December 20, 2024 • 8 mins
When life's financial stresses mount, sometimes the most unexpected paths lead to the light at the end of the tunnel. Picture this: a casual chat at the studio turns into a side hustle adventure that balances late-night shifts at photo booths with the real-world challenges of credit counseling and budgeting during bankruptcy. This is a story of resilience, where the pursuit of opportunity amid financial hardship transforms into a rewarding journey. Through this personal tale, we uncover the unpredictable nature of side gigs and how they can become a beacon of hope during daunting times.
Tune in as I share how an impromptu call led me to vibrant events and late-night drives, juggling responsibilities with a day job and family life. This episode isn't just about finding new income streams; it's about the shift in mindset from despair to possibility. Join me as I navigate the world of spontaneous shift work, with the unwavering support of family, and explore the surprising benefits of staying open to unanticipated opportunities. Whether you're facing financial challenges or simply curious about the twists and turns of side hustles, this episode offers a candid glimpse into the power of perseverance.
Tune in as I share how an impromptu call led me to vibrant events and late-night drives, juggling responsibilities with a day job and family life. This episode isn't just about finding new income streams; it's about the shift in mindset from despair to possibility. Join me as I navigate the world of spontaneous shift work, with the unwavering support of family, and explore the surprising benefits of staying open to unanticipated opportunities. Whether you're facing financial challenges or simply curious about the twists and turns of side hustles, this episode offers a candid glimpse into the power of perseverance.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right.
Well, this is kind of an oddthing to add to a Business Buyer
Diaries podcast.
But I was talking to someone atthe studio and they do some
side hustle work and I'm likeokay, cool, awesome, I'll have
fun doing that, have a goodweekend.
And it just hit me likeafterwards, like wait a minute.
Right now, as I'm going throughcredit counseling, and like
(00:22):
having to make a budget and talkabout increasing income or
lowering expenses, because youhave to do that if you declare
bankruptcy, like you'reobligated as part of the, the
department of justicesbankruptcy process, you have to
go through financial counseling,credit counseling on how it all
works, and so increasing income, decreasing expenses.
And so I drove away from thestudio.
(00:44):
I'm like wait a minute, thisperson is doing side hustle
money.
Let me give him a call.
So I called and said wait aminute, do you need help?
Like are you good?
So he's like no man.
Like we're always looking forpeople to do it.
Do you want to do it?
Yeah, I want to do it.
Like let's talk about doing it.
(01:09):
So, okay, well, let me call the, the owner of the company, and
calls under the company and hecalls me back like 10 minutes
later he's like all right, man,I went to bat for you, um, be at
this address at this time.
We're gonna work the we'regonna do this event together.
Uh, you know, you're not hiredon per se, but like you'll get
paid for it.
But we're gonna chain you in,uh, and it's basically like
working at a photo booth, likeweddings and corporate events
and bar mitzvahs and anytimethere's a party and there's a
(01:33):
photo booth, rent it out.
So we'll chain you in, we'llget you going.
The owner has to, like you getto know you and if you're in,
then you're in, if not, thenyou'll just get paid for the
stuff you do.
Cool, I said, yeah, totally.
So I went home and worked my dayjob the rest of the day and
then at the end was like alright, babe, I'm working a night
shift tonight.
I'm driving 45 minutes awayfrom kind of like an hour away
(01:55):
from home to go.
Basically I drive to awarehouse, pick up the equipment
and then driving with thisperson to now go set up this
photo booth in.
In a city that's an hour awayfrom home, kind of in the
boonies, we run a photo boothfor three, four or five hours.
We set it up and thenafterwards we take it all down
(02:18):
and then I mean I would take itback to this warehouse and then
drive home.
And I don't get home until likeone o'clock in the morning and
it just hit me like how fast,like hey, when you're looking
for something, you you can findsomething, but if you're not
looking for it, like you can'tfind it.
And it's that classic like whatare you looking for?
