How a Data Analyst Built a 25K Monthly Side Hustle in SQL Training

Lucas: So, Maria Chen is a data analyst at a mid-sized logistics firm. Her day job involves pulling shipping lane data, optimizing routes, that kind of thing. Nothing flashy. But on the side, she built a $25,000 a month side hustle teaching SQL to small business teams. Luna: Twenty-five thousand? That's serious money. How did she get started? Lucas: It started pretty humbly. She was posting short SQL tips on LinkedIn—maybe three or four times a week. Things like 'how to write a window function' or 'common mistakes with GROUP BY.' Just sharing what she knew. Luna: And that got traction? Lucas: It did, but not overnight. After about six months, she had a few hundred followers and a handful of comments from people asking if she offered training. One comment was from a founder of a 50-person e-commerce company. He said his team kept writing terrible queries and he was willing to pay for a workshop. Luna: That's the spark. So she did a workshop for them? Lucas: Exactly. She charged $1,500 for a half-day session. It went well, and that founder referred her to two other companies. That's when she realized there was a real demand for practical, business-focused SQL training—not the academic stuff you'd get in a university course. Luna: Right. I've seen a lot of SQL courses that dive into theory but don't teach you how to actually join tables for a sales report. That gap is huge. Lucas: Huge. So Maria doubled down on that gap. She built a curriculum around real business problems—customer lifetime value queries, inventory turnover calculations, things analysts actually need. And she started charging $5,000 per full-day workshop. Luna: That's a big jump from $1,500. Did she have trouble selling at that price? Lucas: Surprisingly, no. She told me that once she had three case studies and a clear outline of what the workshop delivered, most companies didn't blink. To them, $5,000 was cheaper than hiring a full-time analyst or sending their team to a multi-day conference. Luna: And she's doing this while holding down a full-time job. How does she manage the time? Lucas: She's very disciplined. She does all her client calls and prep work in the evenings—typically 7 PM to 10 PM. Workshops are on Saturdays. She limits herself to two workshops per month, which brings in about $10,000. The rest comes from follow-up consulting: she'll review a team's existing SQL code and suggest improvements. Luna: So she's not burning out because she's capped the volume. Smart. And what about her employer? Most companies have some sort of moonlighting policy. Lucas: She checked her employment contract carefully. It only restricted work for direct competitors in the logistics space. Since her side hustle is training teams in e-commerce, healthcare, and finance—not logistics—she's in the clear. She also made sure not to use any company equipment or data. Luna: That's a key lesson for anyone listening—read your contract. Don't assume it's allowed. So what's her next move? Lucas: She's thinking about creating a self-paced online course for smaller businesses that can't afford a $5,000 workshop. That could scale her income without requiring more of her time. But she's cautious about overextending. Luna: And that's the balancing act, right? You don't want the side hustle to eat into the day job performance. Lucas: Precisely. And on that note—if you're finding these episodes useful for thinking through your own career moves, we do rely on listener support to keep the show ad-free. Even a couple of dollars a month genuinely makes a difference. You can head to buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo if you've gotten something out of the podcast. Luna: Yeah, it's a small way to say thanks and it directly helps us keep making episodes like this one. We appreciate it. Lucas: Okay, back to Maria. One thing that really impressed me was her sales process. She doesn't send a generic proposal—she asks for five minutes with the team lead, reviews some of their actual code, and then points out specific inefficiencies. That demo alone closes most deals. Luna: So she's essentially doing a free audit. That builds trust and shows the value immediately. Lucas: Exactly. She said one prospect had a query that was taking 20 minutes to run. She showed them how to rewrite it in under 30 seconds. The team lead signed the contract on the spot. Luna: I love that. It's not about selling—it's about demonstrating. So for someone listening who has a skill like SQL, or maybe Python, or even Excel, what's the first step Maria would recommend? Lucas: She says start with content. Post little tips, answer questions on LinkedIn or Reddit, build a small audience. You don't need a huge following—you just need to be findable. Then, when someone asks if you offer training, say yes, and start with a low-risk pilot. Luna: And don't underprice yourself forever. After the first few clients, raise your rates. Lucas: Right. Maria's advice is to multiply your desired annual side income by the number of working days you're willing to commit. For her, she wanted $100,000 a year from roughly 20 workshop days—so $5,000 per day. That math gave her confidence to charge what she's worth. Luna: That's a really concrete framework. I think a lot of people undervalue their expertise because they compare themselves to salaried wages per hour. But when you're selling a solution, not your time, the pricing changes. Lucas: Exactly. Maria's clients aren't paying for her time—they're paying for the time and money their team will save by writing better queries. That's a much bigger value proposition. Luna: Alright, so what's one takeaway from this episode that someone could act on this week? Lucas: Pick one skill you use at work that your non-tech friends always ask you about. And post one tip about it on LinkedIn today. You might be surprised who's watching. Luna: I think I'll do that with my spreadsheet skills. Thanks, Lucas. Lucas: See you next time.