Personal

My 6-Figure Side Hustling Journey With Amy Schmidt

March 1, 2023

I'm AMY!

Hello! I’m Amy and I love helping ambitious people turn their big ideas into sustainable and enriching side hustles. I'm also a blogger, podcaster, food photographer, niche strategist, and business coach.

hello,

Side Checks Podcast
Catch up on the latest episodes of Side Checks to listen & learn on the go!

TOP CATEGORIES

For 9-5'ers
Own a side hustle around a 9-5? Whew! I could write a book on it! But instead, I wrote these...
Side Hustle Routines
Learn how to balance your side hustle while optimizing your time and energy!
3 Ways To Start Your Side Hustle Out Profitable

starting

Introducing Your Spouse To The World of
Side Hustling

personal

FREE 62-Page
Side Hustle
Planner

download

Instant PDF download and Canva Template link.

A digital shop built specifically for side hustlers! Templates, blueprints, bundles, and more!

finally!

shop asc

GRAB IT!

How Side Hustling Has Worked In My Life (And Why I’ll Never Go “Full-Time”)

My name is Amy Schmidt and this is the story of my side hustle journey. I consider myself a full-time side hustler. My side hustler journey began in college when I started my first cleaning company. This started my obsession for side hustles and business that I carried well throughout my corporate career. I even turned one of those side hustles into a 6-figure food photography business that I still manage today. 

I believe entrepreneurs should create their business models as unique as they are. So often we follow those that have come before us. But what if there was more? I’m a firm believer in creating micro-business development to create multiple streams of income versus chasing a 40-hour work week we have worked so hard to escape.

In This Episode You’ll Hear About:

My views on side hustling did not start this way. In fact, I was chasing full-time success from the very beginning and I looked down on side hustles, thinking they weren’t as significant. In this episode I cover:

  • Growing up with parents who influenced financial independence 
  • Creating my first business in college in effort to gain a more flexible schedule and season of life after my dad was diagnosed with cancer
  • Entering the corporate world (twice) all to end up feeling an “entrepreneur-itch”
  • White knuckling my wedding photography career all to have it crash when life moved me from the Chicago area, back home to South Carolina
  • Creating my 6-figure side hustle, my food photography business
  • Celebrating running two-part time businesses today and saying goodbye to full time businesses for forever

Follow along as I take you through learning how to make car payments at the age of 16 to being business obsessed and a full-time side hustler today.

Growing Up With Entrepreneurs

Growing up my parents were both business owners. This had a huge effect on me as a child seeing their flexibility and availability when it came to parenting. I was able to see both my mom and dad manage two very different businesses; my dad was a Framer and my mom is a Title Abstractor. 

My parents instilled a very strong sense of financial independence in both my sister and I from day one. They taught us how to take out a loan at the age of 16, purchase our first car, and proceed to make car payments. 

A Special Note On Today’s Episode: Today, March 1st, 2023 would have been my dad’s 65th birthday. The day of retirement. I dedicate this episode and my podcast release to my dad, who with my mom, gave me the understanding and encouragement to be an entrepreneur. 

From Corporate to Wedding Photography

Having a corporate title, desk, and suite were always very important for me. However after working my first job for about 1 year, I started to feel the entrepreneur itch again. I created many niche businesses before I landed on wedding photography. 

Wedding photography seemed to be the safe choice for entrepreneurship that I saw a lot of peers doing as well. For years, I worked harder than ever growing a business that looked like a lot of other people. And after white-knucking success, life moved me out of the Chicago area and back home to South Carolina. Thus, shattering my local, service-based business model. 

Creating A Part-Time Business Model (that worked)

Fortunately after moving home to South Carolina, I was able to fall back on my college degree and land my second corporate role. For years I worked in corporate construction, maining that important title I have always dreamt about. However, it would be long until that entrepreneur itch came back…

Wanting to do things differently this time, I pursued a business model that could use my skill set of photography, earn more income in flexible time, and that was built into security, no matter life’s circumstances. I created a food photography business. 

I grew my food photography business on the weekends and after work for about 1 year before going full time. And after running the business full time for only 2 months, I decided to hire a team and transition the business model to part time in order to grow a second business. This method ended up making me more money than had I kept it as a fulltime career. 

Links & Resources:

Ready to Life-Proof your side hustle? Take my free workshop! Enroll in Life-Proof My Side Hustle right here to get started! 


Listen to Side Checks anywhere you get your podcasts. If you like an episode, share it with a friend! The more Side Checks, the better! Click here to see more episodes.

SIDE CHECKS FB COMMUNITY

Do you have an amazing business that's just waiting for the right audience to come along? Let me help you find them! Download my Free Lead Magnet Workbook right here!

+ show Comments

- Hide Comments

add a comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

so hot right now

I'm Amy Schmidt

I’m a blogger, podcaster, food photographer, niche strategist, and expert side hustle developer. Needless to say, I walk the walk when it comes to building and scaling non-traditional businesses! 

more about me

hey there!

DOWNLOAD FOR FREE

PHASE: DEVELOPMENT

PHASE: GROWTH

MY MOST POPULAR FREE DOWNLOADS

Business Plan Template

Free Lead Magnet Workbook

DOWNLOAD FOR FREE

Life-Proof
Your Side Hustle

Create a rinse-and-repeat weekly schedule to proactively plan and organize your business, knowing what to work on when, and how to make more progress when "life-happens"

free Workshop!