The Girlboss Rally Event
I just spent the most amazing day “at work” attending the Girlboss Rally Event. It was the best empowering women’s conference I have ever attended. There were workshops, speakers, networking opportunities, lunch (my fave!), book signings, chill time and just an amazing group of women and energy throughout the entire day.
I am a little spent. After all, I did work. But I enjoyed every minute of today!
Happy Friday: Onward March
Happy Friday ladies and gents. Yes, gents! I am ecstatic to have you as readers well.
This is the last Friday of the second quarter of the year. Okay, I’m complicating things, I know. Let me say it plainly. After this Friday, we only have six months left in 2019! Whoop, whoop! And I don’t know what your plans are, but I plan to make this the most memorable year to date. I think I’m doing a good job so far.
(Sighs) The only people I’ve kept in touched with from the old job are the field staff team (a few them). I’ve reached out twice to the people I worked with in my old department to meet up and grab lunch with and haven’t heard anything back. I even sent Luis a text about three weeks ago. Nothing. Hmmm. And although a small part of me wanted to brag about how awesome my new job is, I also wanted to be a resource and help them get out of there too. Guess we’ll never know how that would’ve turned out.
I’m keeping marching forward.
Really excited about Saturday and going to the GirlBoss Rally. And I’m gonna post it on my Facebook page and Instagram. Living my best life… thus far!
But… (my thoughts are a little all over the place) with the reality of six months left in the year, I gotta get going. I have more things I’d like to accomplish before in the next 18 months if I plan to step into my dream and be wildly successful, be abundantly wealthy and feel completely fulfilled professionally.
Gotta keep pressing forward.
WHEN: In You’re in Month Four And It’s Still Rocking!
I know you’re thinking I can’t count or don’t know the order of my months, but no. I mean, yes, I do… but that’s not what I mean. It’s my fourth month in my new role and it’s still rocking!
This Saturday I will be attending the Girlboss Rally (for free, sshhh!) thanks to my job that I’ve been at for four months and at the same time calling that day work. And I’ve been pumped up about the Girlboss Rally for as long as I’ve known about their event. Which has been for months now.
I’ve implemented my second successful additional mini program inside my program at work. Running successful programs on top of that.
And let’s not forget… my book is for sale on Amazon!!!
The Single Woman’s Guide to Side Hustling
The only other month that outdid June… was February. It’s my birthday month. And it’s when I accepted the offer the new job. And started the new job. And went to New York. It was a very good month.
But so is June.
This Week’s Goal: … is done!
Yes, yes, yes…!
I did it… finally finished. That is, I finally finished my book. No, not the writing part, but the publishing part and I am so excited. This was a huge to do thing item on my list that was over due. Originally, I wanted to have my book published towards the end of Spring of this year, but that’s when my layout troubles began with Amazin. And those troubles led to frustrations and those frustrations led to a long hiatus.
But, luckily that hiatus forced me to comb through my book once more so I could catch additional errors I didn’t catch the first seven times I went through it.
It’s not perfect and it’s probably not a best seller of any sort, but it is my work. And I took time with this to really share my thoughts, my experiences and my advice about side hustling.
So thank you to all those that read my blog, that like what I post and keep coming back to read more of what I had to share. I hope you purchase the book and enjoy what you read. And for those of you are haven’t started a side hustle, hopefully something state in the book encourages you to do so.
The print and digital copies can be ordered on Amazon. When I have the links, I’ll update this post.
But, yes… so excited to be sharing this news!
Working 5 to 9: Ebbs and Flows
Just as it would be with any established business, your side hustle will experience ebbs and flows. Periods in which you find yourself really really busy. And periods where you have to go rustle up some work. And if you want a consistent second stream of income, you’ll find yourself — as they would say — “working in the business and working on the business”.
When you’re having those days in which you have a string a side hustles and deadlines to meet, those are your flow days. And not Aunt Flow. Those are good days. Days in which you are simply working on the work. And when you have days you have to find clients to do some work, those are your ebb days. Days you are working on the busines. Which is why time management needs to be our friend.
Time management needs to be our friend all the time, but particularly when things are slow. Or, if you prefer them slow, at the very least, start getting things in order to prepare for when you have a rush of clients asking for work.
And just because I said flows are good days, doesn’t make ebbs bad days. Those are just days to get situated, caught up or back on track. Those days can work in our favor too. We just have to know how to use them to our advantage when we get them.
Stay Motivated: Burnout Sucks
And I know this from personal experiences. Not one time. Multiple times. And because I’m so hungry to get a viable business of my own up and running successfully, I’ve burned myself out multiple times.
