I'm a (Side) Hustler Baby

As we move into a new year and another year of business planning, I want to speak to the side hustlers, potential side hustlers, and back-at-it-again side hustlers. There is power in side-gigging! 

I am a big fan of the side hustle. I think that side hustles give women the creative and financial freedom to explore their passion and the opportunity to learn, grow, and try something new. I've been in the side gig game since I moved to my rural Ontario town, a place I still live and call home. Starting or building a side hustle is how many people step into their identities as entrepreneurs and dip their toes into the water of entrepreneurship. 

Entrepreneurship, for me, is a way to explore creativity and a way to grow professionally. Even from a young age, I found a way to turn my passion into profit. I earned my title as a sales pro when I was a kid by selling Barbie dresses at the end of my driveway. I saw a market need, and I filled it. I also loved Barbies, making this my first taste of turning passion into profit. 

When I relocated to my small town, the place I now call home, I struggled with my job hunt and, in general, with my post-grad reality. I wanted to find a role I was passionate about and one where I could build on professional and academic experience. But nothing. Resumes went out, and crickets. 

I thought there was a virus attached to my resume. I struggled to get a response, let alone an interview. I had substantial experience and credentials and an established family name, many of my family members, worked or owned businesses locally. I started to panic. 

How am I going to have the life I want? How will I support my family? How will I land a job that makes the impact I'm hoping for? 

And then it finally happened. 

I landed a significant role coordinating the LIP (Local Immigration Partnership) program here. And not only did it allow me to build relationships locally and in the field, but it also sparked my creativity and allowed me to step back into my entrepreneurial shoes, build strategies, and blaze trails. And I couldn't take these shoes off. It hooked me. I knew that now that it had lit a spark, oh baby, side hustle, here I come. 

That's what it took for me; a reminder that I loved building things on my own and a feeling that I was making an impact with it. Then the real learning began. And I learned. I learned how to create an eco-system where my full-time work and my side-gig work fed each other. I learned the importance of relationship building. I learned how to identify what fuelled me and what held me back.

My work in the community also acted as market-research, for lack of better words. Through the projects, programs, and relationships I built, I came to identify any gaps. I saw a need for leadership training. I knew there was a place for immigration work in Renfrew County. I was reminded daily of the necessity for inclusion work in small-town communities. 

And from there, I began to build, to side hustle if you will.

Entrepreneurship can be scary because it can lead to economic uncertainty. When you're thinking of starting a business, there's a lot of pressure to leave your career and jump right into the business full-time. There's going to a part of your brain that is justifiably panicked, especially if you're not making sales, bringing in money, etc. I mean, we do have bills to pay, you know. But that is the beauty of the side hustle. It was an empowering experience for me. 

I was fortunate and privileged to be building my business while maintaining a base salary from my full-time gig. It kept me comfortable and allowed me to grow my side hustle, you know, on the side. I didn't have to lead my business from a position of scarcity. I believe side hustles are an incredible way to transform your income-generating life from tolerating to fulfillment, without the pressure of money (or lack thereof). 

And I can tell you the exact two things that were game-changers for me with my side hustle. The two things I focused on to take my side gig from $5k-$250k. The two things that have now allowed me to move from side-hustle to full-time entrepreneur if I want. 

1. Build Meaningful Relationships

Building relationships is one of the most important things you can do, not just for your side hustle, but in general, for your professional life. Your network is your net worth. Have you ever heard that saying? Building a network of contacts and community, a warm network, was a game-changer for me. 

There was a point in my entrepreneurial journey where I could not leave the LIP yet because I wanted to see it through. I built it. These were my strategies, my relationships, my goals to achieve, and targets to hit. So, I decided to continue working on it while I built my side hustle. And the more I positioned myself in the community, the more people wanted to work with me. I began to add more projects and clients to my growing side hustle. I began to focus on reinventing how I'm contributing to work, looking at how I'm solving problems, and building my relationships in my day jobs that would serve my side hustle. Then it became an eco-system where side hustle and day job fed each other. I was so inspired to continue that it kept spinning off into positive results. 

