Starting something of your own can be anxiety-inducing. The doubt creeps in. The insecurity creeps in. We start asking ourselves questions designed to stop us in our tracks…
- What will my boss think? Am I not dedicated anymore?
- Will I get fired from my current gig?
- What will my friends think?
- Will people judge me if I put myself out there on camera?
- Will I make enough money to survive?
- Should my side hustle ever become full-time and if so, when?
You’re not alone with those feelings. Today I share my insight and experience getting through some of those questions.
Keegan 0:35
What’s up everybody, and welcome back to another episode of the Side Hustle to Full Time Web Designer podcast. Today’s episode, we’re going to be talking about some of the mental struggles that come along with side hustling and really trying to go from being that side hustler to being full time to be in an entrepreneur, and to grow in that business. So we’re going to talk about all kinds of things. But specifically, today, we’re talking about the mental struggles associated with the beginnings of that journey. And so, you know, there’s, there’s a lot of questions that come to mind.
Keegan 1:10
First and foremost, you know, will I get fired from my current job if they see me working on my own thing? And I think that that’s a question that only you can answer, I can speak to my personal experience, and that I don’t think that’s the case. The boss I work for my founder is extremely entrepreneurial, very, very much, always looking for the next really exciting thing. And I know, through conversations that he would be not upset with someone else going out there trying to do their thing and trying to, to build that life that they really want. Because he’s doing the exact same thing.
Keegan 1:49
The other part is what will my peers think, you know, that there’s, there’s the game, right? There’s, there’s the constant relationship management that happens in, in the corporate environment, or in any any real company, it doesn’t have to be a big corporation. You know, and people look at you, they they think of they, they create an opinion about you. They feel like they know you, you know, people can put you in a box, they can put a glass ceiling, they can put the floors below you, you know, they can really create the narrative around who you are. And obviously, your work plays a big part in that. But that question still looms, what will my peers, say? Well, people who were really excited about me, who thought I could be the next leader in the company, will they now see me do my other thing, and not think that I’m dedicated anymore? Well, they think that I am ready to walk out the door. And that may not necessarily be the case, because a lot of side hustlers just want a side hustle, because it’s a great creative outlet, or it’s a little bit of extra cash on the side, there’s a lot of different reasons. But that question still lingers, you know, what will people say? That’s a, there’s a little bit of insecurity, and all of us, and we all kind of wonder, anyone who says they don’t, I believe, either are either lying to you, or they’re, they’re lying to themselves. It may not, and it shouldn’t dictate the way you live your life. But it’s always a little bit there. Right? It’s always, it’s always lingering.
Keegan 3:23
And so the other part is, you know, what will my immediate? Will my boss think I’m not dedicated to the job anymore? we alluded to that in the first question. I think that really depends again, on the company that you work for on the type of boss that you have. If you’re upfront with them, you know, in some cases, I know people who have been upfront with them, and the bosses immediately look for a way to terminate them, because they think they’re not dedicated to the job anymore, their focus is being pulled, they’re going to use time that they should be working on company work to do their own side thing. And there’s a lot of variables there, right, we can unpack those.
Keegan 3:59
Number one is the type of boss the type of company the type of work, but it’s also the type of person that you are, you know, are you have you built the relationship? have you built up your reputation of being trustworthy and dedicated to your career job. And if you have the side hustle should not impact that personally, I do all of my work at night and on the weekends. And that has never conflicted with my day job. And that’s by design, have created pretty firm boundaries around the web design clients that I have a specifically so they don’t interfere with my day job because I mean, it is it is the majority of my income. And it’s a company I’ve been with for a decade and helped be a pretty big part of helping build to where it is now. It’s something I’m extremely proud of. And I would never want to walk away from that or leave that, you know, in a negative way. I just want to continue to make sure that everything is above board and that things are the way they should be.
Keegan 5:00
You know, the other one? Will people judge me if I put myself out there, you know, that can be via audio, through video, just just saying what I want to do and being your true self because it, you know, it could be some weird things, you know, people or somebody who seems like they wouldn’t be in the birds might be someone who loves to bird watch not that bird watching is weird. Just realize the two of those connected could sound that way. You know, it could be something like that, it could be that you’re a massive Harry Potter fan, you want to start a Harry Potter YouTube channel, you could be a card collector, and you want to go to conventions every weekend, the trade cards, although not right now they’re in COVID. But you know, maybe you’re selling them on eBay, you want to be a flipper, you want to go garage selling like Gary V., and, you know, flip those things and make a profit and you want to buy stuff and sell it on Amazon. A lot of people will, you know, they may judge you if you put yourself out there. But the truth of the matter is, are you living truthful to who you are? And what you want to do? That’s the question you got to ask not what do people think of me?
