by Solange Lopes | Jul 20, 2016 | Start Your Business
By the time Kenya gets to work by 9am, she’s already worked two hours on her side business, got her kids ready for school and dropped each one of them off. If you’d see her shuffling her three bags through the office front door, make-up intact and hair flying, you’d hardly ever guess this woman is stretching her daily schedule to include her day job, family responsibilities, and hustling on the side.
Kenya’s not alone in this…According to the “2015 State of Women-Owned Businesses”, women-owned businesses grew at the rate of 1.5 times the national average, which is about 74% between 1997 and 2015. Out of the 30% of businesses owned by women, African-American women own a whopping 14%, which equates 1.3 million businesses.
Yet, women, especially women working full-time, are increasingly busy. Our schedules are packed with family activities, work responsibilities, and maintaining our social lives. As full as our plates are, how do we create more time to hustle on the side? Do you skip sleeping entirely, or survive on caffeine, or keep your eyelids surgically glued to your eyebrows (whatever works, right?)…
As a “side hustler” with an overflowing plate filled with (time-consuming) blessings, I know what it feels like…And to keep it simple, I’ve put together a nice’n’easy Slideshare presentation with three essential tips to apply to effectively carve out more time to devote to your side hustle. Enjoy!
What do you think of these 3 tips? What has been your experience trying to carve out more time for your side hustle?
To Your Success,
The Corporate Sis.
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by Solange Lopes | Jul 19, 2016 | Start Your Business
If you ever see my girl Kayla running out of work, sneakers on, hair in a bun, gym bag in tow, you’d think she’s racing to make it to the gym after-hours. And you’d be right too…Four days a week, Kayla leaves her 9-to-5 to go teach her usual fitness class. Under the gym outfit and the athletic demeanor, very few would guess Kayla’s a practicing attorney hustling on the side as a fitness instructor, and loving every minute of it…
Kayla’s just one example in a million, among millennials and other generations of professionals for whom the side hustle is the new normal. As it turns out, millennials are actually obsessed with side hustles, and not just for monetary reasons.
In the very often conforming and uniform corporate world, side hustles have become more than a way of making some extra bucks on the side. They’ve actually become our way of being who we really are, and for some of us, who we’ve always wanted to be, before the bills, the college loans and the kids’ tuition…
Yet how do you even start a side hustle when working full-time, in addition to caring for yourself, your family and having a semblance of a social life? Given how busy our careers are, how do we even stretch time to include a part-time occupation of any kind? And when you add kids, spouses, drop-offs and pick-ups to the whole mix, where do you even begin?
When I started blogging on the side, while working full-time in Big Accounting, it was to finally do what I’ve always loved doing, writing. As many millennials today, I was looking for a different way of expressing myself through work. Yet, like many, starting out was a struggle. From finding extra time to carving out a schedule for my side hustle, the process was far from easy.
With time and inspiration from other “corporatepreneurs” like myself, here are a few lessons I learnt over time about starting a side hustle when you’re still working full-time:
Start with a Passion
What’s your passion? What would you do if money were not a consideration? What would you love doing for the rest of your short, precious life? These are all questions many side hustlers ask themselves before starting their business. A side hustle is that opportunity many “corporatepreneurs” crave to finally delve into something they love, like food, travel, fitness, or for me, writing.
Identifying your passion is also how you garner the strength and determination to provide that extra effort required to pursue a side business. It’s how you keep yourself motivated and strengthened during the laborious first months when you strive to establish yourself and get a routine going.
What’s your passion?
Define Your “Why”
For me, it was important to understand why I was doing what I was doing when I started blogging on the side. Yes, I knew writing’s my passion. I knew I loved sitting at my laptop in the wee hours of morning and type endless words on the blank screen. Yet, it was also crucial for me to know my why.
In the first few months of my side hustle, my “why” wasn’t exactly clear. I was just enjoying what I was doing. After a while, after spouse and kids came into the equation and time seemed to compress away, I had to find my “why” in order to keep going. For me, it was the desire to live a more fulfilled life, to leave a legacy and show my children you can pursue what you set your heart to.
For you, it may be to change your lifestyle, to spend more time with your kids or elder parents, or to generate more income.
What’s your why?
Plan Your Schedule
I never understood the value of time as acutely as when I started side hustling. It became so important to define my priorities, and start scheduling my time as carefully as I picked my shoes (or my coffee flavor, you know, whatever floats your boat). Early mornings and late evenings, before and after everyone in the house started expressing their various needs (from chocolate to clean diapers), became my go-to hours…
Schedule your “hustle hours” outside of regular work hours, and stick to them. Whether it’s carving out some time on week-ends, or hustling after the kids go to bed, stick to a consistent and realistic schedule. Being all over the place at all times will only get you drained, frustrated, and more prone to giving up sooner than later.
