This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
How can you transition from a traditional job to a more creative side hustle career? That is today's listener question. Welcome back to the Side Hustle School Podcast. So glad you're out there. My name's Chris Guillebeau.
I love hearing from listeners in all kinds of different situations, trying to do more of what's important to them. And of course, that looks different for everybody, right? Some people are trying to quit their day job. Some people are trying to just build an additional supplemental income to allow them to be out of debt or to have more options or just not be dependent on that day job and all kinds of other goals as well. So we just have a really diverse audience and I'm grateful for that.
How can I transition from finance to a creative side hustle career? That's what today's question is about specifically. Samantha in Chicago has been working in finance and she is exploring her creative side with calligraphy specifically. So let's talk about how you might go from a traditional job to something like calligraphy, including the financial considerations because well, I'll talk about this in my answer, but most calligraphers don't make the same kind of money that most finance professionals do. But where there's a will, there's a way.
So let's talk it out. Her question and my answer all coming to you in this short action-packed episode. Quick thank you to our sponsor and we'll jump back in. [Music]
Hi there, this is Samantha calling from Chicago. I've been working in finance for the past 10 years, but to be honest, I'm really starting to feel unfulfilled in my current career.
I've been toying with the idea of transitioning into a more creative field and I'm really passionate about calligraphy. I'd love to start a calligraphy side hustle, but I'm nervous about leaving the stability of my finance job. Do you have any tips on how I can strategically build up my calligraphy business while still working my day job? I wanna make sure I have a solid plan in place before taking the leap. - All right, Samantha, I have a lot of respect for anybody making a big career transition, especially if they're like, hey, I've been doing this thing for a while and I'm not really feeling it.
There's something that is calling to me and I want to follow my dreams. And I know that might sound a little bit woo woo. I try to be really practical and grounded here, but I think we just have to start with saying it's important to respect your dreams, all right? So I know that you do that, but I just wanna encourage our listeners out there as well. Nothing wrong with being practical and grounded, but if there's something you wanna do, you gotta find a way to do it.
Having said that, I'm sure that Samantha has thought about the average difference in compensation. I think average finance professional in Chicago is earning close to $200,000 and I'm sure some are earning much more than that. The average calligraphy professional, not so much. But as I said, where there's a will, there's a way. The whole point is differentiation.
And you might not need to make that much money also, just to be clear. I'm sure that's something that she's thought about as well. Nevertheless, when going from career to, okay, I want my side hustle to actually be my full-time thing, it is important to set some financial milestones. So just kind of take a look at how are things going so far? I'm not sure how far along the path Samantha is.
She just mentioned she wants to start this. So I would say before you think, how can I leave the finance job to do this? I would just start doing this, whatever this is, in this case, it's calligraphy. I would start doing this before you quit the job. And how can you use whatever free time is available to you to pursue that hobby, to get serious about it, to see how it feels to do the hobby in a money-making capacity?
Because sometimes people discover that they actually just wanted to practice their art, whatever it is. They didn't want their art to be commercial in that way. So you have to kind of figure out, is this for me? And maybe you'll discover that something else is along the way. Or maybe you're like, this is what I want to do more than anything and I love it.
And in that case, start building the business gradually and see what you can do to get an emergency fund saved up. Maybe the finance job will help with that. And then maybe take a sabbatical of three months or six months, if you're able to do that, to see how it feels to do something different. So keep taking these small steps. I always encourage people to kind of break things down and say, okay, what does this look like to get a website up in less than 20 days and have an offer available and to start pitching however that looks like.
It could just be posting that you're available to do calligraphy, maybe sharing samples, starting your Instagram account that's dedicated to your business, whatever it is, like whatever these small steps and doing one thing every day. Without trying to do it all in one go. Doing the small steps approach also gives you momentum and kind of makes it more sustainable over time. So as I said, Samantha, nothing wrong with following your dreams. I think you should do that.
You should also just kind of think about what it looks like and get some experience, but hopefully you'll be able to do all of those things. Listeners, thank you so much for being out there. Thank you for being part of this community. I make the show for you every single day. I'm grateful to the rest of our team.
It helps as well. We'll be back again for you tomorrow. You can listen wherever you want. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
