I am guilty of it. I’m guilty of retreating into myself when I’m dealing with stuff or there’s a lot on my plate and I feel like I’m being pulled in every direction. It’s easy. It’s easy to hide behind the distractions, the excuses, the extended deadlines, the Instagram reels. And there’s nothing wrong with pressing pause when you need a breather. I’ve discovered over my side hustling journey that I needed more breathers than I realized. And that’s okay. I’m human. I have issues and human responses to those issues.
But even if in the midst of my breathers, I know I need to come back. I need to remember what my work and time is going toward. I got a goal. I got a few of them, actually. And I need to get back to it. It’s time to roll up my sleeves and get back to building the dream and laying its foundation. The journey has memories but I can only imagine what that destination looks like. I’m ready for the next chapter. It’s gonna be some work to it. And that too is okay. I’m ready. So, let’s get to it.
The end of the week isn’t just great because it’s the end of the week. Yes, we get a respite from work calls, work emails, coworkers, deadline, reports, briefs, Zoom meetings, meetings in general, LinkedIn invites, and calendar reminders. But ending a week is more about HOW that week ended.
What did you give to this week? Did you make any kind of progress? How did you show up? Better than last week? How did respond when you were asked to show up? Grateful? Confident? Begrudgingly?
Happy Friday should be intentional as well as celebratory.
Turning Your Sales Experience into a Public Relations Hustle
Does that seem like a stretch? I don’t think so, but hear me out on this.
Many sale representatives find themselves talking to a single client or clients representing an organization or in front groups of people, convincing them why their product or service is superior to their competitors. They’re amping up the positives and downpaying or reconstruting the negatives, getting their audience on their side.
A lot pitching, talking, networking, meetings take place for sales representatives. Many of them live on commission and making those connections to make the sale to earn their commissions drives their livelihood. It’s the definitive person-facing job, so say the least. They need to have good people skills. Very much like a public relations representative would need. And to always be able to close the deal.
Along with the networking skills, being able to pitch and present, hold meetings, talk on behalf of someone making sure you represent them in the best possible way so people buy into that person, these roles are just about twins.
So, how do you get started making that transition into your hustle?
Right off the bat, I’m going to say website. Website, website, website. You may not have a whole lot — or any— well known clients you name drop on your site, but you can speak highly of your skill set and how long you’ve been doing what you do. Remember, a lot of the sale representatives jargon is transferable to public relations. Performance is what people want to hear about.
I would also moonlight under another established public relations representative. See what they do, how they do it, what are their systems, what’s their process?
Take mad notes. Duplicate and tweak what works and leave what doesn’t.
Do some pro bono work for a non-profit. One, charities always need help getting their name out there. Two, it makes you look generous. Three, it’s a great way to network. And four, you’ll start building up your clientele base and will be able to showcase who you’ve worked.
And don’t forget to ask for testimonials. What others say about you speaks higher than what you say about yourself.
So, does it look like you’ll be starting your public relations hustle soon?
This feels like common sense, but maybe it’s not. Maybe you’ve assumed that it doesn’t matter what email you use for your hustles. Using your personal email address that you use for other things (ahem, shopping) for your hustle… can murk the waters, especially if you scale up that hustle into a business. It’s easy to get clients to start communicating with the improved you when you scale up with sendmeyourresume@resume.com if you were already using sendmeyourresume@gmail.com.
It’s a whole another story getting clients to use sendmeyourresume@resume.com when you had them emailing you at heresmylifestory@gmail.com. It almost looks like you’re rebranding or changing company names. Or worse, spam.
And yes, you can use a free gmail account for now. Although most email packages are relatively cheap, I can understand wantitng to save each and every dollar. The early stages are always money tight.
Just make sure you’re thoughtful when choosing an email address name for your side hustle. That very well may be your business’ name in the near future.
If change is part of the the process to see the successes and the goals we have for ourself to come into fruition, then we need to be ready for the change.
My best friend texted me this morning that she put her two weeks notice in at her job. She’s a nurse. Now, I know what you’re thinking. We need more nurses now more than ever. She’s not quitting being a nurse. She’s just quitting where she’s working. And instead choosing to work as a traveling nurse, traveling to other medical facilities that are understaffed and need more support. While being a nurse, she’s also be studying to become a nurse practitioner.
See, she’s been on this road to fulfill a few dreams of hers where she can optimize her skill set, her income and her contribution.
She and I have talkd about her becoming a traveling nurse for a little while and although she liked the idea, she felt nervous because it meant stepping outside her comfort zone. It meant…change. But she’s done the work. Shes evaluated the pros and cons of thid change. And, now she’s ready for the next chapter of her professional journey. She’s ready for change.
And how did you spend your International Women’s Day?
Me?
I continued my work in helpinh empowering other women to achieve economic independence and live their best offline life.
You?
Like to know how you can help women achieve economic equality so that we can all succeed? Because when she succeeda, you succeeds. I don’t know about you, but I’m always down for a win-win scenario. Email me at femalesinglenhustlin@gmail.com
Not all change has felt good all of the time, but its end result usually is. And when you’re flippin’ the script on your habits, your behaviors, the way you think, how you approach problems…. what you decide you’re worth, that’s all change. That’s all part of the process to getting closer to where you want to be rather than settling for where you are because it’s just easier.
