After our last episode about teaching kids entrepreneurship, many parents realized they wanted to start something themselves. But most side hustle advice is terrible - scams, pyramid schemes, or ideas requiring massive followings.

This episode cuts through the noise with six proven side hustles you can start this week with under $200 and 5-10 hours per week.

**The Six Side Hustles:**

**Virtual Assistant Services** ($600-1,800/month) - Handle administrative tasks for small businesses remotely. Minimal startup, flexible hours.

**Online Tutoring** ($480-1,600/month) - Teach what you know, whether academic subjects or professional skills. Parents are desperate for quality tutoring.

**Pet Sitting & Dog Walking** ($400-1,200/month) - Canadians spent $10 billion on pets in 2023. Trusted local pet care is always in demand.

**Freelance Content Writing** ($500-2,000/month) - Every business needs blogs, social media content, and newsletters but most owners hate writing.

**Home Services** ($600-2,000/month) - Handyman work, cleaning, organizing. Simple services with constant demand.

**Digital Products** ($100-500/month) - Create templates, guides, or courses once and sell them forever.

Each side hustle includes: exactly what it is, why it works, startup costs, how to get your first client, time commitment, and realistic income expectations.

No hype. No "quit your job in 90 days." Just practical ways real Canadians can create extra income while keeping their day jobs.

Three parents texted me the same week. All asking: "What should I tell my kid about entrepreneurship?"

One said: "My 16-year-old asked if she should start a business or get a job at Tim Hortons. I told her to focus on school. What should I have said?"

Another: "My son wants to start a lawn care business but I'm worried he'll fail and get discouraged."

And the third: "My daughter asked why she needs university if she could just sell stuff online. Did I kill her dreams?"

These are good parents trying to give good advice. But nobody taught them about entrepreneurship, so they default to what their parents told them: "Get good grades, go to college, get a stable job."

Except that world doesn't exist anymore.

This episode is my answer to those parents. Three conversations every parent should have with their kids about making money, starting businesses, and building real security.

Learn why the "risky" path (entrepreneurship) is actually the secure one. Discover the three types of businesses any kid can start for $100 or less. Understand why failure at 16 costs $100 but failure at 35 costs $100,000.

The math is simple: A kid mowing 10 lawns on Saturdays makes $1,300/month—double a Tim Hortons job in fewer hours while learning skills they'll use their entire life.

Golden Hour Challenge: Have "The Dinner Table Business Plan" conversation tonight. Ask your kid what they'd do, pick one thing to start, do the math together, and challenge them to make their first $100 profit in 30 days.

The goal isn't making them millionaires. It's teaching them to create value. Because that's real security.

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

Three friends graduated high school together. Same opportunities, same starting point. Fifteen years later, one makes $85,000 working overtime (exhausted), one makes $115,000 through specialization (better income, still trapped by time), and one makes $105,000 total with $30,000 coming from assets that earn while she sleeps.

The difference isn't intelligence or work ethic. It's leverage.

Most Canadians are stuck trading time for money. Statistics Canada reports that over 30% of workers have taken on side gigs just to survive. We work more hours for the same money because we don't understand the three fundamental paths to earning more.

Path One: Work more hours (1X leverage, hard ceiling). Path Two: Increase your skills through education and specialization (3X leverage, higher income but still time-dependent). Path Three: Buy assets that work for you (infinite leverage, no ceiling).

This episode combines Naval Ravikant's principles on leverage with Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad framework—but for regular people, not just entrepreneurs. You don't need to own a business. You can start with $50.

Learn how to calculate your "Freedom Number," open your first investment account, and begin building wealth through Canadian index funds, real estate, and digital assets. Discover why only 3% of Canadians achieve financial independence, and how you can join them.

Golden Hour Challenge: Create your Personal Leverage Map and take your first concrete step toward Path Three income.

Stop renting out your time. Start buying assets.

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

Before you can earn more money, you need to understand what money actually is. And no, we're not talking about dictionary definitions.

Money is simply a measure of value—nothing more, nothing less. It's the standardized measuring stick humanity invented so we could trade efficiently. Before money, early humans faced chaos: How many eggs is a goat worth? How does a philosopher survive when you can't eat ideas?

The ancient Mesopotamians solved this around 5,000 years ago by creating the shekel—a standard weight of barley or silver. The first actual coins came from the Kingdom of Lydia around 700 BC. Every successful society since has needed some way to measure and exchange value.

This episode breaks down the fundamentals: the difference between money and currency, what "fiat" actually means, and how cryptocurrencies and stablecoins work—all explained in plain language you could share with your kids.

But here's the critical insight: if money is a measure of value, then there's only ONE way to earn more money—create more value. You can do this through volume (more work), specialization (rare skills), or creation (making something valuable to others).

Your Golden Hour task: List what you did today, then write what value each action created for someone else. This simple exercise will transform how you think about your work and earning potential.

Stop chasing money. Start creating value. The money will follow.

Listen now at businessisgood.com

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

Steve Jobs wore the same black turtleneck every day. Mark Zuckerberg wears gray t-shirts. Tim Cook wakes up at 4 AM and follows the exact same routine. Warren Buffett protects his calendar so fiercely that Bill Gates wrote admiringly about it.

These aren't quirks. They're systems designed to reduce decision fatigue and conserve mental energy for decisions that actually matter.

