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Side Hustle School

Ep. 3114 - Q&A: “Is it okay to use a fake name for my business?”

Side Hustle School

Chris Guillebeau / Onward Project

Business, Entrepreneurship, Careers

4.83.3K Ratings

🗓️ 11 July 2025

⏱️ 6 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Is it shady to use a fake name for your side hustle—or just smart privacy protection? In this episode, we look at the ethics, risks, and alternatives to staying anonymous.

Side Hustle School features a new episode EVERY DAY, featuring detailed case studies of people who earn extra money without quitting their job. This year, the show includes free guided lessons and listener Q&A several days each week.

Show notes: SideHustleSchool.com

Email: [email protected]

Be on the show: SideHustleSchool.com/questions

Connect on Instagram: @193countries

Visit Chris's main site: ChrisGuillebeau.com

Read A Year of Mental Health: yearofmentalhealth.com

If you're enjoying the show, please pass it along! It's free and has been published every single day since January 1, 2017. We're also very grateful for your five-star ratings—it shows that people are listening and looking forward to new episodes. 😎 🙏🏼 



See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Lemonada. Is it ever okay to use a fake name for your business? A fake name, a pen name, a pseudonym.

0:17.3

Today we're going to hear from a guy who doesn't want his employer to find out about his side hustle. And to do that, he needs to use a different last name. He's just concerned about

0:25.6

the search engine rankings, his boss basically finding out. So not everybody out there wants

0:30.9

their boss or their neighbors or just other people knowing what they do outside of work hours.

0:35.6

Or it could be the kind of project that you want to have

0:37.9

privacy in, perhaps depending on the topic or industry or just depending on yourself. So what do you do

0:44.3

in this situation? Can you just use a different last name or a different name entirely in your

0:49.1

marketing materials on your website, your LinkedIn and so on? The goal isn't deception. It is

0:53.8

privacy, but is that

0:55.3

allowed? Is it ethical? And perhaps could it backfire in some way? Let's talk about what's

1:00.3

really at stake when you operate under a pseudonym and how to protect both your business and

1:04.4

your boundaries. That is today's episode. Welcome to Side Ussel School. Detailed question and my

1:09.2

answer coming right up.

1:13.4

Introducing the new Dell AI PC powered by the Intel Core Ultra processor. It's not just an AI

1:19.3

computer, it's a computer built for AI. That means it's built to help do your busy work for you.

1:25.4

So you can fast forward through editing images, designing

1:28.8

presentations, generating code, debugging code, running lots of apps without lag, creating live

1:34.0

translations and captions, summarizing meeting notes, extending battery life, enhancing security,

1:39.5

finding that file you are looking for, managing your schedule, meeting your deadlines,

1:43.5

and responding to Chuck's

1:44.8

long emails. Chuck, our producer, doesn't actually send long emails, but this computer can do a lot,

1:51.1

leaving all the time in the world for more U-time and for the things you actually want to do.

...

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