What I learned running a side hustle while working full time

Honest reflections from running a side hustle alongside a corporate job.

For a while I was dog sitting on top of my day job and my flower business. It went well right up until my family staged what I can only call a quiet revolt. Turns out there's a limit to how many strange dogs a household will tolerate showing up on rotation, and I found it.

That side hustle paid for something real though. The dog sitting money rented us a summer place for two weeks in January, so we packed up and relocated there as a family. I still think about that trade. A slightly chaotic few months of borrowed dogs, for two weeks somewhere different with my own people.

That's the first thing I learned. You have to know why you're doing it.

If it's something you love, that's your fuel. For me that's flowers. I could do that at 9pm after a full day of work and still feel like I got something back. But not every side hustle needs to be a passion project. Sometimes it just needs to serve a clear purpose. Pay for something specific. Cover an unexpected bill. Fund two weeks away in January. If you know exactly what it's for, you'll keep showing up for it even on the nights you're tired.

The second thing I learned is harder to admit, because it's the practical bit and practical bits are less fun to write about.

You cannot let a side hustle eat into your day job. That's non-negotiable, and it means the only way it survives long term is if it runs without you having to think about it constantly. Automate what you can. Let the system chase the orders, take the payments, send the reminders. The less of your headspace it needs day to day, the more likely you are to actually keep it going, and the more likely it is to eventually make you money instead of just costing you time.

Right now I'm properly busy at work. I don't have much spare capacity to pour into the side hustle at all. But it just keeps ticking along and tells me what it needs, when it needs it. I know I have to buy flowers today. I know Thursday night is blocked out for making. That's it. That's the whole mental load. The system holds the rest.

And then there's the bit that's harder to put a number on. The sense of having something that's yours. Customers who know your name and keep coming back. A small, real thing you built that has nothing to do with your job title. I didn't expect that part to matter as much as it does, but it's probably the part I'd miss most if it stopped.

So that's it really. Know why you're doing it. Build it so it doesn't need you every minute. And don't be surprised if the bit that sticks with you isn't the money at all.

Got a question about something in this post? hello@usepicklo.com.