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Ep34
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Two Dads Two Paths
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Bryan Steele: [00:00:00] I want you to picture two dads on a Saturday night. The first one is getting in their car, and they're doing deliveries using an app service like a DoorDash, or maybe they're picking up and moving people using Uber. The second dad is spending his evening writing up a proposal with some pricing for a business he's trying to launch and sending it to ~what would-- what could p- and sending it to~ what could be his third client.
Now, two years from now, what do you think the difference between those two dads will be? One probably has a lot of miles on his car, [00:01:00] and the second might have a business that's helping him achieve his goals. Today, I want to talk about the difference between the gig economy and side hustle economy because I think they're two different things, and they often get confused, and we want to break that down today.
Gig Economy Trap
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Bryan Steele: There's a trap that happens with apps. You think that it's a great way, "Here's my side hustle. This is what I'm gonna do to get extra income." And they certainly have some benefits, and I don't want to discount those benefits. So if you go to DoorDash or Uber or Fiverr or something like that, they're flexible.
You set your own hours. They pay you this week. There's not very much to get started if you've already got a vehicle or the ability to perform the work. There's no startup costs. There's a reason people go to this. Moms, dads, grandparents, it's a great way to very quickly [00:02:00] make some extra cash. So not a big deal.
You might have done that yourself, and that's fine.
No Control No Leverage
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Bryan Steele: But the question you have to answer for yourself is whose business are you building? That app owns the customer, the brand, the reviews, the pricing. You just bring the labor and the time to make the whole thing work. ~It's not really...~
~Sorry. ~It's essentially just a second job with no benefits other than what we talked about before, that flexibility. But you're not getting health insurance or a retirement plan or anything extra with it or training. You're just bringing them labor. The algorithm is setting how much you can get paid. ~Uh, ~they can change their terms overnight.
They can kick you off. I've seen plenty of articles about somebody was using the service for years, and all of a sudden they just got shut down, and it was a major part of their income. ~And so-- And they were-- ~They couldn't do anything about it. They were kicked off, [00:03:00] and that income was just gone. And we talked about last week, when you're just depending on something and expecting it to be there, it can come as a shock when it's ripped away from you.
But you ultimately are just the labor. You do not have control in that situation. And then if you stop working, so do the dollars. It's hours in, money out. There's no leverage. You don't have any equity in the business, and there's a ceiling, right?
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You only have so much time to spend driving around or, or performing these tasks.
So ~while they are valuable, um,~ while it is a great way to make some extra money in a pinch, there's a lot of control that you're giving up in that path versus building your own business. ~Gig work trades your hours~ Gig work trades your hours for their growth, and that's what we want to flip.
Build Your Own Service
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Bryan Steele: So when you're building your own business, it's the same level of effort.
We're not talking about quitting the day job. Same ~level of effort, same time, but now you~ are the one who keeps all the [00:04:00] value of the business, not somebody else. So for example, if your initial thought is like, "Oh, I'm gonna do, ~uh,~ driving and errands. Like, I'm gonna do the DoorDash. I'm just gonna do shifts," could you create a local errand and delivery service for elderly people in your city?
Like, where you just got a monthly retainer and said, "I will take care of all of your groceries. I will take care of all of these things for this set retainer." That's a business you could own. If you do design work, like web design work, and the gig economy version is going on Fiverr and just, you know, peddling your services there, well, can you, can you pitch those services yourself?
Can you go find those clients? Maybe you find some local businesses that you could offer your services to instead of going to the app economy. Or let's say you're a handyman. There's plenty of local handyman task apps like, "Hey, I need this." "Oh, I'll, I'll do that. I'll come to you." [00:05:00] But could you make a few signs, create your own business, and advertise to your neighbors and say, "Hey, if anybody is needing some small home repairs, this is my business.
I do after-hours work, so you're not having to pay overtime just because, hey, you know, I'm different. I am building a side business. This is when I work. ~This isn't... ~And if I'm coming in after five o'clock when you found out you've got a leaky faucet, that's my normal work hours for this business. It's not something different.
It's not an overtime hours to come fix it now. I can, I can show up in the neighborhood." And now you've got potentially repeat clients who are asking you for your handyman services. There's always an alternative to a gig economy or an app-based opportunity with something that you create yourself.
Side Hustle Compounds
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Bryan Steele: Now, it's not going to be easy.
It's going to take more time to start getting to your first dollar, which the gig economy [00:06:00] can provide right away. But there's a lot of benefits to the side hustle. You own the customer. You set the price. The value is going to compound. You're going to get Google reviews, so the next person who's looking for a handyman is gonna see your business, and maybe they reach out.
You can delegate it and automate it, whereas if you're not the one physically driving, you're not making money at DoorDash. But if you build a separate business with this systems, and there's a local teenager who wants some extra work, well, now you can hire them to help. You can delegate some things. Now you're talking about scaling your business.
