from friends or family in the first three months of launching their businesses.
[00:07:12.360 --> 00:07:16.240] I want to say that this was some of the seed money for Amazon, you know, friends and family.
[00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:18.960] We'll throw a few hundred thousand dollars away.
[00:07:18.960 --> 00:07:27.200] But this isn't something you want to rush into because if it doesn't work out, this could be a strain on relationships with the people closest to you.
[00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:28.800] Never borrowed money from friends or family.
[00:07:29.200 --> 00:07:37.040] This is like an area where it's like, oh, you tread very carefully and you got to be as open and transparent about it as possible.
[00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:38.800] You know, share your vision for the business.
[00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:41.120] You want to outline the potential risks and rewards.
[00:07:41.120 --> 00:07:43.120] Make sure everybody knows what they're getting into.
[00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:47.120] So transparency is essential to keep everyone on the same page.
[00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:53.600] And not that I would necessarily recommend this method, but this is what Kat Block did to get her photo booth business off the ground.
[00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:57.440] We'll take a very short-term loan from the Bank of Mom and Dad.
[00:07:57.440 --> 00:08:02.480] The model that they had was 9,000 US, which I'm in Canada.
[00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:08.880] So for me, that was like $13,000 when you do the conversion and taxes and import fees.
[00:08:08.880 --> 00:08:11.840] Like it wasn't cheap, but it came with everything.
[00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:25.760] You know, so I think all said and done to set up my business was probably about $20,000 when I look at like, I actually hired a web designer and a graphic designer to make my logo and stuff and a couple of extra things that I needed to buy.
[00:08:25.760 --> 00:08:33.360] But like in terms of starting a business, like how many businesses can you really start with 20K that that will generate like pretty good revenue pretty quickly?
[00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:34.240] Not many.
[00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:35.040] At least I have.
[00:08:35.040 --> 00:08:35.840] Yeah, I don't know.
[00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:43.200] That's like, this seems like a lot to me, but I'm from like the online world where it costs, you know, your domain name and your hosting and you're kind of off to the races.
[00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:47.200] So it does seem like a lot, but there is a, you know, a physical product element to it.
[00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:50.080] I gotta, I gotta buy the equipment for this thing.
[00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:54.240] So, what gave you the confidence to say, yeah, this is a ton of money.
[00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:55.680] I'm gonna go for it.
[00:08:55.720 --> 00:09:02.200] Um, I have a relationship with money where it's like I always see like advantage to spending money.
[00:09:02.360 --> 00:09:07.800] Like, I don't know, the saying that's always resonated with me, a lot of people is like, scared money don't make money.
[00:09:08.120 --> 00:09:13.080] And when I have like this feeling, it's like a gut feeling that I know I need to do something.
[00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:15.880] It's like I don't even think twice about spending that money.
[00:09:15.880 --> 00:09:16.920] I didn't have that money.
[00:09:16.920 --> 00:09:25.400] So, the funny part was that, you know, I was like 27, maybe 25 or something along those lines.
[00:09:25.400 --> 00:09:30.840] And I actually put the deposit of this photo booth on my parents' emergency credit card.
[00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:37.160] And I was like, I don't know, I have like 30 days to explain what this charge is.
[00:09:37.480 --> 00:09:38.200] But I paid it off.
[00:09:38.200 --> 00:09:39.240] Don't worry.
[00:09:39.560 --> 00:09:41.720] Scared money don't make money is a line.
[00:09:41.720 --> 00:09:43.640] I'll always remember from that interview.
[00:09:43.640 --> 00:09:52.680] Again, that was Kat Block from episode 471 on her journey to building what became one of the largest, if not the largest, photo booth companies in Canada.
[00:09:52.680 --> 00:09:56.200] But that's funding method number two: the friends and family plan.
[00:09:56.200 --> 00:10:01.240] One to tread carefully with for fear of damaging important relationships if things don't work out.
[00:10:01.240 --> 00:10:07.640] One other strategy that I should have mentioned in the bootstrapping category is to borrow against your 401k.
[00:10:07.640 --> 00:10:16.520] You can borrow up to $50,000 or 10% or rather 50% of your vested balance, whichever is lower, I believe.
[00:10:16.520 --> 00:10:18.920] So you're going to borrow money from your own 401k.
[00:10:18.920 --> 00:10:23.160] You got to repay yourself with interest, but at least that money is going back to you.
[00:10:23.160 --> 00:10:32.680] If you don't pay it back, there is no impact on your credit score, but you might have taxes and penalties because then it would essentially be like an early withdrawal from that.
[00:10:32.680 --> 00:10:40.200] Obviously, you're going to miss out on the returns those funds would have earned staying invested in the 401k over that time.
[00:10:40.200 --> 00:10:47.680] But the idea, of course, is you hopefully generate bigger returns by investing in yourself, investing in your business instead.
[00:10:44.840 --> 00:10:51.120] Funding strategy number three is business credit cards.
[00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:58.800] This is probably a funding strategy of last resort when you're starting your business because most cards carry really high interest rates.
[00:10:58.800 --> 00:11:03.040] And so you don't want to dig yourself into a debt hole that you spend years trying to climb out of.
[00:11:03.040 --> 00:11:15.440] But even if your side hustle is new, even if you haven't made any money yet, you might still qualify for a small business credit card because banks understand that new businesses often don't show a lot of revenue in the early days.
[00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:19.600] And for better or worse, sometimes they're happy to lend you money to cover your startup costs.
[00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:27.440] Business credit cards also come with perks like cash back, travel points, or discounts on some business-related purchases.
[00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:37.120] But again, one to be wary of if you don't have the money to pay that back or you don't see an immediate path to revenue to pay back that because the interest rates can be really high.
[00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:42.720] Strategy number four is bank loans, or maybe more broadly, just debt financing, loan financing.
[00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:47.520] So these business loans are a tried and true way to secure capital.
[00:11:47.520 --> 00:11:52.160] In 2021, 34% of small businesses reported applying for a loan.
[00:11:52.160 --> 00:11:54.000] So this is like a really common thing to do.
[00:11:54.000 --> 00:12:00.240] The loan is a lump sum that's got to be repaid over a specified period, usually with interest.
[00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:07.280] This could be from your bank, it could be from the SBA, the small business administration, and each type is going to serve different purposes.
[00:12:07.280 --> 00:12:16.240] But you got to keep in mind factors like interest rates, collateral requirements, personal guarantees, you know, pick and choose which might make the most sense for you.
[00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:19.760] So, in a big business example, Patagonia comes to mind.
[00:12:19.760 --> 00:12:23.360] They were expanding really rapidly in the 90s.
[00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:32.600] So, they utilized bank loans to fund inventory expansion and the growth of their physical, like brick-and-mortar locations and stuff during that time.
[00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:36.120] So, it's a way to finance growth while preserving ownership and control.
[00:12:36.440 --> 00:12:50.440] So, way back in episode 143, talked to Jeremy Michael Cohen and Fred Parada about how they financed some of their initial production runs for their Tortuga direct-to-consumer backpack line.
[00:12:50.760 --> 00:12:55.720] Eventually, I found a factory that would do a smaller run for us and finance that through.
[00:12:55.960 --> 00:12:59.640] We kind of re-upped the loan that we had with the Jewish Free Loan Association.
[00:12:59.640 --> 00:13:04.920] We had paid off some of it and kind of re-extended our line of credit, if you even want to call it there.
[00:13:04.920 --> 00:13:10.440] And then also did a small loan with a lending club, which is kind of a peer-to-peer loan platform.
[00:13:10.760 --> 00:13:17.320] Plus, you know, kicked in a little bit more of our own money and got that first Chinese order through.
[00:13:17.640 --> 00:13:20.360] Fun fact, I've still got my Tortuga backpack.
[00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:22.760] It's been with me on pretty much every trip the last 10 years.
[00:13:22.760 --> 00:13:26.520] So, thanks to Jeremy and Fred for introducing me to that brand.
[00:13:26.520 --> 00:13:29.960] But bank loans, lines of credit, credit unions, peer-to-peer lending.
[00:13:29.960 --> 00:13:34.120] There's even some platforms that specialize in inventory funding for e-commerce brands.
[00:13:34.120 --> 00:13:40.200] You're typically going to pay a higher interest rate on those loans, but they're also not meant to be carried for years.
[00:13:40.200 --> 00:13:47.000] The idea is you can use it to get the inventory you need, generate sales to pay it off, and then recycle that capital into more growth.
[00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:51.480] I've got more ways to get money for your side hustle coming up right after this.
[00:13:51.480 --> 00:14:02.680] You know, when you're shopping online and you see that little purple shop pay button at checkout, that's a sign that the store you're on is one of the millions of businesses powered by our partner, Shopify.
[00:14:02.680 --> 00:14:06.280] Shopify makes it incredibly easy to start and run your business.
[00:14:06.280 --> 00:14:08.600] For starters, you don't even have to start from scratch.
[00:14:08.600 --> 00:14:16.880] They've got hundreds of beautiful, ready-to-go, proven-to-convert templates that you can adapt to your brand's style without needing to know how to code.
[00:14:16.880 --> 00:14:25.040] You can tackle all your most important tasks in one place, from managing your inventory to tracking payments to analytics and more.
[00:14:25.040 --> 00:14:32.560] Plus, Shopify helps you make sales with built-in marketing and email tools to go out and find new customers and keep the ones you've got.
[00:14:32.560 --> 00:14:37.440] If you want to see less carts being abandoned, it's time to head over to Shopify.
[00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:44.000] Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com/slash sidehustle.
[00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:47.360] Go to shopify.com/slash sidehustle.
[00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:52.000] Shopify.com/slash sidehustle.
[00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:54.480] Years ago, this is probably 2009.
[00:14:54.480 --> 00:15:03.680] I'm sitting in this conference in Santa Barbara, and the presenter asks this question: Are you working on your business or are you working in your business?
[00:15:03.680 --> 00:15:11.440] I saw myself as this full-time entrepreneur, but it was this moment of clarity that, no, I was still very much working in the business day to day.
[00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:14.720] So, when I got back home, that's when I made my first full-time hire.
[00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:24.880] It was the first in a long series and an ongoing series of steps in trying to take control by being okay of letting go of certain tasks.
[00:15:24.880 --> 00:15:31.440] Now, when you find yourself in that position of needing to hire like yesterday, you need our sponsor, Indeed.
[00:15:31.680 --> 00:15:35.840] Plus, Indeed's sponsored jobs help you stand out and hire fast.
[00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:40.800] There's no monthly subscriptions, no long-term contracts, and you only pay for results.
[00:15:40.800 --> 00:15:43.920] That's why for my next hire, I'm using Indeed.
[00:15:43.920 --> 00:15:52.880] Side Hustle Show listeners get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at indeed.com/slash sidehustleshow.
[00:15:52.880 --> 00:16:00.600] Just go to indeed.com/slash sidehustle show right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast.
[00:16:00.600 --> 00:16:03.560] Indeed.com/slash side hustle show.
[00:15:59.920 --> 00:16:04.840] Terms and conditions apply.
[00:16:05.080 --> 00:16:08.200] Hiring, indeed, is all you need.
[00:16:08.520 --> 00:16:11.960] Strategy at number five is to pre-sell your solution.
[00:16:11.960 --> 00:16:20.200] And this might also be the fastest way to test if your side hustle idea has legs, is to ask people to pay for it, even before you've built anything.
[00:16:20.200 --> 00:16:22.840] I've done this for a couple different digital products.
[00:16:22.840 --> 00:16:27.640] The process works like this: you know, create a brief description of what the product is going to be.
[00:16:27.640 --> 00:16:31.320] You ask people to pre-order it, often for a discounted price.
[00:16:31.320 --> 00:16:34.040] If you get a critical mass, then you go and build it.
[00:16:34.040 --> 00:16:39.160] That's what I did with the traffic course, which I want to say was a 2021 project.
[00:16:39.160 --> 00:16:42.920] This was an online SEO course, for lack of better terms.
[00:16:42.920 --> 00:16:46.840] I said, if I got 20 people to pre-order it, I'd go ahead and build it.
[00:16:46.840 --> 00:16:49.800] And I think probably ended up with close to 100 there.
[00:16:49.800 --> 00:16:53.080] And otherwise, like, if you don't get the critical mass, you just issue refunds.
[00:16:53.080 --> 00:17:02.760] So no big deal, but it's a way to quickly kind of prove out and validate people are willing to pay for something so you don't waste time creating something that nobody wants.
[00:17:02.760 --> 00:17:08.840] Here's how Abby Ashley described doing something really similar for her virtual assistant training business.
[00:17:08.840 --> 00:17:15.400] I actually stumbled upon a podcast in fall of 2016 about discovering your niche.
[00:17:15.400 --> 00:17:17.880] And it was so funny because I had hired a business coach.
[00:17:17.880 --> 00:17:33.560] I had really like done so much soul searching and this one stinking free podcast like totally just made me think, I just need to teach or like I need to ask my audience and teach what I'm actually good at, like what I've had success at.
[00:17:33.560 --> 00:17:37.160] So, rather than creating courses, I had the idea.
[00:17:37.160 --> 00:17:41.800] I didn't just say, you know, what do you want to learn in general to my email list?
[00:17:41.800 --> 00:17:46.480] I said, hey, I have this idea for creating a virtual assistants course.
[00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:48.480] I created this agency.
[00:17:44.840 --> 00:17:50.480] I was able to quit my job doing virtual assistants.
[00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:53.680] I thought up what like the modules for the course would be.
[00:17:53.680 --> 00:18:00.080] I just kind of listed them out and I asked if anyone was interested in that topic.
[00:18:00.080 --> 00:18:03.920] If so, I was going to sell the course at a lower price.
[00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:12.160] It was about half the price around, I think it was like four or five hundred dollars, where I knew eventually the course would be probably a $900,000 product.
[00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:14.320] I said, Hey, you can get in early.
[00:18:14.320 --> 00:18:18.240] And I had about 16 people buy from my list of a thousand.
[00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:21.680] So, I made $8,000 from doing that tactic.
[00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:25.680] Just asking people before I even created the course, is this something you would want to learn?
[00:18:25.680 --> 00:18:27.040] Here's the modules.
[00:18:27.040 --> 00:18:33.120] So, $8,000 in pre-sales is pretty great and all well and good if you have an existing audience.
[00:18:33.120 --> 00:18:53.600] If you don't, you've got to get a little more creative and kind of do this one-on-one, hand-to-hand combat, like John Logar did, who is an expert in what I'll call this idea extraction method, where he'll call up CEOs or high-ranking people inside of certain companies and just start probing for pain.
[00:18:53.600 --> 00:18:59.360] Start asking them questions: like, what, you know, where are you spending too much of your time or what's dragging down your business?
[00:18:59.360 --> 00:19:02.320] Or where do you see this industry in the next five years?
[00:19:02.320 --> 00:19:06.880] And what you're just searching for, trying to let them arrive at the answer.
[00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:10.640] Well, if you had a magic wand, what would be the ideal scenario?
[00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:11.840] How would you tackle this problem?
[00:19:11.840 --> 00:19:14.000] And just maybe they'll arrive at the solution.
[00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:17.200] You don't even need to know how to build it, as John will talk about.
[00:19:17.360 --> 00:19:19.200] I'll go find somebody else to know how to build it.
[00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:20.320] I'll be the middleman here.
[00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:26.400] Here's a clip from our conversation, which again, one of the most fascinating episodes that we've ever recorded.
[00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:29.160] But I'll say, you know, right there, you're spending a quarter of a million.
[00:19:29.400 --> 00:19:35.720] In four years' time or five years' time, that quarter of a million dollars is going to turn into a million dollars, $1.2 million in costs.
[00:19:35.960 --> 00:19:44.280] Yeah, is it worth investing $30,000 up front to get this nipped in the butt, which is $20,000 less than your brochures that you're about to print to get that done?
[00:19:44.280 --> 00:19:49.400] Now, you're not the technical guy, so how did you go and get this done?
[00:19:49.400 --> 00:19:52.280] Okay, so this is what happened in my scenario.
[00:19:52.280 --> 00:19:57.480] I actually, I said, listen, I just want to figure something up because we might be able to significantly save some money here.
[00:19:58.120 --> 00:20:01.640] I knew what the solution was once he said what he said, right?
[00:20:01.640 --> 00:20:05.560] Because anybody with half a brain in our world would see that to be the solution.
[00:20:05.560 --> 00:20:09.560] But it's important to let him, it's his idea, right?
[00:20:09.560 --> 00:20:10.280] Exactly, exactly.
[00:20:10.280 --> 00:20:11.160] It's his idea.
[00:20:11.160 --> 00:20:15.720] So, so I basically said, look, if you give me 20 minutes, I'll just hop in your boardroom.
[00:20:15.720 --> 00:20:18.120] I just want to make a quick phone call to somebody.
[00:20:18.120 --> 00:20:20.520] And it wasn't a phone call, it was an email.
[00:20:20.520 --> 00:20:23.400] I wanted to just have a quick phone call to somebody.
[00:20:23.400 --> 00:20:24.600] I just want to verify something.
[00:20:24.600 --> 00:20:29.640] I can actually work, give you a rough idea of what it would cost you to get this fixed up, right?
