Side Hustle Hero

A week before her family's trip to Hawaii, oncologist Merry Jennifer Markham realized the planning had been her favourite part of travelling. She shared the idea with a friend, and within 48 hours she'd bought a domain name. Merry Jennifer tells us that her travel side hustle, MMarkham Travel, did more than $4 million in sales, almost entirely through referrals, and she still works three and a hal...

What does it take to turn a hobby into a side hustle that lands in The New York Times? For Mark MacLachlan, it took ten years of rejections. By day, Mark is a chemist and the Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of British Columbia. On evenings and weekends, he creates crossword puzzles. After nearly a decade of submissions, his first puzzle was accepted by the LA Times in 2016, and hi...

What if a single talk a month could add $2,500 to your income? It could be a boost to the side hustle you already have, or a brand-new side hustle of its own. My guest today says that's realistic by the end of your first year if   you're willing to put in the work. One of the speakers she manages now earns $100,000 for a single hour on stage. When she started working with him, he was getting a mer...

What do AI vending machines, sound baths, faceless YouTube videos, and mystery shopping have in common? They all made it into the Top 9 most loved side hustle episodes from Year 3 of the show…as chosen by you! Welcome to this encore episode! It first aired back in June 2025, and a lot has changed with AI since then. When I looked back at the side hustles featured in this episode though, they're al...

With hundreds (thousands?) of side hustle ideas out there, the hard part isn't finding one, it's figuring out which one actually is a fit for you . Today I walk you through the process I've successfully used over the years to help people cut through the noise and land on a side hustle that fits their life, strengths, and goals. In this episode, you'll learn: How to mine your own interests and hidd...

Think your email list is too small to matter? Copywriter Tanya Brody says think again. In this episode, Tanya makes the case for why a small, engaged list can outperform a massive disengaged one, whether you're starting from zero or already have a hundred subscribers, fifty, or just three. We cover: Why showing up each week beats list size How to start building an email list from scratch (and grow...

Is being a virtual assistant still a viable side hustle in this age of AI? Today's guest, Rachael Davila, is here to show us why the answer is yes, and how you can turn your existing skills and experience into a VA business. Rachael has been a virtual assistant for more than 20 years. But today, she's also a VA mentor, author, and the founder of Extra Hands! Virtual Assistance. In our conversation...

What if the fastest way to grow your business isn't more clients, but fewer? Today, Damien Schreurs founder of EasyTECH, shares how he built his side hustle: testing ideas for free, negotiating time away from a full-time R&D engineering job, and running on minimal sleep just to make it all fit. When he finally went all-in, he was confident he had the right plan. He didn't. Damien came within one l...

You have a skill you're not counting as a skill. Because it comes so easily to you, it doesn't feel like something anyone would pay for. Adrienne Wheeler disagrees, and by the end of this episode, you might too. Adrienne spends her days in call center management and her side hustle helping people - which includes chefs, security guards, bakers, even someone who helps her mom's generation get their...

What if you could earn a surgeon's hourly rate without years of school, a huge student loan, or even a related degree? In some places, all it takes is an online ordination, a script, and about fifteen minutes on your feet. Today we'll hear from Brad Lau, a wedding officiant who has led over 800 ceremonies and built a business people now pay $500 a wedding for. Brad walks us through how he got star...

If you've been feeling uneasy about the economy lately, the tariffs, the layoffs, the sense that everything around you is changing fast, this episode is for you. It's a replay of one of our most timely episodes, and honestly it's more relevant today than when it first aired. In it, I make the case for why uncertain times aren't a reason to wait on your side hustle, they're the reason to start. I a...

What would you do if 70% of your income was about to disappear overnight? Rich Potter didn't panic. Instead, he went home, talked to his wife, and started building. What followed was a photo booth business, a bubble soccer company, and an Amazon FBA operation that Rich reports is now doing $3M a year in sales. All of it built on the side while he kept his day job. One by one, those side hustles re...

