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My First Million

The Side Hustle King: 11 Easy Businesses Anyone Can Start

Published September 22, 2025
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About This Episode

The hosts bring back their "side hustle king" guest Chris to share a series of concrete, small-business and side-hustle ideas ranging from seasonal porch pumpkin decorating and backyard sport courts to in-ground trampolines, male "dollhouse" building kits, liquidation arbitrage, and mobile fuel delivery. They discuss how these seemingly simple service and niche product ideas generate substantial revenue, how Chris validates demand with short-form content and paid ads, and how he structures operations with subcontractors and partners. Later, Chris describes his RV park investments, his interest in AI automation services for small businesses, and his plans for an AI-enabled QuickBooks competitor.

Topics Covered

Entrepreneurship Side hustles Passive income Scrappiness in business Business growth and scaling Online retail Investing Artificial intelligence Financial technology Lifestyle design

Disclaimer: We provide independent summaries of podcasts and are not affiliated with or endorsed in any way by any podcast or creator. All podcast names and content are the property of their respective owners. The views and opinions expressed within the podcasts belong solely to the original hosts and guests and do not reflect the views or positions of Summapod.

Quick Takeaways

  • A seasonal "porch pumpkins" decorating service can generate seven-figure revenue with relatively low cost of goods and can be expanded into other year-round decor niches.
  • Backyard upgrades like sport courts and in-ground trampolines are high-ticket home services where demand is outpacing local supply, creating opportunities for marketers who coordinate subcontractors.
  • Highly visual, novel products or services that look great in short-form video can be marketed effectively through organic content plus targeted local ads.
  • Liquidation marketplaces and government surplus auctions allow entrepreneurs to arbitrage undervalued physical goods using simple listing strategies and pricing filters.
  • Chris views RV parks and mobile home-related assets as his favorite investments due to strong cash flow, limited unit maintenance, and resilience across economic cycles.
  • He believes small-business-focused AI automation agencies, particularly around phone answering and process automation, are a promising opportunity.
  • Chris prefers partnering with operators and taking smaller equity slices across many businesses rather than focusing on a single company full-time.
  • He is building an AI-enabled QuickBooks alternative called LazyBooks aimed at people who dislike bookkeeping but still need lightweight, reliable accounting software.

Podcast Notes

Introduction and setup of the episode

Framing Chris as the returning 'side hustle king'

Host mentions Chris is back for part two and recalls calling him the 'side hustle king' previously[0:00]
Host says the first episode with Chris did almost a million downloads across platforms, which is why he was invited back[0:20]
Hosts praise Chris's business ideas as relatable and achievable, in the $10,000-$15,000 per month range, not rocket science[1:17]
Chris is welcomed back and confirms he feels no pressure to follow up his first appearance[0:36]

Episode format: Chris brings ideas and everyone riffs on them

Host explains Chris brought ideas and they will react and riff on them during the episode[1:41]

Porch Pumpkins seasonal decor business

Origin and model of the Porch Pumpkins business

Chris describes seeing a woman on Instagram decorating porches with pumpkins and thinking it was a genius, highly visual idea[2:00]
He reached out, spoke with her, and learned she does seven figures a year across roughly three months[2:10]
The service could be seasonal or extended to Christmas, Thanksgiving, or flowers in other seasons, but she chooses to focus only on pumpkins[2:19]
Chris notes others do quarterly flower deliveries, front porch flower decorations, Christmas decorations, and Christmas lights, suggesting a year-round category that starts with pumpkins[2:31]

Details on Heather Torres and Porch Pumpkins economics

Chris identifies the woman as Heather Torres from Dallas[2:42]
Host explains porch pumpkins: during fall/Halloween, people hire her to decorate front porches with many pumpkins and decor items[2:55]
One host, a customer, says the service costs roughly $500 to $1,500 and takes about an hour on site, done by someone from her team[3:12]
Chris says she gets between 1,300 and 2,000 orders per year with an average order size of $800-$1,200; they round to $1,000 and estimate $1.5-$2M in revenue[3:46]
Cost of goods sold, including pumpkins and labor, is about 20%, and she charges extra to remove the pumpkins afterward as an upsell[4:00]
Hosts note this is less physically demanding and safer than installing Christmas lights on roofs[4:23]
Chris recounts Heather's origin story: she was a mom who decorated her own porch, posted it on Instagram, friends loved it, she did it as a favor, then monetized it[4:42]

