Valuetainment - 10 Businesses To Start With $100

00:00:00.000 My guest today visited every single country in the world by the time he turned 35 years old.

00:00:04.780 The number is 193. I think the last country he visited was Norway. And on top of that,

00:00:10.800 you know, businessman, author, wrote a book called The $100 Startup. He wrote many books.

00:00:16.580 One of them sold 700,000 copies. He wrote a book called The Art of Nonconformity,

00:00:21.860 New York Times bestseller, Wall Street Journal bestseller. With that being said, Chris Guillebeau,

00:00:26.340 thank you so much for being a guest on Valuetainment.

00:00:29.020 Great, man. Thanks for having me. It's a big honor.

00:00:30.720 I've been to 40 or 50 countries, and I feel like I've been all around, but 193.

00:00:58.960 What inspired you to want to do that?

00:01:02.120 You know, it's interesting because I was inspired when I had been to about 40 countries.

00:01:07.340 That's when I started thinking about it. I was like, you know, I always like to travel.

00:01:11.340 I was an aid worker for several years before I was an entrepreneur.

00:01:15.820 I actually was kind of starting some of the entrepreneurship around the same time.

00:01:18.940 And I've always been into like goal setting and making my list every day and all that.

00:01:22.880 So I made a list of all the countries, you know, I had been to.

00:01:26.260 And I was like, oh, that's a lot of countries. That's pretty good. You know, it was like 25 or something.

00:01:30.720 And so I set a goal to go to 100 countries. I was like, it'd be cool to go to 100 countries, you know, before I die.

00:01:37.180 And then I started working towards that and realized, well, that's kind of easy because it's basically half the number of countries.

00:01:43.140 And if you're just going to do half of something, then you can pick and choose.

00:01:47.760 You know, if you get stuck somewhere, if something is hard to get a visa for, then you just don't go there.

00:01:51.880 And so I thought, let me make it a real challenge, you know.

00:01:54.040 And so the real challenge was to do them all by my 35th birthday.

00:01:57.920 And so I finished, you know, when I was 35 in Norway, as you mentioned.

00:02:01.540 So it was a great experience, man. It was great.

00:02:02.980 Crazy.

00:02:03.500 I feel very fortunate to have been able to do it.

00:02:04.900 How was North Korea?

00:02:07.040 North Korea was fine. North Korea was, I went at a time in which things were a little bit quieter there.

00:02:12.120 I didn't get to spend as much time as I would like, so hopefully I get a chance to go back.

00:02:16.840 But I went to Kish Island, you know.

00:02:18.720 I didn't actually get to go to the mainland of Iran, but hopefully at some point.

00:02:22.020 Very cool.

00:02:22.780 What was the most, and by the way, the entire time when he did this, were you married?

00:02:28.040 Were you single?

00:02:28.840 Were you engaged?

00:02:31.280 Yeah, I was married.

00:02:32.880 I was married.

00:02:33.740 So we were aid workers together, and then I went back to the States.

00:02:37.480 We both went back to the States.

00:02:38.380 I did my grad school, and so I was kind of traveling, you know.

00:02:42.340 Maybe a week or two every month, and then back home for the rest of the time.

00:02:45.800 Now, how are you making the money while you're doing this?

00:02:47.380 I mean, I saw some of this stuff.

00:02:48.580 You said the first 100 countries cost you $30,000.

00:02:52.000 I didn't get what the last 93 cost, but how are you making money while you're doing this?

00:02:56.560 Yeah, okay.

00:02:57.120 A couple points there.

00:02:58.100 So, you know, first of all, when I was 19, that's when I started working for myself.

00:03:02.340 And I realized pretty early on I wasn't good at working for other people.

00:03:07.080 I had this ADD kind of personality in which, like, I'll give 110%, you know, if I believe in something.

00:03:12.820 But if I don't believe in it, it's kind of hard, you know, I'd give 20%.

00:03:15.200 So that's difficult in your average job, right?

00:03:18.160 So I started by selling things on eBay.

00:03:20.760 This goes back 23 years, you know, like when all that stuff was new, online auctions, e-commerce.

00:03:26.360 I learned how to do some consulting.

00:03:27.960 I learned how to do website design.

00:03:29.560 I'm just learning, like, all these kind of random projects.

00:03:32.020 But it was, you know, I was able to, like, support myself doing that for about 10 years.

00:03:36.040 And for me, I was very motivated by freedom, you know, freedom, personal security, options for myself, to be able to, like, set my own schedule.

00:03:45.000 I wasn't really, like, I didn't know much about the startup world.

00:03:47.740 I wasn't trying to, like, build a sustainable, scalable business.

00:03:51.220 It was very much about freedom.

00:03:52.740 You know, how can I do, you know, more of what's important to me?

00:03:56.200 And then eventually, like, all this turned into a career.

00:03:58.940 You know, like, I started writing about the journey to every country and then started writing books and, you know, interviewing other entrepreneurs and such.

00:04:05.120 But that really was secondary.

00:04:07.260 You know, at first it was just, like, this is a cool thing.

00:04:09.700 This is a quest.

00:04:10.400 I like the challenge.

00:04:11.200 There's nothing public about it.

00:04:12.940 And so then it turned into that more public-facing kind of thing.

00:04:16.160 What was the dollar amount on the last 93?

00:04:18.160 Do you remember?

00:04:18.820 Yeah, that's a good question.

00:04:20.140 So I don't actually know the dollar amount for the second.

00:04:22.740 Definitely would be more than $30,000, I would say, because, you know, things get more complex, you know, as you kind of, like, I used to, when I was starting out, like, I could travel around the world, you know, or go to, like, one region and get, like, five countries.

00:04:33.960 You know, that was great.

00:04:35.120 But then, you know, for those last countries, I'm, like, flying all the way to, like, Azerbaijan or, you know, back or whatever.

00:04:40.500 So it was definitely more.

00:04:41.940 But at that point, you know, like, I have this career that's kind of sustaining it.

00:04:45.720 And I was also, like, on the tail end of it, so willing to put some more in.

00:04:49.260 But it wasn't, like, an extravagant amount.

00:04:50.800 Like, people imagine it's, like, millions of dollars.

00:04:52.760 It definitely is not that, you know.

00:04:54.220 And the whole thing about the $30,000, I was, like, $30,000, you know, to go to 100 countries, like, the value there is just tremendous, you know.

00:05:02.960 It's tremendous.

00:05:03.620 The life experiences that I'm going to have compared to, like, buying a car or whatever.

00:05:08.140 Well, now cars cost more than $30,000.

00:05:09.980 But back then, you know, that was, like, a nice car, you know.

00:05:13.340 And I'm, like, I don't need a car when I can have, you know, the world, basically.

00:05:17.920 So, for me, it was, you know, 100% worth it.

00:05:20.240 What place was you left and you said, I was not expecting this place to be this amazing.

00:05:26.340 And what place was it you went in with such high expectation you came out saying, you know, it was cool but nothing crazy.

00:05:32.300 Yeah, okay, okay.

00:05:33.560 I like how you asked that because people are always, like, what's your favorite country?

00:05:36.000 And I hate that question, you know. 0.98

00:05:37.040 It's, like, a dumb question, right. 0.97

00:05:38.520 But the way you set it up is good. 0.91

00:05:40.800 I actually had a really good visit in Armenia.