And right now, like I can belooking for despair and stress
(02:38):
and anxiety and feelings ofhopelessness, like our life is
over, like this is the end ofall good things, and like no,
like I'm not gonna, I don't wantto look for that, so I don't
want to think about that, I'mnot gonna bury my head in the
sand and pretend like this is mydream day-to-day, but like all
right, if there's opportunity,let's go find some opportunity.
(02:59):
And here's an opportunity.
And so I don't have to look atlike the tally of hours but
yesterday it was a solid, Idon't know like five to one am
shift, so that's an eight hourshift or like eight hours from
home, but that's a good chunk oftime and I mean that adds up
like I won't say what I'm, whatthey're paying me, but like it's
(03:21):
more than target, more thanhome depot more, more than more
than uber, more than whateverlike this is, like this is money
that like it's it's crazy like,and it's very like very
spontaneous shift work.
So that's why it's going to behigher, because it's it's comp
for like an unpredictable life.
And then so went to bed.
(03:42):
My wife was great.
I went to bed like 1, 45, 2o'clock in the morning, which
which is not me.
I'm a nine, 30, 10, 30 PM atnight person.
That's my jam.
Um, so my wife let me sleep in,which is great.
Uh, woke up at like eight, 30,nine o'clock this morning and
there's a text from the ownersaid hey, sounds like last night
went well, nice work.
Uh, someone bailed on their twoshifts today.
(04:05):
Do you want to do the?
What was it like?
The 12 to 3, a 3, 12 to 3.30shift, or even like a 5.30 to
11.30, and get trained in Until?
I'm like oh, dude, thanks forthe invite.
I can do that first one.
I can't do the second one.
But no, I appreciate it.
Definitely.
Count me in, I'm on, tell mewhere to go and when to be there
, and I, and so just nowfinished up working in a bar
(04:28):
mitzvah, went to a brewery theyhave a really cool upper private
room and a lot of really coolpeople celebrating someone
turning 12, 13 years old and rana photo booth with somebody
else.
And so how to set the equipment, how to run it, how to have fun
and all that good stuff.
And so all that to say, like 24hours ago I was like I don't
(04:51):
know what I'm going to do, likeshould I apply at Home Depot?
Should I get a second corporatejob?
Like my big thing, my goals outof all this is have something
that is decently flexible, withfamily schedule, pays, above
average comp, because I justdon't want to do like I don't
want to do, to do like basicwork at Target or Cup Foods or a
(05:12):
grocery.
If I can find something that'sa little more entrepreneurial, a
little higher pay for a moreatypical shift,
unpredictableness, like let's bea little creative here, and
like higher uncertainty, highercompensation.
And so here we are.
So 24 hours later, we're twowork shifts.
And so here we are.
So, 24 hours later, we're twowork shifts and we're now going
(05:35):
to get things ironed out andconfirmed that this can be
something I can do long term nowin terms of like, how many
hours, how many shifts, I don'tknow?
Um, my goal number one isprovide for the family and
that's keeping my day job strong.
Goal number two figure figureout how to keep the gym afloat
or add some cushion to our home.
And if I can't keep the gymafloat I'll have to let that
(05:55):
dream go.
I've been working on that dreamfor 10 months.
I still haven't cracked thecode.
So if I were a betting person,I would not be betting on that
one.
But all of a sudden, to havesome momentum, some fun, to be
(06:16):
light hearted about something,just engaged on it, like we're
going to roll with it.
So right now it's four 30.
We're going to drop off theequipment, um, keep building and
trust to show I can put in thesweat equity and um, go home and
enjoy the rest of the Saturday.
It wasn't my dream Saturday.
I basically had two hours withmy kids and my wife at home and
I was gone from like 12 to 5 inthe middle of the day.
(06:37):
I mean they slept for two ofthose hours.
But it's not my dream Saturday.
But it's a Saturday I need tobe doing right now.
So I'm going to go drop off theequipment head home.
