THE JEM DIGEST

In association with StudioBook.io

Starting a side hustle or business that generates income can sound and feel almost impossible when you are trapped in the rat race. On top of that, feelings of self doubt and worrying about the risks only compound on this leaving you feeling like you are on a never ending circle rolling to the end of your life.

I’m here to tell you that while the journey isn’t easy, getting started actually kind of is. Here are some things you can do to responsibly get into your own business or side hustle:

1. Start small, no need to rush: A thing that I see a lot of entrepreneur creator talk about is how they quit their job and went all in on their business. The thing that they forget to tell you, or just gloss over a lot of times is that they were already in a good financial position. High paying jobs, no kids, house, etc. For most Americans that just isn’t realistic. However, you can 100% set aside one hour a day. Your lunch break, the hour after you get your morning coffee, or the hour before you go to sleep. There is always a sliver of time to spare. Instead of scrolling social media, or watching videos until you pass out, take time to build your own dreams, but remember, you don't have to spend 12 hours a day on it to get started.

2. Focus on the one thing: Avoid Shiny Object Syndrome. This is one of my biggest challenges and it can be a big challenge of any who are starting out. Make sure you keep your main thing, your main thing. This way, you don’t get overwhelmed and you don’t paralyze yourself with needless analysis. All those other ideas will be there once your first one succeeds. Write it down and come back to it later.

3. Set clear goals and objectives: Make sure you know where you are going. In my experience as a leader, and even a leader of small start-ups where everyone is working off of sweat-equity, you get a lot more out of people when you actually give them more than an idea to aim for. It’s my job to have the vision and create tangible goals for people to achieve on the way to that vision. This is also the case with yourself. Start with your vision, create a clear, concise, and realistic set of goals for you to attain. Make sure you have actionable tasks to accomplish every single day along the way. The better and more simply you can measure yourself, the easier you can hold yourself accountable.

4. Embrace failure: The sooner you stop being scare of failure, the better. Failure is always a precursor of accomplishment. It is literally how accomplishment works. Get used to failing more and you will actually get better at something.

5. Just fucking do it: Stop making excuses, stop putting it off until tomorrow and just fucking start. Your life isn’t getting any longer and nobody is going to do it for you. Get your shit together and start.