Texas Conference for Women - Nov. 17, 2011

I’ve been very fortunate to do a lot of speaking engagements this year (most recently at the Texas Conference for Women where I got to tell Martha Beck how obsessed I am with her work), but I always feel like I could do a better job of including all of you. These events don’t always capture video, and even when they do it may not be available for months.

I LOVE workshops and live interaction, so I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve got two great online events lined up for December! Read on for more details…

Inbox Freedom: 2-Part Webinar Series (hosted in conjunction with People On the Go)

This is a topic near and dear to my heart. As many of you know from my 12 Mini Confessions post, email and I have a love/hate relationship. I absolutely love interacting with friends and readers, and email is a major part of my job and how much of my work gets done.

However, I hate the feeling of constantly being behind; of sinking deeper and deeper into email quicksand for every day that I spend away from the computer. I am a slave the little “ding” notification on my phone, and yet I don’t turn it off. I check email when I wake up in the morning, all day long, and until I go to sleep at night.

There has got to be a better way. 

This webinar series is my way of helping us find it. Email isn’t going anywhere, and for the most part, our work benefits greatly from the convenience, speed and reach it can allow — if used properly.

Email is a skill just like any other, and this webinar series will help you take your email habits from ad hoc to intentional and focused. I’ve taken a deep, introspective look at what gets in my way and have done extensive research on tips and tools from others so that I can share the very best of the best practices with you.

The Inbox Freedom series is an interactive workshop composed of two 60-minute sessions:

• Session 1 – The Bigger Picture: Addressing how/when email fits — assessing your overall email “health,” understanding the three A’s that typically plague us when it comes to answering email: attitude, avoidance, and (lack of) awareness; an overview of The Results Curve, strategies for how to keep email from consuming every waking minute of your day (and most important work), and an exercise to help you outline your broader priorities.
• Session 2 – Email as a task: once you have email in it’s proper place of your day-to-day workflow, we’ll examine the anatomy of the email task, how to recognize and prioritize emails based on what is actually urgent/important, and share online resources to help you process more effectively.

You will leave this series with:

• A handle on how email fits in to your broader workflow and priorities
• Strategies for reducing email overwhelm and dealing with “big frogs” that you tend to avoid
• An abundance of helpful resources and tactics to help you process email more efficiently and effectively
• The ability to focus on what really matters to you

Day/Time: Session 1: Thursday, Dec. 1 at 1pm PT / 4pm ET; Session 2: Thursday, Dec. 8 at 1pm PT / 4pm ET
Cost: $29 for an individual; companies: special discount of $99 for teams of 10 who sign-up
Enroll: Sign-up here

Jonathan Mead is someone I’ve looked up to for as long as I’ve been blogging, and I’m thrilled to be co-hosting a webinar with him about his incredible work, which is helping people find what they were born to do and then…drumroll please…actually get paid for it!

Here’s a description of the webinar from Jonathan:

Your offer is everything.

When you get this right, everything lines up. Opportunities materialize, people are interested, and they’re hungry for more.

Get it wrong, however, and all your effort, all your hard work amounts to… little or nothing.

Personally, I can’t stand seeing this happen. So I’m on a mission to help people get this right from the beginning, so the seed you plant grows into something beautiful.

On this webinar you’ll discover…

• The one thing you can do to immediately transform your chances of success right now
• Reveal the truth about the “unfortunate lie” that is holding most people back from succeeding (most people don’t even know they’re spreading this)
• How you can finally make this “getting paid to be who you are” thing a reality, now (and what a simple shift you can make has to do with it)
• Why the seed you plant from the beginning is everything: if it’s infertile, nothing grows; if it’s strong and hardy, it can withstand anything

I look forward to (hopefully) hanging out with you at one of these events!

***

P.S. Thanks to Alexis Grant, I am quoted in the U.S. News and World Report magazine this month…the paper one! I snatched up five copies at the airport, and couldn’t resist sharing a few snapshots with all of you. Read the full article here.

Quick update before we jump in: my book is finally out on Kindle – woohoo! Order your copy here. Not sure if it’s for you? Check out what 77 fabulous reviewers had to say.

I’m very excited to have my first post up on Lifehack.org today — a site that has inspired my own thoughts on organization, lifehacking and providing useful content for readers for as long as I’ve been blogging.

