Hustle with Heels Podcast

Ep17. Protect Your Energy: The Key to Thriving in Your Side Hustle and 9-to-5

• Cindy Excell

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Balancing a demanding corporate job with a side hustle can leave you feeling drained and overwhelmed. 

Protecting your energy isn’t just a nice-to-have - it’s the secret to avoiding burnout and showing up as the best version of you for both of your side hustle business, and for your 9 to 5 job. 

In today’s episode, I share six proven strategies for energy protection that you can use to avoid burnout and stay focused. 

From managing corporate stress to building emotional resilience, I will show you how to optimize your time and energy for long-term success.

If you’ve ever struggled with staying motivated in your side hustle after a busy workday, this episode is for you!

In this episode, we discuss:

  • How to leave corporate stress behind at the end of the day.
  • Why doing the right tasks in your business will save your sanity.
  • The secret to setting boundaries (and sticking to them!).
  • How to embrace the seasons of life and plan your business around them.
  • The #1 realisation that helped me stay resilient and motivated.

PS: If this episode resonated with you and you’re ready to level up your side hustle without burning out, book a free 30-minute coaching call with me. Let’s create a plan that works for your energy, your time, and your dreams!

Resources mentioned in the episode:

  • Free 30-minute side hustle clarity call 

https://calendly.com/cindyexcell/30-minutes-free-coaching-call

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Welcome to another episode of Hustle with Heels podcast.

In today's episode, I want to spend some time talking about how you can protect your energy when you shift between your role for your corporate job and as a business owner for your startup business. Because this is a big topic, first of all, I want to make a disclaimer here that I'm nowhere near the energetic expert. What I'm sharing here is my own experience over the last four and a half, nearly five years, that has helped me run my own side business as well as being a full-time employee in my corporate job. Because let me just say this, it is not an easy switch, especially when you have a full-time job and during your daytime all day, your mind is completely focused on your nine to five. And quite often at the end of the day, you might feel exhausted. And if you are also like me, having family commitments and kids, young kids, you might feel even more tired and drained.

That is why, in this episode, I want to share some strategies that have absolutely helped me throughout my side hustle journey and helped me stay focused, not only with my corporate job but also with my side business, despite what's happening with my corporate role. Okay, let's get started here. 

To put it in context, let me paint you a picture. You've had a long day at your corporate job, back-to-back meetings, a pile of emails you haven't even touched, things you need to get back to your team, to your clients, or maybe some drama at your workplace, and already long to-do list that just keeps going. By the time you log off, you are completely drained. When you get home, your side business is still there waiting for you. So you sit at your desk, you're ready to work on your business that's supposed to light you up, but all you can feel is exhaustion.

Does that sound familiar? I have experienced that many times before. Protecting energy isn't just some self-care buzzword. It is actually the foundation of everything you do when you have a set of hustle as a business owner. Without protecting your energy, your creativity suffers. You won't be able to focus and you certainly won't be able to show up as how you want to be in your own business.

And you may even start to resent that very business you are trying to build. The reality is that if you are juggling a corporate job and a side of business, energy isn't just a nice to have, it is essential to have. So here is a very important reminder for my listeners. Your side hustle isn't just another job. It is the thing that's going to give you the freedom, the fulfilment and financial security. That's why you start your side hustle in the first place. It may even become your corporate escape plan down the track. That's why protecting your energy matters so much. If you don't protect your energy, the dream you are working towards will start to feel out of reach. 

Now I want to tell you a story. Back in 2021, I was probably, I think, 10 months into building my side business. I was still doing a lot of trial and error to figure things out. I was still new to the coaching business at that time while working in my high-demand corporate role. At first, that was exciting because if you knew my story, I started as a personal trainer and for my side hustle working in the gym, and I didn't like it. It took me a few months to eventually land on online coaching in fitness, nutrition and mindset. So all those kind of excitement, I would stay up late creating my coaching program, prospecting, talking to clients on social media and brainstorming content ideas. But after a few months, I hit a wall. I was tired all the time. That started to reflect in my personal life. Things like I would be very snappy at my kids, raising my voice over some minor things and dreading the very thing I loved because I had no idea back then that I needed to protect my energy. I was pouring everything I had into my corporate job during the day and my side of business in all my spare time. I basically left nothing for me. And guess what? My side of business suffered. I became this person I didn't like in my personal life as well. I couldn't focus on my side of business and it actually went backwards. I reckon for at least, you know, three to five months. I even blamed my corporate job for taking too much of my time and my mental capacity back then. And in fact, I felt like a failure in both roles. 