Make the rest of today special.
And go drop off the equipmenthead home, make the rest of the
day special.
And for the lack of quantity ofhours, I'm gonna be extra
intentional and have highquality hours with them.
Six hours of distracted time isnow gonna be replaced with
(07:02):
three hours of highly focused,highly intentional no phone, no
notification, distraction making, memory kind of things.
So I'm going to keep lookingfor opportunity.
I'm going to put in that, thattime and that that engagement.
I'm going to be a focusedparent and I'm a person who can
(07:24):
figure things out.
I'm going to figure things outone at a time and for right now
it's working my day job like arock star, working photo booth
events like a rock star and thenbeing a parent like a rock star
.
That's where we're going.
Let's rock and roll.
All right.
Well, this is kind of an oddthing to add to a Business Buyer
Diaries podcast.
But I was talking to someone atthe studio and they do some
side hustle work and I'm likeokay, cool, awesome, I'll have
fun doing that, have a goodweekend.
And it just hit me likeafterwards, like wait a minute.
Right now, as I'm going throughcredit counseling, and like
(00:22):
having to make a budget and talkabout increasing income or
lowering expenses, because youhave to do that if you declare
bankruptcy, like you'reobligated as part of the, the
department of justicesbankruptcy process, you have to
go through financial counseling,credit counseling on how it all
works, and so increasing income, decreasing expenses.
And so I drove away from thestudio.
(00:44):
I'm like wait a minute, thisperson is doing side hustle
money.
Let me give him a call.
So I called and said wait aminute, do you need help?
Like are you good?
So he's like no man.
Like we're always looking forpeople to do it.
Do you want to do it?
Yeah, I want to do it.
Like let's talk about doing it.
(01:09):
So, okay, well, let me call the, the owner of the company, and
calls under the company and hecalls me back like 10 minutes
later he's like all right, man,I went to bat for you, um, be at
this address at this time.
We're gonna work the we'regonna do this event together.
Uh, you know, you're not hiredon per se, but like you'll get
paid for it.
But we're gonna chain you in,uh, and it's basically like
working at a photo booth, likeweddings and corporate events
and bar mitzvahs and anytimethere's a party and there's a
(01:33):
photo booth, rent it out.
So we'll chain you in, we'llget you going.
The owner has to, like you getto know you and if you're in,
then you're in, if not, thenyou'll just get paid for the
stuff you do.
Cool, I said, yeah, totally.
So I went home and worked my dayjob the rest of the day and
then at the end was like alright, babe, I'm working a night
shift tonight.
I'm driving 45 minutes awayfrom kind of like an hour away
(01:55):
from home to go.
Basically I drive to awarehouse, pick up the equipment
and then driving with thisperson to now go set up this
photo booth in.
In a city that's an hour awayfrom home, kind of in the
boonies, we run a photo boothfor three, four or five hours.
We set it up and thenafterwards we take it all down
(02:18):
and then I mean I would take itback to this warehouse and then
drive home.
And I don't get home until likeone o'clock in the morning and
it just hit me like how fast,like hey, when you're looking
for something, you you can findsomething, but if you're not
looking for it, like you can'tfind it.
And it's that classic like whatare you looking for?
And right now, like I can belooking for despair and stress
(02:38):
and anxiety and feelings ofhopelessness, like our life is
over, like this is the end ofall good things, and like no,
like I'm not gonna, I don't wantto look for that, so I don't
want to think about that, I'mnot gonna bury my head in the
sand and pretend like this is mydream day-to-day, but like all
right, if there's opportunity,let's go find some opportunity.
(02:59):
And here's an opportunity.
And so I don't have to look atlike the tally of hours but
yesterday it was a solid, Idon't know like five to one am
shift, so that's an eight hourshift or like eight hours from
home, but that's a good chunk oftime and I mean that adds up
like I won't say what I'm, whatthey're paying me, but like it's
(03:21):
more than target, more thanhome depot more, more than more
than uber, more than whateverlike this is, like this is money
that like it's it's crazy like,and it's very like very
spontaneous shift work.
