In this episode, we share our personal experiences and lessons about turning passions into side hustles. We lay out our exciting journey to entrepreneurship, from the inspiring sources that motivated our ambition to the significance of mentoring in career guidance. Our heartfelt stories emphasize the importance of fostering authenticity in pursuing your goals, hoping to empower you to carve your path with confidence, regardless of your career stage.
We dive deeper as we chart our journey into the world of business. Drawing from our personal narratives, we offer invaluable insights into recognizing business potential and boosting career confidence. We shed light on our inspirations to create a larger impact outside of our 9-5. We further underline the importance of authenticity in achieving your objectives. with a balance of self-care, providing a treasure trove of resources for anyone embarking on their entrepreneurial journey.
We dissect the challenges that come with switching gears between the our full-time jobs and our side hustles, offering nuggets of wisdom on how to navigate this often overwhelming journey. We unravel the key to finding the right time to devote to your passion projects, ensuring that you create from a place of peace and positive energy. But, there's more! We also delve into the immense potential of social media for entrepreneurs, stressing the importance of selecting the right platform that aligns your goals. So gear up for an enlightening discussion that promises to inspire and enable you to juggle your full-time job and side business like a pro. Let's get started!
Recommended Podcasts
CareeRise: www.careerrise.org
CareerConfidence: www.mjcareerconfidence.com
Follow Us on IG!
Follow Us on LinkedIn:
In this episode, we share our personal experiences and lessons about turning passions into side hustles. We lay out our exciting journey to entrepreneurship, from the inspiring sources that motivated our ambition to the significance of mentoring in career guidance. Our heartfelt stories emphasize the importance of fostering authenticity in pursuing your goals, hoping to empower you to carve your path with confidence, regardless of your career stage.
We dive deeper as we chart our journey into the world of business. Drawing from our personal narratives, we offer invaluable insights into recognizing business potential and boosting career confidence. We shed light on our inspirations to create a larger impact outside of our 9-5. We further underline the importance of authenticity in achieving your objectives. with a balance of self-care, providing a treasure trove of resources for anyone embarking on their entrepreneurial journey.
We dissect the challenges that come with switching gears between the our full-time jobs and our side hustles, offering nuggets of wisdom on how to navigate this often overwhelming journey. We unravel the key to finding the right time to devote to your passion projects, ensuring that you create from a place of peace and positive energy. But, there's more! We also delve into the immense potential of social media for entrepreneurs, stressing the importance of selecting the right platform that aligns your goals. So gear up for an enlightening discussion that promises to inspire and enable you to juggle your full-time job and side business like a pro. Let's get started!
Recommended Podcasts
CareeRise: www.careerrise.org
CareerConfidence: www.mjcareerconfidence.com
Follow Us on IG!
Follow Us on LinkedIn:
Hi everybody, hello everyone, welcome back.
Speaker 2:We're so excited I'm really excited to be here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, always. This is like the best part of our day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and this is the best part of today, especially this is the best part of my day. Oh, I'm so glad to be here. How are you doing, arminay?
Speaker 1:I'm doing well and pregnant.
Speaker 2:I love that.
Speaker 1:That should be a sticker I'm doing well, comma and pregnant yeah yeah, I don't think I've actually officially announced on this podcast, no, I guess. Yeah, everyone out there listening. I am eight months pregnant, what yeah?
Speaker 2:You're eight months pregnant.
Speaker 1:Yes, I don't know. Yeah, it's been fun. So we're here.
Speaker 2:We're still continuing the podcast and yeah, and we have a lot more motherhood career content coming soon.
Speaker 1:Yes, as I navigate the waters of being a mom and a career woman, we will share all that experience. What you want to? Yeah, we're excited. Cool, how are you doing, mj?
Speaker 2:I'm honestly doing better Seeing you today. I think chatting and having our little coffee chat before this did help a lot. It's been a tough day for MJ. That's okay, though, as there are highs, there are lows, and every time you grow from a situation, it's a learning. Today's learning curve was feedback. I think how MJ navigates feedback and what that looks like, and navigating that emotional toll sometimes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's okay. Yeah well, thank you for sharing a little bit about that.
Speaker 2:I think it's important to talk about feedback and careers. That could be another topic for the podcast. I think a lot of us feedback is something we take.
Speaker 1:I will share in that episode the different things, but anyway, yeah, it's definitely something that we can talk about, because it's not always easy to get feedback and to give feedback. So, to be continued on another episode.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:But why don't you tell our audience what we're talking about today?
Speaker 2:I'm so excited, okay, so last time, armin and I were talking about building your brand, we gave you three different tips to how to build your brand. Please go back and listen to that episode right before this one, because today is part two we're going to talk about, once you have a brand, how do you manage your side of business, or, as the kids call it nowadays, your side hustle with a full-time job. Okay, and your full-time job could be honestly anything if you're a full-time mom, if you're a full-time employee, if you're a full-time, whatever but we're going to be talking about managing this entrepreneurship side of who we are.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, it is a topic near and dear to our hearts because we are in it every day and we're enjoying it. It has its challenges, but it also allows us to grow and develop as human beings.