What I learned later on was that it wasn't my corporate job's fault. It was completely my fault because I didn't protect my energy, and I allowed burnout to happen to me at that time. And back then, that was inevitable. And what I realized the worst part was that it wasn't just about being tired and exhausted. It was actually about losing the spark, losing my passion and the belief that I can actually do this. 

So I don't want you to repeat the mistakes that I made. And I'm going to share some of the strategies here that helped me that I've learned along the way to protect my energy. And I hope they can help you as well. 

The first strategy is that leaving corporate stress behind when you log off. This is probably one of the hardest for many people, especially while we put our heart and soul into everything we do for our 9-5 jobs. We take our responsibilities seriously, and we feel the constant pull to always do more. Here is what also gets tricky: As high achievers, we are conditioned to measure our worth and the value at our corporate career with our output. If we are not available, if we are not checking our emails or solving problems at 9pm at night or if we are not getting back to our team, our clients straight away, it almost feels like we are falling short. But here's the truth, carrying that corporate stress into your sad hustle will drain your creativity and enthusiasm faster than anything else. This is why we need to stop the bleed of our energy. So there are three ways I want to share here with you that you can create a clean break between your corporate role and your side of business. Now, number one is you can create a transition ratio. So consider this as your mental and physical reset. For example, for me, it is as simple as shutting down my work laptop and taking anything that is nine to five related out of my sight. In fact, at home, I have a separate workspace for my corporate job and I don't share the same workspace for my side of business with my corporate job. It is not about the activity itself. It is about sending the signal to your brand that your corporate mode is off and your start business mode is on. So that's how you shift your identity to transition to the business owner. Think about what your transition ritual could look like. If you work in the office, you can simply leave your work laptop at the office, letting your team know that when you are not available, and set the expectation upfront. If you work from home, this could be as simple as changing into comfy clothes or making a cup of tea or stepping outside for some fresh air. Whatever works for you, find what that is and make it a habit. The second way you can create this break is that you can spend two minutes at the end of your day when you're about to finish a 9-5 job to visualize "closing the door". This may sound a bit strange. So basically, how that works is that you imagine yourself literally closing the door on your corporate day. Picture all the stress, to-dos, dramas, and challenges staying behind that door. And this simple mental exercise can actually help you show up fully present for your side business. So the third way to create a clean break is to journal. Journal to let go. Grab a notebook and take five minutes to jot down at the end of the day any lingering frustration or unfinished tasks from your corporate job and write them all out and leave them on the page. So this small act, it is symbolic, but they can help you clear your mental clutter so that you can actually focus on what really matters for your side of business and for your family time. And remember, leaving your corporate stress behind is not about being unprofessional, or not caring about your job, not at all. It is about protecting your energy so that you can give your best to the things that matter most, including your side of business. 

The second strategy is to do what matters in your business. Now, your time and energy are finite. When you are juggling a corporate job and a side hustle, you simply cannot afford to waste them on any of the low-priority and low-value tasks.
This actually applies to both your 9 to 5 job and your business. It's like you try to run a marathon while carrying a backpack full of rocks. It's completely dragging you down, which is unnecessary and exhausting. If you don't do what matters, if you don't prioritize what matters, you will feel that you're always busy, but you're not productive. You'll spend hours on tasks that don't move the needle in your business, and you wonder why you're not making progress. Have you ever come across a situation where you've been so busy all day, you're working on tasks or things, and you felt that you're so busy all day, but then at the end of the day, you felt that you've done nothing? I definitely felt like that before. In order to fix that, this is what you do. You focus on the high impact tasks only, especially at the beginning stage of your business.