If you've been wanting to start a side hustle, or grow the one you've got, but something keeps getting in the way, this episode is for you! In my conversations with people lately, the thing holding them back has nothing to do with their idea, the market, or the timing. In every case, the obstacle is internal. They're getting in their own way. Self-sabotage doesn't just show up once. On the side hu...

What does it take to go from getting fired at 27 to building a 6-figure side hustle? If you ask Colin Macintosh, the answer might surprise you. It's not the flashiest strategy or the biggest budget. It's something a lot of businesses have stopped doing altogether, genuinely caring about the people they serve. Colin is a CTO recruiter by day and side hustle entrepreneur by night. He got fired at 27...

If you've ever walked into a networking event and thought, "What am I even doing here?" this episode is going to change how you approach it. With more people relying on AI to write their content, messages, and outreach, real human connection networking is becoming the advantage. The problem is, most people either try to connect with everyone or leave without building anything meaningful. In this e...

So what makes someone get noticed at work? If you're doing good work, showing up, and delivering results, you'd think that would be enough! But often, it's not. And this is where side hustles come in, because what you do outside your job can start to change how you're viewed at work. Today you'll hear how Roger Smith's side hustles changed the trajectory of his career. Roger is a computer scientis...

Most people think they need one great side hustle idea. But that's not the only path. Today you'll hear from Norman Leach, how multiple income streams can come from at least three places that are already part of your life: the skills you have, the problems you notice, and the interests you naturally follow. None of his multiple income streams started as big, polished business ideas. Instead, they...

If you've been putting time into your side hustle but not seeing much return yet, this condensed episode will help you take a step back and refocus. You'll hear four simple areas to focus on so you can zero in on what actually brings in revenue, along with a practical way to start buying back your time so you're not doing everything yourself. We also get into what it really costs to get help, and...

If you have ever wondered whether a simple service could become a profitable side hustle, this episode offers a fascinating example. Jayne Havens built a successful business as a baby sleep consultant, helping exhausted parents get their babies and toddlers sleeping through the night. What started as helping friends turned into a flexible consulting business that now supports families around the w...

What would you do if your job disappeared tomorrow? After six years at Ticketmaster, that's what happened to Rachel Minion. She was suddenly furloughed during the pandemic. At the same time, her husband had just been laid off. There was no backup plan. But Rachel had something that many of you have or are wanting to have ... a side hustle with a small handful of clients. So she made a decision. Sh...

Branding seems to be important, but at the same time, can be hard to pin down. So in this episode, we're making sense of it. You'll hear from brand strategist Rob Genovesi about the three things that made the difference in 4X'ing his revenue, without making big changes. We touch on all three, but spend most of our time on what makes you different and how to express that more effectively so people...

If someone asked you what makes you unique, could you answer immediately? Many capable professionals struggle with that question because the very things that set them apart, often come so naturally they overlook them. Today, Kyle Elliott shares how to recognize your "fabulousness" - the qualities that make you distinct, valuable, and memorable in the marketplace. Kyle started his side hustle on Fi...

Finding clients can take more time than actually doing the work, especially when you are building a side hustle alongside a full time job. But what if you could bring opportunities to you instead of constantly chasing them? Today Megan Leasher explains how she built a client pipeline by positioning herself inside existing ecosystems instead of relying on traditional outreach. Instead of hunting fo...

If you've been thinking about starting or growing a side hustle but haven't yet followed through, you'll want to check out this episode. Here I share a simple two-step accountability process I've used myself many times to move from  talking about taking action, to actually doing it. I walk you through; how I create forward progress, why keeping your word matters so much, and how this approach help...

How do you turn a tour guide side hustle into a $600K local business in under three years? Paul Whitten shares the real strategies behind growing a simple weekend hustle into a high-margin tour company, by starting with just $3,600 and scaling through smart pricing, partnerships, and consistent customer demand. In this episode, you'll learn: How Paul attracted his first customers with no marketing...