“Follow your passions.”
You can’t open up your social media feed without seeing some post about chasing your passions and following your dreams.
I’m all for it. I have a podcast where we interview successful hustlers. However, this stuff gets annoying. It’s kind of difficult to follow your passions when you have no money for the basics (like rent or food) and no time to do anything.
Let’s look at how you can follow passions when you’re broke but still want to grow a side business…
What does it mean when someone rambles about chasing your passions?
I guess it means to start your own business for profit. That’s what it should mean. What it really means is that you’re going to share a bunch of useless quotes that don’t impact your life at all.
The goal with chasing your passions is to get paid for doing something that you love or to pursue something that you truly care about. Following a passion can range from finally starting your style Instagram page to moving to Canada to become a pro wrestler.
Very rarely do we meet someone in real life who’s able to do something that they love for work (actual work in the sense that they make a living). Most people hate their jobs or in the best case scenario, put up with their jobs because they know that they need to pay the bills.
Imagine this scenario…
You’re fed up with working a job that you hate. You want to do something that actually interests you. You eventually want to make money for a living from something more interesting than your current gig. The only issue is that you have no money and need your job to survive. The bills will always come in. You don’t want to be homeless nor do you want to max out your credit cards.
Does this sound familiar? Keep on reading…
I’m as realistic as they come. I don’t want you to quit your job and end up homeless. I don’t want you to live at home until you’re 40 because you chased some foolish business idea.
I also don’t want you to miss out on starting that new hobby/business that could lead you down a world of new opportunities and money.
How do you go about chasing your passions when you’re feeling broke and hopeless?
DO IT ON THE SIDE!
Let me make this clear: never quit your job without a plan. You can do this on the side until you find a business idea that can generate you enough money to quit your job.
I know that we live for motivational stories of those who risked it all by quitting their jobs to chase an uncertain dream. I get it.
Do you know what the reality is? Nobody talks about those who chased a dream only to end up broke — or worse, in debt! I see this everyday. There are many broke and pissed off people who were sold a dream that didn’t pan out.
I know, I know. Your friend’s cousin quit their high paying job with no plan and then started the next Facebook. Cool. This is very rare. What normally happens is that you go back to work after six months because you quit your job too soon. You’re now worse off than when you started.
You have to follow your passions on the side. There’s no sense in trying to risk everything.
It’s important to be a realistic dreamer. I started blogging ten years ago as a student. When I was bored in between classes I would write articles and take notes for the blog.
Long story short: don’t worry about your lack of time or money. Start your side hustle/following your passion in your limited free time.
Use your phone.
All you need is a phone to get anything done now. You can connect every single social media app to your phone. You can run a business or build content on any platform. You can post pictures on Instagram, promote your services on Twitter, upload your videos to YouTube and make a killing off Facebook.
You don’t even need a laptop in 2018. You don’t even need a data plan. All you need is the WiFi password at the coffee shop.
Here are a few real examples of how you can use your phone to grow a side hustle into real money:
- You can build a following on Instagram. Talia makes her money off her feed. She essentially gets paid to take pictures of her food.
- You can grow a YouTube channel. Use your phone to record and upload content to YouTube.
Both of those links lead to two podcasts episodes that we did with badass content creators who are making a killing from social media platforms.
I used to make fun of this social media stuff. I laughed at people who talked into a camera or posted a picture of their meals. Guess what? They’re laughing at us because they’re making a killing. Check out my list of unique freelancers for some inspiration.
If you build a decent following, you can monetize it to eventually quit your job. You can do this all from your phone. You don’t have to worry about expensive business cards or finding the perfect domain name.
So here’s your homework:
- Pick a social media platform to deliver your message on.
- Think of a message to deliver.
- Study the best.
- Get started.
- Create a realistic posting schedule (every platform is different – you can post to Instagram daily and YouTube weekly).
This leads to our next point…
Think of something original.
What makes you so special? What’s different about what you have to offer?
The world doesn’t need any of the following:
- Lectures about working hard. Yes, we get it. You have to work hard. Cool story.
- Journeys to getting rich. There’s enough people documenting how they’re trying to get rich.
- General advice. You have to be very specific. We have enough generic tips about being yourself.
On that note…
Don’t let motivational quotes ruin your life.
- “Believe in and you will achieve it.”
- “Be the hardest worker in the room.”
- “Be yourself.”
- “Your only competition is yourself.”
You see this useless advice everywhere. It drives me nuts. I see friends sharing these quotes constantly all over social media. We get it. You’ve discovered entrepreneurship but don’t know where to start.
Please don’t fall into the trap where you’re always reading motivational quotes. I’ve noticed a disturbing trend on social media with my friends who want to get into entrepreneurship. They read the same useless quotes repeatedly.
Always focus on getting results. You don’t have the time to be sharing useless stuff. Go make some money.
Commit on a smaller level.
You don’t have to go all in. You don’t have to sell all of your stuff. You don’t have to quit your job.
Try to commit on a smaller level by doing any of the following:
- Attend an event in that field. Are there any events (book signings, conferences, etc.) that you can save up for in your area? You can save money by offering to volunteer in exchange for entry.
- Buy a course. There has to be a course that can help you fast track your success. You don’t want to waste your precious time on fumbling in the dark.
- Read books on the topic. Are there any books that you can pick up to study a great mind in your field?
You don’t have to go all the way, but you do have to put some effort in. If you don’t spend a few bucks or put any effort in, it’s going to be impossible to take you seriously.
Find a way to get paid.
You have to do something that brings in money.
This has been my biggest issue since I can remember. I focus on having fun or I devote my energy to things that don’t bring in any money.
I’ve been fortunate enough to bring in cash from real estate and other ventures.
Here’s the thing: you have to get paid.
You need to be making money or else you have a fun hobby. There’s nothing wrong with a fun hobby. You just can’t quit your job to rely on your fun hobby. You can’t pay the bills with your fun hobby. Your fun hobby isn’t a sustainable business.
Check out our video on this topic. We look at how you can turn a freelancing gig into a freelancing empire.
Be good at your job.
Don’t risk your main job because you’re excited about selling a shirt for $10.
It sounds like I’m kidding around, but I’ve actually seen this happen. Going after that side hustle money is more exciting than getting paid at your day job. All I ask is that you try not to forget that you need your day job to survive for now.
You don’t need an abundance of time and money to get started with a side hustle or to follow your passions. You can make extra money with driving for Uber or by just starting a fun little blog when you first decide that you want to make more money. You can also follow a wild passion project to see what happens. I just don’t want to see you give up your entire life to a job that you hate because you thought that you didn’t have enough time or money.