Heather's coaching and trademark strategy

Host notes Heather now offers one-on-one business coaching for pumpkin businesses: two one-hour sessions for $5,000[5:16]
They joke about the 'boss lady pose' in her marketing and the term 'pumpkinpreneur'[5:04]
Chris says Heather owns the trademark, so others cannot start businesses with 'porches' or 'pumpkins' in the name without involving her[5:28]
Host observes Heather links to Chris's video from her link page, which Chris did not know[5:47]
Chris says he has no business association with her beyond thinking she is awesome and mentioning her business[6:37]
Chris mentions Heather also started a fajita-to-go business with two retail locations and that she is 'crushing it'[6:07]

How to start a Porch Pumpkins-style business in another city

Chris suggests a stay-at-home mom in a place like Kansas City could buy pumpkins at retail from a grocery store to start[6:41]
He would copy Heather's designs from Instagram (colors, sizes, placement), film a time-lapse on an iPhone, and post in local mom groups and buy/sell groups on Facebook and Instagram[6:56]
Chris expects comments and inquiries to generate initial customers; he is not worried about margins at first and would refine sourcing later via wholesale or farms[7:48]
Hosts joke about whether there is real 'design' skill versus it being 'a pile of pumpkins', with Chris likening it to flower arranging[7:09]
Chris would post 5-10 organic videos, see which performs best, then run paid ads behind the winner targeting people in his ZIP code, since the ticket size is $500-$1,000[8:12]
Chris says sourcing wholesale and farms later avoids upfront friction; start simple to validate demand first[8:33]
He estimates Heather might have 40-50% net margins and work extremely hard for two months to potentially make around $600,000 in that period[9:06]

Comparison to balloon decor and social pressure

Host compares Heather to a local 'balloon queen' his family hires for kids' parties, spending an estimated $7,000-$10,000 a year on balloon arches and backdrops[10:17]
They note such services become normalized in neighborhoods, similar to Christmas lights, creating visible and invisible peer pressure to keep up[10:32]
Host references the concept of 'memetic desire' to describe how neighbors copy each other's decor and event spending[10:46]
Host imagines Porch Pumpkins could create birthday and graduation variants that dress up lawns to signal special occasions[11:11]
They conclude the fall/Halloween season might be only 40% of potential revenue rather than 100% if other occasions are added[11:24]
Host tells a story about his mother-in-law, who runs a pillow company and is content working three days a week and lightly using ads, paralleling Heather's lifestyle choice[11:56]

Backyard sport courts as the 'next pools'

Chris's sport court experience and opportunity

Chris recently installed a sport court in his yard and believes sport courts are the 'next pools'[13:00]
He defines a sport court as a concrete slab with tiles or painted lines for multiple sports like pickleball, volleyball, soccer, and basketball[13:12]
He notes that during COVID, many people installed pools; now he sees sport courts becoming the new status symbol for keeping up with neighbors[13:00]
For a 30-by-70-foot sport court (half-court basketball plus pickleball), quotes were $50,000-$60,000, which Chris found too high[14:19]
He sourced subcontractors via Facebook Marketplace for concrete, painting, and fencing and got total quotes around $30,000[14:33]

Pivoting his tree trimming company into Backyard Funhouse

Chris is pivoting his tree trimming company, which had about a $1,000 average order value, into a sport court-focused business[15:03]
He has the domain 'Backyard Funhouse' and wants to sell the dream of having the backyard everyone's kids want to visit, not just sport courts[15:22]
Entry product is the sport court, then upsells could include putting greens, pools, fire pits, and outdoor kitchens, potentially totaling $200,000 per customer[15:08]
Host compares this model to pool installation businesses, citing an example pool company in Arizona doing roughly $20-$30M in revenue and several million in free cash flow[15:38]
Chris says he is already generating sport court leads using short-form video and paid ads on Meta (Facebook/Instagram)[17:59]

