Читать книгу Clever Girl Finance: The Side Hustle Guide - Bola Sokunbi - Страница 12

Now that you have a plan to tackle your fears, it’s time to get your head in the game and prepare yourself to build not just any side hustle, but a successful side hustle. And it starts by establishing the right mindset.

From setting financial goals, to budgeting, to paying off debt, to saving and investing, to, you guessed it, actually starting the side hustle, having the right mindset is foundational and critical to your success at each stage.

Having the right mindset gets you ready for the journey ahead, and nurturing your mindset along the way keeps you motivated and focused. This in turn increases your chances of success. But why is mindset so important when you are starting or growing a side hustle? After all, isn’t a side hustle something you just do on the side?

Well, it depends on how you choose to view your side hustle. Yes, by definition a side hustle is something you do on the side, before or after your primary job. It’s a side activity in your spare time that can bring in some extra income (the money potential is what distinguishes it from a hobby). Simple, right? However, depending on what you do and how you do it, your side hustle can open the doors to so much more.

Let me elaborate further: a side hustle can be game-changing for your life and your ability to achieve your goals, especially in today’s world, thanks to the accessibility of the internet. Don’t let the traditional idea of a side hustle make you think otherwise. Side hustles today aren’t just about the random garage sale every other month. They can be real, impactful, and high-income-generating businesses.

Specifically, in this book, I’m going to be using “side hustle” and “business” somewhat interchangeably. While you could call driving for Uber or doing deliveries for Amazon a side hustle or side gig, those are still ultimately jobs you’re doing for someone else. I want to talk about businesses you’re creating for yourself, with your own ideas, and on your own terms.

A side hustle gives you the opportunity to increase your income and create multiple streams of income. Having multiple income sources is especially important as a woman, and even more so for women of color. You’ve heard about the impact of the gender wage gap, where women earn 20 percent less on average than their white male counterparts. However, for women of color, the wage gap is even more extreme. Black women earn 62 cents for every dollar earned by their white male counterparts, Latina women earn 54 cents, and Native American women earn 57 cents.² This gender wage gap in turn impacts our ability to save and invest money for our future selves and to support our families.

Asking for what you are worth, negotiating, and actively calling out inequalities—especially as it relates to pay due to gender and race—are ways you can take action to counter this on an institutional level. But while we work toward long-term change, having a side hustle can position you to get ahead of this in a major way. Your side hustle can accelerate your journey to becoming debt-free, meeting your savings and investing goals, supporting your family, and building generational wealth.

As I write this book amid a global pandemic, with so much economic uncertainty and millions of people out of jobs or worried about job security, a side hustle can become the backup you need to weather the storms of financial uncertainties. This is applicable for any difficult season, whether it’s a global pandemic, a national recession, or a personal financial setback. Your side hustle can be the backup to get you through by providing an additional stream of income to help pay your bills or build a well-stocked emergency fund.

There are also many instances of well-executed side hustles that generate enough revenue to replace the income from the owner’s full-time job, giving them the option to be their own boss on their own schedule if they decide to do so. Essentially, your side hustle can create a multitude of options for your life, and those options equal freedom and the ability to follow your passions! How about that for something you just do “on the side”?

But back to mindset—the way you decide to think about your side hustle can make all the difference. If you tell yourself that all it can ever be is a side thing that will earn a few dollars here and there, then that’s what it will be and you can stop reading this book here.

However, if deep down you believe your side hustle has the potential for incredible success and you are not willing to put a limit on how far it can go, then you are setting the stage for endless potential and incredible success (even if you don’t know how you’ll get there just yet).

Like I said, your mindset will keep you motivated and focused, and this is important because starting any kind of business is hard. Even “just” a side hustle. It takes hard work, time spent away from doing things with your loved ones, early mornings and late nights, learning new things, and testing, testing, and testing again.

There’s also the emotional and mental toll it can take. Starting something new or doing things differently, especially in business, can be isolating, and it can be really hard to want to keep going when things seem to be happening extremely slowly or not at all. Your friends might not understand this new ambition and you might not immediately find your new business support system or mentorship. It’s easy to get overwhelmed when you think about the journey ahead of you and the things you need to do despite only having 24 hours in a day, and even more intimidating to think about doing everything on your own.

All of that being said, preparation for success is vital to get you ready to face these challenges. This means preparing your mindset, figuring out your schedule, adjusting your lifestyle (if only for a season), and establishing a way to stay accountable as you work on your side hustle.