Want to learn how to start a side hustle while keeping your day job?
If you’ve been thinking about starting a side hustle alongside your full-time job—but you don’t really know how or where to begin, then you’ve come to the right place.
There are many reasons people take on side hustles:
- A side hustle can be a stepping stone to self-employment.
- Or an exit strategy from your dreadful 9-5 job.
- It can also be a way to multiply your income streams, so you can become financially independent.
- Maybe it’s just a creative outlet or a way to develop valuable new skills.
My reasons for creating 5 income streams are probably all the above.
In this article, I’m going to show you how exactly I got from feeling stuck at my full-time job to starting a blog and becoming a slasher with 5 income streams in 5 years.
How I started my first side hustle
I have a confession to make.
I’m 32 and I have NEVER enjoyed any of my office jobs.
It’s not that I don’t like working – on the contrary – I love using my brain and helping people and I can be in the flow for hours when I’m working on something stimulating and meaningful.
It is just that office work is remarkably boring and insignificant, don’t you think?
So when in 2013 I was made redundant from yet another job that bored me to tears (software sales, to be precise), I decided to take back control and finally ‘do me’.
I’ve always LOVED writing and sharing my ideas, so I decided to start a blog … on a whim.
Why I started a side hustle
My first side hustle was a blog.
Losing my job made me feel deeply vulnerable. I had no savings and no career prospects.
I was stuck and I decided to never be in this situation again.
I decided to never again depend solely on 1 employer, one paycheque or one job.
That night I decided to start a blog, which accidentally became the first millennial blog in the UK featured in the BBC, The Guardian, GRAZIA magazine and Forbes.
Regardless of its success, Lucky was first and foremost a coping mechanism.
It offered me something worth much more than money: a hedge against feeling stuck and cheated by life.
The blog helped me to assert my professional identity as a writer slash blogger slash marketing consultant I am now.
Achieving success with my side hustle
I’m seeing a lot of folks quitting their jobs and expecting to make $100k+ their first year.
The problem with this tactic is that you don’t know whether your blog will become successful or not.
Success is uncertain when you try something new. Unfortunately, your financial obligations (rent, mortgage, car payments, etc.) are not.
The good news is that in order to improve your life, you don’t have to take a leap and jump into something new without a safety net.
It took me 2 years of working on my blog every Sunday before I made my first dollar.
My blog was noticed by a company and I was offered regular freelance writing work.
Second years into my side hustle, I managed to transform my career from sales to digital marketing and create a 2nd income stream from freelance writing.
The following year, I also started doing consultancy slash millennial workplace training slash occasional public speaking, which became my third income stream.
By 2018, my 3 income streams made it possible for me to save 40-50% of my monthly income towards buying a property in Estonia (my home country), which I and my partner bought outright.
It was the first time in my life I proved to myself that I am able to take care of myself financially without relying on anyone and that was an amazing achievement.
Earning money on the side isn’t easy, and if you’re not dedicated and disciplined, you’ll be fighting an uphill battle.
To manage your time and motivate yourself when the times get tough, here’s the 4-step process I followed to make my blog a success:
STEP 1: Get super clear on your motives
The first step to creating a successful side hustle is to lay the foundation.
It starts by asking yourself some simple questions …
Firstly:
WHAT do you want to achieve?
- Is it to make enough money so you can quit your corporate job?
- Is it to become financially independent?
- Is it to have that extra money that will allow you to take those extra holidays?
- Is it to pay off your student loan?
Secondly, ask yourself:
WHY do you want to achieve it?
- Because you want to have more freedom and flexibility?
- Because you want to focus on doing something meaningful?
- Because you want to spend more time with friends and family?
- Because you want to spend more time improving yourself as a person?
Getting ultra-clear on the reasons behind starting a side business will lay the foundations that you need and provide clarity of purpose to push yourself forward when you are feeling too lazy.
Spend some time answering these questions for yourself. It doesn’t matter if it changes further down the line. It matters that you know what your reasons are for doing what you want to do at any point in time.
I wanted to learn how to run a blog so that I could be my own boss eventually and never depend on one employer ever again.
What’s your WHY?
STEP 2: Focus on 1 thing at a time
Once you are clear on your goals and know your ‘why’, it’s time to create a weekly schedule with dedicated time for focused work throughout the week.
When starting a side hustle, you have 2 options.
- Spread a thin level of focus across many projects and get a little work done on each,
or
- Block out time to focus deeply on one task at a time.
During the first option, the anxiety about not getting enough done wears you out faster than the work itself.
On the other hand, when you are focused on one thing at a time, you achieve the level of deep concentration required to actually move forward quicker.
Wantrepreneurs will dabble and quit when it gets too hard.
Entrepreneurs focus on one task until they’re caught up, then move to the next.
This distinction is so important because too many people waste their time (and money) dipping their toes into things, expecting unrealistic results with little effort, instead of really going for it.
PRO TIP! It’s easier to focus when you treat your side hustle as “me time.” For example, every Sunday I chained myself to my favourite café for 4-6+h to write for my blog. After a while, I started to associate my side hustle with positive emotions, like good coffee, almond croissants and relaxing café music. Can this work for you too?
STEP 3: Show up and do the work
When people ask me: “How did you build 5 streams of income?”
I answer: “I just show up and do the work.”
Real work.
Work that I don’t always “feel” like doing.
Work that doesn’t always “look” like it’s going to pan out.
I don’t make excuses.
Tired is not an excuse.
Lack of time is not an excuse.
And fear is definitely not an excuse.
If you’re not willing to take radical personal responsibility for your business (and yourself) then success is not for you.
Thinking about a side hustle idea doesn’t make it happen.
This is where most people get stuck. They dream about the outstanding opportunity, they know how much potential it has yet they don’t take any steps to realize that potential.
PRO TIP! It helps if you are actually passionate about your side hustle beyond making money. A genuine interest will help you to push through tough times.
STEP 4: Finish what you started
You have no idea how many emails I get of people telling me their stories – which is an amazing thing and I love it – but they just seem to flip flop from one business idea to another.
They seem to have a fear of narrowing down their focusing and committing to seeing something through properly.
I call it “Shiny Object Syndrome”.
Shiny Object Syndrome is when you start one thing then jump into something else before making your first venture a success. Typically this happens when the first thing becomes difficult.
You HAVE to finish what you started.
If you can’t commit to one thing then you’ll continue to be broke.
Dramatic? Maybe.
But the truth is even if you’re not broke you will be needlessly struggling or not reaching your fullest income potential.
PRO TIP! One of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt on my journey is to pick one thing and stick to it until it’s successful. There’s no such thing as easy if you want long-term success.
Over to you
Are you working on a side hustle right now?
If you’ve been thinking of creating an additional income stream, starting a blog is a good way to give your entrepreneurial spirit a go. It’s also super easy and takes about 15 minutes to set up. You can follow the exact step-by-step guide on how to start a blog I went through when starting this blog.
If you already have a blog, check out how to get fast social media traffic and/or how to get consistent SEO traffic.
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