The Side-Hustle Dad

Ep20
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Holiday Welcome
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Bryan Steele: Welcome back. Hope you enjoyed the holidays, the 4th of July. Hopefully everybody's still got all their fingers attached. I know my family, uh, really enjoyed it, and I am glad you're joining me here today.

Side Quest Idea
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Bryan Steele: I wanna tell you a little story about something that happened to me several years ago, and it was an opportunity to follow a side quest. Now, of course, many of you having played video games, side quest is that thing that shows up, that little opportunity that is not necessarily the main thing that we're following, but looks interesting.

Looks like something that could be really intriguing or exciting or, or give us new expertise or experience or just have some fun. [00:01:00] And oftentimes we see that in our businesses. There will be a moment where w- an opportunity will unexpectedly just come our way, and you find, you know, the, the old saying about athletes like, luck is when preparation meets opportunity.

I mean, in some cases, that's, that's what these side quests are. We see something come along, then we go, "Man, that looks really good. Like, maybe I should do that." So this happened to me a while back, and I'll share the story.

Suspicious Email
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Bryan Steele: I was working doing music, and I had been doing podcasting for a little bit, and I received an email.

And at the time, it's important to know that scams were really prevalent, like for different business owners. There were all sorts of things like, "Hey, do you offer these services?" And yada, yada, and it was a text scam, and they would try to get money out of... Like, "Oh, these people are gonna come record something with you."

And so these scams are kinda going around in these audio circles that I was in. And so I get this email, [00:02:00] and it was from a major book publisher, which I was like, "That's weird." And they were like, "Hey, we need to record an audiobook. Do you provide... Could you provide audio recording services for us to do this audiobook?"

So initially, like my, you know, red flags went up like, this feels weird. The name was foreign. It, it... Like I couldn't even have pronounced it. So I was like, "This seems a bit sketchy." But there was something about it that I was like, "I'm, I'm just a little curious, right?" I mean, an audiobook is tangential to what I do.

Verifying Its Real
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Bryan Steele: So I started doing a little investigating. And sure enough, thanks to LinkedIn, I verified that person existed, and according to LinkedIn, they, you know, were, were actually at that book publisher. They worked for that book publisher, major one that was in New York City, and they actually had given me the name of the author.

So I'm like, "Okay, well there's another thing to go potentially verify." So I go look up that author. Sure enough, [00:03:00] there is an author that is in Kansas by that name who is releasing a new book Okay, well, this seems a little odd, but I said, "I'm gonna take the call. I'm gonna just see what it is they need and, and maybe I could do it."

Taking The Gig
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Bryan Steele: And so what ended up happening is I responded. I s- responded, said, "Hey, this, this could be potentially a good opportunity, and yeah, I'd be happy to talk and, and maybe this is something I can do for you." Well, it turns out that this author had previously released a book with the same publisher, and to do the audiobook, he had to fly out to New York City and be there for, like, an entire week while they recorded this audiobook.

And he said, "I just don't wanna be away from home that long." He said, "Isn't there some place in Kansas that we could do it?" So they had actually reached out to a bunch of recording studios, and I was the only one who responded. I was the only one who got back with them. And [00:04:00] so we talked about it, and I s- I was honest.

I said, "You know, I've done podcasting, I've done music production, but this is not something that I've, I've done in the past. I'm confident in my ability to record somebody talking and getting a good, clean recording, but, you know, we just have to figure out the workflow." And they were willing to do that.

So I k- you know, I kinda looked at how much time it would be. I was like, "Okay, well, I wanna make this much per hour in my studio. You know, this is a major book publisher. I'm gonna double it for that." And it was gonna take a week to do the entire project. And they agreed on the spot, which instantly, like, ah, I should ask for more money, but that's okay.

So we set it up. We agreed to do it.

Recording Workflow
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Bryan Steele: The author came down to Kansas. We actually used Zoom to bring in a director from Colorado, so they would listen in and give feedback on the performance of the audiobook. And at the end of every day, I would take all the raw recordings and send [00:05:00] them to an editor, and they were working simul- simultaneously with us.

And then if there were issues that they found during the editing, they would contact us and say, "Hey, here- here's some additional recordings we need to get done for these spots." And at the end of the day, I had recorded an audiobook And no one since then has asked for one, but I've brought it up, and there's people who have been like, "Ah, it's good to know you have that capability, because I might be in touch at some point."

