Replace Your Income with a Service Business, Step by Step (Greatest Hits)

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1:16Want to make an extra thousand bucks in the next 30 days? Start freelancing. Here's how to figure out what service you could offer and how to connect with clients who will pay you. What's up? What's up, Nick? Loper here. Welcome to the Side Hustle Show because your day job is just your biggest client right now. If you're looking to make extra money, there's no doubt that starting a service business is one of the fastest ways to do that with almost no barrier to entry and minimal startup costs. In fact, it was a service business, a house painting business in my case, that was one of my first entrepreneurial adventures.

1:53And in this call, you're going to learn how to figure out what service or services you could offer on a freelance or contract basis, even if you don't think you have any skills today, and importantly, how to connect with potential paying clients who need help in those areas. To help me walk through this stuff is Abby Ashley from TheVirtualSavvy.com, who you might remember from an episode we did last year. Abby started her virtual assistant business, her freelance business, while she was on maternity leave, and by the time her leave was up, just a few months, she'd booked enough work not to have to go back to that job she hated.

2:30She ultimately scaled that service business from just herself at 20 to 30 bucks an hour to her own little virtual agency to$75 an hour and up for some specialized work. And before long, the questions started coming in. How can I do what you do? I would love to be able to work from home, set my own hours, do work I enjoy. So like any good entrepreneur, Abby turned around and started teaching her methods. At this point, she's helped thousands of people start their own freelance business, which is awesome. In fact, if you hit up thevirtualsavvy.com slash SHN, she's put together an action-packed free training called How to Become a Booked Out Virtual Assistant, which again is just a secret code for remote freelancing.

3:13But stick around in this episode to hear how you can get started with this side hustle literally today from uncovering service ideas to finding customers and hopefully won't involve you having to go cold calling door to door like I did in my house painting days. Notes and links for this episode along with the full text summary are at sidehustlenation.com slash abbey2, A-B-B-E-Y, and the number two. Now, I'm confident you have some skills that are worth paying for, but if nothing else, you have the ability to learn new ones. I'd venture to guess that's why you're listening to the show right now.

3:48I'll be back with my top takeaways from this call with Abby after the interview. Ready? Let's do it. When I started my virtual assistant business, I literally had found out like the day before what a virtual assistant was. This was back in 2013. So I didn't come in with a ton of skills necessarily, but I started looking at what can I do that other business owners need? And so there's so much that people want to outsource. We always think it's going to be these high level skills, these things that they don't know how to do. But usually the very first thing that business owners start to outsource are the things that are kind of mundane, but they just need to get off their plate so they have time to do other things.

4:32So answering customer service emails, if you can do really simple social media. So I'm talking like not trying to grow these massive audiences, but even just keeping up with maybe posting on Instagram, posting on their Facebook page, writing blogs, things like that. Those are some of the very first things that I started doing. Even as simple as appointment setting phone calls. I had an insurance agent who I would call some of his current clients and just set up future appointments with them. So I think there's a lot that we can do just with the skills that we already have that sometimes we don't think, oh, somebody would actually pay me for that, but they will.

5:10Right. And this could be either skills that you have from your own resume, any job you've ever had. Somebody thought that was a skill worth paying for, right? Or it could be skills you've learned outside of work. It could be stuff that you're just interested in, hobbies that you picked up. And some of the stuff, maybe you've never done it before, but you're like, I'm pretty sure I can figure that out. And that's the nature of the game as an entrepreneur. I guess I've been on both sides of this equation. I've been a freelancer and I've been somebody who hired freelancers. Today in the business, I've got somebody that manages Pinterest for me.

5:41I've got a podcast editing service. I've got a handful of writers that I work with. Those are all independent contractors who have kind of followed this path of becoming a virtual assistant, call it, or becoming, and sometimes it's an agency, but starting their own kind of location independent side hustle because nobody is working from my closet office. It would get a little crowded in here. I know on your site, you've got like 101 services you could offer as a virtual assistant to kind of get the creative juices flowing. And that's at thevirtualsavvy.com. Any other exercises that you put people through to kind of come up with these initial ideas?

6:16Yeah, definitely. So what I like to do is to look at the skills first that you know you already have. And it's okay if you only list two or three things, right? Just things that you know, okay, I could answer customer service emails, things like that. Then maybe list skills. So I basically have people divide up a piece of paper into three different categories. The first are skills that you have that you enjoy doing. Then the next is skills that you have that you don't enjoy doing. Because I really think it's good to identify those two. If you're going to go into starting to help people, but you are only helping them with things that you don't enjoy doing, you're not going to make it very far.

