The idea with a side hustle is to create freedom. If you could earn a little (or a lot) extra income every week it would give you the opportunity to take extra time off and enjoy your favourite hobby, spend more time with friends and family, and ultimately be 100% in charge of your schedule.

There is a big difference between making a living and creating a dream lifestyle. However, most people are too busy being busy to really reflect on the opportunity offered to them. If it is important enough, we are all able to find a few hours a week to invest in our future lifestyle, instead of wasting time on unnecessary activities. The challenge is that if you are a full-time employee, retired, juggling part-time jobs or even unemployed, you probably already feel you are on a tight schedule. Most of us often feel as if there just aren’t enough hours in a day to complete what we want to do and we often say “I do not have time for this”. The fact is that we all have 24 hours a day and most of us have a lot more free-time than we think!

To me, it seems that the people who get the most done are often the people who already have a lot on their plate. They usually are positive and say “yes” to take on even more. Often, I see those not in the workforce having little or no time to commit to anything. Have you ever thought why this is and can you relate to it? As I was reflecting on this topic it hit me how many “must do” tasks I have on my list before leaving on this year’s Diamond recognition trip with ASEA. My calendar is already full, yet I know I am going to get it all done before I go. Personally, I can say that some of my most productive days are the days before I go on a long vacation and the reason is that I am extremely more focused on how I spend my time and I follow my “to do” list 100%. In my opinion it is all about priorities.

We all have the same amount of time each single day. What we do with that time and how busy we are is entirely up to us. There are different ways to be busy. Some prioritise family time and seeing friends, some prioritise household chores, while others make sure to get a good night’s sleep. I recently read an article from the OECD where they compared basic patterns; work, rest and play across 33 countries. I was shocked when I saw the list for paid work. Japan was on the top on the list with approximately 5.5 hours per day and European countries such as France and Spain report less than 3 hours of paid work per day on average for people up to 64 years old. That leaves 21 hours on average a day for eating, sleeping, commuting, socialising etc. and for those interested; work on a side hustle to improve their future lifestyle.

I do not give people a job. I help them create a business. Many people do not understand the difference between this. To gain something, you have to invest and sacrifice something. This principle also applies to time. To me it only makes so much sense to invest a few hours a week to start creating a dream lifestyle instead of focusing on making a living just good enough to survive. Every single person, even the busiest person I have met, can set aside a few minutes or an hour a day to work on their future. It’s all about time management. Time is money! Yet so many people waste it in front of the TV, scrolling social media or other non-productive activities.

As entrepreneurs we do not get paid for how many meetings we attend, how many emails we read or how much time we spend listening to podcasts, etc. We get paid when our efforts directly or indirectly contribute to a customer paying for a product. That’s why it is extremely important to utilise the small amount of time you have efficiently. That will be your very first win. If you want to get work done and succeed, do not wait until all is perfect. Make sure it is good enough and learn as you work. Working from my phone allows me to get work done on my morning walk, talking with people when I commute between meetings in my car, while I am waiting for my coffee etc. If it is sunny, warm weather, I do my phone calls from outside. All the small tasks I prioritise in between and usually, they do not even get on to my to-do list.

Experiencing and learning by doing is the only way to learn this business. When people start their business with planning & strategising, I know already it will not be a huge success – it is a waste of time. “How-to” books, checklists, success-tips, trainings in all shapes and forms – nothing will move you closer to your goal than actually taking action. The action has to be done by working together in partnership with others who have hustled and grinded out their visions already. Experience trumps any amount of planning, and it saves you a ton of time.

Rome was not built in a day. I find a lot of people jumping headfirst into building their dreams and that is great, but it needs time! Success does not happen overnight, unless you win the lottery! Behind every success are countless hours of grind – there is no way around it. The great thing about network marketing is that you decide from day to day how much time you have to take from your already fully-packed schedule and invest in to your future – and you have to be consistent.
I am fortunate and can choose with whom I work. I would always prefer to work with someone who is already very busy, because I know that they are able to prioritise. Over and over again I have met people with a lot of time available, but in the end it turns out that there is a reason for them having a lot of time. They very often do not get work done and seem to procrastinate and come up with excuses to not work on the business.

Take a good look at how you are spending your time – just for a week. I guess that work takes up the most of your time, but what else do you do? How do you spend your morning, what do you do in your lunch break, how is your time management after work and what do you do at the weekend? For people with a real dream of starting a side business, that can develop into something more than a normal income – actually a legacy business and an hour or two a day can be enough to get you started. How you spend that time is what’s important.

I remember very well when I started my own ASEA business, back in 2015. I already had long days, usually more than 9 hours at my “normal job” and I had to carve out minutes here and there. I got up 15 minutes earlier in the morning to answer emails and see what had happened during the night. I spent part of my lunch break talking with people on the phone. In the evening I connected with people interested in learning about what I could offer. I prioritised building my business every single day of the week, and in the weekend I could invest even more time. I found creative ways to turn social time into smart business time and instead of sitting on the couch watching a movie, I created a business. This was my way to time and money freedom. It was so worth it! I defined my priorities and scheduled around it as well as I could.

Over the last 7 years I have helped a lot of individuals start businesses. They have all had full schedules and they have not been “super-humans”. They have looked at their calendars, carved out time and taken action with building relationships, learning new skills and information and every single week they have moved closer to their goals. It is actually very simple.

Everyone has the same 24 hours. We all have the same choices. Life happens to all of us. People have babies, cars break down, you get sick, some are fired from work. We all have challenges in our life that are personal to us. Our job is to prioritise and manage our time around our priorities, so our challenges do not become barriers and we can move towards our goal.

I challenge you to take ownership of your life and manage your time so you can live the life of your dreams. Start with a few minutes and learn as you go. It is a wonderful situation to be in when you choose how you spend your time.