So getting into this habit of asking yourself, what's going to make the biggest difference in my business right now? Is that creating content, or maybe it is to reach out to potential clients, or is that to build your offer? Focus on those tasks and let the rest wait. The rest of things like building a website, designing your logo or obsessing over your Instagram aesthetics. All those things can wait. Where possible, align your most important tasks with your natural energy levels, which can really help and make a difference as well. So what that means is that you need to understand your energy peaks, whether you are working best in the morning or working best in the afternoon, and try to incorporate those times. Because when you are in your flow, everything feels easier and faster. 

The third strategy is that setting boundaries is non-negotiable. Setting boundaries is one of the most underrated tools, in my opinion, for protecting your energy. They are not just about saying no to others. They are actually about saying yes to yourself and open up the space to allow you to do things that matter. Because without boundaries, you are constantly giving your time and energy to things that don't serve your goals. What's worse is that when you don't have boundaries, you often end up letting others control your time and energy instead, which can lead to burnout, resentment and the feeling that your life is no longer your own. To do that, you can set and maintain your boundaries by doing these three things. Number one is to communicate clearly. For example, if you are unavailable after a certain time, let your team or your manager know if this is your private time outside your nine-to-five hours. In my view, you don't even need to justify to them why. You just need to be clear and firm. And the set expectations upfront. If you have kids or family commitments, also communicate with your partner, your family members, or people in your support circle, letting them know when you need to concentrate on your side hustle and when you need their support for that. Number two is that block your time, time blocking. So I know that I probably mentioned about time blocking many times in my podcast, but this is truly a game changer.

Set aside specific blocks of your time for your start business and treat them like the meetings you cannot miss. Whether it's 7 to 8 p.m. on the weeknights or a couple of hours on Saturday morning, own that time like you would for a work deadline that you cannot miss. The third way is to turn off all your notifications. When you are working on your start business, mute your email, mute your phone, your Slack notifications, for example. The world is not going to end if you don't check your notifications for an hour or two, they can't wait. 

And the fourth strategy is to build emotional resilience. Building a set hustle while working in your nine to five isn't just a physical game. It is also an emotional one. Emotional resilience is what keeps you going when things get tough. It is what helps you bounce back from setbacks or unsuccessful attempts and stay focused on your goals. Without resilience, it is easy to let small setbacks snowball into big roadblocks. A tough day at work can also spiral into self-doubt about your business and your ability to make your business work. And that's not what we're here for. So again, I'm going to share three tips that helped me to build my emotional resilience. And I hope they help you as well. Number one is to acknowledge setbacks, challenges, or any obstacles are just part of the journey. Everyone who has ever built something worth having, whether it's a business, a career or a life has faced obstacles. So when challenges pop up, remind yourself this, it's just part of the journey. It's just a part of the process. Because without this mindset, every small failure or every small unsuccessful attempt on your business can feel like the end of the world. You will start to question yourself, your business, your ability to keep going. But when you see challenges as a normal part of the process, you will learn to move through them instead of letting them stop you. Think about it this way. Every obstacle you are facing or every obstacle you come across is just a stepping stone, not a roadblock. Whether it's a tough client interaction, failed launch, or even a missed deadline, for example, there is always something to learn. And usually those hardest moments can also turn into opportunities for growth as well. And tip number two in building emotional resilience is viewing everything in your business as an experiment and detach yourself from the result. For me, this one is a game changer. When you approach your business as an experiment, you actually give yourself permission to try, fail, learn, and try again, you detach yourself from the result and you focus on the process. In saying that, this one is also hard for most people because we all want result, right? We all want instant, quick results. It took me nearly four years to learn how to do that. Now, when you are too attached to the outcome, why didn't it turn out as planned or as you hoped for? It feels personal. For example, you launch a program and it didn't sell the way you wanted, you might think, well, I'm not cut out for this business thing. Or your poster content and that didn't attract engagement. You might think, well, no one cares about what I have to say. But when you shift it to an experimental mindset, those same situation simply become data points. So be analytic about the outcome and turn that into the information for what worked, what didn't, how can I tweak it, and what can I try next time.
It's like being a scientist in your own business. Instead of taking failure to heart, you are collecting data, clicking your approach, and you keep moving forward. It takes the pressure off and makes the whole process feel lighter and more enjoyable as well. The third way to build your emotional resilience is do not forget to celebrate small wins. You probably hear this quite often, and this one is so simple, but let's be real. When was the last time you actually took time to celebrate your wins? We are so quick to move on to the next thing that we forget to acknowledge how far we've come. A small win is still a win, and the progress is what builds momentum. When you take a moment to say, wow, I did that, you are actually pumping up your own motivation. It's like giving yourself a pat on the back and saying, keep going, you are doing amazing things.  and it doesn't even have to be anything big. Sign up your, had your first discovery call, celebrate. Finished creating your lead magnet, celebrate. Got your first piece of positive feedback from a client, celebrate. Treat yourself to a coffee, a nice meal, or do a happy dance. Share your win with a friend. Whatever feels good to you, do that. When you celebrate small stuff, you are not just recognizing your achievement. You are actually building the confidence and the resilience to tackle the next challenge. And that's how you keep moving forward, one win at a time. 