[00:20:29.640 --> 00:20:38.760] So all I did was hopped on an email, sent an email to, I actually sent out, I opted on ODESC, created a job description outlining what needed to happen.
[00:20:38.760 --> 00:20:41.000] So just roughly, this is what it's going to be.
[00:20:41.560 --> 00:20:47.560] And just, you know, I basically said, I've got a project price, you know, it'll be, give me an idea.
[00:20:47.560 --> 00:20:51.080] So give me a range for a project price of something like this.
[00:20:51.080 --> 00:20:51.480] Right.
[00:20:51.720 --> 00:20:56.040] I, within 10 minutes, I had 16 replies.
[00:20:56.040 --> 00:20:56.520] Right.
[00:20:56.520 --> 00:20:57.560] Well, it's ODES.
[00:20:57.560 --> 00:20:59.240] So there's always people trolling.
[00:20:59.800 --> 00:21:09.800] My criteria for selection was people who had done over a thousand hours worth of work, who had specific uh knowledge and you know understanding of programming.
[00:21:09.800 --> 00:21:12.440] And so I was very selective in my criteria.
[00:21:12.440 --> 00:21:19.920] But I literally had 16 people quote me on the job within you know 10 minutes And so what I did was all I did was double the quote.
[00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:23.440] So whenever I was quoted, I just looked very scanned through very quickly.
[00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:28.400] Whenever I was quoted, I just doubled the price to what I would think the real price would be.
[00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:29.120] Okay, just to be safe.
[00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:31.120] To facilitate, just to be safe.
[00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:39.200] And then I just sat down and thought, you know, what's a couple of deals worth to this guy in profit?
[00:21:39.520 --> 00:21:41.840] What was the quoted price out of curiosity?
[00:21:41.840 --> 00:21:46.160] Oh, the quoted price was I was getting between $800 to $1,600.
[00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:50.080] Okay, but you already told it was a quarter million dollar annual problem.
[00:21:51.040 --> 00:21:51.680] Well, he told me.
[00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:53.600] Yeah, we sat there and worked it out together.
[00:21:53.760 --> 00:21:57.760] At the end of that, he was pretty much upset about it.
[00:21:57.760 --> 00:22:01.360] He was deflated because all I did was just, you know, I mean, there's an open wound.
[00:22:02.080 --> 00:22:02.560] What are you going to do?
[00:22:02.560 --> 00:22:03.280] You might as well just scratch it.
[00:22:03.360 --> 00:22:04.880] It's a bleeding neck problem.
[00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:06.640] Yeah, yeah, just keep scratching it away.
[00:22:07.040 --> 00:22:08.720] Stick your finger in there.
[00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:16.640] So in that process, in that 10 minutes, I roughly had an idea of how much it was going to cost for me to facilitate.
[00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:21.760] And one of my criterias was the fact that we could deliver the solution within at least four weeks.
[00:22:22.320 --> 00:22:24.560] So I just wanted to know that we can get this done in a month.
[00:22:25.280 --> 00:22:29.440] Because he was shelling out, in that month, he was going to be shelling out $25,000.
[00:22:30.320 --> 00:22:31.920] So in costs.
[00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:34.880] So, you know, I got the feedback.
[00:22:34.880 --> 00:22:48.000] And then not more than 20 minutes after that, I made a phone call to a person just to verify a couple of coding issues around internal spreadsheeting with number changes and stuff like that.
[00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:50.560] And because I just wanted to know.
[00:22:50.560 --> 00:22:53.920] But all up, the project was $2,400.
[00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:56.240] So I quoted $30,000.
[00:22:56.240 --> 00:22:59.200] I said $15 up front and then $15 on delivery.
[00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:00.280] Okay, wow.
[00:23:00.280 --> 00:23:02.440] That's a nice, that's a nice margin.
[00:22:59.760 --> 00:23:04.520] Yeah, that wasn't bad for an hour's work.
[00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:08.520] Not bad at all.
[00:23:08.840 --> 00:23:12.840] Again, that's John Logar episode 126 in your podcast feed.
[00:23:12.840 --> 00:23:19.560] I know we've re-aired it at least once since that original one would probably been 2014, 2015 when he first recorded.
[00:23:19.560 --> 00:23:31.080] But he shares these specific questions and tactics to get through to decision makers and even some interesting filters on the industry side, on the business side to narrow down your target audience.
[00:23:31.080 --> 00:23:33.960] But obviously, building trust is really key here.
[00:23:33.960 --> 00:23:41.960] If you're asking people to buy a product or service that doesn't exist yet, you've got to involve your pre-sale customers in the building process.
[00:23:41.960 --> 00:23:47.160] And maybe that's a value add for them, like to help guide the direction of what it's eventually going to be.
[00:23:47.160 --> 00:23:48.280] And then follow through.
[00:23:48.280 --> 00:23:55.000] If you don't deliver what you promised, you're going to burn your reputation and people in particular industries know other people in that industry.
[00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:57.000] So you burn one person.
[00:23:57.240 --> 00:24:01.640] You may have just burned any chance of being involved any later in that industry.
[00:24:01.640 --> 00:24:07.560] And what's interesting is he's talking about hiring developers on Odesk, which is now Upwork, to fulfill this project.
[00:24:07.560 --> 00:24:17.560] But you might be able to do it all with AI at this point if you're really good at this idea extraction and then going out and building that solution if it's one that could be delivered online.
[00:24:17.560 --> 00:24:18.920] Really, really cool stuff.
[00:24:18.920 --> 00:24:24.840] That is method number five, the pre-sales method, something I've used in the past and other side hustle show guests have used as well.
[00:24:24.840 --> 00:24:27.320] Number six is crowdfunding.
[00:24:27.320 --> 00:24:31.560] And this is turning believers into backers, into investors.
[00:24:31.560 --> 00:24:39.480] So, similar to pre-sales is a way to raise some money by collecting small contributions from a lot of different individuals.
[00:24:39.480 --> 00:24:43.160] And primarily done online through platforms like Kickstarter.
[00:24:43.160 --> 00:24:45.440] There are equity crowdfunding platforms.
[00:24:44.280 --> 00:24:49.840] There are donation-based crowdfunding platforms, rewards-based crowdfunding.
[00:24:44.920 --> 00:24:50.640] This is kind of the Kickstarter.
[00:24:50.720 --> 00:24:55.840] Oh, if I'm going to back this thing, I hope to get a copy of the product when it eventually comes out.
[00:24:55.840 --> 00:24:57.520] But it comes in different flavors.
[00:24:57.520 --> 00:25:03.360] But on average, there's some data to say that crowdfunding backers pledge $88 per project.
[00:25:03.360 --> 00:25:09.040] So if you need to raise significant funds, it's going to take a big audience to do that.
[00:25:09.040 --> 00:25:12.160] And so, if you already have an existing audience, that's great.
[00:25:12.160 --> 00:25:14.560] You can put that out to your people.
[00:25:14.800 --> 00:25:22.720] One famous example is John Lee Dumas pre-sold like $100,000 plus of his Freedom Journal on Kickstarter.
[00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:30.160] The folks behind the Side Hustle board game that we had on the show a few years ago, they raised like $11,000 for their initial production run.
[00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:32.000] Didn't have a huge audience to start with.
[00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:40.720] And the idea, the goal is you start to gain some network effect or some virality on a platform like Kickstarter.
[00:25:41.120 --> 00:25:42.960] I'm going to have to give it a little bit of a nudge.
[00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:43.920] I understand that.
[00:25:43.920 --> 00:25:49.120] But hopefully, it starts to get shown to other people who would be interested in your thing.
[00:25:49.120 --> 00:25:52.160] And there's some excitement, there's some momentum around it.
[00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:55.040] And you can start to punch above your weight class.
[00:25:55.040 --> 00:25:58.880] You start to reach beyond your pre-existing audience there.
[00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:00.480] We talked with Pat Flynn.
[00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:06.640] He and Caleb raised over $400,000 for the Switchpod tripod on Kickstarter.
[00:26:06.640 --> 00:26:11.360] And so here's him describing how that process went as a method for startup funding.
[00:26:11.360 --> 00:26:13.200] When we had this idea, it wasn't done before.
[00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:22.320] The idea behind the tripod is these legs can fold into each other and become a handle for you to easily kind of open and close and do your filming on the go.
[00:26:22.320 --> 00:26:24.080] So that's what the Switchpod is.
[00:26:24.080 --> 00:26:24.960] And it worked really well.
[00:26:24.960 --> 00:26:33.960] We launched it in 2019 on Kickstarter and we had generated $415,000 in 60 days from that launch, but it was not an overnight thing for sure.
[00:26:34.120 --> 00:26:43.320] It took time to invent and create and iterate and fail on and quite a bit of investment, 25 to 30K of our own dollars put into that.
[00:26:43.320 --> 00:26:47.880] But it is now for sale in a semi-passive manner and we're generating revenue through it.
[00:26:47.880 --> 00:26:50.120] And it is an asset now that has a value.
[00:26:50.120 --> 00:26:51.800] And if we wanted to, we could sell it.
[00:26:51.800 --> 00:26:54.200] And we're open to that potentially.
[00:26:54.200 --> 00:26:57.720] Funding strategy at number seven is grants.
[00:26:57.720 --> 00:27:04.280] This is on the surface, it seems like free money, but this is financial assistance to support startups and small businesses.
[00:27:04.440 --> 00:27:07.240] Oftentimes it's through government agencies.
[00:27:07.240 --> 00:27:10.360] Grants.gov is the official site for this.
[00:27:10.360 --> 00:27:17.640] When I pulled it up, there were over 2,700 grant programs offered by 26 different grant-making agencies.
[00:27:17.960 --> 00:27:19.160] They have specific goals, right?
[00:27:19.160 --> 00:27:22.200] We want to fuel economic growth in specific industries.
[00:27:22.200 --> 00:27:23.400] We want to create more jobs.
[00:27:23.400 --> 00:27:25.560] But the federal government isn't the only game in town, too.
[00:27:25.640 --> 00:27:32.440] You might have some state and local programs, and even through private companies and foundations, they might have their own grant programs.
[00:27:32.440 --> 00:27:36.040] Now, unlike loans, grants don't have to be repaid.
[00:27:36.040 --> 00:27:42.360] That's what makes them such an attractive option for entrepreneurs seeking financial support without taking on debt.
[00:27:42.360 --> 00:27:46.360] This is Danielle DeSier-Corbett from episode 544.
[00:27:46.680 --> 00:27:59.720] But I never really thought about winning grants as a creative person, as a podcaster, as a writer, as an author, until I actually won a couple of grants in 2020 during the pandemic.
[00:27:59.720 --> 00:28:05.400] I actually won four in total, which opened my eyes as a podcaster.
[00:28:05.400 --> 00:28:15.120] I was like, oh my gosh, there's funding out there to help launch my show or launch an idea and/or to help continue to see it grow.
[00:28:15.120 --> 00:28:16.560] What's the one thing that's interesting here?
[00:28:14.520 --> 00:28:18.800] First, like grants, maybe is worth defining.
[00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:22.320] Like, my understanding is this is kind of like a scholarship for your business.
[00:28:22.320 --> 00:28:25.200] Like, free money, are there any strings attached with this?
[00:28:25.200 --> 00:28:25.600] Yes.
[00:28:25.600 --> 00:28:31.440] So, I'm going to say air quotes: free money because there are strings attached to grants.
[00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:39.600] Grants are highly competitive, but a lot of times there are stringent requirements in terms of how you can use the funds.
[00:28:39.600 --> 00:28:46.080] Maybe you can't use the funds for advertising, for example, or you can't use the funds for a salary.
[00:28:46.080 --> 00:28:47.520] Every grant is different.
[00:28:47.520 --> 00:28:56.400] So, definitely recommend looking at the fine print to seeing what type of expenses are allowed on this type of funding opportunity.
[00:28:56.400 --> 00:29:01.840] But also, grants have strings attached in terms of what the grantor is looking for.
[00:29:01.840 --> 00:29:10.000] Meaning, a lot of times they're looking for a very specific to fund a very specific type of project, person, program.
[00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:13.600] So, it's free money, but there are strings attached.
[00:29:13.600 --> 00:29:18.080] When I say free money, there's no interest, meaning it's not like a loan.
[00:29:18.080 --> 00:29:24.480] You don't have to pay it back, but there are quite a bit of hoops for you to typically jump through.
[00:29:24.800 --> 00:29:25.200] Okay.
[00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:30.720] And some of them are government-sponsored, some of them are sponsored by nonprofits, other organizations?
[00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:31.200] Yes.
[00:29:31.200 --> 00:29:34.560] So, there are a variety of different types of funding organizations.
[00:29:34.560 --> 00:29:44.240] Like you mentioned, there's government, there are nonprofits, but there are also private entities, private companies, like a lot of the ones that we know.
[00:29:44.240 --> 00:29:57.040] Like, for example, Capital One or Verizon or Comcast, Dove, all of these, a lot of these big, large companies, they have grants that are out there.
[00:29:57.040 --> 00:29:59.360] Banks also have grants that are out there as well.
[00:29:59.360 --> 00:30:05.000] So, overall, government, private, and nonprofits are all our all-fair team.
[00:29:59.840 --> 00:30:05.320] Wow.
[00:30:05.400 --> 00:30:12.200] This is a really interesting monetization angle for creators that we have not touched on in 500 plus episodes.
[00:30:12.760 --> 00:30:16.200] Be sure to check out Danielle's newsletter grants for creators.
[00:30:16.200 --> 00:30:19.720] Great resource, great starting point if you're in that market.
[00:30:19.720 --> 00:30:24.760] And my guess is getting a grant, probably not on your radar as a potential source for startup funds.
[00:30:24.760 --> 00:30:26.200] It definitely wasn't for me.
[00:30:26.200 --> 00:30:30.680] I've got more ways to get money for your side hustle coming up right after this.
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[00:30:37.240 --> 00:30:39.560] I think that's a win we could all use right about now.
[00:30:39.560 --> 00:30:41.160] And you can keep your same phone number.
[00:30:41.160 --> 00:30:49.960] Plus, for a limited time, Mint Mobile is offering Side Hustle Show listeners three months of unlimited premium wireless service for just $15 a month.
[00:30:49.960 --> 00:30:57.080] All Mint plans come with high-speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network.
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[00:31:23.640 --> 00:31:27.400] Speeds may slow above 35 gigabytes on unlimited plan.
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[00:31:28.920 --> 00:31:31.560] See Mint Mobile for details.
[00:31:31.560 --> 00:31:34.280] I'm excited to partner with OpenPhone for this episode.
[00:31:34.280 --> 00:31:43.720] OpenPhone is the number one business phone system that streamlines and scales your customer communication for both calls and texts, all in one easy-to-use centralized hub.
[00:31:43.720 --> 00:31:48.640] But before OpenPhone was sponsoring podcasts, they took a more guerrilla marketing approach.
[00:31:48.800 --> 00:31:50.240] You probably don't remember this.
[00:31:44.920 --> 00:31:57.440] This is a while back, but when we just started OpenPhone, one of the ways that we got our first customers is through Facebook groups.
[00:31:57.440 --> 00:32:00.400] And I joined a bunch of Facebook groups, including yours.
[00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:15.440] Thank you for not kicking me out, but I posted a couple of times and I actually remember seeing there were some of your listeners and folks in your community interested in solving the problems we solve, which is not using your personal phone number for work.
[00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:19.200] And those posts got us some of our first customers.
[00:32:19.200 --> 00:32:20.000] So thank you.
[00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:21.600] It's a full circle moment.
[00:32:21.600 --> 00:32:22.640] Oh, that's super fun.
[00:32:22.640 --> 00:32:23.360] Very cool.
[00:32:23.360 --> 00:32:25.520] That's Doreena, the co-founder of OpenPhone.
[00:32:25.520 --> 00:32:27.760] And sure enough, her posts are still there.
[00:32:27.760 --> 00:32:34.000] OpenPhone is offering Side Hustle Show listeners 20% off your first six months at openphone.com/slash sidehustle.
[00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:39.360] That's O-P-E-N-P-H-O-N-E, openphone.com/slash side hustle.
[00:32:39.360 --> 00:32:44.880] And if you have existing numbers with another service, OpenPhone will port them over at no extra charge.
[00:32:44.880 --> 00:32:48.720] Funding strategy number eight is angel investors.
[00:32:48.720 --> 00:32:53.280] And I'm going to maybe go a little bit broader here and say high net worth individuals.
[00:32:53.280 --> 00:32:58.320] You know, a lot of times these people have some experience as entrepreneurs.
[00:32:58.320 --> 00:33:07.520] So outside of just taking their money, you're also hoping to gain hopefully some mentorship and maybe some industry connections to help you along the way.
[00:33:07.520 --> 00:33:09.760] And so this starts with a compelling pitch.
[00:33:09.760 --> 00:33:14.000] This starts with hopefully knowing some of these people to start with.
[00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:17.520] You've got to share your story on how are you're going to make this startup successful.
[00:33:17.520 --> 00:33:21.200] How are you're going to get a return on this investor's investment.
[00:33:21.200 --> 00:33:26.800] Now, the next clip isn't exactly an angel investor angle, but it stood out to me.
[00:33:26.800 --> 00:33:35.000] I think it was a really creative way to raise money, actually as debt instead of equity outside of your immediate network, outside of friends and family.
[00:33:35.320 --> 00:33:43.400] I went to a networking meeting where, you know, those are great, where you can talk to other people and everybody kind of gets their 30-second elevator time.
[00:33:43.400 --> 00:33:45.800] You know, you go around the room and then just networking.
[00:33:45.800 --> 00:33:47.560] And I stood up, I said, Hey, I'm Austin Miller.
[00:33:47.560 --> 00:33:50.600] I'm a real estate investor and I'm looking for somebody with a lot of money.
[00:33:50.600 --> 00:33:55.080] And I sat back down and everyone just looked at me, kind of laughing.
[00:33:55.160 --> 00:33:56.280] I said, Step back up.
[00:33:56.280 --> 00:34:00.120] I said, No, you know, it's kind of joking, but I am serious.
[00:34:00.120 --> 00:34:06.520] I'm looking for somebody that might be interested in getting into real estate because I find a lot of deals and I can only fund so many of them.
[00:34:06.520 --> 00:34:08.360] If you're interested, let's talk.
[00:34:08.360 --> 00:34:16.840] So I sat down and there was a lady that had been coming for a little while, mid-50s, average clothes, drove a pickup truck.
[00:34:16.840 --> 00:34:21.160] Never in a million years would have thought that she had any large sums of cash.
[00:34:21.160 --> 00:34:24.920] And she slides me a note that said, How much money are you talking about?
[00:34:25.240 --> 00:34:29.320] And I wrote back 50 grand minimum, preferably 100 grand.
[00:34:29.320 --> 00:34:30.600] I sent it back to her.
