Finding the time for a side hustle can mean that some of the things that you liked to do before have to go on hold for a while, but in my opinion that shouldn’t be spending time with those people who are important to you. Whilst this may seem like the easy answer to making time in your week for a side hustle I think it can also be the road to disaster and here’s why…

Whilst you could just say, sod it, the house will just have to be a tip when I’m starting my side hustle, after a while you’re likely to get fed up of living in a mess. Building a side hustle is a long journey and it could be months or even years before you can think about going part time or even giving up your day job. And that may not be your aim. You might need that regular income and your side hustle is a bit extra on the side, just to supplement your main income.

One tool that I’ve used on and off over the past few years as part of my side hustle journey is writing in a journal. It’s become a popular mindset tool and I think it lends itself to being used in many different ways. It can help you clarify your thoughts and to make plans when it comes to working on your side hustle.

In this post I want to look at several different ways you could make use of a journal either to decide whether you want to and have the time to start a side hustle and then once you start, to help you maintain your motivation and ensure there’s space in your calendar for what you want to work on when it comes to your side hustle.

Are you still struggling to post on Instagram stories? Just can’t fit it into your day? No time for talking on social media about what you sell in your side hustle? Making videos for reels just isn’t happening as your schedule doesn’t allow it? It all just feels too difficult, too time consuming and the truth is you’re not sure if anyone is actually interested in what you have to offer anyway so what’s the point. Read that last line again, because that’s the important bit. If you’re not making any progress when it comes to your side hustle it might be that your thoughts about your new venture are holding you back. It’s often easier to tell yourself that you don’t have the time to do something as opposed to saying that you’re too scared to do it. You feel a fraud. You think that no one would be interested in what you have to say. This is impostor syndrome.

We’ve all been there, me included, even now. You sit down after a long day at work, turn on the TV, and before you know it, hours have passed and it’s time for bed. You’ve maybe binged a couple of episodes of your favourite programme or watched a film that you’ve seen a dozen times before, but it just happened to be on and so you watched it. This might feel like harmless relaxation, but the truth is that spending too much time in front of the television can be a major barrier to building a successful side hustle.

Have you ever thought that alcohol, a regular part of everyday life, might be sabotaging your side hustle dreams? Maybe you use it as a way to unwind after a long day or just have a few down the pub every Friday night with friends. It’s might be something that you have never really thought about much, as alcohol is normalised in our culture. But what you might be overlooking is how much alcohol is draining not only your energy, but also your time—valuable time that could be spent building your side hustle.

I still talk to so many people who have their inbox open all of the time, whether that’s when they’re at they’re day job or when doing work on their side hustle. This is such a major contributor to their time management problems. If this is you, read on, as I’m going to share exactly why you need to stop doing this and what you should do instead. And if you follow this advice you will see your side hustle productivity soar.

Life is busy. With everything you have on your plate finding the time and mental space to work on your side hustle can seem impossible.

But there's one simple yet powerful way to make life a little easier and that’s decluttering. When you live in a clutter-free home you have more time and energy to work on your side hustle. If you don’t believe me, let’s look at six reasons why this is the case.

Do you struggle with the tendency to want to please others, often at the expense of finding time for your side hustle? You are not alone. It’s a trait I struggle with and one, as women, I feel that society encourages to practise. If you fail to address it, particularly when it comes to pursuing your side hustle, it can sabotage your dreams of starting a new business. 

You will often hear me talking about time blocking and it is my favourite tool when it comes to organising and planning your time. Whether that’s in your day job, your side hustle or your personal life.

But if you’re one of the many people that feels overwhelmed at the thought of allocating their time in this way then this post is for you.  Looking at a full diary can feel daunting. Seeing that you have a task allocated for every hour of your day can feel very restrictive. You might look at it and instead of it being helpful, you just want to hide away and do nothing. That is not going to allow you to make progress with your side hustle.

Struggling to be consistent on social media when it comes to building your side hustle? Forgetting to follow up on sales calls regularly? Aren’t hopping on Facebook and chatting with your ideal audience? You need to create a habit tracker.

So what’s a habit tracker? It’s a tool used to monitor and record the progress of daily habits or goals. By visually tracking your actions over time, it helps reinforce positive behaviours and identify patterns that may need adjustment.

Starting a side hustle is easy. Keeping going can be HARD.

If you’re only just beginning then the thought of starting something new, developing your passion, or earning extra money is probably making you feel really excited.

As time goes on the initial excitement often begins to fade and the reality of balancing a side hustle with your other responsibilities can feel overwhelming. Suddenly you find yourself constantly tired, frequently overwhelmed and starting to ask yourself whether it's worth it. This is where most people give up.

I’m going to share with you a way to keep yourself motivated that will carry you through the hard times.

If you're here because you're sitting on the fence, you've got a dream about a possible side hustle or you've had a hobby for years that you think you could turn into a side hustle, then today I'm going to tell you why you should do so.

Have you spent a lot of time dreaming about how you could start a side hustle? Thinking about how life would be different if you could just make some money from your hobby. Or that you could spend more time doing what lights you up as your day job has just become a grind?

I’m going to give you some good reasons to take that leap and start a side hustle.

A to do list is most people’s go to tool when planning their work, whether it’s a side hustle week or any week. It was mine too, for a long time, but I moved to time blocking instead and here’s why you should too.

Is your inbox overflowing with unread emails? Have you subscribed to loads of great freebies to help you on your side hustle journey, but now the amount of incoming messages is overwhelming? Finding a specific email is almost impossible as you have to wade through copious amounts of junk to locate it. The answer? A regular digital declutter.

Fed up of reading the benefits of homeworking when it comes to building a side hustle because you’re stuck in the office five days a week?

If you’re prepared to put the work in you can change all that. In future you could spend your commuting time on your side hustle instead.

Want to find out more, then read on…

You’ve been making time for a side hustle, but now the house is a tip; you’re behind with the laundry, there’s a thick layer of dust over everything and the ironing basket is overflowing. You’ve realised that you can’t do it all. It’s either your side hustle or your home. There isn’t space for both in your life.

The frustrating thing is that you know other people who are doing it. They’ve got a regular 9-5 job, two kids, their house runs like clockwork and they’re killing it at their side hustle. So what’s their secret?

If you’re starting a side hustle you’ll need to decide how you’re going to set up your email for your new venture and what arrangements will help you make the best use of your limited time. Some questions you might want to think about are:

1. Should you have a separate email address for your side hustle or just use your personal one?

2. When are you going to deal with your side hustle emails?

3. If you use your personal email address how are you going to stop important messages getting lost amongst all the spam clogging up your inbox.

You’re trying to build a side hustle, but when you sit down to work it’s a real struggle to get started, especially as you’re feeling tired after a long day at the office, looking after the kids, or both. You look at that long to do list and feel overwhelmed by all of the different tasks you need to get done in your side hustle. It’s too hard to decide what to do and you spend more time choosing a task to tackle than actually getting on with what needs doing.  You often find yourself giving up and flopping down on the sofa instead to watch your favourite programme, feeling deflated and with the thought that you’ll never make progress on your side hustle going round and round in your head.

When you’re working a full-time job and building a side hustle, keeping motivated and finding time can be a significant challenge. That's where having an accountability partner can really help.