Episode overview

Side Hustle Expert: The Fastest Way To Make $10k/mo | Chris Koerner

Lewis Howes School of Greatness · 8 July 2026 · 1h 14m · 5 Egleze moments

What happened in this episode?

Serial entrepreneur Chris Kerner, who has launched 75 businesses with multiple reaching seven and eight figures, joined Lewis Howes to reveal unconventional paths to generating $10,000+ monthly income with minimal capital. Kerner challenged the conventional wisdom that starting a business requires money, instead advocating for immediate customer acquisition before building infrastructure. He shared striking real-world examples including TV mounting contractors earning $300,000 annually using only free listing platforms, VCR resellers making six figures through simple arbitrage, and his own multimillion-dollar e-commerce business built by reselling Buc-ee's products without permission. Kerner emphasized that the greatest barrier to entrepreneurship is not capital or skills but fear of others' perception of failure. He revealed his personal practice of learning iPhone repair on customers' devices in real-time, breaking phones occasionally but ultimately earning six figures by launching immediately rather than waiting for mastery. The conversation took an emotional turn as Kerner shared how his daughter's life-saving double lung transplant from a deceased nine-year-old donor inspired both him and his wife to each donate a kidney to strangers, timing the donations to honor the young donor's death and birthday. He disclosed that his financial life has never been better since the donation and advocates for policy changes allowing compensated kidney donation, noting that if just one in 10,000 healthy adults donated, the 5,000 annual American deaths from kidney shortage would drop to zero. Throughout the episode, Kerner maintained that entrepreneurial skills should be treated like emergency food storage and that serving others is the most selfish thing anyone can do because of its personal returns.

What are the key points?

Chris Kerner revealed a TV mounting contractor earning $300,000 annually with zero marketing spend using only free platform listings like TaskRabbit and Thumbtack
VCR resellers in rural Virginia are making six figures buying obsolete units for $5-10 and selling them for $100-150 through simple marketplace arbitrage
Kerner built a multimillion-dollar annual business by launching an unauthorized Buc-ee's e-commerce store that went viral after cold-pitching journalists
The entrepreneur learned iPhone repair on customers' devices in real-time during his first retail store, occasionally breaking phones but ultimately earning six figures by launching immediately
Both Kerner and his wife donated kidneys to strangers after their daughter received a life-saving lung transplant, with Kerner noting his financial life has never been better since
America's 5,000 annual kidney transplant deaths could be eliminated if just one in 10,000 healthy adults became living donors, a statistically simple solution
Kerner advocates that the only real entrepreneurial fear is perception of failure from others, not actual failure, arguing that people are too distracted to care about individual attempts

Which topics are covered?

Money Society Health, Longevity & Biohacking Faith & Spirituality

How is this page sourced?

Programme: Lewis Howes School of Greatness
Published: 8 July 2026
Duration: 1h 14m
Original episode: Open the original source ↗

Egleze verifies the speaker, source and timestamp for each linked moment. Unless a moment is explicitly marked independently verified, statements remain attributed claims by the named speaker rather than established facts.

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5 moments from this episode

Source-linked · editorially selected

Money

VCR resellers making six figures buying at five dollars selling at 150

at 11:06 · Attributed speaker claim

I talked to guys just yesterday that are reselling VCRs. They're paying $5 to $10 for VCRs and selling them for $100 to $150. These guys are in like the middle of nowhere, Virginia. And so when we were talking, I pulled up Facebook Marketplace and I live in Dallas Fort Worth. There's 9 million people. And I typed in VCR and I just watched their eyes lit up because there were hundreds of VCRs for 5 to 10 bucks. And they were like, 'That one's worth 200. That one's worth 75. That one's worth 150.' And I crunched the numbers and I'm like, you could make six figures a year if you lived in Dallas Fort Worth buying VCRs on Facebook Marketplace where people don't know their value and selling them on eBay where there's a fair market value for it.