Why Say Yes
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Bryan Steele: And while it's not an offer I make regularly, it's not created some new booming business, I am glad that I took that chance to follow that side quest because I gained a new experience, I gained a new application for my skills, and it was fun. It was new, it was fresh. And so what I want to encourage you with today is not be afraid of some of those opportunities that will come along, but [00:06:00] be curious.

Be willing to investigate and find out a little more, because you never know where these side quests may take you. It may turn out to be something that's even better than what you're doing with your own business on the side, and there may be something better to grow from it.

Five Filters Intro
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Bryan Steele: So I wanna give you five filters, five filters that you can evaluate all of these opportunities through.

Filter One Legit Check
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Bryan Steele: So the first thing is what I did. Do a little investigation, do some research, use some of your sales skills. Like, is this legit? Do they have a budget?

I mean, honestly, AI is a great tool for asking some of these questions. If it's a little tangent to what you've done in the past and you're heading out into some uncharted territories, kind of understand what the scope is. Like, how many days is it gonna take me to do this? What are, what are good benchmarks for this?

What, what can somebody expect to be quoting for a price? And you don't have to lean on any of those because acknowledging this is new [00:07:00] for you, you don't have to use any of that exactly. But it's good to make sure you understand what their scope is, what their expectations are, and if it seems legitimate.

If they're just thinking, "Oh, well, it's something new for you. I thought it'd be great and could give you some new exposure," turn it away. Go away, right? That book publisher was in New York City. They were expecting to spend plenty of money on making the audiobook, and they expected that audiobook to generate a return right back around.

So they were willing to invest the money in making sure they had a good studio to work with. So do not be afraid to make sure that this is legit, that there is somebody who's really actually investing in this and needs some help, and that it's something in, in the vein of what you could do.

Filter Two Be Honest
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Bryan Steele: The second thing that I recommend is make sure you're up front You can say in these situations, "Hey, this is not something I normally do.

This is a little bit outside of the scope. Normally, I'm doing [00:08:00] these things. This is how I work. This is my business. This is how I promise delivery. But I think I'm capable of doing this. I'm sure we could talk through how it needs to happen. Um, but if you're willing to, you know, be a little patient in the setup, and if we run into any technical challenges or issues, you know, we'll work together to resolve those."

You can bring that honesty. You do not have to pretend that you have it already figured out, and so they should absolutely hire you. Because then that conveys to them that any hiccups, any unexpected things that come along it shouldn't have happened. You, you know what you're doing. You're the expert.

Why is-- why are these sorts of things going on? So I always wanna say, like, upfront, be honest. When I was talking to that publisher, I said, "Yeah, I'm comfortable recording. I do podcasts. I do this sort of thing all the time, but haven't done an audiobook, so it's gonna be a lot longer form reading." You know, is the guest gonna get...

Is the, is the [00:09:00] author gonna get tired? Um, how long is it gonna take? You know, what to look for in the performance. Stuff like that was, was not necessarily stuff I had expertise with. But I communicated that upfront, and we were able to figure out, you know, the lane that I would fit in for doing the work, you know, and, and then go from there.

And I think that it worked really, really well. They were happy with the, the end result. It's an audiobook out there. You could, you could download it on Audible if you wanted to right now. The point being is that we never wanna misrepresent what we are doing and what our experience is. We can be completely transparent and base our confidence in the skill from these other domains that we already operate in.

So what you've normally done for your business has given you a skill set and a competency, and so you're saying, "Hey, I do this. I really am good at it. So this is just a new application for it. So if you're willing to, to, you know, if [00:10:00] there's any hiccups that we have to work through, I think we could figure that out and, and move forward."

And that's really how you wanna approach it. That honesty is of a lot of value to potential customers on these side quests that-- where they're seeing you as a potential collaborator. So that'd be the second thing, so.

Filter Three Long Term
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Bryan Steele: Number three, does this offer some long-term potential? Do you see a path where maybe there's an offer you can make based on learning this or trying this new avenue? Doesn't mean that it's gonna work out. You may do the project and go, "You know what? That was good, but it's not something for me to do long term," and that's fine.

But that's the approach that you wanna take. You wanna evaluate it and go, "Do I think that this is something that might lead to more opportunities, more long-term growth down the road for my business?" And maybe, maybe you don't pivot wholly to this new avenue. But when somebody comes to [00:11:00] you, it says there's a need that is not being met by the marketplace.

