Use Your 9–5 As a Tool
Do This If You Are Trying To Build A Side Hustle
I made a career change 5 years ago.
At the time, I had been working in Professional Sport, and due to the financial instability of that world, and the scarcity of jobs, I made the difficult decision to leave for the world of Finance.
Let me be clear.
I didn’t enter the world of Finance with the plan to stay there forever. It is a means to an end.
It has allowed me to get married, buy a home and fund the cost of our new arrival.
Which is exactly what I needed it to do.
BUT.
I’ve always had a longer-term plan.
This career would pay the bills and provide for my family, and in my spare time, I would build something for myself, with the goal of one day transitioning to it full-time.
I’ve read countless articles on Medium of people doing the same. However, the advice always stems around the concept of ‘Going All In’ or ‘Burning the boats’.
This advice usually lends itself to the concept of ‘Quiet Quitting’ in their 9–5.
Do the absolute bare minimum to allow you to spend all your spare resources on building your side hustle.
I firmly believe this is not the right mindset to take.
Instead, you need to use your 9–5 as a tool to build the life that you want.
Here’s Why.
You have a fail-safe
The concept of ‘going all in’ assumes you have no responsibilities.
But if, like me, you have a mortgage, a family and people dependent on your income, this is not the right move.
You need to gradually earn that right. You need to test whether this is the right path for you.
What if you do the bare minimum in your current career because you’re utterly convinced that your new course or newsletter is going to take off? What are the consequences of this if it doesn’t work out?
If your numbers remain static.
You could set yourself back years in career progression and increased income.
As I’ve argued before, you should continue to work as hard as possible in your current role, but do so as efficiently as you can.
So you have the freedom to work on your side hustle outside of it.
Your Income Will Increase
No employer is going to continue to increase your income if you aren’t contributing.
Like it or not, employers generally don’t like it when we do just what is required.
They like high performers.
They like people that are willing to put the work in. And they compensate accordingly.
If you choose to take a step back from work, you’re leaving potential income on the table that could be used to help you pursue your dream.
At the moment, I’m allocating some of my surplus income towards my side hustle. If I hadn’t increased my income over the last 4 years, I wouldn’t be in a position to do that.
Give yourself this option.
You will develop skills
Beyond the financial incentive, you will miss opportunities to develop as a person if you take a back seat in work.
All roles offer the opportunity to develop, even if they’re not always obvious or structured.
Take the time to practice becoming an expert in your field.
You will never know when a skill could be utilised in your side hustle in the future.
While it will almost certainly be more tiring, you need to put as much effort as you can into your side hustle AND your 9–5.
The benefits are too great, and the consequences too severe, that it makes little sense to reduce your effort in your 9–5.
Keep your mind focused on the long game.
About the Author
My name is Dave 👋
I’m obsessed with finding strategies to unlock High Performance and helping people become better versions of themselves.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider following me.
If you would like to receive my articles directly to your inbox, please follow this link.
