14: Summer Side Hustles, Artificial Intelligence, Our Favorite Books, Robo-Advisors, and 401(k)s

0:29Shopping is hard, right? If you used Babbel, you would. Babbel's conversation-based techniques teaches you useful words and phrases to get you speaking quickly about the things you actually talk about in the real world. With lessons handcrafted by over 200 language experts and voiced by real native speakers, Babbel is like having a private tutor in your pocket. Start speaking with Babbel today. Get up to 55 % off your Babbel subscription right now at babbel.com slash Spotify. Spelled B-A-B-B-E-L dot com slash Spotify. Rules and restrictions may apply. Welcome back to the Rich Habits Podcast. My name is Austin Hankwitz, and I'm joined by my co-host, Robert Croak.

1:05Robert is a seasoned entrepreneur in his 50s with more than 200 million in company exits under his belt, and I'm an entrepreneur in my late 20s with a background in finance and economics. Since quitting my full-time job in corporate finance a few years ago, I've built a seven-figure media business and actively advise some of the most well-known fintech companies around the world. As the show name might suggest, every episode we talk about rich habits as they relate to business, finance, and mindset. However, we try and bring you two unique perspectives. One from an industry veteran, Robert, and the other myself, someone who's still in the process of figuring it all out and building wealth.

1:44Robert, are you ready to jump into things? What are we going to be talking about in today's episode? I am so excited about this episode. We'll be talking about our favorite summer side hustles. Summertime, for a lot of you, represents a ton of opportunity to make some extra money. The kids might be out of school. You might find yourself with extra hours every week. And you maybe just finally can get around to starting that side hustle you've always wanted to get started. So today we're going to be covering three different side hustles ranked by difficulty and amount of time or money needed to start them that anyone can try this summer.

2:18So let's start with the hardware installation, though. As someone who just moved into a house and I was a customer of people who were installing my hardware that was mounting a TV or putting together bedroom furniture, I'm definitely a big proponent for this one. So, Robert, walk us through what this side hustle entails. Yeah. So for many, many years with my company, we did a lot of hardware installation. And what I like about it is the fact that when you're doing these difficult, dirty jobs, it really just creates the situation where you have a ton of ROI per hour, especially if you're looking at multiple man hours for a job.

2:55So imagine having this company, this side hustle where you've got three, four, five guys per hour working and you have this high margin, high ROI for every hour. That's what I love about it when you have these labor intensive jobs. So when you dig into that, what does that mean? Hardware installation. Everyone, when they move into their house, they need TV brackets mounted. They need curtain rods mounted. They need all of their artwork hung so it's leveling correct. And this is just an incredible way to make 30, 40, 50, sometimes 60,$75 an hour per hour for jobs like that. You can really advertise your services on TaskRabbit or Angie's List.

3:39But I also, one of the little sneaker ones that I really like is Facebook groups. You can pick neighborhoods specifically like affluent neighborhoods. Go into the Facebook groups of these neighborhoods and put it out there because these people will pay top dollar to get these hard, problematic jobs handled and handled quickly. And that's why I love it. And think about this pro tip. If you stick around till everyone goes back to school, there's a ton of money if you live by a university and you want to do these tasks around university students moving in. Because let's face it, the parents all go to IKEA, they buy a ton of furniture, and they need someone to put it together because they're not going to sit there and do it.

4:21And once you get good with the IKEA furniture, it can be incredibly profitable to do this task as well for the college students. I couldn't have said it better myself. I love the play by play. And it's actually funny. The reason why I wanted to propose this side hustle idea when Robert and I were planning this episode, especially that last pro tip around the college kids moving on to their apartments here in August is because of my girlfriend. And she told me back when she was in college that they actually hired someone they found on TaskRabbit to mount their TV. He ended up mounting it a little bit too high, so she got a crick in her neck.