So that's why it's going to behigher, because it's it's comp
for like an unpredictable life.
And then so went to bed.
(03:42):
My wife was great.
I went to bed like 1, 45, 2o'clock in the morning, which
which is not me.
I'm a nine, 30, 10, 30 PM atnight person.
That's my jam.
Um, so my wife let me sleep in,which is great.
Uh, woke up at like eight, 30,nine o'clock this morning and
there's a text from the ownersaid hey, sounds like last night
went well, nice work.
Uh, someone bailed on their twoshifts today.
(04:05):
Do you want to do the?
What was it like?
The 12 to 3, a 3, 12 to 3.30shift, or even like a 5.30 to
11.30, and get trained in Until?
I'm like oh, dude, thanks forthe invite.
I can do that first one.
I can't do the second one.
But no, I appreciate it.
Definitely.
Count me in, I'm on, tell mewhere to go and when to be there
, and I, and so just nowfinished up working in a bar
(04:28):
mitzvah, went to a brewery theyhave a really cool upper private
room and a lot of really coolpeople celebrating someone
turning 12, 13 years old and rana photo booth with somebody
else.
And so how to set the equipment, how to run it, how to have fun
and all that good stuff.
And so all that to say, like 24hours ago I was like I don't
(04:51):
know what I'm going to do, likeshould I apply at Home Depot?
Should I get a second corporatejob?
Like my big thing, my goals outof all this is have something
that is decently flexible, withfamily schedule, pays, above
average comp, because I justdon't want to do like I don't
want to do, to do like basicwork at Target or Cup Foods or a
(05:12):
grocery.
If I can find something that'sa little more entrepreneurial, a
little higher pay for a moreatypical shift,
unpredictableness, like let's bea little creative here, and
like higher uncertainty, highercompensation.
And so here we are.
So 24 hours later, we're twowork shifts.
And so here we are.
So, 24 hours later, we're twowork shifts and we're now going
(05:35):
to get things ironed out andconfirmed that this can be
something I can do long term nowin terms of like, how many
hours, how many shifts, I don'tknow?
Um, my goal number one isprovide for the family and
that's keeping my day job strong.
Goal number two figure figureout how to keep the gym afloat
or add some cushion to our home.
And if I can't keep the gymafloat I'll have to let that
(05:55):
dream go.
I've been working on that dreamfor 10 months.
I still haven't cracked thecode.
So if I were a betting person,I would not be betting on that
one.
But all of a sudden, to havesome momentum, some fun, to be
(06:16):
light hearted about something,just engaged on it, like we're
going to roll with it.
So right now it's four 30.
We're going to drop off theequipment, um, keep building and
trust to show I can put in thesweat equity and um, go home and
enjoy the rest of the Saturday.
It wasn't my dream Saturday.
I basically had two hours withmy kids and my wife at home and
I was gone from like 12 to 5 inthe middle of the day.
(06:37):
I mean they slept for two ofthose hours.
But it's not my dream Saturday.
But it's a Saturday I need tobe doing right now.
So I'm going to go drop off theequipment head home.
Make the rest of today special.
And go drop off the equipmenthead home, make the rest of the
day special.
And for the lack of quantity ofhours, I'm gonna be extra
intentional and have highquality hours with them.
Six hours of distracted time isnow gonna be replaced with
(07:02):
three hours of highly focused,highly intentional no phone, no
notification, distraction making, memory kind of things.
So I'm going to keep lookingfor opportunity.
I'm going to put in that, thattime and that that engagement.
I'm going to be a focusedparent and I'm a person who can
(07:24):
figure things out.
I'm going to figure things outone at a time and for right now
it's working my day job like arock star, working photo booth
events like a rock star and thenbeing a parent like a rock star
.
That's where we're going.
Let's rock and roll.
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