Latest / The Side Hustle Career Podcast with Fexingo: Second Income, Freelancing While Employed / How a Firefighter Built a 12K Side Hustle in Emergency Preparedness Consulting
Transcript
- Lucas: So, Luna, I've been thinking about the people who have the most hands-on experience with emergencies, and it hit me: firefighters. They see the aftermath of disasters every single day. Luna: That's a really good point. They probably know exactly what goes wrong when people aren't prepared. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the story of Marcus Chen, a firefighter and EMT in the Pacific Northwest. After twenty years on the job, he started a side hustle in emergency preparedness consulting that now pulls in twelve thousand dollars a month. Luna: Wow. How did he go from the firehouse to a full-blown consulting practice? Lucas: It started with a church workshop. A friend asked him to give a talk on disaster preparedness for families, and he put together a simple presentation on how to build a 72-hour emergency kit. Thirty people showed up, and afterward, he had a line of folks asking him to help them personally. Luna: So he basically discovered a demand that he didn't even know existed. Lucas: Right. He realized that while there's plenty of generic advice online, almost nobody offers hands-on, personalized guidance. And he had the real-world experience to back it up. So he started charging a hundred and fifty dollars for a two-hour home consultation. Luna: And how did he get his first few paying clients beyond that initial workshop? Lucas: He says it was all word of mouth. After the workshop, he posted on a local community Facebook group, and within a week, he had five bookings. Then one of those clients was a small business owner who asked if he could do the same for his office. That's when the light bulb went off. Luna: So the business side just kind of snowballed from there? Lucas: It did, but not without effort. He developed a structured offering: a home assessment, a written emergency plan, and a one-hour training session. For small businesses, he does a more detailed risk assessment and a business continuity plan. He charges anywhere from five hundred to three thousand dollars for corporate gigs. Luna: That's a pretty big range. How does he decide what to charge? Lucas: He told me he bases it on the size of the company and the complexity of their operations. A small retail shop might need a basic plan, but a construction company with multiple sites has different hazards and more moving parts. He also factors in his time for follow-up calls and revisions. Luna: Makes sense. And I imagine his credibility as a firefighter is a huge selling point. Nobody questions whether he knows what he's talking about. Lucas: Absolutely. He leads with that in his marketing. His pitch is basically, 'I've been inside burning buildings; I know what panic looks like.' He doesn't need certifications, though he did get a certificate in emergency management just to add some credibility on paper. Luna: But he's doing this while working full-time as a firefighter, right? How does that even work with shift schedules? Lucas: It takes a lot of scheduling discipline. Firefighters often work 24-hour shifts, then get days off. Marcus uses his days off for client appointments and keeps his evenings free for writing plans and doing research. He's also upfront with clients about his availability from the start, so there are no surprises. Luna: Does his employer know about his side hustle? Lucas: He was nervous about that at first, but he checked his employee handbook and found no conflict of interest policy against it. He made sure his side work never interferes with his shifts, and he doesn't use any fire department equipment or facilities for his business. He's very careful to keep the two separate. Luna: That's smart. And it's probably a good model for anyone with a demanding full-time job. Lucas: Exactly. He's not moonlighting on the job; he's using his off-time to build something that's genuinely valuable to others. And he says the extra income has been a game-changer, especially since firefighter salaries aren't exactly tech-level. Luna: So what's his biggest challenge right now? Lucas: He says it's scaling. He's only one person, and he can only do so many assessments per week. He's been toying with the idea of creating a digital course or hiring other first responders to train as consultants, but he's hesitant to take on that kind of risk while still working full-time. Luna: That's a classic side-hustle dilemma. You get to a point where you have to decide if you want to go all in. Lucas: Right. And right now, he's happy with the balance. He's making twelve thousand a month, but he's only working about fifteen hours a week on it. He told me he values the stability of his firefighter job and the health benefits, so he's in no rush to jump ship. Luna: And that's a really important lesson: you don't always have to turn a side hustle into a full-time business. Sometimes the best move is to keep the day job and enjoy the extra income. Lucas: For sure. And he's careful to note that his success didn't happen overnight. It took about two years to build up to this level. The first year he was making maybe a thousand a month, and he almost quit twice. But he kept at it, refining his process and getting testimonials. Luna: What would you say is the one takeaway from his story that our listeners can apply to their own side hustle ideas? Lucas: I think it's that your professional experience, no matter how niche, is actually a marketable asset. Marcus never thought his firefighting skills would translate into a business, but once he started listening to what people were asking for, he found a profitable niche. Luna: And speaking of valuable niches, I think there's something else we should mention here. Lucas and I have been making this podcast for a while now, and it's only possible because of a small group of listeners who support us directly. There are no ads on the show, no corporate sponsors. Lucas: Right, exactly. It's completely listener-funded. If you've gotten value from these episodes, and you want to help keep it going, you can buy us a coffee at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It honestly means the world to us. Luna: Yeah, and even just a one-time contribution helps cover the costs of hosting and editing. But we're not going to belabor it. Let's get back to Marcus. So he's got this successful side hustle, but what about the loneliness of working alone? Does he miss the camaraderie of the firehouse? Lucas: He says that's actually one of the best parts about his consulting work. He gets to meet new people every week, and he enjoys the one-on-one interactions. He also does group training sessions for businesses, which gives him a different kind of energy than the fire station. Luna: That makes sense. He's building relationships and helping people in a different way. Lucas: And he's learning new skills too. He's had to get comfortable with sales, marketing, and even basic accounting. He says it's kept his mind sharp and made him better at his day job, because he's more attuned to safety issues and communication. Luna: That's a nice feedback loop. So for someone listening right now who's thinking, 'I have a specialized skill, but I don't know how to turn it into a side hustle,' what's the first step you'd recommend? Lucas: I'd say start by talking to people in your network. Ask them what problems they encounter that relate to your expertise. Marcus did that almost by accident, but it works. And don't be afraid to start small, like he did with that church workshop. You don't need a full-blown business plan to validate an idea. Luna: And once you have that validation, you can build from there. It's a great example of turning your day job into a side gig, without burning any bridges. Lucas: Absolutely. Marcus is proof that with a little creativity and a lot of hustle, you can create a second income that's both profitable and personally fulfilling.