Susie Moore - What If It Does Work Out?: How a Side Hustle Can Change Your Life

D o you have a hobby or passion that has nothing to do with your nine-to-five job? Do you craft vintage jewelry, make handmade furniture, or offer expert negotiating advice to family and friends in your spare time? Then you, too, could join the one-third of Americans who turn their talents into a lucrative side hustle.

In What If It DOES Work Out? life coach and professional side-hustler Susie Moore offers expert tips and guidance to help you earn an extra source of income by doing something you love. In her energetic and encouraging style, she guides you through all of the planning stages and potential obstacles, showing how to overcome any hesitation or fear, create multiple revenue streams, and more. Susie also presents inspiring stories from fellow side hustle successes, including the founders of Spanx and MindBodyGreen. Recommended by Entrepreneur magazine as a book entrepreneurs must read to dominate their industry, What If It DOES Work Out? features all you need to take the practical steps toward living the life of your dreams.

Copyright

Copyright 2016, 2017 by Susie Moore

All rights reserved.

Bibliographical Note

What If It DOES Work Out? How a Side Hustle Can Change Your Life is a new work, first published by Ixia Press in 2017.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Moore, Susie, author.

Title: What if it does work out? : how a side hustle can change your life / Susie Moore.

Description: Mineola, New York : Ixia Press, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017021573| ISBN 9780486816494 (alk. paper) | ISBN 0486816494 (alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Supplementary employment. | Part-time self-employment. | New business enterprises. | Entrepreneurship.

Classification: LCC HD5854.5 .M66 2017 | DDC 658.1/1dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017021573

IXIA PRESS

An imprint of Dover Publications, Inc.

Manufactured in the United States by LSC Communications

81649401 2017

www.doverpublications.com/ixiapress

CONTENTS

Why You Must Start Your Side Hustle:
The Spiritual Imperative

Why You Must Start Your Side Hustle:
The Practical Perks

Remember, becoming an entrepreneur early in life is one of the hallmarks of the most successful individuals throughout modern history.

Jack Canfield

How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable?

Seth Godin, author

What is your passion? What stirs your soul and makes you feel like youre totally in harmony with why you showed up here in the first place? Know this for certain: Whatever it may be, you can make a living doing it and simultaneously provide a service for others. I guarantee it.

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

Why Wait?

You dont have a career, you have a life.

Cheryl Strayed, writer

Happiness is the joy that you feel when you are moving towards your potential.

Shawn Achor, author and speaker

Is this all there is? I contemplated one morning while feeling restless at work. I was a sales director in New York for a Silicon Valley startup recently acquired by a Fortune 500 company. I was on a conference call in my freezing office, doused in artificial light, scouring Pinterest. I gazed through the window at the beautiful blue sky outside. Sigh. Then I saw a pin that struck me: a quote from poet Mary Oliver, from The Summer Day:

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

My soul screamed: Not only this!

It was time for change. And so it began. My side hustle. Does this sound like you, too? Maybe you are sitting in your air-conditioned boardroom, stuck in another mind-numbing internal meeting where the biggest egos just love to consume another hour of your life that you wont get back. Perhaps you are waiting for your (bad) drip coffee at 8:45 a.m. on a Tuesday, just aching to make it to Friday at 5 p.m. (Really, how can time pass so slowly?) Whatever your defining moment or moments are to you, you know it when you feel them.

For many, like tech founder Sean Behr, the impetus for creating a side hustle is dissatisfaction with their existing day job. As Sean says about the time before launching his company Stratim, I wasnt creating anything new. As an entrepreneur Ive always wanted to createnew ideas, new products, new companies.

In my case, after more than a decade in sales (which in large part, I loved) I felt ready for something new. I also know that as human beings we are wired for new challenges and experiences. And Im not alone: a 2013 Gallup survey showed that only 13 percent of employees worldwide are engaged at work.

Ive read more than 550 personal development books and I am a natural adviser to the people in my life, especially when it comes to connecting them to their purpose, becoming more confident, negotiating, and networking. My side hustle, naturally, became life coaching.

I joined New York Universitys coaching program and used my sales skills to pitch article ideas to editors. I wanted to get my work published so I could attract clients. (Its called a hustle for a reason!) You may find that certification isnt necessary for the field you want to break into, in which case you can dive right in.

In my case, my advice-based articles helped generate a string of clients and within a couple of months I was earning money both writing and coaching. I couldnt believe my luck! Getting paid to talk to people and give life advice? There is a God! While writing for Marie Claire I even got to interview some pretty incredible people, including Arianna Huffington, Kris Jenner, and Spanx founder Sara Blakely.

Writing earned me between $75 and $750 per article (from the publications that paid) and I wrote multiple pieces a month. I was typing away everywhere: on the subway, in the Whole Foods line, while on a lunch break at the office. Each piece took two to three hours to complete. Writing for major publications with tens of millions of monthly unique visitors not only gave me credibility, it drove traffic to my blogresulting in additional email subscribers who in turn often sought coaching or advice from me.

I started coaching people at $100 a session in my very first or second week of taking classes and, as demand increased (largely due to my content being shared on social media) and as my life-coaching skills developed, I was able to raise my prices every three months or so in $50 increments. Working around the commitments of my day job, which included travel and after-hours client entertainment, some months I made an extra $4,000 on my side hustle. That was working 12 to 16 hours a week on top of my day job. According to Nielsen, the average 35- to 49-year-old American watches more than 33 hours of television a week. You do the math.

What could you do with those extra hours each week? Think about that for a second. If you sacrifice some weekly screen time, or give up or reduce any other unproductive habit, what gains could you create in your well-being or your goals? What could an extra income from hustling in those hours do for your life?

I could not recommend side hustling more highly. You make extra money, use talents that lie dormant in your nine-to-five day joband hedge your bets against an uncertain economy. Starting a business while employed also allows you to determine proof of concept more safely by providing for a test run that indicates your side hustles viability. This means you can prove that your product or service is wanted in the world before you dedicate your full-time focus towards it.