How To stay original and creative with your side hustle.

Why Original And Creative Side Hustles Always Win

When building a business, it’s very easy to absorb all the knowledge of those who came before you. You will often have larger-than-life competitors that look extremely successful on the outside. And you will want to compare your business and do things exactly how they have. However, creating an original and creative side hustle for yourself will always pay out more over time. Let’s dive into why this is.

In This Episode You’ll Hear About

In this episode, you will find yourself examining originality inside your business. You will walk away feeling inspired to put your own foot forward and begin to grow your side hustle through methods like creative networking.

Have you ever found yourself comparing your business to others? Wondering what other education you’ve missed out on that people ‘more successful’ than you have absorbed? The notion of not painting the full picture of entrepreneurship (the good, the bad, and the ugly) and only building businesses based off what past successful people have done has truly started to bother my next guest. 

In this episode, I have the privilege of speaking with Becca Wood. Becca dives into Side Checks with the revelation that we should be more creative and original with our side hustle. As if we were the trailblazers, not the people following those who have come before us. Becca encourages us to pursue creative networking and the challenging idea of how we would do something; if we were the only person on the planet doing it.

Becca designs Squarespace websites, quickly. She’s passionate about having real, honest conversations about the online business space, and thinking creatively about building a business that works for you. She’s also the host of Probably Bothered, the podcast where she talks about everything that bothers her…

Developing Yourself and Your Business While Side Hustling

Side hustling can bring many gifts through hard work. One of which is self-development. Running a business on the side of working a full-time job can in fact transform us into better employees. Becca mentions this when reflecting on how she became “a more observant and more productive employee” in her corporate role while first growing her business.

We also mention the reality of presenting our business. Especially in those corporate days. We discuss how we present our business influences so much of how others respond. If we lack confidence and assurance around our side hustle, we likely introduce our businesses that way. And the perception that others have will follow.

Taking The Meat And Leaving The Bones

An amazing concept from this conversation is taking the meat and leaving the bones of those who came before you. When reflecting on her web design business, Becca asks herself if she was the only web designer on the planet, how would she do things.

I think the concept of staying creative and original when building our side hustle is incredibly important. It’s so easy to quickly absorb everything that has worked for someone else doing something similar. Especially if that person is seen as highly successful.

However, what we forget when doing this is our unique factor in business. We need to create a business as unique as we are. When we don’t build our business for ourselves, we can’t sustain growth. Plus when we do maintain an original and creative take on our side hustle, we see even more growth due to the authenticity.

Creative Networking

Another key point Becca makes for staying creative and original while building your side hustle is through networking. Not creating a network soon is Becca’s number one business regret. She paints this really great example of using business friends to connect her with business colleagues. And allowing this to snowball into a creative network that can lead to opportunities for herself and/or other business owners.

Notable Quotes From Today’s Episode

“I started thinking about things, very differently at work. I started to become a more observant and more proactive employee… It gave me the bandwidth I needed.”

“I didn’t get it right the first time around as far as the work-life balance”

“The way people speak to you about your business; can affect how you perceive your business“

“The way we talk about our business; trains other people how to respond to our business“

“If I was the first website designer in the world and had no knowledge of what to do, what would be my first step? I started to piece it together that it doesn’t matter what I’ve heard or what people have said is the right thing to do. What matters is what feels right for me. And the ideas that I’m going to follow through on…. It has to come from your unique spin“

Links & Resources

You can read more about Becca and her design business at www.beccawood.com. Becca also offers coffee chats and website audits for entrepreneurs looking to strategically enhance their web presence. You can connect with Becca and book that time with her, right here. 

Looking for more? Explore more of Side Checks podcast right here.

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Want to start making more of your time when it comes to your business? Take my free workshop Life-Proof Your Side Hustle to put a forever end to not knowing what to work on, and when.