Speaker 2:And you guys. Each listener is also part of our, this journey with us.
Speaker 1:Yes, definitely, Because without you we would not be here. We would not be posting more episodes if people weren't listening to us, yeah so keep listening, tell your friends, tell your family.
Speaker 2:Everybody needs a little bit of career guidance in their life. Absolutely Cool.
Speaker 1:So, mj, why did you decide to start your side hustle in the first place?
Speaker 2:Personally, I think you should answer this first, but I'll go first. Okay, no, I take that back. You answered this first, armin. I'm turning the tables on you because you're eight months pregnant, so we don't know what to expect right now.
Speaker 1:Side note, this girl keeps being worried that she's going to have to take me to the hospital, and I'm ready for everybody listening.
Speaker 2:I'm ready. I'm ready to take her whatever situation happens. I'm so scared but I'm ready. But Armin for the sake of you being pregnant. Why did you start? Why did you decide to start your side business? You go first, Sure.
Speaker 1:Sure so, and this has been talked about in previous episodes, and especially in the early on episodes. But it started off as an idea when I was working at another institution as a full-time employee, wanting to do bigger things, like make a bigger impact with the knowledge and the field that I'm in. But it was more so an idea. I was also working at a business college, so I kept talking to students about their entrepreneurial goals and their desire to be in business and I, growing up, never, ever, thought I would even consider being a business.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it was a different world for me, but I think, talking to my students, learning from their experiences, learning from how passionate they were about business, I realized that, and also my brother played a role in this too, as he embarked on his own entrepreneurial journey.
Speaker 1:So it all became real to me in that same time that I could potentially do this. And from there I was also passionate about sharing my knowledge about career development and I would always think about how students because I work in higher education right, so students who have access to higher education have this information. They could go to their campus career center and get the support they need, but that's not true for the general population. If you're not in school, who can you go to? There are career counselors out there, but a lot of people the general population doesn't even know about career counselors a lot of the time. So it was a combination of wanting to express my knowledge, make a bigger impact in society and also embark on this journey of becoming a business owner. That was a new and interesting idea for me.
Speaker 2:Dang. I honestly was reflecting on everything you're just saying, because If I wasn't in higher ed, like working in a career center, I don't know, or like I'm thinking about the people that I know who, if they didn't know me, I don't know if they would know what they know about career Mm-hmm, because I'm like, yeah, where do you go in the world? I wouldn't even think to like look for a career.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't even think that's a good Thing yeah, yeah, a lot of people don't know about career that career counseling exists, exist.
Speaker 2:Well, because it's called career coaching and there's a difference.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's more of a recent phenomenon, especially with social media.
Speaker 2:Especially in the pandemic, when we were in in the deep, deep, early pandemic in the middle of it there was a lot of everybody kind of quit their job and became a career coach, yeah yeah, and, and coaching is a growing industry on its own.
Speaker 1:There are some differences between coaching and counseling. We don't need to get into the technicalities today, but now it is more easily accessible, even like if somebody's looking for advice on careers or Relationships or something anything, they can find a coach on Instagram.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like life, life coach.
Speaker 1:Yes, but that wasn't always the case before. Before Instagram and tiktok blew up, that was not the case, true, and coaching wasn't a big industry as it is today, so it, the, the information wasn't as accessible. Now you could Google, you could find career tips, advice, everything online, but that wasn't always the case. Right Dang, and also me having the counseling background, I wanted to make sure that I'm bringing the right Information, the, the training that I've had, out to the world, because I know that you can't always trust all the information that's out there on the internet. Absolutely, in social media and and and people in the general population might not know which career Coach is, the is coming from the right place and the right training and background. You know.
Speaker 2:I love that. I love that that's so official and I think that's what you know me, you know me and hopefully the audience knows me. I'm very like that. I like to make sure all my, all my stuff is official and we look clean and presentable. Yeah, presentable. I Love that. I want to. I want to go back for a second and you talked about being a business owner and how you never thought that could be you. And you never tell me a little bit more before Before we move on?
Speaker 2:hold on, tell me why, why this wasn't, and a thing and tell me like now I'm like this is tables have really turned.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna interview you.
Speaker 2:I want to hear more about that.
Speaker 1:Sure, yeah, I mean to me when I was growing up business Like I had an almost a negative connotation around business, like oh you got to be Manipulative and like you gotta be a salesperson to do business. Like those were my ideas Of it and it also a very like male dominated energy Around business and I didn't see myself like little or old arm and a Doing business like that.
Speaker 1:So that's what that? I didn't see the skill sets in me that I could do something like that and also didn't obviously didn't have the right idea about business and entrepreneurship. But I learned that that's not what it means. Those were my own like, probably from the media and society, what I had seen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're limiting beliefs that was my limiting beliefs 100%, but once seeing it possible through, like all the different students I worked with and how everybody wanted to get into the business roles because I was working at a business college at that time and I was like, oh my gosh, and there were so many different personalities in my students and I'm like, wow, like they truly believe they can do it and there's so many different great aspects to working within within the business Setting and then seeing my brother, who was like the first Real person in my immediate life of course, like I've had cousins and and people that I know who had businesses, but my brother was a real, like, first, real, immediate Person in my immediate life who like, had his own business. Yeah, and and my brother is not at all like manipulative or Any of the negative things that I thought about business people at the time. So it was everything coming together, but that's why I didn't think that I could do. It is because I had such negative ideas About what it meant to own a business Dang.