Challenges with subcontractors and Sam's rating

Sam rates Porch Pumpkins 9/10 on his personal scale but sport courts 3/10 due to not wanting to manage subcontractors[17:53]
Sam describes subcontractor work as unpleasant based on his landscaping experience, referencing reliability issues and substance abuse stereotypes[18:46]
Chris counters that dealing with tough subs is what the $30,000 net profit per job pays for; you cycle through bad subs to find good ones[19:05]

In-ground trampoline and high-ticket backyard services

In-ground trampoline installation economics

Chris installed an in-ground trampoline next to his sport court because his above-ground trampoline blew into a neighbor's yard every two years[19:54]
The trampoline cost about $4,500 from a Shopify store plus roughly $5,000 to dig the hole, totaling around $10,000[20:08]
An excavator operator who rented the machine and brought one helper spent about four hours digging and laying weed barrier, earning $5,000[20:21]
Chris learned this installer got jobs from an e-commerce brand (trampolines.com), which needs installers to sell in-ground trampolines[20:37]
He notes most excavator owners are busy digging pools and are not interested in smaller trampoline jobs, so there is a gap for independent installers[20:56]

Partnership with trampolines.com and broader point about high-ticket home services

trampolines.com, owned by Brad Mills, sells in-ground trampolines and refers installation work to local diggers because they cannot turn on more ads without enough installers[21:50]
Chris suggests people can become certified installers for such brands and rent excavators as needed instead of buying equipment[22:00]
He generalizes that in a strong economy, demand for high-ticket backyard services (pools, trampolines, sport courts) exceeds supply in many markets[22:36]

Dubai trends, vending machines, and novelty robots

Dubai as a preview of future consumer trends

Chris claims Dubai lives about 10 years in the future, experimenting with many entrepreneurial concepts, some of which later spread West[23:23]
He gives 'Dubai chocolate' as an example of a recent trend: pistachio-stuffed chocolate bars that look good on Instagram and have spawned mall kiosks[23:51]
He notes perfume vending machines started in Dubai and are now seen in more places[24:51]

Robotic manicure machines and RizBot

Chris describes manicure machines in Dubai airports and outside nightclubs where you put your hand in and get a manicure at about one-third the usual price and faster service[25:03]
Host introduces RizBot, a humanoid robot that runs up to women, offers to kiss their hand, and plays romantic music, generating tens of millions of TikTok views per video[26:06]
He suggests that novelty 'pet' robots with minimal functionality but strong entertainment value may monetize before industrial humanoid robots do[26:48]

Matic robot vacuum and monetization idea

Sam mentions a robot from Matic Robots that vacuums and mops like an advanced Roomba, with mapping and personalized features such as greeting users by name[26:48]
He says the founder worked eight or nine years to build what he considers a 'perfect Roomba' that is now for sale around $1,100-$1,200[28:08]
Chris's first thought is how to monetize it by renting units to cleaning businesses for a monthly fee to save cleaners time at each job[28:31]

Male 'dollhouses' and miniature building kits

The 'guy dollhouse' concept and viral demand

Chris plays his short-form video about a man who builds highly detailed miniature house frames with real tools, likening it to a 'male version of dollhouses'[29:47]
He notes there is no established male equivalent of dollhouses, calling this the 'guy dollhouse market' and claiming grown men would pay for high-quality miniature building kits[30:04]
Chris states his video on this idea garnered about 20 million views, indicating strong interest[29:49]
Sam says he already builds replica V8 engines with Legos as a hobby and thinks this realistic mini-construction is even more appealing[30:39]
Host compares it to high-fidelity flight simulators: not a toy but a realistic miniature version of real work, offering deep engagement[30:04]

Productization and content strategy

The business would sell kits that let customers build detailed miniature houses; marketing would rely on videos of building increasingly elaborate or themed models[31:53]
Hosts discuss pricing, suggesting kits could cost $1,000+ and note the difficulty of creating detailed instructions, referencing complex LEGO sets as an analogy[31:15]
They argue the hardest part of most businesses is customer acquisition, but here viral content of builds can serve as the primary sales engine[31:46]
Sam rates this idea 7-8/10 on his scale and says it's 'pretty cool' despite operational difficulty[32:15]