My Lifehack post is about how doing a cleanse (and subsequently “going Paleo”) changed my life — and business — for the better. It’s not necessarily the fastest, magic bullet-iest (new word!), or sexiest lifehack (or maybe it is?); it requires dedication and tough choices, but I’ve found the rewards to be exponentially positive. I’ve included an excerpt at the end of this post.

Here are some related posts (a virtual welcome mat, if you will) for all the new readers this week — hopefully this serves as a nice recap for the veteran readers as well!

On Health & Fitness: 

• I owe all of my success with Paleo to this soup recipe, which I make every Monday
• Check-out my detailed health journal from the first 21-days of my cleanse / health experiment
• Related books I’ve recently read and enjoyed (more reviews on GoodReads):
  • The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolfe
  • The Four-Hour Body by Tim Ferris
  • Wheat Belly by William Davis
  • Clean by Alejandro Junger
  • Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink

On Side Hustles, Leaving Google & Solopreneruship:

• 6 Ways to Manage a Side Hustle Without Going Insane
• Forbes.com: 5 Tips for Managing Your Energy, Not Your Time
• I’m a Free Agent: From Six Figures to Suitcase
• Free Agent Part Two: On Big Decisions & Very Real Fears
• LocationRebel.com – Someday.
• 20 Lessons from 2 Months of Solopreneurship (Part One)
• 20 Lessons from 2 Months of Solopreneurship (Part Two)
• Escape from Cubicle Nation: Side Hustle & Flow Feature

On Lifehacking & General Organization: 

• How I stay organized, Part 1 - 15 tips to get your online and offline life in order
• How I stay organized, Part 2 - 27 new tips & tricks (primarily focused on Internet-based tips and apps)
• Make Sh*t Happen Tools – 50+ resources to help people with big, hairy, scary goals (Sound interesting? Sign up to be notified when my Make Sh*t Happen course re-launches in January!) 
• Book Recommendation: The Accidental Creative by Todd Henry

My latest greatest (pen and paper!) organization strategy:

I’ve tried everything for daily organizing – Todoist, TeuxDeux, Evernote, Google Docs, Google Calendar, my own Weekly Activity Tracker - the list goes on.

And then I discovered the one…the only…Post-it Weekly Organizer! It’s simple, it helps me map out my week, and the best part is that I can SEE it all day while I’m working.

This has also helped me ensure that work, people and health get equal billing in my life. No one category takes priority, and I made it a point to list the daily health goals first. At first I resisted only having five lines for each category, but now realize that it helps me stay focused and prioritize the most important tasks.

Intro from tbe Lifehack post: The best decision you can make for your business — that has nothing to do with money

Imagine two people starting identical companies with the exact same resources, network, and time at their disposal (gender randomly assigned for brevity’s sake):

Both of these people are me.

I quit my job at Google two months ago to pursue my passion as an author, speaker and coach, and during my first month of solopreneurship I was Person #1.

I wasn’t running my business, my business was running me. And as 100% of the company, the opportunity costs of operating at half-mast were extremely high.

Continue reading the full post on Lifehack.org, which includes 4 key tips for growing your business or big goal, and improving your life by putting your body first.

I’m writing today from a place of deep gratitude. I was one of two keynote speakers at the first annual 20 Something Blogger Summit this past weekend in Chicago — three incredible days of ideas, connections and reunions with friends new and old. Despite my nerves about living up to keynote status (this was my first), the speech went off without a hitch.

I have the audience to thank; it was without question the best group I’ve ever spoken to; their energy, compassion, attention, humor, and presence lifted me up and made my job easy. By the time I sat down, I had 200+ @replies on Twitter, and though I didn’t get a chance to respond to each one, I’d like the attendees to know how deeply moved *I* was. Thank you so much. Big thanks are also in order to Derek and A Squared Group for putting on a killer event, and for believing in me.

Below is a two-minute video snippet from my speech (thank you Stephanie Florence for capturing this!), in which I talk about the importance of community and the impact Michael Ellsberg had on my decision to leave Google after only knowing him for one week. I’ll be sure to post the full keynote video as soon as it’s available!

Welcome Escape from Cubicle Nation Readers!

I’m excited to be featured today in the Side Hustle & Flow series on Pamela Slim’s – my friend, mentor and Internet Auntie’s — blog, Escape from Cubicle Nation.