[00:34:30.600 --> 00:34:31.080] Okay.
[00:34:31.080 --> 00:34:34.040] And she wrote back, let's talk and passed the note back to me.
[00:34:34.120 --> 00:34:36.440] I was like, my mind was blown.
[00:34:36.760 --> 00:34:37.240] Okay.
[00:34:37.480 --> 00:34:39.160] So hard money is good.
[00:34:39.160 --> 00:34:40.040] Private money is better.
[00:34:40.040 --> 00:34:41.480] What makes private money better?
[00:34:41.640 --> 00:34:46.680] Well, typically a common saying is hard money, they set the terms.
[00:34:46.680 --> 00:34:48.600] Private money, you set the terms.
[00:34:48.600 --> 00:34:52.200] Because if you're talking to somebody, they're like, hey, I have money, I want to invest.
[00:34:52.200 --> 00:34:53.640] How do we do it?
[00:34:53.640 --> 00:34:56.600] Then you explore those options or you present options to them.
[00:34:56.600 --> 00:35:01.800] So typically the interest rate's less, you know, 7% to 10% instead of 14% to 18%.
[00:35:02.120 --> 00:35:03.960] Man, you can get as creative as you want.
[00:35:03.960 --> 00:35:05.800] You could partner with them on the deals.
[00:35:05.800 --> 00:35:07.080] You know, maybe they have the money.
[00:35:07.080 --> 00:35:11.800] They just don't have the time, and they're willing to partner and they just want 50 to 50 ownership.
[00:35:11.800 --> 00:35:12.680] Maybe that's for you guys.
[00:35:12.680 --> 00:35:13.720] Maybe it's not.
[00:35:13.720 --> 00:35:15.760] Maybe it's just 7% return on their money.
[00:35:15.840 --> 00:35:17.520] That's a lot better than 14%.
[00:35:14.920 --> 00:35:20.800] But there's you know, different ways you can work that.
[00:35:21.120 --> 00:35:29.360] So that's why they say, you know, private money is better because it gives you more flexibility, especially when you're having a one-on-one conversation about how do we make this work.
[00:35:29.360 --> 00:35:29.680] Okay.
[00:35:29.920 --> 00:35:32.800] You're in the driver's seat in terms of interest and terms.
[00:35:32.800 --> 00:35:33.520] Absolutely.
[00:35:33.520 --> 00:35:35.840] Terms are what you make them.
[00:35:36.160 --> 00:35:38.240] I'm looking for somebody with a lot of money.
[00:35:38.240 --> 00:35:38.800] Great line.
[00:35:38.880 --> 00:35:40.400] Side hustle show classic.
[00:35:40.400 --> 00:35:43.760] That was Austin Miller from episode 292.
[00:35:43.920 --> 00:35:44.960] Fascinating episode.
[00:35:44.960 --> 00:35:46.640] We called it free houses.
[00:35:46.640 --> 00:35:50.640] It was all about creative financing ways to buy investment properties.
[00:35:50.640 --> 00:35:55.360] And Austin's typical strategy was to find a house that needed some work.
[00:35:55.360 --> 00:35:58.080] It was unloved, needed some renovations.
[00:35:58.080 --> 00:36:02.160] So he would do the rehab or hire people to do that renovation work.
[00:36:02.160 --> 00:36:04.320] It was a way to force appreciation.
[00:36:04.320 --> 00:36:05.200] Well, now fixed up.
[00:36:05.200 --> 00:36:10.400] It's worth $30,000 more than we paid for it, $50,000 more than we paid for it, whatever it is.
[00:36:10.400 --> 00:36:18.320] And then he would take out a traditional loan with the traditional mortgage with the long-term plan of keeping it as a rental property.
[00:36:18.320 --> 00:36:27.360] And he'd done it over and over again and had built a portfolio worth over a million dollars without any money out of pocket or at least very little out of pocket.
[00:36:27.360 --> 00:36:31.200] Sounds a bit like one of those real estate infomercials, but I swear it was a good one.
[00:36:31.200 --> 00:36:36.240] $292 in your podcast feed to go catch up on that one.
[00:36:36.240 --> 00:36:40.880] Funding strategy number nine is equipment financing.
[00:36:40.880 --> 00:36:47.520] This is used to get machinery, technology, equipment that you need to run your business.
[00:36:47.520 --> 00:36:53.760] And it could include short-term loans, equipment leases, and rent-to-own type of purchase plans.
[00:36:53.760 --> 00:36:59.520] Equipment purchases, according to Forbes, are the second most popular reason that businesses are looking for loans.
[00:36:59.520 --> 00:37:06.840] So this could be a good option if you need equipment, if you need vehicles, so you can get what you need without stretching working capital too thin.
[00:37:06.840 --> 00:37:17.800] In the side hustle space, the examples that come to mind are like commercial laundry machines for laundromats, where Jordan Berry mentioned that there are some laundromat-specific lenders.
[00:37:17.800 --> 00:37:36.600] And the other example comes to mind would be vending machines, which if you're buying new can be pretty expensive, but if you found the right location, you can borrow the money for the machine and then you can pay it off with the actual sales from that machine, which becomes kind of this virtuous circle, this self-fulfilling prophecy.
[00:37:36.600 --> 00:37:40.760] And you can still make a profit on top of that debt service, which I think is really cool.
[00:37:40.760 --> 00:37:47.400] Here's Anthony from episode 662 talking about financing versus cash on these new machines.
[00:37:47.400 --> 00:37:51.080] So you mentioned you kind of alluded to this equipment cost here.
[00:37:51.080 --> 00:37:54.040] What does a vending machine cost?
[00:37:54.920 --> 00:37:59.800] What's your take on financing versus buying versus new versus used?
[00:37:59.800 --> 00:38:02.200] Like lots of different routes that you can go here.
[00:38:02.200 --> 00:38:14.520] I have like five different machines, which is kind of hectic because now I'm dealing with five different operating systems in their back end and trying to have them all communicate to each other with me just pulling reports and all that stuff as well too.
[00:38:14.520 --> 00:38:17.960] So it's a little bit of a pain in the butt, but I'm working through it.
[00:38:17.960 --> 00:38:24.360] It's not like, like, it's not like hard and it's like so much like extra work, but it is, you know, it is a nuisance.
[00:38:24.360 --> 00:38:28.360] In contrast to like the Southwest model, where we're going to fly one type of airplane.
[00:38:28.360 --> 00:38:35.240] So every, you know, any mechanic can work on any plane, like that kind of thing, versus, okay, it adds just a little bit of complexity.
[00:38:35.240 --> 00:38:36.120] Yep, absolutely.
[00:38:36.120 --> 00:38:42.680] So, like, the, I have a Futura combo machine, which it might be like one of those ones with like the coil, and that one takes cash.
[00:38:42.680 --> 00:38:49.200] You know, those machine, I have a, I have four of those machines at a shelter, and those cost me like around $5,000.
[00:38:49.360 --> 00:38:51.440] I bought those refurbished, okay?
[00:38:51.440 --> 00:38:56.080] Brand new, they would probably go for $6,500, I think, is the new pricing as of 2025.
[00:38:56.080 --> 00:38:58.720] The micro markets, I have three of those.
[00:38:58.720 --> 00:39:07.040] Well, now, when I say micro market, those are like those open markets, people, you know, honest policy, people could check out at a kiosk.
[00:39:07.040 --> 00:39:17.280] Yeah, you know, and those roughly, and then I'd have to build and put those together, and those run anywhere from like eight to like nine grand of what those are.
[00:39:17.280 --> 00:39:22.480] I have Stockwells, which are an AI smart machine.
[00:39:22.480 --> 00:39:29.200] Those run like around like eight grand, like 80, like nine grand, probably once once it's delivered with freight.
[00:39:29.200 --> 00:39:37.920] And then the newest and latest machine that I've been installing, I've installed 33 of them within the past four months, has been these micro marts.
[00:39:37.920 --> 00:39:43.840] So they are a refrigerator, they're AI powered machines, work like a stock well, but they hold more inventory.
[00:39:43.840 --> 00:40:00.080] But they actually have a video digital board that runs on the machine, so which is very powerful for me because like I can run ads on there is what I'm feeling like what I can do down the line once I have the data and that could be additional revenue that I could get in without even like I haven't even tapped into yet.
[00:40:00.400 --> 00:40:01.280] What are those things run?
[00:40:01.280 --> 00:40:06.560] Yeah, so those with freight, they are like around like 12K on there.
[00:40:06.560 --> 00:40:21.920] This is helpful at the risk of doing public math, which I've sworn off doing, but it's kind of this upfront capital in equipment and inventory, and then, you know, a payback period of a number of months or potentially years if it's a slow location.
[00:40:21.920 --> 00:40:31.400] But, like, how do you think about a winning location or what's kind of a target ROI, if you think about it that way in terms of, you know, the payback period on one of these machines?
[00:40:31.720 --> 00:40:39.320] So, with me being initially started, I wanted to increase my cash flows right away on these on these routes that I had.
[00:40:39.320 --> 00:40:41.160] Cash flow was very important to me.
[00:40:41.160 --> 00:40:48.440] So, I actually ended up paying some of my first locations cash just so I didn't have a finance payment.
[00:40:48.440 --> 00:40:52.120] And that way, I was able to increase like my cash flow net.
[00:40:52.120 --> 00:40:53.320] I wouldn't have to factor that.
[00:40:53.320 --> 00:40:53.720] Sure.
[00:40:53.720 --> 00:41:01.800] You know, so one of those machines that I bought was like nine grand with, and it was doing like 23, 22 to 2,500 a month.
[00:41:01.800 --> 00:41:09.160] So, my net payment of like what would come to me off of all that would be like around like 750 or 800 bucks.
[00:41:09.160 --> 00:41:12.360] So, I was like, okay, my net payment is 750, 800.
[00:41:12.360 --> 00:41:15.080] I'm going to break even on this in like less than a year.
[00:41:15.080 --> 00:41:21.080] And then, like, if I look at my return on that, like every year over, going over, like, I'm going to be making that.
[00:41:21.080 --> 00:41:22.280] It's like 100% return.
[00:41:22.280 --> 00:41:30.200] So, I'm like, right, after it's paid off, I mean, there's depreciation, there's maintenance involved, I imagine, but you've covered your expenses and then it's all gravy.
[00:41:30.200 --> 00:41:31.080] Yeah, then it's all gravy.
[00:41:31.080 --> 00:41:32.120] And then, like, I'm running the numbers.
[00:41:32.120 --> 00:41:36.440] I'm like, okay, here, it's like a each year it just goes up 100% return, return, return, return.
[00:41:36.440 --> 00:41:40.200] And then, obviously, there might be maintenance and it might not be go up as high each year as that.
[00:41:40.200 --> 00:41:45.720] But so, when I was looking at the numbers, I was like, oh my gosh, I'm like, I have to like, I'm making like 8% over here.
[00:41:45.720 --> 00:41:49.640] I'm like, I'm just going to take my money out and then just invest it into my machines.
[00:41:49.640 --> 00:41:51.160] You know, it's like a better return.
[00:41:51.160 --> 00:41:51.320] Right.
[00:41:51.320 --> 00:41:54.120] Because if you're looking at 100% return, potentially.
[00:41:54.120 --> 00:41:54.680] Yeah, exactly.
[00:41:54.680 --> 00:41:57.160] So that's the way I looked at it, you know, initially.
[00:41:57.160 --> 00:42:02.280] Now, what I did was, is that since I was growing, I leveraged like financing capabilities, you know?
[00:42:02.280 --> 00:42:05.960] So some of these places had financing options.
[00:42:05.960 --> 00:42:12.600] Basically, what that meant was it would be like 0% down, and then they would finance it over 60 months, and it may be like a 12%, you know, interest note.
[00:42:12.600 --> 00:42:16.320] And then maybe that machine would cost me like $160 or $175 a month.
[00:42:16.640 --> 00:42:34.560] But if I'm making $1,500, $1,600, you know, the $160, $175, it really wasn't, you know, the end of the world for me to go ahead and make that payment because now I got extra cash where I could go reinvest back into the business by just buying inventory, you know, building out the warehouse and all that stuff as well, too.
[00:42:34.560 --> 00:42:43.920] Which I'll kind of talk about like how my transition went from like me actually like growing and then when I actually hired my first person and like when I actually did that.
[00:42:43.920 --> 00:42:44.400] Yeah.
[00:42:44.400 --> 00:42:53.920] But yeah, so that's kind of like where I was at within regards to like evaluating these things if I should pay cash or if I should go ahead and finance it.
[00:42:53.920 --> 00:42:59.680] I will say, besides those first couple of machines that I paid cash, I financed every single one since.
[00:42:59.680 --> 00:43:06.000] So that was from episode 662 with Anthony Koloje, if I am pronouncing that correctly.
[00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:16.880] But really cool idea to build out the vending machine system and then plugging in additional machines into that system relatively predictably.
[00:43:16.880 --> 00:43:23.760] And when they're generating enough sales to pay for their own equipment loan and still make a profit, that's a pretty exciting place to play.
[00:43:23.760 --> 00:43:27.760] So again, episode 662, encourage you to go check that one out.
[00:43:27.760 --> 00:43:32.480] So as we've covered in this episode, lots of different funding options for new side hustles.
[00:43:32.480 --> 00:43:34.720] Each one comes with pros and cons.
[00:43:34.720 --> 00:43:41.120] So you got to make sure that you're comparing your options and making sure you're choosing which one makes the most sense for you.
[00:43:41.120 --> 00:43:43.040] In summary, we covered bootstrapping.
[00:43:43.040 --> 00:43:46.000] This is your own self-funded startup costs.
[00:43:46.000 --> 00:43:50.320] This is your savings, your own investments, potentially even borrowing against your 401k.
[00:43:50.320 --> 00:43:51.840] Just don't rob your retirement.
[00:43:51.840 --> 00:43:55.840] Number two was the friends and family plan, raising money from friends and family.
[00:43:55.840 --> 00:43:57.760] Again, trying not to burn your relationships here.
[00:43:57.760 --> 00:44:10.440] Number three was business credit cards, probably a method of last resort because the interest rates are so, so high there, but it is one potential option, especially if you have a path to pay it back relatively quickly.
[00:44:10.440 --> 00:44:15.000] Number four is traditional loans, bank loans, credit unions, stuff like that.
[00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:16.600] You maintain ownership in your business.
[00:44:16.600 --> 00:44:19.320] You just have to pay the interest on those notes.
[00:44:19.320 --> 00:44:20.600] Really, really common path.
[00:44:20.600 --> 00:44:25.640] Number five was pre-sales, a maybe almost a side hustle-specific type of strategy.
[00:44:25.640 --> 00:44:26.760] Really, really cool.
[00:44:27.160 --> 00:44:31.160] Some examples that we've seen from the show in the past, and one that I've used myself.
[00:44:31.160 --> 00:44:36.840] I'm going to validate this idea before I spend the time building it, before I invest in a ton of inventory.
[00:44:36.840 --> 00:44:38.360] Do people actually want it?
[00:44:38.360 --> 00:44:40.520] How could I pre-sell something?
[00:44:40.520 --> 00:44:45.480] Number six was crowdfunding through platforms like Kickstarter or other ones out there.
[00:44:45.480 --> 00:44:50.520] You're probably going to need to bring a little bit of your own audience to the table.
[00:44:50.520 --> 00:44:53.880] And typically, the funding amounts are relatively low.
[00:44:53.880 --> 00:44:59.880] So it's going to take a lot of people raising a small amount is typically how these crowdfunding campaigns go.
[00:44:59.880 --> 00:45:03.400] Number seven was grants, really creative strategy.
[00:45:03.400 --> 00:45:09.720] We heard from Danielle DeSier Corbett on how, look, I won a handful of grants to start my podcasting business.
[00:45:09.720 --> 00:45:11.640] Like, that's a thing.
[00:45:11.640 --> 00:45:12.600] That's an option.
[00:45:12.600 --> 00:45:14.200] Like, really, really interesting.
[00:45:14.200 --> 00:45:21.480] And grants.gov is the central database and her newsletter, Grants for Creators, might be worth checking out as well.
[00:45:21.480 --> 00:45:25.560] Number eight was angel investors or what I'll call high net worth individuals.
[00:45:25.560 --> 00:45:27.640] We heard from Austin Miller raising money.
[00:45:27.640 --> 00:45:36.440] Like, I'm looking for people with a lot of money and using outside capital to fund some of his real estate acquisitions, which I thought was really interesting.
[00:45:36.440 --> 00:45:39.240] And then number nine was the equipment financing.
[00:45:39.240 --> 00:45:46.960] So if you have a business that is reliant on expensive equipment, a lot of times those equipment vendors have financing terms.
[00:45:46.960 --> 00:45:54.240] And so it's on you to find the location or find a way to make that self-liquidating and make it pay for itself.
[00:45:54.240 --> 00:45:56.640] And I think that's a really, really cool way to do it.
[00:45:56.640 --> 00:46:07.840] And truthfully, most of the ideas, most, most, most of the ideas we cover on the side hustle show should be able to be self-funded because the vast majority of them cost less than a thousand bucks to start.
[00:46:07.840 --> 00:46:11.360] And maybe those equipment-intensive businesses are the exception to that.
[00:46:11.360 --> 00:46:14.800] Do you need to give up equity in the business to raise money?
[00:46:14.800 --> 00:46:17.440] Now, it might make sense for the right idea and the right investor.
[00:46:17.440 --> 00:46:33.120] I've even seen some work for equity platforms where if you need specific skills, but you don't have the cash, you could sell someone on your vision and upside and maybe get them to do some work for you for a slice of the company instead of that immediate paycheck.
[00:46:33.280 --> 00:46:42.400] Reminds me a little bit of the Facebook office mural painter who took the stock options instead of their usual $30,000 invoice or whatever it was.
[00:46:42.400 --> 00:46:51.680] And when it comes to debt financing, just make sure you've got a clear path to pay that back, ideally with the cash flow generated from whatever it is that you're financing.
[00:46:52.000 --> 00:46:56.960] Either the physical inventory in the e-commerce example, or like Anthony's vending machines.
[00:46:56.960 --> 00:47:08.800] He's done it enough times where the demand is validated, the risk is really low, and financing is just a way to physically place the machine there, put it in, put that cog into the system, and start generating revenue.
[00:47:08.800 --> 00:47:13.520] The big thing is not biting off more risk than you can chew and protecting your downside.
[00:47:13.520 --> 00:47:18.400] In any case, if you have any examples of creative funding strategies, I'd love to hear them.
[00:47:18.400 --> 00:47:21.120] Shoot me a note, Nick, at sidehustlenation.com.
[00:47:21.120 --> 00:47:23.120] How'd you get the money to start your side hustle?
[00:47:23.120 --> 00:47:25.040] Is the $100 startup a myth?
[00:47:25.040 --> 00:47:26.000] I'm all ears.
[00:47:26.000 --> 00:47:35.880] So, as you know, the Side Hustle Show just had its 12th birthday, and whether it's your first time listening or you've been here since the beginning, I appreciate you spending some time with me and your earbuds today.
[00:47:35.880 --> 00:47:38.680] If you are newer to the show, you want to dig a little bit deeper.
[00:47:38.680 --> 00:47:47.640] We mentioned several archive episodes in this one in the form of those voicemail clips, but you can actually get a personalized playlist at hustle.show.
[00:47:47.640 --> 00:48:00.040] How it works is you answer a few short multiple-choice questions, take you 60 seconds, maybe two minutes, and it's going to recommend eight to 10 of our greatest hits to start with, greatest hits episodes based on your answers.
[00:48:00.040 --> 00:48:04.280] So, hustle.show, totally free, and it'll get you that personalized playlist.
[00:48:04.280 --> 00:48:07.640] Big thanks to our sponsors for helping make this content free for everyone.
[00:48:07.640 --> 00:48:14.120] SidehustleNation.com/slash deals is where to go to get all the latest offers from our sponsors in one place.
[00:48:14.120 --> 00:48:15.240] That is it for me.
[00:48:15.240 --> 00:48:16.840] Thank you so much for tuning in.
[00:48:16.840 --> 00:48:19.560] Until next time, let's go out there and make something happen.
[00:48:19.560 --> 00:48:22.760] And I'll catch you in the next edition of the Side Hustle Show.
[00:48:22.760 --> 00:48:23.560] Hustle on.

