690: 9 Ways to Get Money to Start Your Side Hustle

Summary

The Side Hustle Show: Episode 690 – 9 Ways to Get Money to Start Your Side Hustle

Release Date: August 11, 2025

In Episode 690 of The Side Hustle Show, host Nick Loper and co-host Danielle Dicier Corbett delve deep into one of the most common challenges faced by aspiring entrepreneurs: securing the necessary funds to launch a side hustle. Drawing from their extensive experience and real-life examples from past guests, they outline nine effective funding strategies tailored for side hustlers. This comprehensive summary captures the essence of their discussion, complete with notable quotes and timestamps to guide you through each funding method.

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Introduction: The Funding Conundrum

Nick and Danielle kick off the episode by addressing a prevalent issue among side hustlers: the need for startup capital. According to their annual surveys, the top struggles for side hustle show listeners include:

1. Time Management – "Time I don't have enough time to do this thing." ([00:23])
2. Funding – "Money, I need the startup costs, ideas." ([00:25])
3. Idea Generation – "I don't know what idea to start." ([00:27])
4. Marketing and Growth – "Marketing and growth." ([00:29])

They cite CB Insights, noting that 38% of startups fail due to an inability to raise new capital ([00:31]).

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1. Bootstrapping

Bootstrapping is the cornerstone of most side hustles, where entrepreneurs use their personal savings and resources to fund their ventures. Danielle shares her journey:

"I edited the show myself for the first three years. This example of, you know, starting really lean." ([04:14])

Key Points:

• Ownership Preservation: Maintain full ownership without owing interests to external parties.
• Lean Operations: Focus on essentials and limit unnecessary expenses.
• Examples: Danielle used her day job salary to fund her podcast startup, treating her job as a "silent partner" ([02:38]).

Notable Quote:

"It's about stretching your dollars. It's about doing more with less and really keeping that overhead low." – Danielle ([04:20])

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2. Friends and Family

Raising funds from friends and family involves seeking financial support from your inner circle. While it can be a quick way to secure capital, it comes with potential risks to personal relationships.

Danielle emphasizes caution:

"You never want to rush into it because if it doesn't work out, this could be a strain on relationships." ([06:18])

Example: Kat Block from Episode 471 shares her experience:

"I put the deposit of this photo booth on my parents' emergency credit card. And I was like, I don't have like 30 days to explain what this charge is." ([07:28])

Key Considerations:

• Transparency: Clearly communicate your business vision, potential risks, and rewards.
• Relationship Management: Ensure that both parties understand the terms to avoid future conflicts.

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3. Business Credit Cards

Using business credit cards can provide immediate capital but should be approached with caution due to high-interest rates.

Danielle advises:

"It's probably a funding strategy of last resort because the interest rates are so, so high there." ([09:40])

Advantages:

• Access to Funds: Even new businesses with limited revenue might qualify.
• Perks: Cash back, travel points, and discounts on business-related purchases.

Warnings:

• High Interest Rates: Potential debt accumulation if not managed properly.
• Repayment Plan: Ensure a clear strategy to pay back the borrowed amount swiftly.

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4. Bank Loans

Bank loans and other forms of debt financing are traditional methods to secure capital while maintaining ownership of your business.

Key Points:

• Repayment Terms: Loans must be repaid with interest over a specified period.
• Variety of Sources: Includes banks, credit unions, and specialized lenders.

Example: Patagonia's expansion in the 90s leveraged bank loans to fund growth without diluting ownership ([11:08]).

Notable Quote:

"It's a way to finance growth while preserving ownership and control." – Danielle ([11:43])

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5. Pre-Sell Your Solution

Pre-selling involves offering your product or service before it’s fully developed, allowing you to generate funds based on customer interest.

Danielle's Strategy:

"I did this for a couple different digital products. I validated the idea before I invested in building it." ([15:24])

Steps to Pre-Sell:

1. Create a Description: Outline what the product will offer.
2. Offer Pre-Orders: Provide the product at a discounted rate for early supporters.
3. Validate Demand: Use the pre-sales to gauge market interest before full-scale development.

Example: Abby Ashley from her virtual assistant training business:

"I had about 16 people buy from my list of a thousand. So I made $8,000 from doing that tactic." ([17:17])

Benefits:

• Market Validation: Ensures there’s demand before significant investment.
• Cash Flow: Generates funds to further develop the product.

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6. Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter allow you to raise small amounts of money from a large number of people online.

Key Points:

• Types of Crowdfunding:
  • Rewards-Based: Backers receive a product or perk.
  • Equity Crowdfunding: Backers receive shares in the company.
  • Donation-Based: Backers donate without expecting returns.

Example: John Lee Dumas raised over $100,000 for his Freedom Journal on Kickstarter ([23:45]).

Notable Quote:

"If you already have an existing audience, that's great. You can put that out to your people." – Nick ([24:30])

Considerations:

• Audience Requirement: Successful campaigns often need an existing supporter base.
• Marketing Effort: Requires significant promotion to reach funding goals.

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7. Grants

Grants provide non-repayable funds to support specific projects or business initiatives.

Danielle's Insights:

"I won a handful of grants to start my podcasting business. That's a thing. That's an option." ([25:54])

Key Points:

• Competitive: Highly sought after with stringent application criteria.
• Usage Restrictions: Funds often must be used for specific purposes outlined by the grantor.

Examples of Grant Sources:

• Government Agencies: e.g., Grants.gov lists over 2,700 grant programs.
• Private Companies: e.g., Capital One, Verizon.
• Nonprofits and Foundations.

Notable Quote:

"Grants don't have to be repaid, but there are quite a bit of hoops for you to typically jump through." – Danielle ([28:14])

Tips:

• Research Thoroughly: Understand the requirements and ensure your business aligns with the grant’s objectives.
• Prepare Detailed Proposals: Clearly outline how the funds will be utilized to meet the grant’s goals.

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8. Angel Investors

Angel investors are high-net-worth individuals who provide capital in exchange for ownership equity or convertible debt.

John Logar's Experience:

"I sat back down and there was a lady who slid me a note saying, 'How much money are you talking about?' I wrote back $50 grand minimum, preferably $100 grand.'" ([32:25])

Key Points:

• Networking Essential: Building relationships is crucial to attracting angel investors.
• Flexible Terms: Compared to hard money lenders, angel investors often offer more favorable terms.

Example: Austin Miller raised $2,400 by leveraging connections and strategic quoting with investors via platforms like Upwork ([21:49]).