00:05:42.720 You know, like, I traveled from, like, where was I going from your event to, where was I going?

00:05:48.540 I forget.

00:05:49.180 It was, like, I did, like, a minibus kind of trip, you know, through the country, stayed there for a few days.

00:05:53.780 I really enjoyed it, actually.

00:05:54.760 I got to learn a little bit more about Armenian culture, which I didn't know a lot about before I went.

00:05:58.920 So, that was good.

00:05:59.560 I'd love to go back.

00:06:01.060 As for what, you know, the other part of it, I don't know.

00:06:04.800 I mean, like, the South Pacific, I would say, like, you know, it's an interesting culture.

00:06:10.740 I don't know it's where I want to, like, be and live.

00:06:13.260 I'm kind of a little bit more of a fast-paced kind of person.

00:06:16.660 And, you know, things are a little bit more laid back there.

00:06:18.660 So, I respect that.

00:06:20.720 But for me, like, that wasn't a place that I wanted to go spend a whole lot of time.

00:06:24.240 Makes sense.

00:06:24.960 Makes sense.

00:06:25.460 So, here's a couple things I'd want to focus on today.

00:06:28.660 One, obviously, the mindset of nonconformity.

00:06:32.800 Your book, you call it The Art of Nonconformity.

00:06:35.260 And the other one is, you know, you talked about 23 years ago, which your 78 baby, April 4th, we're born the same year.

00:06:43.740 You're six months older than me.

00:06:45.580 So, 23 years ago, I was also doing some stuff on eBay.

00:06:48.240 How old were we?

00:06:48.960 We were 20 years old, right?

00:06:50.520 So, I was doing cards, baseball cards.

00:06:53.980 I was selling a bunch of weird things.

00:06:55.160 So, I'd want to also target on how today, if you and I were 14 years old, 15 years old, how can a 14, 15, 16-year-old make money today while living with their parents, while they're still going to school, all that stuff.

00:07:09.940 We can spend some time on that.

00:07:11.820 But, prior, let's start off with The Art of Nonconformity.

00:07:14.880 So, the concept.

00:07:15.880 We hear about the whole thing, you know, the most miserable people in the world are those who make everybody else happy but not themselves.

00:07:22.240 You know, but we're so much about wanting to please everybody.

00:07:24.280 How do you embrace this concept of nonconformity where you're not trying to please everybody but some of the people in your life that maybe matter the most, you do want to make sure you're making some of them proud.

00:07:36.620 How's that mindset of nonconformity to you?

00:07:38.800 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:07:39.820 Well, I definitely want to go back to the reselling thing because we could talk a good bit about that.

00:07:44.420 But, I mean, for me, nonconformity, you know, first and foremost, it's a mindset.

00:07:49.700 You know, the central message of, like, everything I've done for the past two years, not two years, ten years, you know, is you don't have to live your life the way others expect.

00:07:59.180 Okay?

00:07:59.560 So, you know, people in your life, even good people in your life, let's say, they have all sorts of expectations, you know, for how they want you to live and the decisions they want you to make.

00:08:09.240 And, you know, it's not at all like saying you have to, like, not be concerned with their feelings or, you know, not be a good friend or family member or partner.

00:08:21.380 But, ultimately, you're actually going to be a better friend, family member or partner if you are actually being kind of intentional about your own goals and what you want to do with your life and how to be intentional.

00:08:31.640 And, you know, I guess I used to worry a lot about what people thought of me.

00:08:37.680 And there's this quote about, I think it's like George Bernard Shaw about how you'd worry, you know, a lot less about what people think of you, you know, once you realize how seldom they do.

00:08:47.460 Like, most people actually don't really care.

00:08:48.600 That's right.

00:08:49.860 But we're all trapped in this.

00:08:51.360 We're all trapped in, like, you know, thinking about our actions, our behavior, our decisions as, you know, what's somebody going to think.

00:08:59.720 And I actually think it's very empowering to be able to say, you know, what is important to me?

00:09:05.360 What is important to me?

00:09:06.580 And to ask questions of yourself, because often it's not just other people that are holding you back.

00:09:09.940 Like, you're the one that's holding you back very often.

00:09:12.500 And so I just kind of learned to ask these why questions.

00:09:16.440 Why do I – I used to – for a long time I had this, like, screensaver on my laptop.

00:09:19.740 And whenever I open the laptop, it says, like, why are you doing this, basically.

00:09:23.520 So I kind of have to, like, look at that every time.

00:09:25.080 Like, why am I doing this?

00:09:26.100 You know, like, we get in these patterns of this is my routine.

00:09:29.960 I'm just doing this by rote.

00:09:31.440 And so I started questioning that more and more.

00:09:33.340 And that helped me to make better decisions and ended up developing this into, you know, a bit more of a philosophy and a community that people have kind of latched onto.

00:09:41.560 But ultimately it's about thinking for yourself, you know, choosing for yourself, and also trying to make the world a better place.

00:09:47.400 So I don't think they're exclusive.

00:09:48.700 Yeah, I like the way you put it.

00:09:52.380 And by the way, would you say that's what inspired the world domination or was the world domination inspired Art of Nonconformity?

00:10:01.200 I started Art of Nonconformity first, and then I wrote a manifesto called A Brief Guide to World Domination that was, like, just outlining some of my ideas.

00:10:09.460 I liked a very provocative title, you know, like, people are passing it around and stuff.

00:10:13.320 And then from there, I was like, let's bring everybody together.

00:10:17.620 Let's do, like, I was doing meetups in different cities when I was traveling.

00:10:20.380 It was really interesting because the people who came out, they all had their own story.

00:10:24.160 They're all, like, working on stuff.

00:10:25.400 And they often felt maybe misunderstood, you know, by some people around them.

00:10:30.700 A lot of them did want to start a business, and they were in kind of traditional jobs.

00:10:34.300 They were trying to figure out how to navigate that.

00:10:35.780 So I was like, let's bring everybody together, and I called it the World Domination Summit, you know, so it kind of grew from there.

00:10:40.920 So we've been doing that for nine years now.

00:10:43.040 I love that title, World Domination Summit.

00:10:45.580 Now, the concern would be, is your last name a German last name?

00:10:50.300 It is not.

00:10:51.280 Okay, I mean, that's just one thing is, like, you know, you start, you choose something, like, nine years ago, and you kind of live with it for a long time.

00:10:57.200 Like, maybe I wouldn't call it that necessarily now for a variety of reasons, but, you know, that's okay.

00:11:02.560 It is what it is.

00:11:03.340 I love it.

00:11:03.920 That's, I mean, I just have to tell you, I love the freaking title, and I don't know the number, but I saw somewhere around 10,000 people have come over the years, and you put some great events together, which is great.

00:11:14.960 But let's go back.

00:11:16.040 Let's go now back to the, you know, if you were 14 years old, right?

00:11:20.920 It's a different world today, 14, than when you and I were 14, you know, some, I don't know what the number is.

00:11:26.640 14 was, what, 29 years ago for us, right, when we were 14.

00:11:29.780 That sounds like a long time.

00:11:31.020 So when you and I were 14, I made money, I don't, I would buy 90, 99 cent hats, and I would sell them for seven bucks.