Liquidation, GovDeals, and sample sale arbitrage

Using GovDeals and B-Stock to resell confiscated or returned items

Chris explains that sites like GovDeals.com sell government surplus, including TSA-confiscated items like pocket knives, and B-Stock.com sells Costco returns[36:22]
He describes buying pallets of such goods for pennies on the dollar and reselling individual items on Facebook Marketplace[35:34]
The 'alpha' he sees is filtering for local items under a certain price (e.g., $3,000) that are too large or expensive to ship, such as old police cars[36:38]
Chris suggests building an agent that scrapes listings by filter, auto-posts them on Facebook Marketplace at a markup (e.g., 80%), and only buys the items that get strong interest[37:24]
They joke about high-end items like a McLaren appearing on GovDeals, and host notes such items may have crime-related backstories[38:54]

260 Sample Sale model

Sam introduces 260SampleSale.com, which runs pop-up sample sales in cities like New York, Miami, and LA using vacant spaces and simple clothing racks[38:22]
He compares them to TJ Maxx but with somewhat higher-end brands, selling last-season or unsold items at about 10% of original retail[38:56]
He says lines are out the door and he personally buys clothing there, feeling compelled by the steep discounts[39:39]

Mobile fuel delivery business

Model and unit economics of mobile fuel delivery

Chris describes a business where customers use an app to schedule gas delivery, avoiding gas stations; churn is very low as customers get addicted to the convenience[40:59]
He says the entrepreneur charges a markup on gas plus a monthly subscription fee, with roughly $5,000 in annual revenue per customer[41:16]
Gas pricing is set by averaging nearby gas station prices within a five-mile radius and marking up by around 20%[42:08]
Host notes a commenter mentioned Dubai already has this service, again tying back to Dubai as an early adopter[41:56]

Visual novelty ice cream and content framing

Rolled ice cream-style novelty and content tactics

Chris highlights a $300-$400 machine that freezes a cylinder, over which flavored cream is poured and scraped into unique-looking ice cream portions[43:03]
He says such ice cream sells well visually and can be tested at places like busy street corners or farmers markets before scaling[43:14]
On his TikTok, he labels ideas with day numbers (e.g., 'day 57') to encourage people to follow along, admitting the numbering is a growth tactic rather than a strict chronology[44:50]

Mindset, excuses, and reading comments

Patterns in audience reactions and excuses

Chris says after posting hundreds of ideas, he sees people are extremely creative at inventing excuses not to start something, citing comments about insurance and liability[44:50]
He points out simple answers like 'buy insurance' often address these concerns, but commenters focus on reasons to avoid action[45:47]
He notes a common comment is 'If this is so good, why don't you do it?', to which he replies he already has about 13 businesses and cannot do all of them[46:25]
Chris believes that if people applied the same creativity to execution as to excuses, many more would be millionaires[46:31]

Hosts' philosophy on comments and virality

Host observes that in viral content comment sections, many people adopt low-quality thinking, often attacking success itself[47:45]
He says you cannot go viral without roughly half of viewers thinking you are an idiot, and that is part of the territory[48:48]
Hosts say they read comments primarily to interact, not to guide creative direction, and reference Rick Rubin's idea that the best service to an audience is to ignore them and create what you believe in[48:25]
They acknowledge the psychological difficulty: content that performs well gives a dopamine rush even if it was not enjoyable to make, and vice versa[49:34]

Kids gym equipment and the Nugget furniture business

Need for better kids gym/obstacle setups

Host notes that existing kids gym toys are often ugly, quickly boring, and clutter up a home gym with mismatched colors[51:01]
He says his kids like obstacle courses more than fixed equipment and imagines kits with simple, configurable courses plus a menu of layouts[51:36]

The Nugget business overview

Sam and Sean discuss the Nugget, a modular kids furniture product made of foam shapes that serve as both couch and play structure[52:12]
They explain it was designed with no hard edges, functioning as both furniture and toy, and has very active fan communities such as a large Nugget owners Facebook group[52:50]
Sean recalls that a few years ago he saw Nugget revenue estimates around $75 million and now guesses it may be north of $100 million, noting it was bootstrapped without investors as far as he could find[53:19]
They note Nugget relies heavily on Facebook ads plus strong word-of-mouth as parents notice the product during playdates[54:16]
Sean suggests opportunities remain for Nugget-like products: lower-cost competitors, retail-partnered versions (e.g., at Costco), or similar modular kids items that blend function and aesthetics[54:44]