Notable Quote:

"Terms are what you make them. You’re in the driver's seat in terms of interest and terms." – John Logar ([34:31])

Benefits:

• Additional Resources: Beyond capital, angel investors can offer mentorship and industry connections.
• Higher Funding Amounts: Suitable for larger projects needing substantial investment.

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9. Equipment Financing

Equipment financing secures funds specifically for purchasing machinery, technology, or other essential equipment needed to run your business.

Danielle’s Insights:

"Equipment purchases, according to Forbes, are the second most popular reason that businesses are looking for loans." ([35:55])

Key Points:

• Types of Financing:
  • Short-Term Loans: Repayments are made over a short period.
  • Leases: Renting equipment with the option to purchase later.
  • Rent-to-Own Plans: Gradually paying towards ownership.

Example: Anthony Koloje from Episode 662 discusses financing vending machines:

"One of those machines that I bought was like nine grand and was doing like $2,500 a month. So my net payment was around $800... I’m making like 100% return." ([37:22])

Benefits:

• Preserve Working Capital: Allows you to acquire necessary equipment without depleting your cash reserves.
• Predictable Payments: Fixed repayment schedules help in financial planning.

Considerations:

• Credit Requirements: Strong credit may be necessary to secure favorable terms.
• Depreciation and Maintenance: Factor in additional costs associated with equipment upkeep.

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Summary: Choosing the Right Funding Strategy

Nick and Danielle wrap up the episode by reiterating the importance of evaluating each funding option’s pros and cons to determine the best fit for your specific side hustle. They emphasize:

• Bootstrapping is ideal for maintaining full control but requires personal investment.
• Friends and Family can provide quick funds but risk personal relationships.
• Business Credit Cards offer immediate access to funds with high-interest rates.
• Bank Loans are traditional and maintain ownership but require repayment with interest.
• Pre-Selling Solutions helps validate ideas and secure funds based on demand.
• Crowdfunding leverages community support but often needs a strong initial audience.
• Grants offer non-repayable funds with specific usage conditions.
• Angel Investors provide substantial capital and mentorship but require equity sharing.
• Equipment Financing allows for necessary purchases without draining cash reserves, perfect for equipment-intensive businesses.

Final Thoughts:

"Don't bite off more risk than you can chew and protect your downside." – Danielle ([46:05])

The episode concludes with an invitation for listeners to share their unique funding strategies, fostering a community of support and knowledge-sharing among entrepreneurs.

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Key Takeaways:

• Diverse Funding Options: There’s no one-size-fits-all; choose based on your business needs and risk tolerance.
• Balance Ownership and Debt: Weigh the benefits of retaining full control against the necessity of external funding.
• Strategic Planning: Ensure that whichever method you choose aligns with your business model and long-term goals.
• Community and Networking: Building a strong network can open doors to various funding opportunities, especially through angel investors and pre-sales.

By exploring these nine funding strategies, The Side Hustle Show equips aspiring entrepreneurs with the tools and knowledge to confidently secure the capital needed to transform their ideas into thriving businesses.

Transcript

[Nick Loper]

This is awesome.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

You've got a great side Hustle idea.

[Nick Loper]

Now you just need the money to get it off the ground.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Even though lots of small businesses have pretty low startup costs, especially the ones that we cover on the side Hustle show, most are still going to require.

[Nick Loper]

At least some startup capital.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

In fact, the problem of money is a pretty consistent one among side Hustle.

[Nick Loper]

Show listeners in our annual surveys.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Time I don't have enough time to do this thing.

[Nick Loper]

Money, I need the startup costs, ideas.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

I don't know what idea to start.

[Nick Loper]

And then marketing and growth.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Those are the four issues, four struggles that are almost always at the top of the list. According to CB Insights, 38% of startups.

[Nick Loper]

Fail because they can't raise new capital. And while most side Hustles aren't going.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

To fall into that venture capital category.

[Nick Loper]

Of needing to raise hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, it is still.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Important to have the funds you need to get the business off the ground. It could be that critical infrastructure.

[Nick Loper]

It could be licensing and insurance.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

It could be equipment or inventory, software, key personnel perhaps. And of course we're going to try stay lean. We're going to try to be creative about it. But some stuff just costs money. And in this episode I want to share the most popular ways to raise.

[Nick Loper]

Those funds for your new business so.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

You can choose the path that makes the most sense for you, along with.

[Nick Loper]

Some real life examples along the way.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

And before we get into it, you should know there's three pro primary types of startup funding that would be number one, bootstrapping.

[Nick Loper]

Self funded, that's the self funded option.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Number two is debt financing and number.

[Nick Loper]

Three is equity financing.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

And the main difference between those is ownership bootstrapping. You maintain all ownership.

[Nick Loper]

You're investing your personal savings and funding the business that way.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Debt financing involves borrowing money from an external source.

[Nick Loper]

It could be a bank, it could be a credit union, it could be an equipment lender.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

And you agree to repay that borrowed amount plus interest over a set period of time. But both of those options, bootstrapping and debt financing, they allow you to maintain ownership, maintain control of the business. On the other hand, equity financing involves.

[Nick Loper]

Selling shares or selling ownership stakes to investors.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

They don't expect necessarily any interest payments on that, but they have a share in the upside of the business. If your business becomes a $10 million operation, you gave away 10% of it, or all of a sudden that could.

[Nick Loper]

Turn into a pretty substantial return for those investors. So be careful, be wary of giving away too much equity early on. All Right.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

The first method is what we've talked about already. That's bootstrapping.

[Nick Loper]

This is how most side hustles, this.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Is how most small businesses get started. So instead of seeking funds from lenders.

[Nick Loper]

Or investors, you're going to rely on.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Your own money and your own hard work, your own savings to fund the business. According to the chamber of commerce, 78% of small businesses, nearly four out of five small businesses are going to use this method.

[Nick Loper]

They're going to use their own funds to start the business.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

This is how I first started. This is how the vast majority of side hustle show guests start their business. Now, a common path here is especially for side hustlers. Use the funds from your day job. Use your day job salary to cover your startup costs. We've had guests call their day job their silent partner or their unbeknownst angel investor into their side hustle. So in episode 299, I talk a.

[Nick Loper]

Little bit about this early journey of kind of parlaying savings into the next thing. The first step was, you know, taking my earnings from like part time high.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

School jobs and then buying a pickup truck to start painting houses.

[Nick Loper]

The truck was like 3500, like a 1991 Toyota pickup.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

I still look for that car out.

[Nick Loper]

On the road sometimes.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Took 13,000 from that painting business, painting houses, and then they put that as.

