Post Shift Shot #89 - Mash-up, Side Hustles and Entrepreneurship

This week's Post Shift Shot is a mash-up of advice about side hustles and entrepreneurship over the last year and a bit. I think side hustles, projects and entrepreneurship are more important than ever.

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Side hustles, which I believe that are super important to happiness, especially in the last decade of online connectivity. I think that, more and more, people get into jobs that they don’t like, they don’t know how to leave and at a certain point, they just conform to the norm set by society as what is classed as a “real job”. The white picket fence, 2 kids and a two-car garage doesn’t need to be your reality, or your parent’s reality that is usually imposed on their children.

Therefore, I think that people need to be way more realistic about their jobs and about more importantly their happiness. I have talked to and seen people that allow getting pushed into jobs, based on what other people expect from them and they absolutely hate their work life and are so unhappy in their off time as well. I know a lot of doctors, lawyers, and other professionals that absolutely hate their jobs and that is not what life is about, hating life in a Ferrari is much sadder than being happy in a Corolla.

Several people have asked me some questions related to side hustles and the industry hospitality in general, so I’ll try to answer those questions. I have a lot of side hustles and if you follow me on social media, you will see how many but also how I deal with them and most importantly how happy I am.

So, do you see yourself doing something different? Do you want to change your life, but you do not know how to start? This article is for you.

Do You See Yourself Doing Something Different?

A ton of people absolutely love their job, they work 40 hours a week and they don’t mind, they come home happy, at night. They love their life! And I don’t blame them because they are happy. And that’s the secret, happiness is the top of the pyramid. It’s the end game and it’s what everyone looks for the entire life. But if you’re not one of those people who love their job, if you’re not happy about what you’re doing, then you need to find yourself a side hustle. Find what makes you happy! It’s not difficult and it doesn’t have to be expensive. Believe me, nobody is going to do it for you.

I believe that side hustles must be built out of passion and a chase for happiness with the monetarily benefit coming later. If you want to create something, you need to be aware that you don’t have to invest a lot of money, websites costs $35 and these days are very intuitive to build and update. A good presence on social networks is halfway for your business to be successful and it is free. Even advertising is cents in the dollar for impact to a huge market.

For those who have a full-time job and think they don’t have time to start something new, I have good news for you; you have three or four hours free every day and the weekends. Focusing on your long-term happiness, not coming home hating the job you have and focusing on your side hustle that brings you positivity and happiness. Believe me, in three or four hours, you can do a lot of work; take advantage of that time to build your side hustle. Get your project started and chase happiness.

Dealing with people’s opinions

This is a struggle that dissuades many people and has deterred me for a while as well. It took me a long time to feel good about myself for taking a different path. It was not easy, I had a full scholarship to college, and I drop out, to be a bartender. In the beginning, it was a massive disappointment to my mom. It was not easy. But when I finally took a stand, I said: this is my job, my career and my life, the life I chose. It took a long time for her to have trusted me for my choices, but her justification wasn’t the deciding factor for me to be happy with my career. Now that I am closing in on forty, I have become more comfortable in my own skin and more so every day. Nowadays, I certainly don’t care about people disapproving me, I mean, they don’t pay my bills.

How Covid-19 affects the hospitality industry

Covid-19 has made close to 800,000 people unemployed in a short period of time in Canada. The hospitality industry is devastated and I am not immune to the fall out of this, while I diversified and had side hustles, they are all tied into the industry which has stopped dead apart from some creatives bringing some fun side projects to work with. As an industry person, out of work and figuring out their way, it’s time for side hustles, whether that printing your artwork on T-shirts and canvases and selling them through Shopify or selling trading cards on eBay. It is time to lean into what you are passionate outside of the hospitality industry and see what you can build; will it replace your everyday job, not yet but in the long-term it could.

Social Media is Consumer Facing

This is something that a lot of people from individuals to businesses don’t seem to understand, social media is consumer facing. Whatever people are looking for on social media, click ads, search engines, basically anything online will bounce back to what they see on their social media feeds. I hear so many people complaining about the “algorithm”, but the algorithm is for you as the consumer, not political parties, or businesses. Understanding this and maximizing how you use it in your side hustle is important. Instagram as become a must-have for visual communication, Twitter is a very informative platform and in my opinion is making a comeback, LinkedIn is involving, I mean, LinkedIn is what Facebook was six years ago and a necessity for a professional, business message.

It’s not just about being on social media, you should be seen there. If you’re not seen, you’re not remembered. Which means, you must post at least three or four times a day, and it can be posts or stories. It is important to document over create, documenting your every day is more real and authentic than a pretty picture. You must be proactive on all of those. I see a lot of people copying and pasting from one platform to the other, and I don’t think this is a smart way to spread the word. I think you need to look each one and be specific, get your own voice according to your public.

My advice is don’t discount twitter and be proactive on Facebook as well. People think that twitter is dead but it’s not.

Be Self-Taught

If you want to quit your job and take the next step, and you don’t know where to start, the first step is to research about it. I mean, google it, YouTube it, figure it out; there is so much information out there to take advantage of it. I have learnt so much in the last year, how to create Instagram stories Gifs, Shopify, Printify, SEO, so much. If you say that you “don’t know how to?” then you aren’t trying hard enough.

If you’re miserable at your job, my advice for you today is find your side hustle and google it. Get some freedom for yourself.

Money Does Not Buy You Happiness

My last advice for you is take your time, don’t rush. You’re not going to make a million dollars in the first six months, so be patient. If you’re feeling exhausted, make sure you’re in it by the right reasons. Make sure it’s not just for the money, but for your happiness. Money does not bring you happiness.

I know a lawyer who is just about to retire, and he hated the last 20 years of his life. And I thought “You’ll only have about 20 years left, so go do something that makes you happy”. And that is why I’m telling you: change your life and be happy on what you do.

Sometimes we see a successful company and we think “Wow, what company is this? Where did they come from? How did they succeed so quickly?” Well, the company didn’t succeed that quickly, they already existed for years, maybe decades, but they were growing. This is just to warning you that success won’t come that fast.

Be Patient, Build Your Side Hustle and Take Your Time.

Share a dram with the hospitality industry’s top global talents: bartenders, venue owners, distillers and industry aficionados. Shawn Soole has lived, breathed, and imbibed hospitality for decades. Now, he delves into the advice, opinions, and provocative stories that are helping to define the creative, culturally-necessary space of ‘modern hospitality’—covering topics from front-of-house service, to back-end business operations, and every inch between.

“Tales of the Cocktail” - Top 10 Best Broadcast or Podcast (2020).

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