A Practical Book for Newbie Hustlers
The idea of side income is appealing.
There is a reason why thousands of “I-will-teach-you-to-become-rich” bloggers exist. People happily pay $599 to subscribe to their online courses. (I have come across one that charges $599, many may charge even higher)
The flip side is that a majority of these gurus are charlatans. The idea of teaching others to have a side income is actually their source of side income.
If you have only started to take baby-steps towards creating a side income, Chris Guillebeau is the right mentor for you and his book – Side Hustle: From Idea to Income in 27 days – the right primer.
Chris is a renowned blogger and speaker. In his own words, he has long been a financially independent man.
He outlines a 27-day plan for greenhorns to help them get their side hustle off the ground. Why 27 days? Well, don’t dig too deep into it, 27 days is just a diagnostic, a motif around which the book stands.
Right from evaluating the ideas to gauging their profit potential to setting up the workflow to launch, Chris runs the entire gamut for the reader.
The experienced hustlers may fret that there is not much in it for them, but that’s not the audience he is trying to address.
If you are someone who has always entertained the idea of an extra stream of income but have never mustered the wherewithal to get started, then this book is meant for you.
For any side hustle to exist, says the author, it should rank well on the following five parameters: Feasibility, Persuasion, Profit potential, Efficiency, and Motivation.
Let’s say your idea motivates you and you think you can take it to execution in short time (efficiency). But you don’t see it making a profit in the near term. What do you think, should you go for the idea?
Chris Guillebeau is clear that a side hustle exists to provide you with income in the short run. If it works out well, you can, of course, expand your horizons and turn your hustle into a full-time business.
But if your side business is not making money, then don’t be a damn fool sticking to it and hoping that it will work out one day. He remarks,
“Any idea that doesn’t have a likely path to profit should be abandoned. Money isn’t everything, but when it comes to a side hustle, money matters a lot.”
I reiterate that if you are an experienced hustler, you may not find a lot to glean from this book. However, the core audience of this book is people who are watching the parade go by. They want to create an additional income stream but don’t know how to do it.
In the later chapters, the book does tend to drag a little since Chris runs through most of the potent ideas in the first three-fourths of the book. I don’t blame him for that, you know. Interestingly, he does bring it up in the post scriptum. He had presented a 4-week plan to his editor, but the editor wanted a 5-week plan instead.
Hope you are enjoying this book review. Also check out my review of Gary Vaynerchuk’s Crushing it!
Recommended – Side Hustle: From Idea to Income in 27 days
I recommend Side Hustle: From Idea to Income in 27 days to you if you seek an extra source of income. This book gives you a great starting point. It instills or tries its best to instill an element of you-too-can spirit in the reader.
The best part is the book reads like a breeze. Chris’ suggestions are easy to follow and implement.
At no point in the book does he appear to pontificate or speak from the high pedestal. He evidently feels comfortable using straightforward, unjargonized language – a skill I strive toward myself and an approach I wish more of authors would adopt.
Finally, Side Hustle: From Idea to Income in 27 days does not break new ground. But it does live up to its promise. If you follow along with Chris Guillebeau’s instructions, you may see yourself earning some money by the end of 4 weeks. And, who doesn’t love extra income?