[Nick Loper]

A down payment in an investment property and took 10 grand from the sale of that house a couple years later and then put that into the development for my online shoe business, my first real online side hustle.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

And then since then, everything else has been like less than $500 to start.

[Nick Loper]

So I think I've become more risk.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Averse in my old age.

[Nick Loper]

But bootstrappers allow you to be pretty risk averse. You take this lean approach, you focus.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

On the essentials, you really limit unnecessary expenses.

[Nick Loper]

A mentor of mine gave me that advice.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

You know, mind the nickels and dimes and the dollars, take care of themselves. It's about being resourceful.

[Nick Loper]

It's about stretching your dollars. It's about doing more with less and really keeping that overhead low.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

And the question you might ask, if.

[Nick Loper]

You'Re faced with a question about an upcoming expense, is it necessary? Does this drive revenue? Early on, I did a lot of work myself, like on the side Hustle brand in particular, you know, had maybe.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

A couple hundred dollars in development costs to like customize the domain name or something like that.

[Nick Loper]

But I did a lot of it myself.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

And on the podcast side, grateful to have lots of help now, but I edited the show myself for the first three years.

[Nick Loper]

This example of, you know, starting really lean.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

You can also do try and negotiate.

[Nick Loper]

With certain suppliers, vendors, contractors, because sometimes they recognize they're dealing with a small business instead of, you know, an enterprise client and they might cut you a deal, they might adjust their pricing. When I was first getting the shoe site bid out, remember I was living in Northern Virginia at the time. I put the job up for bid on guru.com, which is kind of a precursor to upwork.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

And you know, one of the guys who bids is like half an hour away from me in Virginia. So I go over to his apartment.

[Nick Loper]

And he kind of recognizes at a certain point during this meeting that, oh.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

There'S, there's no company backing. This is just a 22 year old.

[Nick Loper]

Kid with an idea. And so he's like, oh, okay, I'm going to adjust my, my quoted price down a little bit and was able to start a little leaner in, in that way. But that is funding method number one. Bootstrapping number two is the, the friends and family method. Getting support from your inner circle.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

These are people who want to see you succeed and they might be able.

[Nick Loper]

To offer some kind of loan or financial backing to help you with that. Clutch Co found that 22% of founders received funding from friends or family in the first three months of launching their businesses. I want to say that this was some of the seed money for Amazon. You know, friends and family, we'll throw a few hundred thousand dollars your way.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

But this isn't something you want to.

[Nick Loper]

Rush into because if it doesn't work out, this could be a strain on relationships with the people closest to you. Never borrowed money from friends or family. Like this is like a area where.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

It'S like, oh, you tread, tread very.

[Nick Loper]

Carefully and you got to be as open and transparent about it as possible. You want to share your vision for the business. You want to outline the potential risks.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

And rewards, make sure everybody knows what they're getting into.

[Nick Loper]

So transparency is essential to keep everyone on the same page.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

And not that I would necessarily recommend this method, but this is what Kat.

[Nick Loper]

Block did to get her photo booth business off the ground. Moves to take a very short term loan. The bank of mom and dad.

[Kat Block]

The model that they had was 9,000 US which I'm in Canada. So for me that was like $13,000. When you do the conversion and taxes and import fees, like it wasn't cheap but it came with everything, you know. So I think all said and done to Set up my business was probably about $20,000. When I look at, like, I actually hired a web designer and a graphic designer to make my logo and stuff and a couple of extra things that I needed to buy. But, like, in terms of starting a business, like, how many businesses can you really start with? 20k?

[Nick Loper]

That.

[Kat Block]

That will generate, like, pretty good revenue pretty quickly. Not many. At least I haven't.

[Austin Miller]

Yeah, well, I don't know.

[Nick Loper]

That's like, this seems like a lot to me, but I'm from, like, the online world where it costs, you know, your domain name and your hosting and you're kind of off to the races.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

So it does seem like a lot.

[Nick Loper]

But there is a, you know, a physical product element to it. I gotta. I gotta buy the equipment for this thing. So what gave you the confidence to say, yeah, this is a ton of money, I'm. I'm gonna go for it?

[Kat Block]

Um, I have a relationship with money where it's like, I always see, like, advantage to spending money. Like, I don't know, the. The saying that's always resonated with me. A lot of people's like, scared money don't make money. And when I have like this feeling, it's like a gut feeling that I know I need to do something. It's like I don't even think twice about spending. Spending that money. I didn't have that money. So the funny part was that, you know, I was like 27, maybe 25 or something along those lines. And I actually put the deposit of this photo booth on my parents emergency credit card. And I was like, I don't. I have like 30 days to explain what this charge is.

[Nick Loper]

Okay.

[Kat Block]

But I paid it off. Don't worry.

[Nick Loper]

Scared money, don't make money. Is a line I'll always remember from that interview.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Again, that was Kat block from episode 471 on her journey to building what became one of the largest, if not.

[Nick Loper]

The largest, photo booth companies in Canada.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

But that's funding method number two, the.

[Nick Loper]

Friends and family plan.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

One to tread carefully with. For fear of damaging important relationships if.

[Nick Loper]

Things don't work out.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

One other strategy that I should have.

[Nick Loper]

Mentioned in the bootstrapping category is to.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Borrow against your 401k. You can borrow up to $50,000 or.

[Nick Loper]

10% or rather 50% of your vested balance, whichever is lower, I believe. So you're going to borrow money from your own 401k.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

You got to repay yourself with interest.

[Nick Loper]

But at least that money is going back to you. If you don't pay it Back there is no impact on your credit score, but you might have taxes and penalties because then it would essentially be like an early withdrawal from that. Obviously you're going to miss out on the returns those funds would have earned staying invested in the 401k over that time.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

But the idea of course is you.

[Nick Loper]

Hopefully generate bigger returns by investing in yourself, investing in your business instead.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Funding strategy number three is business credit cards. This is probably a funding strategy of last resort when you're starting your business.

[Nick Loper]

Because most cards carry really high interest rates and so you don't want to dig yourself into a debt hole that you spend years trying to climb out of. But even if your side hustle is new, even if you haven't made any.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Money yet, you might still qualify for a small business credit card. Because banks understand that new businesses often.

[Nick Loper]

Don'T show a lot of revenue in the early days. And for better or worse, sometimes they're happy to lend you money to cover your startup costs.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Business credit cards also come with perks.

[Nick Loper]

Like cash back travel points or discounts on some business related purchases. But again one to be wary of if you don't have the money to pay that back or you don't see an immediate path to revenue to pay back that because the interest rates can be really high.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Strategy number four is bank loans, or.

