Posted on by Female, Single & Hustlin'

This Week’s Goal: Shake Off May

I don’t know why, but I’ve been feeling super lazy and sluggish in May. For no logical reason. I haven’t been hustling as hard as I should be. I haven’t been coming home and knocking things off my list and completing client projects. I’ve been acting like… I don’t care about my goals. Or, it feels like I don’t care because I haven’t put in any muscle behind what I need and want to be doing.

But in fact, this is just a cycle I go through. Something in my life is causing me more stress than I realize and rather than tackle that stressor or address it, I procrastinate with everything else I need to do. As if putting a pause on work, I’m pausing other outside troubling forces.

I don’t know. All I know is I need to do is shake off this bad May feeling off. I need to get off my ass and go into overdrive.

No excuses. No laziness. No procrastination. Just pure hustle.

Posted on by Female, Single & Hustlin'

Working 5 to 9: It Happens

On Monday of this week, I made plans to meet a notary client between 7:30am and 8:00am on Tuesday, as I was not able to meet him Monday afternoon. I was busy. Actually having a life. Plus, I didn’t have my notary journal or stamp on me. So I needed to reschedule. And in our text communication, I agreed to the time set on Tuesday and he agreed as well. I also explained that I would text him when I was leaving and when I arrived that morning. He liked the sound of that.

So when yesterday morning rolls around, I shoot him a text letting him know I was headed his way. Then, 15 minutes after I sent the text, he responds asking how much will the total be for the notary services. I tell him the notarization is $15, but my travel is $25. He then responds, “the bank charges $15”. I said, so do I but I also charge a travel fee since I’m traveling to you. He thought we agreed to a $20 fee. Nothing in our text ever said I agreed to $20 fee for everything. He thought I was really going to accept $5 for traveling 13 miles out of my way to him.

He said he couldn’t pay that while I was in my Uber on my way to him. Frustrated at this point, I just texted back “thank you.”. He then said no worries, like he was really doing me a favor and asked if he could save my number. I, in turned, saved his as well… so I know never to respond to him in the future.

Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me.

But it happens. Working with clients on our own isn’t going to be perfect and rainbows and sunshine all the time. We’re going to get people who are a disappointment. Who cost us more money to work with them than not to. Who don’t commit or poorly communicate. It happens. It’s part of the process. It’s how we learn how to do what we do better.

So even though he cost me $9.95 in fare money, I take this as a lesson learned experience. It’ll happen. The not so good clients will come and I will still have to roll with those punches.

Posted on by Female, Single & Hustlin'

Inside the Hustle: A Haggling Notary Client

Currently in route to a client – maybe- who decided to haggle me on my travel fees. Yes, I understand that the banks are charging $15 for notarizations. So am I. But I’m also a mobile. So, I’m waiting to hear back while I’m in this Uber headed his way. I mean, if he wants to wait till 9am tl the bank opens, he’s more than welcome to.

…

Ugh. He just canceled. Note to self, will no longer be servicing clients in the 90047 area or clients named Shah.

Posted on by Female, Single & Hustlin'

Inside the Hustle: Card Writing

There is a niche and market for just about everything out there. No joke. Above is an email message I just received from a long time real estate client of mine asking about some anniversary cards she and I worked together on for her clients. “Anniversary Cards”? I’ve been working with Dorit and her husband for over five years as one of my side hustles. I first started out providing administrative work for them on Saturdays while I was working full time and that morphed into some marketing work, which I love ten times more.

The anniversary cards she’s asking about is a marketing tool she/we’ve been using for the last couple of years as a top-of-mind direct mail tactic. It keeps her current clients returning to her and her husband for real estate services but also as the first name her clients think of when they want to refer other clients to her.

What’s my role in the process? I create the content for each of these anniversary cards or any marketing material we mail to her clients and I hand write them… all. Because nothing is more personal than a hand-written note these days. People are more likely to read them and respond them. And seems to work for her and her husband’s real estate business.

I will admit, I don’t always enjoy the hand written part of this task, but it’s all in a day’s hustle.

I responded back letting her know when she should have received them and if she can’t find them, to let me know so I can recreate them. How do I get paid? Venmo. We use to meet up and I woudl get paid cash or by check. But this works too.

Posted on by Female, Single & Hustlin'

YOU Equations: Time > Money

Stop listening to the lies that your time equals money. That’s not true.

You can’t recycle your time. You can’t make more time. You can’t double your time. You can pause time. You can’t regenerate time. You can’t reverse time. You can’t put time in a vault. You can’t buy stock in time.

Once time is gone, it’s gone. Now, you may choose to use your time to make money, but your time is far greater than money.

Posted on by Female, Single & Hustlin'

Happy Friday: We’re Here

Happy Friday, ladies. It’s the end of a beautiful week for most and as we come to this week’s end, I have some somber news to share. And I hope Elle doesn’t mind me sharing this information on her behalf.

Today, we will not be having a Foodie Friday. Elle is taking time today and however long she needs to talk with her relatives and be there in the spirit as they share a loss of a loved one. One of ther eldest brothers passed away a day or two ago and the family is reeling from this unexpected news. She and I talked about it gently yesterday. She needs this time to process and grieve and we’ll respect that.

