27 Part Journey to Starting a Side Hustle — Day Twenty-Two
And because math is hard, today is Day 22. . . not yesterday which was actually Day 21.
Today is all about framing your first dollar. I haven’t received any yet, so it’s kinda hard to talk about this one. However, I did spend almost the entire day yesterday doing research on what I want my service to look like. Let me tell you that I have found the clarity I was looking for. I found the style of video that I want to create, the style of the website to offer up my service and also the style of the material that I will be offering.
I learned a great deal about the three items mentioned above so I want to break down my findings. This is mainly for documentation purposes.
- The instructions for how to build the projects will be captured in the form of video. I’ll be creating three videos for each project. Please note that the following may be a pivot from previous strategies. But after doing all my research, this is what I found many doing. An introduction video that will be between 2–5 minutes. The intention of this video will be to introduce the project and get people excited about it. The next video will be an in depth step-by-step guide on how to build the project. This will break down objectives, the materials needed, question to ask, the actual steps, standards being addressed, and finally an assessment to conduct. Those items were pretty consistent in all my research. There might be other things I’ll include once I conclude my research. Finally, the last video will be more of an educator only video. This video will address concerns that educators may have such as how to scale to classroom size, how to answer questions, how to troubleshoot, how to modify/adapt to the age group, etc. All of these videos will be hosted on Youtube and embedded for each project on the website.
- The website will be the hardest challenge as I want to incorporate a lot of things. I’ll be tracking progress, have a “classroom” option, and the website will be divided based upon if a student is signed in or an educator. BUT, to get things rolling, I’m going to focus on creating “blog” posts for now while I get the full site going. I should still be able to create all the videos and associated materials while I build the site and then put everything where they’ll go.
- Finally, the material that I’ll be creating is now mainly defined. I’ll be creating a lesson plan for each project which will be highlighted throughout the video and website. I’ll be creating a few other documents as well such as a parts list (with amazon affiliates), recommended readings, modifications, and worksheets.
I’m really glad I spent this time researching yesterday. I learned a couple of things that I found to be very valuable. I found a ton of examples of what teachers are looking for and what other “competitors” are doing. I found that my pricing may be a little too low, but while I get started, it will be just right to get traction. I also received design inspiration for how I’ll be presenting the material. And finally, while my research was limited to just a day’s worth of work, I was able to start piecing how my service is going to be different. A lot of what I found yesterday is useful but dependent on something that is different than what I’m shooting for. I’m super excited to keep going with this. Today is Christmas and I’ll be spending most of the day with the family, but I’ll be doing a little more research today when I get a chance as I plan on delivering my first project before the end of the year.
Thanks to everyone reading along. I feel like I’ve made past a critical step here. Over the last few days, I’ve felt completely overwhelmed and at the verge of giving up. I’m glad I kept pressing and now I have a much better understanding of how to connect the dots. I can’t wait to launch this product and start providing value to millions of people!
