Latest / The Side Hustle Career Podcast with Fexingo: Second Income, Freelancing While Employed / How a Bank Teller Built a 12K Monthly Side Hustle in Cybersecurity Training
Transcript
- Lucas: I recently caught up with a former bank teller named Maria. She now makes twelve thousand dollars a month running cybersecurity awareness training for small businesses. Luna: Wait — bank teller to cybersecurity trainer? That sounds like a huge pivot. How did she pull that off? Lucas: Honestly, it started with something she saw every day at the bank: customers falling for phishing scams. She realized small businesses had the same problem but no one was teaching them. Luna: That makes sense. And it ties into something we hear a lot on this show — the best side hustles come from noticing a gap in your own world. Lucas: Exactly. And speaking of that — Maria's story is exactly the kind of concrete example we love to share. If you've ever wondered whether your day job could unlock a side income, episodes like this are why we do what we do. Luna: And a quick honest thing — a handful of listeners chip in monthly through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, and that's literally what funds making this many of these. Lucas: Yeah, it's a small group that keeps the show ad-free and focused on real stories like Maria's. No pressure, just if you find value, that's where you can support. Luna: Alright, back to Maria. So she saw the gap — what was the first step she took to turn it into a side hustle? Lucas: She started by getting certified. She studied for the CompTIA Security Plus exam — which cost her about three hundred dollars — and passed it in three months. That gave her credibility. Luna: And she was still working as a teller at that point? That takes discipline. Luna: Free trials — smart. Did any of them convert to paid clients? Lucas: Three out of five signed up for a monthly retainer. She charged two hundred dollars per month initially. Within six months, she had ten clients at five hundred dollars per month each. She realized there was real demand. Luna: Five hundred per client — so to hit twelve grand she needed twenty-four clients. How did she scale from ten to twenty-four? Lucas: Mostly through LinkedIn and referrals. She created a simple automated email sequence that offered a free phishing simulation test. Business owners loved seeing how many employees clicked the fake link — it was a wake-up call. Luna: So the simulation itself became the sales tool? That's clever. Lucas: Exactly. She would run a simulated phishing campaign for free, then present a report showing the click rate. Then she offered the training and monthly simulations for the retainer. At five hundred dollars, it was cheaper than hiring an IT firm. Luna: What does the monthly retainer actually include? Is she doing live training every month? Lucas: No, it's mostly automated. She uses a platform called KnowBe4 to run monthly phishing simulations and track results. She spends about two hours per month per client on report analysis and a quarterly live webinar. Total time is around fifteen hours a week. Luna: Fifteen hours for twelve thousand dollars — that's about two hundred dollars an hour. Not bad for a side hustle. Lucas: Right. And the best part: she's still a bank teller. She doesn't plan to quit because she likes the stability. But the side hustle gives her financial breathing room. Luna: Did she ever worry about competition? There are big security firms offering similar services. Lucas: Yes, but they target enterprises. Maria focuses on businesses with fewer than fifty employees. Those companies can't afford a full-time security team, but they still need compliance for insurance or regulations. That niche is underserved. Luna: So what advice does she have for someone who wants to copy her model? Lucas: Three things: get the CompTIA Security Plus cert, start by offering free phishing simulations to local businesses, and use a platform like KnowBe4 to automate the monthly work. The barrier to entry is low if you're willing to network. Luna: And the certification is the key? I imagine some people might think they need a degree in cybersecurity. Lucas: Not at all. Maria has an associate degree in general studies. The cert and her front-line banking experience were enough. She often tells clients, 'I've seen the scams from the other side of the counter.' That resonates. Luna: I love that she used her day job as a credential. It's a great example of reframing experience. Lucas: Exactly. So if you're listening and you work any front-line customer service job — bank teller, retail, hospitality — you probably see fraud patterns that small business owners don't. That's market intelligence. Luna: And the side hustle doesn't require you to quit your day job. Maria is proof. Lucas: Yeah, she kept the teller job for two years while building this. Only in the last six months did she consider scaling back her bank hours — but she hasn't pulled the trigger. Luna: Smart. What's next for her? Does she plan to hire? Lucas: She's thinking about it. She has a waitlist of ten businesses, but she can only take on two new clients per month without burning out. If she hired a part-time analyst, she could double her capacity. That's the next frontier. Luna: So there's even upside beyond the twelve thousand. I think the key takeaway here is that you don't need to be a tech wizard — you just need to see the problem and get one cert. Lucas: Right. Maria saw phishing scams every day. She turned that front-row seat into a twenty-client side hustle. And it's still growing. That's the kind of story that makes you think about what you're overlooking in your own job. Luna: Absolutely. Thanks for sharing that, Lucas. Lucas: Thanks, Luna. And to everyone listening — if you have a side hustle story or an idea, we'd love to hear it. Until next time.