A side hustle is a job or business that you do in addition to your main job. It can be something that you do on the side to make some extra money, or it can be something that you do to build your skills and experience.
If you have a full-time job, finding time to work on your side hustle can be difficult. But there are some things that you can do to make time for your side hustle.
Here are the topics I'll be touching on in this article:
- Eliminate Time-Wasting Activities
- Get Up Earlier or Go to Bed Later
- Side Hustling Commuter
- Maximise Your Lunch Break
- Delegate or Outsource Tasks
- Set a Schedule and Stick To It
- How to Balance Your Time Between Your Job and Your Side Hustle
- Take Advantage of Technology That Can Help You Save Time
- Make Time for Yourself to Relax and Rejuvenate
- What Is the Best Side Hustle Anyway?
Eliminate Time-Wasting Activities
Are you spending a lot of time watching TV or browsing the internet? Are you spending too much time on social media? Determine what's taking up the most time in your day, and find ways to cut back or even go cold turkey for a while.
With the additional hours that you free up, you can start working on your side hustle in a focused manner.
Get Up Earlier or Go to Bed Later
One way to find more time for your side hustle is to get up earlier. If you can wake up an hour or two earlier, you'll have more time to work on your side hustle.
If you can't get up earlier, another option is to go to bed later. This way, you'll have more time in the evening to work on your side hustle.
Both of these options require you to sacrifice some sleep, so ensure you're getting enough rest. You don't want to be too tired to work on your side hustle or too tired to do your job well.
Side Hustling Commuter
If you have a long commute to work, this can be an excellent opportunity to work on your side hustle. For example, you could use this time to brainstorm ideas, write articles or blog posts, or even work on some marketing tasks.
I used to work on the train to and from my day job. This was a great way to get some extra work done, and it didn't cost me any more time.
All I needed was a seat, a laptop, noise cancelling headphones and a tethered mobile connection, and I could gain an extra hour's productivity each day.
That said, I would usually work on tasks that didn't require a lot of concentration, such as brainstorming ideas or writing articles, as it can be difficult to focus on public transport.
Maximise Your Lunch Break
Alternatively, you could look to work on your side hustle during your lunch break. If you have a full hour for lunch, use 20 minutes to eat and the other 40 minutes to work on your side hustle uninterrupted.
If you can't get away from your desk to work on your side hustle, there are still things that you can do during your lunch break. For example, you could use this time to brainstorm ideas, and write articles or blog posts.
Delegate or Outsource Tasks
In order to free up more time to work on your side hustle, you may want to look into delegating or outsourcing some tasks.
For example, if you're building a newsletter, could you hire a team of content researchers and writers to produce some of the content whilst you concentrate on growing your audience and brokering sponsorship deals.
Set a Schedule and Stick To It
If you want to make time for your side hustle, it's essential to set a schedule and stick to it. This way, you'll ensure that you're making consistent progress on your side hustle.
Setting aside specific days or times of the week to work on your side hustle can be helpful. For example, you could decide to work on your side hustle for two hours every Monday and Wednesday evening.
It's also important to be flexible with your schedule. If you have a busy week at work, you may be unable to stick to your usual side hustle schedule. In this case, taking a break from your side hustle is okay and picking up where you left off the following week.
How to Balance Your Time Between Your Job and Your Side Hustle
When it comes to having a side hustle, it's important to find the right balance between working on your side hustle and working on your day job. You don't want to work so hard on your side hustle that you start to neglect your day job.
If you're finding it difficult to balance your time, here are a few tips:
- Set realistic goals - When you're planning out what you want to achieve with your side hustle, make sure that your goals are realistic and achievable. This will help to ensure that you don't spend too much time working on something that may not get you anywhere.
- Take a break - If you're feeling overwhelmed or like you're not making enough progress with your side hustle, take a break. This will allow you to come back recharged and with fresh ideas.
- Work more flexibly if possible - If you have an understanding and approachable boss then maybe they may be able to give you some flexibility with your hours or even allow you to work from home occasionally.
Take Advantage of Technology That Can Help You Save Time
There are several different tools and pieces of technology that can help you to save time when working on your side hustle.
For example, there are a number of project management tools which can help you to keep track of tasks and deadlines. There are also productivity apps which can help you to make the most out of your time.
Personally, I try to run my side hustles just as I would a project at my old day job. My side hustle is software development, so I utilise tools for source control, bug tracking, project planning, automation testing, etc.
Just because it's a side hustle, it doesn't mean you can't run it professionally! Who knows, one day, it might grow into your full-time gig.
Make Time for Yourself to Relax and Rejuvenate
It's important to make time for yourself to relax and rejuvenate. This will help to ensure that you're not burning out from working on your side hustle.
Make sure to schedule some downtime for yourself every week. This could be something as simple as taking a long walk, reading a book or taking a yoga class.
What Is the Best Side Hustle Anyway?
In my experience, creating your own Micro-SaaS applications is the most rewarding side hustle as it has a recurring subscription model that generates a passive income as people pay to utilise your app.
A Micro SaaS Application is software developed by one person or a small team to solve problems for a specific group of people. The subscription-based model allows users to pay regularly to use the app, generating passive income for the developer.
If you scale up your Micro SaaS app over time, you may be able to quit your 9-5 job and go full-time on your app, just as I did. Turning this side hustle into a full-time occupation is a great way to give yourself more time to spend with your family and provide you with financial freedom.
Building a Micro SaaS app is a great idea if you’re in the software space and looking to start a side hustle and maybe escape the 9-5. If you’re not sure how to get started, check out my complete guide to Micro SaaS apps.
You’ll be generating additional income and taking the pressure off your 9-5 in no time!
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