This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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How do I implement the 80/20 rule in my side hustle? In today's discussion, we're gonna unlock the potential of the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule. We're gonna talk about how it applies in the world of side hustling. How can you identify and focus on high impact activities to elevate your business or your business idea to new heights? So welcome to Side Hustle School.
That's Chris Guillebeau, your host. Today, we're gonna hear from Hassan. Hassan from London is balancing a part-time blogging and app development hustle. He likes the idea of focusing his efforts on what matters most. I think that's a great idea.
I think that's a great strategy, especially when we all have limited time and there's more things that we would like to do than we can actually do. I think that's the broad problem of life. Far beyond side hustling, far beyond what kind of business idea are you gonna pursue next? It is the fact that there are so many things we could do with our time all the time, whether in work, in life, in hobbies, in relationships, in terms of friendships and who we talk to, and it just goes on and on, right? There's so much out there that we could do.
Choice is unlimited and yet time is limited. Time is finite. So looking at it in the world of side hustling, which is what we will kind of contain that in today, put it in a little box, 80% of effects come from 20% of causes. That is basically the root principle of the Pareto Principle 80/20 rule. So how do we apply this?
Let's talk about it. Hassan's question, my answer coming up in just 30 seconds. [Music]
Hi, I'm Hassan from London, a part-time blogger and app developer. I've heard a lot about the 80/20 rule or Pareto Principle, and I'm curious about how to effectively implement this in my side hustle. Could you explain how this principle can be applied to maximize productivity and efficiency, especially in balancing my blogging and app development?
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Well, it's not just for side hustling. The Pareto Principle, the 80/20 rule applies in so many different ways, so many different parts of life and work. So we'll talk about how to apply it, but the broad picture and how you can apply it anywhere is to really identify high-impact tasks and figure out what are the things I do that result in a disproportionate return. And so this could be if you're an athlete and you do all kinds of different workouts and exercises and stretches and nutrition and such, but you realize there's only a few things that are making a big difference on your performance while you kind of double down there. And so in the world of side hustling or starting a small business, you're like, I've got all these different activities I could do and I'm trying to market in lots of different ways, but most likely if you do an audit or even if you just think about it, you might not need to do an actual audit.
Most likely you can identify what those things are, what those high-impact tasks are. And then of course you focus much more on those. Maybe you stop trying to post everywhere on all the social, maybe you stop sending so many email newsletters or it could be that the email newsletters are really what's working. So you devote a lot more time to that. So the first thing is you identify what those tasks are, you focus your efforts on those things and then you kind of evaluate and adjust as you go along 'cause the 80/20 rule is not static.
Like what constitutes the productive 20% can change as your side hustle evolves. It doesn't usually change a ton, at least not right away or at least not immediately. It's usually like over time, but nevertheless, it does evolve. So if Hassan, for example, notices that tutorials or like in-depth reviews on his blog generate 80% of his traffic, then focus a lot of your time there, right? Do more of those, do less of other things.
And it could be something totally different, but the point is you identify those areas, you prioritize your efforts towards those things and then you continuously adjust as you go along. And honestly, if you do this, you are going to be much more successful just because most of us try to give the same kind of attention relatively speaking to all the different areas and it doesn't work so well. Like we might be a little bit successful, but we'd be so much more successful if we focused on those high impact activities. So that's my encouragement for everyone out there and for myself, I try to ask myself these questions too. Listeners, let me know what you think.
What is working for you? If you have a question, some feedback, ideas, anything, www.sidehustleschool.com, it's always welcome. We'll continue to feature notes, comments, questions, case studies throughout the year, along with updates from listeners as they launch their projects. Thank you so much for being out there. Hope you have a wonderful day.
My name's Chris Guillebeau, this is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
