Unlocking Financial Freedom: Michel Elings Of Vev On Innovative Side Hustle Strategies

In an era where financial stability seems increasingly difficult to achieve with a single income source, side hustles have become more than just a trend — they’re a necessity for many seeking financial freedom and independence. However, not all side hustles are created equal, and the journey to finding one that offers both profitability and passion can be elusive. With the digital economy offering boundless opportunities, there’s a myriad of ways to build an additional income stream. Yet, the question remains: How can individuals unlock the true potential of side hustles to not just supplement income, but to pave the way to financial freedom? As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Michel Elings.

Michel Elings is the founder of Vev, an all-in-one business tool in the form of a web app that lets you start a business in just three clicks. Before Vev, Michel helped create TRVL, which won the “Best Mobile App” award at The Next Web Conference 2012. Michel then helped found Prss for the iPad. The platform was acquired by Apple in 2014, where Michel went on to work as a Senior Software Manager for several years. In 2021, he moved on from Apple to create Vev, which raised $5.4M (€5M) in seed funding in 2023.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?

Of course. I started my passion for entrepreneurship at a young age when I started selling websites at age 12. From then on, it was a simple matter of making that passion a reality. I studied management at university, which helped me develop the entrepreneurial skills I needed to launch a career. I went to work, with the desire to one day start my own business. But my wife and I were expecting a baby and had just bought a house, so I started hustling on the side–building websites, helping businesses and people with IT. This was the time the iPhone came out and I felt I missed out on an opportunity. I became very interested in developing an app. I wanted to make something that would allow people access to advanced productivity and creativity without having to know how to code themselves, since that can be a barrier to many people. This was what led me and a few others to develop TRVL. The software to publish content at the time was expensive and hard to use. I felt we could do better and we started a team to build our own. First, we built TRVL, but then we wanted to share these tools with the world, so we launched Prss, the latter of which was later acquired by Apple to become one of the main building blocks of Apple News.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

Getting acquired by Apple for sure. It started with a moment of sheer confidence when I jumped the security line at the company’s annual developer conference. We got an official invite for Prss to the keynote, so I was in the audience, but in a different section. After jumping the line, I walked up to a top Apple executive and told him straight up: “we built the software Apple forgot to make.” That was the start of what eventually became the acquisition of Prss. It was something that completely changed the course of my life, and the lives of everyone that worked at Prss. We packed up our bags and basically all moved to California to work for Apple.

You are a successful individual. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Collaborative. I’m not a developer or designer, but I know plenty of people who are really good at that. My special power is bringing people together and facilitating that collaboration. Finding talent is, therefore, something that I spend a lot of time on. I love to bring people together and help steer a company culture where people love to work and flourish.

Creative. Friction or irritation is often a place where something starts for me. Fifteen years ago it was much harder to sell stuff online. Today, we all walk around with smartphones. Now that the bar is so much lower, I truly see that as a huge opportunity to help as many people as possible to do their best work.

Empathetic. I really take my time to understand the struggles and needs of our customers. To give you an example, when developing our pricing model, we didn’t focus on maximizing profits. Instead, the question becomes: “How little can we charge.” I really believe that everyone deserves access to the best software that’s out there — and that lowering the barrier to starting a business is better for everyone in the long run.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview about unlocking financial freedom. Can you describe a pivotal moment when your side hustle transitioned from a passion project to a profitable venture?

After the success of Prss with Apple, I realized that it was not just apps that I was passionate about, but making simple tools that can achieve complex results available to everyone. Anyone, regardless of their technological skill, should be able to create a magazine article if they have a good story to tell, or a small business if they have a good or service to provide. After I moved on from Apple, I wanted to continue democratizing these toolsets through technology. The app that we created was based on this idea, Vev, resonated with people. We were lucky enough to raise 5M in capital and really begin building it in earnest.

What unique side hustle did you start that unexpectedly led to significant financial freedom, and what inspired its inception?

After working at Apple and gaining valuable experience at the company, we felt there was another key area where simple tools and democratization could have a huge impact — creating and running a small business. You could say our side hustle was about side hustles themselves! I knew a lot of people who had great ideas for businesses, but they were discouraged from starting one because they didn’t know how to set up a website or a booking system. So we started talking about building an app where people could start and manage their own side hustle from the comfort of their homes and without any coding knowledge. This led to the development of Vev, an all-in-one tool that can help anyone start their business in three taps or clicks.

How do you balance the demands of your main career with the growth of your side hustle without compromising on the success of either?

This was one of the issues that Vev is aiming to solve. For me, building software was part of my day job and my passion project. It was a seamless transition between work and play. However, I understood that for other people it might not be so easy. For example, maybe someone wants to make and sell jewelry on the side, but they work a full-time job. They might think, “I spend all day on my day job, and barely have enough time on evenings and weekends to do what I love: making jewelry. Let alone having time to set up a website and online payment infrastructure.” A lot of businesses or side hustles I feel never see the light of day. Some might even give up on their passion or the opportunity they spotted. The basic version of Vev is free for everyone. So Vev is a way to kickstart that transition between your regular job and your side hustle. A good-looking, simple page where people can place their order — or book that appointment with you. I get a true kick out of people growing their side hustle from one or two orders a month to two or three a day. It’s really validating to see, but especially for the entrepreneur.

What innovative strategies have you employed to scale your side hustle that others might not have considered?

