This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
Well, here is a very timely question. Because technically it connects with the 2020 US presidential election, which you may have heard about. In fact, I'm guessing it's kind of like coronavirus, like you were somewhat familiar with this, even if you are not in the United States, the whole world is watching, of course. However, the caller mentions that we are living in a heightened divisive time in regards to political communication and affiliation. So even though this is a timely question, sadly, I don't think that's going to change anytime soon. I think we're going
to continue to have this divisive time. I have no idea for the foreseeable future. So in this question, like, why does this relate to side hustle school? Well, here's a connection. This listener yearns for the days when he could express his support for a political candidate or platform while still maintaining positive relationships with friends and neighbors who disagreed. And now
that he has a side hustle, he's trying to figure out, you know, should I just kind of keep my mouth shut? Am I trying to be completely apolitical, neutral? Or is there some room to express my opinions without necessarily alienating, you know, 50% of my audience? So really interesting question. I think a lot of people are actually kind of navigating this in different ways. I've
had a number of emails and social media comments, questions, examples about this. So I'm excited to dive into it. Should I keep politics out of my business? Yes or no, or something else? That is what's coming up after this quick message from our sponsor. Thank you, sponsor.
Hey, Chris, Steve, and I've been listening to the show for about two years. Thanks for all the great advice. With the election coming up, I'm wondering if I should maintain a total division of political views for my growing side hustle. It's a very divisive issue here in Grand Rapids, Michigan. When I grew up, it wasn't a big deal for friends and neighbors to vote for opposing parties and still share the parts of life. People would disagree with one another, but it wasn't the
end of the world. Nowadays, that seems far less common. I want to be accepting of everyone, but I also want to share my views during what feels like a vital time. However, my friends and family think I should keep my mouth shut and not post anything about the election on my social media accounts. What do you think? Well, listeners, friends, listeners, community, I'm so glad that Steve called
in with this question. Because, as I said, I have heard variations and versions of this in different ways. But this is encapsulated quite well. So Steve, thank you. And this is an issue where people could easily argue it both ways. Okay, so some questions I get, like I feel confident that I
have a pretty authoritative answer, like this is what you should do. And, you know, I think you're going to have better odds of success if you do it this way. With this particular question, I'm just going to share my opinion. Okay. And your opinion may be different. But personally, I think that
there is a way to express your opinions, your beliefs, and a business does not need to be completely values neutral. And so I think that word values is really key because this election cycle in particular, and maybe some others as well, but you know, here we are now, it is about values, it's not just about candidates, you know, it's what kind of world do we want to live in. And it's a very clear contrast, right? Like, I don't think anybody could argue, you know, oh, these two people or these two parties are the same, you know. So I don't think you have to sit it out. I think there
is room to express your views. Some people may not like that. That's true. But that's also okay. And others will actually respect you more for it. So for example, like I haven't talked a lot about
politics here on the podcast, try to be kind of tightly focused. But if anybody's interested, like I have been pretty clear on my blog and my social media, you know, what I believe in what I support. And that's important to me to do so. I trust that most of my readers or listeners are smart enough that even if we disagree, like our relationship isn't based entirely on how we're voting or who we support. In fact, that's kind of how I'd like to close it out. It's always good to like not judge
people based on any one experience or belief, wherever we can practice empathy, it's only going to help us all, you know, after the election, whatever happens in advance of the next one could be listening to this at some point in the future where it's also a divisive time. But especially in the mix of so many other challenging things that we're all going through, you know, just as citizens or as humans, you know, if you're not in the United States, your life is affected by all this stuff as well. So empathy is always good. But I don't think you have to completely sit it out and not express your views. That's what I think. Listeners, if you have a question or if you've got a comment,
feel free to come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. It's always great to talk through real world situations. We are in this stuff together. Let's figure it out. Let's try to make some progress.
Whatever happens in the coming weeks and months, I look forward to sharing this time with you, and I hope you will continue to listen. Thanks so much. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. From the Onward Project.
