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Tag: Burnout

How to Balance Your Day Job and Side Hustle for Entrepreneurial Success

Having a full-time job and a side hustle is exciting yet challenging. How do you stay productive and balanced, avoiding burnout or conflict with your employer?

Read on for a quick overview of the benefits of side hustles and how to pick one that suits you. Plus, you can juggle your day job and side hustle with some practical tips on setting boundaries, time management and self-care to set you on your path to success.

READ: Avoiding Founder Burnout — A Guide on Fighting Hustle Culture for Entrepreneurs

The rise of side hustles

It’s essential to understand how rapidly side hustles are growing and how significant they are in today’s economy for any successful business.

The change has been most noticeable during the COVID-19 pandemic. People have started to turn their hobbies into a source of income, and it’s not just young folks. Many of these go-getters are over the age of 54.

In fact, statistics reveal that 39% of working Americans, which is nearly 80 million people, have a side hustle. That’s a sizeable portion of the population!

This trend is made possible thanks to the advancement in technology that makes it easy for anyone to start a project on the side. The shift is clearly visible and it’s an exciting time for the enterprising who are ready to embrace this growing phenomenon.

READ: Harnessing the Power of the Gig Economy — How Skilled Freelancers Can Boost Your Business Growth

The benefits of a side hustle

Besides extra income, a side hustle can help you grow personally and professionally. It lets you explore passions outside your day job and gives you an outlet for creativity. It also allows you to learn new skills and build your professional network.

Exploring side hustle ideas

There are many side hustle opportunities out there that you can explore, no matter your interests or skills. Here are just a few to get your creativity flowing:

  • Craft selling: If you’re artistic and love creating unique designs, why not start selling your artwork? You could make original paintings, handmade jewelry or custom clothing, and sell your craft on platforms like Etsy.
  • Freelance writing: If you have a knack for words, freelance writing can be a great way to earn money. This can range from writing blog posts and articles to copywriting for businesses.
  • Tutoring or teaching: If you are an expert in a certain field or subject, consider offering your knowledge to others. You can tutor students or even create classes on platforms like Skillshare or Udemy.
  • Shopify store owner: Learning how to buy a Shopify store could be a brilliant starting point for your own online business. You can buy an existing Shopify store to jumpstart your e-commerce business.

READ: 8 Steps for Creating an Omnichannel E-commerce Strategy

Managing time and setting boundaries

It’s tough juggling a regular job and a side gig, so it’s important for your own sanity and productivity to set aside time for each task. Make sure to create clear rules between the two. 

You can’t afford to let tasks overflow from one domain to the other. That’s why it’s crucial to optimize your time efficiently.

Create distinct schedules for your regular job and your side hustle, and stick to them. Prioritize tasks, delegate when possible and learn to say no to unnecessary commitments.

Remember, achieving a work-life balance is key to preventing burnout and maintaining your overall well-being. So, set boundaries and respect them.

Steering clear of trouble

Not all bosses are open to employees having side hustles, so it’s important to know the rules of your job before you start one. 

Check your job contract to see what is allowed. Usually, there’s no rule against having a side hustle, as long as you do your job well, don’t work for a competitor and don’t share any secret company info or use company equipment.

But if you’re unsure, it’s best to talk it over with your boss. It’s always good to be open and honest rather than avoiding the conversation.

Prioritizing decompression and self-care

Balancing a day job and a side hustle demands a well-structured self-care plan to keep burnout at bay. It’s crucial to prioritize time to unwind and recharge.

Just as you schedule your work, schedule your downtime too. This could be a simple walk in the park or a meditation practice.

Don’t neglect your physical health in pursuit of entrepreneurial success. Ensure you’re eating well, getting enough sleep and taking time off when you need it.

READ: Why It’s Important to Invest in Yourself — and 4 Ways to Do So

The bottom line

Balancing a day job and a side hustle is no small feat. But, with the right strategies, you can master it.

Remember to prioritize organization, self-care and clear boundaries. Tackle potential conflicts head-on and recognize the benefits this balancing act brings. It’s not just about juggling two roles — it’s about paving your way to entrepreneurial success.

 

Przemysław Puternicki headshotPrzemysław Puternicki is a content wizard working for Husky Hamster who authored numerous articles featured on websites concerned with cybersecurity, business growth, and traveling. His primary interests lie in new technologies and innovative ways to use them. When he is not writing another article, he spends his time watching documentaries and playing video games.

