Side Hustle Spark 245: Seth Godin’s ShipIt Journal (freebie)

The Shipit Journal–another valuable free resource from Seth Godin.

Get it here.

It’s an easy read. But don’t tell him you just read it.

Quote from the blog post: Here’s the thing: If all you do is read this on the screen, IT WON’T WORK.

This book feels like Seth is either looking over your shoulder or holding up a mirror for you to face yourself (and the book’s questions.)

One of my favorite pages asks three questions in the above word cloud.

Another favorite page:

What does failure look like?
List every outcome or event you’re anxious about
happening.
(Really? That’s it?)
Try again.

Enjoy and forge ahead!

Side Hustle Spark 243: Blog Topic Generator from webfx.com

CLICK THE SCREENSHOT ABOVE FOR A 2-MINUTE DEMO
OF WEBFX.COM’S TOPIC GENERATOR

I know there are other blog topic generators out there, but I really preferred this one over the others.

It didn’t limit me to a single week’s worth of possible titles and it was seamless in its delivery.

The ‘Google This Idea’ button is another plus.

And think of it…you don’t have to limit yourself to your side hustle topics.

Use it to come up with new product and service ideas.

If you dabble in fiction, why not enter ‘Big Bad Wolf’ and see what ideas emerge?

Side Hustle Spark 193: Unleash the Ideavirus (Freebie)

Seth Godin, a real wise guy, is also a very generous guy.

His April 19, 2018 post provides a link to his Unleashing the Ideavirus . (I realize ‘virus’ is an unwelcome word since last March, but hey, let’s look at it in a different context.)

And if you’re short of time, here is a summary of the book.

Enjoy. Hope you learn a little…or a lot.

Forge ahead!

Side Hustle Spark 118: Freebie book of quotes

Way back in Side Hustle Suggestion 49, I posted a short video running through pithy–yes, exaggerating, as usual–quotes for entrepreneurs.

Today, help yourself to this best seller, though it can’t really be called that since I’m not selling it, but I guess I could, but really, why, I mean, just give it away, right? And what constitutes a best seller anyway?

If you’re read this far, you’re now convinced I should not be anyone to trust with your future…Enjoy the book anyway.

I’ll soon post a pared-down, printer ink/toner friendly version.

Side Hustle Spark 113: Pat Flynn’s Essential Guides…

Pat Flynn calls them ‘guides’. I’d call them text-and-relevant-audio based online courses.

Below are the links…

to Mindset for Entrepreneurs

to Email Marketing

to Branding

to Business Fundamentals

to Online Courses

More SPI online course resources here

If you want to add value to these guides, and if you have capable software**, consider recording the screen as you cruise through your favorite content so you can conveniently replay it on your device of choice.

**Filmora, Camtasia, Snag-it, Screencast-O-Matic.. OBS Studio, Screencastify, ScreenFlow

Side Hustle Spark 111: Pat Flynn’s The Income Stream

206 straight episodes of his The Income Stream YouTube channel
and counting for Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income.

On the weekends, he does live reviews of websites and YouTube channels submitted by visitors.

In fact, for a more detailed, informative shortcut through this model of a consistent ‘value-added’ approach, let’s take a look at his The Income Stream Clips channel .

Side Hustle Spark 106: hustleandconquer.com

mindmap of hustleandconquer.com content

hustleandconquer gets to the heart of many side hustlers’ needs and interests.

Check out his Gumroad store, as well. His book selection has changed since I first visited, but his reasonably priced content is worth a look, including the possibility of a freebie or two.

Reminder: No one is giving me perks or $$ to promote. The sites look interesting and potentially valuable for folks looking to make some extra money. Even if the topics look overly familiar, the ideas and strategies behind them might be unique and more to your liking than others you’ve tried.

Suggestion 74: Today’s freebie from edx.org

A free auditable course named Creativity and Entrepreneurship.

Here is the blurb: “Learn skills and listen to examples from world-renown entrepreneurs and innovators as they discuss the parallels between the creative and entrepreneurial journeys — and why entrepreneurship, much like music or creativity, is something we all possess.”

“The course approaches entrepreneurship as a creative process, a fundamental human instinct that we all possess and can unlock. Creativity & Entrepreneurship applies concepts from the creative and musical creation process, such as observing, prototyping, iterating and embracing failure, as a means of guiding you through the concept of thinking like a startup. You will develop the basic mindset, knowledge, and insights required to pursue an entrepreneurial career, whether as the steward of your own career or as the founder of a new business in any field.”

Signing up is free at edx.org.

Note: I’m not sure their parallels between entrepreneurs and musicians will connect with all those who sign up, but it’s worth a shot.

Who has time to take a course?

Let’s think…how can you get some value from an online course when you’re so busy with other list items?

A few ideas:

  • Run the lectures in the background while working on other tasks or exercising at home.
  • Pick and choose from the syllabus below.
  • Run ten minutes of the course while having your morning coffee.

Here is the syllabus:

Lesson 1: INSPIRATION: The Entrepreneurial Mindset

  • What is Entrepreneurship after all?
  • Why musicians are natural entrepreneurs
  • 5 Skills of Successful Innovators
  • Seeing What Others Don’t/Learn to Observe

Lesson 2: CREATION: Team Building and Product Development

  • Connecting with your Intentions
  • Process of Reduction
  • Falling in love with a Problem
  • Prototyping
  • Iteration

Lesson 3: COLLABORATION/PRESENTATION

  • Understanding your Customer
  • Building a Team
  • Developing your Brand
  • Presenting

Lesson 4: REJUVINATION: The Inner Game of Entrepreneurship

  • Coping with Failure
  • The Art of Relationship Building/Developing a Network
  • Learn to Replenish
  • Panos’ This much I know is True

I hope this helps.

Let me know what else you would like me
to dig up for you.

Suggestion 70: Today’s freebie from StartUpNation

An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Navigating Covid-19

Three of the included sections:

  • Ways to unlock your entrepreneurial spirit during quarantine
  • Business industries thriving during the pandemic—and new opportunities to start a business
  • Tech trends to watch

Some of the book’s ‘actionable steps’ include:

  • Research
  • Get in the right frame of mind
  • Plan for the future
  • I especially liked the ‘create a pitch deck‘ suggestion.

Ideas on preparing your business for ‘after Covid-19’:

  • Revamp your marketing strategy. Check for materials that are now outdated or that–in this new environment–might even appear insensitive.
  • Offer more online events and experiences
  • Stay connected with customers via emails and surveys. [How about a short video message straight from you?]

Suggestion 58: Check out this free illustrations site

Created by Samuel Briskar & Ade Hidayat

Let’s start the week with a freebie.

Fee-free, attribution-free [though encouraged] ** click here.

The illustration style and subjects are wide-ranging, but then, so are the needs of side hustlers, so there should be something you could use, if not for business purposes, then for ‘playtime’ while texting or emailing.

Process:

  1. Click on the collection that interests you. I chose https://undraw.co/ .
  2. Click ‘Visit Site’.
  3. Click ‘Browse Now’. I hovered over the ‘Problem-solving’ image.
  4. I get the choice to download either the SVG or the PNG version of the image.
  5. I download the PNG version.
  6. And here it is…

Here are a few samples from the 80+ collections featured on the site.

from opendoodles.com
https://blush.design/artists/susana-ortiz
freepik.com

So, set aside some time to explore. [This post took me waaay longer than I intended–got sidetracked by all the interesting freebies.]

Have a great week and let me know how I can assist-by-curation.

** Free for commercial and personal use under CC0 license.