Using a platform like Vev is a game changer for scaling your side hustle. Without organizational tools, booking systems, or the ability to take payments, managing a side business can get very chaotic very fast, especially if you start to grow at an unprecedented rate. No matter how small your business is, if it has a great foundation, it will stand up under pressure. Something like Vev can provide that foundation so you start out organized and are prepared to scale up. You can automate things that might take extra time on your own, and that’s more time you can devote to growing your business. A common misconception amongst entrepreneurs is confusing “being busy” with doing meaningful work. Vev allows them to spend more time on and with their customers, rather than the repetitive admin tasks.

Based on your experience and research, can you please share “5 Innovative Side Hustle Ideas?”

1. Dog walkers
So many people got dogs during the pandemic. But as we’ve seen, many companies have forced people to return to the office five days a week. Dog walkers, but the dog industry as a whole (daycare, and dog grooming too) are among our most popular categories. The beauty for people running this side hustle is its repetitive nature. It’s not a one-and-done, but we see that folks schedule multiple walks a week.

2. Foodtrucks / Catering
In the spirit of starting small, a food truck is the perfect way to try out a new food concept. Their popularity seems to hold steady, and the number of places where they are invited to pop up only seems to be growing. Vev streamlines the ordering process via a QR code, taking care of what people want to order and the online payment. In a broader sense, we also see many micro bakeries and small catering companies have great success via Vev. The general rule of thumb is that the more niche a particular food item is, the better. Think: artisanal sourdough bread, or jelly cakes.

3. Home services. This is a broad category where I see entrepreneurs make a pretty penny. The subtitle for this category is often “just fix it for me” because that’s the attitude a lot of people have toward this. From needing help with installing their smart home to blowing leaves to cleaning in the broadest sense (home, window, gutter, etc.), people often know what they need help with but are stuck on finding someone who’s willing to do it. Let alone being able to schedule it in two clicks.

4. Beauty industry. Apps like Instagram have turned some nail or hair stylists into local celebrities. A trend we see in Europe is that rather than booking these people via a salon, you can book them directly via their social media profiles. They’ll still meet the client at a traditional salon, but it removes the middleman. In this same category, we have seen various Japanese head spas take off after gaining momentum on TikTok.

5. Coaches. There’s been a steady rise in demand for coaches, from more traditional therapists to life coaches and even style coaches. The pandemic has normalized that many of these services can be provided online. A subcategory of this is language coaches, we see a growing demand for people wanting to brush up on their Spanish, for example. Offering your services as a native speaker to help people practice is a great way to make money on the side.

Reflecting on your journey, what is one piece of unconventional advice you would offer to someone looking to start a side hustle for financial freedom?

Look, we launched a magazine with TRVL that needed better software, so we founded Prss. That resulted in becoming the software for the industry that the best tech company in the world acquired. Vev started as a way to help a few small businesses with a bit of software. Now, it’s working for lots of businesses in +200 industries and people are using it on all continents.

In both cases, there was a starting point, but it wasn’t a fully formed plan. My advice would be to just start with something and grow from there.

To give a very practical example, let’s say you really, really like to make hamburgers. This already puts you ahead of 99% of the people who just love to eat hamburgers.

You probably know better than many people around you what it takes to bake the best bun, have your perfect seasoning blend, make the best patty, your signature sauce, etc. So it won’t be hard with a bit of effort to become (one of) the best hamburger makers in the region. Just start doing it on a small scale. Invite-only, friends and family only. Pick your style, but TALK ABOUT IT to others. And before you know it, you have a small but growing fan base of people rooting for you.

Don’t get ahead of yourself and sign a lease to open a space right away. Keep iterating on what you are doing — and keep it in the “now.” So, continue to talk about your hamburger passion with people around you. Perhaps that leads to borrowing the kitchen space of a nearby restaurant that otherwise would be closed in the evening. Now, you have a “one-night-only” popup.

Sitting still and waiting for something to happen will not work. I really believe that talking over and over about what you want to achieve will help you get there. And the best part? The people around you want to help you if they can.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I want people to feel supported by technology. Each and every one of us is born with a finite number of talents. When you are able to do what you love, that doesn’t cost you a lot of energy, you are leveraging one of those talents. So imagine what happens if everyone is able to do what they love. Allowing them to earn money, fix things, and make the world a better place. I’m not sure if I’m of great influence, but I am on a mission to make sure as many people as possible are doing the things they are passionate about. This means the life of people becomes much more fun. If anything, enjoying life is my personal goal, and I suppose we all aspire to that.

How can our readers further follow you online?

You can connect with me and the Vev team via www.vev.co. Also feel free to follow Vev on LinkedIn, where we give followers a look behind the scenes about what’s coming up with Vev, trends we are seeing, and general tips on how to scale and manage a small business.

Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!

About The Interviewer: Eden Gold, is a youth speaker, keynote speaker, founder of the online program Life After High School, and host of the Real Life Adulting Podcast. Being America’s rising force for positive change, Eden is a catalyst for change in shaping the future of education. With a lifelong mission of impacting the lives of 1 billion young adults, Eden serves as a practical guide, aiding young adults in honing their self-confidence, challenging societal conventions, and crafting a strategic roadmap towards the fulfilling lives they envision.

Do you need a dynamic speaker, or want to learn more about Eden’s programs? Click here: https://bit.ly/EdenGold