No one was really sure what Chris Guillebeau did for a living. Sure, he was a writer and world traveler, but who gets paid for such things? On airplanes, he’d taken to telling his seatmate that he was in refrigerator sales. No one asked any questions after that.
Through a life that ranged from aspirational car thief (age fourteen) to bestselling author (age thirty…and counting), Chris had managed to cobble together a career where he worked all the time, but reported to no one. For ten years, he pursued a quest to visit every country in the world. Midpoint in the journey, he started writing about it—thus leading to a series of books, events, and other activities that allowed him to continue deferring any real employment.
One day, Chris decided that he would start a podcast. He had always liked speaking into a microphone on a desk. And, like Gandhi said, you should be the podcast you wish to see in the world.
So he got to work, but he also started getting help.
His most able-bodied and consistent help in this effort came from Whitney Korenek, a professional cat herder (also known as “content manager”). Through nearly one thousand episodes and counting, Whitney has wrangled details from busy side hustlers, coordinated a gaggle of writers—more on them in a bit—and otherwise made the whole project much better than it would have been otherwise.
The podcast is brought to life each day by a competent and good-looking team, always eager to fix Chris’s mistakes. Senior producer A. C. Valdez corrects the pronunciation of sixth-grade-level words, tells Chris to speak slower, and encourages him to drink fewer cups of coffee before recording. Assistant producer Sarah Barrett has dutifully mixed more than two hundred episodes. Side Hustle sidekick Jedd Chang is in charge of email, customer service, and anything related to trucker hats.
Then, one day, Chris had another bold idea: he wanted to write a book. This book would be different from any other. It would have words and pictures. It would show and tell. It would be available online and at local bookstores.
He called up his longtime friend and literary agent, David Fugate. David shopped the book around the publishing world, and was met with a range of responses. One publisher asked if we could do the full-color, photographic book in black and white, and without any photos. Another one asked, “Isn’t Chris a refrigerator salesman?”
But then David spoke to Lisa Westmoreland at Ten Speed Press, who loved the idea. She led the process of shepherding the manuscript through the publishing trifecta of writing, editing, and production. Although she may regret it now, creative director Emma Campion was willing to say yes to the idea of crowdsourcing images from more than eighty different people. A whole team at Ten Speed pitched in to help, many of whom are unnamed here but appreciated nonetheless.*
With a team in place, all Chris had to do was write the book. But though he’d done such a thing before, this book was different from all the rest.
He needed help from the gaggle of writers that works on Side Hustle School stories, interviewing the featured case studies, researching their businesses, and crafting an initial narrative. At press time, the group included no fewer than eighteen people: Tom Bentley, Jan Black, Joanna Mayhew Brewster, Sean Brison, Yolanda Enoch, Yael Grauer, Brendan Hufford, Louis Chew Chong Jin, James Johnson, Whitney Korenek, Eleanor McCrary, Elizabeth McIntyre, Garrett Oden, Becca Warner, Tami Weiss, Chris Wheary, Carlee Wright, and Dean Yeong.
While Chris is responsible for any errors, the story drafts from the writers, as well as many of the puns and other contributions, made the book much better.
Last but not least, research shows that a photographic book usually looks better with photographs. Chris’s favorite photographer of all time, Tera Wages, traveled to six cities, even bunking down as a temporary refugee in the O’Hare Airport after a late-night flight cancellation. Other photographers, credited in the book on this page, also chipped in.
Fact-checking was another challenge of Olympian proportions. In this responsibility and many others, Tina Hart deserves a gold medal. She spent several weeks emailing and calling dozens of people over and over to confirm important details in our featured stories about chicken saddles, bounce houses, and more.
It really does take a village to produce a podcast and publish a book, just like Abraham Lincoln explained in his popular “Nine Ways to Get More Followers on Social Media” national address.
Further challenges appeared on the hero’s journey to publication date, including the case of the disappearing manuscript file, the frivolous lawsuit of a disgruntled blogger, the onset of mortality signified by the author’s fortieth birthday, Russians hacking the election, and so on.
Nevertheless, he persisted. Somehow, he managed.
After the first attempt at delegation failed (“Alexa, write this book”), he buckled down and got to work.
When publication day arrived, he looked around and knew that he was lucky. He felt fortunate, relieved, and grateful.
He was grateful, most of all, to the person reading this book. He hoped it would inspire something in them. He hoped they would know they could do something just like the people in the book. He wanted to encourage dreamers to rise above the negativity they encountered—especially the criticism they applied to themselves.
And most of all, he was glad he never had to sell any refrigerators.
* The author would like to thank the person in charge of setting these footnotes, as well as anyone who actually ends up reading them.