Wherever you are in this journey called “Life,” you’ve had dreams and desires that started one day with: “ I would love to earn money with my passion.” Like everyone else, you wait until you are “ready.” It turns out this moment of readiness comes when you are simultaneously at the busiest moment of your life: when you are a mom! Why? Because becoming a Mom changes us and makes us feel even more alive.
If you think: “Why didn’t I start before?”, I can tell you it’s better to start now than never. However, you need to set up some boundaries to:
- Avoid burn-out
- Stay consistent
My Story
I always wanted to write and take photographs, and I always did, but only for myself. Then I met my boyfriend who told me: “Wow, you are the first person to succeed in making me look good in pictures! You really have talent.” This is how my dream to become a photographer started 8 years ago.
Then 6 years later, during the Pandemic and after the sad events of Black Lives Matter, I met Roni, who told me: “I love your writing.”
The combination of those compliments really encouraged me to start my side hustle! I contacted Roni and we started working together on my projects. She helped create room for my passions, and gave me a plan to work on them. Now, here I am writing a blog post on Shine on and Glow giving you my tips on how to start a side hustle as a mom (My son is 2 and a half, by the way, how old is/are yours?)
Where to Start
Let’s say you’ve created an elaborate business plan, with Roni for instance, and you know what your business is about and you have your mission plan. All that’s missing now is taking action and doing the work.
How do you do that when you are a mom with a full time job? Well I suggest you start BIG! Yes you heard me, not small, but big. Just start!
After a week of starting big, you can evaluate how it went and re-adjust it for the next week. Repeat this until you find your “ideal week.” This may change due to unexpected circumstances, but at least you’ll know what to do and how to do it.
How to work on your side hustle in your day-to-day life:
I suggest you set one or two goals per month and plan your weeks and days around it. For instance, let’s say you are an amazing photographer and you want to sell some prints. This is your big goal which has to be broken down into different tasks.
In our example, sell some prints mean:
- Set up a website
- Set up an e-shop
- Find a print shop that fits into your budget
- Print some samples
- Add details to your shop with potential production and shipping times and prices
- Find a shipping company that works with your budget
In this example you have 6 tasks which will lead to your big goal: sell prints. If you agree to accomplish one to two tasks per month, you are already at a maximum of 4 months! This will help you stay consistent while still having time to care for your kids and enjoy life!
Evaluate Your First Week:
All these questions are crucial to evaluating the time you spend on your side hustle.
If you answer no to at least 70% of those questions, you might be experiencing burnout, which usually leads to giving up.
For instance, let’s say you worked very hard on your side-hustle, but neglected yourself or your family. Next time, cut back on your work hours and take the time to take care of yourself. I promise you will be more productive afterwards because you will be refreshed and ready to do high quality work.
As always, thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts.
With all my heart,
Zénaïde
