Make money from your side hustle

More cash = more Easter eggs

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Morning, Colleague!

Lovely to see some of you at last Friday’s accountability chat. (A reminder that all readers can try one for free - just reply to this if you want in. The next one will be the last Friday of April.)

Welcome to week two of Side Project School. Last week I covered the passion projects that don’t bring in immediate cash. This week, it’s time to delve into the side hustle – projects that are designed to bring in money ASAP.

But first… a language note! This week I’ve interviewed the marvellous Emily Button-Lynham, a business and life coach who is the founder and director of Emily Button Creative.  Emily uses the phrase ‘streams’ or ‘income streams’ instead of ‘side hustles’, so to help keep things simple, I’ll do the same. (It’s a bloody linguistic minefield, this side project malarkey.)

Why do I need multiple income streams?

There are many benefits to diversifying what you do. The most obvious are: more money and increased resilience. “Different income streams allow you a level of financial stability, and let you pivot from both an environmental standpoint (such as adapting your business around Covid) but also audience-wise. It can make space for personal and professional growth,” says Emily.

“I always advise multiple income streams to clients. It gives you resilience when markets and audiences are always changing.” The importance of resilience has been shown starkly over the past year – there weren’t many businesses left unaffected by Covid, but fortune favoured those that were able to adapt. The wider your skillset, the easier this should be in the future. 

“The more streams you have the more rounded you are from an experience  and expertise standpoint,” says Emily.

I find this reassuring, as someone who often wonders if my CV is a bit of a mess, and whether my ‘brand’ is a bit unclear to potential clients. On the contrary, says Emily, the more streams you have going on, the more skills you’re building. And you never know what opportunities these will bring you in the future. 

The ultimate diverse portfolio (for a pre-teen, anyway)

How can I find time for a new income stream?

Time management is, as ever, crucial. It’s all very well coming up with ideas for lucrative projects, but you’re only one person and, with multiple streams coming in, it can be a bit of a juggling act. (I am extremely guilty of trying to work on multiple new projects at once. I do not recommend it unless you enjoy crying.)

When you’re setting up something new, start with the money. I know, I know, it’s not always the most interesting focus, especially if you’re a creative person, but there’s a reason you’re working on a side hustle/ new income stream, rather than a hobby. We’ve all got to eat (and Tony’s Chocolonely – my new obsession - is pricey.)

“Firstly, ask yourself: ‘what do I need to earn as a minimum?’ I then recommend looking at your experiences and skills,” says Emily. “What are you good at? What do you love doing? How could that translate into making money? Add up your skills, strengths and what you like. Then research what roles are out there, and ask how it could work from a self-employed standpoint.” 

In other words, how are you realistically going to fit it in, without getting up at 3am every day? (Permanent reminder: you are not Mark Wahlberg.) In real life, could you dedicate a day per week to your new side-line? Or would it need to be more ad hoc? 

“Based on the money you need to earn, how would you structure your weeks? What rates would you then need to charge?” says Emily. Don’t forget that the difference between an income stream and a passion project is the money – so make sure to price yourself based on what you need. (That said, as with last week’s passion projects, it may be a case of putting up your rates elsewhere while you get your new income stream up and running.)

What are the pitfalls when developing new income streams?

“One common mistake people make is adding something they feel they should have, and not something that they actually love,” says Emily, in a statement so relatable it’s painful. “Society shapes how we think, and also if you have financial pressure you end up feeling you should just take anything.” 

This is such a common problem when you work for yourself, so I’d encourage you to think calmly and rationally — don’t let that ‘lizard’ part of your brain convince you to panic.

Seriously, ignore this guy

Don’t make any decisions about your new stream too quickly, maybe sit with it for a week or so. Really imagine getting up and doing the work, and the things you’ll need to sacrifice to work on it, whether that’s turning down other projects, eating into your exercise, hobbies or family time, or just the energy it will require. With all that in mind, does it still make you feel excited (albeit nervous)? If it doesn’t, it’s probably not the right stream to go after.

