How I Built a Business Part-Time in 1000 Days (Without Working Silly Hours)

The steps to take

I get asked at least twice a week why I’m not writing full-time.

So I thought I’d tell you the story of how I decided to keep my full-time job and write on the internet.

I’ve worked in the corporate world for my entire adult life.

That might sound like a long time, and maybe it is, but it’s 7 years in case anyone is unclear. I started as a graduate, clueless, helpless, and barely able to keep my eyes open (this one time I literally fell asleep in a meeting).

I eventually (somehow) I ended up as a Product and Service Designer.

It took me 3 years to find the job I liked and then 4 more years to get half-decent at it.

But those three years of finding the job I liked? Wow, was that a rough time. I mean, it was badddddd.

Step 1: Find a job you like

Nobody talks about the fact that finding a job you like is hard graft.

I mean it’s really quite difficult.

I was desperate to get going in the corporate world, to be someone… One teeny-tiny problem, I had no idea what I wanted to do.

Luckily I was on a scheme where I could try lots of things.

I made a point of exploring every area of the business so I could figure out which one was for me. I put my hand up for projects, liked to work with different people, and made sure I was exploring my options.

And then I found a team I really liked. They were moving fast, testing things, running experiments. It was business meets science and I loved it.

So I got a job in that team.

I remember like it was yesterday getting that job, it was a glorious feeling.

To get there though? I nearly left three times, I hated my job on more than one occasion and I’m sure at one point I was the most miserable I’d ever been in my life.

So it wasn’t plain sailing.

Step 2: Get good

So then I was in a position where I had this new job but I was the least experienced in the team. I had to learn the job and learn it fast. So I bought every book I could, went to every meeting that anyone would let me in on, and absorbed everything.

I mean everything.

And the way I cemented my learning? I wrote about it. I would write about work, meetings, the methodology, and how to influence people.

Like most people will know working in the corporate sector, a lot of any job is about convincing people that we should do something. I learned how to present, how to show not tell, and how to push for a methodology to be followed.

And I learned at x10 the speed.

Step 3: Then get good at writing

It took three years of writing content. Of building my audience by writing on the internet every day. That’s over 1000 days of pushing out content.

Most months I’d make a few hundred dollars for writing 2 hours every morning for three years. But I didn’t care. It was making me better so I kept going.

After three years I had an audience of over 100,000 people across different platforms and I realized that I was in a position to make a product.

So I built my website: www.theparttimecreatorclub.com

And I got to work on product number 1.

Step 4: Learn to launch (and sell)

On the launch, I made $8k in a weekend and nearly lost my mind.

I didn’t understand how this could happen and how I got so lucky. After the incredible high, I realized I needed to get to work improving the product. So I upgraded the platform, got feedback, and added more lessons.

It was a wild time of building and improving.

I realized there was much (much) more to a product than just the product. Part of building a great product is building a great marketing system that packages, positions, and sells it in the right way.

That took a whole load of learning (I’m still learning every day).

To wrap this up

I’m ordinary. There’s nothing special about me. I just decided to take a different path because the ones in front of me didn’t suit me.

If you’ve got a burning desire to build something but are beating yourself up about working a 9-to-5, a useful reframe for me is seeing my 9-to-5 as an opportunity, not a prison (because it’s not).

Figure out what you like talking about, and what people say you are good at, and work on building your audience by telling them what you’re learning.

In three years (probably sooner) you’ll be surprising yourself with how far you’ve come, I know I have.

Get after it.

And if you want help getting started (or sticking with) building your part-time thing alongside your 9-to-5, join 18,000+ creators in the part-time creator club.