Page 65 - The $100 Startup_ Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love

I head to the Conrad Hotel. Fortunately, I slept enough on the plane that I’m
good to go after a shower, so I set up shop in my “office” for the next two days.
A few hours later, the host on the call is saying “good afternoon” to everyone,
and I try to refrain from mentioning the local time while looking out at the Hong
Kong skyline.

On this trip I’m headed on to Vietnam and Laos, but I could be going
anywhere. After I adjust to the time difference over the next couple of days, I
settle into a routine of morning work and afternoon exploration. At least one
week a month, I live in this dream world of travel, work, and frequent coffee
breaks. The business is structured around my life, not the other way around.

I know what some people think: It sounds like a fantasy. Well … it really is
happening, on a broad scale, for thousands of people all over the world. My
example is just one of many; let’s hear about a few others.

Case Study 1: The Music Teacher

In 2009, Brandon Pearce was living in Utah and working as a successful piano
teacher, meaning that he got by and paid the rent while doing something he
enjoyed. But Brandon was also intensely curious, and wanted to combine an
interest in technology with his passion for music education. As he thought about
colleagues he knew, he found the convergence point between his skill and what
they needed.

“Music teachers don’t want to deal with business administration; they want to
teach music,” he said. “But in the typical music teacher’s workday, they have to
spend much of their time dealing with administrative tasks.” Scheduling,
rescheduling, sending reminders—in addition to time, all these things take up a
lot of attention and distract from teaching. Furthermore, many music teachers
aren’t making all the money they should, since payments are sometimes
overlooked and students fail to show up.

Brandon didn’t intend to create a business at first; he just wanted to solve
what he called the “disorganized music teacher problem” for himself. The
answer was Music Teacher’s Helper, an interface that Brandon created for
personal use before turning it into a one-stop platform for music teachers of all
kinds. The teachers could create their own websites (without having any
technical skills) and handle all aspects of scheduling and billing, thus enabling
them to focus on the actual teaching they enjoyed.