“It’s also easy to get swayed by opportunities that relate to something you did before, but ask yourself if it still aligns with what you want to be doing,” says Emily.

You may have even accidentally fallen into a specialism that you don’t much enjoy (I’ve done this in the past). Now is a chance to experiment with something else. Something that really gets your motor running. The fact that you’ve chosen this new direction is a powerful feeling that may just sustain your enthusiasm on difficult days.

Besides which, the beauty of multiple income streams is that it doesn’t necessarily mean turning your back on your old specialism, it’s just a different string to your bow.

(Incidentally, that ‘I shouldn’t turn it down’ fear is part of what Emily calls ‘employment reconditioning’ – a topic I will definitely be returning to, as I think we’ve all internalised a lot of myths about work culture… But that’s for another issue!)

How do I make a different ‘stream’ my full-time role?

It might be that you’ve got something you’re passionate about and you want to completely change careers. Let’s imagine I want to switch from journalism to pottery (which, after watching them make teeny tiny dolls’ house crockery on the Great British Throw Down, is a distinct possibility…) 

“It’s a gradual process, financially, unless you have huge savings or aren’t relying on the money you’d make from pottery right away,” says Emily. But actually a longer transition phase can be a good thing, as it gives you time to iron out the details while still making most of your money from your former work. (In my case, it would also allow me to learn to make the most rudimental of pots…)

If you’re having a bad day, I recommend Googling ‘crap pottery’ FYI

“You’d need to get your skillset to the point where your items were good enough to sell, but it’s more than having a great product. It’s also getting feedback on your prices, working out your marketing, defining your audience, and working out where you’re going to sell. It takes time to work through the kinks,” says Emily.

But before you go headlong into a career switch, there’s something else worth considering. “I would always ask: why the jump? Why could you not do both, unless you hate your current role? Could you do, for example, 70% pottery and 30% journalism? It’s all about how you take the things you love and work them into being self-employed,” says Emily. As I’m always banging on about: the joy of self-employment is not having to work in traditional ways. 

Another great thing about a) being self-employed and b) having a portfolio career, is you can use the old ‘suck it and see’ approach. “Nothing needs to be set in stone – that’s the beauty of it. You might do, for example, a season of a podcast, and then set it aside,” says Emily. It’s a constantly evolving process, so you can follow your passions and still make money, throughout your career.

One final thought… Our madly diverse careers are perhaps something we should all be more open and honest about. As mentioned in the previous issue, self-employed people are often naturally drawn to having different side projects on the go. But Emily feels that we don’t talk about it enough: “Self-employed people don’t speak enough about doing different things. When I worked in a corporate job, I wasn’t aware that most of them have a mixture of different roles. It’s a big barrier for employed people to go self-employed, as they have an unrealistic expectation of what that looks like.” 

In a world of neat elevator pitches and Twitter bios, sometimes it’s ok to talk about the complexity of your income, and the many different strands that form the fabric of your career. It might make it harder to tell someone at a dinner party exactly what it is that you do, but it also means that every day can look different and, if you get your income streams working, makes you more resilient than traditional nine-to-fivers. 

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Next week’s newsletter will be out on Tuesday 6th. No one wants to think about work when there are Creme Eggs to be wolfed.

Have a lovely Easter!

• Want to know more about creating new income streams? Read this previous issue about passive income streams, and/or catch up on my webinar with expert Joelle Byrne. The webinar video is available for £5 (reply to this email if you’d like a copy) or for free to all Full Time Colleagues via Patreon.

• Looking forward to seeing some of your faces tomorrow afternoon, for our virtual Work Together event. The more, the merrier! Details and free tickets here.

• If you’re looking for easy ways to build up press contacts for your business, you might like this guest blog I’ve written for the Knowledge Transfer Network - it’s all about getting local/national press.