00:11:38.620 I'd buy cards, and I would flip them.

00:11:41.000 I'd buy, you know, hats, shoes, you know, a bunch of weird things that I would sell, right?

00:11:46.840 But I wonder what we would do if we were 14 today in high school.

00:11:50.200 So I'll turn it to you.

00:11:51.820 How would you make money today as a young teenager, young entrepreneur at 14 years old?

00:11:57.600 So I think this is really interesting because, you know, no doubt so much has changed, as you said, in all those years.

00:12:03.580 I can't believe it's been, you know, 29 years, as you said.

00:12:06.020 So much has changed, you know, like the iPhone wasn't out then.

00:12:09.640 Now we have all these different platforms, you know.

00:12:11.820 We're much more connected than we were, et cetera, et cetera.

00:12:14.700 New business models.

00:12:15.700 However, you know, the way that you got started in business, the way that I got started, it's actually still quite relevant.

00:12:23.320 Like, reselling is still very accessible.

00:12:26.100 Most of it hasn't changed that much.

00:12:28.120 You know, like most of it in terms of, like, you're trying to find a 99 cent hat.

00:12:31.500 You know, maybe it costs, like, five bucks now.

00:12:33.760 You're trying to sell that for 30 bucks or whatever.

00:12:36.420 And, I mean, people can do that.

00:12:38.720 There's all kinds of things.

00:12:39.500 And, like, there's so many platforms now with, like, Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp and, you know, Gumtree and all kinds of others.

00:12:45.700 And without a lot of capital at all, I mean, 50 bucks, even if you don't have any money, you can start with the stuff that you already have.

00:12:51.660 Like, sell your own stuff and then use that 50 bucks to buy other stuff, you know.

00:12:56.280 I mean, it's a process.

00:12:58.500 And that may not be, you know, what you end up doing for your whole life, you know.

00:13:02.140 Like, you're going to go on to other stuff.

00:13:04.360 But by doing that, you're going to learn about marketing.

00:13:06.920 You're going to learn about how to accept payments.

00:13:08.920 You're going to learn about customer service.

00:13:11.120 You're going to learn about copywriting.

00:13:12.640 All these kind of skills that will help.

00:13:14.820 So, I think that's always a great first start.

00:13:16.560 I mean, the second thing would be, okay, so once you have a little bit of experience, you know, now, you know, it doesn't really matter if you're 14.

00:13:24.820 Anyone can have, you know, a website that's actually, like, doing some kind of e-commerce thing.

00:13:29.980 Anybody can offer a service, you know, online.

00:13:32.520 Nobody cares if you're 14.

00:13:33.800 Like, it's not really relevant.

00:13:35.140 It's like, what is the product?

00:13:36.380 What is the service?

00:13:37.700 You know, so there I feel like, you know, we could look at all sorts of different things.

00:13:41.780 But it depends on what your goal is.

00:13:43.100 If you're trying to just make some money and get into it really quickly, make more money than you would, you know, working, you know, at a restaurant or something, then you can do that today, I think.

00:13:53.320 How were you making money at 14?

00:13:54.880 Were you the guy that was always making money?

00:13:56.520 Were you the young hustler?

00:13:57.420 Or were you the guy with the good grades?

00:14:00.200 Well, I definitely wasn't the guy with the good grades.

00:14:02.240 I dropped out of high school.

00:14:03.440 And I went to one year of high school.

00:14:04.700 I dropped out.

00:14:06.380 I wasn't really selling stuff at 14 or 15.

00:14:09.500 It was more like 18 or 19.

00:14:11.120 That's when I started.

00:14:13.140 So, I mean, I did work at a restaurant when I was 14, washing dishes.

00:14:16.160 And then my last job job was at FedEx in Memphis, Tennessee, when I was 19, like putting boxes on a truck.

00:14:23.300 And it was like my college job.

00:14:24.940 And then when I learned about eBay, I was like, all of a sudden I'm making $15 to $20 an hour, you know.

00:14:31.700 And back then, you know, for everybody who's much younger than us, back then I was making $8 an hour at FedEx.

00:14:36.640 And I was like, well, okay, you know, this is better.

00:14:39.840 And also I had no idea what I was doing with eBay.

00:14:42.280 Like if I learn, if I study, I can do much better.

00:14:44.880 And not just the money.

00:14:46.340 I think this is the key point.

00:14:47.280 Like I was so attracted to the idea of building something and the idea of having freedom and nobody's going to tell me, you know, what to do today and when to go to work.

00:14:57.960 And the ironic thing is I actually worked a lot more.

00:15:00.520 You know, like when I could choose how much, you know, you probably get that too.

00:15:02.840 Like it's like when nobody's telling you to go to work, I'm like, I'm actually there early.

00:15:06.000 I'm staying late because I'm excited about it.

00:15:08.060 So weird.

00:15:08.420 Yeah.

00:15:09.220 You know.

00:15:09.780 The dynamic is it's the best way to describe it is, you know, sometimes, at least for me, is when you're babysitting versus it's your own baby.

00:15:20.080 You know, you're taking care of somebody else's baby.

00:15:22.440 You're like, hey, it's all good.

00:15:23.600 I like, I'll do my job.

00:15:24.740 But if it's my own baby, man, I'll go on two hours of sleep.

00:15:28.000 Right now we got a 12-week, 16-week daughter. 0.97

00:15:31.880 We got four kids.

00:15:33.220 We got a 9-7-5, thank you, and a 14-week-old.

00:15:36.820 So sleep is a very valuable asset right now in the family.

00:15:41.860 Yeah.

00:15:42.460 All right.

00:15:43.140 So you're doing some of those two-hour nights.

00:15:45.040 Oh, there's no question about last night was a special night because she slept from 11 to 5, and that hasn't happened for like, I don't think it's happened, period.

00:15:52.740 So it was a special night for us last night.

00:15:54.860 But going back to, you know, the teenage, how to make money today as a teenager, you were saying you had a job when you were making your money.

00:16:03.420 You didn't really start doing the reselling stuff until 18, 19.

00:16:07.260 When you were doing the reselling, what were the products that you were reselling on eBay?

00:16:11.780 Yeah.

00:16:12.300 I mean, I didn't really specialize.

00:16:13.740 It was, it was, I looked for what was selling.

00:16:16.740 I looked, and then I looked to see, like, where could I get, you know, those items.

00:16:20.900 So it was like coffee.

00:16:22.240 It was Lego sets.

00:16:23.860 It was video games.

00:16:26.460 Some clothes, some clothing items.

00:16:28.500 I think I did some sneakers.

00:16:30.100 Those are hard because of sizes, you know.

00:16:31.700 So you've got to stock a whole bunch of inventory.

00:16:33.420 But, and that coffee I got into just randomly because, like, I saw, like, oh, there's other auction sellers selling this really expensive coffee.

00:16:42.300 You know, like, where does it come from?

00:16:43.800 Oh, it comes from Jamaica.

00:16:44.920 Well, where are they buying it from?

00:16:46.400 Like, there's got to be a way to, like, reverse engineer this process, which these days is actually easier than it was, you know, back then.

00:16:53.140 But even then, it wasn't that hard to, like, figure out.