Speaker 2:Okay. So something you Honestly, you're talking about this. I don't know why in my life I've never well, not in my life, but in the past couple last year I've never reflected on this until right now. So I will get into why. I started career confidence in a second, because it yeah, okay, but hold on. So, like, just put pause. Just, I will tell you in a second. But I'm thinking about so my dad. This is hilarious because I never put two and two together my dad, my, my, both my parents are our immigrant parents from Central America. My dad came here, my dad was a mechanic, is still a mechanic and he actually like, wow, I'm having such a light bulb moment because my dad owned his own business.
Speaker 2:He had his own mechanic shop for years, for years now he doesn't, for you know he's older and needs to take a break. But I never thought about that before and I that's. But I think I never saw it like, oh, my dad owns a business, because that's my dad, like in my head.
Speaker 2:He's just going to work and my dad's a mechanic and he's the boss and he has workers and stuff like that right. So I never thought about it that way. When you said I never thought that could be me, you made me because I thought the same that could never be me. And I'm like, wait, mj, that was your dad. But you know why? Because the way I see business is a large, larger operation and it is totally is.
Speaker 2:It's a large operation. There's like a physical space to it and in my brain, I imagine, there is a lot of paperwork and a lot of like, like I don't know why, bankruptcy comes to my mind.
Speaker 1:You gotta go bankrupt if you ever business.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like all of these different like mega media times, the things that you hear, and I'm like I literally associate having your own business with like a large team in a corporation and a Physical space and like a large clientele, like all this stuff. So I'm like, uh, like I can't have a business. And I talked to last time about how you were seeing you actualize your goal and your business and career rise, and all these different things. I felt inspired and that was, yes, part of the reason, because I saw you and I was like, wait, arminay, not that you won't one day, but I was like, wait, arminay doesn't have like a, like she doesn't have a whole production team. We do need one, we'll talk about that in a second but I'm like Arminay is doing it on her own. She doesn't have employees, she's not doing, she's not going bankrupt.
Speaker 2:Like you don't have a gigantic office space, like all of those different parts and I was like, wait, you challenged my idea, your soul just being in your career. My challenge, my idea of what I thought a business was, because I saw that my whole life. Wow. So I'm like that's what's happening in my head right now. But let me tell you why. I started career confidence and, honestly, my first idea to start it was not I want to like have a business. It's not. That's not what it was at all. If you ever hear me talk in in my work role, I will tell you. If you ever hear me describe what I do, what you guys will hello, you're our audience. I always call myself yes, we have official titles and yada, yada, yada. They never fit on a business card.
Speaker 2:I always say we're social educators and the term I use is a societal educator and that's how I describe myself in society, because we are both first gen women and I feel I feel so strongly about the knowledge we learned in higher education and we're so privileged to have that knowledge we shouldn't be gatekeeping that from the communities in which we came from, because I'm a firm believer that everybody deserves that opportunity to have that knowledge to expand themselves, to elevate and enhance their life, whether that be in a career, whether that be in their life right, whatever that is.
Speaker 2:I feel so strongly and passionate about that and I think career education is something that is almost privileged.
Speaker 1:It is to be completely honest, it's, it's privileged in a way.
Speaker 2:You have to go to a college to have a career center, you have to have some type of status and the the support is not always accessible and that's why I started career confidence. I felt so and I do.
Speaker 2:Clearly you can hear it in my voice. I feel so passionate about creating that impact what you were talking about at a larger scale than just the college students that have the opportunity to meet us, and I want to do that for other people in an equitable and accessible way and I freaking love that Like. That is why I started career confidence and that's why it's like it's a little over the place on Instagram. There's tips, there's here, but it's because I don't believe in gatekeeping. I want to share what I know with the world because it's going to if it's, it can help anybody advance themselves. And then slowly, as I've gotten people have have have contacted me it's starting to become that of a business and I still feel kind of awkward labeling it that, but I know in the underlining, you know it's hiding behind the curtains, it is a business, but that's why I started career confidence.
Speaker 1:I love it. I love it. So it's similarities in our stories and like the motivation as to why we started this journey. So, honestly, I think it was inevitable that we were going to meet and then have a podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, honestly, I swear, if I didn't meet you and see you do it, I never, I don't think I would have had like the okay, mj, you can do it. And I said that last week. I said that last time, like if I didn't see you, and that's that's what it was is because you challenged my idea of a business and I was like hell, like if this woman who's working a full time I mean we're more than 40 hours a week and you have, I love your life and everything. I admire you, you know that. But I'm like dang, if Armin, they can do it, like for sure. You challenged my idea and I knew I could do it. And and I think that leads us into the next part, right, of what we're trying to get at and it's kind of where do you start really, once you've identified who you are and what you are?