Prompt 2: Key Takeaways

Now please extract the key takeaways from the transcript content I provided.

Extract the most important key takeaways from this part of the conversation. Use a single sentence statement (the key takeaway) rather than milquetoast descriptions like "the hosts discuss...". 

Limit the key takeaways to a maximum of 3. The key takeaways should be insightful and knowledge-additive. 

IMPORTANT: Return ONLY valid JSON, no explanations or markdown. Ensure:
- All strings are properly quoted and escaped
- No trailing commas
- All braces and brackets are balanced
Format: {"key_takeaways": ["takeaway 1", "takeaway 2"]}

Prompt 3: Segments

Now identify 2-4 distinct topical segments from this part of the conversation.

For each segment, identify:
- Descriptive title (3-6 words)  
- START timestamp when this topic begins (HH:MM:SS format)
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Most important Key takeaway from that segment. Key takeaway must be specific and knowledge-additive.
- Brief summary of the discussion

IMPORTANT: The timestamp should mark when the topic/segment STARTS, not a range. Look for topic transitions and conversation shifts.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted, no trailing commas:
{
  "segments": [
    {
      "segment_title": "Topic Discussion", 
      "timestamp": "01:15:30",
      "key_takeaway": "main point from this segment",
      "segment_summary": "brief description of what was discussed"
    }
  ]
}

Timestamp format: HH:MM:SS (e.g., 00:05:30, 01:22:45) marking the START of each segment.

Prompt 4: Media Mentions

Now scan the transcript content I provided for ACTUAL mentions of specific media titles:

Find explicit mentions of:
- Books (with specific titles)
- Movies (with specific titles)  
- TV Shows (with specific titles)
- Music/Songs (with specific titles)

DO NOT include:
- Websites, URLs, or web services
- Other podcasts or podcast names

IMPORTANT: 
- Only include items explicitly mentioned by name. Do not invent titles.
- Valid categories are: "Book", "Movie", "TV Show", "Music"
- Include the exact phrase where each item was mentioned
- Find the nearest proximate timestamp where it appears in the conversation
- THE TIMESTAMP OF THE MEDIA MENTION IS IMPORTANT - DO NOT INVENT TIMESTAMPS AND DO NOT MISATTRIBUTE TIMESTAMPS
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Timestamps are given as ranges, e.g. 01:13:42.520 --> 01:13:46.720. Use the EARLIER of the 2 timestamps in the range.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted and escaped, no trailing commas:
{
  "media_mentions": [
    {
      "title": "Exact Title as Mentioned",
      "category": "Book",
      "author_artist": "N/A",
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Full Transcript