00:16:55.000 You could place an order.

00:16:55.800 You could order from somebody and then see what shows up.

00:16:57.940 And then, like, okay, I'm going to call that manufacturer or that wholesaler.

00:17:00.780 And, you know, you can also see what's selling and see, like, oh, is this selling consistently?

00:17:07.240 Is this selling at a price that I can profit from?

00:17:10.280 So I did everything from, you know, those items I mentioned.

00:17:13.600 I did cigars for a while.

00:17:15.220 I did.

00:17:15.660 Cigars.

00:17:16.120 Wow.

00:17:16.460 You know, headphones, you know, I mean, anything.

00:17:19.980 You know, I wasn't trying to, like, have a specialty.

00:17:22.840 For me, it was, like, what's selling?

00:17:24.740 How can I acquire the inventory?

00:17:26.640 And, again, it's just me.

00:17:27.420 It's not like I'm building some warehouse or something.

00:17:29.020 But I was thrilled.

00:17:29.620 I was absolutely thrilled, you know, because here I am, like, 19, 20, and, you know, not making a huge amount of money, but I was making more money than I ever was, you know, certainly doing anything else.

00:17:40.500 So I thought it was really cool.

00:17:42.420 The concept of $100 startup, you know, reinvent the way you make a living, do what you love, and create a new future.

00:17:48.440 It's not a new book.

00:17:49.420 It's a nine-year book, but it's done very well.

00:17:51.940 And I remember when the book came out.

00:17:54.100 I mean, it was a talk of town.

00:17:56.300 Everybody was talking about this book when it first came out.

00:17:59.300 I'm not saying they're not.

00:18:00.100 It's got 4,300 reviews, so it's a book that's done very, very well.

00:18:03.340 But what is the premise behind the $100 startup to the audience that doesn't know?

00:18:08.460 The premise is, you know, there's a whole model of entrepreneurship that you're probably familiar with from watching Shark Tank or Silicon Valley or anything like that.

00:18:18.480 But that's great.

00:18:20.060 There's also a whole other model of entrepreneurship that is based on no debt, you know, bootstrapping yourself, not looking for investors, focused on a passion that you have, a skill that you have, and trying to, you know, build a business for yourself, right?

00:18:37.560 So that business may or may not scale.

00:18:39.780 It may or may not become a $100 million company.

00:18:42.920 But you can certainly build it to a six-figure business, sometimes multiple six figures, sometimes seven-figure, so you can do more of what's important to you.

00:18:51.380 And that model at the time was really not being talked about much.

00:18:56.100 And I think that's probably why the book did well.

00:18:58.000 Like, I went on this tour for my first book, Art of Nonconformity.

00:19:00.500 I went to all 50 states.

00:19:01.860 I went to every province in Canada.

00:19:03.460 I was talking with my readers.

00:19:05.100 Like, I'm hearing all these stories about people that nobody knew about, you know, and they weren't famous, you know.

00:19:12.180 This is, like, before social media was really big.

00:19:15.220 And they were making a good living doing something that, you know, like they never thought of themselves as entrepreneurs.

00:19:20.820 Like, I was actually very careful about the word entrepreneur.

00:19:22.840 I didn't use it very much in that book because a lot of people find it, you know, hard to relate to, you know.

00:19:29.140 They think entrepreneur is what I've seen on those TV shows or whatever.

00:19:32.920 And so that whole model is, like, you know, you can do something right now with the skills you have.

00:19:38.560 What you need to learn is how to adapt those skills into the new economy because you already have a lot that you know.

00:19:44.160 What you need to do is translate, you know, or transfer those skills.

00:19:47.560 Yeah.

00:19:48.420 So would you consider yourself today an entrepreneur or a solopreneur?

00:19:53.940 Yeah, that's a good question.

00:19:55.100 I don't really make too much of a distinction.

00:19:58.060 I'm probably much more of a solopreneur still.

00:20:00.580 I mean, I have a team, but it's a small team.

00:20:03.320 I'm not a great manager.

00:20:04.860 Like, I don't want to have a lot of employees.

00:20:07.460 So I purposely, you know, keep things pretty small or pretty lean at least.

00:20:12.040 But I'm also starting different projects and such.

00:20:14.200 So I don't know.

00:20:14.780 I guess I'm an entrepreneur, I suppose.

00:20:17.220 Yeah.

00:20:17.720 Like, your dad and you and my dad, you guys are born seven days.

00:20:22.060 He's an April 10th baby.

00:20:23.320 Okay.

00:20:24.120 And my dad, let me tell you, I've not met an April person I didn't get along with.

00:20:30.460 But April guys, from my experience, lots of trust, lots of independence, lots of, I'm going to figure this out.

00:20:38.100 Lots of, you can't tell them you can't do something because that's like the kiss of death.

00:20:42.960 God forbid you tell an April baby you can't do something. 0.62

00:20:45.860 They're going to spend their entire life trying to prove to you that they can do something.

00:20:48.800 To the wiring is a different wiring.

00:20:50.600 Do you think, do you think, like, you know, in, when I interview certain people and I'm trying to get somebody in a position, this has been my experience.

00:20:59.920 A person who plays better in a solo game, for example, a tennis player, you know, a kid, like my, one of my sons just loves swimming or tennis, something that's just, he controls the success, right?

00:21:15.460 It's his, he controls the success.

00:21:17.380 The other one is like, it's like, I want to be on a team.

00:21:20.500 I want to do this.

00:21:21.040 I want to do that.

00:21:22.200 You know, do you think this is more like a DNA of wiring the way you are where, look, I'm wired this way.

00:21:28.580 I want to be a solopreneur.

00:21:29.880 I don't like to manage people because I don't like to be managed.

00:21:32.780 I kind of know what's good for me.

00:21:33.940 Leave me alone.

00:21:34.940 I don't need to be worth a few billion dollars.

00:21:36.980 I kind of want to go do my own thing.

00:21:38.200 You know, a book like yours, $100 startup or four hour work week.

00:21:41.340 Do you think there's like a wiring where it's part of DNA versus the other guys like, I want to go build something with thousands of people?

00:21:48.740 Yeah, yeah.

00:21:49.280 I don't know if it's DNA or, you know, socialization or early experiences, you know, that lead to that or some combination most likely.

00:21:57.320 But I do think that they, you know, people tend to fall in one camp or another, you know.

00:22:02.220 And it's like, you know, introvert or extrovert, like there's a spectrum of these things.

00:22:06.220 It's not like you're like all the way one, all the way the other.

00:22:09.160 So, I mean, I also like to work with people like for the event, World Domination Summit.

00:22:13.460 You know, we have a team that works on that.

00:22:15.060 It's very collaborative.

00:22:16.100 I enjoy that.

00:22:17.460 So, I think, you know, no matter which one you are, like you can learn some of the skills of the other side.

00:22:22.300 But I do think most people are kind of one way or the other.

00:22:24.960 And I think what, you know, if you figure that out, that's going to help you, you know, and, you know, to play to your strengths and figure, okay, what is the way that I'm going to change the world?

00:22:33.220 You know, that's somewhat unique because if I'm just trying to develop all my skills to the same level, then, you know, nobody's going to care about that.

00:22:40.280 I'm not really going to have an impact.

