Connect with Jamie Northrup: https://substack.com/@minimalisthustler

Welcome to the launch of the Sustainable Side Hustle Podcast with Vinayak Ramesh.

Today’s episode features Jamie Northrup, the creator of Minimalist Hustler, who built a portfolio of digital assets generating around $6,000–$8,000 a month while working a full-time job.

We talk about how he built it in roughly 10–12 hours a week, why he prefers simple and low-stress side hustles, and how books, newsletters, and digital products can work together to keep earning over time.

>>> Don't forget to follow the show, download these powerful launch episodes, and drop us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.

>>> Claim your FREE gift for supporting the launch — the Substack Notes Starter Pack + Substack Growth Engine. Leave a review and DM me on Substack: https://substack.com/@vinayakramesh1

Hey, this is your host, Vinayak, and welcome to the Sustainable side Hustle podcast.

Today I've got Jamie with me, the creator behind Minimalist Hustler, where he writes about building simple, sustainable online income streams through digital products, newsletters, books and communities.

He has published his Minimalist Hustler daily newsletter every single day for more than four years, alongside a full time career in logistics.

Let's dive into the insights shared by Jamie.

Instead of being very intense and heavy and a lot of stress and investments, minimalist side hustles don't have any of that.

They work in your routine, your schedule.

You don't need to invest a ton of money or even any money in some of them.

So it's just kind of like a stress free way to kind of add some extra income.

I think we all have enough stress for those of us who have corporate jobs to be adding more than that.

I didn't exactly know what it would become.

The first thought is that I had my own web design agency for many years, for about 15 years, and I liked some aspect of it, but a lot of it I didn't like.

And most of what I didn't like was dealing with the customers, whether it be because they have deadlines or because they don't like certain things.

So part of the resolution was find a simpler way to kind of earn some extra income without having to deal with certain things.

I think a lot of people have this misconception that being minimalist means like you put in less efforts.

So what's your viewpoint on that?

I mean, to a certain extent that could apply.

The idea is to put it's not necessarily less effort, but I guess it comes into play where you got to figure out what's the effort you want to put in and that you can put in with everything else you have going in your life.

And sometimes what will happen is you could take two side hustles that are the same and do it the regular way.

And if you put a lot of effort and a lot of hours and money behind it, you could make a lot of money in a year.

But if you do the same side hustle the minimalist way, you don't need the investment, you don't need as much effort, you don't need as much stress.

But it may take five, six or seven years to get to where you would the other way with one year.

Is there any example of a digital product or a project that you did with a minimalist approach and it still earns you money still years later.

Yeah, 100%.

So everything I do is minimalist.

But a concrete, perfect example would be the first book I published, like actual book.

But I wrote a.

The first book I wrote is a minimalist book.

It's only 60, 65 pages long and it's my number one seller.

Sold thousands of copies and it still sells today.

And I think that's probably the best example is that you could build something.

I always say that if you have a good system, then it makes everything easier.

You don't have to think twice about what you're doing next and the things are connected.

So the flywheel basically says that if you come up with a book idea that you want to write or publish, you break that down into an outline of 10, 15 or 20 chapters, promote that in your newsletter and then at the end of it you compile all the chapters, the blog posts and publish your book.

And then in the book you could promote your blog and your newsletter in the newsletter you could promote the book and the blog.

And on the blog you could promote your books.

What is the difference between starting a business versus just having a side hustle?

Yeah, to me the big difference is when you want to start a business, there's a lot of moving parts.

I think the big over complication is from trying to do the wrong things at the start.

I think a lot of people start with and I did this for years.

The amount of times I've done this makes me cry a little bit.

But if you're starting by creating the logo, creating business cards, designing a high end website, all that stuff, while could be valuable at some point, is often time, energy and money wasted at the beginning when you don't even know if whatever you're offering, whether it be product or service, is going to work.

But I would say on average for the first two years and again it goes up and it goes down.

But I would say on average I was spending maybe 10 to 12 hours a week on building digital assets and then the minimalist Hustler brand and everything that came with that.

And by year two I was making about was it year two?

2020?

I was making about six to eight thousand dollars a month.

Enough for me is not really about the money because of the nature of what I do.

It goes up, it goes down.

So it's really not a question of the actual amount.

The amount that I get usually is more than enough, but it's the effort.

What's enough effort?

How much time is enough?

That's where the questions come in.

The way I see it, the ideal amount of time for me is maximum two hours a day.

That's one hour in the morning, one hour in the evening, and then that's it.

So that was just a trailer, but we are about to get into the real specifics.

Why going minimalist actually works better than chasing the next big startup, and why you don't need to be a real writer to publish a newsletter.

If you have ever felt like side hustles have to be complicated to work, you probably don't want to miss this one.

Make sure you hit that follow button.

It's completely free and I will be dropping the full interview really soon.

And go check out Jamie.

He provides tons of free value.

You can find him on Medium and his free newsletter on substack Minimalist Hustler Daily.

It's linked in the description.

And if you want more of this stuff, I write about it every week on my own substack called the Sustainable Solopreneur.

Consider subscribing to it and I will see you soon.