This article will set you up if you want to make extra income while having a full-time job.
Dwayne’s Side of the Story
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson had an interesting run before his side hustle made him Hollywood’s highest-paid actor.
Here’s the short version of the story.
Being a natural big build, Dwayne started his first career playing American football for the University of Miami in the early 1990s.
He was cut from the Canadian Calgary Stampeders in 1995. that’s when he began training to become a professional wrestler like his father and grandfather.
His wrestling career took off in 1996 when he won WWF’s Intercontinental Champion belt and “The Rock” became the people’s champ until 2014.
Now here’s the important part!
Dwayne’s acting career started in 2001; right in the middle of his professional wrestling career!
Related: Note to My 18-Year-Old Self
Do you see the transition here?
While other wrestlers were basking in the golden era of wrestling, DJ was proactively working his side hustle.
With dedication and very high work ethic, Dwayne transitioned from a wrestler to one of today’s most successful Hollywood actors.
Change is the only constant in life. Heraclitus" Click To TweetNow, here’s my question to you…
When the opportunity knocks, will you be ready?
Getting Ready for Change
Whenever people think of financial freedom and starting their own business, they consider quitting their job and taking a leap of faith while risking everything.
It’s no surprise that we think this is the only way to make it when our entrepreneurial role models are people like Elon Musk and Richard Branson.
After all, they went “all in” and hit the jackpot.
The hard truth is that 90% of startups fail.
On the other hand, many start-up founders work a full-time job while digging their way up with their side hustle.
Are you wondering how to launch your next big thing while keeping up with a full-time job? Here’s I’m doing it.
Average Guy Side of the Story (that would be me)
I work as a full-time graphic designer and social media manager, and a part-time university instructor at the Lebanese International University.
These jobs put me in contact with the administrative staff, the faculty, and students; all coming from different backgrounds and diverse experiences. I’m especially proud of my teaching career and will probably pursue it for a long time, but I always wanted to have something to call my own.
That’s why I started a boutique digital marketing agency and my personal website mohammadmortada.com to teach personal branding and entrepreneurship. I never fell for the “go all-in” trap; instead, I successfully maintained two jobs while building my side hustle.
The beautiful part was how everything I did turned up being symbiotic. The teaching experience, marketing tactics, and brand strategy all became a unified reservoir that I used on all the jobs I was handling. The fact that I’m working at a financially stable university puts my mind at ease as I’m able to take on extra expenses building my digital empire.
How to Grow your Side Hustle while Having a Full-time Job
I’m not a business guru and this is not a holy system. These tips are a result of what I learned by juggling three jobs, so the list might get updated as I learn new things.
1. Work on your mindset first
The road to entrepreneurship is not for everyone; it’s long and bumpy.
All the fancy photos you see under #entrepreneur on Instagram are organized photo sessions to create the facade of success.
If you’re going into this journey for money, you’re destined to lose. You need to LOVE THE PROCESS. Take the time to enrich your mind with some knowledge and motivation as you go through this. A good start is by reading the right books.
2. Create a system and become its slave
Your full-time job consumes 8 hours of your day; the side hustle you love and adore deserves the same commitment’ no less.
If you don’t add your business to your agenda, your full-time will expand to eat up all the time it can take until you are overwhelmed and your dream job fades into the abyss.
The solution is to play two characters; the “boss” and the “employee”.
“Boss” sets the program and “employee” executes the chores; just like your full-time job.
At the end of each weekend, “Boss” creates the tasks and deadlines for the whole week. “Employee” comes to work on Monday and does the work.
Easy, right? Wrong!
What makes you sure that “Boss” will not let work slide undone? huh?
It takes accountability and organization on your behalf to get it done.
But if you really want to achieve success, you will find time for both positions.
3. Get organized
It takes an organized and focused person to push your tasks forward every day.
I use this wallpaper to organize my to-do tasks on the desktop.
Here’s how I use it:
- Urgent & Important: These tasks are extremely important and they are done first.
- Urgent & Not Important: These tasks need to be done, but not necessarily by you. You can delegate those to an intern or outsource them.
- Not Urgent & Important: These tasks can be scheduled for the weekend since they are not on the priority list.
- Not Urgent & Not Important: These might be additional work that doesn’t immediately add value to your work. Either delete or do in your free time (after you have done your real work).
Productivity tools are not a magic button and they do not mean that you are being productive. The real challenge is being self-disciplined.
4. Remember the reason
It’s easy to drift away from your side hustle when life happens.
You suddenly feel overwhelmed and lose the inspiration to continue.
When this happens, ask yourself “Why did I start this journey?”
Create a vision board to remind you of the reason behind all this hard work. Remind yourself of the passion you had when you first started.
If your side hustle doesn’t ignite that flame in you anymore, it’s time to call it quits.
Whenever I see some of my students who have great potential but are not acting on it, I remember my mission to educate them and it gets me back on track.
Related: How to Start a Blog and Make Money
Starting a side hustle is a hard task and you won’t probably achieve success the first time. Learn from each failure, organize yourself again and get these tasks done.
Remember that the road to freedom takes sacrifice. Remind yourself of each small accomplishment; the satisfaction should put enough juice in your battery to keep you going.