It's something even completely different than what you originally were anticipating. But because you own the business, you retain that value. And then at some point, if it were to become bigger or more successful, you now have an asset to sell because you own the brand. [00:07:00] You have the customers. You have the systems, not somebody else.
And that's ultimately where I think the value of a side hustle is. It might take longer. Building is slower, and I fully acknowledge that. But long term, that value compounds over and over and over again.
Podcast Business Origin
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Bryan Steele: So I wanna tell you my origin story with the podcast business that I started. I had the idea rattling around in my head, and there was a time COVID hit, everybody's stuck at home, right?
Got furloughed from my job, so I knew there was going to be a job to go back to at the end of this furlough, but I had no income during this time. Luckily, we had been setting money aside, so we, we were covered for those couple of months. But I had time on my hands, and I couldn't go hang out with anybody, so said, "Well, you know, I've got this idea for a business.
It's been [00:08:00] rolling around. I've been doing some podcasting for a while. Maybe I could make a go of it." So instead of just starting to do deliveries or find some other way to quickly make a dollar, I spent those weeks building a business. What is my pricing going to be? What is the website? What is the logo?
~Um, ~reaching out to people who I think could potentially be customers. "Hey, if I did this, would you be interested in, in what I'm offering?" And got a couple of customers right out the gate. So there's some networking and things I was engaged in, ~but... ~And while at the time it was small, it was not a large, massive thing, I was able to start building.
And while it didn't pay me anything right up front, I benefited long-term from it because that business is now one of my main sources of income And I had to spend that time early on doing the hard work and the labor of [00:09:00] building, and that building never really stops. But I'm the one who retains the value in it because of the work and the equity that I'm putting in.
Gig vs Hustle Checklist
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Bryan Steele: So let's think about some of those side by side, you know, pros and cons list, right? Who owns the customer? Well, that's going to be the side hustle. Who sets the price? That's gonna be the side hustle. Who can make a dollar faster? That's the app or the gig. Which one has the lower startup cost? That's probably the app or the gig, but I would argue you can start a business for pretty cheap.
There's an entire book called The $100 Side Hustle. I think that's what ~it- ~it's called. I'm gonna
look it up. I'll have a link to the show notes, ~uh,~ if you wanna check that out. But there's ways to start very lean and simply with a business. ~Uh, ~what happens when you stop? If it's a gig, you make $0. But if it's a business that has a machine working for it, like it can still be attracting [00:10:00] customers, creating opportunities for you, and if you've got people you delegate work to, it might still be making money.
Is it something you can delegate? Yes, that one goes to the side hustle. There's a benefit there. And is it worth anything to a buyer down the road? A gig account? No. But a side hustle? Yes. You now would have an asset.
Choose Your Time Horizon
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Bryan Steele: So just to think about where the line might be if you're trying to decide, do I just go for the quick buck with a DoorDash or an Uber or something that can make me money fast versus building my own business as a side hustle, a good decision might be what is your time horizon?
If you just need to get by for this month, like you just need a little extra income this month, go do the quick dollar fix. But if it's longer term, if it's something you wanna build over time, that's where you need to look very [00:11:00] seriously at the side hustle. So rent out your time if you have to, but man, build something for yourself longer term.
That's when you really have an asset that can benefit you and your family So here's what I want you to think about. Gigs trade your hours for their growth. If you own a business, you own an asset. It's not just something you do. You're not just a technician. You're not locked into this. You're an owner of a business.
You have to look at yourself that way when you're starting a side hustle, when you're running a side hustle. Use gigs if necessary as a transition, but long term, if you're wanting to capture those extra hours to create some financial freedom, I think a side hustle is a far more beneficial path.
Weekly Challenge Action
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Bryan Steele: So your challenge this week, I want you to write down three things that you already help people with.
Maybe you know [00:12:00] from something at work or something you do in your neighborhood, or maybe it's something you volunteer with. But what are three things you do well that people ask you for help with? And I want you to circle one of those and go, "I like doing that. I wonder if there's an opportunity to offer that as a service or a product offering to others, and that I could get clients from it."
And then find one person you think might be interested in that and just have a conversation. Say, "Hey, here's something I'm thinking about. What... Would this be of interest to you?" Let's do some tests. We've talked about that on other episodes, how to get some of those prototype customers. Go listen to those episodes.
Go into the backlog. I think you will find a lot of value there.
Legacy and Wrap Up
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Bryan Steele: But don't look at those Uber or DoorDash opportunities as just the only path forward or just the easy way, because long term, they don't offer you as much value. Think about the side hustle as you're [00:13:00] building something that in and of itself could have its own legacy.
I think that is a powerful thing. Thanks for joining me this week. I look forward to seeing you on another episode real soon
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