Keegan 6:02
So that kind of puts the closing on those first four, you know, will my boss think I’m not dedicated? That depends on your actions? Will I get fired? If they see me working on my own thing? Well, that only, maybe if it interferes with your current job, if you let it interfere, create boundaries, separate the two, you know, what will my peers say? Well, do you? Does it matter to you what your peers say? Do they? Do they pay your bills? Do they make you happy? Are they that big a part of your life, and maybe they are. And if they are, you know, I would be concerned and ask for feedback from the ones that you really care about the ones who are close to you and are good friends, the rest of them, you’ve just got to realize that people are gonna think and say what they what they believe, you know, they’re gonna, they’re gonna have their own opinions based on their perspective, and that’s okay.
Keegan 6:51
And then when people judge me, if I put myself out there, man, you’ve got to get past that, you know, you’ve got to have a little bit of a little bit of confidence and go out there and just know that you can do your thing, you can say what you’ve got to say, and that’s okay. It’s okay to put yourself out there. It’s okay to be yourself and be true to yourself. You know, the next one, a real real struggle for me is, will I make enough money to support my life doing this side hustle? One, the truth is probably not as a side hustle. But if you’re able to take it full time, then depending on what you’re in, I would say yes, I mean, there’s a lot of money out there. And if you’re willing to put in the work and hustle and go get it, for sure. I make 25% of my income, or my my main job salary, I make that from my side hustle in the year, and that’s on nights and weekends. And that’s probably two nights, three nights a week, and maybe, you know, six hours on the weekend. So it’s absolutely doable. If I were able to put full time into it, I could absolutely make a full time income, specifically from the side hustle, which is kind of mind blowing, but it’s the truth.
Keegan 7:59
You know, the and then, you know, the eternal question. I’ve got a side hustle. Should I take my side hustle full time? No one can answer that question. But you You’re the only one who’s got that answer. And that depends on so many factors. Do you like your current job? Or are you trying to get out of it? Why do you do the side hustle? Why do you Why do you even consider taking the side hustle full time? That’s a big question, too. You know, for me, it’s location independence, I want to be able to travel the country, I want to be able to work on my schedule and see things. And that’s that’s really the reason why I’m even remotely interested in my side hustle being full time, because I can do it anywhere. And that was a big part of me picking this particular side hustle, because there’s multiple things that I would have enjoyed doing. But I really love this one. And it keeps me in the operations world. It keeps me in the business world. So should you take your side hustle full time, I think you’ve got to ask yourself those questions.
Keegan 8:57
Do I really love what I’m doing as a side hustle? Can I make a full time income from it? Why am I doing it? And am I ready to leave my full time job? The other big question is, will this side hustle fit into my life? And will it help me achieve the things that I really want in life? That’s the that’s the biggest question you can ask yourself? And if the answer is no, I’m not sure the answer is no. It’s got to be a full on 100% Oh, yeah. And so you know, if, if you decide to take it full time, when should you go full time? And to be honest with you still struggling with that one big time myself and there is no real true answer, you know, may 20. At 6am. It’s just not real right. There’s no real answer for that one.
Keegan 9:49
The question or the answer to that question is simply like, before you feel ready, you know, do you feel like everything is in place? Yes. Go, you know, and that may not be the right answer for everybody. But I think that’s the answer for me. You’ve got the business pieces in place, everything is set up, the financials are together, you’ve got a network of people who that you who you can rely on if something goes wrong. You know, you’ve got people to help you support your business. And you’ve thought about ways to scale if you need to bring in more money. If you’ve got those things in place, and you’ve been strategic with the way you build, you can take your side hustle full time.
Keegan 10:32
Now it’s just a matter of if you’re ready, and have the guts to pull the trigger and go out on your own. That’s a whole different topic, a whole different discussion for another day. So that’s going to put the end to this one. Those are some of the questions that I asked myself and the things that I’m mentally struggling with, as I try and move from being a side hustle or into a full time web designer. Really, what I want is for you to go to tequila near comm you’re going to find this episode. And in the comments. I would love for you to drop a question like a mental strugglers, something that is holding you back from going from side hustle to full time, whatever you’re trying to go full time in, and let me know Say hi, let me know. And I’d love to continue this conversation. So have an incredible day. And we’re going to hit those end credits, and we’ll see you in the next episode.