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh my gosh. I know you've said this before, but like every time you say that. I'm like, oh, I'm so humbled, I had no idea. I'm literally, I'm just, you know, doing my thing here. But that just goes to show that if you're doing something you enjoy and this is for all of our listeners out there too is like when you find the things that you're passionate about and you're really performing from a place of like authenticity, you're going to inspire people around you and you'll have no idea.
Speaker 1:Yeah you will have no idea the people you inspire. So it doesn't mean you have to start a business to inspire someone. It could be in your daily life, something that you do regularly. It could be if you're working out regularly and you're like super excited about that. It could be in your regular job, your full-time job, that you're working. Whatever it is that you're doing, for doing it from a place of authenticity, you're going to do it well and you're going to end up inspiring people and I think that makes the world a better place.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that you inspire people. Arminay, I know your students look up to you. I mean, we share students technically. Our students, our students definitely look up to you. I know our team looks up to you and I know I specifically look up to you a lot.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love it.
Speaker 2:I love it. Keep the baby on the inside.
Speaker 1:Don't let this emotion. I know the baby's gonna love it. Well, thank you so much. So, with all of that being said, so you know, for our listeners out there, let's say you are in a place now where you're thinking about what am I passionate about, and maybe I want to start a site. So where do you?
Speaker 2:start? Yeah, absolutely. I think there's a lot of us out there who are, like, actually motivated and have thought about this before. But there's something there today Today I actually referred this as like there's almost like a cloud you can't see, but there's something that's there, but it's not fully blocking you. It's almost like this cloud and I'm gonna tell us, like for these people, what do?
Speaker 1:they need to do. Yeah, oh, this is so difficult because I honestly feel like there is no specific formula to starting the side hustle. I would say it's harder because if you have a full-time job or even a part-time job and then your side hustle is going to have to be, you know, outside of those work hours, so you're spending extra energy on that. So I do think it's a little bit harder. But there is really no formula in terms of if you do X, y and Z steps, you're guaranteed to be successful and have your side of it. No, that's not right how it works.
Speaker 1:I'll say from my experience I literally just started doing whatever my ideas were. So, for example, I was like I'm gonna just figure out how to make a website and start from there. And then, once I had my website up and running, by the way, it's changed like three, four times. It's had like four different lifetimes already in the last four years, basically because I grew, I evolved the original ideas I had evolved as I built it. Had I not started making that website, I might have never like. If I were like, let me figure out and get clarity on all of my ideas before I take action, I probably would have never taken action because I would have never moved to the next stage in my idea without trying out the first idea first.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and, by the way, you can see Arminay's awesome website at Career Rise. That's careerrisewith2rsinthemiddleorg.
Speaker 1:Thank you paid advertising, and well, why don't we share yours, Career?
Speaker 2:Confidence? Yeah, mjcareerconfidencecom For sure, but no, keep going. I'm like, keep telling me more. I love this, keep telling me Love it.
Speaker 1:Well, so I start honestly for me. So the idea came about right. It was actually I was talking to a supervisor I had at the time and we were like, okay, let's do this. I literally like researched how to build a website, figured out which platform I wanted to use for my website, created an account and just went for it. I was like I'm just going to play around with this platform and see how the website comes out, and I built the website and then from there, the person that I was originally working with I showed her. She was like oh my gosh, you did all this in like one or two days. I'm like, yeah, because I had this like surge of motivation, because I was so passionate about like getting this started right no clarity, no business plan. I didn't even know how it was going to be a business at that time. It was just like here's an idea, I'm going to try it. And so that was my first step, and then I will share more about how it evolved over time and how was your first step, geez.
Speaker 2:Oh, by the way, if you want a free platform to build a website, google sites is absolutely free. You can start building a a platform on there by just having, like, a Gmail account. So just so for everybody to know too. That's something you could do, because I know both our platforms are on paid website builders, but Google sites is one for free that you can use today. I just had to throw that in there. So, honestly, I remember you saying exactly what you said right now to me. I remember me telling you, like Armin, I've been thinking about this. And then, when we started talking about the pot like all of these different things.
Speaker 2:Right, we started the podcast first, then we then I launched career confidence Three months later and it was around International Women's Day. I got so inspired around International Women's Day and I just did it. I went for it. I was so scared, I was, and I remember thinking like everything has to be perfect, like, and I don't even know what the hell perfect was, like, what it, what does that even mean. And I and I go back right now and I look at MJ from March of this year and I'm like, oh, like I cringe and I'm like why did I just leave it? Just leave it, just leave it, just let it go. Let it be because that's who you were when you started and I feel that that's powerful to acknowledge to wherever.
Speaker 1:I was.
Speaker 2:But I just did it and it was something that, for me, doing stuff like that is actually very scary and I like to take risks, I've said that before. So just doing it and not knowing what I was getting myself into was really scary. And the website I got a search I like that you use that word, I'm going to use the same word. I got a surge of energy right around Hmm, like may no, right around when it started, I think February to March, because within that time the website was happening in the background while career confidence was loading. And then right now it's actually had its biggest update. Now it has a resources tab and you can find different jobs search websites. It has a grad school tab more to come.