4:56But regardless, they paid a guy on TaskRabbit to mount the TV. It is a very viable side hustle, especially if you're good with your hands. You've done this before. This is the side hustle for you this summer. All right, Robert, what's our next side hustle for the summer? Yeah, we're gonna be talking about detailing. Everyone hears me talk and brag about my pressure washing company all the time. And it just really gets back to, again, these hard labor, dirty jobs that no one wants to do. Millennials, you know, baby boomers, they do not want to touch the dirty jobs. They would rather pay to have it done.

5:30And so what I love about pressure washing or even remote auto detailing, Austin, I know you have a story about dirty car headlights. But I just love these kind of businesses for side hustles or even your own primary business is because the startup cost is low and the ROI per hour is so high. When my pressure washing company was at its max, and it wasn't a huge company, but we had four crews of two out every day, all day. So you're figuring 200, 150, 180 man hours a week for these guys where I'm making 30,$45 an hour per guy for all of those man hours every week. It was a money printing machine without having to spend a ton of money on equipment.

6:19it. So that's why I love the dirty jobs that more and more people are getting away from because of the high hourly ROI. I think that also kind of comes back to this idea of the equipment, right? We want to rank these into how much money you have to perhaps invest into buying the equipment or advertising your services. Now with power washing, I think you can rent a power washer likely from Lowe's or Home Depot. So you can even do it on a job by job basis if you can't yet afford to purchase a power washer. I'm not exactly sure how much they are, but I imagine you can get a pretty decent one for a couple hundred to several hundred dollars.

6:55But if you're also kind of on the, I want to start cleaning stuff, but not yet ready to invest that type of money, what I did in college, and I swear this is my favorite side hustle of all time, I was polishing dirty car headlights. You guys know exactly what I'm talking about. You've seen the cars that were 2007, 2010, 2012, and their headlights are kind of hazy. They're looking yellow, there is a tool or a kit rather that you can buy on Amazon called the Sylvania Headlight Restoration Kit. It's like 20 bucks,$25, and you can do two cards with it. So four headlights total you can clean with this kit.

7:30And so what I was doing is I'd spend 20 or$25 purchasing the kit. I would then go to a mall. I'd go to parking lots. I'd even go to used car salesmen's and say, hey, you're trying to sell this car here. Looks great. Best of luck to you. But I bet you'd sell it better if it had nice headlights. I'll clean the headlights for you for$60 right here. And I would make$300 on a Saturday by going to a used car lot and talking to these salesmen and convincing them to let me wash their car headlights. I mean, it was a great business. I made about two or$3 ,000 a summer doing it. Sure. My shoulders got a little sore, right?

8:05So to my biceps getting that done, but it was fun. It was a great way for me to get out in the sun. There's just so many different side hustles in this category. We call like dirty work or manual labor. And that's why it bothers me when I have people in my live or in my DMs or in my comments on my TikToks where they say, oh, it's just so hard to make money right now or I can't find a job. At the end of the day, you don't have to find a job. You could create a job. You just have to think about, especially if you live in an area where there's some affluent neighborhoods or business districts nearby, everyone needs something.

8:42You can literally create a job out of nothing You can make a flyer or a business card on your computer on Canva for free. Get them printed for a few dollars, maybe$10 or$15 at a local print shop. And you are up and running. Think about going into any neighborhood that has decent homes in it and say, hey, I'm going to be Austin's window cleaning service today. You go out, you spend$30 on some window cleaning supplies. You use their water. You can go on your bike and you start cleaning home windows. There are so many ways to make money, and that's why it really comes down to mindset and creativity because everyone needs something.

9:21You just have to figure out what is the best ROI for you. That right there, ladies and gentlemen, is a clip we're going to be posting to our Instagram. That was a good one, Robert. I'm ready to run through a brick wall after that. I feel invigorated. Let's go. All right. Let's hit up now our last summer side hustle idea of using artificial intelligence to help with labor. So here's what I mean by that, right? Using artificial intelligence to sell websites, eBooks, or other digital downloads around education. Now here's the deal. For this one to work, you have to be sort of entrepreneurial already, right?

