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| Side hustles and Outsourcing |
For more than 4 years I lived in a foreign country, set to build on my side income to be my main income. I had no salary and my goal was to grow my side income to reach the last salary I received from my job. This would enable me to choose whether to go back to work or continue doing what I love doing. The plan was to have a location independent kind of work like freelance writing. For one year I buried myself in writing from morning to morning. I slept for 5 hours max. I got burned out and worried that I wont enjoy the new country I was in if I carried on with the hard work and no leisure. I decided to outsource some of my work (I am a lazy person in general). A company in another country started writing for me together with SA journalism students and a freelance editor worked on the imperfections. I pretty much freed most of my time to do missionary and charity work and talks in conferences, and coffee dates and church activities, and social networking, and leisurely writing only on what I like.
My main side income when I had a job was in real estates, followed by my writing. With me that far I had to hire a property manager to take care of the real estate part of my busy life. I now had outsourced almost all my life. I didn’t even take my son to school, because I felt I needed time to think about ways to grow my side income. Everyday I woke up to think, think and think some more... My thoughts got clearer and clearer every single day. I decided to go back to school for 2 years, which I did on block weeks to do Masters in Real Estate. Though unnecessary but also tying in with the goal of growing my side income.
I renovated my rental properties to increase the rental income...it worked. My writing side hustles started working for me and I re-invested the income where it can work and earn me monthly income... it worked. Four years went by and my extra income reached my final take home salary of 4 years prior. I had to choose whether I go back to the workplace or I continue chilling with my daughter at home. My friends were scared for me, my family was scared for me, I was scared for myself, my husband was a very proud man and pretty much told me to “do whatever you want to do”. I went back to work just to see how I feel about it. I was now more confident to shove in my terms into my new job like reducing the travel. And I realised that I still like the kind of work that I have been doing in the past, quite a bit. I will be honest, the main reason I went back to work is to grow my side income further through investments in order to reach double my current salary. I thought and still think I won't last very long at work but I decided to at least try it. If I enjoy it, I will stick around for another two years.
This is no magic, anyone can do what I am doing. I am humbled by the love and support and the inspiring women who are working hard all around me. I am writing this to inspire the women who are starting on their side hustles to keep on working hard. It's one of the few ways to fast track one's financial independence. All my side income is re-invested to build more income. Most importantly, when I invest money, I never feel deprived of anything because God has already provided me with everything I need. The rest is just unnecessary frills that are great to have. And my lifestyle has enabled me to give to the less fortunate more each year. I am really grateful. I may not be rich but I am very content.
How about you my friend? What side hustles are you busy with?
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