6:55So go ahead and put those out there as well. And then the third list, I think, is maybe one of the most important. And it is the things that I don't know how to do, but I'm really interested in, or I'm interested in learning. And that could be where possibly things like podcast management, or YouTube management, or Pinterest management, you know, hey, I don't know how to do this. I don't know the skill or the tech behind it all. However, I'm drawn to it for some reason, maybe you are just really good at designing things. And so you think, well, that's part of Pinterest management, right? Is making these little pinnable images that look good.

7:30So maybe that's something I could do. Or you think, hey, podcast editing, I listen to a lot of podcasts. So hey, why not? I could edit them too. Maybe you don't know what the tech or the skill is behind it. But if you have an interest in it, it can go on your list of things that you could learn in order to offer as a service. Yeah, I can figure this stuff out. That was Matt Rowell. He was doing the knife sharpening thing. He's like, I don't know how to do this yet, but I could figure it out. Learned how to do it on YouTube and found some buddies knives who were willing enough to let him practice.

7:58And then it was off to the races for him. The first role that I hired for was for an AdWords manager. Basically like, here's my pay-per-click campaigns. I need your help in keeping these up to date, making sure we're not pointing to, in my case, shoes that were out of stock or that only had like a size seven and a size 14 left. Like that wasn't going to be a great user experience. That ad wasn't likely to convert. And I provided all the training for that. So it was like, I don't necessarily need you to know how to do this stuff coming in, but I can train you how to do this, follow this recipe, follow this step-by-step process.

8:31In your client business, did you find that it was similar? Like, okay, I'm going to raise my hand and say that I'm kind of this general virtual assistant for hire. Did you find that people had processes that they already kind of had in mind they just wanted to plug you into or were they looking for off the shelf this is what I need you to do? Totally exactly what you said that was my experience time and time again I really like the idea of starting as a general virtual assistant unless if you already have a specialized skill so if you already know how to do podcast management by all means go and call yourself a podcast manager and let that be your top skill that you can scale right however if you don't, make a big list of things that you can do because what's likely to happen is exactly what you said.

9:16Someone will hire you to just kind of be a general VA. But when you go into their business, a lot of times, whether it's a good system or not, they already have some sort of system. They have a way that they've been doing this all along. And again, it might not be the best system, but sometimes it is. And they can just train you on the system that they already have in place, and then you can continue to maybe improve it. So I found that a lot of times it was, hey, I just need you to pick up on this thing that I've already been doing, and maybe increase it, maybe make it a little bit better of a system.

9:49But just continue on with what I've already been doing so I can have more time. That's really your goal at the end of the day is to free up some of the time that they have so they can go on and do higher level items. Absolutely. One of the ways that I kind of recommend coming up with service ideas is actually looking at Upwork, looking at Fiverr, looking at these big freelance marketplaces and looking at their different categories. So if you look at the top navigation menu on Upwork, and of course, user interfaces subject to change, but there's like this whole broad categories of what different services could be offered.

10:28And underneath there, if you click on any one of them, it like opens up this page of subcategories and you're going to find yourself seeing like, well, shoot, I could do that. I could do that. You kind of build your list that way. And the same thing on Fiverr. And what's interesting about Fiverr is you can click through on each of those categories and subcategories and see specific gigs that people are offering. Like I will do X for this dollar amount and different pricing packages. It's really interesting to see what other services are out there and say, well, shoot, I can do that. Not necessarily that I want to compete on Fiverr or on Upwork, but like using that as a source of inspiration.

11:04Now going back to your three categories, it was column one, skills you enjoy, column two, skills you don't enjoy, which I think is really important because it's like, okay, I can do this, but the last thing I need is a second job, a side hustle that I hate. And third, the skills that you don't know how to do just yet, but you're interested in. And that kind of aligns with a similar format or structure that I've used in the past. I called it the intersection method, which was column one skills that you know how to do. Column two was interests or hobbies outside of work. And column three was kind of your network, like who do you know?

11:40And that's kind of transitioning into how are you going to connect with clients? For me, one of the freelancing businesses that I had was in nonfiction book editing. And so column one was like, I had written a couple nonfiction books myself at that point. I was a decent English student in college or in high school. I don't even know if I took English in college. And even though I can barely form a sentence on the podcast, I consider myself a decent writer and a decent proofreader, eye for detail type of thing. And then in column two, I enjoyed reading self-improvement business books anyways. So that was an interesting one.

