Latest / The Side Hustle Career Podcast with Fexingo: Second Income, Freelancing While Employed / The Corporate Trainer Who Built a 40K Side Hustle in Soft Skills
Transcript
- Lucas: So, we've talked a lot about side hustles that come from hands-on skills—medical writing, court transcription, that kind of thing. But today I want to drill into something a bit more intangible: soft skills. Luna: Soft skills? You mean like communication, leadership, emotional intelligence? Lucas: Exactly. And specifically, how a corporate trainer—let's call her Sarah—built a side hustle earning forty thousand dollars a month teaching those skills to mid-level managers, all while holding down her full-time job as a training manager at a regional bank. Luna: Forty thousand a month? That's not chump change. How did she pull that off without quitting her day job? Lucas: Well, she started by identifying a gap. Her full-time role gave her a front-row seat to what mid-level managers were struggling with—things like giving tough feedback, running effective meetings, managing remote teams. And she realized these weren't being addressed by the big corporate training providers. Luna: So she saw a need and filled it. But how did she get clients without a flashy portfolio? Lucas: That's the smart part. She leveraged LinkedIn. She started posting short, practical tips—like a two-minute video on how to run a one-on-one that doesn't waste everyone's time. Within a few months, she had a viral post that brought in her first three clients. Luna: Viral on LinkedIn? That's rare. What made it take off? Lucas: She says it was the specificity. Instead of 'be a better leader,' she talked about 'the five questions to ask in every one-on-one.' It was actionable, and people tagged their managers. That post got hundreds of thousands of views, and the inquiries started rolling in. Luna: So she had demand. But forty thousand a month implies serious pricing. How did she set her rates? Lucas: She started with a pilot program—charged two thousand dollars for a six-week virtual workshop with a small group of managers. That felt safe. But after a few successful runs, she did the math on her time and raised her prices to five thousand per cohort. She now runs eight cohorts a month, mostly through corporate contracts. Luna: Eight cohorts a month? That's a lot of hours. How does she fit that around her day job? Lucas: That's where the virtual format helps. She runs most sessions in the evenings or early mornings, and she's careful to block her calendar. She also records sessions so she can reuse content, though she says the live interaction is what keeps clients coming back. Luna: But wait—isn't there a conflict of interest? She's teaching soft skills, and her employer is a bank. Couldn't that be seen as competing? Lucas: She was upfront about it. Her contract didn't prohibit outside work, but she made sure her clients weren't in her employer's industry. She also never used company materials or client lists. It's a fine line, but she navigated it by being transparent with her boss from the start. Luna: And her boss was okay with it? Lucas: Initially skeptical, but once she showed that her side work actually improved her training skills—she brought fresh ideas back to her day job—her boss became a supporter. In fact, she's now considering promoting her to a director-level role. Luna: That's the best-case scenario. But not everyone has that support. What about the legal side—did she need contracts, insurance? Lucas: She worked with a lawyer to draft a simple contract for her clients, and she got professional liability insurance—costs about fifty dollars a month. She also set up an LLC for tax purposes, which separated her business from her personal assets. It's not glamorous, but it's essential. Luna: So what's the biggest mistake she sees people make when trying to monetize soft skills? Lucas: She says it's trying to be everything to everyone. 'I help managers communicate better' is too vague. You need a niche—like 'I help new managers transition from doer to leader'—and you need to talk to that specific pain point. Luna: That makes sense. But how does she market herself beyond LinkedIn? Is she on other platforms? Lucas: She's dabbled in webinars—hosts a free monthly session on a hot topic like 'managing hybrid teams'—and that drives about a third of her leads. She also got featured in a couple of industry newsletters, which gave her credibility. Luna: Word of mouth must be huge too. Lucas: Absolutely. Most of her corporate contracts come from referrals. One HR manager who attended a cohort loved it so much that she introduced Sarah to two other companies. That's the flywheel. Luna: And she's still working full-time? How does she manage the workload without burning out? Lucas: She's very disciplined. She only takes on eight cohorts a month—that's her cap—and she's turned down work to protect her sanity. She also hired a virtual assistant to handle scheduling and emails, which costs her about fifteen hundred a month but frees up ten hours a week. Luna: That's smart. So what's the one thing she'd tell someone thinking about doing this? Lucas: She says start with one pilot cohort, even if it's free or cheap. Get testimonials, refine your curriculum, and then raise your prices. Don't wait until you 'feel ready'—you'll never feel ready. Luna: That's solid advice. And I love that she's proving you can monetize something as human as communication skills in a digital world. Lucas: If today was actually useful to you, the way these stay ad-free is listener support—buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It keeps the podcast going, and we appreciate every bit. Luna: Yeah, it's a small way to say thanks if you got value from this. We love doing this. Lucas: Anyway, back to Sarah—she's now thinking about quitting her day job in the next year. But she's not in a rush. She's building a safety net first, which is smart. And she's even started mentoring other trainers on how to do what she did. Luna: That's a nice twist. So she's not just building a side hustle, she's building a legacy. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the takeaway: your professional skills are more marketable than you think. You just have to find the right angle and be willing to put yourself out there. Luna: Well said. Thanks for the great story, Lucas. Lucas: Thanks for listening, and if you have a side hustle story, we'd love to hear it.