How to Manage Your Side Hustle Without Going Crazy

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Do you want to start a side hustle? Have you already got one?

If you do, you likely know how tricky it is to balance a side hustle with a full-time job and some semblance of a personal life. No wonder we sometimes feel overwhelmed.

If you don’t have one, it can feel like an impossible task to start one, because your job takes up the lion’s share of your time, leaving little room for your personal life, let alone a side hustle.

Growing a side hustle can, however, be a worthwhile pursuit. It can provide you with an extra income stream and may even grow to become your full-time job if that is what you wish.

Soon, we’ll share tips on how to manage your side hustle alongside your job, so that you can start and develop a successful business. First, though, let’s define what a side hustle is and talk about why you might want to give building one a go.

What is a Side Hustle?

A side hustle is a form of employment someone undertakes on top of their full-time job. It is usually some form of freelance work, which provides a secondary source of income. Often, side hustles involve something you are passionate about, rather than being solely a way to make more money.

A side hustle is different from part-time employment. If you have a full-time job, most often, someone else will be calling the shots. By contrast, a side hustle gives you the freedom to decide how much you want to work to make some extra cash.

How Side Hustles Work

Side hustles involve doing work outside of your day job and the traditional 9-5 work hours, so work to do with your side hustle is usually done during the evenings and at weekends. If you are not ready to give up your day job, starting a side hustle can be a terrific way to test the waters, test new ideas, and see if it works for you before you take the plunge.

Here are some examples.

• Freelance writing.
• Tutoring.
• Selling handmade crafts.
• Pet sitting or dog walking.
• Taking surveys.
• Offering delivery services.
• Cleaning houses.
• Childminding.
• Graphic design.

Why Start a Side Hustle?

Side hustles can give you a fantastic opportunity to explore what you’re enthusiastic about, without giving up the security of a steady salary. Starting one can boost your satisfaction, along with your bank balance.

Another advantage of side hustles is that they offer flexibility in where, how, and when you work, as you are often the one running the show. To a certain extent, you can determine your own working hours and set goals depending on what you want to achieve.

By earning a little more on the side, you can:

• Get out of debt.
• Start a rainy-day fund.
• Buy that big ticket item that you want, such as a TV or a new PC.
• Cover any household maintenance costs, without having to worry.
• Have more disposable income to spend on small luxuries.

You usually don’t need to put up much money upfront to start a side hustle. Some concentrate on providing a service, while others involve selling handmade products or buying goods from a third party and selling them on for profit.

You don’t need any special skills or specific education to make most side hustles profitable. If you put in the time and effort and are lucky, you might find yourself making more than you earn from your full-time job.

Best of all, if your chosen side hustle doesn’t work out, you’ll have your job to fall back on.

It’s time to share tips on how to balance your job, personal life, and new-found side hustle.

How to Manage Your Side Hustle and Stay Sane

Working out how to balance a full-time job with a side hustle can be a challenge.

Finding the right balance for you takes time and planning, but these strategies can help you find a middle ground between working for your boss and calling the shots on your side hustle without becoming overwhelmed.

Choose a side hustle or project you are passionate about

It is easier to manage your side hustle alongside your other commitments if you do something that fires you up and keeps you motivated. Indeed, it is often considered key to making it work.

Doing something you’re passionate about will help you burn the midnight oil without losing your mind.

If you want to turn your side hustle into a business at some stage, you need to think of things you are interested in and passionate about that you would be willing to do for a long time. That way, you will enjoy working on your side hustle and it will feel less onerous.

Create distinct boundaries for yourself

Decide what you are and are not willing to sacrifice. It’s vital that you set boundaries that determine how far you’re willing to go, and how much effort you’re willing to put in to succeed.

This will help you talk to your family about it and feel less guilt about devoting some of your free time to the pursuit.

Build a schedule

Having a routine is critical if you want to manage your side gig in conjunction with your full-time job, because it helps you stay on track and maximise your productivity.

A good way to build a schedule if you don’t follow one already is to keep a time log for a typical work week. Then you can see how you spend your time each day and figure out what you could do to make time to work on your side hustle. You may also find out where you tend to waste time, so you can take steps to work more efficiently and thereby create a little extra time.

For example, your routine may include:

• Getting up an hour earlier to work on your side gig.
• Working on your passion project on the commute to and from work.
• Devoting part of your lunch break to your side hustle.

You could even set yourself weekly, monthly, and annual goals to help stay motivated, and to celebrate the small wins you experience on your journey.

Make use of small pockets of time

It is a mistake to think you can only work on either your job or side hustle when you have a big block of time available.

You could make small adjustments like working on your side hustle for part of your lunch break, and for part of your commute, or during that thirty minutes of free time you get on a Wednesday night while the kids are at their after-school club.

Here again, keep a time log so that you can identify where you have short intervals of free time so you can use them to further your ambitions.

Next, we’ll talk about how to get rid of distractions to make the most of what free time you find.

Banish distractions

Now that you’ve identified the free time you have available and have decided what you are willing to give up to make your side gig a success, how do you make the most of that time? By doing away with as many distractions as you can.

So, when you want to work on your side hustle, turn off your phone, switch off the TV, close the door, and use web blocking software to avoid falling down an internet-based rabbit hole and end up wasting time.

Prioritise self-care

It’s easy to forget to take care of yourself when you have so many different tasks to manage. The trouble is, if you neglect your basic needs and don’t put your health first, you are sure to end up suffering from burnout.

If you make self-care a priority, you will help ensure you have sufficient energy to put into both your job and your side gig.

It can be tempting to put in hundreds of hours to grow your side hustle and disregard the consequences to your health, but if you’re consistently tired, it can hurt your productivity. In extreme cases, this could make holding on to your day job difficult or leave you with no energy to put into your side hustle.

Use the power of automation

It’s not possible to do everything yourself when you have a full-time job. Luckily, automation can help.

You can:

• Use automated scheduling tools to help keep track of social media posts and campaigns.
• Use budgeting apps to help track your spending.
• Use Zapier to help streamline your work processes.
• Set up automatic payments.

You can use the power of automation for a plethora of other tasks, which can free up more side hustle time.

Remember why you began a side hustle and focus on motivation

You need to have a hard and fast reason you began a side hustle, because building a successful one while working full-time can demand much of you.

If you stay focused on why you started one in the first place, it can help motivate you when times get tough. Whenever you lose your way, remind yourself of your goals to help remain grounded and focused.

Use time blocking

Unlike with most full-time jobs, you can be flexible with the number of hours you can devote to your side hustle.

Each week, sit down and plan for the next few days. You can use time blocking to corner off the time you’ll spend on work for your job, then pinpoint what opportunities the week will afford for working on your side hustle. Remember to make time for yourself and your family, too.

Take time to shift priorities

While you may wish to dive straight into your side hustle, it may be a better idea to shift priorities slowly. Focus on your ultimate goal but be aware that building a successful business often takes time and only consider leaving your job or reducing your hours when you’re ready.

If you’re finding it hard to manage both your side hustle and job, you might consider outsourcing some of the more time-consuming tasks to others. You can hire freelancers so that you can focus on doing what really matters to you.

Wrapping Up

There you have it. We’ve covered what a side hustle is, why you might want to try building one, and gone through how (most of them) work. You can use some of the practical tips we’ve shared to help manage your side hustle without going crazy.

You can pick your favourite couple of things to try and see how you get on. So, why wait? Start growing your own successful side hustle today! Already a pro at building side hustles? Let us know about it in the comments!