Use Your Network
You do have a network. From your years working in the corporate world, to your circle of friends and family, your network is larger than you think. Unless your side hustle conflicts with your day job (in which case you may want to double check with your manager), it’s ok to inform your contacts of your new ventures.
Countless entrepreneurs were able to use their network to create more business opportunities for themselves. Your contacts may even become your first clients!
Are you capitalizing on your own network?
Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate!
Take every opportunity to collaborate with other side hustlers and entrepreneurs like you. Especially when starting out, collaboration is important and can help you establish yourself. It’s also comforting to know you’re not alone in this, and that others just like you have done this before you.
You can even ask for the guidance and mentorship of fellow “corporatepreneurs“. Send one of the influencers you follow an email or message through social media to pick their brain. If they’re local, invite them for a cup of coffee.
You can also join local associations of entrepreneurs around you, or start organizing meet-ups where you are. Anything that can help you collaborate more and be less isolated as you start your side hustle can go a long way…
Are you a “corporatepreneur”? How did you start your side hustle while working full-time?
To Your Success,
The Corporate Sis.
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by Solange Lopes | May 24, 2016 | Career, Start Your Business
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
Remember when they asked you the question, as a young kid. And you’d let your mind wander, your eyes shining with anticipation as you imagined all the possibilities. Astronaut, circus clown, superhero, doctor, soccer player, pianist…
Then life happened, decisions were made, and you found yourself behind a crowded desk doing a “real” job in the “real” world . Yet you haven’t forgotten the original question/dream, and after years of “adulting”, you’re still going for it. Working nights and week-ends, rolling out of bed at the crack of dawn to try and make things happen…
Hence the new generation of “corporate entrepreneurs”, those countless brave souls building full-time businesses, going after their dreams, while working full-time, taking care of their families, and doing the rest of the “adult” thing…With so much on their plates, and so little time, they’re tempted to quit their jobs, jump ship and just go for the Dream. This is especially true for women who may be over the gender politics at work, or moms who may want more time and flexibility with their kids…
In the best case scenario, they’ve saved a bit of money to weather a few months, as in the example of ex-marketing executive Sonia Thompson who left her cushy corporate gig to build a business bringing in only a quarter of that. or are relying on their partners/families to help them out. Or they just may end up writing this type of post...In all cases, it’s never the easiest of decisions…
For a few years now, entrepreneurship has been the new Women’s Movement. Instead of flocking to corporations as happened in the 70’s, they’re now fleeing form the limiting prisons of corporations to build their own empires. Millennial women in particular, are burning out at work by the time they hit…30!
While research shows women will create over half of the new 9.72 million jobs by 2018″ from the comfort of their home offices/closets/smartphones, the question remains: Should you quit your day job to build your dream? Or should you do it while logging in your regular hours?
There’s a lot of advice out there telling you when to quit your job to start your business, or how to transition from your job to your business full-time, or what kind of tequila to buy in case things go south. And for women, especially those with families and children to support, the decision is never an easy one, no matter what Wikipedia may say.
And there’s no one-fits-all solution either, as every female corporate entrepreneur deals with their own very unique set of circumstances. Whether you’re divorced, married, single, with or without children, making the leap into full-time entrepreneurship will probably be one of the most nerve-wracking decisions of your life.
While no one but you can tell you what you should be doing, here are in my opinion, the 3 most important (albeit, unconventional) questions to consider as you sip on that tequila while contemplating the current state of your life:
- Are you happy? Ok, happiness may not pay the bills at first. Yet in the long-term, being satisfied and fulfilled can help you make more money. Ask yourself if you’re happy and fulfilled. If your career is among the factors decreasing your happiness, it may be time to consider a change. It doesn’t mean you have to turn in your resignation letter today, but it may mean you have to push the pedal towards turning your business into an alternative way to pay your bills.
- What does success mean to you? Is success intimately tied with your $200,ooo cushy salary? Or does success mean more time with your family? Is making a quarter of your salary but being able to travel and have more time off your own definition of success? Find out what being successful means to you, without any influence, interference or nagging doubts. That may lead you towards making the right decision for you, not for anyone else.
- What can you put up with? Of the 3 questions above, this one is by far the most unpleasant. There will be quite a bit of struggling involved in building your business, whether you decide to jump ship from your corporate job or hustle on the side. That’s not the question. The question is, how much can you put up with? What’s your resistance factor? Are you ok surviving on a quarter of your current salary? Are you ready to use whatever spare time, including nights and week-ends to build your business while working full-time?
Based on your answers to these questions, you’ll know whether you’re ready to tender your resignation or if you need more time to secure your bases. Or if the Dream has changed for you, or is very much alive…
So let me ask you this, should you quit your job to follow your dreams, or build your business on the side?
PS: Like this post? Click HERE to get The Corporate Sister’s career, lifestyle and entrepreneurship, bi-weekly updates.
