Work Full Time? 4 Tips to Find The Time & Energy to Work Your Side Business
Hey Friend!
In a recent poll we did, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that so many in my community, work full-time and have a side business.
That’s right, I was pleasantly surprised. I believe that working full time is so smart when you are building your side business. Unless God tells you to, I would recommend not leaving your job in the early stages of your business. You need to be making sound money and have that net to fall back on as you build.
Building a sustainable business online takes time. And to feel pressure or panicked that you have to make something work and quickly make money is going to hurt you. It will hurt you in the way you show up, in the way you sell and market. You’re not going to be marketing from a place of invitation, but a place of panic which won’t sit well with your audience.
I’ve been asked how do you find the time and energy to continue building your side business. I get it. You’re working full time, some of you have children, are married, have a home to shepherd, and all the other things you do as a woman, wife, friend, etc. It’s hard.
I want to share 4 tips with you to find the time and energy to work your side business while working full time. I was in corporate for a decade and I remember working as I was building my first online business. It was hard. But it wasn’t impossible.
Tip #1: You Have to Prioritize Your Time
It’s about time that we go back to the basics. Sometimes we try to overcomplicate everything, making things harder than it needs to be. We try to skip the basics and foundational things that we need to do in order to have success.
When you are working full-time or part-time or even homeschool, you have other things in your life that you have to show up for. You need to sit down and prioritize. You’ve got to figure out where the cracks in your day are where you could be building your business.
If you’re at work say from 8 – 5, you might be able to squeeze one hour in, although I’m hoping that you are spending that one hour in the morning with the Lord. Then you need to get yourself and everyone else ready for the day.
One place you could prioritize is a working lunch. It’s not a large amount of time where you will have that project mindset and that full focus so you could maybe tackle emails, quick to-do list items, and even a podcast episode.
In the evenings you have family time to contend with. You might want to get in a workout or have to attend your kid’s sports. You need to look at the later part of the day and prioritize what happens then. For example, what happens at 8 pm? Do you have 30 minutes left in you? If not, think about what is happening on the weekend. Is there some other time when you can possibly work from home where you can structure your day a little differently?
What is happening in every crack of your life? You need to get serious about eliminating the things that are not conducive to you getting your business going. That could be watching TV shows. I’ve all but eliminated that completely from my life. Or how about getting off social media completely so that you can focus on income-producing activities like podcasting and getting an offer going? It’s truly a distraction that you don’t need to grow your business.
What other things need to go? What are some things you are saying yes to that you need to for a time lay down so that you have more time to focus on the side business that you have been called to do.
Know what you are going to do with the cracks of time you do have before they appear. The worst thing you can do is say “Yay, I just found an hour” and you don’t know what you are supposed to be doing. Check out episode 586 if you want to know how to get organized and set up a system in your business to know exactly what you should be doing at all times.
Tip #2: Outsource
Outsource wherever and whenever you can. Time is your most valuable resource right now.
Outsourcing is great as there are things that have to happen for you to grow and build your online business, however, your time is the lid. Money may not be so much of a lid because you are still working full-time. This doesn’t apply to all of you, but maybe some of you have a little extra right now that you can put towards outsourcing.
This could look like hiring a virtual assistant to help you with your inbox and the administrative tasks. Or maybe getting a community manager to run your Facebook group for you. Or looking for someone who can help you with all the podcast management or the editing.
Whatever the time suck is for you, look at outsourcing that. Episodes 373 and 175 can help you with outsourcing if you need more help in this area.
Tip #3: Set Realistic Goals
What creates so much burnout for my students that work full-time is setting unrealistic and unattainable goals around how far they should be in their business.
Working a full-time job, and working a side business can take a toll on your physical and mental health. It can affect how you show up for your family as you can get burnt out a lot quicker than someone who has more time to be growing their business.
I would suggest that you set a more extended timeline so you can fill the one to two hours per week that you have to build your side business. This means you don’t feel as much pressure and feel you have to work every spare hour you have. That takes the joy out of the journey.
Setting realistic goals will make you a bit more patient than you might like to be. It also means accepting that it might take you longer than you initially planned to get your side business up and running.
Slow and steady wins the race every time. Growing your business at a pace that allows you to maintain your sanity is worth it.
Tip #4: Take Care of Your Physical and Mental Health
In order to build a business and work full-time your energy levels need to be at an all-time high. This is up to you and how well you are taking care of yourself.
Maybe you can relate to the old me. I worked super hard to grow an online business and my health was my last priority. I was eating convenience food and staying up late to work on the business.
What I learned after 11 and a half years of being an entrepreneur is that the best thing I can do is get enough sleep, put my health first, and put my mind with God in the morning to reset and renew my mind.
Exercising regularly has been a huge shift in my maintaining energy after 3 to 4 pm each day. As well as adding a protein shake a day and adding the right foods each meal.
We have to have a full battery if we’re going to show up. Especially for those of you who are at work all day and then get home to pour out more to your family and to build your business.
Small changes and small habits create long, sustainable changes in your body and in your energy.
Wrapping It All Up
Building a business while working full-time is not easy but it is possible.
I believe that God has called you to do what you are doing or you wouldn’t be doing it in the first place. Trust His timing and know that beautiful things take time to blossom and grow. Remember that we are on heaven’s timeline even though we are here on Earth.
We can trust in Him, that He has got a way, that His will is perfect, and that all we need to do is walk in it. Isaiah 30:21.
God’s got you.
XO,
Stef
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