Yes, Bet Big on Your Side-Hustles. No, Don’t Abandon Your 9–6.
Both of them fulfill you in different ways. You need a head and tail to make a coin. Have your cake and eat it.
Many of us are comfortable with a binary form of thinking. It is THIS or THAT. We have to do THIS or do THAT.
We are more intelligent than that, are we not?
We should be thinking of ways to have our cake and eat it. At least, that is the case for me. I mean, what is the point of ordering a cake and staring at it?
That is the dominant approach we embrace for our side-hustles. We have to abandon our 9–6 to focus to bet big on our 6–9.
It does not have to be THE way.
I have 6 reasons to keep your 9–6, and 6 reasons to bet big on your side hustles concurrently.
6 Reasons to Keep Your 9–6
The 9–6 is treated as a demon in the digital world. It does not have to be that way.
- It pays your bills: Honestly, life is getting expensive everywhere. Inflation currently stands between 3–4% globally, and it will affect your food, drinks, entertainment, and your urge to travel no matter how necessary it is to you. A monthly paycheck cushions that financial impact.
- It took you 20 years to get there: Folks, maybe you look down on that measly $4K or $5K job a month thinking you deserve better. I agree. You do deserve better. But you took 20 years to earn $5k a month. Why leave money on the table? Take it. It’s yours.
- You learn to work with people: You have stars in your eyes? Want to run a business, a start-up in the future? Great. You have to learn to manage and work with people. Start with your colleagues. Best part? You are already paid to work with your colleagues.
- You have first-hand access to valuable skillsets: Python, Big Data, Hadoop, Blockchain, and other forms of technology are heavily utilized by institutions before retail adoption. You are more likely to be sent to a course (paid by the company) to learn cutting-edge skills way before others know what Hadoop is.
- Learn to sell: You have to sell all day in a 9–6. It can be a proposal presentation to your boss. It can be where to eat for lunch with your colleagues. It can be a product presentation. You pick up sales skills in 9–6, fast.
- You learn effective, efficient communication: You know how to speak 1–to–1 or to a group of 10 when you have to do that daily. Stop blaming meetings as a murderer of your time. Learn to get what you want. Try.
6 Reason to Bet Big on Your Side-Hustles
On the other hand, our 6–9 is absolutely necessary because we want to pursue what matters. You want to allocate time for your side-hustles daily and focus.
- Side-Hustles create a focus: You may like to do art, sports, writing, and work that pays very little in the commercial world. Use your 6–9 to hustle on your chosen path. You need time to grow and be good at it. Put in the work daily. Have a pre-set schedule to get things done.
- Side-Hustles allow us to be creative: You can do what you want. No collective approval or budget approval from the top is required. You get your budget from the marketplace.
- Your 6–9 builds a digital acumen: If you want to thrive in the online world, in the ranks of e-commerce, Amazon FBA, e-books, Non-Fungible tokens, writing for Web 3.0., you have to work on it. You accumulate digital business acumen, a digital street-smarts of sorts, to build an online empire.
- You learn Content and Attention Marketing: These 2 forms of marketing are more prevalent in the digital world. And indeed, if we cannot get any attention to our side-hustles, we get no money out of it.
- Your 6–9 imparts humility: Think that you are a big player in the work that you do? Think that you have a perfect product and service that no one else in the digital world is offering? Get out there and compete. You learn to be aggressive in getting business while remaining humble, learning to overcome all sorts of rejections.
- You realize the need for a Personal Brand: Don’t complicate this. You just need people to know what you are doing, what you do best, and how you can help them get things done. It ties in with points 3 & 4.
Summary
Get exposed to the digital world and the job market before you bet big, go all-in on black.
I get it. It is sexy to be an entrepreneur. It sounds cool to run a start-up. It feels over the top to have absolute control over our lives.
At the same time, let us acknowledge merits from our 9–6.
Plus, our 6–9, side-hustles, projects, ventures, writing gigs, take time to grow. Monetization does not happen on day 1.
You may have a 3-year, 5-year plan to make your 6–9 a success, and that is great. Take time to grow your wings, get comfortable to spread time, and test flight. Rinse, wash, repeat.
In the meanwhile, stay in your 9–6 and learn as much as you can. It pays you to learn and to grow professionally.
It is not a bad deal, people.
Remember, there is no point in having a cake in front of you. You have to eat it.
Make it 2 servings.
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.