[00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:06.240] Look, adulting can be a challenge, but there is an easy button for at least one item on your to-do list.
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[00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:02.080] And now, onto the show.
[00:01:02.400 --> 00:01:03.680] This is awesome.
[00:01:03.680 --> 00:01:05.920] You've got a great side hustle idea.
[00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:08.240] Now you just need the money to get it off the ground.
[00:01:08.240 --> 00:01:19.440] Even though lots of small businesses have pretty low startup costs, especially the ones that we cover on the side hustle show, most are still going to require at least some startup capital.
[00:01:19.440 --> 00:01:25.360] In fact, the problem of money is a pretty consistent one among side hustle show listeners in our annual surveys.
[00:01:25.360 --> 00:01:27.520] Time, I don't have enough time to do this thing.
[00:01:27.520 --> 00:01:29.360] Money, I need the startup costs.
[00:01:29.360 --> 00:01:31.360] Ideas, I don't know what idea to start.
[00:01:31.360 --> 00:01:33.040] And then marketing and growth.
[00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:38.560] Those are the four issues, four struggles that are almost always at the top of the list.
[00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:44.960] According to CB Insights, 38% of startups fail because they can't raise new capital.
[00:01:44.960 --> 00:01:56.640] And while most side hustles aren't going to fall into that venture capital category of needing to raise hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, it is still important to have the funds you need to get the business off the ground.
[00:01:56.640 --> 00:01:59.560] It could be that critical infrastructure.
[00:01:59.560 --> 00:02:01.880] It could be licensing and insurance.
[00:02:01.880 --> 00:02:06.120] It could be equipment or inventory, software, key personnel, perhaps.
[00:02:06.120 --> 00:02:07.640] And of course, we're going to try to stay lean.
[00:02:07.640 --> 00:02:11.240] We're going to try to be creative about it, but some stuff just costs money.
[00:02:11.240 --> 00:02:21.640] And in this episode, I want to share the most popular ways to raise those funds for your new business so you can choose the path that makes the most sense for you, along with some real life examples along the way.
[00:02:21.640 --> 00:02:26.360] And before we get into it, you should know there's three primary types of startup funding.
[00:02:26.360 --> 00:02:29.160] That would be number one, bootstrapping, self-funded.
[00:02:29.160 --> 00:02:30.680] That's the self-funded option.
[00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:32.200] Number two is debt financing.
[00:02:32.200 --> 00:02:34.520] And number three is equity financing.
[00:02:34.520 --> 00:02:38.120] And the main difference between those is ownership.
[00:02:38.120 --> 00:02:40.680] Bootstrapping, you maintain all ownership.
[00:02:40.680 --> 00:02:44.520] You're investing your personal savings and funding the business that way.
[00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:48.840] Debt financing involves borrowing money from an external source.
[00:02:48.840 --> 00:02:50.280] It could be a bank.
[00:02:50.280 --> 00:02:51.320] It could be a credit union.
[00:02:51.320 --> 00:02:53.240] It could be an equipment lender.
[00:02:53.240 --> 00:02:57.480] And you agree to repay that borrowed amount plus interest over a set period of time.
[00:02:57.480 --> 00:03:03.240] But both of those options, bootstrapping and debt financing, they allow you to maintain ownership, maintain control of the business.
[00:03:03.240 --> 00:03:09.720] On the other hand, equity financing involves selling shares or selling ownership stakes to investors.
[00:03:09.720 --> 00:03:15.560] They don't expect necessarily any interest payments on that, but they have a share in the upside of the business.
[00:03:15.560 --> 00:03:24.040] If your business becomes a $10 million operation, you gave away 10% of it, all of a sudden that could turn into a pretty substantial return for those investors.
[00:03:24.120 --> 00:03:29.640] So be careful, be wary of giving away too much equity early on.
[00:03:29.640 --> 00:03:31.960] All right, the first method is what we've talked about already.
[00:03:31.960 --> 00:03:32.920] That's bootstrapping.
[00:03:32.920 --> 00:03:37.000] This is how most side hustles, this is how most small businesses get started.
[00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:46.000] So instead of seeking funds from lenders or investors, you're going to rely on your own money and your own hard work, your own savings to fund the business.
[00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:54.320] According to the Chamber of Commerce, 78% of small businesses, nearly four out of five small businesses, are going to use this method.
[00:03:54.320 --> 00:03:56.400] They're going to use their own funds to start the business.
[00:03:56.400 --> 00:03:58.000] This is how I first started.
[00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:01.520] This is how the vast majority of side hustle show guests start their business.
[00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:06.880] Now, a common path here is, especially for side hustlers, use the funds from your day job.
[00:04:06.880 --> 00:04:09.600] Use your day job salary to cover your startup costs.
[00:04:09.600 --> 00:04:16.480] We've had guests call their day job their silent partner or their unbeknownst angel investor into their side hustle.
[00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:26.080] So in episode 299, I talk a little bit about this early journey of kind of parlaying savings into the next thing.
[00:04:26.080 --> 00:04:34.640] The first step was, you know, taking my earnings from like part-time high school jobs and then buying a pickup truck to start painting houses.
[00:04:34.640 --> 00:04:38.400] The truck was like $3,500, like a 1991 Toyota pickup.
[00:04:39.200 --> 00:04:41.600] I still look for that car out on the road sometimes.
[00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:58.160] Took $13,000 from that painting business, painting houses, and then put that as a down payment in an investment property and took $10,000 from the sale of that house a couple years later and then put that into the development for my online shoe business, my first real online side hustle.
[00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:01.840] And then since then, everything else has been like less than $500 to start.
[00:05:01.840 --> 00:05:09.120] So I think I've become more risk averse in my old age, but bootstrappers allow you to be pretty risk averse.
[00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:10.480] You take this lean approach.
[00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:12.400] You focus on the essentials.
[00:05:12.400 --> 00:05:16.000] You really limit unnecessary expenses.
[00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:21.120] A mentor of mine gave me that advice: you know, mind the nickels and dimes and the dollars take care of themselves.
[00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:22.400] It's about being resourceful.
[00:05:22.400 --> 00:05:23.600] It's about stretching your dollars.
[00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:28.240] It's about doing more with less and really keeping that overhead low.
[00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:35.400] And the question you might ask if you're faced with a question about an upcoming expense: is it necessary?
[00:05:35.400 --> 00:05:37.080] Does this drive revenue?
[00:05:37.320 --> 00:05:50.360] Early on, I did a lot of work myself, like on the side hustle brand in particular, you know, had maybe a couple hundred dollars in development costs to like customize the domain name or something like that, but I did a lot of it myself.
[00:05:50.360 --> 00:05:56.280] And on the podcast side, grateful to have lots of help now, but I edited the show myself for the first three years.
[00:05:56.280 --> 00:05:58.840] This example of, you know, starting really lean.
[00:05:58.840 --> 00:06:10.920] You can also do, try and negotiate with certain suppliers, vendors, contractors, because sometimes they recognize they're dealing with a small business instead of an enterprise client and they might cut you a deal.
[00:06:10.920 --> 00:06:12.360] They might adjust their pricing.
[00:06:12.360 --> 00:06:17.400] When I was first getting the shoe site bid out, remember I was living in northern Virginia at the time.
[00:06:17.400 --> 00:06:23.560] I put the job up for bid on guru.com, which is kind of a precursor to Upwork.
[00:06:23.560 --> 00:06:27.080] And one of the guys who bids is like half an hour away from me in Virginia.
[00:06:27.080 --> 00:06:33.640] So I go over to his apartment and he kind of recognizes at a certain point during this meeting that, oh, there's, there's no company backing.
[00:06:33.640 --> 00:06:36.120] This is just a 22-year-old kid with an idea.
[00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:40.520] And so he's like, oh, okay, I'm going to adjust my quoted price down a little bit.
[00:06:40.520 --> 00:06:44.920] And so I'm able to start a little leaner in that way.
[00:06:44.920 --> 00:06:49.480] But that is funding method number one, bootstrapping.
[00:06:49.480 --> 00:06:55.400] Number two is the friends and family method, getting support from your inner circle.
[00:06:55.400 --> 00:07:04.520] These are people who want to see you succeed and they might be able to offer some kind of loan or financial backing to help you with that.
[00:07:04.760 --> 00:07:12.360] Clutch.co found that 22% of founders received funding from friends or family in the first three months of launching their businesses.
[00:07:12.360 --> 00:07:16.240] I want to say that this was some of the seed money for Amazon, you know, friends and family.
[00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:18.960] We'll throw a few hundred thousand dollars away.
[00:07:18.960 --> 00:07:27.200] But this isn't something you want to rush into because if it doesn't work out, this could be a strain on relationships with the people closest to you.
[00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:28.800] Never borrowed money from friends or family.
[00:07:29.200 --> 00:07:37.040] This is like an area where it's like, oh, you tread very carefully and you got to be as open and transparent about it as possible.
[00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:38.800] You know, share your vision for the business.
[00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:41.120] You want to outline the potential risks and rewards.
[00:07:41.120 --> 00:07:43.120] Make sure everybody knows what they're getting into.
[00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:47.120] So transparency is essential to keep everyone on the same page.
[00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:53.600] And not that I would necessarily recommend this method, but this is what Kat Block did to get her photo booth business off the ground.
[00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:57.440] We'll take a very short-term loan from the Bank of Mom and Dad.
[00:07:57.440 --> 00:08:02.480] The model that they had was 9,000 US, which I'm in Canada.
[00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:08.880] So for me, that was like $13,000 when you do the conversion and taxes and import fees.
[00:08:08.880 --> 00:08:11.840] Like it wasn't cheap, but it came with everything.
[00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:25.760] You know, so I think all said and done to set up my business was probably about $20,000 when I look at like, I actually hired a web designer and a graphic designer to make my logo and stuff and a couple of extra things that I needed to buy.
[00:08:25.760 --> 00:08:33.360] But like in terms of starting a business, like how many businesses can you really start with 20K that that will generate like pretty good revenue pretty quickly?
[00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:34.240] Not many.
[00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:35.040] At least I have.
[00:08:35.040 --> 00:08:35.840] Yeah, I don't know.
[00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:43.200] That's like, this seems like a lot to me, but I'm from like the online world where it costs, you know, your domain name and your hosting and you're kind of off to the races.
[00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:47.200] So it does seem like a lot, but there is a, you know, a physical product element to it.
[00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:50.080] I gotta, I gotta buy the equipment for this thing.
[00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:54.240] So, what gave you the confidence to say, yeah, this is a ton of money.
[00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:55.680] I'm gonna go for it.
[00:08:55.720 --> 00:09:02.200] Um, I have a relationship with money where it's like I always see like advantage to spending money.
[00:09:02.360 --> 00:09:07.800] Like, I don't know, the saying that's always resonated with me, a lot of people is like, scared money don't make money.
[00:09:08.120 --> 00:09:13.080] And when I have like this feeling, it's like a gut feeling that I know I need to do something.
[00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:15.880] It's like I don't even think twice about spending that money.
[00:09:15.880 --> 00:09:16.920] I didn't have that money.
[00:09:16.920 --> 00:09:25.400] So, the funny part was that, you know, I was like 27, maybe 25 or something along those lines.
[00:09:25.400 --> 00:09:30.840] And I actually put the deposit of this photo booth on my parents' emergency credit card.
[00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:37.160] And I was like, I don't know, I have like 30 days to explain what this charge is.
[00:09:37.480 --> 00:09:38.200] But I paid it off.
[00:09:38.200 --> 00:09:39.240] Don't worry.
[00:09:39.560 --> 00:09:41.720] Scared money don't make money is a line.
[00:09:41.720 --> 00:09:43.640] I'll always remember from that interview.
[00:09:43.640 --> 00:09:52.680] Again, that was Kat Block from episode 471 on her journey to building what became one of the largest, if not the largest, photo booth companies in Canada.
[00:09:52.680 --> 00:09:56.200] But that's funding method number two: the friends and family plan.
[00:09:56.200 --> 00:10:01.240] One to tread carefully with for fear of damaging important relationships if things don't work out.
[00:10:01.240 --> 00:10:07.640] One other strategy that I should have mentioned in the bootstrapping category is to borrow against your 401k.
[00:10:07.640 --> 00:10:16.520] You can borrow up to $50,000 or 10% or rather 50% of your vested balance, whichever is lower, I believe.
[00:10:16.520 --> 00:10:18.920] So you're going to borrow money from your own 401k.
[00:10:18.920 --> 00:10:23.160] You got to repay yourself with interest, but at least that money is going back to you.
[00:10:23.160 --> 00:10:32.680] If you don't pay it back, there is no impact on your credit score, but you might have taxes and penalties because then it would essentially be like an early withdrawal from that.
[00:10:32.680 --> 00:10:40.200] Obviously, you're going to miss out on the returns those funds would have earned staying invested in the 401k over that time.
[00:10:40.200 --> 00:10:47.680] But the idea, of course, is you hopefully generate bigger returns by investing in yourself, investing in your business instead.
[00:10:44.840 --> 00:10:51.120] Funding strategy number three is business credit cards.
[00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:58.800] This is probably a funding strategy of last resort when you're starting your business because most cards carry really high interest rates.
[00:10:58.800 --> 00:11:03.040] And so you don't want to dig yourself into a debt hole that you spend years trying to climb out of.
[00:11:03.040 --> 00:11:15.440] But even if your side hustle is new, even if you haven't made any money yet, you might still qualify for a small business credit card because banks understand that new businesses often don't show a lot of revenue in the early days.
[00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:19.600] And for better or worse, sometimes they're happy to lend you money to cover your startup costs.
[00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:27.440] Business credit cards also come with perks like cash back, travel points, or discounts on some business-related purchases.
[00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:37.120] But again, one to be wary of if you don't have the money to pay that back or you don't see an immediate path to revenue to pay back that because the interest rates can be really high.
[00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:42.720] Strategy number four is bank loans, or maybe more broadly, just debt financing, loan financing.
[00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:47.520] So these business loans are a tried and true way to secure capital.
[00:11:47.520 --> 00:11:52.160] In 2021, 34% of small businesses reported applying for a loan.
[00:11:52.160 --> 00:11:54.000] So this is like a really common thing to do.
[00:11:54.000 --> 00:12:00.240] The loan is a lump sum that's got to be repaid over a specified period, usually with interest.
[00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:07.280] This could be from your bank, it could be from the SBA, the small business administration, and each type is going to serve different purposes.
