Latest / The Side Hustle Career Podcast with Fexingo: Second Income, Freelancing While Employed / Fire Safety Consulting Sideline Pays 12K a Month
Transcript
- Lucas: You know that moment when you're at a friend's Airbnb and you spot a missing fire extinguisher and your brain starts ticking about violations? For Jake Morrison, a Portland firefighter, that moment turned into a twelve thousand dollar a month side hustle. Luna: Wait — he's checking for violations as a guest? That's either the most annoying guest ever or the most brilliant business idea I've heard. Lucas: Right? Jake told me he couldn't turn it off. He'd walk into any property and see the gaps in fire safety. So he figured, why not get paid for that instinct? He started offering fire safety inspections for landlords and small business owners. And honestly, if this kind of practical story is helpful for you to think about your own skills, it stays on the air because listeners like you support the show at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. A small gesture that keeps us entirely ad-free. Luna: Yeah, it's a great reminder that the stuff you know intuitively has real market value. So how did Jake get his first client? Lucas: He started with a Craigslist post. Just a plain ad saying 'Firefighter offers fire code inspections for your rental property.' No website, no logo. Within a week he had three bites. One was a landlord who had just been fined by the city and was desperate for someone to fix his compliance issues. Luna: A fine is a powerful motivator. So Jake positioned himself as the guy who could prevent fines. How much did that first gig pay? Lucas: He charged four hundred dollars for a single-family home inspection. Took him about two hours, including writing the report. That's a two-hundred-dollar hourly rate. And he didn't even have to leave his day job — he does these gigs on his off days. Luna: Okay, but there's got to be a conflict of interest issue. He's a firefighter. Could he get in trouble with his department for doing this? Lucas: Good question. Jake was careful. He checked his department's ethics policy. Turns out, as long as he wasn't using his official badge or station resources, and he wasn't inspecting properties that his own station covers, it was fine. He also made it clear he's not a city inspector — he's a consultant giving advice, not enforcing anything. Luna: That seems like a smart boundary. So the business grew from Craigslist. How did he scale to twelve thousand a month? Lucas: He started targeting property managers who oversee multiple units. One property manager with fifty units became his anchor client. Jake inspects each unit annually at a discounted rate of three hundred dollars per unit. That alone is fifteen thousand a year from one client. Then he added a few small commercial spaces — restaurants, retail stores — and priced those at seven hundred fifty dollars per inspection. Luna: So the property manager client alone is over a thousand a month if you spread it out. Did he ever run into a situation where he found something dangerous and had to walk away? Lucas: Actually, yes. He inspected a duplex where the landlord had a makeshift electrical setup for the smoke alarms. Jake flagged it and the landlord refused to fix it. Jake told him he couldn't certify the property as safe and dropped the client. He says his reputation is more important than a single gig. Luna: That's integrity. And it probably gives him more credibility. Word of mouth from clients who appreciate his thoroughness. Lucas: Exactly. He now gets referrals from insurance agents who recommend him to their commercial clients. Because a fire safety audit can lower premiums. Jake has a standard checklist he uses that's based on the International Fire Code, but he also adds photos and specific recommendations. His reports are so detailed that clients use them as action plans. Luna: So what does a typical month look like for him? How many inspections does he do to hit twelve grand? Lucas: He does about twelve to fifteen inspections a month. Most are residential at three to five hundred dollars each, and two or three are commercial at seven fifty. He books them on his three days off each week. So he's working his side hustle about twelve to fifteen hours a week, plus report writing. Luna: And his firefighter schedule helps — those 24-hour shifts give him long breaks. So he can cluster his consulting work on his off days. I love how he turned a limitation into an advantage. Lucas: That's the theme of this whole episode, right? The thing you think is just part of your job — like knowing fire codes — is actually a product you can sell. Jake didn't need a business degree. He just knew what he knew and found people willing to pay for it. Luna: But what about liability? If he gives advice and something goes wrong, could he be sued? Lucas: He mitigated that by getting a simple professional liability insurance policy — it costs him about fifty bucks a month. He also includes a disclaimer in every report that says his inspection is advisory only and doesn't guarantee compliance. He's not a city official. Luna: Smart. So for anyone listening who has a specialized skill from their day job — whether you're a firefighter, a nurse, an electrician — the takeaway is to look for the pain points that your skill can solve for other people. Lucas: Exactly. Jake saw that landlords hate fire-code fines and property managers want lower insurance costs. He connected the dots. And he didn't overthink it. A simple Craigslist ad got him started. Now he's making more from his side hustle than many people make in a full-time job. Luna: Alright, so what's next for Jake? Is he planning to quit the firehouse? Lucas: He says no. He loves being a firefighter. The side hustle gives him financial freedom — he paid off his truck and is saving for a house — but he's not leaving the station. The combination of a steady pension plus a scalable consulting practice is his version of the good life. Luna: That's a great perspective. He's not trying to replace his income; he's diversifying it. And using his down time productively. Lucas: Right. And that's the real lesson — you don't have to leave your career to build something on the side. You just have to look at what you already know with fresh eyes.