Chris's favorite business: RV parks and mobile home assets

Why Chris likes RV parks over traditional real estate

When asked his favorite current business, Chris chooses RV parks[56:13]
He prefers RV and mobile home parks over single-family or multifamily housing because owners maintain infrastructure, not the units themselves[56:31]
He views RV parks as a hedge: in good economies, millennials and boomers travel and stay short-term; in bad economies, people live there full-time[56:41]

Moose Creek example and portfolio strategy

Chris mentions one park, Moose Creek near Glacier National Park, owned via a holding company called Streamside, which holds 29 parks at the time of recording[57:30]
They bought one park for $8 million at around a 9% cap rate, with about $700,000 net profit at purchase[57:50]
The acquisition used roughly 20% down (about $1.6M), 40% raised from investors, and the remainder financed by a bank[58:45]
Chris explains value-add moves: extending the open season from five to six months, buying adjacent acreage to add more pads, and raising under-market rents[59:51]
He says those changes took net profit from about $700,000 to around $1.2 million annually, making the park an eight-figure asset at a lower cap rate[1:00:09]
Chris's group has $150 million of parks under management and $111 million under contract, aiming for roughly $260 million under management and a portfolio sale at around a 6% cap rate[1:00:52]
He is a co-GP in the fund, contributing marketing and fundraising while others handle operations[1:01:21]

Chris's background, business portfolio, and preferences

Career background and business exits

Chris says he has always worked for himself and never held a traditional job[1:01:41]
He mentions having about a dozen businesses when he first came on the show, generating $2-$3 million in free cash flow at that time[1:02:16]
He has owned two different eight-figure e-commerce brands; one, selling wholesale iPhone parts to repair stores, was exited after seven years[1:01:58]

Secret pickleball club delays

Chris updates an earlier idea: his 'secret pickleball club' in a metal building on his property is almost ready but delayed because expanding the metal building has been hard to source as a small job[1:03:27]

AI in small businesses and acquisition strategy

If starting over: AI automation for small business

Asked what he would do if starting from scratch with current knowledge, Chris says he would ride the 'tidal wave' of AI in small businesses[1:05:40]
He would set up an AI automation/implementation agency for small and medium-sized businesses, initially implementing AI for free to build trust, then charging ongoing fees[1:06:26]
A simple starting service he cites is a 24/7 AI voice answering agent that handles after-hours calls, filters emergencies (like plumbing incidents) to the owner, and functions as a smart voicemail[1:07:19]

Agency models and buying with AI leverage

Sam notes friends running AI automation agencies see strong demand, with owners able to make seven figures in income and agencies doing a few million in revenue, though it is service-heavy work[1:07:26]
Sean points out many small-business owners do not know where AI can help, requiring agencies to propose specific, repeatable implementations[6:37]
• He suggests focusing on clear, generic problems like phone answering or operations automation where AI offers obvious improvements
Sean discusses an alternate play: buy established businesses at fair prices and then implement AI to significantly improve margins, such as doubling EBIT from 10% to 20%[1:09:35]
• He notes PE funds have traditionally used levers like offshoring and headcount reduction; now some aim to use AI as a main value-add lever

Chris's long-term goals and LazyBooks

Personal goals and working style

Asked where he wants to be in 10 years, Chris says he wants to keep starting businesses and is essentially chasing dopamine from finding product-market fit[1:13:14]
He prefers to focus on his 'superpower' of spotting and executing on opportunities quickly rather than on a single business[1:13:09]
Chris has had around 15 business partners and now tends to take small equity stakes while partners own most and handle operations, setting low expectations for his time input[6:37]

