MBA2329 Q&A Wednesday: How do I choose which side hustle to go all in on? - The $100 MBA Show

Summary

The $100 MBA Show: Episode MBA2329 Q&A Wednesday - Choosing the Right Side Hustle

Release Date: June 28, 2023
Host: Omar Zenhom
Episode Title: How do I choose which side hustle to go all in on?

Introduction

In Episode MBA2329 of The $100 MBA Show, host Omar Zenhom addresses a common dilemma faced by many aspiring entrepreneurs: selecting the right side hustle to fully commit to. This episode, part of the Q&A Wednesday series, delves deep into the strategic decision-making process behind choosing a single venture over multiple side projects.

Listener's Question

Fred's Inquiry:
"Hey Omar, I got a few side hustles going, but I want to go all in on one. How do I choose which side hustle to go all in on? They all have pretty much the same potential and are earning around the same amount of money. Would love some advice. Thanks Fred."

Fred's question highlights a pivotal moment many entrepreneurs face—transitioning from juggling multiple side projects to dedicating their resources to a single, promising venture.

Defining Personal Success

Omar begins by emphasizing the importance of defining what success means to you personally. He outlines that success varies widely among individuals:

Personalized Success:
"Success could be you're making enough money to live a very comfortable lifestyle and have a rainy day fund and with plenty of time for yourself to think, to travel, to explore, to have fun, to exercise." [05:30]
Ambitious Success:
Conversely, some define success by building a unicorn company, aiming for valuations in the hundreds of millions or even billions.

Omar advises listeners to reassess their definitions of success to ensure their goals are realistic and aligned with their personal values.

Choosing a Side Hustle You Enjoy and Can Sustain

The core of Omar's advice revolves around passion and consistency. He underscores the necessity of selecting a side hustle that you not only enjoy but can also sustain over the long term.

Enjoyment in Daily Activities:
"You need to be able to do what you do to be successful consistently." [10:15]
Using his own podcasting journey as an example, Omar shares how enjoyment has been crucial to his sustained efforts:

"I've been podcasting since 2014. I have published over 2,300 episodes on this podcast. This would not be possible if I did not enjoy recording podcast episodes." [12:45]
Avoiding Burnout:
He warns against choosing a side hustle that feels mentally draining:

"If you feel exhausted afterwards after doing an activity, and I'm talking about mentally exhausted, then that's not great." [09:50]

The Power of Consistency

Omar draws parallels between entrepreneurship and other fields to illustrate the importance of consistent effort:

Athletes and Professionals:
Just as an Olympic athlete requires countless repetitions to perfect their craft, entrepreneurs need to consistently engage in their business activities to achieve and maintain success.
"Game of Inches" Philosophy:
Referencing a motivational speech similar to one from Al Pacino’s character in The Longest Yard:

"Life is a game of inches... each time you're doing that activity in the business, that's one inch." [14:20]

This analogy emphasizes that small, consistent actions compound over time, leading to significant progress.

Integrating Passion into Daily Life

A standout moment in the episode is Omar's reference to Arnold Schwarzenegger, highlighting how integrating a passion into daily life fosters long-term commitment:

"Arnold is 75 years old and he's still working out at the gym every day... it's who he is. It's just a part of his life." [18:10]

Omar uses this example to reinforce the idea that the chosen side hustle should feel like a natural extension of oneself, rather than a burdensome task.

Identifying the Essential Activity of Your Business

Towards the end of the episode, Omar provides a practical framework for listeners to determine which side hustle to pursue:

Identify the Core Activity:
- Example for a YouTuber:
  "You gotta be on camera or shooting content. You gotta come up with concepts." [22:05]
- Example for a Chinese Restaurant Owner:
  "You gotta know something about good Chinese food. You gotta develop recipes." [22:10]
Assess Enjoyment and Fulfillment:
Ensure that the core activity energizes you mentally and doesn't feel like a chore.
Long-Term Sustainability:
The activity should be something you can see yourself doing daily, not just temporarily.

Conclusion

Omar concludes the episode by reinforcing the importance of self-awareness and alignment between one's passions and business activities. By choosing a side hustle that resonates with your personal definition of success and one that you can consistently enjoy, you're more likely to achieve sustained growth and fulfillment.