For several years now, Pam (and her work) has been a guiding light for me. I showed up at her first Escape workshop in 2009 after devouring her book, debating whether to stay or leave Google. I sat in the back and didn’t say much. I was beyond scared and confused.

I kept reading her blog and the side hustle series, watching her in admiration as a model for how I’d like to run my business, wondering when I’d have the guts to go out on my own and tell my story like her other courageous readers had.

Two years later, I’m proud to report that it’s my turn to hopefully show others that one day they too can make the leap if that’s what their heart is telling them to do. If you’re new here, get caught up with I’m a Free Agent: From Six Figures to Suitcase and Free Agent Part Two: Big Decisions + Very Real Fears. 

20 Lessons Learned in 2 Months of Solopreneurship (Part One)

The last two months of solopreneurship have been some of the happiest of my life. I’m in love with my newfound freedom! But they haven’t been easy, and I’ve had to make adjustments every single day as I learn what works and what doesn’t for my life and business.

I may share more detailed numbers later, but for now: I broke even on income to expenses in July, then in August the lion’s share of my projected income (mostly coaching and speaking) got cancelled or postponed. It’s been tough, but I’m okay with that; I consider this a building month as I get ready to launch Make Sh*t Happen, my new course, in a few short weeks.

I feel a little silly writing this post because more seasoned entrepreneurs may be reading it thinking, “Oh just you wait!” or “What does she know?” but nevertheless, this is a snapshot of where I am in my learning two months in.

1. Fears are so much smaller on the other side. Prior to my decision to leave, my fears rang in my ears so loud I could barely hear myself think. It was as if my inner critic stood on a soapboax shouting through a megaphone, commanding me not to shake up the status quo. Now that I’m on the other side, my mind is quiet again. Despite losing almost all of my projected income for the month of August, I am not afraid. I am motivated to act. As Joan Baez said, “Action is the antidote to despair.”
2. Readjustment takes time and energy. Going from the structured, fast pace of a 9-to-5 job to total wild-wild-west freedom is an adjustment. I grossly underestimated how much mental and physical energy making such a MASSIVE transition would take. I felt very tired for the first few weeks as my body finally got a chance to rest after working so hard on my day job and side hustles for so many years.
3. The old adages ring true: get comfortable being uncomfortable, and the only certainty is uncertainty. This has been my biggest mental shift since striking out on my own. Going from a steady (very healthy) paycheck to….total uncertainty…has been a major adjustment. As a solopreneur, especially in the beginning, you’ve got to get comfortable not knowing exactly where every dollar will come from. Work comes in, work gets canceled. You sell things and it works; you sell things and they flop. Developing semi-passive income streams takes time, and there’s nothing passive about the process. One night I went to bed with a knot in my stomach about how I’d pay my credit card bills. The next day, in one hour, I had sold $5K of business. The next week, it was gone. You’ve got to get comfortable (or as close to comfortable as you can) riding that wave without freaking out.
4. On that note, NEVER count (or spend!) your chickens before they’ve hatched. It’s ridiculously easy to do, and it is definitely not fun to dig out of. Desperation isn’t attractive when dating or selling.
5. Routine is king. For the first month my productivity on any given day was a total crapshoot. On some days I would wake up rearing to go, and on others you couldn’t pay me to pry myself off the couch. Because I was lacking routine, I was at the whims of what side of bed I’d wake up on. As Jonathan Fields shared at WDS, some of the most successful creatives have very structured lives, even if their actual creative time is very free-flowing. This predictability allows them to manage the rest of their lives with greater ease, thereby focusing their best energy on their creative work.
6. Health and fitness is queen. I just finished a 21-day cleanse with no caffeine, alcohol, dairy, wheat, refined sugar, or red meat. I knew I’d physically feel better by the end of it (light years!!!) but I had NO idea how significantly it would impact my business. I am infinitely more creative, happy, and productive every day. I’ve gotten more done in the last three weeks than in the last two months! I’ve finally re-prioritized exercise too — I run every morning for 20 minutes before doing anything else, and I try to go to yoga 4 times per week. Centering my day around exercise — putting it at the very top of my priority list — is THE BEST thing I have done for my business since leaving Google.
7. Your community are your new co-workers. Just because you leave your job doesn’t mean you have to work isolated on an island. As I talked about in my speech and the video above, you have so much more support than you realize. LEAN IN to your community, let them lean into you; you have so many people rooting for you, especially those of you who have built thriving communities on Twitter, Facebook and your blog.
8. Run your business otherwise it will run you. Tackle 1-2 big frogs each day before you do anything else (h/t Brian Tracy). You’ll feel a sense of pride and accomplishment, and you won’t resent reactive things that come up later in the day because you’ve already made major progress. After my mandatory morning frog (the 20-minute run), I try to accomplish 1-2 things that will significantly move things forward, whether it’s a blog post, drafting a sales page, creating a newsletter auto-responder, or building the MSH course. Only later do I start responding to emails or taking calls. I also only take meetings on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which allows me to eat many frogs on every other day of the week.
9. However, sometimes you need to start with quick wins. When I’m tired or particularly behind, opening my my inbox to answer email can feel like going in for a root canal. During moments like that, if I try to go after a big frog, I’ll get overwhelmed and not do anything at all. So I start with quick wins — emails I can answer in two minutes or less; tasks I can complete in 30 seconds. That gets me moving, and there’s a good chance I’ll dive back into the bigger stuff once I get going.
10. Building “entrepreneurial resilience” is like building a muscle; it takes practice. This is something my good friend (and high school & college classmate!) Alex Budak and I have discussed at length. Alex is an awesome guy who recently left his corporate gig to launch Start Some Good, which facilitates kickstarter-style funding for social entrepreneurs.
    In Alex’swords:

    “Especially as a first-time entrepreneur, the roller coaster that is starting one’s own business is intense.  The highs feel incredibly high, and the lows feel incredibly low. Simply recognizing that this is normal and to be expected was a huge step for me as I sought to strengthen my own entrepreneurial resilience.

    The second, and equally crucial step for me was surrounding myself with fellow entrepreneurs.  It’s amazing how easy it is, when isolated, to think that you’re the only person going through these ups and downs, but as soon as you share your struggles with others, you realize just how similar many of the issues are.  Just like you’d prefer to sit next to someone on a real roller-coaster, having friends alongside you to ride the entrepreneurial roller coaster makes a huge difference.  Oh, and as my friend Jenny told me, ‘It helps to just breathe, sometimes’ too.”

Stay tuned for the next 10 lessons later this week! In the meantime, what did I miss?

Have you experienced any of the lessons above,
either on your side hustle or full-time work?

Okay, okay — I’ll let you judge the ninja-level of my organization skills, but I needed something to spruce up the title!

The two most popular posts of ALL TIME on my blog are the original How I Stay Organized (9K page views) and 8 Ways to Organize Your Life with Google Docs (15K page views), in addition to my Templates on everything from personal finance to professional development to processing a break-up (sign-up for my monthly Inside Scoop newsletter and you’ll get access to all 15+ templates, including many other tips and tools).

Start with How I Stay Organized (Part One) if you haven’t already read it; today’s post will cover more nuanced tools and processes that I use.

A quick aside: I just started monkeying around with Google+ (connect with me here) and am really enjoying it. But does anyone else think that saying, “I want to circle you?” or “circle me” connotes an impending shark and/or stalker attack? 

Gmail Tools

• Priority Inbox: This is saving my life! Groups emails by priority: important and unread, starred, and the rest. You can teach gmail over time what emails should be marked as important. Each day, I set a goal to answer at least five “starred” emails. For emails that I’m long overdue on a reply, I use the exclamation star.

• Auto-advance:  My email productivity doubled (if not tripled) after I started using this feature. I used to hem and haw over what email to answer next — now auto-advance sends me right to the next one — when I get in the zone, I just answer via auto-advance without going back to my inbox for 30 minutes at a time. It’s amazing how much you can get done!

• Canned responses:  Any email that you’ve written more than once deserves a canned response. I save a bunch of these and use them as a starting point, then modify to personalize for the recipient. I don’t use them all the time, but they come in very handy for repetitive emails.

• Superstars, Send & Archive, Shortcuts = A MUST.  Not much else to add here! Superstars are awesome: I use the yellow star to indicate an important or high priority email, and an exclamation mark to indicate something high priority or overdue that I want to reply to that same day (or the next one).