9:57You might have some creative ideas in store, or perhaps you want to just explore and learn and try new things. This isn't a very clear-cut way to make money. It's instead a way to inspire you to make money. Now, what I would do if I were you from step one is I would, one, learn all about the different tools out there that artificial intelligence provides as it relates to helping people build websites. There's always demand for website designers. There's always demand for people that know how to creatively express a product or service on a landing page. And I know it might sound intimidating, but this is a lot easier than you think, especially using AI.

10:36So there are artificial intelligence platforms and websites. One of them is called durable.co, D-U-R-A-B-L-E.co, that literally all you have to do is type in the name of the company, which would be the client you're doing this for, and the type of business they run, and it creates a website for you from scratch, just all in one like that. Another one I really like is called gamma.app, G-A-M-M-A dot A-P-P. It's a website that allows you to, instead of like typing in the name and what they do, you can literally type in on a text box, I want a website that explains why I think coyotes that are from this specific region that eat this type of food are the best and the coolest furry animals or something just bizarre and it'll do it.

11:22It'll do it perfectly, right? So it allows you to make these presentations, these documents, these webpages, everything using AI automatically, very quickly and very cheap. Yeah. And those are two really good ones. One that I would add in there that is also pretty amazing is Midjourney. I don't know if you've used it yet, but Midjourney is amazing, guys, because you can literally enter text of what you want an image to look like. You can say, I want a cat in a bikini in a sushi shop, you know, smoking a cigar and seconds later you get it. And I just love MidJourney for all the stuff we do for all of our consumer brands.

11:59So take a look at MidJourney as well. I think it's an awesome platform. I love it. Well, with that being said, I think we should probably introduce our listeners now to this episode's advertisers. This episode of the Rich Habits podcast is brought to you by Neos Investments. NEOS offers ETFs that aim to offer monthly income while providing core portfolio exposure across equities, fixed income, and cash alternatives like T-bills. And you guys know that we both like T-bills. Their ETFs may be particularly interesting for folks looking to generate passive income inside of their investment portfolios.

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13:18To obtain a prospectus containing this and other important information, please visit neosfunds.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before you invest. Nios ETFs are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC. An investment in Nios ETFs involves risks, including possible loss of principal. The equity securities purchased by the funds may involve large price swings and potential for loss. A fund's income may decline when yields fall. Fixed income securities will decline in value because of an increase in interest rates. Big shout out to Nios Funds for supporting the podcast. We are huge fans of Garrett, Troy, and Zach.

13:58They've done very well in creating these awesome financial products. I hold two of them, and I believe Robert does as well. So two thumbs up from us. Definitely go check out their ETFs, S-P-Y-I-C-S-H-I, which is a great cash alternative, as well as B-N-D-I. Love it, love it, love it. Well, let's get into the Q &A. RJ, yes, RJ said, What are your opinions on using Betterment to invest for retirement? I'm 25 and already own VTI, VXUS, and VGK on TD Ameritrade. Well, RJ, I'm going to let Austin take this away. But kudos to you at 25 that you're already up and running. You're buying some really good stuff.

14:40And let's get Austin's takeaway on this awesome question. So major shout out to RJ for being 25 at such a young age and investing. The guy's going to retire a multimillionaire. I can feel it in my bones. So here's the deal with Betterment. I actually opened up my first Roth IRA through Betterment. So back in 2015, I think it was, I think I was 18 or 19 years old. I opened up my Roth IRA and I did it through Betterment because one, I didn't exactly feel too comfortable selecting my index funds or whatever that was back then. I didn't yet have my degree in finance. I was just starting my personal finance and investing journey.

15:16So I was like, you know what? I'm gonna use a robo-advisor. Very reasonable fees. Count me in. I looked up a bunch of different ones and Betterment was the one that I decided. So I have two thumbs up from me for Betterment. I think it's a great platform. Again, their fees are very reasonable. I think it's like 25 basis points a year and they do everything for you. So what a robo-advisor essentially does, RJ and everyone else listening, is all you do is deposit money into their platform and they invest it on your behalf. That's what they do. So instead of like actually meeting and sitting down with a financial advisor who's like, yeah, give me your money.