What is burnout exactly?
Stretching yourself – the things you’ve committed to accomplish – so thin that you feel overwhelmed and inundated that you no longer want to do anything. If you have clients in the pipeline, burnout sucks ten times more. Because finding the strength to encourage and hype yourself up to continue forward is harder when you’ve given your word and deadline.
Side hustlers are not immune to burnout just because their projects or freelance work is on a smaller scale. Every business started small and probably went the the same frustrations you’ve felt.
I would equate about 20% of my past failures are due to burnout. Simply because when you get to that burnt out stage, it’s hard to stay motivated long enough to pull yourself out. It’s hard to reignite that fire. Burnout can take you over for weeks or months. And I won’t begin to tell you how many projects and opportunities you can miss in that time.
But there are signs of burnout you can look out for to better avoid fizzing out especially when you’re juggling so much already.
For starters, get sleep. I should be telling myself this, but I’ll start with you. Get as much sleep as your day will allow. Right now I’m getting 6 hours of sleep a night. So when I get home, it’s hard to find the will to work on client’s work. I need at least 7.5 hours of sleep a night. No joke. I need to feel rested in order to feel productive. And I’m sure you do too.
Find small wins. Sometimes clearing your bed off is enough. Don’t laugh. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but just completing one small task will make you feel you get can get things done.
Self care yourself. Mediate. Soak your feet. Take a bath. Listen to bossa nova music on YouTube. Have a couple of glasses of wine. Pull yourself away from work and physically feel free even if it’s only for a little bit.
Take a week off. If you can’t take a week off from work, take a week off from your projects. I had to learn to take breaks early on so I wouldn’t break down. That drive yourself into the ground philosophy is not a healthy approach and you cannot sustain that way. So don’t do it. Having bouts of power boosts, sure! Keeping that intensity up for a year… uh, good luck. ‘Cause you’re gonna need a break shortly after that mental marathon.
Point being, don’t let yourself burn our especially if you’re working towards a bigger goal with your side hustle. Take time to really become someone and create something you can be proud of without falling apart.
Money Matters: Your Crowd Affects Your Cashflow
Literally. My mother used to tell me as a child:
association brings about assimilation
And now that I am wiser and older, I believe her wholeheartedly. The company we’re constantly involved with and have in our lives directly affects our lives. And oftentimes, our livelihood. Sounds like a stretch? Then follow me on this train of logic.
Affluent people hang around other affluent people. People in poverty spend time with other people in poverty. Celebrities tend to marry other celebrities. Birds of a feather flock together. Does that ring a bell? Too vague? It’s been said and supposedly studied that we are all the summation of the top 5 people when spend the most time around. So, whomever we tend to share time with, break bread with are the people we’re most likely to reflect. Assimilate.
But how does that affect our dollars and cents?
Think about it: if you’re spending time with people who don’t amount to much and don’t want to amount to much, chances are you probably aren’t amounting to much either. The wealthy tend to spend time with other wealthy people. Think about all those inner circles and clubs and societies most of us could never be in. We’re not on that level. That financial level.
Elle and I had a long talk about this Sunday afternoon about keeping the right people around us and we decided we are each other’s tribe. Well, we didn’t really just decide that then. We’ve always known it, it just was reiterated in our conversation. But we understand our strong will and determination helps pump the other up so when we call each other we’re already on the same wave length. We get each other. And we give each other business. She refers me to new clients — what’s starting to feel like — all the time. And I help her craft and polish her business ideas and give her guidance in what direction to go in. Because good company cares about your success. Good people want to see you succeed. Good friends and tribe members want to revel in success with you.
Because they too know it matters having the right people have your back. It’s more than friendship. It’s your livelihood.
Inside the Hustle: Delivering Notarized Documents
My notary work from Friday is now complete. I took a bus to the Red Line. From the North Hollywood station Ubered to the attorney’s office in which I was suppose to drop off the paperwork. Almost got hit by a car crossing Ventura Blvd.
All for two minutes of work. And $80. $30 of actual notarization services and $50, of travel fees. But I’m pretty sure that was all eaten up. So, I broke even. It happens. Part of the cost of doing business.
But I offered exemplary service which I’m proud of. Texted the client this morning to confirm in was en route to the attorney’s office and made sure I had the right address. Then once undropped off the documents, I texted him a photo of the location and called him letting him know everything was delivered and completed.
My favorite part: CashApp-ing him.
YOU Equations: Fruition
Female, Single and Hustlin 