[Nick Loper]

More broadly just debt financing, loan financing. And so these business loans are a tried and true way to secure capital. In 2021, 34% of small businesses reported applying for a loan. So this is like a really common thing to do. The loan is a lump sum that's gotta be repaid over a specified period, usually with interest. This could be from your bank, it could be from the sba, the Small Business Administration. And each type is going to serve different purposes, but you got to keep in mind how factors like interest rates.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Collateral requirements, personal guarantees, you know, pick.

[Nick Loper]

And choose which would might make the most sense for you. So in a big business example, Patagonia comes to mind. They were expanding really rapidly in the 90s. So they utilized bank loans to fund inventory expansion and the growth of their physical like brick and mortar locations and stuff during that time. So it's a way to finance growth while preserving ownership and control. So way back in episode 143 talked to Jeremy, Michael Cohen and Fred Parotta about how they financed some of their.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Initial production runs for their Tortuga Direct.

[Nick Loper]

To Consumer backpack line.

[Austin Miller]

Eventually found a factory that would do a smaller run for us and finance that through. We kind of re upped the loan that we had with the Jewish Free Loan Association. We had paid off some of it and kind of re extended our, you know, line of credit, if you even want to call it there, and then also did a small loan with a lending club which is kind of a peer to peer loan loan platform. Plus, you know, kicked in a little bit more of our own money and got that that first Chinese order through.

[Nick Loper]

Fun fact. I've still got my Tortuga backpack. It's been with me on pretty much.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Every trip the last 10 years.

[Nick Loper]

So thanks to Jeremy and Fred for introducing me to that brand.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

But but bank loans, lines of credit, credit unions, peer to peer lending. There's even some platforms that specialize in inventory funding for E commerce brands. You're typically going to pay a higher interest rate on those loans, but they're also not meant to be carried for years.

[Nick Loper]

The idea is you can use it.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

To get the inventory you need, generate sales to pay it off, and then.

[Nick Loper]

Recycle that capital into more growth.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

We've got more ways to get money for your side Hustle coming up right after this. Before this commercial is over, another 23 entrepreneurs are going to find their next.

[Nick Loper]

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[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

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[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

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[Nick Loper]

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[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed side Hustle show listeners get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility@inn Indeed.com Sidehustleshow just go to indeed.com Sidehustleshow right now and support our show by saying you heard about.

[Nick Loper]

Indeed on this podcast.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Indeed.com Sidehustleshow terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need. Here's a little bit of side Hustle trivia for you. Did you know that our Partner Shopify powers 10% of all E commerce in the US everything from household names like Mattel and Gymshark to dozens of side Hustle show guests you've heard from right on this show. And there's strength in those numbers Ever notice that purple shop pay button when you're shopping online? That's a telltale sign that a store is powered by Shopify. And and just one of the reasons Shopify has the best converting checkout on the planet. Shopify makes it easy to sell online with hundreds of beautiful ready to go templates, inventory management tools, payment processing, analytics, and powerful marketing and email tools built right in so you can find and keep more customers. If you want to see less carts being abandoned, it's time to head over to Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.comsidehustle go to shopify.comsidehustleen one more time. It's shopify.comsidehustole strategy number five is to.

[Nick Loper]

Pre sell your solution. And this might also be the fastest way to test if your side hustle idea has legs is to ask people to pay for it even before you've built anything.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

I've done this for a couple different digital products.

[Nick Loper]

The process works like this. You know, create a brief description of.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

What the product is going to be.

[Nick Loper]

You can you ask people to pre order it, often for a discounted price. If you get a critical mass, then you go and build it.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

That's what I did with the traffic course, which I want to Say was a 2021 project.

[Nick Loper]

This was an online SEO course for.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Lack of better terms. I said If I got 20 people to pre order it, I go ahead and build it.

[Nick Loper]

And I think probably ended up with.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Close to 100 there and otherwise like if you don't get the critical mass.

[Nick Loper]

You just issue refunds. So no big deal. But it's a way to quickly kind of prove out and validate people are willing to pay for something so you.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Don'T waste time creating something that nobody wants.

[Nick Loper]

Here's how Abby Ashley described doing something really similar for her virtual assistant training business.

[Abby Ashley]

I actually stumbled upon a podcast in fall of 2016 about discovering your niche. And it was so funny cause I had hired a business coach. I had really like done so much soul searching and this one stinking free podcast like totally just made me think I just need to teach. Or like I need to ask my audience and teach what I'm actually good at. Like what's I what I've had success at. So rather than creating courses, I had the idea. I didn't just say, you know, what do you want to learn in general to my email list. I said, hey, I have this idea for creating a virtual assistants course. I created this agency. I was able to quit my job doing virtual assistants. I thought up what like the modules for the course would be. I just kind of listed them out and I asked if anyone was interested in that topic. If so, I was going to sell the course at a lower price. It was about half the price around. I think it was like 4 or 500. Where I knew eventually the course would be probably a $900,000 product. I said, hey, you can get in early. And I had about 16 people buy from my list of a thousand. So I made $8,000 from doing that tactic, just asking people before I even created the course. Is this something you would want to learn? Here's the modules.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

So $8,000 in pre sales. Pretty great and all well and good.

[Nick Loper]

If you have an existing audience.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

If you don't, you've got to get a little more creative and kind of do this one on one hand to hand combat like John Logar did, who.

[Nick Loper]

Is an expert in what I'll call this idea extraction method where he'll call up CEOs or high ranking people inside.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Of certain companies and just start probing.

[Nick Loper]

For pain, Start asking them questions like what? You know, where are you spending too much of your time? Or what's dragging down your business?

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Or where do you see this industry.

[Nick Loper]

In the next five years and what.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

You'Re just searching for, trying to let.

[Nick Loper]

Them arrive at the answer. Well, if you had a magic wand.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

What, what would be the ideal scenario?

[Nick Loper]

How would you tackle this problem? And just maybe they'll arrive at the solution.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

You don't even need to know how to build it.

[Nick Loper]

As John will talk about. I'll go find somebody else to know how to build it. I'll be the middleman here. Here's a clip from our conversation, which again one of the most fascinating episodes that we've ever recorded.

[Austin Miller]

But I said, you know, right now you're spending a quarter of a million in four years time or five years time, that quarter of a million dollars is going to turn into a million dollars, $1.2 million in, in costs.

[Nick Loper]

Yeah.

[Austin Miller]

Is it worth investing 30 grand up front to get this nipped in the butt, which is 20 grand less than your brochures that you're about to print to get that done.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Now you're not the, you're known, you're not the technical guy.

[Nick Loper]

So how did you, how do you.

