The side hussle
There are many reasons to blog. We may want to share our experiences with our friends. We may be on a mission and want to build a following. We may have a business or organization we want to expand. I think most of us are here at WA because we want to build a side business that can change our life.
The whole focus of WA is to help us use affiliate marketing to build a profitable business. The first thing Kyle tells is to look for meaning in our lives. Based on what is important to us, find our niche. Build a website and promote that website. When our website is getting traffic, monetize it. It is a simple process that takes a lot of consistent work.
The first thing I do when I get up is write. When it is time to go to work, I have to force myself to stop.
Why should we bother to blog? Because it is one of the most effective ways for us to create a side income that can replace the income we are earning at our dead-end job. Is your job really fulfilling? Blogging can help others live a better life.
Why Blog? Because if you don't you will be stuck in that dead-end job forever.
The name of the game is to do something everyday that will contribute to your blog. Write a post daily. Face it making you website pretty doesn't get you visitors. Only meaningful, helpful content keeps visitors coming back. If you are not adding visitors to your mailing list, you are not building your business.
I was fortunate. I enjoyed most of my career. The last 10 years I had advanced to where I was not just doing the work but was carrying out policy set by the top brass. Often I didn't agree with those policies. I was stuck in a dead-end job doing things I didn't agree with. I worked at that job till I could vest my retirement. Then I stumbled around for 10 years before I finally found meaning in my life. If I had developed a meaningful side business before I retired I wouldn't have wasted those 10 years.
Do I believe you and I can developing a side business that can enable you to retire in 5 years. YES I do. Don't get me wrong. My definition of retirement is not laying around doing nothing. I believe retirement should be filled with meaningful work that helps others and enables you to live the life of your dreams.
If you agree share your goals with us. Share this with your friends. Invite your friends to join WA and to share in the wisdom of this amazing group. You might just inspire them to start their own life changing business.
You can get your affiliate link to any post at the top of the post. Share that link with your friends and you will get credit for anyone who signs up to WA through that link.
Aloha from Bill808
Recent Comments
16
I agree with your theme here Bill, except I just wouldn't have used the word 'hustle'. For me it took away from the positiveness you intended.
So I did what do often ... I Googled it in search of a positive meaning.
Used as a Verb:
> force (someone) to move hurriedly or unceremoniously in a specified direction
> obtain by forceful action or persuasion
Used as a Noun:
> busy movement and activity
> a fraud or swindle
Nope ... can't find a positive meaning that you intended to be. Just saying.
good point. Our words have different meaning in different cultures. What do you think of "side gig? " I'm trying to encourage people to develop a part time business that can eventually replace the income they are getting from their job.
To me, hustle means to hurry toward ones destination. to work aggressively toward ones goals.
The last thing I would want to suggest is for someone to develop a scam business that hurt their customers. We see far to many scam artists promote the next get rich while you sleep wonder of the world.
Hey WAers, Give me a phrase to replace "side hustle." No more than three words that means to create a part time business that can be scaled up while continuing to work. I really don't like "gig"
Since my remarks above a month or so ago Bill, I've done a little research and found that there is a lot of discussion about this term.
It's original roots seem to lead to a young author and blogger named Chris Guillebeau. He's a generation X'er who looks like a generation Y'er (The Millennials).
He published a New York Times Bestseller 'THE $100 STARTUP' in 2012 and the concept has literally taken off since then and is becoming a millennials mantra.
I'm fascinated by all of it and plan to research and think about some more. I find it helping me to avoid having grumpy old man thoughts like those I expressed above ... my apologies.
I don't like 'gig' either.
The first definition in my dictionary is to work aggressively to move a job along. But you are right, the word carries a lot of negativity from aggressively moving one along to promoting a swindle, If no one can suggest a better phrase I will use "side business" in the future to describe developing a part time business while continuing to work.at a job.
Mahalo @NWTDennis
I've been mulling over your comment. I agree that "hustle" carries a negative connotation. I finally decided "business" is a better word because it is actually what I mean. Then I had to figure out how to edit my post.
Anyway, thanks for the suggestion.
For a lot of reasons, I believe a prudent person will have a business setup and ready to go in case they loose their job. When you have your niche, your website set up, your products to sell and your mailing list in place you will have everything in place to go full time when you have to.
You may love your job and have no intention of quitting, but having a business ready to go may mean the difference between poverty and abundance.
Makes a lot of sense, and the side business just might produce a steady and growing revenue stream. I think this is in line with the contemporary thinking of the side hussle theme.
Thanks Bill, really good blog. Ten years is a long time to suffer something, that does not add meaning to your life apart from the monetary value.
This is a great piece of writing and well worth sharing. You do have to be in this for the long haul and I think we all wish we had started earlier.
With Grace and Gratitude
Karen
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I agree with the term "hustle." In fact, my husband and I have named 2018 as the year of the "hustle" (used in the sense of the noun - busy movement and activity), because he was laid off in November of 2017, a few years before he was ready to retire and now we're hustling to make some money again!
I was already in retirement myself, because he made such a good income that my working would have just bumped us up into the next tax bracket negating the benefit of my continuing to work.
Now we are both hustling to try and get to his FRA (full retirement age) without digging into our retirement savings too soon. For me "hustle" has a positive connotation - get moving and create a revenue flow!
The times they are changing ... and in many cases amount to a paradigm shift. What your husband is experiencing is definitely a paradigm shift ... and sucks.
I wish you the best in your recovery efforts.
Thank you. I agree, it was pretty sucky and sad, too.
I came to Hawaii in 1967. Plantations were the force in the land and most of my friends worked for them. It was common practice then for the plantations to fire employees a couple of years before they could vest their retirement.
It is worse now because companies are firing employees and renting them back as contractors at sharply reduced income and no benefits.
That is why it is so important for us to develop a side business here at WA. We can only depend on what we develop for our selves.
I absolutely agree with everything you said.
Sadly, I agree as well. And to think that when I started my professional career (early sixties engineer) I thought loyalty and commitment to the corporation were appropriate (the old paradigm).
Then the concept of corporate greed set in. If there were only 'do overs' I'm sure I would set a different course.