Speaker 2:I promise it's just working full time. It's draining, but I just started and I will say this your ideas are not dumb, no matter how basic they are. And I say that because MJ said that to herself. I was like my ideas are basic, like that's not smart, that's not creative. You will get there you, and I'm not there, I'm not even close to being there. Somebody this week is so cute. They called me a micro influencer and I loved that.
Speaker 1:I loved that.
Speaker 2:That's so cute and they thought like the platform was really awesome. I was. I've been trying to be more engaging. We'll talk about that in a second. But just start, no matter how simple or how many not ideas you don't have, just go, just run with it. Just let it grow on its own too. I think it's like a plant you just sometimes have to water it, let it grow and you come back and you see results too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%. That's obviously worked for both of us in terms of just getting it started and then, once I launched my website, over time things changed. Ideas changed, the nature of what I was going to do changed. I also started Instagram. Oh my gosh, my Instagram looks completely different.
Speaker 2:It does if you scroll the way down, it does.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it looks very different from when I first started it, and then also my website looked completely different when I first started it and this was four years ago. So the reality is I just had to start. I had like, with Instagram I didn't even want to show my face at first. That's how I was. So Camerashire yeah, I guess I could use that word. I was camera shy. I was like, no, this is a business account, I don't need to show my face. Oh my gosh, I knew nothing, obviously, about it. You're so funny. I knew nothing. It's okay. Yeah, it's okay.
Speaker 1:I'm not ashamed of it because literally I had to do that to learn, and I actually learned that from you, yeah, when you started your Instagram, because I was like, oh yeah, you have to be more, you have to show your personality, you have to show your face and people have to really connect with you. And so I started playing around with those things for my Instagram and I realized that it's working. So, both for my website and Instagram, I was literally just starting and Cameram was out at the time, so I was like, let me see what Cameram's all about. And Cam has been really support, like really helpful in building my content for both my website and Instagram. So I would say that my biggest advice for first step is if you have an idea whether it's online idea, whether it's like you wanna build a product, whatever it is take that first step, build that prototype of the product, call the person you need to call.
Speaker 1:Like I don't know if any of you listening out there if you watch Shark Tank. If you don't, I highly recommend it because it really does teach you a lot about the challenges that entrepreneurs go through. Some of the stories you hear on that show about what it took for them to get to the place that they're at when they're pitching to investors. The show is about entrepreneurs who pitch to investors to obviously get money for their business, but the stories you hear and the challenges that they go through. It really has motivated me as well to recognize that it's okay if I try something and it doesn't work, if I have to take a step back and then take two steps forward. That's really the nature of the piece. So my advice is just do it.
Speaker 2:I love that. I love that, and I think the next thing we wanted to talk about relates to exactly what you're saying about these stories and how entrepreneurs got from wherever they were in their life to where they are, and let's acknowledge how they got there. They prioritized this business.
Speaker 2:They prioritized this opportunity. They prioritized their creation, their idea. They nurtured it, they loved it, they watered the plant and it grew. Prioritization is something within your business that is hard if you're working full-time, oh my gosh. I mean I can rant about this. Why shouldn't rant? I'm not gonna rant on here, but I can offline. But it's so hard. It's so hard to work full-time and I'm somebody who Arminay and I I shouldn't just say I am both of us the impact that we create in our everyday life is the same feeling we try to do in our side business. So we emulate, we wanna emulate the same type of energy we give in our full-time work because we love what we do. We love working with students, we love making a difference right, creating a positive impact in career education, but we also wanna do that for us. But when a lot of your energy and time is spent here, sometimes your side business kinda goes to the side end and it doesn't get a lot of love and the plant goes dry.
Speaker 2:So I think, prioritizing. I heard something recently on a different podcast. The podcast is called Round Table Talk. It's one of the LinkedIn podcasts. It's also awesome. If you've never heard it, please go listen to it. They're amazing women DC Marshall and Rita Malik. I follow them personally. I really they're amazing. Just women in the corporate world as well. Anyway, they were talking about how can you not prioritize something you want to achieve right?
Speaker 2:And I really thought about that thoroughly and that was actually the last episode they had before the one they released this week. It was talking about how could you? They were talking about how could you not prioritize, like your business, like what makes you happy, and I felt that so hard in that moment. I remember I was on the 405. I was about to get off verb UCLA from Wilshire and I was listening to that and I was like, yeah, mj, like what are you doing? I mean, yes, give my all at my job too. Right, I love what I do, but I said you need to give all at yourself and this brand's that you're trying to promote as well, because it deserves the same amount of love. And I have a hard time prioritizing what that looks like because I want to help all the way around.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it really is challenging and I think, for the people out there whose jobs, their jobs are not in the same field as their, side hustle. That's even harder, right, because you've got to shift gears with your energy and like get motivated again for your side hustle. So different kind of energy, yeah, after hours.