[Austin Miller]

Go and get this done? Okay, so this is what happened in my scenario. I actually, I said, listen, I just want to figure something out because we might be able to significantly save some Money. Here I was, I knew what the solution was. Once he said what he said, right, because anybody with half a brain in our world would see that would be the solution.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

But it's important to let him. Then it's his idea, right?

[Austin Miller]

Exactly, exactly. It was his idea. So I basically said, look, if you give me 20 minutes, I just hop in your boardroom, I just want to make a quick phone call to somebody. And it wasn't a phone call, it was an email. I wanted to just have a quick phone call to somebody. I just want to verify something I can actually work, give you a rough idea of what it would cost you to get this fixed up. Right. So all I did was hopped on an email, sent an email to. I actually sent out opt on oDesk, created a job description outlining what needed to happen. So just roughly, this is what it's going to be. And just, you know, I basically said, I've got a pro, it'll be give me an idea. So give me a range for a project price of something like this. Right. Within 10 minutes I had 16 replies. Right. Well, it's Odesk, so there's always people trolling. My criteria for selection was people who had done over a thousand hours worth of work, who had specific knowledge and understanding of programming. And so I was very select in my criteria. But I literally had 16 people quote me on the job within, you know, 10 minutes. And so what I did was, all I did was double the quote. So whenever I was quoted, I just looked for it, scanned through very quickly. Whatever I was quoted, I just doubled the price to what I would think the real price would be. Okay, just to be safe, to sort, just to be safe. And then I, and then I just sat down and thought, you know, what's a couple of deals worth to this guy in profit?

[Nick Loper]

What was the quoted price, out of curiosity?

[Austin Miller]

Oh, the quoted price was I was getting between $800 to $1600.

[Nick Loper]

Okay.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

But he, you already told you it.

[Nick Loper]

Was a quarter million dollar annual problem.

[Austin Miller]

I knew it was a. Well, he told me. Yeah, yeah, we sat there and worked it out together. And at the end of that, he, you know, he was pretty much upset about it. He was deflated because all I did was just, you know, I mean, there's an open wound. What's in it? What are you going to do? You might as well scratch.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Bleeding neck problem.

[Austin Miller]

Yeah, yeah, just keep scratching it away, you know, stick your finger in there. So in that process, in that 10 minutes, I roughly had an idea of how much it was going to cost for me to facilitate. And one of my criteria was the fact that we could deliver the solution within at least four weeks. Okay, right. So I just wanted to know that we can get this done in a month. Right. Because he was shelling out in that month, he was going to be shelling out $25,000. Right. So in costs. Okay. Yeah. So, you know, I've got the feedback and then not more than 20 minutes after that I made a phone call to a person just to verify a couple of coding issues around internal spreadsheeting with number changes and stuff like that. And because I just wanted to know. But all up, the project was $2,400. So I quoted, I quoted 30,000. I said 15 upfront and then 15 on delivery.

[Nick Loper]

Okay. Wow, that's a nice margin.

[Austin Miller]

Yeah, that wasn't bad for an hour's work.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Not bad at all. Again, that's John Logar, episode 126 in your podcast feed.

[Nick Loper]

I know we've re aired it at least once since that original. One of them would probably been 2014, 2015 when we first recorded.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

But he shares these specific questions and.

[Nick Loper]

Tactics to get through to decision makers and even some interesting filters on the industry side, on the business side to narrow down your target audience. But obviously building trust is really key here. If you're asking people to buy product or service that doesn't exist yet, you've got to involve your presale customers in the building process and maybe that's a value add for them, like to help guide the direction of what it's eventually going to be and then follow through. If you don't deliver what you promised, you're going to burn your reputation. And people in particular industries know other.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

People in that industry.

[Nick Loper]

So you burn one person, you, you may have just burned any chance of being involved any later in that industry. And what's interesting is he's talking about hiring developers on Odesk, which is now.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Upwork to fulfill this project. But you might be able to do.

[Nick Loper]

It all with AI at this point. If you're really good at this idea extraction and then going out and building that solution, if there, if it's one that could be delivered online. Really, really cool stuff.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

That is method number five, the pre sales method, something I've used in the.

[Nick Loper]

Past and other side Hustle show guests have used as well. Number six is crowdfunding and this is turning believers into backers, into investors.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

So similar to pre sales is a way to raise some money by collecting small contributions from a lot of different individuals.

[Nick Loper]

And primarily done online through platforms like Kickstarter. There are equity crowdfunding platforms, there are donation based crowdfunding platforms, rewards based crowdfunding. This is kind of the Kickstarter. Oh, if I'm going to back this thing, I hope to get a copy of the product when it eventually comes out.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

But it comes in different flavors.

[Nick Loper]

But on average there's some data to say that Crowdfunding backers pledge $88 per project.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

So if you need to raise significant.

[Nick Loper]

Funds, it's going to take a big audience to do that. And so if you already have an existing audience, that's great, you can put that out to your, to your people. One famous example is John Lee Dumas. Pre sold like a hundred thousand dollars plus of his Freedom Journal on Kickstarter. The folks behind the side hustle board game that we had on, on the.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Show a few years ago, they raised like $11,000 for their initial production run. Didn't have a huge audience to start with. And the idea, the goal is you.

[Nick Loper]

Start to gain some network effect or some virality on a platform like Kickstarter. Yeah.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

So I'm going to have to give.

[Nick Loper]

It a little bit of a nudge. I understand that.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

But hopefully it starts to get shown to other people who would be interested.

[Nick Loper]

In your thing and there's some excitement, there's some momentum around it and you can start to punch above your weight class. You start to reach beyond your preexisting audience there. We talked with Pat Flynn. He and Caleb raised over $400,000 for.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

The SwitchPod tripod on Kickstarter.

[Nick Loper]

And so here's him describing how that process went as a method for startup funding.

[Pat Flynn]

And we had this idea, it wasn't done before. The idea behind the tripod is these legs can fold into each other and become a handle for you to easily kind of open and close and do your filming on the go. So that's what the Switchpod is. And it worked really well. We launched it in 2019 on Kickstarter and we had generated $415,000 in 60 days from that launch. But it was not an overnight thing for sure. It took time to invent and create and iterate and fail on and, you know, quite a bit of investment, you know, 25 to 30k of our own dollars put into that. But it is now for sale in a semi passive manner and we're generating revenue through it and it is an asset now that, you know, has a value and if we wanted to, we could sell it and, you know, we're open to that potentially funding strategy.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Number seven is grants. This is, on the surface, it seems like free money, but this is financial assistance to support startups and small businesses.

