Month: January 2021

Side Hustle Spark 189: Chris Guillebeau’s Side Hustle Task Tracker

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A while back, as a subscriber to his newsletter, I received Chris Guillebeau’s Side Hustle Task Tracker.

It’s a 27-page step-by-step guide taking you from idea generation to earning your first dollar to ramping up to earn that first 100, 1000, and, well, you know where I’m going with this.

Quick overview

WEEK​ ​I:​ ​Build​ ​an​ ​Arsenal​ ​of​ ​Ideas

WEEK​ ​II:​ ​Select​ ​Your​ ​Best​ ​Idea

WEEK​ ​III:​ ​Prepare​ ​for​ ​Liftoff

WEEK​ ​IV:​ ​Launch​ ​Your​ ​Idea​ ​to​ ​the​ ​Right​ ​People

WEEK​ ​V:​ ​Regroup​ ​&​ ​Refine

Highlights of the tracker:

  • Weekly recaps
  • Forms, checklists, and templates weaved in for convenient jump-starts. The guy is all about actions.
  • His conversational writing style

The tracker was a natural fit for this blog, but, technically, it was intended for his subscribers, so I asked Chris’ permission to share it. Here is his response:

Generally speaking I’m happy for people to have access to anything, anywhere, anytime. 🙂 
All best always,
cg

Geeez, talk about hard-nose. ;->

Actually, his sincere and friendly response is not at all surprising. The guy’s a team player.

So, here is the Task Tracker.

And now, time for book recommendations…or shameless commercialism…or both. Okay, there are definitely book recommendations…

These seven books are go-to sources of inspiration and valued experience. These are affiliate links which, if you use to preview and buy the product, won’t raise the product’s price and will earn me a commission. At that point, I’ll be that much closer to buying that unclaimed island in the Caribbean. Please don’t ask for the island’s coordinates. It is mine and you can’t have it. ;->

These books cut across so many lines of productivity and accomplishment. Whether you use these links or go elsewhere, get your hands on these.

Side Hustle Spark 188: Commence the avalanche (Curation by Scoop-it)

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I used this tool–Scoop.it–a while back when I provided instructional and tech support for teachers. (A great job with great people, by the way.)

And I thought to myself, “Self, you’re now spending even more time curating. Why aren’t you using Scoop.it?”

And so I am, right here.

I’ll be adding to this regularly. And if I don’t, let me know.

Note: I’m using the name jr mays. Nothing hinky here. Just for other writing reasons.

Forge ahead, folks!

Side Hustle Spark 187: Check out Blog Tyrant (Increase Blog Comments)

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Greetings!

Just pointing you to another solid advice checklist–this one from Blog Tyrant.

With its table of contents of anchor-links and its illustrative examples, this post on sparking engagement on your site is a keeper.

A few more helpful links on Blog Tyrant…

Start a new blog

5-Step Process to Profitable Blogging

Forge ahead, folks.

Coming up: A Side Hustle Task Tracker from Chris Guillebeau

Side Hustle Spark 185: Smart Hustle, Women on Business, templates, and more

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Three additions to my Lists Page.

  1. The Entrepreneur’s Handbook: 120 Tools for Entrepreneurs and Startups (Note: Published 2015 with some dead links, but still dozens of sites worth exploring.)
  2. SCORE Resource Lists for Startups (Wide-ranging and practical, including templates for finances and bookkeeping)
  3. The Best Blogs For Entrepreneurs You Should be Reading (Ooooh, a few clicks on this page opens the door to tons of smarts and experience)

Some favorites that I picked up from these lists:

Women On Business

noobpreneur.com

The Quora startup founders and entrepreneurs page (Click on the ‘Discover More Spaces’ link, as I was seeing a lot of ‘Elon Musk’ content right off the bat. Plenty to learn from him, but some weird, almost tabloid-type stuff being posted.)

Side Hustle Spark 184: Brainzooming and Mike Brown

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I’ve followed Mike Brown since 2016. He is a consistent source of creative thinking within a business context.

Here is a link to sign up for his 49 Idea Magnet Ideas for Attracting Amazing Ideas

But what exactly are ‘idea magnets’?

Cue to Mike Brown: “Idea Magnets inspire creative ideas and encourage powerful creativity in everyone.” 