[00:12:07.280 --> 00:12:16.240] But you got to keep in mind factors like interest rates, collateral requirements, personal guarantees, you know, pick and choose which might make the most sense for you.
[00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:19.760] So, in a big business example, Patagonia comes to mind.
[00:12:19.760 --> 00:12:23.360] They were expanding really rapidly in the 90s.
[00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:32.600] So, they utilized bank loans to fund inventory expansion and the growth of their physical, like brick-and-mortar locations and stuff during that time.
[00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:36.120] So, it's a way to finance growth while preserving ownership and control.
[00:12:36.440 --> 00:12:50.440] So, way back in episode 143, talked to Jeremy Michael Cohen and Fred Parada about how they financed some of their initial production runs for their Tortuga direct-to-consumer backpack line.
[00:12:50.760 --> 00:12:55.720] Eventually, I found a factory that would do a smaller run for us and finance that through.
[00:12:55.960 --> 00:12:59.640] We kind of re-upped the loan that we had with the Jewish Free Loan Association.
[00:12:59.640 --> 00:13:04.920] We had paid off some of it and kind of re-extended our line of credit, if you even want to call it there.
[00:13:04.920 --> 00:13:10.440] And then also did a small loan with a lending club, which is kind of a peer-to-peer loan platform.
[00:13:10.760 --> 00:13:17.320] Plus, you know, kicked in a little bit more of our own money and got that first Chinese order through.
[00:13:17.640 --> 00:13:20.360] Fun fact, I've still got my Tortuga backpack.
[00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:22.760] It's been with me on pretty much every trip the last 10 years.
[00:13:22.760 --> 00:13:26.520] So, thanks to Jeremy and Fred for introducing me to that brand.
[00:13:26.520 --> 00:13:29.960] But bank loans, lines of credit, credit unions, peer-to-peer lending.
[00:13:29.960 --> 00:13:34.120] There's even some platforms that specialize in inventory funding for e-commerce brands.
[00:13:34.120 --> 00:13:40.200] You're typically going to pay a higher interest rate on those loans, but they're also not meant to be carried for years.
[00:13:40.200 --> 00:13:47.000] The idea is you can use it to get the inventory you need, generate sales to pay it off, and then recycle that capital into more growth.
[00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:51.480] I've got more ways to get money for your side hustle coming up right after this.
[00:13:51.480 --> 00:14:02.680] You know, when you're shopping online and you see that little purple shop pay button at checkout, that's a sign that the store you're on is one of the millions of businesses powered by our partner, Shopify.
[00:14:02.680 --> 00:14:06.280] Shopify makes it incredibly easy to start and run your business.
[00:14:06.280 --> 00:14:08.600] For starters, you don't even have to start from scratch.
[00:14:08.600 --> 00:14:16.880] They've got hundreds of beautiful, ready-to-go, proven-to-convert templates that you can adapt to your brand's style without needing to know how to code.
[00:14:16.880 --> 00:14:25.040] You can tackle all your most important tasks in one place, from managing your inventory to tracking payments to analytics and more.
[00:14:25.040 --> 00:14:32.560] Plus, Shopify helps you make sales with built-in marketing and email tools to go out and find new customers and keep the ones you've got.
[00:14:32.560 --> 00:14:37.440] If you want to see less carts being abandoned, it's time to head over to Shopify.
[00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:44.000] Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com/slash sidehustle.
[00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:47.360] Go to shopify.com/slash sidehustle.
[00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:52.000] Shopify.com/slash sidehustle.
[00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:54.480] Years ago, this is probably 2009.
[00:14:54.480 --> 00:15:03.680] I'm sitting in this conference in Santa Barbara, and the presenter asks this question: Are you working on your business or are you working in your business?
[00:15:03.680 --> 00:15:11.440] I saw myself as this full-time entrepreneur, but it was this moment of clarity that, no, I was still very much working in the business day to day.
[00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:14.720] So, when I got back home, that's when I made my first full-time hire.
[00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:24.880] It was the first in a long series and an ongoing series of steps in trying to take control by being okay of letting go of certain tasks.
[00:15:24.880 --> 00:15:31.440] Now, when you find yourself in that position of needing to hire like yesterday, you need our sponsor, Indeed.
[00:15:31.680 --> 00:15:35.840] Plus, Indeed's sponsored jobs help you stand out and hire fast.
[00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:40.800] There's no monthly subscriptions, no long-term contracts, and you only pay for results.
[00:15:40.800 --> 00:15:43.920] That's why for my next hire, I'm using Indeed.
[00:15:43.920 --> 00:15:52.880] Side Hustle Show listeners get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at indeed.com/slash sidehustleshow.
[00:15:52.880 --> 00:16:00.600] Just go to indeed.com/slash sidehustle show right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast.
[00:16:00.600 --> 00:16:03.560] Indeed.com/slash side hustle show.
[00:15:59.920 --> 00:16:04.840] Terms and conditions apply.
[00:16:05.080 --> 00:16:08.200] Hiring, indeed, is all you need.
[00:16:08.520 --> 00:16:11.960] Strategy at number five is to pre-sell your solution.
[00:16:11.960 --> 00:16:20.200] And this might also be the fastest way to test if your side hustle idea has legs, is to ask people to pay for it, even before you've built anything.
[00:16:20.200 --> 00:16:22.840] I've done this for a couple different digital products.
[00:16:22.840 --> 00:16:27.640] The process works like this: you know, create a brief description of what the product is going to be.
[00:16:27.640 --> 00:16:31.320] You ask people to pre-order it, often for a discounted price.
[00:16:31.320 --> 00:16:34.040] If you get a critical mass, then you go and build it.
[00:16:34.040 --> 00:16:39.160] That's what I did with the traffic course, which I want to say was a 2021 project.
[00:16:39.160 --> 00:16:42.920] This was an online SEO course, for lack of better terms.
[00:16:42.920 --> 00:16:46.840] I said, if I got 20 people to pre-order it, I'd go ahead and build it.
[00:16:46.840 --> 00:16:49.800] And I think probably ended up with close to 100 there.
[00:16:49.800 --> 00:16:53.080] And otherwise, like, if you don't get the critical mass, you just issue refunds.
[00:16:53.080 --> 00:17:02.760] So no big deal, but it's a way to quickly kind of prove out and validate people are willing to pay for something so you don't waste time creating something that nobody wants.
[00:17:02.760 --> 00:17:08.840] Here's how Abby Ashley described doing something really similar for her virtual assistant training business.
[00:17:08.840 --> 00:17:15.400] I actually stumbled upon a podcast in fall of 2016 about discovering your niche.
[00:17:15.400 --> 00:17:17.880] And it was so funny because I had hired a business coach.
[00:17:17.880 --> 00:17:33.560] I had really like done so much soul searching and this one stinking free podcast like totally just made me think, I just need to teach or like I need to ask my audience and teach what I'm actually good at, like what I've had success at.
[00:17:33.560 --> 00:17:37.160] So, rather than creating courses, I had the idea.
[00:17:37.160 --> 00:17:41.800] I didn't just say, you know, what do you want to learn in general to my email list?
[00:17:41.800 --> 00:17:46.480] I said, hey, I have this idea for creating a virtual assistants course.
[00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:48.480] I created this agency.
[00:17:44.840 --> 00:17:50.480] I was able to quit my job doing virtual assistants.
[00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:53.680] I thought up what like the modules for the course would be.
[00:17:53.680 --> 00:18:00.080] I just kind of listed them out and I asked if anyone was interested in that topic.
[00:18:00.080 --> 00:18:03.920] If so, I was going to sell the course at a lower price.
[00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:12.160] It was about half the price around, I think it was like four or five hundred dollars, where I knew eventually the course would be probably a $900,000 product.
[00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:14.320] I said, Hey, you can get in early.
[00:18:14.320 --> 00:18:18.240] And I had about 16 people buy from my list of a thousand.
[00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:21.680] So, I made $8,000 from doing that tactic.
[00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:25.680] Just asking people before I even created the course, is this something you would want to learn?
[00:18:25.680 --> 00:18:27.040] Here's the modules.
[00:18:27.040 --> 00:18:33.120] So, $8,000 in pre-sales is pretty great and all well and good if you have an existing audience.
[00:18:33.120 --> 00:18:53.600] If you don't, you've got to get a little more creative and kind of do this one-on-one, hand-to-hand combat, like John Logar did, who is an expert in what I'll call this idea extraction method, where he'll call up CEOs or high-ranking people inside of certain companies and just start probing for pain.
[00:18:53.600 --> 00:18:59.360] Start asking them questions: like, what, you know, where are you spending too much of your time or what's dragging down your business?
[00:18:59.360 --> 00:19:02.320] Or where do you see this industry in the next five years?
[00:19:02.320 --> 00:19:06.880] And what you're just searching for, trying to let them arrive at the answer.
[00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:10.640] Well, if you had a magic wand, what would be the ideal scenario?
[00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:11.840] How would you tackle this problem?
[00:19:11.840 --> 00:19:14.000] And just maybe they'll arrive at the solution.
[00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:17.200] You don't even need to know how to build it, as John will talk about.
[00:19:17.360 --> 00:19:19.200] I'll go find somebody else to know how to build it.
[00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:20.320] I'll be the middleman here.
[00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:26.400] Here's a clip from our conversation, which again, one of the most fascinating episodes that we've ever recorded.
[00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:29.160] But I'll say, you know, right there, you're spending a quarter of a million.
[00:19:29.400 --> 00:19:35.720] In four years' time or five years' time, that quarter of a million dollars is going to turn into a million dollars, $1.2 million in costs.
[00:19:35.960 --> 00:19:44.280] Yeah, is it worth investing $30,000 up front to get this nipped in the butt, which is $20,000 less than your brochures that you're about to print to get that done?
[00:19:44.280 --> 00:19:49.400] Now, you're not the technical guy, so how did you go and get this done?
[00:19:49.400 --> 00:19:52.280] Okay, so this is what happened in my scenario.
[00:19:52.280 --> 00:19:57.480] I actually, I said, listen, I just want to figure something up because we might be able to significantly save some money here.
[00:19:58.120 --> 00:20:01.640] I knew what the solution was once he said what he said, right?
[00:20:01.640 --> 00:20:05.560] Because anybody with half a brain in our world would see that to be the solution.
[00:20:05.560 --> 00:20:09.560] But it's important to let him, it's his idea, right?
[00:20:09.560 --> 00:20:10.280] Exactly, exactly.
[00:20:10.280 --> 00:20:11.160] It's his idea.
[00:20:11.160 --> 00:20:15.720] So, so I basically said, look, if you give me 20 minutes, I'll just hop in your boardroom.
[00:20:15.720 --> 00:20:18.120] I just want to make a quick phone call to somebody.
[00:20:18.120 --> 00:20:20.520] And it wasn't a phone call, it was an email.
[00:20:20.520 --> 00:20:23.400] I wanted to just have a quick phone call to somebody.
[00:20:23.400 --> 00:20:24.600] I just want to verify something.
[00:20:24.600 --> 00:20:29.640] I can actually work, give you a rough idea of what it would cost you to get this fixed up, right?
[00:20:29.640 --> 00:20:38.760] So all I did was hopped on an email, sent an email to, I actually sent out, I opted on ODESC, created a job description outlining what needed to happen.
[00:20:38.760 --> 00:20:41.000] So just roughly, this is what it's going to be.
[00:20:41.560 --> 00:20:47.560] And just, you know, I basically said, I've got a project price, you know, it'll be, give me an idea.
[00:20:47.560 --> 00:20:51.080] So give me a range for a project price of something like this.
[00:20:51.080 --> 00:20:51.480] Right.
[00:20:51.720 --> 00:20:56.040] I, within 10 minutes, I had 16 replies.
[00:20:56.040 --> 00:20:56.520] Right.
[00:20:56.520 --> 00:20:57.560] Well, it's ODES.
[00:20:57.560 --> 00:20:59.240] So there's always people trolling.
[00:20:59.800 --> 00:21:09.800] My criteria for selection was people who had done over a thousand hours worth of work, who had specific uh knowledge and you know understanding of programming.
[00:21:09.800 --> 00:21:12.440] And so I was very selective in my criteria.
[00:21:12.440 --> 00:21:19.920] But I literally had 16 people quote me on the job within you know 10 minutes And so what I did was all I did was double the quote.
[00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:23.440] So whenever I was quoted, I just looked very scanned through very quickly.
[00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:28.400] Whenever I was quoted, I just doubled the price to what I would think the real price would be.
[00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:29.120] Okay, just to be safe.
[00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:31.120] To facilitate, just to be safe.
[00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:39.200] And then I just sat down and thought, you know, what's a couple of deals worth to this guy in profit?
[00:21:39.520 --> 00:21:41.840] What was the quoted price out of curiosity?
[00:21:41.840 --> 00:21:46.160] Oh, the quoted price was I was getting between $800 to $1,600.
[00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:50.080] Okay, but you already told it was a quarter million dollar annual problem.
[00:21:51.040 --> 00:21:51.680] Well, he told me.
[00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:53.600] Yeah, we sat there and worked it out together.
[00:21:53.760 --> 00:21:57.760] At the end of that, he was pretty much upset about it.
[00:21:57.760 --> 00:22:01.360] He was deflated because all I did was just, you know, I mean, there's an open wound.
[00:22:02.080 --> 00:22:02.560] What are you going to do?
[00:22:02.560 --> 00:22:03.280] You might as well just scratch it.
[00:22:03.360 --> 00:22:04.880] It's a bleeding neck problem.
[00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:06.640] Yeah, yeah, just keep scratching it away.
[00:22:07.040 --> 00:22:08.720] Stick your finger in there.
[00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:16.640] So in that process, in that 10 minutes, I roughly had an idea of how much it was going to cost for me to facilitate.
[00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:21.760] And one of my criterias was the fact that we could deliver the solution within at least four weeks.
[00:22:22.320 --> 00:22:24.560] So I just wanted to know that we can get this done in a month.
[00:22:25.280 --> 00:22:29.440] Because he was shelling out, in that month, he was going to be shelling out $25,000.
[00:22:30.320 --> 00:22:31.920] So in costs.
[00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:34.880] So, you know, I got the feedback.
[00:22:34.880 --> 00:22:48.000] And then not more than 20 minutes after that, I made a phone call to a person just to verify a couple of coding issues around internal spreadsheeting with number changes and stuff like that.
[00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:50.560] And because I just wanted to know.
[00:22:50.560 --> 00:22:53.920] But all up, the project was $2,400.
[00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:56.240] So I quoted $30,000.
[00:22:56.240 --> 00:22:59.200] I said $15 up front and then $15 on delivery.
[00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:00.280] Okay, wow.
[00:23:00.280 --> 00:23:02.440] That's a nice, that's a nice margin.
[00:22:59.760 --> 00:23:04.520] Yeah, that wasn't bad for an hour's work.
[00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:08.520] Not bad at all.
[00:23:08.840 --> 00:23:12.840] Again, that's John Logar episode 126 in your podcast feed.
[00:23:12.840 --> 00:23:19.560] I know we've re-aired it at least once since that original one would probably been 2014, 2015 when he first recorded.
[00:23:19.560 --> 00:23:31.080] But he shares these specific questions and tactics to get through to decision makers and even some interesting filters on the industry side, on the business side to narrow down your target audience.
[00:23:31.080 --> 00:23:33.960] But obviously, building trust is really key here.
[00:23:33.960 --> 00:23:41.960] If you're asking people to buy a product or service that doesn't exist yet, you've got to involve your pre-sale customers in the building process.
[00:23:41.960 --> 00:23:47.160] And maybe that's a value add for them, like to help guide the direction of what it's eventually going to be.
[00:23:47.160 --> 00:23:48.280] And then follow through.