To Your Success,
The Corporate Sis.
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by Solange Lopes | Feb 16, 2016 | Career, Start Your Business
The day baby daughter brought a not-so-good behavioral report card from school, we knew the family “chatty” gene had hit again. You see, we kinda like to chat around here, and the gene had certainly not missed the next generation. And of course, the first thing we thought of doing was take away her privileges, including the music lessons she enjoyed so much.
But what happened afterwards left us all quite surprised, and relieved that we limited the taking away of privileges to occasional TV watching and candy eating. The more she got involved in her music lessons, the better her behavior and discipline turned in school. All of a sudden, my smart and chatty baby was smart, disciplined and focused. I knew my side of the family had that gene too by the way…
What if the same thing happened in our careers? If extra-curricular activities can the catalyst to success at school, entrepreneurship might just be the boost our careers need to be more focused, disciplined, and ultimately, wildly successful.
Take myself for instance…I was the one at the back of the conference room, who could barely manage to utter a word. All the good ideas and insight I had were magically imprisoned in my brain. Somehow, some way, nothing would come out of this mouth of mine, which by the way would prove to be very chatty in different circumstances…
After I started blogging, something also magical happened. The very fact that I trained myself, day in and day out, to speak, if only through the written word, made me bolder. I went from hiding behind the walls at work, to actually speaking and sharing my ideas. My brain (and mouth) was now wired to express itself. The start of my entrepreneurial venture had spilled over to my career, and the results were surprising even to me…
Developing your entrepreneurial spirit changes your career for the better. The minute you start creating, innovating, and expressing yourself, that’s the minute you’ve empowered you career.
This is also the very reason why college students are now encouraged to be more entrepreneurial with their job search. It’s also why some of the most prevalent career advice out there is to approach your career as an entrepreneur.
Among the many benefits that entrepreneurship can bring to your career, are:
- You show up more for your career. Many of us just let our careers happen to us. Day in and day out, we drag ourselves to the same desks, perform the same tasks, speak to the same people, and go home to the same feeling of emptiness. Yet the minute that “entrepreneurial” gene is activated in us, whether it’s through a side hustle, a new project, or even just a desire to create something new, we start “showing up” more at work. Speaking up in meetings. Offering news ideas and insight. Wanting to change and revolutionize things. And most times, it’s all the spark we need for success.
- You learn to manage failure. The foundation of entrepreneurship is failure. Doesn’t the average “overnight success story” take 10 years? There’s a reason why most entrepreneurs are filled with grit and determination. What if you could bring the same grit and determination to your own career? What if developing and nurturing your own entrepreneurial gene by starting your side business, creating a new project, or committing to a particular result, could also help you manage and turn career failure into success. What if that missed promotion, that failed pitch at work, would push you to work harder, instead of deterring you from trying again?
- You own your career. So many among us feel like our careers are dependent upon our managers’ will to promote us. Or the budget’s availability. Or the economy. There always seems to be something standing on our way to success. Always some external obstacle we don’t quite control. Yet being an entrepreneur teaches you to take responsibility for your own fate. To own it. Imagine bringing this to your own career, and taking your own advancement and career growth into your hands? How about asking for a raise instead of waiting for the budget to grow? Or presenting a new initiative of your own, rather than putting up with the status quo?
Now let me ask you this: How can you start adding some of that entrepreneurial zing into your career today? Not tomorrow, not next month or next year, but TODAY! Can you start your own side hustle, begin a project at work, or commit to a specific result today?
Let me know in the comments…
Love,
The Corporate Sis.
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by Solange Lopes | Apr 17, 2015 | Start Your Business |
Photo credit: theconnectionexchange.com
Many of us are dreaming of working for ourselves, building multi-million dollar businesses and leaving legacies to last well after we’re gone. Or we just want to get out of the rat race, have more work-life balance, spend time with our kids, and not ever have to deal with a micro-managing boss.
And the fact is, entrepreneurship is on the rise, as evidenced by the rise of entrepreneurial activity from 22 to 53.4% from 2003 to 2013, according to the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity. Among this wave of new entrepreneurs, many of them Millenials, are those who juggle a full-time job and a part-time gig.
Here are 10 quick but effective tips to build a business while working full-time (and raising a family, trying to make it to the gym, or finding clean socks any day of the week):
1. Have a clear vision! Building a business is hard, whether you’re working full-time or not! Make it easier on yourself, and get a good head start, by having a clear vision. What do you want to accomplish? What products will you be selling? Who is your targeted clientele? If necessary, hire a coach to help you.
2. Have a plan! It doesn’t need to be a defined one. Have a general timeline for your prospective business, and key milestones to reach. Use it as a guide as you’re progressing, and be open to changing it as well. Finalize it and turn in into a bona fide business plan you can present to investors soon!