You’ll begin to notice the change too. You’ll notice the company you keep. You may begin to flock to more like minded individuals. You’ll notice the hours you keep. You start claiming more of time back instead always being ready to head out and do whatever with whomever. You become laser focused on what matters to you. Obsessed. You’ll find yourself reading articles, reading blogs, following certain social accounts, buying books on the topic. When you chase what matters, what’s important to you, your lens change.
I don’t care if it’s people, places or projects; where and how you spend your energy ultimately decides how you feel. How feel is good indicator of what is giving you life or sucking it from you.
I can honestly think of only a handful of people that when I spend time with them, they totally elevate my mood, my energy, my overall disposition. I can think of a whole lot more people that whenever I wouldn’t engage with them, I felt drained. I felt lazy and stuck. And at the time, it didn’t dawn on me that it was the transference of their energy onto me that would make me feel one way or another.
As I examined those that gave me life and more energy versus those that depleted my energy, I started to see the correlation in my own activity. When I walked away from someone, I learned to question, did I feel ready to take on the world and start a new project? Or did I feel like lying down, going to sleep and hoping that Netflix would turn itself off?
As we continue to commit ourselves to goals and improvements to ourselves and livelihoods in this new year, let’s explore the people and places around us ask how are they feeding our soul. Do we feel rejuvenated? Or, do we feel like we need a nap? And if we can’t control the place (environment) in which we’re in immediately, let’s control who has access to it as well as those who have access to us. We’re given an unknown finite amount of time on planet earth. Where, how and with whom we spend our energy matters. Because it’s quietly feeding our soul. And health is not just the physical.
Protect your energy. It’ll get through the toughest of times and the highest of moments.
Consider this your reminder, as I was reminded again about two weeks: it’s okay to fail. It’s okay to come up against a roadblock. It’s okay to pause and think before acting. It’s okay to question your next move. It’s okay to not know your next move. It’s okay. Failing does not make you a failure. It really doesn’t. It makes you human. Actually, it’s more than that. Failing… makes you brave. It makes you a risk taker. It makes you a believer. It makes you so many more notches above your peers.
Hear me out: before they’re called winners, or champions or …celebrities, people we celebrate, they failed. And they failed many more times than the average person does or has. They’ve failed more times than they’re probably willing to admit to. Because failing doesn’t stop the dream. It doesn’t remove or downplay the goal. It just shows you what doesn’t work for the path you’re on. And in order to be successful, you have to fail. You have to be comfortable failing. You gotta get buddy-buddy with failing. You and Failing should be in each other’s contacts. Like, for real.
Because successful people don’t let failure stop them. Not permanently. The goal, the dream, the desire, the very essence that keeps you up at night knowing and praying for the life that is truly meant and designed for is always greater than failure. But you have to make peace with that. You have to understand that failing is part of the process.
And today, that’s okay. Failing is okay today. It’s okay to miss the mark, to have come up short. To not have performed as well as you wanted. That’s okay. Tomorrow is another day. And success is on the other side of tomorrow.
Turn Your Barista Experience Into a Coffee Connoisseur Hustle
In the coffee industry a barista is considered an expert coffee professional; someone who really knows their stuff about coffee. Over time, I can see someone really learning more about coffee on the job if they’ve come to learn to enjoy it. They start to understand the difference between dark roast and blond roast, a latte versus an espresso and all the other little nuisances we’ve come to enjoy about our favorite caffeine drinks.
And if you’re one of those people who really likes coffee and really likes people, why don’t you put all that experience and the skills you’ve built to becoming a freelance coffee connoisseur expert. Not someone who just drinks coffee but can teach others about the different types of coffee beverages and even curate the ideal gifts for the coffee lover in their life.
That’s where a lot of service base hustles and businesses are headed right now: custom selected, hand-made, and profiled preferences. People enjoy that extra bit of tailoring to their shopping and purchasing experience. Being someone well- versed in coffee, you can be their go-to for coffee selections, gifts and accessories.
Starting where you are now, I would get a website from Wix, SquareSpace or even WordPress, using one of their templates and create.a chic but simple website. Discuss your love of coffee and helping people find the right coffee accessory or gift for them. List what services you offer. State your services in neat packages and what each package offers.
Maybe you’re like those traveling wine people who go to people’s homes and let them sample wine, but instead, you bring coffee. And pastries! Ooooh! You pair what you think are the best pastries to each type of coffee. Or you show them how to really get that coffee shop flavor at home. Maybe you keep a short stash of coffee gifts you’ve curated or assembled to sell that they can buy. There’s a LOT of room for creativity here to get yourself out there and make money.
Taking what you do at your job and turning it into a hustle that actually plays to your natural skill set and talents requires creativity and a vision. The vision can always change. As you continue to do more of something, the vision may expand. It may narrow. But it’s all yours. Just don’t let your boss get the best of your skills. Make them work for you too.
Female, Single and Hustlin 