This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
My boss hates the idea of me side hustling. That's what we're gonna hear about today. Can you balance a side hustle with a demanding full-time job, especially one where your boss is not thrilled with after-hours work? Welcome to Side Hustle School. My name's Chris Guillebeau.
Naturally, I'm in favor of side hustles. I'm in favor of you doing anything you can to create more independence for yourself. So I am always on the side of the employee or the side of just the individual out there who's trying to advance themselves, who's trying to get out of debt, create options, economic empowerment. So let's see what we can do to best advise this listener. Her name is Olivia.
She is a marketing professional from Chicago, and her challenge lies basically in kind of handling her time and energy to grow this social media management side hustle without compromising her performance at her day job and kind of navigating this situation where her boss expects undivided attention, at least during work hours. And to be clear, I'm not saying that you should not do a good job at your day job. Of course, you can and should do that, but you should also reserve some of your energy for yourself. So let's talk about that practically. What does that look like?
How can Olivia be able to do those things we talked about, advance herself, create that economic opportunity? My boss hates the idea of me side hustling. That's her question. It's coming up in just 30 seconds. [Music]
Hi there.
I'm Olivia, a marketing professional from Chicago. I'm considering starting a social media management side hustle, but I'm worried about balancing it with my demanding full-time job. My boss expects complete focus and dedication during work hours. So running my own thing during the day is out of the question. What strategies can I use to manage my time and energy effectively?
Especially when I need to keep my side hustle under wraps at the office. [Music]
Olivia, I'm gonna suggest first of all, maybe this is a blessing in disguise that your boss is demanding in this way for a couple of reasons. Not to say that anybody should experience that, that kind of work environment. But perhaps it's gonna help you to work more effectively. It's gonna help you, like there's some strategies I use like time blocking where you allocate specific time blocks for different side hustle tasks, client outreach, content creation, account management.
Just kind of helps you stay organized and focused during your limited side hustle hours. Also getting better at automation and batching. So everything in that department, but also maybe it's helpful because it shows you what you want in life and maybe you ultimately work out of this situation. Maybe you ultimately work to become self-employed or you could get another job as well. But basically it kind of inspires you to do more of what is important to you, which is our whole value system here at Side Hustle School.
So clear boundaries can also help, like designated hours for different things. And that way you keep that clear separation between your day job and side hustle. And on that point, remember that your after hours time is your own. Like I understand your boss is demanding, but your boss can't say what you do as long as it's not competing in some way, but it doesn't sound like that's what it is. So part of this maybe is prioritizing your own self-care and making sure to take some time for rest, relaxation, personal activities in addition to your side hustling activities.
So automation, time blocking, that stuff is helpful and I do it myself as much as possible. But I also think it's really good to figure out what it is that I want and how can I get closer to that. Ultimately, that's what we're all trying to do. We all have various pressures and constraints. I don't mean to minimize them in any way, but I think we also have a responsibility to, like within the agency that we have, get closer to those things so that we can be more helpful to other people and also just use our time to the best of our ability and such.
So those are the things I think of. I know it's difficult situation, but Olivia and everybody else always wishing you well, cheering you on from here. Let me know how I can be helpful. I'm excited to bring you many more episodes this year. Tomorrow, we've got a Throwback Thursday episode from someone who developed their own skincare line.
Next week, we're gonna hear from somebody who is a Gourmet Kitchen Tools affiliate, actually making a lot of money. I think it's something like $50,000 a year and just so much more. So thank you for being part of the community. I hope you'll continue to listen. It's always completely free.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
