How to build a successful side hustle

By now you know I’m an advocate of learning, and love the musings of Ali Abdaal.

So when he launched a new class on Skillshare titled “Productivity for creators – Starting a successful side hustle” I knew it was something that I needed to check out. So I grabbed my headphones and iPad, and nestled in for the fun.

And here’s my most important take aways!

Should you start a side hustle

There are 3 main benefits to starting a side hustle:

It’s fun. We enjoy it and learn something along the way which general increases our joy.
Making additional money can be a reason to start a side hustle (although it shouldn’t be THE reason), but if you keep pushing forwards then it will increase pressure on us. Enjoy yourself and concentrate on putting out good content.
Your project will add value to other peoples lives. This can add a huge amount of fulfilment to our own lives.

This is so important. Who doesn’t want more fun in their life, and who wouldnt want to have a positive impact on other people. IF we can make some money along they way, that that would be brilliant! But focus on 1 & 3, and I’m sure 2 won’t be far behind!

What side hustle can I start?

This is down to you.

Writing, drawing, building, filming; anything that you want really. If you’re still not sure, a personal website or blog is a great place to start. Writing articles will help you learn, meet people, explore ideas. It will also help you develop your own systems and tools to sustain your side hustle, whatever it may be.

The likeliness is that you already have an idea of what you want to do, but personally, I think it’s so much easier to build something if you’re passionate about it.

Making time

We all have the same amount of time in a day, but we all choose how to prioritise that time.

So what are you prioritising, and how can you make the most of it? For instance, I try to get as much of my work done when my son is asleep so I don’t miss out on my precious time with him. Don’t forget your priorities will change from time to time. For instance, this week I am prioritising sleep so will likely be a bit less productive/creative. But that’s ok, because my body needs a chance to rest.

A great time is to use to downtime productively too. So listen to podcasts or watch YouTube videos, they’re entertaining and informative. Win:win.

Don’t forget that your priotities are yours and yours alone. Do what feel right for you!

Motivation

If we enjoy what we’re doing, we’re less likely to need external motivation. So always enjoy what you do!

Motivation is only needed between the thought of an action and doing it. So if you just do it (sorry Nike!) then you won’t need the as motivation. This becomes more about discipline then, and another reason why it is so important to plan your work.

Your identity

for me, this is pretty simple. I am a YouTuber, and I am a writer/blogger.

At best, you can say you are an aspiring creator, but we need to believe wholeheartedly that we are a creator. We’re trying to be professional in our approach and creation, so we need to think of ourselves as that. James Clear goes into this in area detail in Atomic Habits.

Managing our time effectively

By definition, our side hustle takes place outside of our normal working hours.

Therefore, we need to manage our time effectively. For me, there are two main considerations:

Parkinson’s Law – Work expands to fill time. For instance, if you put aside all day to write an article, guess what? It will take all day. Set yourself some constraints and get it done.
The Pareto Principle – 80% of our output comes from 20% of our effort, but conversely the last 20% of output comes from 80% of effort. So fight perfection and publish good work.

Getting good work published is better than no work published.

Quantity or Quality?

As avid readers, you will know that we have already touched looked the quantity/quality debate.

And I’m glad to say that Ali agrees with me. You’ll learn as you go, and your work will become more refined. So create and share, share, share.

How to stay consistent

This is a difficult one, and something that I have struggled recently.

I’m trying to keep some structure to my creativity with my systems. But have also made a public commitment (yelp!) meaning that I will start sharing my content on my personal channels from 1st May.

Not long now, but it’s definitely keeping me on track to keep my productivity and creativity levels up!

Failure

Failure has such negative connotations.

So why not reframe it to be a positive.

I never lose.
I either win or learn
Nelson Mandela

Powerful words aren’t they. And he’s true. Even if we don’t succeed straight away, there are so many lessons to learn. This is why it is important to keep our quantity of creations high, so we learn quicker.

A big one for me has been the perception of failure from family and friends.

But I’m learning to let go of what others think. I’m passionate about my creativity and enjoy the process to. So I’m going to carry on with it.

Some people will doubt you, but they’ll be the first asking for a hand out when you make it!!

Ideas

Ideas are vital in this game, so you need to ensure you can capture them quickly.

Your mind is for having ideas,
not holding them
David Allen

This is why I use a quick capture app (Evernote or Notebook) to make sure that I don’t miss an idea.

Whatever your tool/system make sure you can quickly make a note of your idea. Write it down, save it as a voice note, email it to yourself. Do whatever you have to so you don’t forget it.

Do this, and you’ll never be short of ideas.

Parallell Processing

This is the idea of running multiple tasks at the same time.

Now, I’ll be honest, this isn’t something I can do write now. I prefer to start an article and carry it through to conclusion. In my videos, I do a bit of batching, but never more than 2 videos at once. But this is definitely something to aspire to, and I can see the benefits of having multiple articles and videos on the go at one time.

Templates

I do use templates in my workflow, but I am in no way a master.

SO i have some templates set up in my Notion database, and with my video thumbnails on Canva. But apart from that, I don’t use a great deal. This is something I want to explore more, especially with my writing so I can develop my own style intuitively.

Productive Downtime & Procrastination

A great way to make use of your time efficiently is to make the most of your down time.

So for instance, you need a bit of light hearted entertainment; watch YouTube. you’re looking to unwind after a long day; read a non fiction book. You’re going for a run’ put on your favourite podcast.

Now I’m a firm believer that we all need time to properly switch off. But, if you enjoy it, and it’s helping your learn more about your side hustle, is there really anything wrong with using your time like that? Try it, what have you got to lost?

All in all, I loved Ali’s lesson, and definitely learnt a lot from it.

I’m obviously fully invested in the positives of a side hustle, but only if you’re passionate about it. If you’re not passionate, it becomes all too easy to give up.

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