Speaker 1:But us, like, I think we're lucky in that way that our day jobs were already in that space having those conversations and being in that energy and then we go, we shift gears to our side business afterwards, so it does make it a little bit easier that it's in the same industry, but either way, it is challenging because you're drained. You know, working a full-time job I'm sure all of our listeners know any job that you work has its challenges, absolutely so it's going to drain you of your energy. And then, of course, there's other responsibilities personal life. Those who are parents have children they need to take care of, and there's, like always, other things that come up. So it's just a matter of how do you prioritize your side hustle amongst the chaos of our lives, like I think. For me it's recognizing when I do need to take a step back. I tell myself it's okay, because if I'm not creating from the right energy, it's not even going to turn out to be a good product or service on my website or whatever.
Speaker 1:I'm creating in that moment.
Speaker 2:Right, it is so true.
Speaker 1:So I have to be really, really self-aware and in tune with my body and what's going on. And so, for example, if it's a really busy week at work, I tell myself, okay, I got to prioritize work this week. And if there's other things going on in my personal life, I need to figure out how to navigate those waters. But then I go two times stronger when all of that stuff is taking care of the following week. I go two times stronger on my side business when I am performing from the right energy space. That's worked for me. I can't say that that's going to be a standard formula for everyone, but it has worked for me.
Speaker 2:And I think you're onto something, though, because recently I've noticed like I've been really trying to keep engaged the audience and we will talk about that in a second too but something I'm noticing is like when. I'm like when.
Speaker 2:I come home from work. I get home pretty late for other reasons, because we get off at five right Usually. Whatever has to happen, I get home very late and when I try to sit before bed and try to come out with something, it's almost like idea. It's like idea constipation, I don't know how to explain it another way, and it's so challenging. And my fiance tells me he looks at me and he's like you and he says exactly what you say in a different language. He's not in a different language, but in a different, with different language. He says what you're trying to do is not going to come out right and you're not going to like it and it's going to have a harder time. You are not creating with peace.
Speaker 2:You're not creating with peace, so it's not going to come out the way you want. And that is so true. It is so true. Things are so much easier when, like, whatever the hell is aligned whether it's in my body or in the universe, the stars, and do have to be.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean it also has to do with how much sleep and coffee I've had that day. But it's true, it depends on where you are and I think it's finding those times right. It's also like looking at your weekend saying, okay, Monday through Friday, what day can I do? Maybe it's a Tuesday night, Maybe it's on a Saturday morning. Right, Carving out those like miniature blocks of efforts. Remember, like a step forward is a step forward, no matter how big or small that step is.
Speaker 1:Exactly, Exactly If you can plan ahead, kind of, if those of you listening, if you identify as the personality type who likes to plan in advance, go ahead and do that. Like there was a point where I was actually blocking off in my calendar like I'm going to work on career rise at this time in the day, after work hours, etc. Because I am naturally a planner. I realized it didn't work for me because of the same thing I was saying about energy and where what I was creating from, and so I shifted gears and I'm like I'm not going to force it and I realized that whenever I do it from a place where I'm motivated and I have the energy, it's faster.
Speaker 1:It's faster, it's easier. So, like then, the product I create is what I wanted it to look like and then I don't have to spend extra time fixing it anymore. Right? But it doesn't mean that those times when I'm not developing something for career rise, it doesn't mean that I'm not thinking about it or that it's not a priority for me. I just try to look at it from a big picture perspective of like, where am I at in life right now? Career rising, going nowhere. It is here to stay. It's just where am I at big picture wise, and I have to figure out what's priority each week for me.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And I think that has to do like all encompassing of managing a brand right and figuring out what that looks like. And then you talked a lot about like working, having those time blocks and that's a lot of energy. That's like working two full time jobs, right.
Speaker 2:I often say that I said earlier to you sometimes I feel like I'm clocking in and out, of, like different versions of MJ and putting on like a different uniform and it's so hard some days it's really tough and it's mentally it's draining and it's tough and I have to fight myself with like which MJ wants to work on what and which university in here and there. I love what I do. Trust me, I love what I do. And career confidence, just like career rise, we're not going anywhere.
Speaker 2:This podcast is not going anywhere. Yeah, we're just going to keep growing. But that's tough and that's what managing a brand is, and I think those are also. Again, they're learning opportunities for you to learn about yourself. Right, you learned that, hey, blocking off time didn't work. But maybe a Saturday morning when you're sipping coffee and you're like, oh, like just chilling and you're like I have this wonderful idea, let me go out and produce. It's going to come out a lot smoother, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then you know, it's also those late nights, right For. So if I have a surge of energy, I'm going to, I'm going to ride that wave, you don't matter what time of the day it is, and sometimes I'll be like, oh my gosh, I should get to bed because I have worked the next day. But those are the times when I'm like, no, this is priority for me right now, because I know I'm in a creative space right now. So I'm going to do this, like the other day I was up till 1am creating something for a career.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Because I was motivated and I knew that I was creating from the right energy, and so I allowed myself and I did have worked the next day but you showed up, don't worry guys.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I did show up.
