Buy Buttons by Nick Loper focuses on utilizing hundreds of pre-existing peer-to-peer marketplaces to sell goods and services. The book provides actionable strategies for setting up 'buy buttons' on these platforms, eliminating the need to build a customer base from scratch or handle payment processing. It features over 300 platforms and includes case studies and examples from successful side hustlers. The book emphasizes the ease of getting started and the potential to generate significant side income by tapping into these existing marketplaces.
This book tells the untold story of Netflix's origins, from its inception in 1997 to its initial public offering and beyond. Marc Randolph recounts the challenges, failures, and successes of building a disruptive startup, including pitching his idea to his business partner Reed Hastings, dealing with server crashes on launch day, and the infamous meeting with Blockbuster. The book offers insights into entrepreneurship, covering topics such as idea generation, team building, and handling success and failure.
Smartcuts by Shane Snow explores how innovators across various fields use lateral thinking to bypass conventional steps and achieve remarkable success. The book provides practical strategies for accelerating success by challenging traditional wisdom and embracing smarter, more efficient approaches. It includes stories from diverse areas such as business, science, and art, highlighting the power of radical simplification and 10x thinking.
The Cleanlots book serves as an operations manual for establishing and growing a parking lot litter removal service, covering setup, operations, and expansion strategies. Now in its 4th edition, it includes one-on-one coaching from founder Brian Winch, who has built a six-figure income from this business over decades. The guide emphasizes low-tech, scalable methods for commercial property cleanup.
The Piggyback Principle is a business idea framework that looks at popular market trends or “ecosystems” and seeks ways to support or supplement those trends.
It’s a faster way to start a business because you can capitalize on what’s already hot with an additional or complementary product or service.
Basically, your side hustle can ride piggyback on a larger business or trend. You could even say that my now-retired shoe-business was a piggyback business on the e-commerce trend and the comparison shopping trend.
It’s a concept I first wrote about 10 years ago, but at that time, I took a pretty narrow view by just talking about marketplace trends.
At that time, it was things like the rise of WordPress, or the popularity of the Paleo diet.
Now, I’ve broken this principle into three stages:
- Idea generation
- Startup creation
- Marketing/growth
And to make this practical, I’m bringing in real-world examples from fellow entrepreneurs who’ve used this approach to build real businesses.
Here are the new and updated trends for the Piggyback Principle in 2025.
Full Show Notes: The Piggyback Principle: The “Lazy” Way to Build a Successful Side Hustle
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The Side Hustle Show 
