How to Juggle a Side Hustle and a Full-Time Career

Ever since the pandemic got its claws in us and limited our mobility, the idea to go freelance appeared as the lifeboat in an ocean full of layoffs and furloughs. Leaning against the wall with a smirk on its face, freelancing was like: “You want me?”

Starking stats, as of 2017, show that almost 3.2 million working Brits saw the upsides of this burgeoning (self-)employment industry and cried out “I want you baby, my sugarboo”.

Let's admit it, earning money by contracting work to various companies or individual clients without being bound to an organisation is a mega appeal. Whether you're cash-strapped, seeking other sources to flex your professional muscles, or have a business idea in mind you want to test its profitability, a side hustle, i.e., a project pursued outside office hours, sounds just perfect...

Until it's not when performed on its own...

And that's because you envision virtual milestones of an idealised version of entrepreneurship: walking out of your day job in a blaze of glory after handing in your notice, and then pounding the streets on a productive client-hunt. But that “all or nothing”, “go hard or go home”, “ride or die” mindset is a trouble-maker and, most of the times, it's the wrong route forward. Rather, the right way to approach the “Shall I become an entrepreneur?” endeavour is two-fold: Go ahead and launch your business, but DO NOT break the PAYE shackles and ditch your regular workday.

The two-job scenario can be a dive into the unknown, so you better weigh the pros and cons first. Ask yourself if you can actually pull off the solopreneur lifestyle, and once you're done with the self-questioning, I've prepped up a few tips, aka career advice, on how you can balance your venture(s) with your 9-5 without having to run yourself ragged.

So keep on reading for some side business productivity!

How bad do I want it?

Be brutally honest with yourself: your attempt to side hustle while working full-time will hit roadblocks, it will hobble your social life, and you'll probably have to rule weekends or Friday drinks out of your agenda for a while.

So, can you make it less dramatic?

Take inventory of your actions

Grab a piece of paper and draw a divisionary line in the middle. Jot down your “leisure” activities VS your duties paired with the amount of time you spend on each weekly. Can you afford stepping back from mindless social media scrolling for a bit? I'm sure you can!

The more hours you can free up and prioritise on business-driven and money-generating tasks, the quicker you’ll be able to reap the benefits of your efforts.

Try upskilling

This is what I mean by business-driven tasks. Rather than binge-watching life hacks on Facebook, you can cut the learning curves of your niche community by signing up to online courses. Google Digital Garage is a reliable digital hub that provides a wide selection of programmes from SEO and web analytics to coding, digital marketing and personal branding. Or you could bust your networking initiatives out and stand in front of money advisors, lenders, and other key stakeholders to get support on your brand building process; the earlier you do it, the better and faster you'll make your side business a raging success.

Do I keep my spending on a leash?

Ensure that your need for extra earnings from side gigs isn't just a result of bad budgeting. Career consultant Sherridan Hughes advises to

explore simple cost-cutting exercises first. For example, switching your credit card to a no-interest scheme, or getting your utilities from a cheap provider [...] Also consider how you could earn more from your current job. Can you make a case for a pay rise, or bonus? Are there paid overtime opportunities?

There are alternative options as long as your desire to engage in side hustling is not solely of a monetary focus.

Will I have time to breathe?

An additional pile of commitments on top of your main ones isn't just about having less time for Netflix n' chill — it very much means letting your side projects creep into your primary work schedule. Farnoosh Torabi, author of When She Makes More, argues that

If you're staying up until 3am to finish everything or missing deadlines, then a second gig is pushing you too far [...] We only have so much bandwidth.

Act strategically and manage your time sensibly. Organising your hours in ways that protect you from getting overboard with tasks can be broken down to 3 segments:

1. Make sure you won't have any issues launching while working

First things first, check your current employment contract from top to bottom, front to back before you set out for your freelance journey or plan your imaginary ribbon cutting at the grand opening of your new business. Are there any conflicting clauses in your contract that prohibit you from running a side gig? Address your concerns with HR — they can tackle enquiries confidentially. You don't want to violate your employment agreement and risk termination, do you?

Also, I don't have to remind you that you should get yourself registered at HMRC, right? If you're either a sole trader or limited company, this is where you file your Self Assessment timely and submit the correct tax based on your earnings.

It's a legal obligation to notify HMRC once your business starts generating revenue. But how would you know if you’re a actually business owner? This depends on your intent, or as HMRC calls it, your badge of trade. And, when it joins the game along with these bad boys, VAT, IR35 and National Insurance, things get tricky so make sure you become tax-savvy.

Note: bear in mind that these regulations apply to the UK — it's very likely that they vary from country to country, so it's worth checking with your local customs authorities.

