An Etsy seller friend of mine, Sheila Simmons, recommended Side Hustle School (SideHustleSchool.com) as a great work day podcast starter as I paint my portraits. Short, sweet, packed with info in stories about folks who didn't quit their day job, but started a little business on the side.
It's hosted by Chris Gillebeau, and most of the stories have nothing to do with what I do. Saddles for chickens? Pet sitting? Wedding Photography? Nope.
But there are little grains of nuggets within most of them that are helpful no matter what.
And since my "day job" is portraits, my side hustle is... printmaking! Both handpulled and reproduction "giclee" prints of paintings, like this:
I've wanted to do this for years, but never got around to doing much more than a few. So one of those "nuggets" is to devote 20 minutes a day...every day....to the side hustle. Certainly I could do that! I can carve that from my OWN time, not my portrait painting time. Like this orange cat print.
In the last month, I have. Almost all of it was devoted to getting started with art I already have, like this print of a cat I drew in colored pencil where the original had already sold. This week, I'll be devoting my 20 minutes a day into prepping the prints I have to send to Amazon for their fulfilled by Amazon program.
Next week, I hope to start devoting my 20 minutes to actual art making for prints. I have some fantastic cat photos that have been offered to me to paint and I can't wait to get started!
So...can you devote 20 minutes a day to a side hustle? Do you want to? Would you relate it to your current business or do something totally unique?
By the way, do check out Sheila's super cool Etsy shop: The Body Workout, printables to help encourage us to get into shape!