KC Agu: 4 Ways to Strike a Perfect Balance Between Your Side Hustle & Your Day Job

Three years ago, I attended a youth conference where a speaker said something I strongly agreed with. He said one cannot become rich by having a sole source of income; but that multiple sources of income bring enormous wealth.
That one-liner made me to really appreciate the power and benefits in diversification. Have you ever pondered why big organizations and wealthy individuals are poised on further investments for more incomes?

Have you pondered why Facebook bought WhatsApp? How about the persistence of John D. Rockefeller and Warren Buffett on identifying more business opportunities and investing in other organizations despite all the wealth they have?

Having a day job shouldn’t confine you to a mere daily ritual of fulfilling job schedules without thinking on how to invest in other businesses for more income. If influential and wealthy entrepreneurs do this, then you do not have any excuse not to have side hustles that will generate income alongside your day job.

But truth be told, getting into other business while keeping your day job is painstakingly hard to manage. For me, it took a lot of sacrifices before I could manage to hold both aspects squarely.

For those who plan to start other businesses, here are four ways you can manage both without them clashing with one another:

Automate Most of Your Core Processes
You can’t accomplish much at your job and business if you’re planning on doing everything yourself. There should be strict balance between the two jobs. Obviously the day job can’t be outsourced or automated in any form. That leaves you with your side hustle.

It all boils down to what takes the whole of your time. Those are the kind of stuff you should consciously outsource.

For example, I hate doing the writing jobs of my clients because they eat all of my time. I don’t like doing the hiring of new virtual staff; I’m terrible at that aspect too.

Why do I push these processes to employees? It’s simply because I need to maximize as much little time I can get so I can effectively accomplish more with my side hustle.

So basically, the only way you can maximize your time effectively is to outsource the core works of your side hustle and focus on the easy ones that bring in the most gain for you.

Think Pareto 80/20 Rule.

What are the core things you do now that isn’t bringing in the most income? Automate them. Develop a system that will handle the processes so you don’t have to do much work in those areas. That way you get free time to think and strategize more for business growth and expansion.

Focus on the Routines, not the Results
In the book, “The Power of Habits“, Charles Duhigg kept on emphasising that we are creatures of habit. I totally agree with most of the discoveries he laid bare in the book. Especially this profound line – “The result isn’t important. What’s important is the daily routine”.

A lot of people aren’t able to balance their day job with their side hustle because they calculate their progress by the results they get. They believe they’re not making good use of time at both jobs because they aren’t reaching their specific goals for each day.

According to Duhigg, people shouldn’t calculate their progress based on a specific result they want to attain. When you run two jobs, it’s tempting to do so.

Those who focus on results will look defeated whenever they can’t finish the “checklist” they have planned for that day. This end up demotivating them to think they cannot keep those two works without hassle.

Instead of focusing on results, for me, I simply focus on routines.

Instead of saying “write 5 articles today for my business blog”, I’d say “write 1 article everyday”. Turning my normal processes into easy daily routines makes it easy to turn them into daily habit.

And good work habits are the only way you can effectively keep side hustles and a day job working perfectly without headache.

Sacrifice Something Important
You can actually run a job and a business simultaneously and still do things which people without a day job do.

A lot must be given up if both aspects mustn’t clash with one another. For me, less sleep is my own personal sacrifice.

As someone who was managing an online freelance website with clients to write for and still had a day job, I had to reduce sleep from 6 hours to 4 hours and cut out watching TV from my equation (except during weekends).

Yours can be that game console or that TV in your room.

Sacrifices need to be made to be able to manage those two aspects effectively. And the only viable way to do this is to sacrifice some routines for your job and side hustle. Everything falls under priority and strict time management schedule.

Know and Understand “Your Why”
One thing about daily routine is that there will come a time where the law of diminishing return sets in. This normally does happen when there are enormous pressures from your boss on the one hand, and from your clients on the other hand.

Running a job and a startup simultaneously requires hyper motivation. One of the top reasons thousands of startups pack up each day is because the founders lost enthusiasm and drive for the business.

You must grow beyond the level of being easily demotivated to being highly motivated no matter how bad it gets. And you can do that by finding out why you need two jobs in the first place.

Your motives and passion will go a long way to keep you in business. You have to really understand WHY you’re running two core aspects at once. If your why is strong enough, then giving up will no longer an option at all.

Want to know how I relieve myself from every state of tiredness and pressures? I simply outsource the core aspects of my demanding business. Doing this will calm your nerves and invigorate you to passionately do what you love doing while maintaining your day job and side hustle.

Then in time, when your side hustle grows and start making cool dollars like my freelance writing business did, you can finally approach that your employer and tender your resignation letter.

Photo Credit: Mark Aplet | Dreamstime.com