Don't Fall for the "Successful Side Hustle" Fallacy (it's BS, and it needs to stop.)
I have been talking for three months now about the secrets to real and lasting success, and as such, the fallacy of the successful side hustle (quit your 9 to 5! It's easy AND fun to make 6+ figures!!) really gets my goat.
I've even spoken about this right here, in this newsletter, in light of some books I have read recently that totally explain and dispel this myth, like "One Day I'll Work for Myself," by Benjamin Waterhouse. That books posits that many workers dream of striking out on their own, but self-employment can also come with unexpected costs, both financial and spiritual.
In today's newsletter, I want to say, there are a lot of people - from those who run multi level marketing companies to those who run "coaching firms," who are preying on this moment, on your susceptibility to messaging around getting rich and working for yourself and doing it all "on your time".
It is BS. And it needs to stop.
The only reason it won't stop is because people do not talk about this, speak out about this or put up a mirror, as I am right now, to everyone out there, so you can really look at yourself and ask yourself whether you, too, are ripe for this fallacy.
This week, another new book popped up and is speaking up. It's called "Selling the Dream: The Billion Dollar Industry Bankrupting Americans," by Jane Marie.
Jane Marie - I already read and loved this book, by the way.
Everyone else:
If you want just a sneak peak into this riveting take down of a world of businesses (namely, MLM 's)that may easily take YOU down -- that is selling you on selling others into beauty products, or Crypto, or even coaching - just watch her interview on The Daily Show this week:
The allure of self-employment is totally understandable, and no one argues for it more fervently than I - a self employed person, who is married to another self-employed person. No more answering to the boss. No more credit-stealing colleagues or performance reviews. Deciding where you’ll work and when. Autonomy over your schedule, a chance to do what you love, and maybe you’ll make more money in the end. Yeah, that is all good.
Except they are LYING to you about pretty much everything else.
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Starting and running a real business is not easy, it is hard. It takes talent, heaps of time, massive risks, consistency and effort, and it takes YEARS. It also takes serious resilience - as the ups are not linear, ever. In stark contrast to the promises of the sellers, doing things right is always right, and if the above truth sounds like "too much work" for you, let me tell you - you are not going to like this.
Small business in America is celebrated for creating the majority of new jobs, driving economic dynamism and stability, and freeing vast numbers of workers from the vagaries of big corporations. These are fantastic things. But if you look more closely at the BLS numbers, you will find that 50% of small businesses never make more than $25k, and that is the vast majority of those who started a "side hustle," thinking there is no down side.
But there is a downside. Most side hustles - because they are neither productive, nor taken seriously (meaning: because they are built on airy fairy dreams) are treated as hobbies. They drain your energy and account, as such, and do not become sustainable as a business to scale further – and the best way to do it is through a business plan. Not making a business plan ends up with you going astray and moving without a clear direction.
As far as I am concerned, I will always stand staunchly against this. Especially since I myself have fallen prey to these messages when my ego acted up and made me think: "hey, this person has THE SECRET! Let's pay them a ton of money to get my fame/ fortune!!." I am only human, and so are you. To get past this, we must talk about this, and I want to share the only solution currently available to us, as governance protections, according to "Selling the Dream," are currently unfeasible.
The alternative is to seek honesty, and to understand in your heart that if something FEELS or LOOKS too good to be true, it probably IS.
Do not fall for the scam that is selling you "the dream." Invest in realness, in real results and in reality. This means:
Look for honesty about what it really takes to launch a business, to scale a business and to run one - and how wonderful and sustainable it is if you do things right.
Look for honesty about why your corporate job can also be the path you seek - just as much as would working for yourself! - if you do things right.
Doing things right does not mean "doing things my way," to be clear. It means doing things with integrity.
If you are ready for real, hands on coaching with an ICF accredited coach -- me (not some coach surrogate) --- and with a method that is tried and true and delivers real, measurable and demonstrable results (see here) - schedule a time to speak with me, I will personally show up, and I will gladly walk you through our process and speak clearly and honestly to where you are, and to what it will really take to get to where you want to go. Here is the link.
Enjoy the book(s), and hope to see you in session.