Side hustle

You’ve probably seen posts and heard people talk about their, “side hustle.” Some of you will know exactly what that means and some of you will have no idea what people mean when they say it. In this post I am going to explain exactly what a side hustle means to me and how it has helped my family and I on more than one occasion.

I have years of experience in hospitality and retail before starting my career in teaching. My income ranged from $10-$12/hour or relied heavily on gratuities. Once working full time on salary my pay was much higher but so were my living expenses; mortgage, children, cost of living etc. After putting in a 40+ hour work week there was still a need for just a little bit more.

So when I took a look at the numbers, with small children how many hours was I willing to put into a second part time job that would take me away from my family on nights and weekends?

Truth? Zero.

I was willing to work away from home zero hours. Time is precious. If I were to work 12-15 extra hours part time in retail for example, my pay check would be $144-$180, probably not even enough to cover the gas getting me to and from the job and then to factor in what my time is worth, 3 nights of the week that I don’t eat dinner with my family or bathe, read to and tuck in my children.

It just was not a practical solution for me.

So, that brings me to the alternative, the side hustle. Using social networking, emails and messaging in small blocks of time throughout the day and after the kids are in bed. There are generally 3 components in order to make some money. You need to believe in network marketing or at least be open-minded to how it operates, you need to believe in the product or service that it has to offer and you need to believe in yourself.

That’s sometimes the hard part, the believing in yourself, while everyone around you is telling you it will never work. Numbers tell you that only 5% of network marketers will make enough money to quite their day job. I choose to look at that number as 5 out of every hundred people DO MAKE ENOUGH TO QUIT THEIR DAY JOB. Many will make that little extra they need to help out with bills, pay for a car payment, save for a trip. Those that get started and fail have simply lost one or more of the 3 beliefs.

I have always had a little voice in the back of my head telling me, “There has got to be a better way.” Making ends meet, work day in and day out and feeling exhausted when you get home. Your career uses up all of your energy. That constant struggle because the ones you love the most are left with what little energy you have left at the end of the day. The day starts off with a rush to get everyone dressed, fed and out the door. Stop at daycare (hugs and kisses, maybe some tears, the lingering final hug that lasts a little longer because that little being that loves you more than anything is going to be gone again for the entire day), then school drop off (not as emotional), then off to work. 8 or 9 hours pass until it is pick up time. Your littles are exhausted and you are too, but all day you’ve been missing them and cannot wait to see their little faces and find out how their day was. Pull into the driveway, time to make dinner, eat, bath time, story time, and they’re out. You put your feet up and think of the million things you should be doing but don’t have it in you to actually do them. You go to bed, alarm clock rings and you do it all over again. What if it didn’t have to be like this?

Now picture this day.

Similar, but using a few little pockets of time you send a few emails, create a few posts and answer a few messages. Just like that you have created the same amount of income as the part time job that takes you away from your family 3 nights a week.

Or, better yet, follow a proven system in a company with a solid structure and those few small pockets of time increase to a few hours of your day but you have now replaced the income that were making for 40 hours of work in just ten. What would you do with your extra time? What would that mean to you and what would that mean to your family?

If you have that same voice that tells you, “there has got to be a better way ,“ then we need to talk!