3. Build a schedule! Time is of the essence, especially when building a business while working full-time. It’s easy to get sucked in to meaningless, no-impact activities, instead of focusing on the meat and potatoes of the business, literally. Construct your schedule around major activities, and try to stick to it!
4. Focus your efforts! Newsflash: you can’t do it all! Whether it’s getting new clients, building a killer website, or growing your email list, focus your efforts as you go! Tackle one major theme for a certain period of time, get the best out of it and move on to something else…
5. Use the power of “productive laziness”! There’s such a thing as harnessing the power of laziness to produce results. Automate time-consuming manual tasks, get a virtual assistant, skip on perfection, and focus on what matters!
6. Yet don’t forget immediate action wins! Perfect is overrated, and so is excessive contemplation! If you want results, you’ve got to act. Go past your limitations and act on your side projects, even if they are imperfect! Remember, if you’re not embarrassed after looking at your first product, you may have waited too long.
7. It’s a marathon! Building a business while working full time is taxing, and is not the road to immediate riches. Yet it is your consistent efforts that will lead you to success. Stop looking at the clock, counting the days, or frantically checking your sales page, you’ll get there in time.
8. Don’t quit just yet! Stay put at your current job until you’ve gathered enough financial and mental cushion to move on. Trust that the Universe is in motion for your success, keep acting but don’t rush!
9. Use your current job! Your current job is not only providing you with resources while you’re transitioning careers, it’s also teaching you skills as you go. Dealing with co-workers, finding solutions to every day issues, juggling work and side hustle, all of the everyday stuff you may overlook is preparing you for the next phase of your career.
10. Stay open! Building a business will teach you who you are deep down inside. It will reveal your strengths, and show your weaknesses. It will make you incredibly happy and unbelievably miserable at times. Stay open to the change, to learning about yourself and others, and to receiving success. Work with the Universe, it wants you to succeed!
How did you build a business while working full-time?
The Corporate Sis.
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by Solange Lopes | Mar 6, 2015 | Career, Start Your Business |
Hillary Clinton – Photo credit: time.com
Hillary Clinton’s violation of State Department policy with the use of her personal email, has been all over the news lately. It’s also raised concerns about whether mixing personal and business is ever OK, when it comes to email. So really, can you mix personal and business in your email communications?
My $0.05: With the advent of smartphones and tech stuff everywhere, it’s now more than ever important to delineate personal and business. Here are a few quick tips:
1. Read your employer’s technology and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies! Find them, read them, and apply them!
2. Don’t email work documents to your personal accounts. This could be considered stealing confidential documents. Just don’t do it!
3. Beware of checking personal email on your work computer. Anything you access on your computer at work can be used against you. If you really have to check your personal email, use your own device.
4. Watch personal communications at work. That includes emails, instant messages, and even phone conversations. Keep personal emails to a minimum and very “kosher”. Avoid chain mails for security reasons, and if you think your boss shouldn’t see it, don’t send it out!
Basically, when at work, do your work! And if you must communicate on a more personal level, bring your own device!
Any tips on staying out of email trouble at work?
The Corporate Sis.
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by Solange Lopes | Jan 5, 2015 | Career, Start Your Business
Photo: realizeyourpeak.com
There’s a new balancing act out there, and it’s no longer the perennial, beaten to death by the media, work-life balance. For many millenials of our generation, among all those born with an enterprising spirit, juggling day job and side hustle has become the new normal. And while it takes quite a bit of motivation to do both, we can all agree it can also be quite a challenge.
According to research by the Young Entrepreneur Council, 1 out of 3 millenials juggle their day job with a side hustle. For those who are under-employed, or even worse, unemployed, it’s not only a reality, but in many cases sheer necessity. So how does one balance day job and side hustle, without losing your mind or your current job?
1. Learn to appreciate your day job!This may sound counter-intuitive, but in order to balance day job and side hustle, you need to grow more grateful for what you currently have. Instead of begrudging everything about your day job, remind yourself it pays the bills, somewhat funds your side hustle, and allows you time to dedicate to your side endeavors without subjecting you to the ramen noodle diet of your college years. Not to mention being grateful will help you feel less miserable when pulling late hours working on your dream…
2. Don’t quit just yet! Even better, stop obsessing about quitting your job. Instead, consider all the positives about your day job, especially the skills you’re acquiring, financial stability you’re building, and security you’re preserving. Being an entrepreneur is hard work and requires a solid foundation. Keep your day job, build your foundation, stand strong before you make the leap and quit!
3. Ease your transition! Transitioning to full-time self-employment is challenging. Instead of abruptly making the leap, ease yourself into it. Take a few days off or a leave of absence to dedicate yourself full-time to your side hustle. Use this time off to evaluate what’s working and what’s not. Also consider going part-time if you can sustain yourself financially. Take it easy..
How do you balance your job and side hustle?
The Corporate Sis
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