2. • 70% of people hate their full time jobs
• 84% of people plan on leaving their job
within the year
• 54% of people have passion projects that
they want to pursue
live outside the 9 to 5.
4. Complicated Career Circumstances.
• You have to make money somehow. What stands in
the way of doing exactly what you want?
– School loans
– Parental/social expectations
– High cost of living
– Not sure what you want yet
– Too much risk not to work
– Can’t find the right opportunity
6. Emerging career traits.
• (At least) one job that pays the bills and (at least)
one job that’s a creative outlet.
• Focusing on one thing for the rest of your life is
both boring and antiquated.
• You need multiple sources of income to have
enough money and time.
• You want to enjoy the journey not just the
destination.
7. Time Management.
• Parkinson’s Law
– Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.
• Pomodoro Technique
– 25 minute intervals, with 5 minute breaks to improve mental
agility.
• Schedule your life
– You have to be your own boss.
– Make time for you too!
8. • More Money.
• Build Skills.
• Prove Skills.
• Time Management.
• Become the Expert.
• Doing what you love now.
• Activate your plan B.
why side hustles matter.
9. • Taproot
• Catchafire
• Side Hustle HQ
• Care.com
• Freelancing
– Odesk
– Elance
– Freelancer
test the waters.
10. • What’s your passion project?
– What did you study at Pratt?
– What did you do when not in class?
– Can you make money doing that right away?
– Do you need to take classes to learn new skills?
• Either to enhance your side hustle or your main
one!
• Start by letting your business grow organically.
start your own.
11. Make it Viable.
• Be nimble, flexible, and embrace change.
• Know the difference between growing pains
and failure.
• Be persistent.
• How does it end?
– The Solopreneur’s Dilema
12. 3 types of income:
1. Earned Income
2. Portfolio Income
3. Passive Income
Money ≠ Happiness.
Money ≠ Success.
Money = Financial Freedom.
Financial Freedom = New Experiences.
13. Side hustles are more than 2nd jobs.
The point of a side hustle is to make more money
and eventually have more time.
• 2nd jobs are just more work
• If your side hustle relies on extra time = extra
money it is likely that it’s unsustainable.
• Your side hustle should either:
– Build to a viable business
– Advance your current position
15. Turn hobbies into a business or job.
• Endurance sports
• Mountain climbing
• Travel
• Creative work
• Team sports
• Chess
• Blogging
• Community involvement
16. Side Hustles at Work.
• The Pareto Principle
– 80/20 Rule
• Intrapreneurship
– Acting like an entrepreneur within a larger organization.
• Grind Spaces
– A members only shared workspace
– Offers a moonlighter membership (Mon-Thurs after 4, all
day Friday and 8-5 Saturday)
17. The Radical Sabbatical
• Take time off to do the things you can’t do because
you have a job.
• Stefan Sagmeister (Pratt Faculty and Alum) Closes
his NYC studio every 7 years for a full year.
How many of you have started a business before high school?
How many of you started one in High School?
How many of you started a business while at Pratt?
How many of you are alumni who have started businesses since graduating from Pratt?
Have any of you never started a business but want to now or in the near future?
From the Founders of Reboot!
Who here would like to retire?
What does that look like? Is it filled with all the things you really want to do?
When will this happen? Do you really want to wait until later in life to do the things you really want to do?
We are currently in a “gig” economy – increasingly based on consultants, freelancers, etc.
a fantastic video by Brazilian research firm Box 1824, which specializes in behavioral sciences and consumer trends. A brief recap of work trends:
— For the baby boomers of the 60’s and 70’s, rules and boundaries between work and life were a lot clearer. Workplace institutions represented security and social status.
— But boomers worked a lot. This had to do with keeping a deep sense of discipline and honor. Daily sacrifices would guarantee family security and the promise of a big payoff in retirement was motivation.
— Gen X redefined the time relationship between work and reward. This super confident, extraverted, and very competitive set was driven by a desire to achieve quick growth. The old model of workplace mentorship and loyalty was circumvented by earning a formal degree to get ahead of the competition. Work/life balance also shifted. Business time was extended into the “happy hour,” and being in the “right place at the right time” would define the work schedule. This mix between personal and professional life turned a workaholic into someone who was admirable and even sexy.
