Why Balancing a Day Job can be a Good Thing for Your Side Business

Are you building your online side business while still working a day job? Well, even though it can be frustrating, I'm here today to remind you that it can actually be a blessing in disguise! Plus, I will give you some tips on how I made it work for me.If you're similar to me and you enjoy working and working hard, whatever it is you're doing in your business, you're probably passionate about it. If you had a tendency to overwork in your day job, you decide to quit cold turkey to start an online side business, and you're not careful, you can really easily turn that into overworking in your business. I don't necessarily think that's a good thing.

I wanted to create my own online business so I could have the freedom and flexibility to be more present with my family, to make more money and to work less, not more.

Having a day job really forced me to be committed to the time I set aside for my side business; when I woke up ultra early or when I got home from work, I was focused. I knew I had one hour, and I would fully take advantage of it; I would list out X, Y and Z that had to get done in that hour, and I fiercely focused and got it done. I feel that helped me become incredibly efficient and focused, and I'm able to get more done in less time. On the other hand, if you’ve quit your day job to start this business and are feeling like the hours in your day aren't intentional, you may want to set more parameters around what your work hours are, giving yourself permission to set aside chunks of hours where you're not working and you don't feel guilty about it. Let's say you decide you want to make your business work in 25 hours a week, or 10 hours a week, or 40 - whatever the number is for you - and then outside of those hours, do not feel guilty about not working.

It's okay for us to train ourselves to make our business work when it makes most sense for our lives. Don’t let the fact that it’s ‘less hours’ make you feel like you’re not working hard enough; utilize those hours you have set, be intentional, be focused.

Now, I have no problem with working ultra-hard or with hustling. At the start of my business, I would wake up at 4:00 or 5:00am consistently to take early calls from clients. I would also stay up late to work, because in the beginning, our businesses do take work, they do take intentional time and energy and focus. A business definitely a balance, but overall, I just want to give you some hope and encouragement that if you're building your business on the side, know that it’s probably making you ultra-efficient and that is a good thing. Are you building a business on the side? Did you quit your job cold turkey, and are building your business from scratch? What is your experience?