This is the third post in the How to Start a Side Hustle series.

“Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.” — H. Jackson Brown

If you already work full-time, but want to make some extra cash, it can be hard to see how you’d ever have the time or the energy after a long day at work. Well, allow me to remind you that everyone has the same number of hours in a day. It’s what we do (or don’t do) with them that makes the difference. I share with you here a few tricks I used to get my consulting business up and running while I still had a full-time job.

Leave Work on Time

You know why you’re too tired to do anything after work? Because you stay there all night! Set boundaries on how late you stay after work. If you come in at 9:00am, plan your day so that you can end at 5:00 on the dot and head home to work on your side hustle. If you have a big project to complete at your company, make a project management schedule so you can work on it in chunks, rather than cramming it all in during a week that you may also have work due for a client.

Use Your Vacation Days

At my previous job, we had pretty good benefits. I had four weeks of vacation (five after three years) and I made sure to use all them babies up. I used one full week for an actual vacation to the tropical paradise of my choice, then the rest of the time I used for consulting and traveling around the country for speaking gigs. When a potential client contacted me, I got out my work calendar and scheduled any projects around holidays and weeks that I knew were clear for me to be out of the office. By doing it this way, I was able to put my full-time job first and not piss off my boss for missing any important deadlines or events for the organization.

Maximize Your Lunch Hour

If you must eat lunch at your desk, do double time while you’re sitting there! Instead of scrolling down Twitter with one hand and a pickle in the other, use your break time to send emails to prospective clients, make phone calls to schedule meetings, or jot down ideas in a “side hustle” journal. I keep a small notebook in my purse at all times, just in case I come up with a hot idea for generating more income. It really comes in handy when you only have a few snippets of free time during the day.

Stop Watching TV

People always ask me how I get so much done in my professional life and honestly, a big part of where I get “extra time” from is because I don’t watch TV. I’m working while everyone else is watching Real Housewives of Atlanta. And I really don’t think I’m missing out on anything. I stopped watching cable years ago in college for purely monetary reasons (I was not about to use my few little dollars to pay the cable man). But then I got so used to not watching TV that it didn’t make sense for me to buy cable even when I did start making enough money to pay for it. Good thing, because most people are so addicted to TV that they waste two and half months every year watching TV when they could be making progress on their goals. The average American watches an average of 5.1 hours per day, or 153 hours of TV a month. So believe me, you’ll be well ahead of the game if you cut back your time in front of the boob tube and use it to start your side hustle!

What other methods have you used to find more free time during your day to work on your side hustle?

Up Next: How to Start a Side Hustle: Test the Waters

This is the second post in the How to Start a Side Hustle series.

If you want to begin building any type of side hustle or consulting business, it’s really important to get your name out there. Why? Because people are more likely to buy products or services from people they know than a stranger. My experience was that I was able to launch my consulting career because of my blog. Here are five low-cost ways that you can spread the word about your expertise, services or products in order to attract your first client or customer.

Start a Blog

Blogs are the most low-cost websites you can set up to promote yourself and your side hustle. In fact, you don’t even need a blog AND a website these days. A blog will do just fine because it showcases your expertise on a regular basis, versus websites that are typically more static and don’t keep people coming back to hear what you have to say. Although most people still use blogging for personal use, one of the biggest benefits to having a more professional blog is that blogging can allow you to become well-known in your dream career niche or field. Need help getting started? Download my free ebook, The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Blog. It’s a 37-page resource to help you with all the aspects of blogging in order to build your personal brand!

Get Your Own Business Cards

This is one of the most important things you can do to market yourself and your side business. Ever since I was 18, I’ve had my own business cards. And even when I was working a full-time job, I kept a stack of business cards in my purse to let people know about my blog and where to contact me about my side hustle. My favorite place for business cards is Vistaprint. I’ve used them for the past 10 years because of their low cost, easy-to-use website and quick delivery. And when I say low cost, I mean low cost. New customers get 250 premium quality, color business cards free! (You just pay for shipping.) Click here to order yours. They also have a ton of professional business card templates, but I always keep mine very simple.