[Nick Loper]

Oftentimes it's through government agencies. Grants.gov is the official site for this. When I pulled it up, there were over 2,700 grant programs offered by 26 different grant making agencies. They have specific goals, right?

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

We want to fuel economic growth in specific industries. We want to create more jobs. But the federal government isn't the only game in town too.

[Nick Loper]

You might have some state and local.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Programs, and even through private companies and.

[Nick Loper]

Foundations, they might have their own grant programs.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Now, unlike loans, grants don't have to be repaid. That's what makes them such an attractive.

[Nick Loper]

Option for entrepreneurs seeking financial support without taking on debt.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

This is Danielle Dicier Corbett from episode 544.

But I never really thought about winning grants as a creative person, as a podcaster, as a writer, as an author until I actually won a couple of grants in 2020 during the pandemic, I actually won four in total, which opened my eyes as a podcaster. I was like, oh my gosh, there's funding out there to help launch my show or launch an idea and or to help continue to see it grow.

[Nick Loper]

What's interesting here. First, like, grants maybe is worth defining. Like my understanding is this is kind of like a scholarship for your business, like free money. Are there any strings attached with this?

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Yes. So I'm going to say air quotes. Free money because there are strings attached to grants. Grants are highly competitive, but a lot of times there are stringent requirements in terms of how you can use the funds. Maybe you can't use the funds for advertising, for example, or you can't use the funds for salary. Every grant is different. So definitely recommend looking at the fine print to seeing what type of expenses are allowed on this type of funding opportunity. But also grants have strings attached in terms of what the grantor is looking for, meaning a lot of times they're looking for a very specific to fund a very specific type of project person program. So it's free money, but there are strings attached. When I say free money, there's no interest, meaning it's not like a loan, you don't have to pay it back. But there are quite a bit of hoops for you to typically jump through.

[Nick Loper]

Okay. And some of them are government sponsored, some of them are sponsored by nonprofits, other organizations.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Yes. So there are a variety of different types of funding organizations. Like you mentioned, there's government, there are nonprofits. But there are also private entities, private companies. Like a lot of them that we know. Like for example Capital One or Verizon or Comcast, Dove. All of these. A lot of these big, large companies. They have grants that are out there. Banks also have grants that are out there as well. So overall government, private and nonprofits are all are all fair game.

[Nick Loper]

Wow. This is it's a really interesting monetization angle for creators that we have not touched on in 500 plus episodes.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Like, be sure to check out Danielle's newsletter. Grants for Creators. Great resource, great starting point if you're in that market. And my guess is getting a grant.

[Nick Loper]

Probably not on your radar as a potential source for startup funds. It definitely wasn't for me.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

I've got more ways to get money for your side hustle Coming up right after this summer is the season of backyard barbecues, hanging out at the lake, epic family road trips. But when the temperature rises, you don't.

[Nick Loper]

Want to be sweating over your wireless bill.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

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[Nick Loper]

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[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

The switch was easy. I was able to bring my own.

[Nick Loper]

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[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

So join me in ditching overpriced wireless and get three months of unlimited service for just 15 bucks a month this year. Skip breaking a sweat and breaking the bank. Get this new customer offer in your 3 month unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.comsidehustle that's mintmobile.comsidehustleen upfront payment of $45 required, equivalent to $15 per month limited time new customer offer for first 3 months only. Speeds may slow above 35 gigabytes on unlimited plan taxes and fees Extra C.

[Nick Loper]

Mint Mobile Details.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Hey, you've reached Nick at side Hustle Nation. Sorry I'm unable to take your call right now, but if you leave a message. If that's what your customers are hearing.

[Nick Loper]

You'Re leaving money on the table.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

You fought hard for those leads. You need a phone system that keeps up and helps you stay connected 24.

[Nick Loper]

7.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

That's why I'm excited to partner with.

[Nick Loper]

OpenPhone for this episode.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

OpenPhone is the number one business phone system that streamlines and scales your customer communications.

[Nick Loper]

It works through an app on your phone or computer.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

So no need for a second phone or a landline. And here's what's really cool. With OpenPhone, your team can share one number and collaborate on customer calls and texts, just like a shared inbox. That way any teammate can pick up right where the last person left off, keeping response times faster than ever. See for yourself why over 60,000 businesses trust OpenPhone. And right now OpenPhone is offering Side Hustle show listeners 20% off for your first six months at openphone.com SideHustle that's O P E N P-H-O-N-E.com SideHustle. And if you have existing numbers with another service, OpenPhone will port them over at no extra charge. OpenPhone. No missed calls, no missed customers. Funding strategy number eight is angel investors.

[Nick Loper]

And I'm going to maybe go a little bit broader here and say high net worth individuals.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Now, a lot of times these people.

[Nick Loper]

Have some experience as entrepreneurs. So outside of just taking their money.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

You also hoping to gain hopefully some mentorship and maybe some industry connections to.

[Nick Loper]

Help you along the way. And so this starts with a compelling pitch. This starts with hopefully knowing some of these people. To start with, you got to share your story on how you're going to make this startup successful. How are you going to get a return on this investor's investment? Now, the next clip isn't exactly an angel investor angle, but I, it stood out to me.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

I think it was a really creative.

[Nick Loper]

Way to raise money actually as debt instead of equity outside of your immediate network, outside of friends and family.

[John Logar]

I went to a networking meeting where, you know, those are, they're great, where you can talk to other people and everybody kind of gets their 30 second elevator time. You know, you go around the room and then just networking. And I stood up, I said, hey, I'm Austin Miller, I'm a real estate investor and I'm looking for somebody with a lot of money. And I sat back down.

[Nick Loper]

And everyone.

[John Logar]

Just looking at me, kind of laughing, I said, step back up. I said, no, you know, that's kind of joking, but I am serious. I'm looking for somebody that might be interested in getting into real estate because I find a lot of deals and I can only fund so many of them. If you're interested, let's talk. So I sat down and there was a lady that had been coming for a little while, mid-50s, average clothes, drove a pickup truck. Never in a million years would have thought that she had any large sums of cash. And she slides me a note that said, how much money are you talking about? And I wrote back 50 grand minimum, preferably 100 grand. I sent it back to her, okay. And she wrote back, let's talk, and pass the note back to me. I was like, my mind was blown.

[Nick Loper]

Okay, so.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

So hard money is good.

[Nick Loper]

Private money is better. What makes private money better?

