About How to Start a Side Hustle

The University of Texas at Dallas Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, in collaboration with seasoned entrepreneurs from Lane Two Inc., is providing How to Start a Side Hustle to early-stage and aspiring entrepreneurs across the University of Texas at Dallas campus. Sponsored by UT Dallas, this course is free for students to attend.

There have never been more opportunities to explore entrepreneurship than there are today. From solopreneurship, makers and content creators, to technology startups, hyper-niche freelancers and product-based businesses, there are an abundance of ways to transform your ideas, skills, and expertise into a meaningful line of revenue.

This 6 week, live online course will equip you with the skills, tools, and knowledge needed to launch and grow your business, while balancing your academic studies and other commitments.

Introducing, How to Start a Side Hustle! You’ll meet once per week with your instructor for a 90 minute zoom webinar and you’ll have access to office hour coaching throughout the course. How to Start a Side Hustle will give you the practical, step-by-step process to follow to transform your ideas, skills, or expertise into a meaningful line of revenue. Lane Two Inc. are North American leaders in training for Side Hustlers, having helped over 1250 people to start and grow side hustles.

A Word from Our Alumni

Japjeet Singh
How to Start a Side Hustle Alumni
Current student at the University of Manitoba

“Jeff is a great teacher who really knows how to help you start and grow a side hustle. He doesn’t just talk about it—he actually practices what he teaches. His practical tips and small, actionable steps make it easy to take action instead of just listening.

Overall, it’s a great course, and Jeff is a fantastic teacher. Don’t miss out!.”

Janet Chen
How to Start a Side Hustle Alumni
Current student at the University of Manitoba

“I found this course truly inspiring, particularly the practical examples Jeff shared. They encouraged me to start with something small, rather than waiting until I have everything fully developed. The framework I learned from the course provides step-by-step instructions to help minimize the risk of failure, which is important and valuable for every side hustler, in my view. I would highly recommend this course to anyone who wants to initiate their side hustle or wants to start a business with minimal risk.”

How to Start a Side Hustle Course Registration

There are limited spots available in two upcoming sections of
How to Start a Side Hustle:

Section 1 - runs weekly on Wednesdays from 7:00 - 8:30pm central from May 21st - June 25th.
Section 2 - runs weekly on Thursdays from 7:00 - 8:30pm central from May 22nd - June 26th.

Register for your preferred section using the dropdown menu in the form below.

*If you have any questions about anything to do with the course or your registration please reach out to us at laura@lanetwo.ca.

Course Overview

Click each Module to read more about what you’ll be learning each week of the course.

  • Week 1: The Side Hustle Portfolio System

    Learn the mindsets and systems needed to manage your time, energy, and focus, as you grow your portfolio of work.

    • Define your Vision Statement - make sure you are building a business that aligns to things that matter most to you. Define your WHY. 

    • Learn to install the Four Lanes Portfolio system so you can effectively manage your time, energy and focus as you start and grow your new business. 

    • Understand the Side Hustle Spectrum: the wide range of business models that are available to side hustlers today.

    Week 2: Customer Discovery

    Learn how to conduct customer discovery research to identify the ideal target customer(s) for your creative business.

    • Go deeper than a demographic understanding of your customer by learning to identify your ideal target customer segment. 

    • Use the Customer Story template to define your assumptions about your ideal target customer.

    • Build market awareness by conducting market research: interview/survey prospective customers to uncover unmet needs, and explore competitors in the market so you can find opportunities to differentiate your offer.

    • Learn to conduct an Ecosystem Scan and Competitive Analysis, so you can pinpoint opportunities to differentiate within the existing market landscape.

  • Week 3: Your Business Model

    Learn to define your first business model hypothesis and quickly test it using rapid prototyping techniques.

    • Learn to define your offer (the features, value proposition and pricing) and then quickly test your offer by building a prototype.

    • Learn different Channel Strategies - uncover innovative ways to reach your customer (you don’t need to be famous on social media to reach customers - an overview of the wide range of opportunities that exist to market and sell to customers - e.g. platform-based sales, content-based, partnership-based, etc. ).

    • Learn to conduct a Monthly Retrospective Planning Ritual - the second ritual you’ll use to manage and grow your portfolio of work.

    Week 4: Sales Strategies and Tactics

    Learn about a wide range of sales and marketing strategies and identify which fits best with you and your business.

    • A deep dive into various pricing strategies (value-based pricing and anchor pricing).

    • Learn to establish pricing so that you have enough of a margin to be cash flow positive from day 1. 

    • Learn to define your customer acquisition strategy as you work toward your launch. And, define the resources you need to bring your side hustle to life.

    • Understand how to systematically construct a buyer’s journey that attracts, educates, and converts new customers.

  • Week 5 + 6: The Launch + Backend Business Systems

    In week 5 and 6 of the course, you’ll learn how to leverage the insights you have collected from touch points with prospective customers thus far to define your Minimum Viable Offer - the first version of your side hustle that you will launch. You will also learn about the back end systems you should implement as you launch your business (business registration, accounting/financial tracking, etc) so you are set up to grow a thriving side hustle. 

    • Understand the wide range of funding opportunities that exist for Side Hustlers today.

    • Use the Roadmap planning tool to plan your side hustle launch. 

    • Understand the Minimum Viable Offer approach to launching, so you can get to market quickly, while exposing yourself to the smallest amount of risk. 

    • Learn to set targets for your launch and how to track your performance. 

    • Understand how to track your expenses and revenue, and learn about the range of accounting software that is available to support your business. 

Meet your Instructor

  • Jeff is a serial entrepreneur who has been starting and growing businesses for almost 15 years. His wide ranging entrepreneurial experience includes founding an eduction technology company and raising 1.4 million dollars to design, develop, and deploy an innovative training program in partnership with Hubspot and Shopify, which helped main street businesses to build online stores and execute digital marketing campaigns.

    Since 2020, Jeff has carved out a niche as a course creator + instructor, and as a public speaker. He is a lead education partner with the Start-Up Canada Tour and he travels across the country delivering training to hundreds of entrepreneurs each year.

    Today, Jeff is the founder of Lane Two Learning Inc., where he designs and delivers online courses to support side hustlers, solopreneurs, small business owners, and start-ups, to start and grow new businesses. Jeff has helped over 1200 people to start and grow businesses through his flagship course, How to Start a Side Hustle.

    With Lane Two, Jeff also supports large organizations to develop new, highly differentiated lines of revenue. Most recently, Jeff has worked with Canon Canada Inc. to launch a wide range of online classes. 

    Based out of Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Jeff runs Lane Two Learning Inc. with his wife, Laura. They are digital nomads who spend 75-90 days per year living and working across Canada and internationally.