15:48And for this 1 % fee or whatever it might be, I will invest your money for you. It's like, no, this is the same thing, except it's cheaper. And they tax lost harvest. They think about all your long-term goals, your short-term goals, everything. They do it for you. Two thumbs up. Okay. Next. Edward, this is a great question that Austin and I get a lot, and I can't wait to answer it. Edward asks, can you recommend some financial books to help me in my investment journey. Well, I happen to have one of my favorites right here, Think and Grow Rich with Napoleon Hill. I think it's a really good book for those of you that are starting out.

16:26It's one of my favorites. Another great read, in my opinion, we'll see what Austin's are, but I also love The Richest Man in Babylon. I think that's a really good book for more of a perspective and a really kind of macro look at how to get started and how to build wealth. And so those are two of my favorites, but the list goes on. But I know Austin's, but I'm going to let him take it away on his books. Yeah. The Richest Man in Babylon is powerful. It is the actual first kind of finance, personal finance book that I read growing up. And I think to your point, Robert, what you might've been trying to say too, is it helps you make a mindset shift.

17:04It helps you really sit down and say, wait, I now can do this. I can do these specific steps and I can begin building wealth by doing them in a very clear way that goes back into history. You used some great examples. Two thumbs up for me there. So two books that I really like, I don't know if you can see them, but there's a red book right behind me right there. And that is called The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John C. Bogle. He's the fella that created Vanguard. We all know who Vanguard is. I'm sure you have a Vanguard account or invested into some Vanguard ETFs. So that's that guy.

17:34And then I also, now if you're a little bit nerdier, like I am, and you like the analysis, you like the deep dives, I like the book, 100 Baggers by Christopher Mayer. Now, this book is powerful because what it does is it researches all of the stocks in modern history that have 100x'd over the last 40 or 50 years in value. And what it does is it pulls together some similarities, some different characteristics, and finds the reasons why these companies have done so well, and begins to help you understand whenever you're beginning to choose your now single stock investments and ideas that you want to be kind of rolling the dice on, something we talked about in our last episode during a recession, right?

18:16You can now understand what might be a good idea to invest in as it relates to history and what is proven to do well. So again, that's called 100 Baggers by Christopher Mayer. I'm a big fan of it. I'm going to add one more in. And this one is, I wouldn't say for the nerdier, but I would say this is a more advanced book for those of you that are really building businesses. And that would be Zero to One by Peter Thiel. I think it's a great book. It has some more advanced strategies. I think he has one of the greatest financial and business minds in modern society. And I'm a big fan. So check that one out.

18:52So we're going to get to our last question from one of the followers that is amazing in my lives, Janelle D. She asks, I have 90K in my 401K, but I'm also investing into VOO on my own. I'm 40 years old and want to know what else I should be investing this money into. Where should I diversify? Austin, I'm going to let you knock this out of the park and then I'll rally around it with some of my thoughts. So if it were me, Absolutely. You're rocking and rolling with your VOO, right? Just so we're on the same page, that's the S &P 500. That is Vanguard's S &P 500 index ETF. Very low expense ratio.

19:32With that being said, however, if you want to begin diversifying your investments, here are a couple other ETFs that I really like that should also be inside of this portfolio. One is called VGT. That's Vanguard's technology ETF. Think Apple. Think NVIDIA, right? Robert loves NVIDIA. Think Amazon, think Salesforce, think Google, right? These big tech companies, that is VGT. Another good one is QQQ, right? The NASDAQ 100. This is another index that has done very well over a long period of time. And if you really wanna round things out, in my opinion, can't forget about VTI, which is the total stock market.

20:08I think it's got five or 6 ,000 companies in that index. And it's just a good way to diversify your money into that. And Robert, I'd love to hear your thoughts here on the other ideas perhaps before I even hit it with my pro tip. I just really love diversity. I see so many people when we go through these recessions like 2008, 2009, the current recession that we're going into and potentially could be very disastrous where they're just not diversified. I hear some of the gurus, some of the fake gurus, some of the biggest financial minds where they're like, you have to go all in on one thing. I think it's a terrible strategy.

