This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Coming up on the podcast today, we're gonna do a little relationship coaching, a little marriage therapy. Well, not quite either of those things to be fair, but we are gonna talk about side hustles and relationships. We've got a caller with a concern that hits close to home. And this is in a literal sense. She has been freelancing as a writer for almost a year, building up her side hustle, which is a great thing.
However, it seems to be causing some friction in her personal life. We're gonna title it, "My Partner Resents My Side Hustle." My partner isn't thrilled, she says, about the time it takes away from their relationship. So, you know, balancing a project of any kind, right? Any sort of additional project that takes time from a relationship that is already, you know, it already consists of two busy people doing lots of different stuff. That can be a common challenge, okay?
So let's talk about some ways to maintain both without feeling stretched too thin. We'll talk about setting boundaries, maybe a little communication and so on, maybe just some big picture stuff along with a couple of details. My partner is not thrilled with my side hustle. That's the question. Detailed version and my answer coming up in just 30 seconds.
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Hello, Chris. I'm Teresa from Denver. I've been working on my side hustle of freelance writing for almost a year now. While it's been going relatively well, my partner isn't thrilled about the time it takes away from our relationship. Last week, I had a deadline and had to work extra hard on it and it created some strain in the household.
Do you have any advice? How can I manage the demands of a side hustle and keep the peace at home? - All right, Teresa, and anybody else out there in this situation, no doubt juggling a side hustle with relationships and anything else in your life. I mean, it could be all kinds of stuff, right? These days, we all just have so much.
It is a delicate balance. It is a challenge. I think it's always about managing the short term and the long term and such. So kudos to Teresa for recognizing the issue, wanting to address it. It's a relatable situation, okay?
So first of all, communication is key, you know? And I'm no relationship counselor, okay? But I would suggest, you know, make sure you're having open, honest discussions with your partner about your goals and why the side hustle is important to you. Like, why are you doing the freelance writing? You know, and presumably income is part of it, but I know from years of working on the show that there's often much deeper reasons and people are just excited about working on something on their own or building something, you know, using a different creative skill just feels so empowering.
So make sure they understand that. If your partner is, you know, a supportive partner, then they want the best, you know, from you and for you. They want you to be able to develop and grow and, you know, just kind of come alive. And of course that income, you know, is helpful too. So maybe they just need to understand it's not a passing hobby.
It's actually a meaningful endeavor, you know, that could potentially benefit both of you in the long term. And then, you know, just to take the other side of it, I think setting boundaries can also help, you know, like dedicate specific blocks of time for your work and just kind of make sure that's communicated in advance. You might need to work somewhere else from home, you know, like you might need to go somewhere and, you know, even if it's just a coffee shop or something, obviously it's better if there's a little bit more of a private space, but this just kind of allows it to have a little bit more formality. I think it's often important to introduce semi-formal practices into what is often informal work. And that just helps everybody.
You know, it could help your partner, anybody else in the household can also just help you, you know, like you also are planning like a date night, you know, in your relationship, let's say. So you've got a date night, but you've also got your work afternoon or your morning or whatever it is. So I think in general, like, you know, these two sides of things like try to involve your partner as much as possible, communicate well, but also, you know, part of the communication is communicating how important it is to you. And therefore you need to protect that and you want to nurture and develop this thing. So that's what I have to say about that.
Of course, every relationship is different. I just offer that as some general feedback, having had these conversations with people over the years and such. And I so admire anybody trying to figure this out and who is able to figure it out. Just remember like what's on the other side of it is so much better than whatever the challenge is, you know, whatever the challenge may be. If you can figure this out and keep going and like develop a really healthy side hustle and healthy relationship, then everybody wins.
That's the goal at least. Listeners, if you have a question or if you have an experience of this of your own, you want to share, that's fine too. sidehustleschool.com/questions, I'm on social media, 193 countries on Instagram, Chris Guillebeau everywhere else. We'll continue to feature questions, updates from our listeners along with some case studies, some other fun stuff we've got planned for the next two months of the year. So thank you for being out there.
I'll be back tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau, this is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