— Today’s vision of success is defined by fulfillment and purpose. For Millennials it’s more important to enjoy the ride than to make it to the final destination. The speed at which millennials connect with the world sets the pace for their work relations. It’s all about exchanging knowledge no matter your age. Millennials find empowerment in discovering things on their own and it’s natural to diversify their channels and seek out informal types of education. In the end, professional commitment is not just the norm, it’s something that naturally comes from truly engaging experiences. Besides having a job, it’s more important to have a purpose.
What does all this mean? You probably need a day job.
Do you have time to ask yourself what you really want to do?
Are you open to new opportunities? And courageous enough to navigate the unknown?
Day jobs are no longer a life sentence – in many cases they are what you do until the work you love gains traction
The notion of the 40/40 club – 40 hours a week for 40 years.
You want a side hustle that brings you energy instead of depleting it. That’s what will make your extra time worth it.
If you give yourself an hour to do a 30 minute task, it will take you an hour.
Cyril Parkinson, a British historian, first observed the trend during his time with the British Civil Service. He noted that as bureaucracies expanded, they became more inefficient. He then applied this observation to a variety of other circumstances, realizing that as the size of something increased, its efficiency dropped.
The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s.[1] The technique uses a timer to break down work into intervals traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks. These intervals are known as "pomodori", the plural of the Italian word pomodoro for "tomato".[2] The method is based on the idea that frequent breaks can improve mental agility
Being your own boss – means you need to be accountable. Many early entrepreneurs account for the amount of time it will take to make and sell their product, but not a plan for marketing it and working with customer feedback (good and bad).
Branding, social media, web development, etc. – how do people know about what you do?
Bookkeeping, pricing, billing, etc.
In-person networking, email, phone, etc. – Can you build and manage relationships?
User experience, feedback, generosity, etc.
*** Note that NONE of these relate to your business product or service!
It’s ALSO critical that you have the skills to provide great products or services!
Luckily a side hustle isn’t a life sentence either.
More money – also means more work unless you do it right.
Build skills – what’s your weakness? Ever read a job description that had that one thing on it that you can’t do? Learn it as your side hustle.
Prove skills – find something that a company doesn’t do well. Do it for them. Then ask for that as a job.
Time Management – having a side hustle will teach you how to use your time wisely
Become the expert – when you work for a company, the company is the expert. With your side hustle – you are the author of your work.
Live your life right now – don’t wait for retirement.
Taproot is a nonprofit organization that makes business talent available to organizations working to improve society - “What if nonprofits had the same marketing, technology, HR, and strategy resources as corporations?” in 8 years, taproot (in NY alone) offered over 320,600 hours of pro bono work, by 2048 consultants that benefited 458 non-profits. It totaled $30,985,000 in donated services.
Catchafire - 9 to 5ers who want to give back to their local community in a non-labor-intensive fashion will want to check out Catchafire.
Side Hustle HQ - Learn about side businesses, jobs, direct sale and franchise companies and other money making opportunities.
Care.com allows you to create a profile to be a care giver for children, adults and seniors, pets, and homes (house cleaning etc.).
Odesk, Elance and Freelancer – freelance sites
And PrattPro – this is our opportunity listings – which you can access for life. We get a huge range of odd jobs, temporary jobs, and permanent part time or project based work.
The solopreneur is basically a business owner who does everything on their own. Though they may occasionally outsource work when in need of assistance, they are essentially a one-man band, employing no one but themselves.
You run the show… Every last bit of it.
A solopreneur* is someone who is their business.
You manage everything, including your brand
You create your product or service
You manage your schedule and workload
You develop client/buyer relationships
You may manage a few contractors, but you are the only full time person.
Solopreneurship and sole proprietorship
You take all of the financial risk (but you also reap the benefits!)
Your business is your life
Don’t burn out – schedule time for yourself.
Isolation
Not only do you need other people so you don’t go stir crazy, you have to recognize your limits!
How does it end?
Can you ever sell it and retire?
You, as an individual, are the business, functioning as a 'company of one' and single-handedly working for the business, running the business, meeting all its costs and enjoying all the profit.
Your business is automatically a sole proprietorship – this means your finances and your business’ finances are entangled… Learn about incorporation!
Earned income is a salary. It is income generated by working. Payment is based on time and/or effort spent. When you stop working, you stop making money. You just need the opportunity (no startup capital) to make earned income – so it is the most common way that people start their career.
