Convert Frustrations and Annoyance from Your 9–6 to Inspiration in Your Side-Hustles
Yes, you have many advantages while holding a full-time job. You just don’t know it.
Inspiration is everywhere. However, it must come from somewhere. For me, that is my workplace.
I know I am not alone. Many of us struggle for various reasons. I need control over my time, the pace of work, and how to get things done. Getting me to slow down for the team is not teamwork. It is death by spirit.
Fortunately, I have an outlet in my 6–9. Building a portfolio of side-hustles, copywriting projects, and writing content give me satisfaction daily. I look forward to my side-hustles during my 9–6.
But that does not mean my day job is completely out of place. Without it, I will not understand the economics of big groups. I would not understand the concept of leverage either.
“It is much easier to put existing resources to better use, than to develop resources where they do not exist.”
Most importantly, the 9–6 is my go-to inspiration treasure trove for my side-hustles. Annoyance can lead to better content, more efficient side-hustles, and deep out-of-the-box thinking.
The Inspiration Treasure Trove — How 1 Thing Leads to the Other
How do we improve our content? We need to produce content, monitor the performance, and refine along the way. What if continuous improvement is not part of your company’s D.N.A.?
No worries. Take your improvement points and apply them to your side-hustles.
5 ways to demonstrate what I mean:
- Approval process — There are reasons for checks and balances. Yet, do we need 1 week to approve a web copy for the product catalog on the company website? My answer is a resounding no. Therefore, I took the route of A/B testing on my personal website. Publish first, adjust later.
- Follow-Up emails — I was recently dinged for sending the same follow-up email to marketing qualifying leads, sales qualifying leads, prospects, and leads consolidated from a physical exhibition. My mantra is speed because people forget us very quickly. I was told not to do it again. No problem. I took their feedback for customized follow-up messages and broadcast them daily using Hubspot for my own side-hustles.
- Social Media Content — I was told to adhere to the corporate content structure each time I post on social media. This structure, or flow of message, has been endorsed for use by the corporate communication department. I glimpsed at the impression, viewership, comments metrics from historical content and decided to go my own way.
- Efficiency versus Creativity — The pursuit of efficiency leads to productivity. The pathway of creativity inspires innovation. My company chose efficiency. I choose creativity for my side-hustles.
- Of meetings and independent action — Some senior managers work hard to line the ducks and get them to march in step. Therefore, they initiate alignment meetings, crush-the-resistance meetings, and further alignment meetings. I believe in independent action because it inspires deep thinking. When we consolidate our thoughts and reflect, we know who we are and how we rock. Understanding the demands of others and knowing ourselves allows us to achieve our goals in our day job and side-hustles.
Author’s Note: I have a simple method to discover inspiration for my side-hustles. I review what I do not appreciate in my day job and reverse-engineer it. Then, I apply that into my 6–9. Simple, eh?It is normal to be annoyed and frustrated. It is common not to have our way. Yet, my point is, the buck does not stop there. We can do something about it.
On Side-Hustle Inspiration and Beyond
“Many great ideas go unexecuted, and many great executioners are without ideas. One without the other is worthless.”
Inspiration means nothing without action. The word itself gives us a clue what it really means. It is a combination of inspire and action.
We are side-hustlers for a reason. We want to do something for others and to make ourselves happy. We produce work that we believe in and are proud of. Stay focused and have faith in our beliefs.
Of course, it helps that we earn income from our 6–9 too.
Summary
Inspiration is everywhere. This is especially true in the workplace.
Many of us are hardworking folks, and we do an honest job. With time, we grow our ambitions to climb the corporate ladder. That said, ambition leads to disappointment too. Not to forget a boatload of frustrations and annoyance.
Our side-hustles are the productive outlet for negative energy. It is also a good testing ground for what we want to do and how we want work done. Good for us if it works out.
Why do you think I am writing this article late in the evening?
That is because my copy for the company’s website is not approved by the higher-ups, and I have to rewrite it for the 12th time. I am writing this article to release my inner frustrations while selling my rejected web copy online…
As a content contributor, I write my observations from daily life and my business exposure. Because our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.