Great Job, you’ve decided to pursue your Side Income Earner. It may have been buzzing around your head for months or even years, but now you have pressed the button and have committed to give a go.
“Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.”
Peter Drucker
You know that you are now faced by a mountain of hard work. After all, if it was easy everybody would do it.
You’ll probably also be faced by happy naysayers, people who want to talk you out of it. They may laugh when things are going tough for you, but they will also be jealous when you succeed, so steal yourself.
So, upfront it’s in your best interest if you put in place three steps to give yourself your best chance of succeeding.
Have a Routine
It may be a side hustle but it is important and must be treated as such. Having a routine where you set aside dedicated time to work on your earner is critical.
This is particularly important if you are working from home. Such a proposition may feel like it offers that lifestyle flexibility you want but beware the distractions.
Having a routine and sticking to it means that you are managing your energy; you are re-affirming to yourself that this is important and now requires your focus; and as critically it says to other people ‘this is now my time so please leave me alone’.
At the start of this year I have ste myself the commitment to follow Dan Sullivan’s ideas on Energy and Stuff. You can watch it here, rather than me explaining it, but for this moment, you do need to know that as part of giving up stuff, I have committed to no daytime TV. So 15 days into 2020 I have probably added 30 hours of effort and worktime to my side income hustles. That could be 800 hours in a year, or the equivalent of 20 working weeks. Having a routine has given me extra time.
Have your own Workspace
It can be really difficult to create your own workspace but it will make a massive difference. If you are actually building something, then you wll need the room to lay out all your materials and store your tools. It is exactly the same if your business is online.
It will be impossible to finish every piece of work at one sitting. You must have somewhere that you can either lay out your ideas, plans and work while you work, and somewhere to store them safely if they must be cleared away each day.
As I write this I am alone at our dining room table. During the day I can lay everything out and I know nobody else will touch it. What others regard as my mess I think of as how my brain is working. If you want to make a success of whatever project you are on, try to remove the roadblocks when you must re-boot your thinking many times a day because someone else has tidied up.
Meet Up with other People
With the way the world is changing it is possible to get up, work from home, be very productive, but never get dressed and never meet other people. With all we now know about mental health, that is not a good situation to live in for days or weeks on end.
As a part of your routine, make time to meet other people. It may only be a trip to a local cafe, or supermarket but get yourself out. Make yourself have a chat with someone face to face.
We are designed as social creatures, and no matter what we think, we rely absolutely on others. If you are an artist, spend some time each week in a communal studio. If you work with your laptop set yourself the target of working away from home at least one day per week.
Not only will that help your own mental well being, it will take you into your community, and may be the source of new inspiration and even business contacts.
All photos are courtesy of Unspalsh the internet’s source of freely usable images.