• Boomerang (browser extension):  Boomerang is amazing!!! It enables delayed send, but more importantly (and true to the name) it allows you to “hide” an email and boomerang it back to yourself in a set amount of time. This is a great way to clear your inbox and have emails sent back when it’s time to follow-up, or at a later date. Procrastinators, beware! It gets very easy to boomerang everything…

• Rappaportive (browser extension):  Another incredible tool! When you open an email, it shows you all of someone’s social media profiles and latest updates in the right-hand sidebar. You can see if you’re following someone, see their picture (if they have one), add them to social networks, and stay up-to-date on their latest news. LOVE this feature.

Task management 

• Still in it for the long-haul: Post-its and my moleskine! Every day I write a post-it with my top 5 priorities, ranked in order. This can include project-oriented tasks, people to reach out to, or anything else that I want to finish before the day is done.

• Todoist.com: I use this for tracking ALL non-timebound activity, particularly longer-term items, ideas, open questions, and anything else that is not fixed to a date (those things go on my daily “to do” post-its, a weekly list, or into Google Calendar). My Todoist categories include:
• CURRENT WEEK (you can also use TeuxDeux.com for super simple weekly planning)
• Accountant (questions for her)
• Condo (any tasks related to repair, rental, etc)
• Blog posts (where I track ideas, in addition to my “drafts” folder)
• Networking (people to follow-up with)
• Life After College (general website-related tasks)
• LAC Strategic Tasks (broader business-related tasks)
• Personal Development (courses I’m considering signing-up for or purchasing, ebooks I own that I have yet to read)
• Coaching / Speaking / Yoga (follow-up items related to those parts of my business)
• Travel (I keep one running item for each city and who to reach-out to when I get there)
• NYC (things to do related to my move)
• Shopping / Wish list (things I want to buy, but know that I shouldn’t purchase on impulse!) See related: 4-Step Budget Template and Mint.com (for tracking all financial accounts and expenses).
• Errands / To-buy (self-explanatory)
• Tools & Resources (things I haven’t used yet, but want to check-out)

• Project Plan template: Created by yours truly! I use this format to track all major projects that I’m working on — I’ve tried more complicated tools and they don’t work for me. The benefit of this is you can also share with others for collaborative projects. Want to see a project plan on crack? Check-out my 15-tab Master Book Marketing Spreadsheet.

Scheduling

• Tungle.me: for speedier appointment-booking (so you don’t have to go back and forth via email), though I’m considering switching to Google’s appointment feature (that I used when I still worked there). I’ve also adjusted my schedule so that I only have meetings two days a week — this keeps me focused and batches my tasks so that I don’t have meetings scattered throughout the week.

• Google Calendar: For any super important meetings, I add reminders via email. I also have Facebook email me weekly with a list of upcoming birthdays — then plug my close friends’ birthdays into my “Birthdays” calendar with an annual repeating event and email reminder.

Data Storage/Back-up

Social Media

Other Tips and Tricks

If you hand me a book, the first thing I’ll do is crack it open, stick my nose right in the center of the pages and give it a giant inhale, eyes closed as I soak up one of my favorite smells in the world.

I may look like a crazy person, but I don’t care. I love books THAT much. (As a biased aside, my own has a GREAT new book smell – give ‘er a whiff if you haven’t already!)

So you can imagine my own surprise at writing a review on ::gasp!:: AUDIO books today! But hear me out (no pun intended).

What is Audible.com?

Many of you may have already bucked the paper book trend (what are those again?) in favor of reading e-books on Kindle or your iPad. Audible.com is a subscription-based service (much like Netflix with a similar price-point) that allows you to listen to books while running, driving, or dancing in your room. Okay wait – maybe the new Britney album is a better choice for that last one. Big thanks to Nick Reese for telling me all about it! (It being Audible, not Britney).

I’m currently in NYC for one glorious month as part of my self-funded 14-city book tour, and I hyperventilated at the thought of narrowing down my book companions to fewer than 5, seeing as I have no less than 20 unread books on my shelves that I am dying to read (check out my full list on GoodReads).

Given that I will be traveling so much, now seems like a great time to (slightly begrudgingly) make the switch to audio – at least for a little while. So I signed-up for a free trial at Audible.com and wanted to share the experiment with all of you! I used my free download to get the book Talent Code – a must-read recommendation from my brother.

