Who controls your life?
Pose this question to any person over the age of 21 and the answer will likely be: “Me! Of course. Silly girl.”
On the surface, that answer makes perfect sense. If you are considered an adult by society, you technically have the right to make your own decisions and therefore control your own life.
This is my definition of faith:
Faith is taking action in spite of fear, knowing that all of my needs will be taken care of by the universe.
What is your definition of faith? What do you tell yourself when you worry?
As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live. – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
About this time last year, I went to a lecture given by Sophy Burnham at the Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville. I’d never heard of Sophy until seeing the event in the festival program, but the title of her new book, The Art of Intuition: Cultivating Your Inner Wisdom
This was actually my first lesson. Always do what you feel compelled to do.
Here are some more popular lies we tell ourselves:
But is it not as true or truer to say this instead?
Barring an actual physical or mental limitation, there is no “can’t.”
There is: “I don’t want to” or “I’m not willing to” or “I will not do what it takes to make it happen.”
But there is no “can’t.”
And it is so freeing to be able to own that truth in your life.
What is the truth for you?
It can be really scary to talk about possibility, even though you know you want to explore new options for your life.
A friend, family member or even your coach might suggest something for you to pursue, maybe something that has worked for them or someone they know in the past.
Right away, your lizard brain wakes up and starts throwing out all these reasons why this path might work for someone else, but it’s just not possible for YOU.
The lizard brain loves limiting words and phrases, like these:
Most of us have a Plan A, but we’re so afraid that it won’t happen that we spend most of our time on Plan B.
What’s Plan A? Plan A is your ideal life narrative. It’s what you really want your life to look like. It’s YOUR dream, not what everyone else thinks you should do.
Plan B is the “secure route.” It’s all the stuff you’re doing right now to put off making decisions about your life. It’s that job you hate. It’s the city you’ve been ready to leave. It’s all the relationships you’ve grown out of.
The problem with Plan B?
If you spend too much time on it, your Plan A will never happen.
What does planning for Plan A look like? It looks like starting that business you’ve been talking about for years. It looks like actually taking your “what ifs” seriously and figuring out how to make them happen. By any means necessary.
It looks like finally bursting out of your cocoon.
Where are you spending most of your time right now? Plan A or Plan B?
This is the Day 7 post for the 7-Day Side Hustle Challenge. Learn more and join us here!
With all the things that are needed to build a successful side hustle, it can be pretty overwhelming to try to do it all on your own. So today, after all the work you put in this week, you’re going to take a deep breath and reach out and ask someone for help.
How? Well, chances are, you don’t talk to the people in your network who could help you 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 probably assume that they don’t read every single update you post. So, take a few moments today to do the following:
I guarantee that there’s someone in your world that is willing to help you with your side hustle and get you to where you want to go!
After you’ve made your ask (yes, do it right now LOL), please share your experience with us in the comments! From whom did you ask for help and what did you ask for help with?
This is the Day 6 post for the 7-Day Side Hustle Challenge. Learn more and join us here!
Now that you know how you’re going to make money from your side hustle, you’ve gotta start marketing the hell out of it. And the best way to promote your side hustle is to, well, tell everyone you have a side hustle! How do you do that? Make sure you have business cards specifically for your side hustle. This is one of the most important things you can do for your budding business and your personal brand. You probably meet people all the time – at parties, at networking events, in the grocery store – that might want to learn more about what you do outside of your “regular job.”
See how a separate business card could come in handy? Even when I was working a full-time job, I kept a stack of personal business cards in my purse to let people know about my blog and where to contact me outside of my 9 to 5. Your assignment for today is to get a set of business cards for your side hustle. You should invest in a pack of at least 250 to start with.
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.
Other people swear by Moo cards. I’ve heard good things about using them, especially for promoting your blog or website. They’re a bit more expensive, but the designs they have are more beautiful and sophisticated than anything that Vistaprint offers.
If you choose to get business cards for your side hustle during the challenge, please share your experience with us in the comments! If you have photos of them, go ahead and post those, too.
This is the Day 5 post for the 7-Day Side Hustle Challenge. Learn more and join us here!
Now that you have a functional website that tells people who you are and what your side hustle is, you can begin selling your products or services. Depending on what you’re selling, one of these three methods may work for you in helping to monetize your passion.
To be able to sell your products online through your website, you will need a way to collect money. No matter what you’re selling, you can host a “buy now” button on your site that people can click on to purchase your product. Most merchants use Paypal, which is super easy to set up as long as you have a credit card or bank account to route the money through. Go to the Paypal website to get started. (Note: It will take Paypal a few days to confirm your bank account, etc.)
Adding a “Hire Me” page to your website is a great way to let your readers know that you are open for business, whether it be consulting, freelance writing, speaking engagements, etc. On your “hire me” page, you want to list your services and what you clients will receive when they work with you.
Here are a few examples of “Hire Me” pages that you might use for inspiration:
If your side hustle has something to do with monetizing your website itself, then you will need to sign up for a service to serve advertisements on your blog. Here are a few of the most popular ones that many bloggers sign up with to earn extra money online:
Rosetta Thurman is a nationally-recognized author, speaker, mentor and coach dedicated to helping women create their ideal lives.