Over the last decade, the world has experienced an unimaginable shift in the way people work and view their personal development. Once upon a time, the dream was to fight your way up the corporate ladder, surviving arduous trials of mental endurance.
At the end of this long journey, you could enjoy the fruits of your labour with retirement. The aforementioned monotonous endless cycle of the 6 AM alarm clock, however, is not for everyone.
Some people don’t have a choice but to work their 9-5, but are simply desperate to move into the entrepreneurial hall of fame choosing their own working hours, and all the benefits that come from working for yourself.
Thus the side hustler was born. Those rare few who are willing to work their normal jobs and put on their suit afterwards. The internet has been a great catalyst to enable these hustlers to have every tool at their disposal to work whenever they can, and in this article, we’ll talk about how to break free from the shackles of society.
“Contrary to popular opinion, the hustle is not a dance step – it’s an old business procedure.” – Fran Lebowitz
Understand your vision
A side hustle is only as good as the vision of what you want it to become. Ask yourself a few questions before even contemplating progressing with any side hustle, they really put things in perspective. Imagine that you are looking into the future through a glass window at what your hustle could become.
How much money do you want to make?
I know that money isn’t the core driving decision for why most people do what they do as a side hustle. But for argument’s sake, if you were to quit your job, would it be something that could support you?
Do you want to do this for the next five years?
For some, the dream is to create a full-time career out of a side hustle, and for others, it’s to create a business that can be sold. Visualising whether or not it is possible to stick with that daily routine of grinding business is important.
Can you envision your idea expanding?
Some people start little side businesses which turn into multi faceted revenue generating corporate power houses. Thinking about all the ways your business could expand is equally as important as that’s what really makes or breaks businesses – their flexibility.
In essence, take a step back from everything to put things in perspective. Is your idea going to be viable even in the distant future? Without this in mind, it is impossible to take the leap from the 9-5 life to a full-time entrepreneur.
“I’d rather hustle 24/7 than slave 9 to 5.” – Unknown
Plan your finances
Numerous people wanting to ditch their careers seriously need to step over their entrepreneurial dreams of grandeur to face reality. A hard hitting statement, but the blunt truth is, you need to take a step back and plan to see whether or not you can be financially stable.
Money is important, we need it to eat, pay rent, and keep a business running. If you are still in a 9-5? There is a particular level of stability that you will never have in those early days of running a business. Using the time you do have, it’s worth sitting down and creating an overly enthusiastic budget.
In business, everything is about numbers, whether that be your bottom line or simply working out how much income you need to grow. By creating a viable plan of required income? It’s possible to start saving, then you can ditch the 9-5 when you are stable, giving you the ability to focus entirely on the dream.
“The dream is free. The hustle is sold separately.” – Unknown
Get the money churning before quitting
Expanding on the former point. A great way to improve your chances of turning your dream into a reality is to get your business operational well before writing that letter of resignation.
Having a constant income that covers the basics is one of the best ways to add an additional safety blanket. But more than that, it shows that the business is viable. Sure it might not be generating a six figure income, but the money is there to keep the heating on and food on the table.
This is also great for your emotional well being. In business, we can get so fixated and stressed on getting the money rolling in that we lose sight of the things that matter the most – enjoying what we do.
“What you lack in talent can be made up with desire, hustle and giving 110% all the time.” – Don Zimmer
Work the daily grind until you are fed up
Grind until you can’t grind anymore. The daily grind isn’t a fun one, nor is being a hustler at the same time, but you have to keep going.
The problem with doing so much work in life though, is like anything, it can become exhausting, completely draining you on a physical and mental levels. There are going to be days when you hit the wall, and just can’t keep on with the full time career and side business. But you just need to keep grinding…
Most side hustles are something that with proper time management can begin to showcase growth with a minimal time investment. The benefits of having a steady income will allow you to really invest in your business without many consequences, which is a positive to the 9-5 grind.
Now, keep going until you physically and mentally can’t take anymore. Once you reach this point and have sufficient capital to make the leap changing your life with every waking minute without the chains of a 9-5 career holding you back.
Each and every decision you make is going to be a completely different thing from now on, and the way you viewed the world will change very quickly.
“The hustle brings the dollar. The experience brings the knowledge. The persistence brings success.” – Ross Simmonds
Author Bio
Jamie Fuller is a digital marketing executive at AppInstitute. He spends his days building links, creating content, and drinking far too much coffee at one of the world’s leading DIY App Builders (over 70,000 apps built).
AppInstitute regularly provides leading publications with app analytics, business data, case studies, white papers and statistics for established publishers across the world. They were named in the top 50 creative companies in England by Creative England.
Company Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/app-institute
Company Twitter: https://twitter.com/AppInstitute
Company Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AppInstitute/