Final Thought:
“If you're wondering what is that one activity that is going to be required of me to run the business... just think about each business that you have in your hands or business idea and ask yourself, what is the one thing I have to do in order for this business to grow to actually be a business, actually be sustainable.” [25:30]

Key Takeaways

Define Personal Success: Understand what success means to you to set realistic and fulfilling goals.
Choose Passion-Driven Hustles: Select a side hustle that you enjoy and can commit to consistently.
Embrace Consistency: Recognize that small, daily actions lead to significant long-term success.
Integrate Passion into Daily Life: Your side hustle should feel like a natural part of who you are.
Identify Core Activities: Focus on the essential tasks that drive your business's sustainability and growth.

For those grappling with similar decisions, Omar's insights provide a clear roadmap to making a strategic and fulfilling choice in selecting the right side hustle to commit to.

Learn more about building your business with practical lessons at 100mba.net.

Transcript

A (0:00)

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to do@mintmobile.com.

B (0:17)

Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month Required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full terms@mintmobile.com Foreign welcome to the $100 MBA Show. The place to be to build a business you want with their practical business lessons. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher, Omar Zenholm. I'm also the co founder of Webinar Ninja, an independent software company I started back in 2014. And today's episode is Q and A Wednesday. On Q and A Wednesdays, we answer a question from one of you, one of our listeners. If you got a you want to ask, go ahead and email me over@omarr mba.net Today's question is from Fred and Fred asks, hey Omar, I got a few side hustles going, but I want to go all in on one. How do I choose which side hustle to go all in on? They all have pretty much the same potential and are earning around the same amount of money. Would love some advice. Thanks Fred. I love this question because it's honest, it's real, and it's probably a position where a lot of entrepreneurs will be in, where they have to choose which their darlings, which of their little babies that they built are they going to go all in on? And in today's episode, I'm going to give you my take. I'm going to tell you what is the deciding factor. What is the thing that's going to help you choose between these side hustles to allow you to have as much success as possible in that venture, not just now, but for the long term, five years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now. This is an important decision. So let's make a smart one. A smart decision based on reality, based on truth, based on what's going to work right now, tomorrow, the day after, and for decades to come. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business. So Fred needs to choose one of his side hustles to go all in on. I commend him because a lot of people never go beyond the Side hustle stage because it is a risk to take that leap and say, I'm going to put all my effort into one thing. It's really surprising to a lot of people that I really think that going all in can help you tremendously have a lot of traction because you are focusing all your efforts on one project. You're not splitting your efforts, your attention, your energy, your finances across the different efforts, plus all the energy of switching back and forth. So it's a really good decision once you've said, okay, I have some options, this is what I want to choose. And you choose and you go all in and you focus on that for the future. Now, when we talk about success, we have to remember there are different levels of success. There's different kinds of success. Success could be you're making enough money to live a very comfortable lifestyle and have a rainy day fund and with plenty of time for yourself to think, to travel, to, to explore, to have fun, to exercise. Some people, that is success, they don't need to have a company that's worth a billion dollars to feel successful. Heck, they don't need a company that's worth a hundred million dollars or $10 million. As long as the company is taking care of their needs. That is a form of success. Some people, the opposite. They're like, this company that I'm about to go all in on has to be, you know, $100 million, $200 million, a billion dollar, a unicorn business, or it's not successful. Pump the brakes, because number one, there are not businesses out there. And if that's the only definition of success for you, then you're setting yourself up for disappointment. Because I'm not saying it's impossible that you can't do it, but I think you should reevaluate what success means. Why? Because everything beyond that is gravy. So for me, my definition of success when I started to become an entrepreneur and go down this journey, go down this path, was I want to make enough money to live comfortably, pay all my expenses and do what I love every day. So as soon as I got to that point and one beyond it, every day was successful. I was living the dream. Everything else was gravy. So I just wanted to address that at the start because it's important for you to set your goal in the beginning and understand this is what success means to me. Write it down, put it on a journal, put it on a post it note, put it on a piece of paper and stick it on your wall in your office just so you understand what scoring a goal means in your life and your business. Now, how do you choose the side hustle? How do you choose which one to go for? Well, it's actually quite simple. In order for you to be successful in anything in business, you need to be able to do what you do to be successful consistently. So say, for example, the business you're going to go into is an email newsletter that has