And don’t be afraid to tell people (on your business cards) that you have a side hustle! For instance, the backside of my business cards say “hire me” with the different consulting areas I work in. People always comment on how bold it is. But you have to remember that marketing yourself is like marketing a product. You have to tell people what action you want them to take after they see what you have to offer.

Attract Fans and Followers

If you want to market yourself and you’re not on Twitter by now, I don’t know what is wrong with you. You can get started using my Twitter 101 guide if that helps. Once you’re on Twitter, you should be following other people in your dream career field or niche as well as tweeting insights about those specific topics (and less tweeting about the TV shows you watch every night or how much you hate your job). If you have a blog, you should also set up a Facebook fan page for yourself in the “writer” or “website” category and link to it from your blog so people can keep up with your updates. Don’t forget to put your Twitter and Facebook names on your business cards!

Get on YouTube

People like TV. People like movies. People really like to connect with other human beings by face, so it makes sense that millions of people watch YouTube videos everyday. Yeah, you could wait until you get interviewed on TV, but in the meantime, the best way to let people get to know you by your face and voice is by posting video updates on YouTube. It’s easy and free! Pick a topic that you can share your expertise and opinion on and post a brief video about it every week or every month. It’s up to you. Just be sure to spread your videos far and wide once you take the plunge into YouTubeland. Need inspiration? Look no further than Kim Love. For the past two years, the natural hair enthusiast has used her YouTube channel, KimmayTube, to share her expertise with the world and recently leveraged it to launch a successful retail business.

Dust Off Your Email List

Chances are, you don’t email people in your network as much as you could. Yes, it’s nice to post updates on Facebook and Twitter, but alas, everyone is not on those social networks, and even if they are, you can best believe that they don’t read every single update you post. So, take a couple hours every month to use email to update your friends, family and trusted colleagues on your new career goals and what your future business goals are. Give them a reason to sing your praises or connect you with people in their network who may be doing similar work. I guarantee that there’s someone on your email list that will be interested in supporting your side hustle or willing to help you get to where you want to go!

What are some other low-cost ways you could market yourself in order to promote your side hustle?

Further Reading: How to Start a Side Hustle: 4 Ways to Find the Extra Time to Work on Your Passion

Now that I’m working for myself full-time, people often ask me how I got into consulting in the first place. It’s kind of a funny question to answer, though, because I never actually set out to be a consultant. Those of you who know me in my professional life know that I’ve been working in nonprofits since I was in college. I was so inspired by the work and found a niche in being able to put my otherwise-unmarketable English major skills to use in writing grant proposals. Then when I graduated, people told me I should move from Richmond, Virginia to Washington, DC because that’s where all the nonprofits were. And lo and behold they were right! I decided to pursue a Master’s degree in nonprofit management and did fundraising for almost eight years. Along the way, I got really interested in leadership development due to the organizations and programs I was working with. So in 2007, I started blogging about leadership issues in my industry. And then people actually started reading my blog and inviting me to come speak at events and do workshops and all kinds of other cool stuff. Then I started telling them they should pay me because, well, I just couldn’t do that much work for free.

And that’s how I became a consultant. It was really a blog that turned into a side hustle that turned into an opportunity for a brand new career.

In 2008, I announced Thurman Consulting for the very first time, even though I was still working a full-time job and had no intentions of leaving anytime soon. I did that to let people know that I was available for speaking and consulting, but that I wasn’t going to do it for free. Even if I wanted to, I just didn’t have the time while working a 9 to 5 job. I also wanted to make some extra money to supplement my nonprofit salary at the time. At the end of that first year, I had earned an additional $10,000 to add on to my income, which said to me that consulting might be something I could really make a living at!

It wasn’t until 2010, though, that I quit my nonprofit job of almost four years to work for myself as a consultant. By all accounts, it was a “good” job. The organization had a great reputation and inspiring leadership. It paid well, I had healthcare, a monthly employer contribution to my retirement plan equivalent to 10% of my salary, five weeks paid time off, money for professional development, flexible hours, the ability to work from home, and yes, my very own parking spot. To be honest, I probably could have worked there for four more years. But I wouldn’t have been happy. I had grown too much in my own leadership journey to continue to fit myself into that one role for that one organization. I would be writing a grant proposal, but daydreaming about blogging. I couldn’t wait to get home to start writing and working on my own projects. I’ve wanted to write a book for a couple of years, but could never seem to find the time to do it. I just didn’t want to work myself to death and wait until my 60s to finally start living the life I wanted.