Some examples:

  • What can we do better to translate what we know about our customers into pleasant surprises for them?
  • How can we create a place for smart, opinionated, snarky customers to share more of their knowledge with us about what they love (even if it’s NOT about our brand)?
  • How can we test our latest, greatest ideas with a radically small group to get enough confidence to quickly move forward?

The book’s seven categories:

1. Generate Inspiration
2. Embody Servant Leadership
3. Attract Opposites
4. Make Unexpected Connections
5. Encourage People and Ideas
6. Implement for Impact
7. Recharge Creative Energy

For more resources from this generous provider…

Side Hustle Spark 183: Blather on…(with a purpose)

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CLICK ABOVE FOR A 45-SECOND LOOK AT THE PROCESS.

More advice from Drayton Bird.

Choose long copy over short copy.

I have seen this advice for years. (And yet, Side Hustle Curator, your posts don’t show it…)

It seems counterintuitive considering many readers’ harried pace and scattered attention.

Some of Drayton’s theories why:

  • Some customers just like to read.
  • The longer the copy, the more ‘triggers’ you the writer can include.
  • Because many readers’ attention bounces around, the longer the copy, the better the chance at least a portion of your copy will resonate.
  • Length of copy suggests ‘importance’ to some folks.

What to include in your long post?

Drayton says ‘story’ and ‘repetition’.

Check out his proposed ‘outline for an effective long fundraising message‘: [Seems this applies to product or service sales, as well.]

  • Introduction: Why I’m writing to you.
  • Ask.
  • Why your gift is so important today.
  • Ask.
  • How much impact your gift will have.
  • Ask.
  • Story that demonstrates the need.
  • Ask.
  • Remind the donor of his values and connection with the cause.
  • Ask.
  • Another story.
  • Ask.
  • Help the donor visualize what will happen when she gives.
  • Ask.
  • Conclusion: Thank the donor for caring. Ask again.

Here’s the link to sign up for his emails. Pretty sure you won’t be disappointed–funny and informative stuff.

Also, consider signing up for “Drayton’s 51 free helpful marketing ideas – all proven and easy to implement.”

From Drayton: “You’ll find all of them cost nothing or very little to do.

And I’ll wager if you try just three of them, you’ll see why they are so popular.”

Note: There’s no affiliation with the site. Just wanting to share good stuff.

Side Hustle Spark 182: Avoid flatulent puffery.

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I love that term.
Gotta say, Drayton Bird doesn’t just know copywriting. He knows marketing. And he knows straight talk. 

Here is a Drayton post I enjoyed recently. He teaches a few writing/marketing lessons as he hammers away at some failed email copy strategies. Fun stuff. You’ll find the term (borrowed from advertising legend David Ogilvy) ‘flatulent puffery’ inside the post.

Here’s the link to sign up for his emails. Pretty sure you won’t be disappointed–funny and informative stuff.

Also, consider signing up for “Drayton’s 51 free helpful marketing ideas – all proven and easy to implement.”

From Drayton: “You’ll find all of them cost nothing or very little to do.

And I’ll wager if you try just three of them, you’ll see why they are so popular.”

Side Hustle Spark 181: Check out themanifest.com

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While reading The Do’s and Don’ts of Publishing on Medium.com, I learned about themanifest.com.

You can subscribe to their how-to guides, here.

A realization: It’s entirely possible that the more resources I send you to, the less you’ll need to check in here. While I’m not trying to steer you away, hey, if the destinations help you more than this blog, then I guess ‘mission accomplished’.

Forge ahead!.

I promise I’ll keep plugging, myself.

Side Hustle Spark 180: Ali Mese and growthsupply.com

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I liked this tagline found on growthsupply.com’s ‘Studio’ page.

I ran across Ali Mese while reading the post The Do’s and Don’ts of Publishing on Medium.com. (Note: You might need to sign in on medium.com to read that post. Otherwise, this article written by Rhonda Bradley can be found at The Manifest.

The writer noted that Ali (at the time with 64,000 readers) consistently uses bold statements, easy-to-read strategies (subheaders, numbered/bulleted lists), quotes, video, and social media posts in his pieces.

I followed up on Ali and his growthsupply.com site. (“Get smarter at building your thing.”)

Some relevant titles on the front page include:

A realization: It’s entirely possible that the more resources I send you to, the less you’ll need to check in here. While I’m not trying to steer you away, hey, if the destinations help you more than this blog, then I guess ‘mission accomplished’.

Forge ahead!.

I promise I’ll keep plugging, myself.