Four ways you can start a side hustle when you have a family
In my younger days, I had a couple of great business ideas. I never pulled the trigger though, as I wanted to get a little real world work experience first.
The next thing I knew, I was getting married, and having kids, and the time just didn’t seem right to leave my job to do something entrepreneurial.
But I still had that itch.
Enter the side hustle. In my opinion, side hustles are truly one of those best of both worlds things – giving you the creative outlet of entrepreneurship while allowing you to maintain the stability of a regular job.
But still, that’s not to say that side hustles are easy, especially if you have a family. To help you, here are four tips to help you get yours off the ground.
1) Get on the same page as your significant other
There are only so many hours in a week. And, if you’re working a day job, and you have kids to take care of, you won’t have much extra free time.
So before you start going down the path of a side hustle, it’s important to make sure your partner is on board. After all, your side hustle might mean less time watching Netflix, or hanging out together.
You might agree that you’ll send two hours on the side hustle Monday – Thursday, but then leave Friday nights and weekends for couples/family time, or whatever works best for you.
2) Rise and shine – or burn the midnight oil
One of the best times to get work done is when everyone is sleeping. So try waking up at 4:30am some time, putting on a pot of coffee, and see what you’re able to accomplish before everyone else gets up.
If you’re not a morning person, and that sounds like a form of torture, try staying up late to grind out a little work. It may not sound easy, but these are some great side hustling hours.
3) Do a little bit here, a little bit there
Going into a side hustle, you think you know what’s required. But, once you actually start working, all sorts of little things pop up that you didn’t realize you would have to do.
There are some types of work that require large chunks of time. Personally, I can’t get any writing done if I have less than an hour to work. On the other hand, I’m very good at jamming a little research or email correspondence into 10 minute work sessions throughout the day.
I also spend a lot of time thinking about my side hustle throughout the day. When I’m carrying my baby around town or pushing my toddler in the stroller, I’m usually also thinking about the work I need to get done for my business.
This way, when I actually have time to sit down and work, I can be really productive and don’t have to waste that time planning.
4) Take a workation
When you’re working, it can be hard to find much time to work on your outside business. But, when you’re on vacation, you suddenly have plenty of time.
And what if, instead, of just hanging out and relaxing by the pool for 16 hours every day, maybe you spend 4-5 hours working and 11-12 hours having fun?
Vacations like this are some of my favorite times. Not only can I get lots done on my side hustle, but I also have a lot of free time to spend with my family.
It’s worth noting though, that this is another one of those things to chat about with your spouse. Otherwise, it might not go over so well when you dash off from the beach to spend some quality time at work.
What better time than now?
Whether you have a family or not, today is the best day to start your side hustle. You might feel like you don’t have much free time, and that may be true. But, diving in and getting started is the only way to find out just what you can accomplish. Good luck!
Cristin Howard runs SmartParentAdvice, a site that provides parenting advice for moms and dads. Cristin writes about all of the different ups and downs of parenting, provides solutions to common challenges, and reviews products that parents need to purchase for babies and toddlers.
Photo by Brandless