Kerner interviewed resellers in rural Virginia who are earning six-figure incomes flipping obsolete VCRs purchased for $5-10 and sold for $100-150. He demonstrated that in major metropolitan areas like Dallas-Fort Worth, hundreds of undervalued VCRs are available on Facebook Marketplace, creating immediate arbitrage opportunities.

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Money

Entrepreneur reveals window washing business earns 300,000 annually with no marketing budget

at 16:35 · Attributed speaker claim

I paid him like 2.75 to hang a TV. And I was like, 'How many of these do you do a day?' He's like, '8 to 12.' And I'm like, 'Holy cow.' I was like, 'You're making 300 grand a year.' He's like, 'Yeah.' He's like, 'It varies. Some months are 10 grand. Some months are 40.' And I was like, 'Okay, where do you find customers? Are you good at like SEO and ads?' He goes, 'No ads.' He goes, 'I have a profile on Google LSA, Thumbtac, Home Advisor, Angie's List, Task Rabbit. They feed me all my leads.'

Serial entrepreneur Chris Kerner revealed a TV mounting contractor earning six figures annually without any marketing spend, solely by listing free profiles on platforms like Google LSA, Thumbtack, and TaskRabbit. The contractor charges $275 per job and completes 8 to 12 per day, generating $300,000 yearly income from what most consider basic handyman work.

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Money

Entrepreneur launched viral multimillion dollar store without permission from billion dollar brand

at 30:15 · Attributed speaker claim

My business partner and I launched a store to get their attention. I went to their store with my four kids and wife. We bought one of everything. I hired a photographer. One of everything. And I just started cold emailing reporters. I used my Gmail account. I went to Southern Living Eater, Texas Monthly, and I just found, oh, who wrote this? I started, hey, I like bies. I launched a store for them. I thought you would find this interesting. And they need stuff to write about. So they did, and it went mega viral. We did hundreds of thousands of dollars our first 30 days selling their products. Their products. Just marking it up.

Kerner launched an unauthorized e-commerce store selling Buc-ee's products by buying inventory retail, photographing everything, and cold-pitching journalists. The guerrilla marketing tactic went viral, generating hundreds of thousands in first-month sales and growing into a multimillion-dollar annual business that still operates today under first sale doctrine.

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Health, Longevity & Biohacking

Serial entrepreneur and wife both donated kidneys to strangers after daughter's lung transplant

at 57:28 · Attributed speaker claim

I donated my kidney on the anniversary of Sam's death the next year when he would have turned nine, I think. And then my wife I was telling her all this. I'm like, 'Dude, there's three in 10,000 chance of death.' Like, yada yada this and this and like you can get your hospital like there's you don't have to pay anything. So my wife's like, 'hm, maybe I should look into this.' So 3 months later, she donated her kidney. Uh to a stranger. She never found out who they were. On the anniversary of on his birthday, what would have been his birthday, May 10th.

After his daughter received a life-saving double lung transplant from a deceased nine-year-old donor named Sam, Kerner researched living kidney donation and discovered minimal risk (3 in 10,000 mortality rate). He donated his kidney on the anniversary of Sam's death, and three months later his wife donated hers on what would have been Sam's birthday, both to strangers. Kerner notes his financial life has never been better since the donation.

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Health, Longevity & Biohacking

America's kidney shortage could end if one in 10,000 adults donated

at 58:53 · Attributed speaker claim

If one in 10,000 healthy adults donated their kidney to a stranger, no one would die waiting for a kidney. But today, like 5,000 people a year die waiting for a kidney. But it's needless. Like it's literally needless. That number could go to zero. One in 10,000 people.

Kerner revealed that 5,000 Americans die annually waiting for kidney transplants, but this death toll could be eliminated if just 0.01% of healthy adults became living donors. He argues the solution is simple mathematics rather than a medical limitation, noting that insurance companies would pay donors $50,000 if it were legal, saving them millions per patient.

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