The side hustle has become central to modern life. Nearly 50% of British people have a side hustle, and nine in 10 “side hustlers” under the age of 34 plan to transition from that side hustle to a full-time business. But juggling your day job can be tough for even the most skilled multitasker. Here are some tips for managing multiple jobs without annoying your boss or co-workers.
Compartmentalize while cross-fertilizing
Try to see your day job as a source of inspiration and knowledge rather than an obstacle to your side hustle. Your life will feel more coherent and less exhausting.
And perhaps counterintuitively, cross-breathing can help you focus better on each gig.
Award-winning Surrey chef Reshmi Bennett runs Ángeles de Sucres Bakery. along with its secondary activity: publishing recipe books for children to inspire them to be creative in the kitchen. Having created her bakery in 2011, she has juggled both since the pandemic. “I started writing stories during confinements thanks to free time and started selling them on Amazon.
“Combining both can be a challenge, so I compartmentalize and schedule as much as humanly possible. When I’m at my “day job,” I focus completely on fulfilling bakery orders and customer needs. I also try my best to use what I learn in baking (things like testing recipes, for example) and apply it to my side hustle, which helps keep both at a pace I can realistically manage.”
Work smarter
Emma Thomson, from Romford, Essex, worked as a medical secretary for the NHS while setting up her jewelry business on his lunch breaks, juggling both for six years before finally going solo full-time. “I actually started the business by accident,” he says. “I started making jewelry as a way to cope with anxiety and depression, and slowly people started asking where they could buy it.”
Your best advice? “Compress your hours (at your main job) whenever possible. Instead of the standard eight-hour workday, I worked 10-hour days three days in a row at my NHS job. Although they were long days, it meant I had four full days to focus on my own business and could take a day off if needed. This greatly reduced fatigue, stress and tiredness. Scheduling and automating social media content also helped me a lot as I didn’t have to physically be “on” social media.”
Strengthen your visual identity
Cultivate a strong visual identity for your work and side hustle. Whether it’s an internal presentation for your team or a social media post to promote your side hustle, demonstrating strong design skills will reinforce your personal brand. Improved design skills will be beneficial for your job and your side hustle – the skills you develop for one will up your game for the other. This is where apps like Adobe Express between, making it intuitive and easier to produce great content.
Outsource when possible
Running a family bus and coach business alongside a women’s herbal tea business could hardly require more diverse skills. That’s where good organization comes in, says Candice Mason, of Tring, Hertfordshire, whose secondary business is Mother Mug. “Because the two companies are polar opposites and operate in such different ways, I pretty much run my life on Trello, an online project board. Having things like a simple calendar and booking system is a game-changer. So is outsourcing: accounting, for example, is a task best left to someone else, giving me time to focus on what’s important to drive the business forward. I think the best thing is to quickly accept that you can’t do everything.”
Stick to the schedule
Leanne Alston, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, runs her own private company. psychotherapy practice whilst working full time for the NHS as a mental health team manager. Programming has been your savior in all aspects of life. “I schedule every week and always stick to the plan, rather than the mood: you won’t always feel like working, exercising, or even washing up, but you’ll always feel better doing it.
“I write a weekly schedule in which I mark my nine to five role and my sleep routine. Then I play with the time I have left to make room to see private clients, sort through social media, exercise, see friends, and catch up on personal work. Some days I need to be pretty specific and others are more fluid because I’m less busy. I appreciate the image of seeing my weekly plan written out because it removes the clutter from my mind. My other recommendation is to make sure wellness is a priority. Neither the nine to five project nor the side project will work successfully if well-being is not number one.”
still the same person
We are all told to bring our “authentic self” to work. It is debatable whether this is wise; It probably depends on whether the person you’re at home is appropriate to be with at work. But one thing seems clear: if you have a third person for your side hustle, life will be much more complicated. So trying to adopt the same personality for both your day job and your side hustles can help simplify that situation: you’ll spend less energy code-switching and be more open to cross-fertilization opportunities.
Try ‘splitting time’
Engineer Charlotte Walsh, from North Yorkshire, started The silicone straw company Having struggled to find high quality reusable straws for your children. “I started the company in 2019 and now work there full time, doing everything from shipping orders to fulfilling major distributors. Days can be incredibly busy, so breaking each day’s tasks into chunks (“time-chunking”) helps me focus on the most urgent work and make meaningful progress each day, rather than being distracted by incoming emails or newer requests.”
Be punctual
Lastly, don’t be the last one to arrive. Be punctual at work, even if you’re burning until midnight. Because if your professionalism falters, you’ll probably end up wasting more time trying to regain your credibility.
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