I’ve lost many loved ones over the years and I know how death affects people differently. How we cope is different and we all need our own time and space to deal in whatever manner is best for us.

So, this Friday if I can impart any knowledge or good will, it would simply be to let the people you love know you love them. Let them know you care about them. Reach out to them. Give them a call. Send them a text. Drop them an email. Don’t let too much time pass by before you connect with the ones you love.

Posted on by Female, Single & Hustlin'

WHEN: You Have It Better Than You Think

I will be the first to admit I am awful at taking inventory of all that I do have versus what I don’t have and what I want to have. And it’s easy to do that, to focus on what’s missing or what I need or what I need to save up for. As if my life is truly missing something but it isn’t, at least not missing anything material. Yes, there are things that could be better or in better condition, but I am certainly not without.

I am not without shelter and as the the rents and mortgages keep rising, I should be extremely thankful for that. I am not with a paying job that affords me the opportunities to create side hustles and passion projects. I am not without food. That is a necessity I am happy is covered. My hips don’t lie. I am not without loved ones, who support and encourage my endeavors and aspirations. I am not with goals and dreams. The very elements that make me want to work hard for something more.

I could go on – electricity, in-door plumbing, savings account, public transportation, a car, a phone, a working TV, Netflix – but my point is simple. There’s is nothing wrong with wanting to more for yourself, whatever your “more” maybe. But never forget all that you already have. It definitely puts things into perspective and helps you make wiser and more confident choices. As a hustling lady, we’re always about making wiser and smarter choices for ourselves.

Posted on by Female, Single & Hustlin'

This Week’s Goal: Setting My Intentions

I talk a lot about hustling, why I think it’s important every woman has a side hustle, how a side hustle can bring in extra income and set one up for self employment, should you so desire. But, there’s gotta be a commitment to the side hustle if the end game is about financial and career freedom. Because ultimately, that’s what I want.

So, it’s time for me to stop playing small and set my intentions. I really need to set myself up for the success I only see on my vision board. I need to plan, strategize and execute as if 2019 is the only year I’m given this opportunity. I need to go to bed every night with a goal in mind for the next day. And wake up every morning executing that goal.

Yes, I need to finish some websites. Yes, I need to clear, clean and organize the hell out my stuff and life. But more importantly, I need set my intentions towards the life I know I want to lead.

Hmmm.

I believe I’m ready to make that commitment to myself. How ’bout you?

Posted on by Female, Single & Hustlin'

Working 5 to 9: Don’t Share Your Aspirations With Everyone

There’s something about having big goals or dreams that puts people in an uneasy state with you, particularly if it’s not their big goal or dream. I wouldn’t call this jealosuy or envy right away, but definitely an opposition. I’ve learned a few times with different people not to share my lofty goals or aspirations.

I had a coworker, neither she or I work at the former company anymore, who told me she would never work as hard as I do. There’s nothing that she would ever want in this life to make her hustle they way I was. What was funny about her statement was I knew her boyfriend and he was, probably still is, a hustler. He was working, seriously like three jobs. The two of them lived together split their rent and bills down the middle and even had a joint checking account (unmarried and in their 20s, girl, yes). But she was content with her one job and one income stream. Her boyfriend obviously wasn’t.

I’m obviously not. YOU’RE obviously not. That’s why we hustle. At least, that’s one reason.

Sharing with her wasn’t a bad move. Neither was sharing with any of the others, not entirely. Not at first. At first, people seemed to want to have a hustle of their own too and wanted my help creating one. Awesome! But, when I would try, they would hit me with excuse after excuse as to why they couldn’t start right now. It was like I was getting pumped for information and having the life sucked out of me. Later, perhaps, it grew into an envious mindset. After all, I was the only one who wouldn’t complain about money all the time, even though there were others who were making more of it than myself. Because a side hustle helps you generate more money.

And it removes the desperate factor from your life. It takes away your money urgencies. That need you have for more money all the time. You may still feel that at times, but the truth is if you have an active side hustle, you don’t need money as bad as many of your counterparts. And they see that. They see you hustle but not struggle like them and that doesn’t sit well with some people. Some people want you in the same boat as them. Misery loves company.

I’ve learned that. So I don’t tell new people and even others who I haven’t told already that one day I plan on being wildly and successfully self employed. That’s my big goal. That’s what I’m hustling for.

Posted on by Female, Single & Hustlin'

Get Motivated: Get Away

Today I took a short day trip to San Juan Capristrano. It’s one of the 23 missions here in Cali along or close the coastline that were built by the Spanish missionaries and colonists way back when. And I can’t recall ever having gone to a missionary prior to today, but it was such a wonderful and relaxing experience. To be able to get away from the city for a few hours and enjoy the splendor of natural beauty and historical architecture was just wonderful.

I needed this. This break. These moments away from the demands of life, whether they be demands I placed on myself or that others have placed on me, it’s refreshing to escape.

So I did.

And I enjoyed it. And I felt completely inspired and uplifted just walking among the flowers, watching the few swallows fly by. I felt… rejuvenated.

I needed that. We need that. I can’t think of a single reason why we hustlin’ women should avoid these opportunities. We need these elements in our lives just as much as the next hard working person. And we need to remind ourselves to take those moments to stop, escape and find time rejuvenate. Burnout is not cute or rewarding.