Fire Protection Engineer Finds a Hot Side Hustle

Notes from Chris

Episode 871

Sagiv Weiss-Ishai is a fire protection engineer for the City of San Francisco, and his day job is to inspect fire plans and building permits and make sure they are up to code. He specializes in high-rise constructions and elevator-fire codes. Fun fact: he was involved with the first building in the world (the 60-story Facebook building in SF) that evacuates people from tall buildings utilizing the elevators during a fire.

Because of his expertise in these systems, he was invited to speak at professional association conferences all over the country as a volunteer. The great reviews for these 60-90-minute presentations were coming in hot! Seeing the potential in his insights, many participants encouraged him to teach an accredited, full-day class since engineers are required to get continuing education unit (CEUs) to keep their licenses.

Riding the spigot of those glowing reviews, Sagiv reached out to a professional association to see if he could become one of their teachers, but they said already had enough trainers. The elevator door was slammed shut in his face. But this rejection turned out to be a bit of a false alarm—because it was the moment he decided to produce his own trainings.

The first critical step was to get a continuing education unit (CEU) accreditation for his course. After considering the requirements, he developed a day-long class and sent in the fee and accreditation application to the National Training School. They reviewed his credentials and syllabus—and like a building with fully functioning sprinkler systems, he passed inspection with flying colors!

But then came the question of where he’d teach. He wanted to hold it in a hotel and serve breakfast, a coffee break, and lunch, which is much nicer than what other trainings provide. It also needed to be in a convenient Bay Area location. His sister-in-law, a professional meeting planner, found the venue: the Oakland Airport Holiday Inn. The room was free and they only charged a per person cost for catering. This reduced Sagiv’s risk because he only had to pay for the number of people that signed up.

The first class was in 2016 and he was ecstatic when 60 students sign up, bringing in more than $20,000 in registrations—his side hustle was on fire! He has steadily grown since then, with five different course topics offered on a rotating basis. He taught four classes in 2016, six in 2017, eight in 2018, and plans to teach ten in 2019. The attendance averages about 45 students per class, with 118 being his largest. He’s expanded from the Bay Area to Los Angeles, Seattle, and Ann Arbor, Michigan.

One thing he wished he’d done differently: he wishes he would have hired professionals from the start instead of trying to save money. At first, he just used his own email list and contacts to promote the class with Mail Chimp, but eventually bought email list from Fount Media to increase his reach. He also hired someone to create his website.

Fortunately, Sagiv’s elevator safety side hustle has a lot more ups than downs!

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MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Fire Protection Education: Learn more about this hot side hustle over on Sagiv's website!

SEE ALSO:

• Former Construction Inspector Earns $200,000 Helping Students Pass Exams: A teacher-turned-construction inspector aces his exams and creates a series of courses to help others entering the field
• Adjunct Professor Puts Course on YouTube for $100k Profit: An adjunct community college professor uploads his final course to YouTube, then converts it to a Udemy course. In just sixteen months, he reaches almost 35,000 students and makes over $100,000 in profits
• Physician Assistant Earns $12,000 In 10 Months Coaching Aspiring PAs: More than 20,000 people apply to Physician Assistant programs every year. This recent graduate gets paid to coach and prepare students for interviews

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,