Then the next strategy here is recognizing the seasons of your work, your business, and your life and the plan ahead. What I meant is that life happens in seasons. So some weeks, your corporate job will demand more of you. Other times, you will have the bandwidth to pull into your side of business more. If you have kids, then how you allocate your time and spend your energy would be very different during school terms and school holidays. So the key is to recognize the seasons you are in, plan your side of business around that and adjust as you go. When you get clear on the seasons of your 9-5 job, your business, your personal life and your family commitment, then when life gets hectic, you can give yourself permission to scale back. For example, when your 9-5 job is quiet and your kids are on school holidays, you can use those time for creation work in your side of business, like batching content, creating programs. So basically use those quiet seasons to work on the business project that demand the big chunk of your time. That way, when life gets busy, you are not scrambling. On the other hand, when your job and the family demand more of your time, you can shift your side of business to focus on connecting or nurturing clients. This is important.

Because if you try to push at 100 % speed all the time, you will burn out. And when you burn out, everything, your 9-to-5 job, your side business, your relationship, they all suffer. The most important asset in your business is you. So be kind to yourself. Some weeks will be harder than others, and that is okay. Scale back if you need to. If your corporate job is intense one week, focus on maintaining your side business instead of growing it. It is okay to slow down to give yourself some grace. And that leads to my last point here. 

Last but not least, set the time for self-care. As a former fitness and nutrition coach, I have to remind you of this. You can't build an empire when you are exhausted. Self-care isn't just about bubble baths or face masks, although those are nice and great. But what I'm talking about here is giving your body and the mind what they need to thrive. That means having seven to eight hours of sleep every night, do some meditation, you know, every day, five or 10 minutes, your body for at least 20 minutes a day and to feed your body with nutritious food and drink enough water. All those simple things, they are so basic, but many of us, we just keep forgetting to do them. You simply cannot show up for your side business and for your family or your corporate job.
If you are running on empty. 

There you have it. 

To wrap up, I want to leave you with this. Protecting your energy is not just about getting through the day. It's about showing up as the best version of yourself for your side of business, for your corporate job, your career, for your family, your kids, your partner and your life. It is about creating space to grow, to dream and to make the impact you've been longing for. Now,

If you are ready to take your side hustle to the next level, but feel like you are spinning your wheel, I would love to help. I'm offering a free 30-minute side hustle career to call with my listeners. Let's unpack your challenges. Let's get clear on your priorities and then map out how we can get your side hustle started how we can protect your energy while you're still working nine to five, and how we can make your side hustle dream and a reality. 

You can find the link to book the call in the show note below. 

Remember, you are not just building a business; you are building a life you desire, and that is worth protecting. 

Okay, thanks so much for tuning in today, and I will catch you in the next week's episode. Bye for now. Thank you so much for listening to the Hustle with Hales podcast. I hope this episode has inspired you to take action towards your side hustle dream. 

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a second to rate and review it. Each review helps me help more corporate women and early-stage entrepreneurs just like you. Don't forget to take a screenshot, share it in your Instagram stories, all on LinkedIn, and tag me at Cindyexcell. I will see you next week.