 

Overcoming Career Burnout: 3 Strategies for Leadership Longevity

“It’s a really hard time in the business. I don’t have time for balance in my life,” an overwhelmed executive shared with me as to why he has not been caring for himself and his well-being.

As a public company CEO coach and positive organizational psychologist, I frequently hear similar statements from leaders. It’s based on the misperception that workforce well-being is a nice-to-have perk that leaders don’t have time for. Unfortunately, that flawed perspective is contributing to rising levels of leadership burnout and is detrimental to leadership performance. 

In truth, to lead at your full potential requires caring for yourself first, which is a paradigm shift. Based on my research and experience, I have discovered an encouraging solution for leaders to not only overcome burnout but to thrive: Vital Leadership.

READ: Avoiding Founder Burnout — A Guide on Fighting Hustle Culture for Entrepreneurs

Vital leadership places caring for your well-being as foundational to maximizing leadership performance. By promoting your well-being, you build your vitality, giving you an abundance of energy. It gives you access to your inner physical, psychological and emotional energy resources to lead at your best.

In a recent study, I interviewed 20 Fortune 1000 CEOs to understand what leadership performance looks like when thriving vs. burned out. The results show that when leaders thrive, it positively impacts their life and leadership. 

Drawing from my research and the CEO study, I have found the top physical, psychological and emotional strategies leaders can take to attain greater wellbeing and perform at their peak.   

The top three strategies to lead at your best:

1. Emotional: Nurture high-quality relationships

The top approach CEOs use to encourage their well-being is nurturing high-quality relationships. 100% of the CEOs I interviewed spoke about the importance of personal and professional relationships, pointing to the energizing effect of their high-quality connections. Additional research has found even greater impacts: positive relationships are the number one key to a happy life according to an 85-year longitudinal study conducted at Harvard. 

READ: Maximize Your Impact — The Power of Intentional Network Building

Strategies:

  • Prioritize the relationships in your life that bring you joy and are energizing. Intentionally invest in them on an ongoing basis. Consider how you could make time to connect to relationships that are most important to you, such as for a meal, an activity, a walk or a phone call.
  • Take inventory of your relationships that matter to you. As you review, consider relationships in each of these categories: family, significant other, friends and work relationships. Ask yourself: Are you getting the time you need with each person? If not, choose one relationship to give attention to. What’s one thing you could do to invest in the relationship more? 

 2. Physical: Care for your physical health

Physical health was cited by 85% of interviewees as critical to fostering well-being. While physical health is essential to increasing well-being, I have found leaders focus on it less when work or position demands increase. 

Strategies:

  • Nutrition: cut down on processed foods, eat more nutrient-dense foods and drink more water throughout the day. 
  • Movement: incorporate movement throughout the day, such as a walking meeting or a short walk outside. Schedule times each week to engage in a physical activity you enjoy. 
  • Sleep: An important key to physical health is getting enough sleep every night. Most people need 7-8 hours of sleep every night to be most productive. 

READ: Navigating the Future — Insights and Advice from Colorado’s CEO Roundtable

3. Psychological: Create space in your day

75% of the CEOs I spoke with discussed the importance of making space in their day to think, plan and get work done as a crucial part of their well-being. One of the biggest issues leaders face is out-of-control calendars, with back-to-back meetings. This issue has only become worse as virtual work has increased. This lack of space reduces effectiveness. 

Strategies:

  • Intentionally create space: Every day, create blocks of time on your calendar throughout the day to think, reflect, plan or simply relax. Consider changing meeting durations from one hour to 45 minutes or from 30 minutes to 20 minutes. Use the extra time purposefully. 
  • Model creating space for your team: and encourage them to do so as well. Make the commitment to yourself and your team that this time for space is essential and may not be infringed upon. Consider creating “no-meeting” times for thinking space with your team: such as an hour block of time where no one schedules meetings or interrupts each other.

These three Vital Leadership strategies give suggestions to improving your well-being to build your vitality so you don’t deplete yourself. By tapping into your physical, psychological and emotional energy, you’ll lead at your full capacity. Ultimately, it’s up to you to reflect on what strategy you want to explore.

Reflection: What’s one action you could take to encourage your vital leadership in the next week?