00:22:41.840 That's right.

00:22:42.160 You're like everybody else if you do that.

00:22:43.620 So, the last book that you have, which is about finding your passion, I forgot the title of it, not Side Hustle.

00:22:51.880 What's the last book?

00:22:52.760 Not Money Tree.

00:22:53.580 The last book is called The Money Tree.

00:22:55.540 It's like finding the fortune in your own backyard.

00:22:58.000 So, that's, sorry, maybe you had another question about that.

00:23:00.740 Not Money Tree.

00:23:01.780 The one with the red, the red.

00:23:04.720 Born for this.

00:23:06.100 Born for this.

00:23:06.820 Yeah.

00:23:07.040 So, it's about finding the work you were meant to do.

00:23:09.320 Yeah.

00:23:09.640 So, help me with a system of that.

00:23:12.780 Okay.

00:23:13.020 So, I'm ambitious.

00:23:14.760 I'm 18 years old.

00:23:15.600 I'm 25 years old.

00:23:16.780 I'm like, dude, listen, Chris, I'm telling you, I feel like there's some fire in me.

00:23:20.720 I want to do something.

00:23:22.000 But do I go be like this guy, that guy, this guy?

00:23:24.420 What do I do?

00:23:24.940 It's so busy right now.

00:23:25.800 It's so noisy right now.

00:23:26.540 How do I figure myself out?

00:23:27.760 What's that formula?

00:23:28.400 Yep.

00:23:29.240 I think the first thing you do if you're that 19, 25, let's say, young 20s guy or woman,

00:23:35.300 I think you take some of the pressure off.

00:23:39.060 Like, just keep them ambition.

00:23:40.260 Ambition 100%, the fire, the fuel.

00:23:42.860 But I think we put too much pressure on people to figure out their life purpose when they are 22 or 23.

00:23:48.180 And I think the way that you actually get to that is by doing a bunch of stuff, you know?

00:23:51.960 I mean, if you know 100%, like, there are people who know, like, this is the thing I want to do in life.

00:23:56.560 And that's great.

00:23:57.140 Go and do that.

00:23:57.740 But I think those are the minority, like a very small minority.

00:24:00.520 I think most of us, we figure out what our thing is by doing a bunch of different stuff, you know?

00:24:05.600 And by being willing to experiment, by being willing to start different projects, and also to leave them behind, right?

00:24:11.700 To be willing to, like, abandon something.

00:24:14.020 So I wrote a lot in that book, Born for This, about the power of giving up and the power of quitting.

00:24:19.200 Because I think something, especially in Western society, like this belief about never quitting and, like, persistence is the highest, you know, the highest value.

00:24:28.600 I think that's wrong, right?

00:24:30.000 And most successful people have actually quit all kinds of things.

00:24:33.320 You know, they have tried something, and then they have walked away from it.

00:24:35.720 They have not been, like, unwilling to say, okay, you know, that was a mistake.

00:24:40.860 Or maybe it wasn't a mistake.

00:24:42.240 It was just, like, that was what I was doing for now, and now I'm going to do something different.

00:24:45.220 So I think the first thing you do is you just try different stuff.

00:24:47.400 And then, you know, from there, there's, like, there's some various assessments in the book.

00:24:50.700 And it's, like, a model of joy, money, and flow, which I think are the three components, you know, of kind of what makes us, you know, happy, what we find meaningful.

00:24:59.120 So you want to find something that you actually enjoy doing and look forward to doing.

00:25:03.120 And, like, that's not everything, but that is an important part of it.

00:25:06.200 Money, again, not everything, but pretty important.

00:25:08.360 Like, it needs to be sustainable.

00:25:09.540 It needs to, you know, have value in this modern world.

00:25:12.540 And flow is that aspect of work in which you're, like, man, I'm really good at this thing.

00:25:18.480 And, like, the hours just pass by, and I don't even notice how much time went by.

00:25:22.580 And maybe this is actually really easy for me.

00:25:25.640 Other people find it difficult.

00:25:27.060 But for me, this is easy, you know, figuring out whatever that thing is and then trying to find a combination therein, you know, where it's, like, I really enjoy this thing.

00:25:34.060 It actually makes some money, and I'm good at it.

00:25:35.680 Like, we're always searching for it, too, right?

00:25:37.660 By the way, it's not like you get to it one day.

00:25:39.220 You're like, there I am, you know.

00:25:40.960 I think it's always a lifelong journey.

00:25:43.240 But if you use those three points as, like, these are my anchors.

00:25:46.880 And if I'm getting too far away from any one of them, then, you know, maybe that's okay for a time.

00:25:52.200 Like, if you're really in debt and you're like, man, I have to do whatever I can to make some money, then that's fine.

00:25:57.900 You need to focus on that, even if you don't love it for a time.

00:26:00.440 But in the long term, you're going to be the most successful if you're trying to do all three of them.

00:26:04.720 I like that.

00:26:05.120 Joy, money, flow.

00:26:07.660 Joy, money, flow.

00:26:09.760 And knowing the fact that the most successful people you know have probably quit a lot of different things before they finally found something.

00:26:16.700 A quote I read 20 years ago, it said, sometimes on the way to a dream, you get lost and find a bigger one.

00:26:23.160 Sometimes on the way to, you're like, oh, I want this, I want this, I want this.

00:26:25.980 I'm like, no, I really want this.

00:26:28.060 That's what I want.

00:26:29.320 It's amazing how that works out because initially I thought it was all about money because we grew up without money.

00:26:35.040 Then that money gets squared away.

00:26:36.440 Then you're like, what am I doing next?

00:26:37.900 And it lets us have something bigger than that.

00:26:39.460 So the money tree, a story about finding the fortune in your own backyard.

00:26:44.500 How do we find the fortune in our backyard?

00:26:48.000 Some people's backyard is a small backyard.

00:26:50.000 So how do we find that money in our backyard?

00:26:52.980 Right, right, right.

00:26:53.860 I mean, you know, it's meant to be kind of a metaphor of something that, you know, the skill that I have or, you know, the passion that I have.

00:27:01.860 Or maybe it's a hobby and I think nobody would pay money for this thing, you know.

00:27:07.420 But, you know, I had a story on the podcast of a young guy like doing Fortnite coaching basically and making a lot of money.

00:27:16.420 You know, he's making like $7,000 a month, you know, coaching people in Fortnite, you know.

00:27:20.680 And so in your own backyard, it's like you make a list of your skills, of your passions, and you try to figure out what's the alignment between these things and, you know, what people are paying for.

00:27:31.320 What's the convergence point?

00:27:32.480 So I kind of go into that.

00:27:33.400 But that book is basically the story version of $100 Startup.

00:27:38.220 So $100 Startup is very instructional.

00:27:40.680 It's a nonfiction book.

00:27:42.440 Money Tree actually wanted to kind of, you know, write something that is a little bit different for people who might not read business books.

00:27:48.240 So I kind of created a whole, like, world for that.

00:27:51.660 Well, you just gave me an idea here.

00:27:53.140 So since you have written these books, you're going to be interviewed on these things.

00:27:58.420 So you're going to be on a lot of different podcasts, and you wrote a book also on Side Hustle, From Idea to Income in 27 Days.