12:15And then column three, it was like, because I had self-published, I was already embedded in these certain Facebook groups for different authors. And so that was kind of like a freelance business that came as a result, kind of like the intersection of those three different columns. And you can kind of mix and match and you might have more than one idea that comes from there. But maybe we transition to this point about connecting with customers. I know when we first talked on the podcast last year, it was not anything online. Even though the business is going to be location independent, the business is going to be online, it was just going to local in-person networking events and connecting with clients that way.

12:53Yep. So I think there are, oh my goodness, there are so many ways. The need for virtual assistants, the need for just outsourcing, especially people to outsource to remotely, I think is just going to continue to increase. so this is definitely still the time. I think it's a good time when you see that, okay, I have a group of 30 ,000 virtual assistants. This thing is obviously starting to catch on but at the same time, we're still at the point where you can say, hey, I'm a virtual assistant and someone will say, what's that? Like they've never heard of it. I feel like that's like the perfect intersection of the time to jump on something when it's going to catch on but not everyone has caught on.

13:32More with Abby in just a moment, including several different ways to get your new service business in front of potential clients right after this. Did you know there's a disease running rampant alongside hustlers and new entrepreneurs? It's called superhero syndrome. Symptoms include a feeling like you got to do everything yourself, thinking you're the only one who can do it right, and struggling to let go of certain tasks. Does that sound familiar to anyone? But the good news is there is a cure. Our sponsor Indeed can help you find the best candidates for the roles you need to fill and find them fast.

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14:40Just go to indeed.com slash side hustle show right now and support the show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash side hustle show. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring. Indeed is all you need. As a business owner, you worked hard to make that phone ring, but missing a business call, it's like watching money fly right out the window. That's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo, spelled Q-U-O. It's the smarter way to run your business communications. Quo is the number one business phone system built for 2025, not 1995. In fact, it's rated the top choice for customer satisfaction with over 3 ,000 reviews on G2.

15:22Quo works right from an app on your phone or computer, and it means your team can share one number and collaborate on calls and texts. just like a shared inbox. And here is what is really cool. Because if you can't answer the phone, Quo's AI agent can. It can qualify leads, it can route calls to the right person, and it's going to make sure no customer is ever left hanging. Think of it like having 24-7 support without the 24-7 payroll. More than 90 ,000 businesses are already running on Quo, from solo operators to growing teams. Try it free when you go to Quo.com slash side hustle. that's q u o.com slash side hustle you can even keep your existing number quo no missed calls no missed customers yeah we'll plug the facebook group for a minute it's the virtual savvies so facebook.com slash groups slash va savvies again 30 000 people in their cool supportive community that you built yes totally there's tons of people you can connect with there we post job opportunities every day inside of that group.

16:25So that's actually one really awesome way to find clients. Oh, nice. Yeah, pretty much almost every single day, we're posting a few jobs inside of that group. So just by being in that free group alone, you can be exposed to remote job opportunities. It's totally free. We post them there for the people who come to us and say, hey, where do I find a virtual assistant? Well, we've got plenty of them for you. If you're on that side of the equation, you can hit up the virtualsavvy.com slash hire and kind of fill out the form there. And I imagine those are the requests or those are the inquiries that end up in the Facebook group.

16:58Exactly. Yes. We've talked a little bit on the previous podcast about looking at just your local network. And I still, I'll say this first. If there's people that you know, most of us know one small business owner, talk to them first. The people, the relationships that you've already formed, those are going to be the best people to at least let them know about your business. Even if they're not ready to hire you, they very well probably have other small business owner friends. They have a network if they're a small business owner. So just let people know what you're doing because that's one of the best ways to just get kind of that word of mouth marketing started.

17:34We have people all the time that will... One of my very first projects inside of the course that I teach is to reach out to friends and family. Even if they're not small business owners, just let people know what you're doing, right? And people will say, oh, I did this and nothing really happened. But then two months down the line, they get one of their biggest clients because their Aunt Sue was at the grocery store and ended up talking to somebody. I think that it's something good to put in place just because it really could come back later and help out your business. And it just gets us in the practice of telling people.

18:07A lot of times, I think we're just scared to tell people what we're doing because we're like, well, I haven't got a client yet. I'm not really making money from this yet. Should I even tell people what if it flops? But just start telling people what you're doing, because that word of mouth really will find its way back around. And that goes into a lot of the local networking meetings, right? Like go to those local meetups, go to your local chamber of commerce, things like that. Just be in networks with small business owners. But I think that that can transfer online too. A lot of times, those networks where people are hanging out are on Facebook groups or they are in LinkedIn groups.