When somebody comes to you and says, "Can you do this other thing?" It means that there's nobody else in that space, which means you have no competition, which is fantastic. So if there's a market for these sorts of things, there may be longer opportunities where it's easier to get clients and, you know, you're not struggling with marketing and things like that as much.

So evaluate it. Is there some long-term potential there? Doesn't mean that you will, but does it look like there could be? And if so, that's a good project to take.

Filter Four Asset Leverage
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Bryan Steele: Number four, the asset leverage rule. The question is here, do I already have what I need for the most part to get this project done? Am I gonna have to go invest in a bunch of equipment that I don't already have? Do I already have the skills to accomplish eighty percent of the task? [00:12:00] Does my experience feed directly into this?

If I'm a plumber and somebody asks me for a landscaping project, those are totally different skill sets. They're totally different tools needed. There's not any clear alignment between them, so it starts to feel a little less like something we should pursue. If I'm somebody who does landscaping and I, I, you know, I, I put together flower beds and take care of them and somebody wants mowing, well, I likely have some of the equipment for that, right?

There, there's some things and it's connected to what I'm already doing and what I'm already building. So you can start to see there's an over-overlap between the businesses, between the opportunities. So look at that. When somebody's asking you for this opportunity, is there a good amount of overlap between your skills, your experience, your interests, and what you're already [00:13:00] doing?

And if so, then that's a good side quest, but if they're really separate and you struggle to find those connections, or it's gonna require you to get a whole bunch of equipment you don't already have, then maybe that's something you move away from. Now, that isn't to say that you don't invest in equipment, right?

When I started doing podcasts, video was not a piece of the puzzle, but it-- I got a camera now. So if somebody wanted a video podcast, the lift is just a little different, right? It's okay well now we're not just doing audio editing, we're doing some video editing, so a little more equipment needed, but the microphones are still involved.

Not a lot of changes otherwise. So there's a natural progression that you can see coming along with that, and you just grow with it. But again, if they're separate and it's gonna be a, a big lift to make that shift, then I would say maybe it's something you just let go and say, "Ah, that's, that's not really what I'm, what I'm trying to build."

So [00:14:00] there's just not enough connection there between what you're already doing and what this opportunity is potentially bringing you.

Filter Five Family Margin
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Bryan Steele: And then finally, the family margin test. Does this require you to just disappear for two weeks? Does it require a different level of effort than what your side hustle already is demanding?

Is this something that fits into the existing boundaries around your family that you've already got? Now, maybe there's an opportunity you want to explore, so it is something that you want to make a temporary adjustment on. But we gotta be careful here. We've intentionally established boundaries around the businesses that we're building, so we don't want this to bleed too much into those areas.

So we just have to take a step back, go, "Does this fit with what I'm wanting to build, with the goals for this business? Does it provide new opportunities, and can I fit it within, you know, what, what I'm wanting to [00:15:00] already be building? Or is it something really new and, and uncomfortable?" Maybe there's some need to do a little pivoting and adjusting, and then you can say yes.

But if it's gonna demand a lot more than what you're wanting to put into it at this point in time, then it's okay to, to s- to let those projects go. It's all right. You don't have to chase every opportunity that comes your way. But those are the, the five filters I would, I would just use to be a lens. As these opportunities come your way, what is it that you should say yes to or at least be willing to explore more?

Quick Recap
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Bryan Steele: So let's go through those five real quick. First, make sure it's legit. Do a bit of research, understand what their budget is, what is typical budgets, what are these projects normally worth, and is that something you still are interested in? Number two, being honest about where you're really at, 'cause obviously this is a new pivot, but bring that radical honesty to the conversation.

Number three, does it [00:16:00] have some long-term potential? Do you see this being something you would be willing to build in the future? Number four, does it connect enough to your existing skills and equipment, or is it gonna require you to invest and pivot in a whole new direction, which is gonna take time and effort and money that, that you really don't have?

And finally, does it fit within the boundaries that you've already established with your family on how you're going to work with your side hustle? Use those five filters. Think about it.

Share Your Side Quests
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Bryan Steele: I am curious what random opportunities have come your way. So if you're watching me on YouTube, uh, you're listening on Spotify, there's a comment feature there.

If you've had an unexpected opportunity come your way that has turned out to be a really valuable side quest, I would love to hear about it, so just leave a comment. I think that'd be fun to share with one another, and who knows? Maybe, maybe we'll talk about it on a future episode.

Closing Thanks
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Bryan Steele: Thank you for joining me.

I'm excited to see you again next week with another episode. [00:17:00] Thanks.

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