In this episode, I walk you through a proven framework to identify your Daily Non-Negotiables—the 3-4 specific actions that, if you did them without fail, would make success unavoidable.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

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• Why the most successful CEOs follow strict daily routines (and it's not what you think)
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• The three-part framework: Vision → Priorities → Non-Negotiables
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• How to turn vague goals into specific, measurable daily actions
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• Real examples of strong vs. weak Daily Non-Negotiables
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• Why 40% of your life is already on autopilot (and how to make that work for you)
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• How to build a backup plan so your habits actually stick
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THE FRAMEWORK:

Part 1: VISION - Who are you becoming? Identify the version of yourself one year from now at your absolute best.

Part 2: PRIORITIES - What three areas create the most leverage? Focus on the growth areas that move you toward your vision.

Part 3: NON-NEGOTIABLES - What's one specific daily action for each priority? Build habits that are specific, measurable, brief, repeatable, and valuable.

THIS IS A GUIDED EXERCISE:

I walk you through each step with pauses for you to think and write. By the end of this episode, you'll have your three Daily Non-Negotiables identified and ready to implement.

YOUR GOLDEN HOUR:

Protect your Daily Non-Negotiables. Block the time. Set up tracking. Build the system. Small actions, repeated consistently, compound into massive transformation.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

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• Steve Jobs' wardrobe simplification strategy
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• Mark Zuckerberg's decision-reduction approach
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• Tim Cook's 4 AM routine
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• Warren Buffett's time protection
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• Jack Dorsey's themed days
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• Duke University research on habitual behavior
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• The average person's 35,000 daily decisions
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Whether you're running a $100K business or building toward $1M, this framework will help you engineer success through consistent daily action.

This is BusinessIsGood—practical business growth strategies for Canadian entrepreneurs who are ready to move beyond survival mode and build businesses that thrive.

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

A Toronto entrepreneur just made a $12,000 hiring mistake—not because she lacked experience, but because she made the decision at 4 PM after already burning through her mental energy on dozens of smaller choices throughout the day.

This is decision fatigue, and it's costing Canadian business owners far more than money.

Your brain has a finite amount of decision-making energy. Every choice you make—from what to eat for breakfast to whether to approve a budget—drains that battery a little more. By mid-afternoon, you're running on empty, but that's exactly when the big, important decisions usually arrive.

Research proves this isn't just in your head. A famous study found that judges granted parole to prisoners 70% of the time in the morning, but less than 10% in the afternoon. Same judges, same cases—the only difference was decision fatigue.

In this episode, Chris Cooper explores what decision fatigue is, why it matters for Canadian entrepreneurs, and how to train yourself like a mental athlete to make better decisions when they matter most. You'll learn six practical strategies for preserving your decision-making energy and discover how non-negotiable habits can eliminate dozens of daily choices.

According to a 2025 BDC survey, 36% of Canadian business owners report that mental health challenges interfere with their work at least once weekly. For entrepreneurs under 40, that number jumps to 60%.

Your Golden Hour task: Track every decision you make this week. You can't fix what you can't see.

This episode sets up the next discussion on Daily Non-Negotiables and the Golden Hour system.

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

Starting January 5th, 2026, tens of thousands of Ontario government employees return to the office full-time, with Alberta following in February. Major banks and corporations are rolling out similar mandates across Canada. But are we solving the real problem?

Canada's productivity crisis is undeniable. Our GDP per capita has fallen to 75% of the US level (down from 90% in 2010), and we're second only to Italy in G7 productivity decline. Business productivity dropped 1% in Q2 2025—the sharpest decline since 2022.

The instinct is to blame remote work. But the data tells a different story: 77% of remote workers report being more productive at home, yet 85% of leaders don't trust it. The real issue? Most managers never learned to manage without proximity, and most employees never developed the self-management skills remote work requires.

For decades, managers relied on presence as a proxy for productivity. Remote work exposed this weakness. Meanwhile, 61% of remote workers say they need more training, but only 70% receive it. The result: some thrive remotely while others work 65% more hours and burn out.

The solution isn't about choosing remote versus office—it's about intentional skill-building. Managers need to learn outcome-based management. Employees need time management and boundary-setting skills. Organizations need to design work models deliberately.

This week's Golden Hour challenge: If you're a manager, define what "good" actually looks like for one person's role. If you're an employee, track where one full workday actually goes. If you're an owner, identify your biggest productivity drain.

The businesses that build these skills will dominate. The ones arguing about chairs won't.

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

You're losing the hiring war. Not because there aren't good people out there—but because you're fighting the wrong battle.

48.3% of Canadian businesses say recruiting skilled employees is their top obstacle. You're competing with every other business in your market for "experienced" candidates, offering signing bonuses and competitive wages. And even when you land them, there's a coin flip chance they'll be gone within 18 months.

Here's the truth that changes everything: 90% of new hire failures happen because of attitude and personality issues—not technical incompetence. Only 11% fail due to lack of skills.

You're hiring for the wrong thing.

This episode breaks down the 80/20 Hiring Solution—a five-step system to hire for fit, train for skill, and build teams that actually stick around:

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• Identify your ONE non-negotiable character trait
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• Stop competing for "experienced" candidates
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• Build a 2-week onboarding system that creates competence fast
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• Create retention through growth paths, not just pay raises
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• Replace yourself in one role per quarter
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Southwest Airlines became an industry leader using this exact philosophy. Founder Herb Kelleher hired for humor and attitude first, skills second. You can do the same.

Your Golden Hour this week: Write down the ONE character trait your best employee has. That's your new hiring filter.

While your competitors wait for the perfect candidate to show up, you're building a system to create them.

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/