727: $250/hr by Productizing Your Expertise

The Side Hustle Show

Nick Loper

How To, Entrepreneurship, Business, Education

4.7 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2026

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What if you could earn $250-$300 an hour solving a problem most people would rather avoid? Jim Lashbaugh did exactly that, and last year, it added about $40,000 in extra income. Jim is a retired firefighter who spent nearly three decades on the job. On the side, he flipped houses. And as part of that, he had to wrestle with one of the most annoying parts of real estate development: building permits. He got good at it, but he never planned to do it for anyone else. Then a friend asked for help. Then a stranger called. And SynergyPermits.com was born. Jim joined the show to share how he turned a very specific, very unglamorous skill into a flexible side hustle without cold calling, without ads, and without any formal credentials. Tune in to Episode 727 of the Side Hustle Show to learn: how to find the niche skill hiding in your own experience a simple pricing shift that can double or triple your effective hourly rate the one-question close that converts almost every prospect into a paying client Full Show Notes: $250/hr by Productizing Your Expertise New to the Show? Get your personalized money-making playlist ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Sponsors: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Indeed⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ – Start hiring NOW with a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quo (formerly OpenPhone)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ — Get 20% off of your first 6 months! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Shopify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ — Sign up for a $1 per month trial! About The Side Hustle Show This is the entrepreneurship podcast you can actually apply! The award-winning small business show covers the best side hustles and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠side hustle ideas⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We share how to start a business and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠make money online⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and offline, including online business, side gigs, freelancing, marketing, sales funnels, investing, and much more. Join 100,000+ listeners and get legit business ideas and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠passive income⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ strategies straight to your earbuds. No BS, just actionable tips on how to start and grow your side hustle. Hosted by Nick Loper of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Side Hustle Nation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Transcript

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0:00.0	If you're selling online or out of a storefront, you already know the challenge.
0:04.7	You're hoping people find your listing or you're waiting for them to walk in.
0:08.1	WhatNot flips that.
0:09.5	This is the live shopping platform that's exploding right now on WhatNot.
0:13.4	You go live and you sell directly to real people in real time.
0:17.2	They see what you've got.
0:18.4	They ask questions and they buy.
0:20.4	And what's crazy is
0:21.4	whatnot buyers spend more than an hour a day in the app. So whether it's beauty products,
0:26.5	collectibles, thrift store fines, electronics, even cookies. Sellers are building real
0:32.1	thriving businesses on whatnot. I've seen the rankings, I've seen the revenue numbers,
0:36.3	and the number of sellers making over a million dollars on WhatNot has doubled in the last year. Now is the time to give it a try for yourself. For a limited time, WhatNot will match your first $150 sold in the first month. Visit whatnot.com slash sell to start selling. That's W-H-A-T-N-O-T dot com slash sell. What-N-O-T-W-N-O-T-W-N-O-T-W-N-O-T-W-N-T.
1:02.9	$250.50 bucks an hour solving other people's problems. Today's guest is a longtime side
1:08.0	hustle show listener who took just a sliver of his expertise
1:11.2	and turned it into an extra $40,000 last year. I think he might be able to take a page
1:16.2	out of his playbook and unlock a similar high-value side hustle for yourself from Synergy
1:22.3	Hermits.com Jim Lashbaugh. Welcome to The Side Hustle Show. Hi, Nick. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.
1:29.5	Excited for this one. Stick around. We're covering idea generation, pricing and promotion,
1:35.0	and the simple question you can use to close more leads. So Jim, my understanding is you're working
1:40.9	as a firefighter for almost three decades. Never met a firefighter without a
1:45.2	side hustle. Yours was flipping houses. And as part of that, you built up some experience or some
1:52.3	expertise in the permitting side of the business. And that's what Synergy Permits is born out of.
	...

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