In this episode...

Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies

Laura Hargrave: Welcome everyone here at Boss It. We would love to hear from you. Join us in our Boss It community by heading over to our website, bossitclub.com, and join our mailing list. As we grow, we will be launching our community of fellow Boss It BFFs, and we want you to be a part of it.

Okay, Sophia Noreen, let's dig into this. I can't wait to tell them all about how we got here.

Sophia Noreen: Welcome to the Boss It Podcast. My name is Sophia Noreen and I took an Etsy startup and launched it in big-box retailers within 12 months. As a creative with an entrepreneurial drive, I left my full-time career in healthcare to find better harmony between career, family, and self-care. We believe you can have it all. Yes, you can launch and run a successful scalable business while maintaining harmony in all aspects of your life. We believe we can learn from each other and draw on many experiences to create the best life possible. During each episode, we will share proven life hacks that will keep you on top and striving every day.

There should be no hesitation. Make a plan. Take action. We are here for you!

What's up everyone? Welcome back to another fantastic episode of the Boss at podcast. My name is Sophia Marin, and today we are going to chat about why you should be looking at starting a side hustle in 2023. And I'm gonna talk about how I did it while I worked my nine to five, so that way you guys don't feel so overwhelmed by even the thought of it, because if I can do it, you can do it too.

So let's get. So for anybody who is just joining us for the first time, you may not know a few things about me, so I'm gonna do a quick intro about who I am, and that way you'll get the perspective as to why I think it's very possible for anybody to start a side hustle while they're working the nine to five.

And as many of you know, if you've listened to our material in the past, I do say you do not need to burn the boats at the beginning. It's better to have a side hustle as opposed to jumping all in when starting a business. And I'll go over those reasons in a minute as well. But a little bit more about me.

I trained as a physiotherapist or a physical therapist for our friends in the. And I worked in the hospital system for about nine, 10 years, and then I moved into the community. But I always worked for nonprofits. I've always been in the nonprofit sector, and I always worked in healthcare. Well, I really did a 360 and went into a completely different line of work, and I'll get into that in a minute.

But the point is I was able to grow my side hustle into a small business enterprise while working a nine to five. I did do part-time in the middle, and then I went back to a full-time position, and I also have kids. So a lot of people will say, how are you doing all this stuff if you have children?

Because if you're a parent or if you see your parents, you'll know that raising children and running a household is also a full-time job. So I wanna just make sure everyone understands that it is. Yes, it's demanding, and yes, it'll take time and effort, and yes, you will have to make sacrifices, but I do strongly believe that everyone who feels a desire to do a business or start a side hustle should do it even if they have those obstacles or other demands in their life.

And you may be a student or you may have other obstacles like finances, and you're like, I need to work in order to survive. Yes, it's possible to do that and also start a side hustle, start a business, and again, the rhetoric goes, it's better to start when you are working or you are financially capable of surviving without the money from the side hustle.

What people don't tell you is that it takes a lot longer for your business to start making money for you to live off of. A lot of people will sell you the get rich quick. It doesn't work that way. And if they're selling that to you, it's because they want you to give them the money so they get rich quick.

So make sure you are digesting the correct information and you are not putting yourself in a risky situation while you're burning the boats too early. Yes, you eventually need to burn the boats if it's going the right way, but if you burn your boats, And you're on a deserted island, then you're not gonna do very well.

You're gonna have to wait for somebody to come and rescue you. So I'm gonna get into a little bit more about why you should look into doing your side hustle, and we will talk a bit more about me and you can of course send us a message. On the Instagram where we're most active at BT Club, and we can chat a little bit more about your personal situation, but let's get into the reasons why now.

I think it's very important for you in 2023 to start really seriously looking into starting a side hustle. Okay, so the first reason why I think it's really important to start a side hustle is because in 2023, whenever we turn on the news, somebody is being laid off. Let's face it, we are going through a recession, whether they will say the word recession or not.

It's happening and it's here and people are going to lose their jobs. Now it's a. It's a line of work that may or may not be something you wanna stay in, but the fact is, if you do lose your position and you start your side hustle and it starts gaining momentum and brings in even a little cash in, then that at least gives you that backbone, that security, even if you are supplementing it with some other way of government benefits or another way, the company will give you a severance.

Long and short of it is you really do need to hedge your bets in this economy. And I think moving forward, you cannot just rely on that one income stream any longer. So a side hustle, be it if you're doing real estate, if you're doing insurance, If you are a real estate broker, for example, all the way to being a copywriter, although I don't know if I suggest copywriting any longer, all these service base you have to check if your ais are taking over your position.

Like copywriters and chat G B T. Do not suggest that one any longer. But the point is, if there's a service that you can provide as a side hustle being a freelance photographer, makeup, you may wanna start establishing your brand name, your ability to get out there and network with your side hustle as being the reason for being in that network.

Then that way if you end up in that really difficult situation where you lose your job and you have to rely on government benefits and or the severance that you get paid out, you still have the ability to bring in some extra cash flow with your side hustle. And because you've started the side hustle, it's easier to get into the momentum.

Versus if you are already down and out because of your position as being removed, as being employed from your nine to five and you've, you've lost your nine to five and now you're sitting here and you're struggling to get momentum with your side hustle, it's a lot harder to build up the momentum and the traction and the motivation and initiative to get moving.

So that's why I think it's great when you have the confidence, when you have your nine to five to back you up, you can start going out there and networking with the groups that you need to network with in order to build your side hustle. Now I do a product. . So I have established a product-based business called also Sophia, and we sell seasonally to big retail and the products work for people who are minority cultures within North America.