I didn’t want to wait any longer to become the CEO of me. Today, I’m the President of Thurman Consulting, specializing in leadership, diversity and social media initiatives to advance the work of social change. It’s been an amazing journey to be able to get to do what I love and get paid for it, too! And best of all, it’s on my own terms.

I’ve come across a lot of happy black women who are thinking about going out on their own. You may want to start small in the hopes of leaving your job one day. You may just want to make some extra money. Whatever your reason, this blog series is for you. I titled the series “How to Start a Side Hustle” because I strongly suggest hanging your own shingle while you still have the security of a full-time job. This blog series will offer some of the lessons learned from my own experiences in laying the groundwork and then branching out on my own over a two-year period.

But first, an overview.

What’s a Side Hustle?

Let me explain what I mean with that term. A side hustle is a job that you do on the side in addition to your full-time job. Whether you do consulting or bake cakes to sell at the farmer’s market on the weekend, a side hustle is when you provide products or services in order to make money on the side. Typically, you would take something you’re good at (or passionate about) and offer it to people who want it. That sweet spot of skill and demand is your side hustle, baby!

A few synonyms for a side hustle:

• Part-time job
• Second job
• Small business
• Side business
• Slash career

Examples of side hustles:

• Consulting
• Catering
• Tutoring
• Photography
• Blogging
• Public speaking
• Babysitting
• Avon/Mary Kay
• Ebay seller
• Crafting/jewelry

And the list goes on and on. What are some side hustle ideas that you could try?

What’s Consulting?

As I mentioned above, consulting is just one example of a side hustle. Believe it or not, a lot of side hustles actually fall into the consulting category. When you say consulting, most people think of the common Webster definition, which is to provide professional or expert advice. In recent years, though, that definition is actually expanded to include subcontracting and project management. In other words, consulting is not just someone paying someone else for advice, but it also includes paying someone to actually implement or deliver a particular portion of the work.

A few synonyms for consulting:

• subcontracting
• freelancing
• independent consulting
• coaching
• moonlighting

Some examples of consulting projects:

• Website creation
• Conference planning
• Training and workshops
• Strategic planning
• Meeting and retreat facilitation
• Executive coaching
• Copywriting

The possibilities for consulting are endless, just like with any other side hustle!

What Do Aspiring Consultants Need to Know?

When I first started thinking about consulting two years ago, Entrepreneur.com was like my electronic bible. This article alone has enough general information in it to give you a really thorough overview of what consulting looks like as a side business. I also rely heavily on Inc. Magazine for entrepreneurial advice. Other really good information networks for consultants include Freelance Switch, Freelance Folder, Freelancers Union and of course Pam Slim’s Escape from Cubicle Nation. There are a TON of resources out there, including Entrepreneur Magazine’s extensive library of books to help you start your own business.

One thing I quickly learned is that you don’t really need much by way of paperwork to get started if you are going by your real name. Since I do business as Rosetta Thurman/Thurman Consulting (and not a more generic company name like Enlightened Diva Strategies or something), all I had to do was register with my state. But you should always check your local laws for sure.

Is a Side Hustle for You?

I have to be honest here in terms of my experience – consulting (or any side hustle, for that matter) is really hard to do when you already have a full-time job. But if you’re like me five years ago when I had to work part-time as a hostess at a chain restaurant to make my nonprofit paycheck stretch a little further, consulting might just be a welcome addition to your life. But it does take some serious organizational skills to hold down a regular job and then go home at night or on the weekends to do client work.

Stay tuned over the next few weeks for posts about my journey into the consulting world from side hustle to full-time, including how to get your name out there, how to get your first client or contract, and how to find extra time to do the work. In the meantime, please post any resources you know of in the comments!

Up Next: How to Start a Side Hustle: 5 Low-Cost Ways to Market Yourself