 

Jamie Shapiro HeadshotDr. Jamie Shapiro is a master-certified executive leadership coach and organizational psychologist who specializes in working with CEOs of public companies and their executive teams. She is the CEO and founder of Connected EC, a C-suite executive coaching company, and the author of Brilliant: Be the Leader Who Shines Brightly Without Burning Out. For more information about Connected EC, visit: https://www.connectedec.com/

Managing Stress as an Entrepreneur: How Stress Can Impact Your Work, and How to Regain Control

If you’re an entrepreneur working to get your business off the ground and you’re experiencing headaches or you’re constantly tired, you’re likely experiencing stress. Everyone manifests stress in different ways, but if you don’t control it, it could make building your business much harder. Let’s talk about how stress can impact your work as an entrepreneur and how to regain control.

READ: From Employee to Entrepreneur — Top Tips for Making a Successful Switch 

Stress affects your physical health

One of the most obvious ways that anxiety can hurt you as an entrepreneur is through physical pain. If you start to notice obvious signs of stress, like headaches, insomnia and stomach pain, look at your workload and determine if you’re overdoing it. 

There are also some less obvious physical signs you may experience, like teeth-grinding, which can lead to more significant oral health issues. If you’re getting so stressed that you’re causing yourself harm, then set healthy boundaries and strict working hours so you don’t push yourself so far.

Stress affects your work performance

Stress can also affect your mental health because when you’re not getting enough sleep, or you form bad habits like drinking alcohol, then you could lack the concentration that you need to create your brand. You might also try to overcome the stress by working harder and longer hours and getting caught up in hustle culture. 

You need to know when to stop and take a break. Failure to do so could result in burnout. When you’re tired and burned out, your work can suffer because you’re more prone to make mistakes, and you may even get so exhausted that you give up on your business.

READ: Avoiding Founder Burnout — A Guide on Fighting Hustle Culture for Entrepreneurs

If you’re working excessively long hours, you’re probably also losing sleep, and the effects of sleep deprivation can be catastrophic for your life as an entrepreneur. The function of sleep is to rest your brain so you can take on the new day. When you don’t sleep, you wake up with limited cognitive function. That means you may have trouble thinking, learning and remembering important information. 

When you sleep, you also rest your eyes, and if you’re not allowing yourself seven to nine hours of shut-eye, you could experience vision-related ailments like blurry vision and eyelid twitches. These are unhealthy distractions you don’t want to experience when trying to concentrate on your business. 

Stress affects problem-solving 

Your problem-solving skills could also be under attack. In a recent study, two groups were asked to complete tasks testing their verbal problem-solving skills. One group had additional stress while the other didn’t. The result was that the stress affected the participants in different ways. The stress did not phase some participants, but researchers did see that the stress affected the functional connectivity of others in the survey. The point is that sometimes stress can keep you on your toes. But you don’t want to be stressed all of the time.

READ: 7 Ways to Reduce Workplace Stress in the World of Finance

Stress affects your relationships

Anxiety can also affect your personal relationships with customers and business partners. Psychologists have found that stress can make you feel more withdrawn and distracted. That’s not how you want to be, especially if you sell to and deal with customers all day. Stress can also make you much less patient than you typically are. Patience is often required during the primary stages of starting a new company, so don’t let stress rob you of that quality.

Get control of your stress

If you feel like stress is taking over your entrepreneurial journey, then you need to manage your anxiety right now. You can try many strategies, from taking time to laugh to breathing exercises. You also need to try to seek joy when you can. Think about how lucky you are to be an entrepreneur who can start your own business, and the excitement could trump your anxiety.

When DIY stress reduction techniques aren’t working, you may need professional help. In 2021, Denver Psychologist Terri Finney began offering free therapy sessions to small business owners in Colorado, and she saw positive results. During the sessions, the business owners talked with her and each other and realized the stressors they faced and the methods to try to get over them. If you think a session like this might benefit you, research resources in your area.

Stress can affect you and your company in many ways. By recognizing the risks, you can avoid them and continue on your journey to business success.

 

Indiana Lee Bio PictureIndiana Lee is a writer, reader, and jigsaw puzzle enthusiast from the Pacific Northwest. An expert on business operations, leadership, marketing, and lifestyle, you can connect with her on LinkedIn.