Second Cup: Make time for a side hustle

Find time for extra cash without quitting your day job

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. This
week we've been talking about lots of money related topics.
Today's tip is about how to make time for a
side hustle. A side hustle is something you do to

(00:24):
make money on the side, meaning in addition to your
day job. People do this for lots of reasons. Plenty
of people could use more cash, but a side hustle
can also be a way to pursue a passion or
use skills that don't fit so neatly into a salaried
benefit providing box. If you're interested in the wide variety
of side hustles out there, be sure to check out

(00:45):
the podcast Side Hustlers with my friend Carla Marie or
Side Hustle School, hosted by my friend Chris Gulopo. Chris
also has a new book out called one hundred Side Hustles,
which is filled with inspirational ideas. People lead scooter tours
or urban hikes. They create morning routine journals, or even
saddles for pet chickens. Seriously, if you put your mind

(01:07):
to it, I'm sure you can come up with something
you are interested in that somebody is willing to pay for.
But then, once you've got the idea, this leads to
a question that's relevant for this podcast. When are you
going to find the time? The honest truth is that
you're never going to find the time. You have to
make the time. But in one hundred and sixty eight

(01:30):
hours a week, there is definitely time to build a
side hustle in addition to your nine to five. This
is true even if you have a family or other responsibilities.
The first step, and this is always the first step,
is to track your time. You want to get a
really good sense of the rhythms of your life. When
do you usually wake up, when do you leave for work,

(01:51):
when do you get home? What do you do then?
What do you do after your kids go to bed?
What do you do on weekends? What time do you
wake up? And what has to happen and what doesn't.
Then you need to figure out how much time would
be reasonable to devote to your side hustle. The good
news here is that you don't need to find forty
hours a week that it would basically be your main job.
Chris tells me that the amount of time people spend

(02:12):
on their side hustle varies widely by the project and
the person, but generally, he says, consistent effort on the
right things, even in small chunks, can go a long
way toward boosting those odds of success. Even twenty minutes
a day with a plan in mind in advance, combined
with half a weekend day, can be enough in the
long run. As he's studied the schedules of people who've

(02:36):
written into him, he's found that it's common for people
who work full time to spend about an hour or
so a day on their projects Monday to Thursday, and
then maybe a little more time on the weekends. If
you can consistently find seven hours a week, you'll be
in good company. So look at your schedule considering the
whole of your week, then think about your energy levels

(02:56):
and logistics. For many people with jobs and families, early
mornings are a good side hustle time. Turn off the
TV a bit earlier at night, go to bed earlier,
and wake up an hour earlier than you might four
days a week. Use those four hours to move your
project forward. Of course, if your kids wake up at
the crack of done, or you're not a morning person,
then early mornings might not work for you. One option

(03:19):
is to choose one evening to go somewhere like a
coffee shop or the library. You might be able to
work from six to ten pm on your business. And yes,
that's going to feel like a really long day on
top of your regular job, and you might need extra
kid coverage, but it's only one day a week. You
can power through knowing you can then relax on your

(03:39):
other evenings. Weekends are always an option, and if you're
side hustling, working on weekends is somewhat inevitable, but you
can do it with an eye toward preserving family or
leisure time even as you're getting stuff done. A great
option is to choose one weekend morning to get up early,
basically as if it were a weekday. You could get

(04:00):
a ton done between six and nine am. If you've
got teenagers, this is basically time that doesn't even exist
to them. You could still have time to relax or
get a workout in before anyone starts stirring. With littler kids,
you might opt to use mid afternoon nap time or
quiet time for your side hustle, or if you're co
parenting with someone you might reach an agreement on coverage.

(04:20):
But in any case, if you worked four hours on
Tuesday nights and three hours on Saturday mornings, you'd be
devoting seven hours a week to your side hustle, even
though you're only really stretching your schedule two days a week.
Of course, with a limited timeframe like that, it's very
important to be intentional with your side hustle hours. You
need to focus on what best moves the business forward,

(04:43):
rather than spending all seven hours answering emails. But there
are one hundred and sixty eight hours in a week.
If you work forty and sleep eight hours a night,
so fifty six per week, that leaves seventy two hours
for other things. Devoting seven to a side hustle still
leave space for the rest of life. If it's important
to you, it's definitely doable. If you've got a side hustle,

(05:06):
I'd love to hear when you make it happen. You
can email me at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia dot com.
In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening and
here's to making the most of our time. Hey everybody,

(05:27):
I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.
That's b E the number four then Breakfast pod. You
can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast
at iHeartMedia dot com that before Breakfast is spelled out

(05:50):
with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward
to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio.
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