Wanting it or not, by the time you receive your badge of trade, your business stops being a hobby. Factors that can add up and influence your badge of trade involve the frequency of your transactions, whether or not your transactions look and feel like those of registered business.

2. Negotiate a revised schedule with your employer

A lot of employers are by the side of go-getter business-owners-to-be and will in fact help their employees to actualise their bigger ambitions. Educate yourself with employment benefits — can you request flexible working hours or a reduction in your current contractual hours? Bosses who object to staff running side-projects have become the exception rather than the rule. As long as it’s not impacting or clashing with your day-to-day work, why should your boss make a fuss about it?

3. Develop new habits

Get into the groove of waking early and knocking small activities out in the morning. These may include: brainstorming product/service ideas, discovering and pitching clients, auditing your website, sending or replying to emails, etc. Any task that nudges you one step closer to your goal of starting your online business and gain that income flexibility is more than welcome!

Consider using a bleeper timer to help you focus. If a task should take 15 minutes per day to complete, set a timer and work towards beating the clock. A simple timer can really minimise disruptions and boost your productivity so that you timely complete them all and dedicate your downtime for family and friends. How about you begin with reserving Sunday mornings for time spent outdoors to reset and realign with your goals, ideally with your phone shut?

To further automate your time and sustainably arrange your tasks, you could try Evernote, a productivity tool that can be leveraged to keep notes on product ideas, business and contact information for suppliers, warehouses, etc., or even business or domain name ideas.

Will I make a good entrepreneur?

In the entrepreneurial universe, the most crucial initial goal is to pass the test of “product-market fit” — i.e., identifying your target audience and shaping your offerings around quantifiable data for an optimal output that best serves your clients and maximises your return of investment (ROI). Therefore, prior to planning, producing and executing, make sure you're equipped with the skills to succeed. When you’re mindful of your strengths and weaknesses, the impulsive cash burn rate lessens, which gives your startup traction and a longer life-line. Without large recurring expenses, the likelihood of it failing wanes. So prep up in advance.

Get in a long-game mentality

If you want to transition from your full time job to your smaller gig ownership role, you should plan ahead and think long-term.

Easier said than done with a bunch of dead ends involved, I know. But remember that this is a sprint not a marathon. Don't jump in headfirst. Take it slow and outsource! Being an entrepreneur doesn't translate as being an expert in everything! Work out what's doable for you to undertake, and what you can chop off your to-do list and delegate to others human and/or non-human agents.

Here's my list of platforms you can assign your work to and lift the workload off your shoulder:

• Sales Tax to TaxJar

• Bookkeeping to Quickbooks Online

• Accounting to Bench Accounting

• Social Media to Kicksta

• Content Creation to iWriter, Upwork, Fiverr, Writer Access, Article Writing Co., JobRack, WordGeeks, Content Fly

• Product Photo Editing to Pixc

• Logo Creation to Tailor Brands or Looka

• Supplier Sourcing with Sourcify

• Freight Forwarding with Flexport

• Administration Assistant Tasks to Virtual Assistants on Upwork or Fiverr

• Your Business Mailbox to Anytime Mailbox

Can I afford making mistakes?

Absolutely! When you establish a start-up, you're vulnerable. There will be days when you feel that sky is the limit, and days where little progress is made. Don't get psyched out if you get stalled at a step — it can be instructive too, signalling that something's lagging and you need to re-evaluate your strategy. It's crucial to keep a firm hold of it all though, even if you feel like you're falling off the wagon.

No matter if you're going solo or co-partnering, let's face the truth: at the beginning, you have no clients, no vendors, no set payday, no revenue, no solid foundation or validation. All this entails time, trial and error.

Founder and CEO of YSYS, Deborah Okenla, urges not to

base [your business] on luck. I don't want to hear about anyone leaving their job [for their side hustle], saying, 'Ah it was gut'. Is there evidence? Carry out a series of tests.

Conclusion

At this point, let me remind you that you're not alone in the entrepreneurial world. There are thousands of side hustlers or co-founders with start-ups out there who kept punching the clock at their full-time job while their business was in the making. Hordes of entrepreneurs in the global freelance workforce need a secure stream of income to gain momentum and fund their side gig. And that's okay if consider how many investors require a business plan and proof of a payslip before they agree to throw money to your startup.

At the end of the day, tell me something worse than having unpaid mortgage and household bills, taxes, insurances, student loan debt, and on it goes... I'm waiting! Nothing? Right, so keep that seamless flow of job income until your business is ready to pay your salary. Until then, stay humble and keep creating!

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