[John Logar]

Well, typically a common saying is hard money. They set the terms. Private money, you set the terms. Because if you're talking to somebody, they're like, hey, I have money, I want to invest. How do we do it? Then you explore those options or you present options to them. So typically the interest rate's less, you know, 7 to 10% instead of 14 to 18. Man, you can get as creative as you want. You could partner with them on the deals. You know, maybe they have the money, they saw the time and they're willing to partner and they just want, you know, 50, 50 ownership. Maybe that's for you guys. Maybe it's not. Maybe, maybe it's just 7% return on their money. That's a lot better than 14. But there's, you know, different ways you can, you can work that. So that's why they say, you know, private money is better because it gives you more flexibility, especially when you're having a one on one conversation about how do we make this work?

[Nick Loper]

Okay, you're, you're in the driver's seat in terms of interest and terms.

[John Logar]

Absolutely. Terms are what you make them.

[Nick Loper]

I'm looking for somebody with a lot of money. Great line side Hustle show. Classic.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

That was Austin Miller from episode 292.

[Nick Loper]

Fascinating episode. We called it Free Houses. It was all about creative financing, ways to buy investment properties.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

And Austin's typical strategy was to find a house that needed some work.

[Nick Loper]

It was unloved, needed some renovations. So he would do the rehab or hire people to do that renovation work. It was a way to force appreciation. Well, now fixed up, it's worth, you know, $30,000 more than we paid for it, $50,000 more than we paid for it, whatever it is.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

And then he would take out a.

[Nick Loper]

Traditional loan with the traditional mortgage with.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

A long term plan of keeping it as a rental property.

[Nick Loper]

And he'd done it over and over again and had built a portfolio worth.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Over a million dollars without any money out of pocket, or at least very.

[Nick Loper]

Little out of pocket.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Sounds a bit like one of those real estate infomercials, but I swear it was a good one.

[Nick Loper]

292 in your podcast feed to go catch up on that one funding strategy number nine is equipment financing. This is used to get machinery, technology, equipment that you need to run your business. And it could include short term loans, equipment leases and rent to own type of purchase plans.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Equipment purchases, according to Forbes, are the.

[Nick Loper]

Second most popular reason that businesses are looking for loans.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

So this could be a good option.

[Nick Loper]

If you need equipment, if you need.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Vehicles so you can get what you.

[Nick Loper]

Need without stretching working capital too thin.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

In the side hustle space. The examples that come to mind are.

[Nick Loper]

Like commercial laundry machines for laundromats where Jordan Berry mentioned that there are some laundromat specific lenders. And the other example comes to mind would be vending machines which if you're buying new can be pretty expensive. But if you found the right location, you can borrow the money for the machine and then you could pay it.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Off with the actual sales from that machine which becomes kind of this virtuous circle, this self fulfilling prophecy. And you can still make a profit on top of that debt service, which.

[Nick Loper]

I think is really cool. Here's Anthony from episode 662 talking about financing versus cash on these new machines. So you mentioned you kind of alluded to this equipment cost here. What does a vending machine cost? What's your take on financing versus buying versus new versus used? Like lots of different routes that she can go here I have like five.

[Anthony Koloje]

Different machines, which is kind of hectic because now I'm dealing with five different operating systems in their back end and trying to have them all communicate to each other with me just pulling reports and all that stuff as well too. So it's a little bit of a pain in the butt. But I'm working through it. It's not like, like it's not like hard and it's like so much like extra work. But it is, you know, it is.

[Nick Loper]

A nuisance in contrast to like the Southwest model where we're going to fly one type of airplane. So every, you know, any mechanic can work on any plane, like that kind.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Of thing versus okay, it adds just a little bit of complexity.

[Anthony Koloje]

Yep, absolutely. So like the, I have a Futura combo machine which it might be like one of those ones with like the coil. And that one takes cash. You know those machines, I have a, I have four of those machines at a shelter and those cost me like around 5,000. And I bought those refurbished. Okay. Brand new, they would probably go for 6,500 I think is the new pricing as of 2025, the micro markets, I have three of those. Well now when I say micro market, those are like those Open markets people, you know, honest policy people could check out at a kiosk.

[Nick Loper]

Yeah.

[Anthony Koloje]

You know, and those roughly. And I'd have to build and put those together. And those run anywhere from like eight to like nine grand of what those are. I have stockwells, which are an AI smart machine. Those run like around like 8 grand, like 80, like 9 grand probably once, once it's delivered with freight. And then the newest and latest machine that I've been installing, I've installed 33 of them within the past four months has been these micromarts. So they are a refrigerator. They're AI powered machines, work like a stock wall, but they hold more inventory. But they actually have a video digital board that runs on the machine. So which is very powerful for me because like I can run ads on there is what I'm feeling like what I can do down the line once I have the data. And that could be additional revenue that I could get in without even like I haven't even tapped into yet.

[Nick Loper]

What is those things run you.

[Anthony Koloje]

So those with freight, they are like around like 12k on there.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

This is helpful at the risk of doing public math, which I've sworn off doing, but it's kind of this upfront.

[Nick Loper]

Capital in equipment and inventory and then you know, a payback period of a number of months or potentially years if it's a slow location. But like how do you think about a winning location or what's kind of a target ROI if you think about it that way in terms of, you know, the payback period on one of these machines.

[Anthony Koloje]

So with me being initially started, I wanted to increase my cash flows right away on these, on these routes that I had. Cash flow was very important to me. So I actually ended up paying some of my first locations cash just so I didn't have a finance payment. And that way I was able to increase like my cash flow net. I wouldn't have to factor that.

[Nick Loper]

Sure.

[Anthony Koloje]

You know, so one of those machines that I bought was like nine grand with and was doing like 23, 22 to $2,500 a month. So my net payment of like what would come to me off of all that would be like around like 750 or 800 bucks. So I was like, okay, my net payment is 7,5800. I'm going to break even on this in like less than a year. And then like if I look at my return on that like every year over going over like I'm going to be making that, it's like 100% return.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

So I'm like, right after it's paid.

[Nick Loper]

Off, I mean, there's depreciation, there's maintenance involved, I imagine, but you've covered your expenses, and then it's all gravy.

[Anthony Koloje]

Yeah, then it's all gravy. And then, like, I'm running the numbers. I'm like, okay, here. It's like each year it just goes up 100. Return, return, return, return. And then obviously, there might be maintenance, and it might not be go up as high each years as that. But so when I was looking at the numbers, I was like, oh, my gosh. I'm like, I have to, like, I'm making, like, 8% over here. I'm like, I'm just gonna take my money out and then just invest it into my machines. You know, it's like a better return.

[Nick Loper]

Right. Because if you're looking at a 100% return, potentially.