00:28:05.700 Maybe spit out some of the most unique, strangest side hustles you've seen people do, like the $7,000 a month, you know, Fortnite consulting business, the kids running.

00:28:16.060 What are some of the most unique, random, strange side hustles you've seen?

00:28:19.180 Unique, random.

00:28:19.920 I mean, so I've been doing this podcast every single day since January 1, 2017.

00:28:26.460 It's a daily podcast.

00:28:27.440 It comes out seven days a week.

00:28:28.520 So we're on episode 1700-something, you know, and I'm telling all these different stories.

00:28:34.020 So, you know, like, let's see, like, I had somebody who was doing dating app coaching, like, for your dating profile.

00:28:41.000 Like, you actually have it mostly for men, right?

00:28:42.880 So this is a woman who's helping men have a better, you know, dating profile.

00:28:46.960 She was making a lot of money with that. 0.97

00:28:48.640 Okay.

00:28:48.880 There was this couple that was really into dachshunds, like the dog, you know, but specifically dachshunds.

00:28:55.700 Like, not all dogs, just dachshunds.

00:28:57.580 So they created this website that's, like, e-commerce for dachshund lovers.

00:29:02.060 If it's not a million-dollar, you know, a year business right now, it is high six figures.

00:29:07.820 Like, and it's all dachshunds, you know, right?

00:29:10.720 But specificity is the thing.

00:29:12.640 Specificity.

00:29:14.260 There's so much to that.

00:29:15.400 I mean, so I've had manufacturing stuff.

00:29:17.040 I've had, like, lots of service stuff.

00:29:18.900 Give me, I actually, I want to be able to get our audience.

00:29:21.360 Let's try to get out of your brain, see if we can extract ten of them.

00:29:24.500 So far, I have three.

00:29:25.520 We've got to get seven more.

00:29:26.580 Okay.

00:29:26.700 So, one, we have dating app coaching, which, by the way, I think so many people would actually want to help with that, right?

00:29:34.620 Because it, I guess it would be, the sales pitch would be what?

00:29:37.440 I'm going to help you increase the chance of getting the girl that you want by making adjustments on your profile.

00:29:41.760 Fantastic.

00:29:42.560 So the couple dachshund dogs, that's going to make a very niche, which what you talked about.

00:29:47.960 Number three is the Fortnite.

00:29:50.360 When you talk about the kids, $7,000 a month consulting how to play that game.

00:29:54.420 What else?

00:29:54.800 Keep going.

00:29:55.220 Tell us.

00:29:56.040 Yeah, yeah.

00:29:56.500 Let's see.

00:29:56.880 Let's see.

00:29:57.880 There's a woman who, she's in Florida, actually. 0.83

00:30:00.760 She created this product called a Rinse-A-Roo, which is like a shower, like a shower handle attachment to, like, you know, rinse off your shoes if you're on the beach or rinse off with dogs. 0.55

00:30:10.680 Sick.

00:30:11.000 She's going to the beach with her big family, and, like, there is just one shower in the house, so she created this.

00:30:15.620 This is also multiple six-figure now, very low startup costs.

00:30:20.380 Let's see.

00:30:20.960 What else do we got?

00:30:21.720 I did this guy.

00:30:23.440 This guy was doing dropshipping.

00:30:26.780 So dropshipping, you know, for anybody who doesn't know, it's like you're buying something, and the company is sending that out, you know, to other people.

00:30:33.120 So you don't actually have to touch the inventory.

00:30:34.520 So he was selling live crickets to reptile owners, so he's, like, actually selling the insects, but he doesn't have to touch them, right?

00:30:42.480 He's not doing the inventory, you know?

00:30:44.460 And so he's making, like, a few thousand dollars.

00:30:46.120 It might sound like a million-dollar business.

00:30:47.100 Yeah, still.

00:30:48.740 Right?

00:30:49.100 Let's see.

00:30:51.300 What else we got?

00:30:53.160 I did a guy who wrote a blog about fish tanks.

00:30:55.960 So not fish, just fish tanks.

00:30:58.020 Again, the specificity.

00:30:59.200 Like, you're going to buy an aquarium, you're going to buy a fish tank.

00:31:01.420 So he monetizes this using affiliate marketing, right?

00:31:04.220 So people are Googling all the time, you know, which aquarium should I buy?

00:31:07.920 And they're Googling the names of specific models.

00:31:10.860 And this is a very uncompetitive niche, right?

00:31:13.600 Like, it's not like everybody's, like, I'm going to get into the fish tank market.

00:31:16.580 So he's able to, like, rank really high in SEO. 0.82

00:31:19.100 Sick.

00:31:19.340 People come and read his articles. 0.97

00:31:21.060 They click the links, you know.

00:31:22.300 So he actually set this up.

00:31:23.560 This is a guy from the U.K.

00:31:25.040 He set it up as a random project, like one weekend, you know?

00:31:28.820 What's his name?

00:31:29.720 Do you know the company's name?

00:31:31.300 Is it something where we can give a show?

00:31:32.860 I can find it real quick.

00:31:34.900 But it was actually one of the second stories I ever had on the podcast.

00:31:39.960 So I'll get it for you.

00:31:41.040 But he set this up in a very short period of time.

00:31:43.880 If you just Google blogging for fish tanks, you're probably going to find that story.

00:31:47.800 And, you know, set it up in a short period of time.

00:31:50.560 Never did anything else with it.

00:31:52.140 And, like, years and years goes by.

00:31:54.160 And he's still making, like, $300 to $500 a month from it.

00:31:57.480 So $300 to $500 a month for something you don't do anything for.

00:32:00.120 Great.

00:32:00.660 Yeah, no question about it.

00:32:01.820 Yep.

00:32:02.540 Right.

00:32:03.180 What else?

00:32:03.600 So we got four more to go.

00:32:04.840 We're going to put that brain of yours to work.

00:32:07.580 And we're going to come up with four more.

00:32:09.440 Give me four more. 0.93

00:32:10.800 It's a good challenge.

00:32:11.760 But I did a sneaker reseller story recently.

00:32:15.540 So maybe he's, like, following in your footsteps, literally, with that.

00:32:19.220 That dude was doing really well.

00:32:21.320 He had figured out.

00:32:22.500 They have all these apps now when, like, a new model drops.

00:32:25.040 And so he had written some algorithm and then built up this customer relationship base.

00:32:28.520 I had, like, a librarian who was a DJ.

00:32:33.460 And she kind of created this, like, library DJ kind of model that she's doing in different cities.

00:32:38.140 So she's, like, traveling for it.

00:32:40.940 What's her name?

00:32:41.600 So is she dressed like a librarian? 1.00

00:32:43.640 I don't know everybody's name.

00:32:45.740 No, no, no, no.

00:32:46.300 Not name.

00:32:46.820 No.

00:32:46.940 But what is her niche?

00:32:47.820 What is it like?

00:32:48.520 By the way, I found the one story.

00:32:50.160 British man earned $700 a month writing fish tank reviews.

00:32:54.020 We'll put the link below if people want to see that.

00:32:55.680 But the librarian DJ, what's her niche?

00:32:58.260 Does she dress like a librarian? 1.00

00:32:59.780 Does she have a—

00:33:00.740 She actually is a librarian. 1.00

00:33:02.280 You know, she is a librarian. 0.79

00:33:03.320 She's a little bit older.

