There’s a problem with most “Side Hustles”If you’re like me (Gen X, 50+), you’ve searched for “how to make money online” and immediately regretted it.The results are usually a nightmare:Drive for Uber? (Great, trade your car’s transmission for pennies).Start a TikTok Channel? (Which requires constant energy and “performance”).Dropshipping? (I don’t have time to answer customer service emails about lost packages).We don’t want a second job. We’re tired. We want an asset.I spent 17 years as a mechanical draftsman. I think in terms of leverage and structure.We need something that uses our brain and years of experience, not our backs. We…

Let me take you back for a second…Here was my morning routine:Shuffle into work like a zombie who forgot its purpose.Around 10 a.m., the daydreams kicked in. Being anywhere but there. Doing anything but that job.Then I’d feel guilty for wanting more and force myself not to open a browser tab and work on my exit plan (I believe the kids call this quiet quitting these days).Rinse and repeat for months.When people talk about feeling “stuck,” I get it. I lived it.Most of the Gen Xers who reach out to me over the past 13 years until now? They’re in…

Welcome back to another monthly update from Root of Good! We are back home in Raleigh after spending most of the month on a cruise through the Panama Canal. As a result this monthly update is almost a month late. Better late than never, I suppose.  After being very busy traveling throughout 2025, we are finally home for a long period of time. So far, we have nothing planned for more than two months. The plan is to stick around Raleigh during Thanksgiving and Christmas to celebrate with our extended families. I’m also hoping to work on a few deferred…

A big thank you to beehiiv for making this newsletter possible.If you’ve been kicking around the idea of a side hustle or just want another income stream that doesn’t suck up your weekends, start a newsletter.Beehiiv’s new Winter Release made it even easier. AI website builder. Better growth features. Paid subscriptions with no fees. All the stuff you actually need, without the usual tech headaches.It’s hands-down one of the easiest ways to create something of your own. No products to ship, no boss breathing down your neck, no fancy tech required.I use beehiiv because it’s stupid-simple and actually fun to…

A big thank you to beehiiv for making this newsletter possible.If you’ve been kicking around the idea of a side hustle or just want another income stream that doesn’t suck up your weekends, start a newsletter.Beehiiv’s new Winter Release made it even easier. AI website builder. Better growth features. Paid subscriptions with no fees. All the stuff you actually need, without the usual tech headaches.It’s hands-down one of the easiest ways to create something of your own. No products to ship, no boss breathing down your neck, no fancy tech required.I use beehiiv because it’s stupid-simple and actually fun to…

A big thank you to beehiiv for making this newsletter possible.If you’ve been kicking around the idea of a side hustle or just want another income stream that doesn’t suck up your weekends, start a newsletter.It’s hands-down one of the easiest ways to create something of your own. No products to ship, no boss breathing down your neck, no fancy tech required.I use beehiiv because it’s stupid-simple and actually fun to use.The first time I used ChatGPT, I thought I was onto something big.Type a prompt, get magic back. Simple.But a few months in, I realized I wasn’t really using…

I had an epiphany recently.There’s been a common thread running through everything I’ve done the past 20+ years — I’m obsessed with leverage.Building stuff that keeps growing without adding more grind.In this post, I’ll break down how how Gen X entrepreneurs can use business leverage frameworks like the Star Principle and Naval Ravikant’s Four Types of Leverage to build a sustainable business that grows without more hours.My Journey to Understanding Business LeverageBack when I was a mechanical draftsman, I figured out how to design complex documentation for standard product lines that could be reproduced across departments with little or no…

The older I get, the more I realize the power of community isn’t some empty social-media platitude we post for likes—it’s survival.But it took my stubborn ass awhile to realize this.Like a lot of us Gen Xers, I was raised with a latchkey, go it alone attitude. Head down, work hard, figure it out yourself.It’s been working for me for awhile but less and less everyday.In a world moving at AI speed, the lone-wolf mindset is a looking more and more like a dead end. The people who’ll stay relevant and sane—the ones who’ll keep growing—are the ones who learn…

If you’ve ever been laid off and thought, “How the hell am I going to start over at this age?” — this podcast episode is for you.Fernando Labastida has been laid off three times.Once during the 2008 crash.Again during the “AI apocalypse” of 2023.And one more time after 50 — when most people start thinking their best days are behind them.But instead of crawling back to another job, he flipped the script.👉 He took the same skills that got him hired in the first place and built a new business that no algorithm can replace.Fernando calls it finding your superpower…

Learn AI. Stay Relevant. Get Paid.If you’re 40-plus and wondering how to stay relevant (and paid) in the AI era — you need to check out theCLICK.It’s not another course — it’s a hands-on community that shows you how to:✅ Use ChatGPT-5 like a pro✅ Build your own AI “workforce”✅ Package and sell AI-powered servicesI’ve been a paying member for almost a year now, and honestly, I’ve learned more here than anywhere else online. Even better — I’ve made my subscription cost back 10 times over by providing AI services to clients.Try it out for 14 days and see for…