Speaker 1:You know it does require late nights, it will require weekends, it will require sacrifice, sometimes in terms of maybe, like you choose not to go out with your friends to work on your business, and sometimes you might have to meet deadlines. When I take clients, obviously my clients are my priority. If I get invited to a social gathering, I'm going to decline that. I'm not about to, you know, prioritize that over my clients. But I'm talking about also like knowing, listening to your body and knowing that if you're not in the right mental space to help someone or to create something, create the product you want to create, then you might not be as effective. So you kind of have to. It's like about it's a dance.
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure. No, I feel that, especially this week, I've been really, really focused on some major projects that I've been doing and working on with our team. I haven't been neglecting career confidence, but I have been less engaging, like how I've been the last couple of weeks and I've noticed that.
Speaker 2:But and it does it is going to take late nights, it's going to take weekends. That's what my life has been looking like these last couple of weeks. But I know there's sacrifices for the good. But I've also you're going to be proud I've been putting in little boundaries where I'm like okay, for the next like three hours I'm going to like focus on, like my family or whatever, or my dog, and I've been doing that because I'm noticing like I may not be giving myself the whole weekend, as I should, but that's okay because it's it's for my business, but I'm at least carving out those times for me, because it's also good to separate yourself from the space and take a break, breathe, work, work. Human you said that to me earlier. You're human and I'm slowly remembering that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, it's true, Because you know, we always say this as counselors, right? I know you tell this to your students and clients too. It's like how can we? If we're not taking care of ourselves mentally, physically, emotionally then we can't really be successful in anything. We can't be successful in any area of our life. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And we can't help anybody else and if you want to be supportive for your family or friends or people in your life that you need to be there for, you can't even really be there for them, yeah, if you're not taking care of yourself as well. So those are all really important aspects of managing the side hustle, along with, yes, putting in the work, putting in the late nights and the weekends that I think that goes without saying. Anybody who's managing the side hustle knows that. But that self care piece is a really big component to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we've been talking a lot about the internal, I think, management of a side hustle and a small business. Let's talk a little bit about the external Right. So we've got the website, we've got the IG page, we've got the TikTok, we've got whatever's in trends Okay, but who like what? Now? Like who are we aiming towards? What's our target?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So that's one thing to figure out too, as you're developing your side hustle. So let's say, yes, you do all those things, you have your website, you have your social media and you have your services or your product ready. Now you've got to figure out, okay, who is my audience and how am I going to reach this audience? And I think that's the biggest question in business how are you going to reach your audience?
Speaker 2:Geez. Honestly, I didn't even think about that when.
Speaker 1:I started.
Speaker 2:CareerCon? I don't think. Until you asked me recently, I was like I don't know people Everyone everyone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's really important to have a niche and I've learned that through personal experience and through all the different things I read and watch about business ownership. By the way, there is a really great podcast called how I Built this with.
Speaker 2:Guy.
Speaker 1:Razz. He actually interviews really successful entrepreneurs and if you listen to their stories you'll learn about how they became successful and how they built their businesses. And some of those stories are just mind blowing too Highly recommend. We can also link that one in the show notes as well. But it is figuring out okay who is your target audience and how are you going to reach them. But I think that from my personal experience I've realized that sometimes it's hard to identify your target audience in the beginning. You kind of have to do the thing and then realize who's coming to you for that and maybe you have an original audience in mind, but it actually doesn't really work for that audience and it becomes more successful with another group. So again, it's about trial and error.
Speaker 2:Remember, like Armin I said earlier, it's going to evolve right, just like how you are going to evolve, and we've said that before. You're going to grow, so is your business, so is your audience. Everything is going to change. You also have to be okay with that.
Speaker 1:Oh, that feels real, that's hard yeah.
Speaker 2:I was about to say, hmm, am I the right person to say that?
Speaker 1:But yes, you do.
Speaker 2:You have to be okay with growth and change, but for sure your target audience, which is a lot of work, because once you've now figured that out, guess what? Now you got to keep up with them.
Speaker 1:Keep up with them, Actually really make sure you understand your audience and their needs and their pain points. That's how you, that's how you reach them, you know, and then from there you want to use your resources like social media and other resources that you have.
Speaker 1:Your network yeah, if you're part of the community, where of the audience that you're trying to reach as well, making sure that you're promoting yourself in those conversations when you're interacting with the community is really important. But I think social media has made it so much easier for entrepreneurs, like sometimes I think that I'm like before social media people had to put ads in the newspaper Ew or, like I know, paid advertising on TV, commercials and and legit like put handouts, flyers out and about in the world and like different coffee shops and offices.
Speaker 2:I mean good for you. If you did that, you should be my mentor, because that's awesome. But I mean what's? Also? Because the generation I grew up in I honest, honest, honest to God like social media is such a lifesaver for, I think, small businesses and it's so awesome how people have grown. But I think it's also like an accessibility thing. Right, it's an accessibility model for other individuals who aren't able to pay to put your advertising in the TV. All these good things. So use your resources. Guess what? They're all free. Yeah, All the social medias are free. Definitely you want to do that as well. Keep up with your audience, keep up with trends. Use these different things, like you have all of that at your fingertips, literally. Use it. Use it because it's all there.
