Growing Your Side Hustle While Working Full Time with Monika Garland

Episode Links

Shop affordable templates to level up your customer experience!
Monika Garland Productions Website
Monika Garland Productions Facebook
Grab 50% off Flodesk for life

Show Notes

If you’re still in that side-hustle season on life, where you kinda have one foot in and one foot out at your full-time job, this episode is really going to encourage you. Make sure to tune in to the full episode for even more tidbits and lessons learned from Monika.

Meet Monica

Monika was born and raised in Canada but moved to the U.S. when she was 16 and now is living the American dream as she is building her wedding videography business on the side of her full-time job. Unlike a lot of new entrepreneurs, Monika had no trouble booking 17 weddings in her first year of business. In this episode, she shares her tips on building her side hustle while working her full-time job, how she received so many leads and how you can get them yourself. She was set to shoot 29 weddings, but we all know how 2020 went but she offers a unique perspective on what the year held for her.

Our Advice

Tip #1 Recognize when sacrifice is necessary

Trying to grow a business on the side of your full time job is not easy. If you’re reading this, you probably know this all too well. How do you split your attention between the job that pays your bills and the job that leaves you feeling fulfilled?

Our best advice is this - stay at it! Hard work will pay off but nothing good comes easy. If you’re growing your business on the side of your 9-5, you’re likely putting in 60-100 hours of work per week. While this season proves to be challenging, it will pay off in the end.

Tip #2 Use your FT job to fuel your growth

When you are building your business alongside working 9-5, it creates less financial stress because you have a steady income coming in. With this, you’re able to invest in your business right away with any money you initially make in your business. Investing in things like upgrading your equipment or software allows you to offer a better service, show up more professionally, and eventually, charge at a higher price point.

Tip #3 Attract leads to your business with Facebook Groups

One of the biggest ways to gain leads in your business is by building relationships. In this episode, Monika shares how being active in Facebook groups where her ideal clientele hung out and by responding to inquiries about services she offered and answering questions to related industry topics, she was able to book 17 weddings in her first year as a wedding videographer.

Tip #4 You don’t have to say “yes”

When you’re entirely dependent on every dime coming in from your business, you often feel pressured to say yes to anyone and everyone that shows interest in your product/service. When you say “yes” to everyone, you make it very difficult to identify your ideal clientele which will actually hurt you and not help you down the road.

Another perk of growing a side-hustle while working full-time is that you have the luxury of being “choosey”. Aligning your young business with the people who you can best serve will have huge payouts in the end.

Tip #5 Value yourself and your work

Don’t undervalue yourself! Build up your portfolio, don’t undersell yourself, and take pride in all the time you’ve spent building up your business. You deserve to be compensated fairly for it. Another reason to raise your prices is to feel like you don’t have to do so many so you can put out quality work, focus, and devote time to what you’re doing rather than just trying to survive.

Tip #6 Track your time and be intentional with breaks

Track every minute of your time to see where it’s actually going so you’re not wasting so much of it on things like scrolling on your phone. You want to be able to use that time for things that actually grow your business. Use time blocks during your workday to take breaks with things like taking your dog for a walk or a quick stretching class on youtube. Breaks allow you to get your mind off what you’re working on and get your energy levels back up. Spend time relaxing and taking care of yourself during that time you have leftover. Prioritize that time and really keep your mind off work to avoid burning out.

Be sure to subscribe to The BrandWell Podcast to hear more content like this each week!