I eventually landed a role as the Entrepreneur in Residence at Algonquin College. This role is where everything blew up for me (in a good way). My exposure to the community because of this role was huge. I built up even more contacts in my network that would eventually translate into partnerships, clients, and referrals for my side gig. This role wasn't just about networks; it allowed me to learn more and increase my knowledge and skillset and give me the stability and salary to build my side hustle. I had the financial comfort to work at it and do it at my own pace, without worrying about paying bills or reinvesting. More on that later in this article. 

Remember that building up your network, personally and professionally, is a crucial ingredient to your side hustle success. And it goes both ways; often, there are ways you can help your network too. 

2. Find What Fires You Up

The best thing that ever happened to my business it that I finally understood what I want. Passion is everything. If what you're doing doesn't fire you up, you won't be able to grow. 

In my roles, I was often invited to conferences to speak about my work. I loved this part. Not only did it build my network (see point # 1), but it also showed me the topics I was genuinely passionate speaking about and reminded me how much I loved keynoting. I narrowed down areas of interest to focus my side hustle on and added speaking as a prominent feature of my work. For example, looking at inclusive community development is one I dove into because of my exposure to similar concepts I worked with within LIP. I pulled big ideas out and made them work in another sector, in my keynotes, and now in the current work I'm doing with rural women in business. 

I currently run the Hire Yourself Program in Kingston, a program for newcomer women who want to build their businesses. My previous work both as Entrepreneur in Residence and as the LIP Coordinator both informed the work I love doing (helping people build businesses and inclusive community building) and gave me the experience to run this program. There are many barriers these women face- cultural bias, gender bias, lack of access to resources. Side gigging is empowering for them. It allows them to focus on their home and business. It connects their goals at home with their financial goals. It helps them build something on their own and work towards, as cheesy as it sounds, their dreams. Nothing fires me up more than to help them, in some small way, achieve that. 

I call it the gift of energy. It is an energy that helped me get to that $250k mark. And it's passion that fuels that energy. Ultimately, if the work didn't feed me, if it felt like a chore, then I couldn't grow. It wasn't for me. The work that fires me up is the work that continues to expand and is the work that has helped me scale. It had to be aligned, or I wouldn't take it. You need to take that scary step and say no to what doesn't align with your values, passion, and purpose. It will only serve you and your business in the long run. 

Passion and relationship building. That's the secret sauce of my $5k to $250k glow-up. That and recognizing the inherent value in being a side hustler and knowing what the side hustle life is all about. 

I have always been a multitasker. I have always had more than one job and more than one hobby. I've never done the go to work, go home, go to sleep routine. In the evenings, I'm building. Fridays were never exciting to me because Saturday was a workday. Saturdays are for the side hustlers. Staying in that routine helped me prevail through an extra day or two when I was growing my side hustle. 

I was fortunate and privileged when building my business because I had a base salary that kept me comfortable and allowed me to build. I didn't have to lead my business from a position of scarcity. I recognize my privilege in that. This reason is part of why I believe side gigs are an incredible way to transform your income-generating life from tolerating to fulfillment, without the pressure of financial scarcity. 

My side hustle took off because I dove in and connected to who I was and connected to what I wanted. It fed me because it motivated me to work in the evenings and on weekends. I was stepping into the greatness of my niche and focusing only on what fired me up. And eventually, my side hustle overcame my job salary. I can leave my job now with grace and stability and no fear that there isn't a bank balance to support it. And for some side hustlers, that's the goals. And for others, it's building a successful side hustle while maintaining a full-time role. There's no wrong way to side hustle. 

It takes a special kind of person to build a successful side gig. That's why I love side hustles so much. They're grinders. They put the effort in and then some. But there's something about their day job that's not quite enough, and they bring their high energy and passion and put it into building something that fulfills them on the side. Side hustles give us flexibility. Choice. And a chance to create something for yourself. 

Side gigs are a cool way, for women especially, to step into their power, to acknowledge and value their skills and connect those with the choices they make and the plans they create. My main priority at With Chela is to do it together. I want to provide support and guidance, so you don't have to make the same mistakes I did. I don't want you to face some of the struggles that solopreneurs face, like being in it alone. Having a group of women to lean in on is so important. It's powerful when women can get together and support each other's dream chasing and execution. We can work together to build those dreams and build the life they envision in their small town. 

Cheers Side Hustlers

Chela