How can one income stream turn into a whole lot more?
Simplify first, diversify second—that’s an idea I have always advocated on the show.
The first step towards diversifying is to have something working. But how do you know it’s time to diversify?
That is exactly what Bjork Ostrom (our previous guest from Ep 46) has done as he (and his wife Lindsay) masterfully “stacked” multiple online businesses that have developed out of their original food blog, Pinch of Yum.
This 10-year-old blog has been a launchpad for Food Blogger Pro (a guide for aspiring food bloggers), Clariti (for optimizing your site's content), and the holding company, TinyBit.
And this is the framework he uses to decide if an idea is worth pursuing.
Full Show Notes: Side Hustle Stacking: How One Extra Income Stream Can Lead to More
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606: Side Hustle Stacking: How One Extra Income Stream Can Lead to More

The entrepreneurship podcast you can actually apply! The award-winning small business show covers creative ways to make money online and offline, including blogging, online business, freelancing, marketing, sales funnels, investing, and much more. Join 100,000+ listeners and get the business ideas and passive income strategies straight to your earbuds. No BS, just actionable tips on how to start and grow your side hustle. Hosted by Nick Loper of Side Hustle Nation.

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A service business is one of the fastest side hustles to get off the ground, and you can scale it by hiring other people to deliver the work.
But is there an advantage to staying a solo operator?
In this Side Hustle Showdown, we're looking at freelancing vs. building an agency.
For this debate, I invited a couple members of The Side Hustle Nation community who both run cleaning companies:


Chris Schwab from ThinkMaids.com represented the agency side. We last heard from Chris in episode 294, where he talked about how he’d built his cleaning business to $60k a month in revenue, and scaled back his own involvement to just 10 minutes a day.


Ken Carfango from SmartCleaningSchool.com represented the solo freelance side. Ken’s a former engineer and a father of 5 who’s got his cleaning business dialed in where he can knock out the work himself in just a couple days, and enjoy 5-day weekends with his family.

Tune in to hear both Chris and Ken discuss which business model is best for:

Getting started

Finding new clients

Scaling

Start-up costs

How to exit

And more

If you’re trying to decide which path you want to take, stick around to learn how to avoid the dreaded “valley of despair” that often afflicts service businesses, and how to get started on the right foot.
Full Show Notes: Should I Start a Freelance Business or Build an Agency? Side Hustle Showdown
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Sponsors:
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GH: Should I Start a Freelance Business or Build an Agency? Side Hustle Showdown

Before we begin, I should note that the single BEST way to make your side hustle feel official is to get paid.
As soon as you’ve got your side hustle idea, go sell something.
Seriously.
That first income — no matter how small — is an empowering moment.
In fact, I did a whole episode describing how I got my first sale in 6 different businesses, and later another 25 members of Side Hustle Nation shared their story in this fun round-up episode.
But I also understand that many people — myself include — often want some level of “establishment” before they feel comfortable saying they’re open for business.
I opened my first LLC while I was still in college and really had no idea what I needed it for. But it felt good, and if I’m being honest, made me feel smart and important too.
And later I got plenty of use out of it.
And that’s what this post is about. Even though in the early days of your side hustle, you’re better off focusing on getting customers, sometimes you need a little foundation before you’re mentally ready to focus on getting customers.
My only caution is not to use this list as fodder for procrastination, but to use it as a checklist to build positive momentum and keep going.
Again, before you pull my hustle card, know that you don’t need any of these to get started. But you will need to do most of these eventually, and if you’re the person who likes to get everything in order first, let’s get that excuse out of the way.
Ready? Let’s do it.
Full Show Notes: 10 Ways to Make Your Side Hustle Feel More Official
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612: 10 Ways to Make Your Side Hustle Feel “Real”

You know those endless hours you've spent perfecting your Fortnite skills or learning how to defeat a Guardian in Zelda games?
There is a chance those skills aren't just good for bragging rights or racking up likes on Twitch.
In fact, it is possible to make money out of these games without being an online streamer.
I'm talking about teaching video games online, and the demand for these is exploding.
In this "Where Are They Now?" series, we have once again Devyn Ricks from missdevyn.com share how much her online gaming teaching business has grown over the last years since we talked in Episode 499.
When Devyn and I connected a couple of years ago, she was making around $4,000/month.
Today, her business has more than doubled, earning her the title of "six-figure video game mom." She has since expanded her team to 14 teachers.
Tune in to Episode 611 of The Side Hustle Show to learn:

mechanics of setting up classes on Outschool

strategies Devyn used to market her classes

how Devyn identified her profitable niche

connected with her audience


Full Show Notes: The 6-Figure Video Game Mom
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611: The 6-Figure Video Game Mom

$70k in profit at age 19?
Not bad for a summer business. Jack Fleming started his lawn care journey with just one lawn mower, knocking on his neighbors' doors.
He grew Yard Boyz to generate tens of thousands in profit, allowing him to pay for college debt-free, before selling the business for a six-figure sum.
In this inspiring episode, we cover:

marketing a local service

collecting reviews and protecting your reputation

hiring and scaling

setting the business up for a 6-figure exit


Full show notes: 
How to Start a Lawn Care Business: $70k in Profit at 19
Your Listener Bonus:
101 Service Business Ideas
Sponsors:


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610: How a Teenager Built and Sold a 6-Figure Lawn Care Business

What if we looked at our businesses like professional sports teams?
That’s what Vincent Pugliese from Membership Freedom shared, drawing parallels between running a successful business and how sports franchises operate.
Vincent helps people build successful membership sites and communities around topics they care about.
He previously shared his freelance-to-freedom story of going from making $30k a year to earning $30k in a single day through freelancing.
In this episode, Vincent explains the "Stadium Model of Entrepreneurship." This model draws inspiration from how sports franchises operate, offering various levels of access and products to their audience.
Full Show Notes: The Stadium Model of Entrepreneurship: How to think like a sports franchise to unlock more profit from your business
New to the Show? Get your personalized money-making playlist here!
Sponsors:

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606: Side Hustle Stacking: How One Extra Income Stream Can Lead to More

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