[Anthony Koloje]

Yeah, exactly. So that's the way I looked at it, you know, initially. Now, what I did was, is that since I was growing, I leveraged, like, financ, you know, so some of these places had financing options. Basically, what that meant was it would be, like, 0% down, and then they would finance it over 60 months, and then maybe be, like, a 12%, you know, interest note. And then maybe that machine would cost me like, 160 or 175 bucks a month. But if I'm making 1500, $1600, you know, the 160, 175, it really wasn't, you know, the end of the world, like, for me to go ahead and pay that. Make that payment, because now I got extra cash.

[Nick Loper]

Yeah.

[Anthony Koloje]

Where I could go reinvest back into the business by just, you know, buying inventory, you know, building out the warehouse and all that stuff as well, too, which I'll kind of talk about, like, how my transition went from, like, me actually, like, growing. And then when I actually hired my first person and, like, when I actually did that.

[Nick Loper]

Yeah.

[Anthony Koloje]

But, yeah, so that's kind of like where I was at within regards to, like, evaluating these things if I should pay cash or if I should go ahead and finance it. I will say, besides those first couple machines that I paid cash, I financed every single one since.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

So that was from episode 662 with.

[Nick Loper]

Anthony Koloje, if I am pronouncing that correctly.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

But really cool idea to build out the vending machine system and then plugging in additional machines into that system relatively predictably. And when they're generating enough sales to pay for their own equipment loan and still make a profit.

[Nick Loper]

That's a pretty exciting place to play.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

So again, episode 662, encourage you to go check that one out. So as we've covered in this episode.

[Nick Loper]

Lots of different funding options for new side hustles.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Each one comes with pros and cons.

[Nick Loper]

So you gotta make sure that you're.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Comparing your options and making sure you're.

[Nick Loper]

Choosing which one makes the most sense for you.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

In summary, we covered bootstrapping. This is your own self funded startup cost.

[Nick Loper]

This is your savings, your own investments.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Potentially even borrowing against your 401k.

[Nick Loper]

Just don't rob your retirement.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Number two was the friends and family plan.

[Nick Loper]

Raising money from friends and family.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Again, trying not to burn your relationships here. Number three was business credit cards. Probably a method of last resort because the interest rates are so, so high there.

[Nick Loper]

But it is one potential option, especially if you have a path to pay it back relatively quickly. Number four is traditional loans, bank loans, credit unions, stuff like that. You maintain ownership in your business. You just have to pay the interest on those notes. Really, really common path. Number five was pre sales, a maybe almost a side hustle specific type of strategy. Really, really cool. Some, some examples that we've seen from the show in the past and one that I've used myself.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

I'm going to validate this idea before.

[Nick Loper]

I spend the time building it, before I invest in a ton of inventory. Do people actually want it? How could I pre sell something?

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Number six was crowdfunding through platforms like.

[Nick Loper]

Kickstarter or other ones out there.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

You're probably going to need to bring a little bit of your own audience to the table.

[Nick Loper]

And typically the funding amounts are relatively low, so it's going to take a lot of people. Raising a small amount is typically how these crowdfunding campaigns go. Number seven was grants.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Really creative strategy.

[Nick Loper]

We heard from Danielle Dasir Corbett on how, look, I won a handful of grants to start my podcasting business. Like that's, that's a thing. That's an option like really, really interesting. And grants.gov is the, you know, central database. And her newsletter, grants for creators might be worth checking out as well.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Number eight was angel investors or what.

[Nick Loper]

I'll call high net worth individuals. We heard from Austin Miller raising money.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Like I'm looking for people with a.

[Nick Loper]

Lot of money and using outside capital to fund some of his real estate acquisitions, which I thought was really interesting. And then number nine was the equipment financing. So if you have a business that.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Is reliant on expensive equipment, a lot.

[Nick Loper]

Of times those equipment vendors have financing terms and so it's on you to find the location or find a way to make that self liquidating and make it pay for itself. And I think that's a really, really cool way to do it.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

And truthfully, most of the ideas, most, most, most of the ideas we cover on the side Hustle show should be able to be self funded because the.

[Nick Loper]

Vast majority of them should be cost less than a thousand bucks to start and maybe those equipment intensive businesses are the exception to that. Do you need to give up equity in the business to raise money now?

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

It might make sense for the right.

[Nick Loper]

Idea and the right investor.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

I've even seen some work for equity platforms where if you need specific skills but you don't have the cash, you.

[Nick Loper]

Could sell someone on your vision and upside and maybe get them to do.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Some work for you for a slice of the company instead of that immediate paycheck.

[Nick Loper]

Reminds me a little bit of the the Facebook office mural painter who took the the stock options instead of the their usual $30,000 invoice or whatever it was. And when it comes to debt financing.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Just make sure you've got a clear.

[Nick Loper]

Path to pay that back, ideally with.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

The cash flow generated from whatever it is that you're financing.

[Nick Loper]

Either the physical inventory in the E commerce, for example, or like Anthony's vending machines.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

He's done it enough times where the demand is validated, the risk is really.

[Nick Loper]

Low, and financing is just a way.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

To physically place the machine there, put it in, put that cog into the.

[Nick Loper]

System and start generating revenue. The big thing is not biting off more risk than you can chew and protecting your downside.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

In any case, if you have any examples of creative funding strategies, I'd love to hear them shoot me a note. Nickidehustlenation.com How'd you get the money to.

[Nick Loper]

Start your side Hustle?

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Is the hundred dollar startup a myth?

[Nick Loper]

I'm all ears.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

So as you know, the side hustle.

[Nick Loper]

Show just had its 12th birthday and whether it's your first time listening or.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

You'Ve been here since the beginning, I appreciate you spending some time with me in your earbuds today. If you are newer to the show, you want to dig a little bit deeper.

[Nick Loper]

We mentioned several archive episodes in this one in the form of those voicemail.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Clips, but you can actually get a personalized playlist at Hustle show.

[Nick Loper]

How it works is you answer a.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Few short multiple choice questions. Take you 60 seconds, maybe two minutes and it's going to recommend eight to 10 of our greatest hits to start.

[Nick Loper]

With Greatest hits episodes based on your answers.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

So Hustle Show Totally free and it'll.

[Nick Loper]

Get you that personalized playlist.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

Big thanks to our sponsors for helping make this content free for everyone. Sidehustlenation.com deals is where to go to.

[Nick Loper]

Get all the latest offers from our sponsors in one place.

[Danielle Dicier Corbett]

That is it for me. Thank you so much for tuning in. Until next time, let's go out there.

[Nick Loper]

And make something happen and I'll catch you in the next edition of the side Hustle Show. Hassalan.