***Article Details: A Snapshot of My Story & 10 Key Mindsets for Success w/Side-Hustling***
This is a call to action for you to stop dreaming & waiting for the conditions to be just right before starting your side-hustle. The timing will NEVER be perfect. You’ll never have less on your plate or more energy or knowledge or resources or whatever it is that you think is holding you back from starting.
The best part about building a side-hustle is you don’t have to go ‘all-in’ and forced to be an expert right away. You can grow through trial and error while still rocking out your traditional career.
I promise you’ll figure it all out once you actually start moving. You are amazingly capable & creative & have what it takes to start.
Stop waiting your life away…..
My Story
I was an 18 year old thespian who realized chasing a career wouldn’t empower me to achieve even a fraction of the big bodacious dreams I had. If I wanted to live differently, I knew I had to go down a different path. This is where starting my side-hustle came into the picture.
You see, I networked, read, and studied successful people who seemed to have true joy & purpose in their lives and here’s what I found out…. THEY ALL RAN COMPANIES. They were all in the pursuit of building something that would empower them to have financial options down the road other’s only dreamed of. Bingo. That’s what I had been looking for.
So, instead of focusing on the very loooooonnnnggggg list of why I was unqualified to start a company of my own, I focused on what I COULD bring to the table. Hustle. Grit. Tenacity. Humility. And a willingness to never give up.
While a lot of my peers were smarter, more talented, and more prepared than me, I trusted my work-ethic to win out and overcompensate for those other areas of lack.
I made a lot of seemingly strange decisions – delaying purchases, working extra hours to have more capital, driving hours to attend seminars, buying coffee for established entrepreneurs try to earn a place in their inner circle.
I didn’t attend every party or event that people I loved invited me to. I chose to sleep an hour or two less every night. I cleared my life from distractions to live simply which gave me the ability to invest my limited mental energy into what would actually move me forward.
The kicker? I did all of this without feeling sorry for myself or feeling entitled to results simply because I was making some ‘sacrifices’. Here’s the truth. BEING in the chase of a worthwhile goal caused happiness & joy. NOT THE RESULTS themselves. So when things backfired, didn’t work out, or caused additional challenges, I laughed and carried on because I knew I was about to smash through one more obstacle and be that much closer to my end goals.
It took 5 years to create cash-flow mirroring that of what I made traditionally, but I would have carried on with the same tenacity even if it had taken twice as long. Why? Because I don’t fight with my spouse about money, have panic attacks about the future, or feel frustrated because I’m stuck in a dead-end role. My life & work has meaning.
In addition to hopefully (and lovingly) challenging you to just GO FOR IT, I want to equip you with some mindsets that I’ve cultivated over the years that have empowered me to crush our companies.
10 Mindsets for Success:
- Let Go of your Ego – Ask for Help! As I had no business experience or background, I needed to find someone who could help me get my first companies off the ground. This wasn’t always easy on the ego, but in doing so, I saved myself a ton of time, $, and frustration. (The harder part though, is to KEEP asking for help, even after you’ve started to create ‘success’ and to remember there’s always a ton to learn).
- Do What WORKS, Not What Feels Good. Begin with the end in mind (clearly identify what you hope to accomplish) and be flexible in the process of getting there. Most of the time that means trying, failing, and adjusting the processes over and over and over -which isn’t always fun and is definitely uncomfortable, but will help you be more effective in the long run.
- Operate Out of Abundance. With this mindset you’ll be open to collaborating with others in your field in order to foster a network of like-minded folks who sharpen each other – with no fear from competing or comparing. Having this mentality will also help prevent you from taking the work or outcomes too seriously (there ARE other clients out there looking for the product/service you provide).
- Everything Rises & Falls on Leadership. You are either leading from the front & creating momentum or you are a bottleneck & lid for your company. Grow & keep challenging yourself to constantly ‘level up’ & add value to your business/team.
- You have to EARN work – Entrepreneurs Don’t Get Work Handed to Them. Figure out a way to market yourself to the right ‘buyers’ to earn work to complete. Get creative! Then act as if every ‘sale’ is the most important one to keep the referrals coming to you.
- Make Character-Based Decisions, Not Emotion-Based Decisions. We all have crappy days & struggles, just don’t let those temporary-feelings prevent you from doing work creates a permanent-solution. Back up what you commit to. Remember: Your Word is your Worth & your Worth is your Word.
- Get Comfortable with the Chaos. I remember reading a quote from Richard Branson that the most effective leaders get good at spinning a lot of plates. Carry that picture with you & remember the freedom to live on your own terms comes with the responsibilities to keep the plates in the air spinning.
- Automate, Automate, Automate. Your daily habits, your processes, and your revenue. We all have a finite amount of mental & emotional energy (otherwise known as ‘decision-fatigue’), so systematizing as much as you can enables you to channel you energy towards creating & problem-solving. THIS is how to keep shifting into higher gears instead of fixing the same challenge/completing the same task over and over and over again.
- The Moment you Think you’ve Figured Out the Winning Formula, is the Moment you Need to Get Back to the Basics. Things are moving, changing, and evolving quicker and quicker today. Stay light on your toes, never let yourself feel like you’ve ‘arrived’, and keep pushing yourself a little bit every day to get smarter.
- Work as if it’s All Up to you, but Have Faith as if it’s All Up to God. Faith + hustle are the winning combination to keep moving forward with the right heart and humility. By doing things that stretch me all the time, I’m constantly reminded how human & fallible I am. I keep putting my best foot forward, but remember that ‘my’ plan isn’t always what the ‘bigger plan’ calls for…..and that’s okay. It’ll will come in due time.
In synopsis: Live in the now & take an action TODAY to start your side-hustle.
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