[00:23:48.280 --> 00:23:55.000] If you don't deliver what you promised, you're going to burn your reputation and people in particular industries know other people in that industry.
[00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:57.000] So you burn one person.
[00:23:57.240 --> 00:24:01.640] You may have just burned any chance of being involved any later in that industry.
[00:24:01.640 --> 00:24:07.560] And what's interesting is he's talking about hiring developers on Odesk, which is now Upwork, to fulfill this project.
[00:24:07.560 --> 00:24:17.560] But you might be able to do it all with AI at this point if you're really good at this idea extraction and then going out and building that solution if it's one that could be delivered online.
[00:24:17.560 --> 00:24:18.920] Really, really cool stuff.
[00:24:18.920 --> 00:24:24.840] That is method number five, the pre-sales method, something I've used in the past and other side hustle show guests have used as well.
[00:24:24.840 --> 00:24:27.320] Number six is crowdfunding.
[00:24:27.320 --> 00:24:31.560] And this is turning believers into backers, into investors.
[00:24:31.560 --> 00:24:39.480] So, similar to pre-sales is a way to raise some money by collecting small contributions from a lot of different individuals.
[00:24:39.480 --> 00:24:43.160] And primarily done online through platforms like Kickstarter.
[00:24:43.160 --> 00:24:45.440] There are equity crowdfunding platforms.
[00:24:44.280 --> 00:24:49.840] There are donation-based crowdfunding platforms, rewards-based crowdfunding.
[00:24:44.920 --> 00:24:50.640] This is kind of the Kickstarter.
[00:24:50.720 --> 00:24:55.840] Oh, if I'm going to back this thing, I hope to get a copy of the product when it eventually comes out.
[00:24:55.840 --> 00:24:57.520] But it comes in different flavors.
[00:24:57.520 --> 00:25:03.360] But on average, there's some data to say that crowdfunding backers pledge $88 per project.
[00:25:03.360 --> 00:25:09.040] So if you need to raise significant funds, it's going to take a big audience to do that.
[00:25:09.040 --> 00:25:12.160] And so, if you already have an existing audience, that's great.
[00:25:12.160 --> 00:25:14.560] You can put that out to your people.
[00:25:14.800 --> 00:25:22.720] One famous example is John Lee Dumas pre-sold like $100,000 plus of his Freedom Journal on Kickstarter.
[00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:30.160] The folks behind the Side Hustle board game that we had on the show a few years ago, they raised like $11,000 for their initial production run.
[00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:32.000] Didn't have a huge audience to start with.
[00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:40.720] And the idea, the goal is you start to gain some network effect or some virality on a platform like Kickstarter.
[00:25:41.120 --> 00:25:42.960] I'm going to have to give it a little bit of a nudge.
[00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:43.920] I understand that.
[00:25:43.920 --> 00:25:49.120] But hopefully, it starts to get shown to other people who would be interested in your thing.
[00:25:49.120 --> 00:25:52.160] And there's some excitement, there's some momentum around it.
[00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:55.040] And you can start to punch above your weight class.
[00:25:55.040 --> 00:25:58.880] You start to reach beyond your pre-existing audience there.
[00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:00.480] We talked with Pat Flynn.
[00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:06.640] He and Caleb raised over $400,000 for the Switchpod tripod on Kickstarter.
[00:26:06.640 --> 00:26:11.360] And so here's him describing how that process went as a method for startup funding.
[00:26:11.360 --> 00:26:13.200] When we had this idea, it wasn't done before.
[00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:22.320] The idea behind the tripod is these legs can fold into each other and become a handle for you to easily kind of open and close and do your filming on the go.
[00:26:22.320 --> 00:26:24.080] So that's what the Switchpod is.
[00:26:24.080 --> 00:26:24.960] And it worked really well.
[00:26:24.960 --> 00:26:33.960] We launched it in 2019 on Kickstarter and we had generated $415,000 in 60 days from that launch, but it was not an overnight thing for sure.
[00:26:34.120 --> 00:26:43.320] It took time to invent and create and iterate and fail on and quite a bit of investment, 25 to 30K of our own dollars put into that.
[00:26:43.320 --> 00:26:47.880] But it is now for sale in a semi-passive manner and we're generating revenue through it.
[00:26:47.880 --> 00:26:50.120] And it is an asset now that has a value.
[00:26:50.120 --> 00:26:51.800] And if we wanted to, we could sell it.
[00:26:51.800 --> 00:26:54.200] And we're open to that potentially.
[00:26:54.200 --> 00:26:57.720] Funding strategy at number seven is grants.
[00:26:57.720 --> 00:27:04.280] This is on the surface, it seems like free money, but this is financial assistance to support startups and small businesses.
[00:27:04.440 --> 00:27:07.240] Oftentimes it's through government agencies.
[00:27:07.240 --> 00:27:10.360] Grants.gov is the official site for this.
[00:27:10.360 --> 00:27:17.640] When I pulled it up, there were over 2,700 grant programs offered by 26 different grant-making agencies.
[00:27:17.960 --> 00:27:19.160] They have specific goals, right?
[00:27:19.160 --> 00:27:22.200] We want to fuel economic growth in specific industries.
[00:27:22.200 --> 00:27:23.400] We want to create more jobs.
[00:27:23.400 --> 00:27:25.560] But the federal government isn't the only game in town, too.
[00:27:25.640 --> 00:27:32.440] You might have some state and local programs, and even through private companies and foundations, they might have their own grant programs.
[00:27:32.440 --> 00:27:36.040] Now, unlike loans, grants don't have to be repaid.
[00:27:36.040 --> 00:27:42.360] That's what makes them such an attractive option for entrepreneurs seeking financial support without taking on debt.
[00:27:42.360 --> 00:27:46.360] This is Danielle DeSier-Corbett from episode 544.
[00:27:46.680 --> 00:27:59.720] But I never really thought about winning grants as a creative person, as a podcaster, as a writer, as an author, until I actually won a couple of grants in 2020 during the pandemic.
[00:27:59.720 --> 00:28:05.400] I actually won four in total, which opened my eyes as a podcaster.
[00:28:05.400 --> 00:28:15.120] I was like, oh my gosh, there's funding out there to help launch my show or launch an idea and/or to help continue to see it grow.
[00:28:15.120 --> 00:28:16.560] What's the one thing that's interesting here?
[00:28:14.520 --> 00:28:18.800] First, like grants, maybe is worth defining.
[00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:22.320] Like, my understanding is this is kind of like a scholarship for your business.
[00:28:22.320 --> 00:28:25.200] Like, free money, are there any strings attached with this?
[00:28:25.200 --> 00:28:25.600] Yes.
[00:28:25.600 --> 00:28:31.440] So, I'm going to say air quotes: free money because there are strings attached to grants.
[00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:39.600] Grants are highly competitive, but a lot of times there are stringent requirements in terms of how you can use the funds.
[00:28:39.600 --> 00:28:46.080] Maybe you can't use the funds for advertising, for example, or you can't use the funds for a salary.
[00:28:46.080 --> 00:28:47.520] Every grant is different.
[00:28:47.520 --> 00:28:56.400] So, definitely recommend looking at the fine print to seeing what type of expenses are allowed on this type of funding opportunity.
[00:28:56.400 --> 00:29:01.840] But also, grants have strings attached in terms of what the grantor is looking for.
[00:29:01.840 --> 00:29:10.000] Meaning, a lot of times they're looking for a very specific to fund a very specific type of project, person, program.
[00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:13.600] So, it's free money, but there are strings attached.
[00:29:13.600 --> 00:29:18.080] When I say free money, there's no interest, meaning it's not like a loan.
[00:29:18.080 --> 00:29:24.480] You don't have to pay it back, but there are quite a bit of hoops for you to typically jump through.
[00:29:24.800 --> 00:29:25.200] Okay.
[00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:30.720] And some of them are government-sponsored, some of them are sponsored by nonprofits, other organizations?
[00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:31.200] Yes.
[00:29:31.200 --> 00:29:34.560] So, there are a variety of different types of funding organizations.
[00:29:34.560 --> 00:29:44.240] Like you mentioned, there's government, there are nonprofits, but there are also private entities, private companies, like a lot of the ones that we know.
[00:29:44.240 --> 00:29:57.040] Like, for example, Capital One or Verizon or Comcast, Dove, all of these, a lot of these big, large companies, they have grants that are out there.
[00:29:57.040 --> 00:29:59.360] Banks also have grants that are out there as well.
[00:29:59.360 --> 00:30:05.000] So, overall, government, private, and nonprofits are all our all-fair team.
[00:29:59.840 --> 00:30:05.320] Wow.
[00:30:05.400 --> 00:30:12.200] This is a really interesting monetization angle for creators that we have not touched on in 500 plus episodes.
[00:30:12.760 --> 00:30:16.200] Be sure to check out Danielle's newsletter grants for creators.
[00:30:16.200 --> 00:30:19.720] Great resource, great starting point if you're in that market.
[00:30:19.720 --> 00:30:24.760] And my guess is getting a grant, probably not on your radar as a potential source for startup funds.
[00:30:24.760 --> 00:30:26.200] It definitely wasn't for me.
[00:30:26.200 --> 00:30:30.680] I've got more ways to get money for your side hustle coming up right after this.
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[00:30:37.240 --> 00:30:39.560] I think that's a win we could all use right about now.
[00:30:39.560 --> 00:30:41.160] And you can keep your same phone number.
[00:30:41.160 --> 00:30:49.960] Plus, for a limited time, Mint Mobile is offering Side Hustle Show listeners three months of unlimited premium wireless service for just $15 a month.
[00:30:49.960 --> 00:30:57.080] All Mint plans come with high-speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network.
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[00:31:28.920 --> 00:31:31.560] See Mint Mobile for details.
[00:31:31.560 --> 00:31:34.280] I'm excited to partner with OpenPhone for this episode.
[00:31:34.280 --> 00:31:43.720] OpenPhone is the number one business phone system that streamlines and scales your customer communication for both calls and texts, all in one easy-to-use centralized hub.
[00:31:43.720 --> 00:31:48.640] But before OpenPhone was sponsoring podcasts, they took a more guerrilla marketing approach.
[00:31:48.800 --> 00:31:50.240] You probably don't remember this.
[00:31:44.920 --> 00:31:57.440] This is a while back, but when we just started OpenPhone, one of the ways that we got our first customers is through Facebook groups.
[00:31:57.440 --> 00:32:00.400] And I joined a bunch of Facebook groups, including yours.
[00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:15.440] Thank you for not kicking me out, but I posted a couple of times and I actually remember seeing there were some of your listeners and folks in your community interested in solving the problems we solve, which is not using your personal phone number for work.
[00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:19.200] And those posts got us some of our first customers.
[00:32:19.200 --> 00:32:20.000] So thank you.
[00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:21.600] It's a full circle moment.
[00:32:21.600 --> 00:32:22.640] Oh, that's super fun.
[00:32:22.640 --> 00:32:23.360] Very cool.
[00:32:23.360 --> 00:32:25.520] That's Doreena, the co-founder of OpenPhone.
[00:32:25.520 --> 00:32:27.760] And sure enough, her posts are still there.
[00:32:27.760 --> 00:32:34.000] OpenPhone is offering Side Hustle Show listeners 20% off your first six months at openphone.com/slash sidehustle.
[00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:39.360] That's O-P-E-N-P-H-O-N-E, openphone.com/slash side hustle.
[00:32:39.360 --> 00:32:44.880] And if you have existing numbers with another service, OpenPhone will port them over at no extra charge.
[00:32:44.880 --> 00:32:48.720] Funding strategy number eight is angel investors.
[00:32:48.720 --> 00:32:53.280] And I'm going to maybe go a little bit broader here and say high net worth individuals.
[00:32:53.280 --> 00:32:58.320] You know, a lot of times these people have some experience as entrepreneurs.
[00:32:58.320 --> 00:33:07.520] So outside of just taking their money, you're also hoping to gain hopefully some mentorship and maybe some industry connections to help you along the way.
[00:33:07.520 --> 00:33:09.760] And so this starts with a compelling pitch.
[00:33:09.760 --> 00:33:14.000] This starts with hopefully knowing some of these people to start with.
[00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:17.520] You've got to share your story on how are you're going to make this startup successful.
[00:33:17.520 --> 00:33:21.200] How are you're going to get a return on this investor's investment.
[00:33:21.200 --> 00:33:26.800] Now, the next clip isn't exactly an angel investor angle, but it stood out to me.
[00:33:26.800 --> 00:33:35.000] I think it was a really creative way to raise money, actually as debt instead of equity outside of your immediate network, outside of friends and family.
[00:33:35.320 --> 00:33:43.400] I went to a networking meeting where, you know, those are great, where you can talk to other people and everybody kind of gets their 30-second elevator time.
[00:33:43.400 --> 00:33:45.800] You know, you go around the room and then just networking.
[00:33:45.800 --> 00:33:47.560] And I stood up, I said, Hey, I'm Austin Miller.
[00:33:47.560 --> 00:33:50.600] I'm a real estate investor and I'm looking for somebody with a lot of money.
[00:33:50.600 --> 00:33:55.080] And I sat back down and everyone just looked at me, kind of laughing.
[00:33:55.160 --> 00:33:56.280] I said, Step back up.
[00:33:56.280 --> 00:34:00.120] I said, No, you know, it's kind of joking, but I am serious.
[00:34:00.120 --> 00:34:06.520] I'm looking for somebody that might be interested in getting into real estate because I find a lot of deals and I can only fund so many of them.
[00:34:06.520 --> 00:34:08.360] If you're interested, let's talk.
[00:34:08.360 --> 00:34:16.840] So I sat down and there was a lady that had been coming for a little while, mid-50s, average clothes, drove a pickup truck.
[00:34:16.840 --> 00:34:21.160] Never in a million years would have thought that she had any large sums of cash.
[00:34:21.160 --> 00:34:24.920] And she slides me a note that said, How much money are you talking about?
[00:34:25.240 --> 00:34:29.320] And I wrote back 50 grand minimum, preferably 100 grand.
[00:34:29.320 --> 00:34:30.600] I sent it back to her.
[00:34:30.600 --> 00:34:31.080] Okay.
[00:34:31.080 --> 00:34:34.040] And she wrote back, let's talk and passed the note back to me.
[00:34:34.120 --> 00:34:36.440] I was like, my mind was blown.
[00:34:36.760 --> 00:34:37.240] Okay.
[00:34:37.480 --> 00:34:39.160] So hard money is good.
[00:34:39.160 --> 00:34:40.040] Private money is better.
[00:34:40.040 --> 00:34:41.480] What makes private money better?
[00:34:41.640 --> 00:34:46.680] Well, typically a common saying is hard money, they set the terms.
[00:34:46.680 --> 00:34:48.600] Private money, you set the terms.
[00:34:48.600 --> 00:34:52.200] Because if you're talking to somebody, they're like, hey, I have money, I want to invest.
[00:34:52.200 --> 00:34:53.640] How do we do it?
[00:34:53.640 --> 00:34:56.600] Then you explore those options or you present options to them.
[00:34:56.600 --> 00:35:01.800] So typically the interest rate's less, you know, 7% to 10% instead of 14% to 18%.
[00:35:02.120 --> 00:35:03.960] Man, you can get as creative as you want.
[00:35:03.960 --> 00:35:05.800] You could partner with them on the deals.
[00:35:05.800 --> 00:35:07.080] You know, maybe they have the money.
[00:35:07.080 --> 00:35:11.800] They just don't have the time, and they're willing to partner and they just want 50 to 50 ownership.
[00:35:11.800 --> 00:35:12.680] Maybe that's for you guys.
[00:35:12.680 --> 00:35:13.720] Maybe it's not.
[00:35:13.720 --> 00:35:15.760] Maybe it's just 7% return on their money.
[00:35:15.840 --> 00:35:17.520] That's a lot better than 14%.
[00:35:14.920 --> 00:35:20.800] But there's you know, different ways you can work that.
[00:35:21.120 --> 00:35:29.360] So that's why they say, you know, private money is better because it gives you more flexibility, especially when you're having a one-on-one conversation about how do we make this work.
[00:35:29.360 --> 00:35:29.680] Okay.
[00:35:29.920 --> 00:35:32.800] You're in the driver's seat in terms of interest and terms.
[00:35:32.800 --> 00:35:33.520] Absolutely.
[00:35:33.520 --> 00:35:35.840] Terms are what you make them.
[00:35:36.160 --> 00:35:38.240] I'm looking for somebody with a lot of money.
[00:35:38.240 --> 00:35:38.800] Great line.
[00:35:38.880 --> 00:35:40.400] Side hustle show classic.
[00:35:40.400 --> 00:35:43.760] That was Austin Miller from episode 292.
[00:35:43.920 --> 00:35:44.960] Fascinating episode.
[00:35:44.960 --> 00:35:46.640] We called it free houses.
[00:35:46.640 --> 00:35:50.640] It was all about creative financing ways to buy investment properties.
[00:35:50.640 --> 00:35:55.360] And Austin's typical strategy was to find a house that needed some work.
[00:35:55.360 --> 00:35:58.080] It was unloved, needed some renovations.