We do Eid, Ramadan, and Diwali, and so we sell seasonally. And so the product-based business lines do take a lot longer to become profitable because the margins are so thin. But compared to our service-based businesses that have about 75 to 85%. So for our friends who are in the service-based world, your side hustle can generate your profits a lot sooner and gets you into a situation where you can really supplement your income or back yourself up if you lose your nine to five position, or you decide eventually to leave it, of course, versus our product-based business.

You will need to scale and ensure that your product is top notch so it sells itself. You are going to be playing a volume game once you hit a certain volume of product because again, you are not going to be providing the service you're providing a product, be it a virtual product or a physical product.

Your product will scale now. . Digital products, of course, have a larger margin. Physical products like I sell have a smaller margin. We will get into that in future episodes, so make sure you hit the bell and subscribe. But the point is because in 2023, we are seeing a dip in the economy. We're seeing layoffs.

It is better to start now and think about a side hustle that can help secure your financial freedom and financial health. That way you're not relying on that one income stream. Okay, let's get into the next. So we just spoke about relying on one income stream, which really does bring to the second point, which is everything is getting more and more expensive and many people can't survive off of one income any longer, which is really sad, especially in North America where you would think that your nine to five should be able to help you with basic.

Now, it could also be that with social media and seeing what other people have, you want those nice things too. So you're just wanting to spend more money. Whatever the case is, wherever this is coming from, you likely will want to have a side hustle just for that fun money, if you wanna call it that. And they do say, many people now need multiple streams of income just to survive, which again, is really sad, but that's where the hustle economy comes from.

That's where you see the people that are driving the Ubers and doing the meal transportations with skip the dishes in Canada, which I think is fantastic. I think if you can do it, that's also in my opinion, a side hustle because you are a contractor when you work those position. So not exactly what I would say to do as a side hustle, but that's what people are doing just to secure their specific situation.

They need multiple streams of revenue or income to come into their home to support their everyday living. So if you are in the position to start a side hustle, it's not just to secure yourself. If you lose your position in you nine to five, it's also to help perhaps boost up any income in your. So that's another big reason why many people should start now, especially if you're coming outta school.

You should think about, okay, I'm gonna learn. I'm gonna work a nine to five. I do suggest you go and work for an employer for a while cause then you at least know how to run a business or you know how to work in a work environment and you're not learning in your own business. You do need to go and you do need to start working with an employer to just learn the basics of.

But I also suggest to start the side hustle because not only does it secure you financially when it starts making money, but you may wanna have it as extra income just because it's getting so expensive out there. And the final reason I really advocate for you to think about starting side hustle or even pushing forward even further with your side hustle, if you've already started it, is because it's almost like a hobby.

If it's something you're really passionate. So again, when I started the product-based business, I realized that it became a hobby for me to create products. I enjoyed sourcing products, I enjoyed designing products. I enjoyed the entire process of presenting a proposal to a big retailer and then seeing that entire display in the store.

So that to me, became a hobby. Now, if you win. Meaning you love your side hustle and it turns into something bigger and snowballs into a small business, and hopefully something even bigger than that, then you have won the jackpot because it's very difficult for people to stay passionate about what they're doing for a very extended long period of time.

But again, business is a marathon. So if you love what you're doing, if you think of it as a hobby, it's a hobby business or something that brings you real joy to. And bring to life, then that is even better. So I know many of you, if you're watching this, you probably do have that innate ability to want to start the initiative of a business.

and if you are listening to this and watching this, that means that you have of course been considering doing a side hustle. So what I'm saying now is to find a hi side hustle that you love and that you would consider doing for almost free, because that's what you'll be doing from the beginning part of the journey.

I say year one to three, you're going through the value of death when it comes to business, and that's when many businesses fail. So you need to really love what you're doing, but if you consider it a hobby, And you innately enjoy doing that hobby, AKA your side hustle, then it will be easy to run the marathon we call business.

Because like we said, it takes a long time for a business to really get traction and become profitable, and you need to have the stamina in business to run that marathon. It's not a sprint and it's not a get rich quick. So again, let's break the myth and let's not burn the boats too early and let's make sure we start strategically.

Planning our side hustle and dipping our toes in the water and making sure it's something we love and like, because if you start something, you wanna be able to sustain the growth and sustain that marathon for a long journey, and not just within the first 24 months and it fizzles out. And that's normal, right?

A lot of people will dip their toes and then they realize they don't like it, which is fine. You have to try it out. There's no guilt in dipping your toes and not liking. You have to realize that if you dip your toes and you don't like it and you still push forward and you still don't like it, it's unlikely that you're gonna like it in the next three or four or five years, and it's gonna become harder and harder as you're climbing that mountain until it, it gets its own momentum.

So be honest with yourself. If you don't like it, and we call this a discovery phase, if you don't like it during the discovery phase, then you be honest with yourself and you say, okay, we've tried it. I don't like, And I will in future episodes, give examples of where I went through the discovery phase and I tried some things out and it didn't stick, or I fizzled out a bit.

And it does generally fizzled out within the first six to seven months for me. So again, you have to be honest with yourself, and I won't go into a TED Talk right now on that. But again, hit the bell and subscribe and we'll talk more about that topic in the future as.

So anyways, we will see you guys again next time. Remember, we are on Bossa Club on the Instagram, and we're starting up TikTok. So once we get that link, I'm gonna link that here too, because then you can catch some fun behind the scenes of me and the. Okay, that's all for now, and we'll talk to you guys next time.

Okay. Bye. 

Sophia Noreen: So my fellow bosses, did you enjoy that episode? Now is time for you to make a solid plan and take action. But first, remember to subscribe and follow the boss at podcast so you receive a notification.

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