How the Free Trial Works (which includes one free book download)

You can sign-up by clicking here (note: these are affiliate links — all proceeds will go to cupcake consumption while in NYC). If you cancel before your trial period is up, no harm done! You still walk away with a free audio book. If you continue your membership, you will be charged a small monthly fee (starting at $7.95 depending on what plan you choose), which gives you one credit to use each month. There are also incentives if you refer a friend.

About the Tell-a-Friend program from Audible’s help forum (though I’m having trouble finding this on their site — shout if you know how to do this!):

Current Audible(R) customers will now have the ability to send an email to anyone who is not already a listener with an offer to buy any audio title at 50% off Audible’s already low prices. Upon purchase of that or any other title by the email recipient, the original Audible customer receives a $5.00 credit in his or her Audible account. There is no limit to the amount of credit coupons a customer can collect.

My initial review of Audible.com

Pros:

• I *love* the preview feature that allows you to listen to snippets of the book before purchasing
• I like the price consistency – one credit is applicable to almost all of the books on the site
• Books are super easy to download and play in iTunes (iTunes will ask you to re-enter your Audible.com account information)
• There is no need to create a new account — it’s conveniently linked up with Amazon.com
• If you cancel your membership after the free trial period, Audible pitches a “please don’t leave!” offer to pay $9.95 for a year-long membership. Sold!

Cons:

• My own ADD! I still have a hard time listening to audio books without getting easily distracted or wishing there was music on instead.
• The site navigation is a little bit clunky; for example: my previously stated difficulty on finding the Tell-a-Friend link.
• The search feature leaves MUCH to be desired (:::cough, cough they should use Google enterprise!:::)

Ready to give it a shot? About the AudibleListener Membership Free Trial

From Audible.com (who will do a much better job describing the details of the free trial than me):

Customers can enjoy a 14-day free trial of either of our popular monthly plans: AudibleListener Gold & AudibleListener Platinum. The Gold plan includes one free monthly credit and the Platinum plan includes two free credits. These credits can be applied to almost any title in our store. Participants in either free trial receive all member benefits for 14 days, and may cancel at any time during the trial period. When the trial period ends, memberships will renew each month at our regular Gold and Platinum rates.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Are you an audio book convert and/or already an Audible.com member? Does this seem like something that you could get into, or are  you still stuck on books like me? I’m going to give it a shot for a little while – at least during the book tour…looking forward to testing it with some of you!

***

Book Tour Update:

I’ve been a little quiet lately…landed in NYC last Wednesday and decided to take a complete break from everything — from work, commitments, social media, and from buzzing around to see everyone and anyone I can fit into my schedule. I’ve gotta say — it feels amazing.

At first I caught a case of the Slow-Down Sads (my new term for feeling low when you suddenly slow down and stop DOING) but it’s nothing that daily yoga isn’t helping to cure. I’m in a place of transition and reflection — and though a little uncomfortable at times, it’s a welcome opportunity to re-evaluate everything I’m doing. More on all of this soon…for now, I’m continuing with my semi-hermit-just-enjoy-the-big-apple plan!

The picture below is the first time I saw my book in a major chain — facing out at Barnes & Noble Union Square!

Spotted: LAC makes it's debut in NYC

Note: This is a re-post of a guest blog I did for Brazen Careerist (GREAT discussion happening in the comments) to promote our upcoming 30-minute webinar and Network Roulette tomorrow (launch day!) at 5EST/8PST.

During the webinar I’ll share my career development philosophy and side hustle tips for 20 minutes followed by 10 minutes of Q&A; after that we’ll head into a 30-minute Network Roulette where the first five people to get paired with me will win signed copies of Life After College. Join us if you can, and stay tuned for an exiting launch day post tomorrow!

6 Ways to Manage a Side Hustle Without Going Insane

Side hustles (a term I first heard from Pam Slim of Escape from Cubicle Nation) are all the rage these days. A side hustle is anything you are doing outside of your full-time job (you know…the one that pays the bills), and often involves an entrepreneurial enterprise of some sort — something you’re building on your own for personal satisfaction and for profit.

As Pam says, “Everybody needs a side hustle.”

Side hustles are great for the following reasons:

1. They allow you to experiment with business ideas without the pressure of trying to make your full income from them right away.