00:33:04.820 So she's not, like, what you would expect to be a DJ.

00:33:06.820 I think that's part of it.

00:33:07.660 It's, like, this, you know, kind of surprise.

00:33:09.240 But there's a whole, like, literacy tie into it.

00:33:11.760 Andrea Graham.

00:33:13.300 Andrea Graham.

00:33:14.280 Is that her name?

00:33:15.060 Andrea Graham, librarian, most recent—

00:33:17.100 You know, I've done a lot of stories.

00:33:19.260 Great.

00:33:19.700 I did a textbook reseller.

00:33:21.120 This is actually something people can do right now.

00:33:23.080 Like, a guy at college, you know, is, like, buying all these textbooks

00:33:26.200 and, like, finding a way to, like, create this model

00:33:29.140 where he's matching students with textbooks.

00:33:31.180 And that basically pays his way through grad school.

00:33:33.660 So what does he do?

00:33:35.560 Unpack that again?

00:33:36.400 Textbook?

00:33:37.720 Yep.

00:33:38.720 He's basically buying—it's a very simple model.

00:33:40.480 He's buying and reselling textbooks, you know?

00:33:42.480 And he does it both locally and online.

00:33:44.420 Okay.

00:33:44.940 Speaking of paying your way through college,

00:33:46.760 there was a woman who—she bred rabbits.

00:33:49.800 So she was, like, a rabbit breeder

00:33:51.320 and actually made enough money from that to pay for college.

00:33:55.160 Also, very low startup cost there, you know?

00:33:58.100 So all these kind of things, like, it's not like everybody should go—

00:34:00.880 it's not like I'm saying, you know, you need to go out

00:34:02.800 and, like, drop-shift live crickets.

00:34:05.780 You need to become a librarian and DJ.

00:34:07.500 It's really important to say, like, there's something you can do.

00:34:10.860 Like, whatever your thing is, no matter how—

00:34:12.460 Yeah.

00:34:12.640 You think, like, nobody else is interested in this thing,

00:34:15.260 but you have something that you're interested in, you know,

00:34:17.780 and there is there.

00:34:19.420 Here's—I think I'm probably at 9 or 10 now.

00:34:22.560 There's a woman who did some videos, like an online course about baking bread.

00:34:28.500 Not just bread, but sourdough bread.

00:34:30.520 Again, the niche, sourdough bread.

00:34:32.340 I love that.

00:34:33.100 Her name is Teresa.

00:34:34.120 I forget her last name.

00:34:35.660 But she made these videos for Udemy, I think, and they totally blew up.

00:34:40.400 And she got, like, $100,000 to make these videos about sourdough bread.

00:34:44.180 And then she made the sequel and then another video.

00:34:46.800 Like, all the courses are about sourdough bread.

00:34:49.520 So the first one was filmed with her iPhone and her kitchen and bad lighting

00:34:53.420 and no audio quality, like, all that kind of stuff because, you know,

00:34:56.560 it doesn't matter.

00:34:57.100 It's, like, the knowledge.

00:34:57.800 It's the knowledge.

00:34:58.360 And then she gets better and improves things along the way.

00:35:00.700 So if she can make all this money with sourdough bread, 1.00

00:35:03.040 I know there's something for everybody.

00:35:03.920 Yeah, Teresa Greenway, what a great story, you know.

00:35:07.640 That's right.

00:35:08.240 Bread Baker.

00:35:08.860 So just so you know, you're an overachiever because we came up with 11.

00:35:12.300 Okay.

00:35:12.620 Okay.

00:35:12.900 All right.

00:35:13.520 Man, I felt the pressure there.

00:35:14.720 But that's good.

00:35:15.040 I like the challenge.

00:35:16.660 So let me read.

00:35:17.800 You know what's funny, Pat, is, like, you know,

00:35:20.380 I wrote a book called 100 Side Hustles that has 100 of these stories.

00:35:22.840 Yeah.

00:35:23.300 And I've done 1,700 episodes.

00:35:24.960 But whenever people are like, tell me one story, I'm like, I can't think of one.

00:35:28.500 Too much pressure to come up right now.

00:35:30.180 But we did it.

00:35:30.860 We did it.

00:35:31.300 So we got.

00:35:32.200 So let's go through some of them.

00:35:33.360 So one of them is the Dating Gap Coaching.

00:35:35.540 Fantastic.

00:35:36.380 Yeah.

00:35:36.600 You got the Docs and Docs couple specific.

00:35:40.100 You got the Fortnite Coaching.

00:35:41.820 You got the Shower Handle, which for the beach, you're going out there.

00:35:45.460 You got the Drop Shipping Live Crickets to Reptiles.

00:35:48.700 You got the Blog Fish Tank Blogs.

00:35:52.280 You got the Sneaker Reseller.

00:35:54.780 Great.

00:35:55.160 Librarian DJ.

00:35:56.160 Librarian DJ.

00:35:56.880 Textbook reseller.

00:35:58.380 Rabbit Breeder, which, you know, very interesting, too.

00:36:01.920 I'd love to give that business card to somebody.

00:36:03.620 What do you do for a living?

00:36:04.380 I breed rabbits, right?

00:36:05.540 Very interesting.

00:36:06.760 And then you got the Online Baking Sourdough Bread Teresa Greenway.

00:36:12.100 So the reason why I wanted to do this exercise, because, you know, I think sometimes I'm consulting

00:36:18.900 a pizza company today, okay?

00:36:21.940 It was a pizza company, and it was a health old folks homes company.

00:36:28.400 It's what they do.

00:36:28.960 So you got two different businesses.

00:36:30.360 They're both on this call together for about 90 minutes, and they're having a hard time.

00:36:34.340 We read the book Contagious together, which is to come up with the next way to trigger a story,

00:36:38.100 all this stuff.

00:36:39.120 I said, you know, I got to tell you, my wife and I, we put our kids through a swim course

00:36:46.100 in L.A. simply because one video went viral.

00:36:50.140 And this school that we put the kids through is called ISR.

00:36:54.360 I'm trying to get the name for you just to share it with you.

00:36:57.660 It's called ISR.

00:36:58.940 Anyway, it's Infant Swim Rescue.

00:37:01.780 And I don't know if you remember when this video went viral.

00:37:04.700 It got a few hundred million views on Facebook.

00:37:06.280 They dropped the kid in the pool, and the kid flips on its own, right?

00:37:11.400 I don't know if you've seen this video or not.

00:37:12.880 So they grew a few thousand percent in a year.

00:37:17.700 They couldn't even certify people quickly enough because of how swamped they were

00:37:21.840 because parents looked at it, and then they said, I got to put my kids through that school.

00:37:25.720 Every single one of our kids have gone through that, right?

00:37:28.000 So the idea is like with pizza.

00:37:30.440 When you think about pizza, you think about happiness.

00:37:32.560 Everything you ever did in your life that you were happy with, you know, football, you eat pizza.

00:37:37.680 Movie with friends, pizza.

00:37:39.320 Hanging out with your peers, pizza.

00:37:40.600 So pizza is such a product linked to happiness that you got to remind the audience what we feel like

00:37:45.880 when we're having pizza to get those two together.

