This is going to seem counterintuitive and even hypocritical coming from a guy who has built a YouTube channel, a couple of written blogs, a podcast, and a few different online T-shirt stores I’ve tried affiliate sales, and of course, multiple network marketing companies, just to name a few things… oh and I almost forgot to mention I tried building an accessibility consulting business where I would review businesses based on accessibility and offer suggestions for a nominal fee.
And of course, accompanying all these things were countless social media accounts. Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook pages all of which I tried running ads on to drive traffic to my countless sites and web pages.
I even tried to become a tick-tocker. I read books and blogs, listened to podcasts, and watched what would seem like endless Instagram videos and YouTube videos hoping for that how-to formula!
I was never able to find it I religiously followed Gary Vaynerchuk for years and tried a bunch of different things that everyone seemed to suggest.
I took everyone’s advice on how to improve my videos how to improve reach on my podcast etc. After nearly 17 years of trying all these different things, I’ve come to one conclusion.
Expecting crazy amounts of success just because I keep doing things and trying, and trying, and trying, and trying, doesn’t mean that I’m going to succeed. And for argument’s sake my definition of success in this example is simply making enough money to pay my bills at the time I started my goal was $1,500 a month. And just so we’re clear in 15 years of trying there was not a single month that any of my entrepreneurial ventures produced $1,500 a month. I always had jobs because I had to pay bills but not a single one of my quote unquote side hustles ever produced any modicum of income.
If I’m being honest nothing ever produced enough side income, to take a trip somewhere exotic, or buy myself something nice! When I did the math every single one of my projects cost me money.
Why am I telling you all this simply to get to the point.. even though I’m not getting to the point and this is a long-winded post hahaha see what I did there.
After some pondering,I think I expected all of my friends and family to instantly like my content! (which is completely unrealistic and then therefore just random strangers would obviously gravitate towards everything I’ve done because I’m so awesome right?
As long as I kept grinding kept posting kept improving my craft, and kept trying different mediums, and different social media platforms I would eventually win right? Wrong!!
I don’t type this out to complain or whine. I’m hoping this has found you because you are looking for permission to quit trying these, “side hustles”, and “money hacks” you see on social media or hear from a podcast!
Well, I’m here to save the day I give you permission to stop garage sailing and flipping items on Facebook Marketplace or eBay. I give you permission to stop selling overpriced vitamins and moisturizers. You can leave your friends and family alone. They don’t want to hear from you every time you have a new thing you want to try.
Here’s the honest truth if you have something you enjoy doing and you can afford to do it, whether you make money or not that should be the true gauge on whether you want to do it.
If you make jewelry or collect antiques or paint rocks or put doll heads in planters 😉
You do you! Just do it for the joy of the process. If you expect your hobby to make you money to live on then it no longer becomes a hobby! and you’ll quickly turn to resenting it and never wanting to do it.
I have things I would definitely do differently if I could start again. And I’m curious to see if anybody’s interested in what I would do differently and where I think I went completely wrong.
