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What It's About
After being laid off, a Denver man finds security and opportunity in his side hustle.
Business Model
Skills Required
Complexity
Profit Potential
Words of Wisdom
John’s advice to other people looking to start a similar model is to make sure you focus on the demand side primarily. It can be pretty easy to find people who are looking for work, but you have to make sure you consistently have work available in the form of clients who are needing work done.
It is indeed an unstable world out there—that’s why you need to create your own stability. John’s path from hustle to full-time income shows how even a project that earns a few hundred dollars a month may end up being your lifesaver.
Fun Fact
When John sold his first client lead, he told his girlfriend about it. She patted him on the shoulder and said, "good job, buddy." He thought he was about to be friend-zoned, but happily for him, that didn’t happen and they’re now married.
Notes from Chris
Episode 450
John Doherty is a search engine and marketing professional who started his side hustle when he had a lead on a job that he didn’t have time for. He sent the lead to a friend and asked if he’d be willing to pay fifty dollars for it. The friend agreed, sent John the money and landed the project. John then realized that he was a connector. After that initial success in early 2013, the idea for Credo (then called HireGun) was born. John bought a domain and put it up on a hosting account he already had. At the time, clients were coming to him for consulting jobs but he didn’t have the time to commit to them. He hoped that this platform could serve as a bridge between those clients and other experts he knew. From the beginning, it was a win-win, although not a huge financial success. John could refer people he knew were experts, and he would get a small percentage back for the work he was doing in connecting people. He would put in around three to five hours of work a month, and that netted him anywhere from one hundred to five hundred dollars a month. Not bad for a few hours work! Things became more interesting in September of 2015, however, when John was laid-off from his full-time job. For a lot of people, getting laid off means you have to start from scratch and figure out your next move. But John had already laid out the foundations of Credo, and was able to shift it from a side hustle he spent a few hours working on each month to a mostly full-time endeavor. So how’s it going? When it was just a side hustle, it brought in $100-500/month… but now that he’s focused, rebranded, and devoted time to it, Credo is bringing in twenty-five thousand dollars a month in revenue. After expenses, including wages for the staff he eventually hired, that comes out to around eight thousand dollars of pure profit each month!MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- Credo: Learn more about John and his referral service over on his website
- Single Geared: If you're interested in the great outdoors, you may want to head over to John's other website
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