sponsorship, and that's how you build your revenue and you sell ads through that sponsorship. And your whole thing is that I'm going to write incredible content every single day to grow this email newsletter and be able to bring in new people into my list. So a big part of the way your business is going to be successful is you writing really great content every day and then marketing that content so that that email list, that email newsletter grows. So if you don't like to write and to market your own writing, something that you're going to have to do consistently every single day, the core tenants of your business, then it's going to be really hard for you to do it for a long period of time enough to get traction, to get success, and to sustain that success. Because one, you got to get better over time, and then two, you got to do it long enough so that you can actually get some traction. This is applicable to anyone who's successful in anything in life, whether it's an Olympic athlete or a podcaster or a surgeon or a master chef. They just need a lot of reps and so do you. So you gotta choose which one of these things that you would do anyway. You would do it for free. Or at least if you're getting paid in terms of sustaining your lifestyle, you're happy to do on a consistent basis. For me, a good example of this is podcasting. I've been podcasting since 2014. I have published over 2,300 episodes on this podcast. This would not be possible if I did not enjoy recording podcast episodes. If it was painful for me, if I didn't like, if I didn't look forward to it, it just wouldn't be possible for me to have that kind of willpower, to be doing this for almost nine years. So you got to choose which one of these businesses that are going to require you to do the activities every day that you enjoy that you at least feel fulfilled by. Now, when I say that you enjoy that you fulfill by it also is coupled by it's not painful, and that's something that drains you. It's not something that, you know, takes away Energy from you. If you feel exhausted afterwards after doing an activity, and I'm talking about mentally exhausted, then that's not great. Okay? You want things that energize you mentally. So after I record a few episodes when I batch, I might be tired physically because I'm on my feet, I'm recording, I'm using my energy. But mentally I feel energized, I feel motivated, I feel a sense of accomplishment, a sense of I've put something good out in the world and something I'm proud of that gives you fuel to keep doing it again and again and again. Remember, just like what Al Pacino said in that movie the Longest Yard, he has a speech where he's talking to the American football team. He's talking to or coaching that life is a game of inches you're scratching for each inch. And each time you're doing that activity in the business to generate content or generate a product for sale or do the actions to actually make the business go, that's one inch, one inch, one inch every day. And that gets you to where you're going. And the more you do it, the better you get at it. The more focused you are, the more impressive results you'll have. So that's really how you choose. Choose which one of these things are going to require you to do something that you don't mind doing every day, every day, day in and day out, for rest of your Be a part of your life. That's what you do. I was watching that three part documentary called Arnold about Arnold Schwarzenegger on Netflix and Arnold is 75 years old and he's still working out at the gym every day. Why? Because it's part of his life. He's not trying to compete for Mr. Olympia. Those days are over. He stopped competing in his late 20s. He does it because it's who he is. It's just a part of his life. So choose something like that. That is a part of who you are, something that you would really miss if you didn't do every day. And like Arnold says, I go to the gym every day. The same reason why you eat breakfast every day. It's just what I do every day. It's a part of my life. And then you'll be willing and able to do the work that's required to be successful to grow that business. That wraps up today's episode. Thanks, Fred, for asking. Today's Q and A, Wednesday's question. If you got a question you want to ask, go ahead and email me. Go ahead and email me over@omar100mba.net I'll make sure to answer it right here on Q and A Wednesday. I can keep it anonymous if you like. Just let me know in the email. But before I go, I want to leave you with this. If you're wondering what is that one activity that is going to be required of me to run the business, to have this successful business, just think about each business that you have in your hands or business idea and ask yourself, what is the one thing I have to do in order for this business to grow to actually be a business, actually be sustainable. For example, if you are a youtuber, you have to produce videos, you have to be able to shoot videos, right? The editing, maybe you can get somebody else to do it. But you gotta be on camera or shooting content. You gotta come up with concepts. Without that, you don't have a YouTube channel. Gotta have the content. If you're gonna start a Chinese restaurant, it'd be a fine dining cuisine experience. You gotta know something about good Chinese food. You gotta know what makes good Chinese food. You gotta be a foodie, you gotta come up with recipes. You gotta be able to at least be able to assist your head chef that you hire on creating these dishes and creating new menu items. This gotta be your jam because that's what actually the restaurant's all about, is the food. So just think about, without this thing, the business would not be able to function. So that's the thing that you're gonna do day in and day out as the head of the business. At least you're gonna be the mind behind it. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in Friday's episode. I'll see you then. Take care.