00:37:48.700 But what you're doing is the audience now, sister, says, you know,

00:37:52.460 maybe I'm not a good dating app coach, but maybe instead of crickets, maybe I can sell something else.

00:37:58.680 You know, there's so many ways to make money today in America.

00:38:01.980 Do you think it's easier to make money today as a 14-year-old than when you and I were 14?

00:38:08.400 I think something around the time when you and I were 14, that's when it changed.

00:38:12.640 I think maybe 10 years before that, it was definitely harder.

00:38:15.740 Like, so now it might be easier, you know, than a couple of decades ago.

00:38:20.140 But I think we were definitely in the time in which so many platforms, so many networks,

00:38:23.940 everybody's familiar with buying stuff online.

00:38:26.120 I think, you know, when we were starting, like there was still a lot of resistance to that.

00:38:29.320 Like, you know, is it going to be safe to use my credit card online?

00:38:34.000 You know, before my grandma passed away, she got a PayPal account.

00:38:37.120 And that's why I knew, that's why I knew, like, okay, we're in the new, you know, the new world.

00:38:40.940 I think it's never been easier, let's say that, you know, it's never been easier.

00:38:45.000 And what you're pointing out, like, it's a great story about the swim class.

00:38:48.120 I mean, that's like pointing to this, like, you know, desperate need, you know, for safety, right?

00:38:52.640 And I think all of these models, all these stories, you know, the reason why I'm, like,

00:38:58.040 presenting all these stories all the time on the podcast and in the books is to try to, like, remove excuses, you know?

00:39:03.560 It's to try to, like, remove obstacles and say, well, look at this person.

00:39:06.640 They weren't an entrepreneur, quote-unquote.

00:39:08.400 They didn't go to Harvard Business School.

00:39:09.760 They didn't have all these advantages.

00:39:11.900 You know, the sourdough bread woman, she was actually, like, pretty poor at the time 0.99

00:39:15.680 and, like, living on benefits and, like, a difficult situation and all that.

00:39:19.940 So if you don't relate to me, if you don't relate to, you know, one person here,

00:39:24.140 maybe there's somebody there that you can relate to.

00:39:26.540 And all the different, you know, stories that we went through, like, they're different models, you know?

00:39:29.880 So, like, e-commerce, like, the shower handle, that's just a practical, like, a practical need.

00:39:34.360 Great, makes sense.

00:39:35.240 If you've got a beach house, you want one of those.

00:39:37.580 Some of the other things are, like, community, the dachshunds, you know? 0.93

00:39:41.760 Like, if you have a dachshund, you love your dog, you love that breed, you want to buy the dachshund T-shirt

00:39:45.800 and the dachshund everything.

00:39:47.640 So tribal identity.

00:39:49.560 So safety, tribal identity, solving a problem.

00:39:52.300 The dating coach app, it's also a pretty serious, you know, desperate problem.

00:39:57.460 Like, we want to be loved.

00:39:58.400 We want to be, we want to feel that people are attracted to us.

00:40:01.680 We want to have more people liking or swiping on the app.

00:40:05.140 So I think as long as you're focused on needs, like, focusing on needs, what people want,

00:40:08.960 that's where you kind of find, you know, your next thing.

00:40:11.600 You just spit out a bunch of different things.

00:40:13.680 Were those points in your book, or did you just think of them right now?

00:40:16.400 Like, tribal identity, you know, if I'm in the dachshund community, I relate to that.

00:40:22.500 I own Shih Tzus.

00:40:23.180 If you own Shih Tzus and we're about to get an American Pit Bull Terrier, I'm probably 0.94

00:40:27.400 going to be part of that.

00:40:28.220 So that's tribal identity.

00:40:29.580 But you said safe.

00:40:30.560 Tell me about the safe part.

00:40:31.780 What was the safe part you explained?

00:40:34.220 Well, safety, I mean, that's like our most, it's our baseline need.

00:40:38.380 You know, if we don't feel safe, then, you know, nothing, nothing comes after that.

00:40:42.800 So, I mean, fire extinguishers, insurance, you know, smoke detectors, like all these things

00:40:49.020 are sold basically to appeal to that primary need.

00:40:52.380 And then you said loved, which makes sense.

00:40:55.200 But you said one other one, which was we want to be attracted, we want to be liked.

00:40:58.720 Is that kind of the same thing as loved, where we want a lot of likes?

00:41:03.300 I mean, we want to feel, we want people, we want to be liked, you know.

00:41:06.920 We want to be liked.

00:41:07.860 We also want what other people want.

00:41:10.420 There's something else to that, too.

00:41:11.720 You know, if other people like a lot of things, that's what we want, too.

00:41:15.320 I mean, and also just the solving a problem.

00:41:17.560 Like, I think it's, don't overlook the whole thing about just solving a simple problem.

00:41:21.180 The textbook reseller also, he's solving a problem.

00:41:23.800 You know, it's not a sexy business, but, you know, it paid his way through school.

00:41:27.920 So, that's pretty cool.

00:41:29.420 That makes sense.

00:41:30.360 Listen, this was fantastic.

00:41:31.720 I wasn't expecting to get this much knowledge from you, man.

00:41:34.280 I thought this was going to be a, you know what, this was great.

00:41:37.540 We learned.

00:41:38.280 And, you know, the other day we're sitting here having a conversation.

00:41:40.680 We're trying to do a TikTok dance video, right?

00:41:42.920 So, my guy, Rob, who knows how to dance, he's doing dance, and I'm, you know, learning all these things from him.

00:41:48.840 But, in that moment, I sat there.

00:41:50.260 I told Caroline.

00:41:50.980 I said, you know what?

00:41:52.200 If a person who knows how to do these TikTok dance videos, even a 15-year-old kid, there is adults that will pay you $500 to go teach them how to make a video just to, you know, show to their audience that they got a few dance moves.

00:42:03.620 I mean, there's so many ways to make money today.

00:42:06.940 But, anyways, Chris, Guillebeau, thank you so much for making the time for being a guest on Viettainment.

00:42:13.480 I really enjoyed it.

00:42:14.160 We're going to put the links to all your books below.

00:42:16.760 So, if the audience wants to get any one of them, we'll have the books below in the description.

00:42:21.580 Thank you so much, man.

00:42:22.520 I appreciate it.

00:42:23.080 Great conversation.

00:42:23.940 This was fantastic.

00:42:24.760 Take care.

00:42:25.180 Bye-bye.

00:42:26.220 Pretty interesting, right?

00:42:27.180 We figured 10.

00:42:27.980 We got one more bonus.

00:42:29.360 Which one of them you thought was the most creative?

00:42:30.880 Comment below.

00:42:31.440 If you liked the interview, give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel.

00:42:34.120 Two other videos if you liked this one.

00:42:35.880 One is a video I did, 14 Ways Teenage Entrepreneurs Can Make Money.

00:42:39.820 I think that was like five years ago.

00:42:41.420 If you've not seen it, click over here.

00:42:42.880 And the other one is common mistakes teenage entrepreneurs make.

00:42:46.000 If you've not seen that, click over here.

00:42:47.440 Take care, everybody.

00:42:48.080 Bye-bye.

Valuetainment - November 19, 2021

10 Businesses To Start With $100

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