18:45And so I think that spending time and building genuine relationships in those kinds of platforms can be really good as well. Let's talk about a couple of these things. So talking to business owners, I think you're right. Everybody knows probably at least somebody who's in the entrepreneurial space in one form or another. How do you frame that conversation in a way that's not immediately pitchy? Right. I think it does depend a little bit on your level of the relationship. So if this is a friend, they're just going to be excited that you're finally starting a business, right? Sure. They're like, well, welcome to the dark side.

19:21Exactly. Entrepreneurs want more entrepreneur friends and they get really excited when their friends start businesses. So I think that depending on the level of the relationship, you can just let them know, hey, I'm finally doing it. I'm finally starting a business. And it can be as informal as that. And you don't necessarily even have to ask them to be your client right up front. I don't think that that's always needed. One of the really great things is that when you start to talk about outsourcing and taking things off people's plates, most business owners are automatically like, oh man, I need that.

19:57Like it's one of the easiest sells ever because you're not just trying to like, here's this thing that this big package that I have, that's maybe something you would wanna do someday. Most people are like, get rid of some of these little tasks off my plate. That's exactly what I need. So a lot of times it does sell itself. So definitely if that's the type of relationship that you already have, just go at it like that. If this is more of an acquaintance or just somebody that you've met one time, I think it's okay to set it up as something that's a little more formal. Maybe just ask to take them out to coffee, And again, engage in just a conversation of, hey, here's the business that I've started.

20:34I thought of you because compliment their business talks to them about why you enjoy their business, their product, whatever. And then just, hey, it's just something to keep in mind. Again, I'm not a pushy salesperson, and maybe some people are more aggressive in their sales than I am. I'm a really big fan of forming relationships. So taking somebody out to coffee, sending them a letter in the mail, doing an email and just asking them, hey, how's your business going? That's definitely more my style when it comes to sales. And it has worked in the past, at least for me, for my students, just really building genuine relationships.

21:11relationships, people know what you do. They'll know what your services are through that. And when the time is right, they'll hire you. Yeah. And even through these in-person networking events or through these conversations, you can frame it as somebody who's curious, like in your business, what are the biggest pain points right now? Both John Logar and Dane Maxwell from the foundation on the podcast shared this whole kind of idea extraction process. And they were ultimately looking to solve those problems with software. But like, hey, you could solve the problem with your own service in the near term.

21:46If you had a magic wand, what would this look like? What are you spending the most time on today? John shared the story of like, you know, I'm calling you up because you're a leader in the industry. If you have five minutes, I want to get your take on the biggest problems facing your industry or some framework like that. And I thought that was an interesting way to go about it, just to get somebody talking and if they can open up and say, that, well, you know, hey, either I might be able to help you out myself or I might be able to point you in the right direction or just might be, hey, that's interesting.

22:14That's some inside knowledge. And then to the point about letting people know what you're doing, I think the big distinction to make here is not necessarily selling to your own network. I mean, if you get clients that way, fantastic, but really tapping into your network's network because it starts with this one-to-one thing. And I've totally been there like not wanting to tell anybody about my business because it's like, well, who are you to start talking about that? Or who are you to do that? And it's a really vulnerable thing, but it starts one-to-one. And that was what I did when I launched the podcast.

22:47The first 50 episodes are embarrassing, but it's like, that's what I did to kind of get the initial traction, direct email outreach, going through Gmail, opening up a compose window, typing a letter and like seeing what would auto populate? Like what would Google suggest if I typed in like a, a, a like, Oh, I haven't emailed Aaron in a while. Hey, what's going on here? I just started this thing. Any other ideas on the client side or any other students who are having success in other ways? There's one other thing that I really enjoy too. And that would be something that I call high end client targeting.

23:21I'm a really big fan of this because it, well, it landed me my biggest client back when I was a VA. And it's basically when you identify somebody that you would really love to work for. So it's not always, sometimes this can happen if you already have chosen what your skills are gonna be, what your services are going to be, or maybe you're just starting out and you're like, man, I don't really care what I do for this person. I just really wanna work for them. And I think that that's where a lot of my clients will start as well, is that they will find just a person and they'll just start paying attention, right?

23:55So much of this business has to do with listening. Just like you were talking about, you start to talk to somebody, you're not just selling them on their services, you get them to talk about their pain points. What is that? That's listening. People love to talk about themselves. So just listen and pay attention and those opportunities will be there. And I find that that's the same when it comes to high-end client targeting. So you're listening to somebody's podcast or you're watching YouTube videos or you're reading through blog posts. It's amazing how people will just kind of bring up holes in their business.