How Did I Successfully Take My Side Hustle to the Next Level? You Can Too!

All it takes is 1 mindset change to transform your life.

Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

I started content creation as a hobby. But, soon, it transformed into a side hustle.

It was at this stage that I got stuck. I was not making any significant progress. And I was clueless why that was the case.

So, I read and researched. And what I found out just made me laugh. I wondered, how did I miss it?

It was like the problem was hiding in plain sight. And the problem was that I was a hustler busy with my side hustle.

I like the word hustle, as it expresses you are hustling. It conveys that you are struggling and trying to find your way.

The funny part is that you will continue to struggle if you keep content creation a side hustle. So, I gathered the courage to quit my side hustle to begin my startup.

Quit your side hustle to begin your startup

You can achieve great things with the right mindset. You can train your brain quite easily to have the mindset you need for success.

But first, you must stop saying you are in a side hustle. No one has reached the top as a hustler.

The people at the top are entrepreneurs who set up a startup and converted it into a 7–9 digit business.

When I told my brain to see writing as a startup, it changed my perspective and thought process.

How did I use to behave as a side hustler?

• I wrote about any topic I liked.
• I wrote when I wanted to.
• I didn’t think about the reader.
• I focused on sharing my content to get more views instead of improving it.
• I spent more time analyzing my analytics than my article.
• I had no system or strategy.
• I hesitated to spend $10 on a tool that could improve my content quality.

In the end, I kept myself busy. But, I was not moving forward.

How do I behave as an entrepreneur?

• I spend time understanding my reader.
• I research and think about the niche where I can and want to add value.
• I write keeping my reader in mind.
• I analyze the successful articles and what I can learn from them.
• I invest in tools that will improve my writing. E.g., Grammarly, Hemmingway Editor, Headline Studio, Canva, etc.
• I created a system to produce high-quality content regularly.
• I started sending my draft links to top publications on Medium. It pushed me to improve my content quality further. Additionally, I reached thousands of new readers.
• I do retrospectives every two weeks to improve myself and my system.

I have a clear direction now. And I have made good progress toward my goal.

All thanks to quitting being a hustler for an entrepreneur.

Steps to take your work to the next level

It is a four-step process; call, think, believe, and act. The best part of this process is that you only need to perform the first three steps.

Once you internalize the first three steps, the fourth will happen automagically.

But before I go into the details, let’s understand the mindset of a hustler and an entrepreneur.

Hustler’s mindset

• The motivation of a hustler is not to solve a problem but to make money.
• Hustler has no plan or strategy.
• Hustler puts no stakes in the game. Hence, quitting comes easy to a hustler.
• Hustler blames others for their shortcomings.

Entrepreneur’s mindset

• The motivation of an entrepreneur is to solve a problem. They want to leave the world better than it was.
• Entrepreneurs create a plan or strategy to realize their vision.
• An entrepreneur goes all in the game. Hence, quitting is not an option.
• Entrepreneur owns everything that affects their mission. Thus, continuously improve themselves and their teams to reach their goal.

Now, you know the two mindsets. So let’s look at how to move from one to another.

#1 Call

First of all, stop calling your work a side hustle. Instead, start calling it a startup.

Tell yourself and everyone that you are an entrepreneur. Then, share your startup’s vision and mission in public.

Tell every guy you meet about your business. Keep saying, “I am an entrepreneur,” until it gobbles the last bit of hustler inside you.

#2 Think and Imagine

Once you start calling yourself an entrepreneur, it opens the door for the second step.

In this step, you must stop thinking of your work as a part-time hobby. Instead, start thinking about how it will make the world a better place.

Start imagining yourself as an entrepreneur. Act as if your life depends on the success of your undertaking.

One trick that always helps me is to ask the following question. What would <Your Favorite Enterprenuer> would do in this situation?

You can ask yourself this question in any circumstance. Be it a life-changing decision like quitting your job or a no-impact decision like what to wear.

Ask yourself the above question, and you will be pleasantly surprised.

In the end, think and imagine yourself as an entrepreneur. Even copy your favorite entrepreneur to begin with.

#3 Believe

You started calling, thinking, and imagining yourself as an entrepreneur. It’s time to start believing.

Stop self-doubting yourself. Instead, start believing that you are an entrepreneur. Believe that you can succeed.

Fake it till needed.

Our brain is a simpleton. It believes everything we feed it. So, start feeding your brain the thought that you are an entrepreneur born to achieve great things.

#4 Act

Once you believe you are an entrepreneur, you automatically start acting like one.

This is how our innocent brain works. Once it believes in the way of life, it starts living that way.

And the best part is it happens naturally.

In the end,

all you need is the right mindset.

You can use the process I used to make the mindset shift or devise your own method.

But, the goal is to have an entrepreneur’s mindset. You are not a hustler and never were.

So go out there and help the world get rid of one problem at a time.

I hope you enjoyed reading the article. If yes, subscribe to my email list to receive an email when I publish a new juicy article.

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