The Era of the Side Hustle

With planning my upcoming event Be Your Own Boss on September 28th in the Republic of Work, I have been privileged to meet a diverse group of entrepreneurs coming from different backgrounds and starting points in business. One trend which I have been looking at with great interest (mostly because I am already doing it), is doing a few things at once, or the 'side hustle'.

The reality is that most entrepreneurs have multiple things on the go at once, whether this one main business and investments in several start-ups or working a traditional job while starting a business.

For me, this takes the form of:

1. Operational Consultancy as a sole trader, which is almost like a part-time job.
2. Signature - A clothing brand I am building with a long-time friend.
3. Dusk - A digital marketing agency which combines everything I have learned over the past year with Signature, which can be applied to other Irish SMEs.
4. My Personal Brand - Applying the inbound approach I use with clients to my personal brand. I want to position myself as a relatable thought-leader, who is strong in the written word and encourages critical thinking among young people.
5. Be Your Own Boss - Taking the elements of all of the above, to create a set of community-based events to encourage other young people to either work for themselves or build a business.

Now, this takes the form of a very ambitious to-do list, but for me, it makes complete sense for the following reasons:

• At the age of 27, I am self-aware enough to know that the things that make me tick are writing, socializing on the job, the gym and working through a to-do list seven days a week.
• Again being this young, I want to play around with as many different things as I can, which I also enjoy. A product-based business, a service-based one, and a personal brand. Life is short. Why not!
• Each one of the above 5 feed into each other in some shape or form whether it be funding, experience, personal brand or building a strong network.
• I live and work in the city center. My commute is a leisurely 5-minute walk each way, with my gym being in between. My work, exercise, accommodation and social scene are all concentrated in one convenient little bubble.
• My background in the CIT Students Union, and in the Industrial Internet Consortium, trained me at a young age to operate multiple committees, projects and teams at a high-level, and to be extremely efficient with my time.
• With 5 plates spinning in the air, if three breaks, I still have two remaining. I have never been much of a gambler. I don't take big risks. I prefer to diversify risk.

As you can see, my approach to the way I am getting started as an entrepreneur is unique to my own personality, skillset, and motivations. I am not in this game for the wealth, in fact, I have invested nearly all of my earnings over the past three years into my projects. The tradeoff has been that I have never been happier :)

This seems to be a common trend for some of my fellow speakers at Be Your Own Boss.

• Shane and Cian at Tradeworkz are building an online marketplace for trusted tradesmen, whilst also providing Project Management consultancy services to help fund their vision.
• Michael and Omo at Deuxes Attire work full-time jobs and do casual stock trading to help fund their online clothing business.
• DC Cahalane has one main business in the form of Republic of Work but devotes an enormous amount of time to building the Cork business ecosystem with running Built In Cork, and sitting on the board of the Cork Chamber.
• Julette Jones has recently opened her second fitness studio, ROWR, with her main day job being the proprietor of Flex in the City.

Entrepreneurship, like everything else in this life, is not black and white. Whilst the side hustle works for some, concentrating on one thing works for others. And then there are people like me who take on way too much, but thus far in life, it has always worked out in the end for me and I become stronger because of it.

What does your unique journey look like? Come listen, learn and network on the 28th of September in Republic of Work. Be Your Own Boss will feature a dozen entrepreneurs, whom all have different stories to tell and perspectives to share. The event will also feature:

• Pizza provided by Oak Fire Pizza
• Food provided by Cafe Velo
• Beer provided by Dusk
• Post-event networking session in Electric, with a complimentary Gin and Tonic, provided by Kinsale Gin.
• The Be Your Own Boss ebook provided by yours truly.

Tickets available here on Eventbrite.

Hope to see you there :)

Michael