How To Have Multiple Side Hustles While Reducing Stress
More than one side hustle? More than one business?
Impossible. That’s Elon Musk stuff, not me.
While Elon runs Tesla, Space-X, and Twitter…
Your business is a full-time job, plus you’re burning the candle at both ends of the day to get just one side hustle off the ground and produce that coveted, sexy, sugary-sweet second income. How could you possibly add another side gig without dive-bombing the quality of your other work? You must sleep sometime.
But you know you want to try. You just keep coming up with new million-dollar ideas in that beautiful mind of yours.
But aside from not having enough time, you may also have this belief that you have to build your business or side hustle alone because it’s yours.
Here’s the result of all of this swirling mess of internal conflict:
You end up working in your business instead of on your business. This is the fatal flaw of every wanna-be business owner who ends up being a sole proprietor who still trades time for money.
Dissatisfaction with your life. You are busy, but you have other ideas you’re passionate about bringing to life, and those ideas get squashed. That internal battle within yourself hurts your morale.
You’ve limited your earning power by playing small.
If you think the above scenario is true for everyone who has a side hustle or business, then you haven’t been exposed to enough founders.
Many successful side hustlers, especially the ones who run multiple businesses, replicate themselves by using virtual assistants.
“Get one as fast as you can,” Brian whispers into your ear while pinching your arm to make sure you’re paying attention.
I started my first of six side hustles in 2012. I didn’t hire my first virtual assistant (VA) until 2020.
It changed my life.
I’ve had one, and I’ve had a team of them. Both can be effective.
Here are some of the tasks they’ve done for me:
Research
Some blog writing (Not this one though. If you hate this one, that’s entirely on me.)
Website design
Logo design
Managing creative freelancers
Here’s some of what I experienced as a result of them doing stuff for me:
Elation
Accomplishment
Lower stress levels
Better control over my life
In short, I felt like the captain of my own ship. When you’re working in your business, you get very tired from rowing that dinghy all by yourself.
A team of virtual assistants take away most of the heavy-lifting whenever you have an idea. They can also help with minor tasks that you’re just too busy for in the moment such as lead generation tips, organizing your inbox, etc.
For example, have you ever had an idea that you know could be an amazing little business, but you get tired just thinking about how much work it would be? As a result, many don’t do anything with their promising idea because it seems overwhelming.
No chasing an idea and testing it in the world…
No feeling of satisfaction when you get that first paying client…
No earning extra bags of gold coins for you to toss into your super-secret hidey-hole.
Instead, having a VA or three enables you to do the exciting parts.
Dream up the idea
Sketch out a plan
Be the “Face”…talk it up, connect with potential customers and vendors, lead from the front
And you can do the fun stuff because you’re able to give the plan you’ve sketched out to your virtual assistants and say to them in your deepest voice,
“Go ye, unto you, and bring forth victory to be laid at my sandaled feet.”
Or something like that in your own words. Probably something less “biblical.”
You do have to give them clear directions on the tasks you want them to accomplish. And before you say, “Yeah but I could just do it myself in the time it takes me to type up the directions to the task,” let me tell you that’s what we all say at the beginning. Those of us who trusted the process and gave it a try quickly realized that we can’t wait to give away more tasks.
I’m telling you, there are few things so rewarding as giving someone a clearly-defined task that normally would take me hours of time and too much irritation, and then waking up the next day or day after with it all done.
And most of the time it’s done better than I would have done it.
A few months ago, I received a huge Request For Proposal (RFP) from the US Federal Government. One of my best side hustles is a government contractor. (I am an Army veteran and I own a certified “Veteran-Owned Small Business.”)
The RFP was bloated with excess information, so I had one of my VAs read through it and make notes on any clauses that needed a direct response from the bidders. In other words, pare it down and call out the points I must respond to in detail.
Two days later he gave me back the sexiest Google Sheet I’ve ever seen. It had columns with cited page, section, paragraph, and clause numbers with corresponding instructions for me to focus on in my bid response.
He basically enabled me to laser through the RFP and create my bid much faster with confident accuracy. He saved me days of work, frustration, and confusion. He did this task better than I would have. Thank goodness.
The Roger Bannister Effect.
I’m sharing this “what’s-possible” point of view to hopefully spark the Roger Bannister effect in you.
The four-minute mile barrier eluded Olympic runners for centuries. It wasn’t broken until May 6, 1954, when Roger Bannister recorded a 3-minute and 59-second mile.
A month later John Landry broke that record by running the mile in 3:57. Since then, almost 1,700 runners have recorded a sub-four-minute mile.
Sometimes, we just need to see what’s possible to flip the switch in our own minds.
So as stressed as you may feel about just the thought of running more than one side hustle, know that others are doing it. Their secret weapon is using VAs and VA firms.
MINDSET BREAK
Let’s take a quick break, tie your sneakers, and check your mindset.
Don’t stress out about “not doing enough” or “not keeping up with other people who have multiple side hustles.”
The lesson here is not that “you’re falling behind everyone else.”
The lesson is simply, “Be aware that other people are doing it, so it is indeed possible to have multiple side hustles and still feel like a joyful human. If. You. Want. To.”
VAs and small businesses are a match made in heaven.
I wrote an article for Investopedia about The Best Virtual Assistant Services.
I’ve used many, and one of my favorite VA models is using a VA firm, like Time etc. This business model works for me because I don’t have to search for the assistants, interview them, negotiate their compensation, and then manage them.
The firm does all of that. A good one like Time etc will still have you do a meet & greet with the VAs they propose for you to make sure you vibe. But the agency has already vetted them for the specific skills.
It also allows me to build a team within their staff. I can have one VA on my team that can do my research, another can do my editing, another can do my web design.
And with all of these tasks happening simultaneously, I feel like I’m running a very productive company or companies. Because I am.
The icing on the cake? Most VA firms assign you an account manager. This person manages the individual assistants to make sure they understand your instructions and meet your deadlines with quality work.
So as the economy rises and falls you, as the solopreneur with a side hustle or three, don’t have to worry about overhead expenses like health insurance or making payroll. If you have a catastrophic month where all your clients close up for a while due to, oh, I don’t know, say a pandemic, then you can simply put your VA subscription on pause until your work picks up again.
But on the flip side, if one or more of your businesses takes off, you can quickly ramp up your team. Tell your account manager you need more help and what skills you need to add to your team, and they make it happen for you.
My work with virtual assistants has helped me ride the ups and downs of the economy while running multiple companies.
For example, during the 2020 pandemic, we had to shut down my height-adjustable desk manufacturing company for almost six months. But during that time my writing side hustle soared. Investopedia and VeryWell, both Dotdash Inc. internet properties, published a total of around 45 articles of mine during that time. And yes, VAs helped me with both of those businesses, as well as in my work as a board member, in my commercial real estate business, and as an Online Business Coach.
So in my experience at least, running multiple companies and using virtual assistants has been essential to my financial health. My goal is to bring you ideas that will serve you and your financial health too. Even, and especially, when “the economy” gets weird.
Learn more about how I can help you save big money and lower your stress with my VA services.