20:45At the end of the day, I think you have to have diversification in your financial portfolios, because if that one sector that you're all in on goes bad, then you're starting over. And a lot of people get wiped out during these economic uncertainties. And so for me, it's all about diversification. So when I think about Janelle D, I think she should have exposure to crypto. There's a lot of great opportunities in crypto right now with the ISO 22 coins and the migration away from the SWIFT payment system to the ISO 22 payment system. So I think those coins are going to do well. Obviously, I love Bitcoin still, Ethereum, Polygon, some of those.

21:25But also, people should be looking at other strategies. having the treasury bills right now during these high interest times and high inflationary times because right now a treasury bill is paying over five percent guaranteed and you don't pay to any state or local income tax on your gain so i think a treasury bill is a great strategy for diversification but also you can be looking at precious metals you can be looking at fine art you know austin and i have been working with freeport it's an awesome platform so you can do that as well. So I just really like making sure anyone that listens to me is diversified because so many people think, well, I have a 401k, I can set it and forget it.

22:08And that's just not a good investment strategy to build wealth. And the last thing I wanted to chime in here and share is that, you know, 40 years old, I'm sure you're thinking about retirement. I'm sure you're thinking about actually now really trying to build wealth. Don't forget your net worth is two sides of an equation. It's your assets, but it's also your liabilities. And so if you have money coming in and you want to diversify your investments, make an investment to pay off your high interest debt, right? If you've got a 24, 26, 28 % APR credit card, that is money that is leaving your account, your checking account for no reason, right?

22:44That's interest. You don't want to pay that. Same thing if you have, I even think I read the used car interest rates right now is like 14%. The stock market's not doing 14 % on average over a long period of time, which means you should probably pay that off instead. Or think about making a plan to do that. At the end of the day here, your net worth calculator, if you want to really build wealth, retire a millionaire, and build your net worth, think about it from two sides of the equation. Both your assets, which are investing and diversifying, which is what Robert and I are talking about here, but also the debt side of things, your liabilities.

23:15Make sure you have no high interest debt, and the only debt you do have is good debt, which is essentially your mortgage. Remember, guys, we talk about it all the time. You can't out invest high interest debt. So anything that we would consider bad debt, you want to get rid of before you start piling all your money into investing because you're never going to win that equation. And any debt that you have like a mortgage or if you have other low interest loans, if you can arbitrage the difference with your money and make more with your money than what you can borrow it for, you always want to borrow.

23:46That is why the wealthiest people on the planet leverage other people's money instead of using their own. And that's just a key factor here, guys, is to always be optimizing your money and using other people's money for leverage. And with that being said, Robert, we've got some crazy exciting news to share with our listeners. Because of you all, right, the 8 ,500 of you that come back every single week to listen to our episodes, We are now number 17 on Spotify's top business podcasts on their platform. We are a top 20 business podcast on Spotify because of you. You guys, everyone, you all rallied around us now for 14 episodes.

24:26Listen in. You shot us the DMs and the questions on Instagram. You shared it with your friends. You left us the awesome reviews. And because of you all, we are now a top 20 podcast on Spotify. So from the bottom of my heart, and I'm sure Robert feels the same way, We are super grateful and we can't wait to take this podcast to top 10, top five. And I'm maybe number one. Who knows? Wow, that would be that. That gives me goosebumps. Yes, I'm very appreciative. I literally almost jumped out of my seat. I thought we got bumped out of the top 50 today when I looked it up because I started at like 25, went down and I didn't see it.

25:00So I scrolled to the top and saw we were 17 and I almost left out of the chair. So thank you guys so, so much. And just a quick reminder, be sure to share this podcast with anyone you think needs to learn about business, finance, and mindset. Listen to this on your commute. Share it with your friends. Share it with your family. Do whatever you can to share the good word of personal finance and investing. Be sure to leave a five-star review. You know what your parents always said. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all. So don't leave us any one-stars. We don't want that. Five-star reviews.