2. They are great for self-expression and self-identity — you get to build a business (or a blog) around something you are passionate about; you get to be your own boss and set your own strategy.

3. They create a parallel career track that you could leap over to at some point — or if you were to lose your “day job” — you would already have a bank of skills and experiences that could either create a new income stream or help you land your next gig.

However, side hustles are not for the faint of heart:

1. You essentially have two jobs.
2. Work/life balance becomes even more challenging — nights and weekends are easily consumed by one of the two.
3. You risk giving each scattered focus, which could result in a sub-par position on both if you don’t correct course.

A little bit about me:

My 3-Year Side Hustle (from my first book signing!)

I’ve been managing side hustles — gigs in addition to my full-time jobs — for over six years. When I was working at a start-up company after college, I started doing web development tutoring on the side (which was a great way for me to grow my skills, earn extra spending money, and learn how to find and work with clients). Then in 2007, I started this blog while working full-time at Google in Training & Development. In 2008, I started the process of writing a book and training to become a life coach.

By the time I got the book deal in 2010, my side hustle (author, blogger, coach, speaker and yoga teacher extraordinaire) had become a full time job in itself. Paired with the intense, fast-paced environment of managing global programs through my work at Google (I am a Career Development Program Manager though currently on a 3-month sabbatical) — it has been all I could do to maintain my sanity these last three years!

With that, I share some tips with you to help you keep your marbles together during the exciting pursuit of what you love.

6 Tips to Keep Your Sanity While Side Hustlin’:

1. Draw clear boundaries and create routine. Draw clear boundaries for when you will work on your side hustle. Nights and weekends? Just weekends? No weekends? I chose nights and Sunday afternoons for mine (at least until things got really ramped up with the book, when I found myself working through most weekends). Drawing boundaries will help you stay focused and stay sane — you will never get everything done, but you will at least know what your “big push” windows are.

2. Be transparent with your employer. I realize not everyone feels that they can share what they work on outside of the office with their manager — but to the extent that you can, this may actually help him or her support you and give you projects related to your area/s of interest. In my case, it helped tremendously to share what I was doing. Because I’ve kept Google in the loop, they felt comfortable letting me take a 3.5-month unpaid leave of absence to promote the book.

3. Set goals for your side hustle. What are you trying to build? How much extra income are you trying to generate? With limited time to work on your pet project, you will need to be laser focused on what you’re trying accomplish and by when.

4. For bloggers — assume everything you write will be read by your boss and every co-worker. Does it still pass the “publishable” test? I’m not trying to censor you, but there is a level of discretion required when writing outside of your day job. I can’t tell you how many co-workers of mine reference my blog posts when they run into me — many of whom I had never met in person prior to our interaction.

5. Stay committed to your social life and be clear about your mission with friends and family. I have made the mistake (far too many times) of letting my two jobs suck up every second of my spare time (partly because I am so motivated to make my side hustle successful). So don’t forget to get out of the house every now and then! Do what you can to enroll friends and family in what you’re doing too — it’s likely that you will see them less as you ramp up your side hustle — at least for a period of time. If they know what your greater mission is, they will hopefully understand the times you have to to buckle-down and provide support in the process (though don’t get discouraged if they don’t — not everyone will see your vision right away).

6. Unplug, recharge, and TAKE A VACATION. No matter how energized you are by what you are doing outside of your full-time, everyone needs a break…or you’ll soon be headed for a break-DOWN. Take it from a girl who has had several hair-pulling hot mess moments over the last few years — vacations (in which you totally unplug from both jobs) are critical to maintaining your sanity while you juggle. I recently took a week off for SXSW and a spontaneous road-trip detour to Las Vegas — even though I fell far behind during a critical time for the book launch, the relationships I built and memories I created were unforgettable. No side hustle is worth depriving yourself completely of life’s best moments. After all, isn’t creating MORE of that why we’re doing it in the first place?

Side hustles are a lot of work, but they can also be incredibly rewarding. It’s an amazing feeling to build something of your own and watch it grow.

For those of you already hustlin’ — what did I miss? How do you maintain your sanity while growing your business while working a full-time job?

Want to learn more? Join us for a LIVE 30-minute webinar and Network Roulette on Tuesday, March 29 at 5PST/8EST (with a chance to win one of FIVE signed copies of Life After College)!