[00:35:58.080 --> 00:36:02.160] So he would do the rehab or hire people to do that renovation work.
[00:36:02.160 --> 00:36:04.320] It was a way to force appreciation.
[00:36:04.320 --> 00:36:05.200] Well, now fixed up.
[00:36:05.200 --> 00:36:10.400] It's worth $30,000 more than we paid for it, $50,000 more than we paid for it, whatever it is.
[00:36:10.400 --> 00:36:18.320] And then he would take out a traditional loan with the traditional mortgage with the long-term plan of keeping it as a rental property.
[00:36:18.320 --> 00:36:27.360] And he'd done it over and over again and had built a portfolio worth over a million dollars without any money out of pocket or at least very little out of pocket.
[00:36:27.360 --> 00:36:31.200] Sounds a bit like one of those real estate infomercials, but I swear it was a good one.
[00:36:31.200 --> 00:36:36.240] $292 in your podcast feed to go catch up on that one.
[00:36:36.240 --> 00:36:40.880] Funding strategy number nine is equipment financing.
[00:36:40.880 --> 00:36:47.520] This is used to get machinery, technology, equipment that you need to run your business.
[00:36:47.520 --> 00:36:53.760] And it could include short-term loans, equipment leases, and rent-to-own type of purchase plans.
[00:36:53.760 --> 00:36:59.520] Equipment purchases, according to Forbes, are the second most popular reason that businesses are looking for loans.
[00:36:59.520 --> 00:37:06.840] So this could be a good option if you need equipment, if you need vehicles, so you can get what you need without stretching working capital too thin.
[00:37:06.840 --> 00:37:17.800] In the side hustle space, the examples that come to mind are like commercial laundry machines for laundromats, where Jordan Berry mentioned that there are some laundromat-specific lenders.
[00:37:17.800 --> 00:37:36.600] And the other example comes to mind would be vending machines, which if you're buying new can be pretty expensive, but if you found the right location, you can borrow the money for the machine and then you can pay it off with the actual sales from that machine, which becomes kind of this virtuous circle, this self-fulfilling prophecy.
[00:37:36.600 --> 00:37:40.760] And you can still make a profit on top of that debt service, which I think is really cool.
[00:37:40.760 --> 00:37:47.400] Here's Anthony from episode 662 talking about financing versus cash on these new machines.
[00:37:47.400 --> 00:37:51.080] So you mentioned you kind of alluded to this equipment cost here.
[00:37:51.080 --> 00:37:54.040] What does a vending machine cost?
[00:37:54.920 --> 00:37:59.800] What's your take on financing versus buying versus new versus used?
[00:37:59.800 --> 00:38:02.200] Like lots of different routes that you can go here.
[00:38:02.200 --> 00:38:14.520] I have like five different machines, which is kind of hectic because now I'm dealing with five different operating systems in their back end and trying to have them all communicate to each other with me just pulling reports and all that stuff as well too.
[00:38:14.520 --> 00:38:17.960] So it's a little bit of a pain in the butt, but I'm working through it.
[00:38:17.960 --> 00:38:24.360] It's not like, like, it's not like hard and it's like so much like extra work, but it is, you know, it is a nuisance.
[00:38:24.360 --> 00:38:28.360] In contrast to like the Southwest model, where we're going to fly one type of airplane.
[00:38:28.360 --> 00:38:35.240] So every, you know, any mechanic can work on any plane, like that kind of thing, versus, okay, it adds just a little bit of complexity.
[00:38:35.240 --> 00:38:36.120] Yep, absolutely.
[00:38:36.120 --> 00:38:42.680] So, like, the, I have a Futura combo machine, which it might be like one of those ones with like the coil, and that one takes cash.
[00:38:42.680 --> 00:38:49.200] You know, those machine, I have a, I have four of those machines at a shelter, and those cost me like around $5,000.
[00:38:49.360 --> 00:38:51.440] I bought those refurbished, okay?
[00:38:51.440 --> 00:38:56.080] Brand new, they would probably go for $6,500, I think, is the new pricing as of 2025.
[00:38:56.080 --> 00:38:58.720] The micro markets, I have three of those.
[00:38:58.720 --> 00:39:07.040] Well, now, when I say micro market, those are like those open markets, people, you know, honest policy, people could check out at a kiosk.
[00:39:07.040 --> 00:39:17.280] Yeah, you know, and those roughly, and then I'd have to build and put those together, and those run anywhere from like eight to like nine grand of what those are.
[00:39:17.280 --> 00:39:22.480] I have Stockwells, which are an AI smart machine.
[00:39:22.480 --> 00:39:29.200] Those run like around like eight grand, like 80, like nine grand, probably once once it's delivered with freight.
[00:39:29.200 --> 00:39:37.920] And then the newest and latest machine that I've been installing, I've installed 33 of them within the past four months, has been these micro marts.
[00:39:37.920 --> 00:39:43.840] So they are a refrigerator, they're AI powered machines, work like a stock well, but they hold more inventory.
[00:39:43.840 --> 00:40:00.080] But they actually have a video digital board that runs on the machine, so which is very powerful for me because like I can run ads on there is what I'm feeling like what I can do down the line once I have the data and that could be additional revenue that I could get in without even like I haven't even tapped into yet.
[00:40:00.400 --> 00:40:01.280] What are those things run?
[00:40:01.280 --> 00:40:06.560] Yeah, so those with freight, they are like around like 12K on there.
[00:40:06.560 --> 00:40:21.920] This is helpful at the risk of doing public math, which I've sworn off doing, but it's kind of this upfront capital in equipment and inventory, and then, you know, a payback period of a number of months or potentially years if it's a slow location.
[00:40:21.920 --> 00:40:31.400] But, like, how do you think about a winning location or what's kind of a target ROI, if you think about it that way in terms of, you know, the payback period on one of these machines?
[00:40:31.720 --> 00:40:39.320] So, with me being initially started, I wanted to increase my cash flows right away on these on these routes that I had.
[00:40:39.320 --> 00:40:41.160] Cash flow was very important to me.
[00:40:41.160 --> 00:40:48.440] So, I actually ended up paying some of my first locations cash just so I didn't have a finance payment.
[00:40:48.440 --> 00:40:52.120] And that way, I was able to increase like my cash flow net.
[00:40:52.120 --> 00:40:53.320] I wouldn't have to factor that.
[00:40:53.320 --> 00:40:53.720] Sure.
[00:40:53.720 --> 00:41:01.800] You know, so one of those machines that I bought was like nine grand with, and it was doing like 23, 22 to 2,500 a month.
[00:41:01.800 --> 00:41:09.160] So, my net payment of like what would come to me off of all that would be like around like 750 or 800 bucks.
[00:41:09.160 --> 00:41:12.360] So, I was like, okay, my net payment is 750, 800.
[00:41:12.360 --> 00:41:15.080] I'm going to break even on this in like less than a year.
[00:41:15.080 --> 00:41:21.080] And then, like, if I look at my return on that, like every year over, going over, like, I'm going to be making that.
[00:41:21.080 --> 00:41:22.280] It's like 100% return.
[00:41:22.280 --> 00:41:30.200] So, I'm like, right, after it's paid off, I mean, there's depreciation, there's maintenance involved, I imagine, but you've covered your expenses and then it's all gravy.
[00:41:30.200 --> 00:41:31.080] Yeah, then it's all gravy.
[00:41:31.080 --> 00:41:32.120] And then, like, I'm running the numbers.
[00:41:32.120 --> 00:41:36.440] I'm like, okay, here, it's like a each year it just goes up 100% return, return, return, return.
[00:41:36.440 --> 00:41:40.200] And then, obviously, there might be maintenance and it might not be go up as high each year as that.
[00:41:40.200 --> 00:41:45.720] But so, when I was looking at the numbers, I was like, oh my gosh, I'm like, I have to like, I'm making like 8% over here.
[00:41:45.720 --> 00:41:49.640] I'm like, I'm just going to take my money out and then just invest it into my machines.
[00:41:49.640 --> 00:41:51.160] You know, it's like a better return.
[00:41:51.160 --> 00:41:51.320] Right.
[00:41:51.320 --> 00:41:54.120] Because if you're looking at 100% return, potentially.
[00:41:54.120 --> 00:41:54.680] Yeah, exactly.
[00:41:54.680 --> 00:41:57.160] So that's the way I looked at it, you know, initially.
[00:41:57.160 --> 00:42:02.280] Now, what I did was, is that since I was growing, I leveraged like financing capabilities, you know?
[00:42:02.280 --> 00:42:05.960] So some of these places had financing options.
[00:42:05.960 --> 00:42:12.600] Basically, what that meant was it would be like 0% down, and then they would finance it over 60 months, and it may be like a 12%, you know, interest note.
[00:42:12.600 --> 00:42:16.320] And then maybe that machine would cost me like $160 or $175 a month.
[00:42:16.640 --> 00:42:34.560] But if I'm making $1,500, $1,600, you know, the $160, $175, it really wasn't, you know, the end of the world for me to go ahead and make that payment because now I got extra cash where I could go reinvest back into the business by just buying inventory, you know, building out the warehouse and all that stuff as well, too.
[00:42:34.560 --> 00:42:43.920] Which I'll kind of talk about like how my transition went from like me actually like growing and then when I actually hired my first person and like when I actually did that.
[00:42:43.920 --> 00:42:44.400] Yeah.
[00:42:44.400 --> 00:42:53.920] But yeah, so that's kind of like where I was at within regards to like evaluating these things if I should pay cash or if I should go ahead and finance it.
[00:42:53.920 --> 00:42:59.680] I will say, besides those first couple of machines that I paid cash, I financed every single one since.
[00:42:59.680 --> 00:43:06.000] So that was from episode 662 with Anthony Koloje, if I am pronouncing that correctly.
[00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:16.880] But really cool idea to build out the vending machine system and then plugging in additional machines into that system relatively predictably.
[00:43:16.880 --> 00:43:23.760] And when they're generating enough sales to pay for their own equipment loan and still make a profit, that's a pretty exciting place to play.
[00:43:23.760 --> 00:43:27.760] So again, episode 662, encourage you to go check that one out.
[00:43:27.760 --> 00:43:32.480] So as we've covered in this episode, lots of different funding options for new side hustles.
[00:43:32.480 --> 00:43:34.720] Each one comes with pros and cons.
[00:43:34.720 --> 00:43:41.120] So you got to make sure that you're comparing your options and making sure you're choosing which one makes the most sense for you.
[00:43:41.120 --> 00:43:43.040] In summary, we covered bootstrapping.
[00:43:43.040 --> 00:43:46.000] This is your own self-funded startup costs.
[00:43:46.000 --> 00:43:50.320] This is your savings, your own investments, potentially even borrowing against your 401k.
[00:43:50.320 --> 00:43:51.840] Just don't rob your retirement.
[00:43:51.840 --> 00:43:55.840] Number two was the friends and family plan, raising money from friends and family.
[00:43:55.840 --> 00:43:57.760] Again, trying not to burn your relationships here.
[00:43:57.760 --> 00:44:10.440] Number three was business credit cards, probably a method of last resort because the interest rates are so, so high there, but it is one potential option, especially if you have a path to pay it back relatively quickly.
[00:44:10.440 --> 00:44:15.000] Number four is traditional loans, bank loans, credit unions, stuff like that.
[00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:16.600] You maintain ownership in your business.
[00:44:16.600 --> 00:44:19.320] You just have to pay the interest on those notes.
[00:44:19.320 --> 00:44:20.600] Really, really common path.
[00:44:20.600 --> 00:44:25.640] Number five was pre-sales, a maybe almost a side hustle-specific type of strategy.
[00:44:25.640 --> 00:44:26.760] Really, really cool.
[00:44:27.160 --> 00:44:31.160] Some examples that we've seen from the show in the past, and one that I've used myself.
[00:44:31.160 --> 00:44:36.840] I'm going to validate this idea before I spend the time building it, before I invest in a ton of inventory.
[00:44:36.840 --> 00:44:38.360] Do people actually want it?
[00:44:38.360 --> 00:44:40.520] How could I pre-sell something?
[00:44:40.520 --> 00:44:45.480] Number six was crowdfunding through platforms like Kickstarter or other ones out there.
[00:44:45.480 --> 00:44:50.520] You're probably going to need to bring a little bit of your own audience to the table.
[00:44:50.520 --> 00:44:53.880] And typically, the funding amounts are relatively low.
[00:44:53.880 --> 00:44:59.880] So it's going to take a lot of people raising a small amount is typically how these crowdfunding campaigns go.
[00:44:59.880 --> 00:45:03.400] Number seven was grants, really creative strategy.
[00:45:03.400 --> 00:45:09.720] We heard from Danielle DeSier Corbett on how, look, I won a handful of grants to start my podcasting business.
[00:45:09.720 --> 00:45:11.640] Like, that's a thing.
[00:45:11.640 --> 00:45:12.600] That's an option.
[00:45:12.600 --> 00:45:14.200] Like, really, really interesting.
[00:45:14.200 --> 00:45:21.480] And grants.gov is the central database and her newsletter, Grants for Creators, might be worth checking out as well.
[00:45:21.480 --> 00:45:25.560] Number eight was angel investors or what I'll call high net worth individuals.
[00:45:25.560 --> 00:45:27.640] We heard from Austin Miller raising money.
[00:45:27.640 --> 00:45:36.440] Like, I'm looking for people with a lot of money and using outside capital to fund some of his real estate acquisitions, which I thought was really interesting.
[00:45:36.440 --> 00:45:39.240] And then number nine was the equipment financing.
[00:45:39.240 --> 00:45:46.960] So if you have a business that is reliant on expensive equipment, a lot of times those equipment vendors have financing terms.
[00:45:46.960 --> 00:45:54.240] And so it's on you to find the location or find a way to make that self-liquidating and make it pay for itself.
[00:45:54.240 --> 00:45:56.640] And I think that's a really, really cool way to do it.
[00:45:56.640 --> 00:46:07.840] And truthfully, most of the ideas, most, most, most of the ideas we cover on the side hustle show should be able to be self-funded because the vast majority of them cost less than a thousand bucks to start.
[00:46:07.840 --> 00:46:11.360] And maybe those equipment-intensive businesses are the exception to that.
[00:46:11.360 --> 00:46:14.800] Do you need to give up equity in the business to raise money?
[00:46:14.800 --> 00:46:17.440] Now, it might make sense for the right idea and the right investor.
[00:46:17.440 --> 00:46:33.120] I've even seen some work for equity platforms where if you need specific skills, but you don't have the cash, you could sell someone on your vision and upside and maybe get them to do some work for you for a slice of the company instead of that immediate paycheck.
[00:46:33.280 --> 00:46:42.400] Reminds me a little bit of the Facebook office mural painter who took the stock options instead of their usual $30,000 invoice or whatever it was.
[00:46:42.400 --> 00:46:51.680] And when it comes to debt financing, just make sure you've got a clear path to pay that back, ideally with the cash flow generated from whatever it is that you're financing.
[00:46:52.000 --> 00:46:56.960] Either the physical inventory in the e-commerce example, or like Anthony's vending machines.
[00:46:56.960 --> 00:47:08.800] He's done it enough times where the demand is validated, the risk is really low, and financing is just a way to physically place the machine there, put it in, put that cog into the system, and start generating revenue.
[00:47:08.800 --> 00:47:13.520] The big thing is not biting off more risk than you can chew and protecting your downside.
[00:47:13.520 --> 00:47:18.400] In any case, if you have any examples of creative funding strategies, I'd love to hear them.
[00:47:18.400 --> 00:47:21.120] Shoot me a note, Nick, at sidehustlenation.com.
[00:47:21.120 --> 00:47:23.120] How'd you get the money to start your side hustle?
[00:47:23.120 --> 00:47:25.040] Is the $100 startup a myth?
[00:47:25.040 --> 00:47:26.000] I'm all ears.
[00:47:26.000 --> 00:47:35.880] So, as you know, the Side Hustle Show just had its 12th birthday, and whether it's your first time listening or you've been here since the beginning, I appreciate you spending some time with me and your earbuds today.
[00:47:35.880 --> 00:47:38.680] If you are newer to the show, you want to dig a little bit deeper.
[00:47:38.680 --> 00:47:47.640] We mentioned several archive episodes in this one in the form of those voicemail clips, but you can actually get a personalized playlist at hustle.show.
[00:47:47.640 --> 00:48:00.040] How it works is you answer a few short multiple-choice questions, take you 60 seconds, maybe two minutes, and it's going to recommend eight to 10 of our greatest hits to start with, greatest hits episodes based on your answers.
[00:48:00.040 --> 00:48:04.280] So, hustle.show, totally free, and it'll get you that personalized playlist.
[00:48:04.280 --> 00:48:07.640] Big thanks to our sponsors for helping make this content free for everyone.
[00:48:07.640 --> 00:48:14.120] SidehustleNation.com/slash deals is where to go to get all the latest offers from our sponsors in one place.
[00:48:14.120 --> 00:48:15.240] That is it for me.
[00:48:15.240 --> 00:48:16.840] Thank you so much for tuning in.
[00:48:16.840 --> 00:48:19.560] Until next time, let's go out there and make something happen.
[00:48:19.560 --> 00:48:22.760] And I'll catch you in the next edition of the Side Hustle Show.
[00:48:22.760 --> 00:48:23.560] Hustle on.