Planned SaaS: LazyBooks as AI-enabled QuickBooks competitor

Chris believes his biggest eventual win will likely be a SaaS business he promotes to his audience and exits for a large sum[1:13:28]
He is currently building an AI-enabled QuickBooks competitor with his brother-in-law, a '10x developer', aiming for a slimmed-down, more reliable tool[1:14:40]
The working name is LazyBooks, which he positions as bookkeeping for people who hate bookkeeping[1:14:40]
He notes it is a highly competitive space but says many users dislike QuickBooks and Xero; with 4 million followers, he thinks he can build a meaningful niche product, not necessarily beat incumbents[1:14:40]
Chris says he often starts with a domain name and marketing channel, then builds the idea and brand to match the channel and audience[1:15:04]
He tried names like 'ThinBooks' but could not get the domain; LazyBooks was a name where he persuaded the domain owner to sell[1:15:04]
For LazyBooks, he imagines a QuickBooks alternative offering the 20% of features most people actually need, that does not frequently break or disconnect from banks[1:15:28]

Lessons Learned

Actionable insights and wisdom you can apply to your business, career, and personal life.

1

Simple, visual services tied to specific occasions or locations (like porch pumpkins or backyard upgrades) can become high-margin, six- or seven-figure businesses when paired with clear packages and localized marketing.

Reflection Questions:

  • • Which everyday services or seasonal displays in your area already signal demand but have not yet been turned into a professional, branded offering?
  • • How could you package a small, visual service into tiered offerings with clear prices so customers know exactly what they are buying?
  • • What is one service you could test locally in the next 30 days using only your phone camera and a few social posts to validate interest?
2

Validating demand with content first-especially short, visual videos-lets you discover what resonates before you invest heavily in operations, tooling, or wholesale supply chains.

Reflection Questions:

  • • What product or service idea could you demonstrate in a 15-30 second video to see if people ask, 'How do I get that?'
  • • How might your approach to launching new ideas change if you insisted on getting organic engagement or preorders before spending on inventory or complex systems?
  • • Where could you repurpose something you already do (a hobby, process, or client work) into shareable content that doubles as a real-time market test?
3

People are often more creative at finding reasons not to start than at solving the practical obstacles, so building the habit of looking for straightforward fixes (like insurance, better partners, or simpler scope) is a competitive advantage.

Reflection Questions:

  • • When you think about a business idea you have, what are the top three objections you raise-and which of them actually have simple, purchasable solutions?
  • • How could you reframe 'this won't work because...' into 'this will work if I first solve...' for a current project you are hesitating on?
  • • Who could you talk to this week who has already solved one of the issues you are worried about (e.g., liability, hiring, operations) so you stop guessing and start learning?
4

Owning or co-owning boring, cash-flowing assets (like RV parks) and then making targeted, operational improvements can compound wealth more reliably than constantly chasing brand-new ideas.

Reflection Questions:

  • • What types of 'unsexy' assets or businesses in your region consistently generate cash but may be under-optimized?
  • • How could you structure a small co-investment or partnership in a boring business where your specific skills (marketing, process improvement, finance) clearly add value?
  • • If you already own a business, what is one lever-pricing, season length, capacity, or upsells-you could pull in the next year to increase its long-term cash flow?
5

AI is most useful in small business when it is applied to specific, repeatable bottlenecks (like answering phones or routing inquiries) rather than treated as a vague, abstract technology.

Reflection Questions:

  • • Which two or three repetitive communication tasks in your business-calls, emails, or follow-ups-could be standardized and partially automated with current AI tools?
  • • How might your daily workload change if an AI agent handled initial customer contact and only escalated true edge cases or emergencies to you?
  • • What small, low-risk AI experiment could you run in the next month to free up at least one hour of your time per week?
6

Designing your role around your strengths-such as spotting opportunities and partnering with operators-can be more sustainable than forcing yourself to be the full-time manager of every venture you start.

Reflection Questions:

  • • What do you actually do best in the lifecycle of a business (ideation, sales, operations, product, finance), and where do you consistently lose energy or drop the ball?
  • • How could you redesign one of your current projects so that a partner or hire owns the parts that do not play to your strengths?
  • • When you evaluate future opportunities, how will you decide upfront what equity slice and time commitment make sense given your preferred role?

Episode Summary - Notes by Micah

The Side Hustle King: 11 Easy Businesses Anyone Can Start
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