I started a one-person business alongside my day job

and here’s how you can do it too

Scrolling on social media changed my life.

1 year ago I was living the most common graduate life. I had just completed my engineering degree and was walking to a good 5 figure day job. I would come home, eat dinner, binge-watch Netflix, and go to sleep.

Isn’t that what life should’ve been about? I thought I owed it to myself. For studying so hard, I deserve all the rest I was getting. But it was simply mediocrity in disguise.

While scrolling Instagram one day I read a quote:

You can either sacrifice your comfort or sacrifice your dream.

That quote hit harder as it was roughly 1:42 AM, with the entire street asleep. It made me think about who I actually was before I started my job.

I was a college-level badminton player who loved to exercise.
I was an entrepreneur who had just bootstrapped a startup at the age of 20
I was a published author by 21

And, I forgot it all in the name of comfort when I started my 9–5. It was time to get back up and do the thing I was best at — creating.

Fast forward to today, in 8 months I have

Accumulated an online presence of more than 20,000 people
Made more than $4,000 in passive income while working my 9–5.

I sell Notion templates while also working as a ghostwriter for founders. It is the most I have ever worked but it is also the most I have ever grown.

If you too want to start your own venture but are scared that your 9–5 won’t allow it, you’re just restricting your growth. Let’s look into it deeper:

Make your mind

Honestly, it is not going to be a walk in the park. It would require you to sacrifice your leisure time, you will have to pass on plans with your friends and work hard even after having a bad day at work.

For those times you’ll need a source of motivation. The best practice is to

Write down where you want to see yourself in the next 5 years.
Is there a goal you want to accomplish? It can be anything from owning a car to retiring your parents

Now place this list somewhere you can see. It can be the wallpaper of your laptop or even a post-it on your wall.

Find your rhythm

Starting a business is all about the choices you make. Things like

what you choose to eat
what you choose to watch before dinner
at what time you want to sleep
when you choose to work and when you choose to nap

All these choices don’t just build your business but also build your personality. By actively making decisions that will help you in the longer run will lead to a maker mentality.

Create a system

A system is nothing but a flow of work that suits you. Some choose to wake up early and work, some choose to work at night. You need to find your comfort.

The best way to go forward is to create a list of goals that you want to achieve and reduce them to smaller tasks.

As someone with 9–5, it is not likely that you’ll be able to sit down for 6 hours straight to complete a task. It is better to break it down into smaller goals so that you don’t have to compromise on the quality of your work.

For example, my task of ‘Write a blog for medium’ will be broken down to

Day 1: Research the topics to write on and create a rough draft

Day 2: Refine the draft and proofread

Don’t start too strong

I get it, while starting out we have a lot of adrenaline rush and expectations to meet. One might decide to go all out and start creating content on multiple social media platforms but that is not a very good practice.

Speaking from experience, I thought the more places I created content at, the more visibility I’m going to have which will result in a better business.

But, the opposite started to happen. Because I was writing pieces for Medium, my newsletter, Twitter, and Instagram, I ended up being so worn out.

I was unable to fully grasp the algorithm of either account and did not grow in any. My content was poor and it showed.

I then pushed pause on Instagram and the newsletter. I completely focused on writing blogs on Medium and sharing tweets on Instagram. Soon I understood that each platform requires a good amount of attention.

Later I got a hold of creating content and was able to grow on other social media too.

Take your time to understand your business and choose the social media to grow.

Create content by batching

This is going to be a lifesaver. Batching is a way to create all your week’s (even month’s content) within 1 day.

With your day job, you’d want to focus on more things and take time to actually execute your business. Batching is a highly efficient strategy that involves producing multiple pieces of content in one dedicated session. This approach saves time, helps maintain consistency, and allows you to focus on content creation without constant interruptions.

For batching, you need to pick the platform for which you’re creating content.

Lay out a list of all topics and ideas, brainstorm on your relevant niche, do your research, and jot down as many points as you can. This is the most important part as these are the ideas you’ll be later emphasizing on.

Collect all the resources you’ll need for content creation. This includes research materials, images, videos, graphics, and any other assets required for your chosen content format.

For each piece of content, start by creating a detailed outline. This serves as a roadmap for the content and ensures that you cover all essential points.

In case you run out of ideas, another good practice is to repurpose your content in different variations.

Talk and Network

You don’t have to be a lone wolf. If you alone can do a task in 5 days, with the help of networking and engaging you can accomplish it within 3 days.

By talking to people you can find mentors and even lifelong friends that understand your visions.

By talking to people on Twitter, I have had a conversation with startup founders, creators, designers, and a whole lot of people. Geographies don’t matter.

Once you overcome the fear of being shy, you’ll open doors to a whole new world.

Don’t keep expectations.

They are truly the worst. When I started I saw people making $1,000 in one day and I thought I would be able to achieve the same. Even after my constant effort, I was able to make $12 in my first month.

Comparison and expectations can kill your business before the market ever will.

Don’t compare your success. Don’t get disheartened when the expectations aren’t met.

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