You may or may not know that the US Postal Service is now in the grocery delivery business. Yes, they have been given approval by the Postal Regulatory Commission for a two-year grocery delivery test in San Francisco, CA.
You also may or may not know that the US Postal Service works as subcontractors for Fed-Ex and UPS. Yes, USPS delivers more than two million packages a day for the two other shipping giants.
What does that tell you?
That they are doing whatever it takes to stay innovative and relative in an age where online messaging has taken over the way Americans choose to communicate. They are embracing change. They are pivoting in order to stay top of mind. They are focusing on what they can do as opposed to what they can’t do. Other federal agencies as well as employees should take note.
If the federal government sees the need to stay innovative and in a sense start a side hustle business in the grocery delivery industry, what about you?
Ding!
You guessed it.
You need to start one too.
Once again, take the example of the US Postal Service, they are not starting a completely different side hustle. They are in the delivery business, so they have chosen to align themselves with what is already in their wheelhouse. They are leveraging their existing expertise to access a new revenue stream.
How can that apply to you?
Well, look at what you currently do for work and ask yourself,” how can I leverage what I already know?” One of the best ways to do this is to teach to others what comes easily to you. If you think you don’t have anything to teach, answer this question that I came across from a blog I regularly read by blogger and podcaster Sean McCabe at www.seanwes.com
Is what I know more than what I knew when I first came into this field? If the answer is yes, and it usually is, then you’ve got something to teach.
Sean says that every aspect of what you do and have done can be taught. The great thing about this is that you don’t have to do any extra work to learn something first, because you already know it. Just teach people what you know.
I recently polled my email list and asked what areas in which they would like to start a side business. I got a response from Michael saying that he already does a lot of training on the job. He wants to know how he can develop this into a side business. Brian is asking the right question. He already knows a ton about training, so he should develop a course around that. He should not take time to learn how to be photographer in order to earn a side income, unless he around knows about it.
- If you work as a photographer, teach a course on photography
- If you work as a trainer, teach a course on how to be a trainer
- If you work as a fitness instructor, teach a course on how to be a fitness instructor or a related topic
And the best part about it is that you can do this all online. What you already know gives you an unfair advantage over others, so capitalize on it and start teaching.
Another blogger that I follow is Nathan from www.nathanbarry.com He regularly writes about design and marketing. For years, he had the same dilemma that most entrepreneurs have. He couldn’t figure out how to get attention for his business products because no one knew the products existed. He overcame this problem when he started to teach. When he taught about design by putting tutorials on his blog, he gained more email subscribers. He was able to leverage his teaching into an ebook in which he made over $12,000 in the first 24 hours.
If you’re still not convinced, please check out another blog I follow called www.smartpassiveincome.com. The host is Pat Flynn and in a word, he is amazing. What I love about Pat is his generosity. Everything he learns he teaches to his audience. He teaches tutorials on how to start a podcast, how to build your email list and a host of other helpful suggestions. If you go to the top of his website, he tells you exactly how much money he made that month. He is honest and transparent about it. Because he gives so much to his community by teaching what he knows, members always thank him by supporting his projects.
Now it’s your turn: What expertise do you have that you can leverage into side hustle income? I’m sharing my insights about this very topic in an upcoming course I’ve titled “Teach Online: How to Create Side Hustle Income Leveraging Your Existing Skills.”
Remember: Take a page from the United States Postal Service and leverage what you already know by teaching. Next week, I will discuss three platforms that will help you to start teaching online.
Meiko Patton is part of the GovLoop Featured Blogger program, where we feature blog posts by government voices from all across the country (and world!). To see more Featured Blogger posts, click here.
Teaching comes the easiest when it is a subject that you naturally excel at. Also, if you are teaching a subject that you love and are very passionate about, it’s easier to gain the interest of others. Finally, you can always continue to develop your own expertise through teaching, and you can pick up new techniques from students. Great post.
Over the years, this is exactly what I’ve done, Meiko. I’ve never considered myself an expert on subjects like social media, telework, generational diversity, but Ive been invited to speak and teach on them. Why? I was willing to spend some time to learn a little bit more about the subject and take a shot at organizing what I’d learned in order to share it in a concise way with others who didn’t have the time or implication to do their own research. With learning moving more and more in the direction of small chunks, it will become easier and easier to get in the training game (which bodes well for anyone who has a level of expertise and wants to share what they know!).