Start Your Side Hustle with Focus and Flair.
Find Your Niche: Exploring Your Side Hustle Options.
The Everyday Solopreneur. Over the last month, I’ve realised that building a business as a side hustle is difficult, but not only for the reasons I had initially thought. The near-overwhelming temptation to follow all your interests at once is a recipe for disaster, exhaustion, and potential burn-out. Today’s article is all about being realistic with your expectations, prioritising the main tasks, and targeting your goals.
Disclosure. I use Generative AI tools to help me when writing. From outline suggestions to topics or subtleties, I had yet to think of.
The Devil is in the Details
This article didn’t go into the list of things I was trying to do. So, when I sat down and itemised these, I realised I’d fallen into the trap of naively underestimating the effort involved.
I had a list of things I had to do, starting with a business management application for which I chose Notion. This took a lot more time to set up and configured than I had anticipated before I considered it close enough to my requirements to be able to start with proper planning.
I already had the main focus of my new business and then concentrated on building a supporting website. Another complication was having a dual language website, my native English and Dutch. Why Dutch? I have lived in the Netherlands for over twenty years, and most potential clients would be native Dutch speakers.
At this stage is where I went off the rails. I envisioned my business to focus on one specific area of Software Project Management; the problem was that it was, and still is, far too specialised to attract potential customers. I also had several other ideas, which I started pursuing immediately instead of concentrating on my primary goal.
Identifying Your Passion
I’ve learned the hard way to stick with one goal at a time, not only that, but also to be realistic about how best to achieve that goal. To be clear, almost every software project I’ve been involved with over the last decades has failed to meet all of the client’s requirements. This has always been traced to an under-specified requirements document. I want to address this issue by being involved with producing this vitally important document long before the client contacts any software vendors or developers.
Shatter Complexity: Requirements Gathering Essentials
So, my passion was identified. But, how I presented it on my website and in articles was incomprehensible to potential clients. Instead, I should have approached the business presentation in a more generalised and easily understood framework. Now I have to start over again, fortunately not from scratch, but I must keep my feet firmly on the ground and attempt to see my business through the eyes of potential clients.
But this is not the end of the story. Ever the optimist, I kept piling on the ideas until I had no life left over. Only sleep, work, eat, and then sleep again.
Time Management Essentials
I know that time blocking works for me in my daily job, but for some reason, I’ve not applied the philosophy to my other business activities. Naivety strikes again; I thought I could handle everything I threw into the ring. I failed miserably and was starting to damage my family life to boot.
These are the other activities that I took on:
- Article Writing for Medium, Substack, and LinkedIn.
- I wanted to finish writing a book I’d started several years ago.
- The bright idea to start a second business, also business services related.
Looking at this short list, it doesn’t seem to be all that much. But, considering the time required for my occupation and my primary business focus. There weren’t anywhere near enough hours in the day. You’ll notice I allowed no time for family either; family and health are more important than anything.
This is where a realistic and practical time management plan had to be made. The first step was reducing my commitment to my job from five to four days a week. This comes with a financial impact I can handle for a while, at least. As my primary source of income, and the responsibilities that are part and parcel of this commitment, it has to remain my main focus.
I can now correctly concentrate on my writing career, which I enjoy even though it doesn’t yet, bring in any significant income. Every Friday morning is now earmarked as writing time. Recent changes in some platforms haven’t helped either. The silver lining is that I’ve been given the kick I needed to improve my writing and marketing skills.
Behind Medium’s War Against AI-Generated Content
I also noticed an impact on my writing. The disjointedness of my ambitions was affecting my consistency in the subject matter. To build an audience, you must consistently ensure all articles are interrelated. How else could I expect to be successful? If I want to write within other niches, that’s fine too, but I should start another channel for these posts.
The rest of Friday, and a half day at some point during the weekend, is taken up with rebuilding my own business model, marketing, and research. This will include a minor website rebuild and building a business network. This has to include developing a following on LinkedIn and the local business community. Easier said than done, as I have no idea yet, about marketing. Hence the research aspect.
Future Projects
Two main projects will, unfortunately (fortunately?), have to remain on the back burner. Both will be hugely time-consuming, and I have yet to decide on their priority.
Firstly, I am interested in the potential of Generative AI on businesses. The problem is that it is a black box for many; they have no idea where to begin or even if there will be any benefit gained from the technology. Some of the benefits are well presented in a recent article on LinkedIn by Davidson Samuel.
Here’s Why Generative AI is a Must-Use for Small Businesses (and How to get started!)
There are many other articles and posts, of course, but none of them overcome the average business owner or CEO from overcoming the perception that it is just another technology. I want to build a business to present and facilitate using these tools to help their companies to grow. Ambitious, I know, but we have to start somewhere.
Related to that, I’ve published several articles recently about Generative AI and the assistance it can provide. Now, I mainly focused on the impact of these tools on creative writing, but I’ve been swamped researching the potential implications for businesses.
Overwork: The Stealthy Assassin of Creativity
Several years ago, I started writing a fiction book that has been gnawing at me for years. It was going very well, nearly thirty thousand words in just a month and a half. A severe illness interrupted the book, I’ve not been able to find the time or the motivation to complete the book ever since. But this will have to wait as well. I can only do so much.
Final Thoughts
There is nothing wrong with having ambitions and dreams but planning for them effectively is essential. I’m sure that most have had the experience of having so much to do that they don’t know where to start. Then give up and do nothing at all. Prioritise and focus realistically.
It is so easy to overload yourself, and it is only when you realise that everything is started, but nothing is done that the reality hits. Be practical and recognise your limitations. Most importantly, take time for family, relaxation, and recharging.
See more articles, posts, and discussions about business, project management, the role of human nature, Generative AI and Creative Writing on Medium here. If you have not already, subscribe to Medium. Or follow me here on Substack. The KodifyIT Substack newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber; I would appreciate the support; you won’t regret it. 👍
I apologise to my readers for some of the spellings you may feel are incorrect. I was born and brought up in the United Kingdom, and this is the spelling I am comfortable with (Grammarly is happy with it anyway).