Speaker 1:And social media is a whole different ballgame on its own. True, by no means to have. I'll speak for myself. By no means have I mastered it no me either. I'm learning as I'm trying different things, but it is a way for you to easily try and figure it out without having to pay and like. Actually without having to lose anything, you can try it. But social media also. When I do research on social media, I've learned to is pick your platform, because it is not easy to be on every platform and like for sure.
Speaker 1:You know, especially if this is a side hustle, you already are limited on time and you've got to actually dedicate your nights and weekends and any extra time you have to your business. And then marketing is a separate ballgame as part of your business plan. But pick a social media platform that works with your personality. From my personal experience, I tried to tick tock because it was new and for you. I was lucky enough to get that one, because you know the words can always be. It didn't work as well for me as Instagram Agreed. I think Instagram fits my personality better in terms of the way it runs and the kinds of things I can post on there, and the descriptions can be lengthy so I can really express my knowledge and my thoughts to my audience. So you got to figure out which platform works for you, because you need to feel natural in your posts, otherwise it's not going to be effective.
Speaker 2:I agree, I tried TikTok way too late. I don't like it. It's not. It feels like I'm wearing a size small of jeans, like I'm wearing a size too small, that's what it feels like. Instagram feels just right, but that's right. You have to identify what works, and then you also want to remember what works for one platform doesn't work for every platform, so different skill sets you have to have, because think about this. Well, let's think about this for a moment. Armin and I both have LinkedIn.
Speaker 2:You promote LinkedIn as your personal, your professional brand for our students and clients. We also have to use it that way too. We have to remember that this is a platform Like. I can't just post me drinking coffee on LinkedIn.
Speaker 2:I mean I could, but it's not. That's not the most strategic and presentable way to approach something like that. The platform Remember what the platform is used for. The platform is more of a personable type of interaction with your audience. That's going to do well. Linkedin like, for example, I recently did the first gen. It was national first gen week. It was celebration during the week of November 8th and I posted that on Instagram. Did well, but guess what? There was also a lot of facts and historical things within there and knowledge, so I wanted to share that on LinkedIn. Did super well, but I cannot post MJ like drinking at a coffee shop. That's not okay. So like a silly example, but you got to know what works for what platform. And also because you're going to have different types of audiences, on LinkedIn you're going to have more of your professional network versus Instagram, where you're going to have more individuals who are seeking guidance or whatever it is that you're offering.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, 100% true. Utilize the strength of the platform. And I just want to kind of you know, prefaces with that, nothing against any of the platforms.
Speaker 1:No absolutely not. They're putting TikTok and both of us love TikTok. For other reasons I have my cooking videos on them for fun. It's just you have to see what works for your business. So the purpose of the platform, the population that's on the platform and then if you can be authentic in promoting your service or your product on that platform Absolutely. So those three things to consider in picking a social media platform, yeah.
Speaker 2:I want to also quickly talk also about when you're using these platforms. You said it earlier and I want to re-emphasize that it's okay if you fail. It's okay if the one post you worked hours on didn't do well. That's happened to me, which is why I'm giving that example. I get so excited about like the littlest things and they're so important because Armin and I know all about career stuff Like that is our expertise and the two of us can get so excited about like the career development cycle.
Speaker 1:And then you guys are like like it didn't work, like a cycle. It feels like class. Yeah, it's not fun to teach.
Speaker 2:I was like dang, that's so exciting to me but it's not exciting to the audience, and I think that's important too to also note. Like no, what we do in our fields are not the most exciting thing. They are when you're working one-on-one with us, I will tell you that for sure. But it's okay to learn and let this be, you know, like failing isn't failing.
Speaker 2:It's a learning process and you grew. You grew from that what didn't work, what worked. I mean, we can go on about the social media, finding the right time to post and what day and all this time looking at all those analytics, but literally just go with it, do it. If you didn't work this way, try it a different way. See what works for you, but also make sure it's you. It's a representation of you and it's natural because you're going to learn.
Speaker 1:And have fun with it. Yeah, if you're not having fun, that it's going to show and yeah, your audience is going to feel that. So I'm even like before career right? I realized this in my personal Instagram the posts I would like post with fun energy would get more yeah. So I really do. I'm a big believer in energy and universe and things like that. So I would say, pay attention to the energy that you're posting with and have fun with it, because that does end up building better results.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and guess what? Your wins? Little or small? Wait, that's the same thing. Little or small, big, or small, big or small is what I meant and we want to remind you. Celebrate the wins, whether that's your first client, whether that's the first email you get, whether it's you opening up the website, whether that's your first post, whether that's you DMing us saying thank you for creating this episode, because now I'm motivated to do my business, or whatever that is. Celebrate the wins, big or small, and especially celebrate the little ones at the beginning 100%.
Speaker 1:Those are like those small positive reinforcers that allow you to keep going. So we love hearing from you guys. By the way, Feel free to reach out to us anytime to share your thoughts or questions about the podcast or if there are any topics you would love to hear. We will be more than happy to take your questions and recommendations into consideration.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. With that, hey, do you Don't forget who you are. We adore you, guys, and we'll see you here next time.
Speaker 1:See you next time.