Blake: [00:00:00] today on the podcast you have Stef Caldwell, who is going to tackle a bunch of different subjects with us. Today we're going to be discussing things like side hustles and authenticity and customer experience, kind of the, the whole gamut.

[00:00:11] But I'm really excited about this one. But Stef, before we get into it, I do want to give you a chance to give some context about yourself. Basically, if you could just tell us, first and foremost what your career path has been to this point, where you got started and how you got to where you are now.

[00:00:28] Stef: [00:00:28] Happy to do that and thanks for having me on the show. So my career path, if you just looked at it on LinkedIn, might be confusing to somebody who doesn't know kind of where I'm headed. So I started, , my first internship was in recruiting, right? I worked at a staffing firm where I was recruiting people and, and helping place them in jobs.

[00:00:48] In my professional career, I moved from being a business analyst to working in a sales and marketing role, to then working in a product management role and a channel development role to now where I sit, which is in customer success. And so again, , any person would look at that experience and be like, huh, this girl's really, , been all over the place in terms of her variances.

[00:01:08] But the way that I look at it is I'm collecting the experiences necessary to make me the most ultimate general manager or CEO of a business. And I think that, okay, really, really incredible leaders can empathize with their people in any department. And so I really navigated my career path. Bye bye.

[00:01:28] Creating opportunities to have those experiences so that when I do become, you're the leader and I am, , and my side hustle that I can really emphasize and create good experiences across departments.

[00:01:39] Blake: [00:01:39] Oh, that's a, that's a pretty unique. Viewpoint, I guess because most people when they go into a side hustle are basically just looking to make money.

[00:01:47] That's, I mean, that's the facts of the matter, and I love that you're really more like people focus your people customer centric. That's going to bode really well for you down the road, and it's gonna be great for our audience as well, because I think it's a really important message to hear. And before we dive too much more in detail, I do ask everybody, what do you consider to be your professional superpower?

[00:02:13] Stef: [00:02:13] I think adaptability and tenacity. So whatever the baby is, of those two words, that's me.

[00:02:20] Blake: [00:02:20] It's a necessity.

[00:02:21] Stef: [00:02:21] Untapped tenacity. Yes. it's, . I believe and truly like live out every day that everything is figureoutable and having that mentality and then also having the willingness to get up everyday and take one step forward, even if that step is very uncertain, I think is what sets me apart in my professional career as well as in my side hustle.

[00:02:44] Awesome.

[00:02:44] Blake: [00:02:44] Well. I know that you do work full time at narrative science. Correct. So you've, you've already got the full time job. Now you also have the side hustle thing going on. obviously the word side hustle itself is self explanatory. Do you understand that it's something you're doing on the side? You already have a full time job, but it's another thing to actually help people understand how you can do that.

[00:03:06] And so you're in a unique position where you can discuss that a little bit with us. I'm curious right now, what does your day to day look like? I mean that, that may be a bad question because right now we're going through all this coronavirus stuff and everybody's normal is completely out of whack, but normally how are you balancing having a full time job that's, that's demanding where you're trying to learn skills and grow and you're doing a side hustle at the same time.

[00:03:31] Stef: [00:03:31] That's a really good question. And because my side hustle is helping women optimize their lives and kind of step into the woman they were born to be. I talk about this often. It starts with boundaries. I am ruthless about my boundaries and I know specifically what my dream day looks like, which starts with know.

[00:03:50] Putting my physical and mental health first through practices like yoga and journaling and meditation and making sure that I set myself up for a successful day because my days are strenuous. Then, , I go directly from kind of my self care routines into working at narrative science where. , my, my day really changes.

[00:04:10] I'm in customer success. So it depends on, , what the customer problem is or what the, the advices that I'm giving to any other department to ensure that our customers have a great experience. And then my day kind of ends, , between five and six o'clock when I transitioned over to working for manifests full time.

[00:04:28] And I think it's an important distinction. A lot of side hustlers, they're like, Oh, it's, , it's my side hustle. To me manifest is, is something that I would love one day to be the hustle, right? And so the way that I am orchestrating, , my team and orchestrating our client experiences is such that, , we're setting ourselves up for a broader future.

[00:04:47] So. I tell my husband all the time I worked, I worked two full time jobs. It's just that the hours are distributed differently. If you look day to day, Saturday and Sunday, full time manifest Monday through Friday, full time narrative science. So it's a, it's a lot of effort. It's a lot of work. Okay. I'm doing it because all of these things bring me joy.

[00:05:10] So it's a choice and I choose kind of every day too, spend the time doing those things. I have

[00:05:16] Blake: [00:05:16] many questions following up on that, but I'll start with from the company's viewpoint, because there are a lot of companies out there that are at their very roots, very entrepreneurial, so they're okay with people having side hustles.

[00:05:27] They understand it. Then there are a lot of traditional businesses, probably the majority of businesses that actually look at that and say, why aren't you giving us a hundred percent of your time? So how, how do you go about, if you were in that position of working for a traditional company, like many of our audience is going to be right now, but you want to do a side hustle, how might you convince your employer or your company that it's actually a good thing for you to have your own little side project?

[00:05:53] Stef: [00:05:53] So it manifests, we talk about the people in our lives as, expanders, people that are the validation that you need to prove that that success that you're seeking as possible for you. I think when I started with manifest, I wasn't sure how to communicate this idea to my company that I was going to be doing something on the side.

[00:06:14] And , when I first started, it was small enough that it was just a few hours a week where I was planning events to bring women in Chicago together, that it was really manageable. And now it's become a little bit more of who I am, obviously. And so. To answer your question, I think it's find someone who can be an expander for you.

[00:06:35] What I found the second I started my side hustle, it was that was actually more effective and an even better employee of narrative science because I was thinking like a business owner and it narrative science. That's something that they really value in the respect they say, I mean, we are all owners of narrative science in a sense because we have equity positions in the company.

[00:06:55] But it's difficult when you're working for someone to really feel that ownership. And when I started working at manifest and every dollar that was going out the door was mine, and I was, , mobilizing a team in all these directions, achieve these outcomes. I started applying all of that in narrative science.

[00:07:12] So neuroscience science isn't getting, , two years ago, Stefanie, pre side hustle, value anymore. They're getting full blown, like super power value out of me because I've got these two lives and they're teaching me and informing one another. So find an expander who is the validation you need, understand their story, and then communicate that to.

[00:07:33] Your company so that you can help them realize that you're not going to be splitting your time. You're actually going to be even more effective in all the time that you spend, regardless of where you're spending that time.

[00:07:42] Blake: [00:07:42] I love that. I've never heard the concept of an expander, so kudos to you. That's, that's awesome.

[00:07:47] Stef: [00:07:47] But even Aboriginal work, that's fine.

[00:07:52] Blake: [00:07:52] And expanding even further though. You're probably a proponent of everybody having a side hustle. Right? But I'm curious, if I were to play devil's advocate, is there anybody out there that actually should not consider doing something on the side?

[00:08:07] Stef: [00:08:07] This is a really good question, and the president of my company actually has asked me a little bit about my side hustle and why I'm able to manage these things.

[00:08:16] Realistically, I'm a dog mom. I'm a narrative scientist and I'm a side hustle entrepreneur and I'm a wife, and those identities are really easy for me to manage and balance. If I was a real mom, if I was a full time philanthropist, if I was super involved on, ,...

Should You Actually Start a Side Hustle w/ Stef Caldwell