Portfolio Income is generated by selling an investment at a higher rate then you paid for it. Also referred to as Capital Gains. Think real estate, stocks, or other assets. You need to invest money (and invest it wisely) to earn portfolio income.
Passive Income is money gained from assets you have or create. Starting a business usually take a lot of time and effort to turn a profit, but if you grow that business to allow enough profit to hire managers, you now reap he benefits of passive income. Other passive income is renting real estate at a higher price than it costs to own it, Marketing, Intellectual Property, etc.
Side hustles require that you have a main hustle to pay the bills – the side hustle is doing what you have to do to eventually make what you HAVE to do .
Hobby income. There is an IRS distinction!!!
Hobby income is taxable. However you can deduct your expenses from income. If an activity is a hobby, you cannot deduct more expenses than you have in income. If it’s a business you can – under certain restrictions – but only for a certain period of time.
Hobbies that help with employability:
1. Endurance sportsSports like running, cycling swimming etc. suggest that a person has tenacity, perseverance and drive, which are exactly the qualities that are desirable for a sales or business development role.
2. High risk pursuitsActivities such as mountain climbing, mountain bike racing and sky diving can suggest that a person is happy to push back boundaries and take calculated risks. These strengths are desirable for people going into thought leadership roles or product/department leadership roles.
3. Creative hobbiesHobbies like cooking, painting and photography are artistic pursuits which suggest that you have a creative mind. Such hobbies might make you more appealing to employers in dynamic sectors and industries such marketing, PR, design, etc.
4.Team sportsGroup sports such as football, softball, hockey, dodgeball, etc. show that you are able to work as a team member in pursuit of a common goal. While this is a desirable quality in most industries, it might be especially useful in team-based environments.
5. Strategic mind gamesAn interest in games like chess, backgammon, or sudoku show that you enjoy thinking strategically. This type of strength is desirable for positions where policy development and strategy formulation are central to the work, such as a planning-based role.
6. Creative writingAn interest in creative writing – whether through poetry, short stories or a personal blog – can highlight your strengths as a writer or editor. This type of skill is highly sought-after for editorial positions, public relations positions with an emphasis on communications, or social media-type roles.
7. Reading, museums, librariesAn interest in learning-based activities can showcase a hunger for knowledge – a skill that could make you an especially good researcher, particularly suited to research intensive positions.
8. Community group involvementSuch hobbies can suggest that you are someone who is comfortable collaborating with others. This means you could be seen as a particularly good personality fit for managerial roles.
The 80-20: rule for many events, roughly 80% of the effects (outcomes) come from 20% of the causes (output).
The distribution is claimed to appear in several different aspects relevant to entrepreneurs and business managers. For example:
80% of a company's profits come from 20% of its customers
80% of a company's complaints come from 20% of its customers
80% of a company's profits come from 20% of the time its staff spend
80% of a company's sales come from 20% of its products
80% of a company's sales are made by 20% of its sales staff[7]
Some companies use this within their management style as well. They ask that their employees use 20% of their week to work on “personal”projects.
Google famously implemented this with it’s employees and this was how Gmail was developed – they’ve since discontinues this for various reasons. Linkedin has an internal InCubator for hacking new ways to improve it’s services.
3M has a policy allowing employees to use 15% of their time – called “bootleg time” to work on pet projects. This “permitted bootlegging is how The post-it note adhesive was developed by Spencer Silver (who was trying to develop a super strong adhesive for aerospace, but instead created something very weak) and the actual post it note concept was put into place by Arthur Fry during his bootleg time.
Intrapreneurship is Acting like an entrepreneur within a larger organization. The major difference between entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs is that the fruits of success default to the organization rather than to the intrapreneur. On the other hand, the intrapreneur also has the comfort of knowing that failure will not have a personal cost - as it would for an entrepreneur - since the organization would absorb losses arising from failure.
Be careful: Side hustles aren’t just taking on new projects at work either – notice the culture for moving up at you job – do people who take on more also get more noney? Or do they just end up with more work?
Stephen:
Sagmeister studio's practice includes taking a yearlong sabbatical every seventh year.
Eleanor:
Author of Grow: How to Take Your Do It Yourself Project and Passion to the Next Level and Quit Your Job is a practical field guide for creative people with great ideas for independent projects who want to achieve success and sustainability. The book is full of real-life inspiration and creative business advice from successful, independent businesses owners and creative people with projects that began in the do-it-yourself spirit.