Simon Moore, the Founder of The School of Purpose, shares how he balances a day job with his side hustle.
1. When did you start your side hustle
2018
2. Why did you start it?
I have seen, and worked, with too many people who either live a 9-5 life, and that’s it, basically its work, couch, bed, or they are in a job they hate, and they think that is their only option for life. It is hard watching them while knowing that life has so much more to offer, and knowing that if only they would look outside the box, and dared to step outside their comfort zone, life is way more than working in a job you don’t love until you retire. On the flipside, I have seen too many introverts, myself included, scared of putting themselves out there, scared or worried about what others may think, or scared of failing, and so they hide behind their introvert status, and take the ‘hide from the world’ option, turn on another series on netflix or pick up a book, and save their business ideas for another day when they are actually ready. P.s. you are never ready, you simply have to do it, and start, no matter how you feel, introvert or not. I wanted to show others first hand that it is actually ok to fail, and it really doesn’t matter what others think, I am showing others that you can do it, even when you feel uncomfortable, and way out of your depth, and especially when you doubt yourself. I actually want to challenge the introverts among us, who know they have more to offer this world than what they are currently, those who are over hiding from the world. When we are 90 years old, what will matter the most, what others thought about us, and that we didn’t live up to our potential, or that we tried, and went for our goals and dreams in order to live our lives on purpose? I want to help others see what is possible from the simple act of starting something.
3. How much time do you spend on it every week? And where do you fit this in?
Some weeks I will spend 4-5 hours, while others will be 10-15 hours. It fits in during my lunch break, and in the mornings I get up early two or three times each week before the kids do, or I try in the evenings once the kids are in bed, but that’s generally my lowest time of day to have energy for my side hustle. My struggle is with consistency, and trying to get 10-15 hours every week, hence why I am still in a full time job.
4. What’s your main source of income – how many hours do you spend doing that a week and why do you do that job?
I currently work as a driver tester, testing 17 year olds going for their ‘P’ plates, or making sure 85 year olds are still safe to be driving. A good job for an introvert, where I spend 38 hours of my week. After leaving full time employment many years ago to establish a full time business, I then bought a second, and then tried starting a third, my side-side hustle. Three apparently is a crowd, and I burnt myself out trying to manage all three. I sold the second business, and then eventually the original business and was left with my side hustle. Unfortunately my tank was empty, and while I tried to make it my main source of income, I lost the enthusiasm and energy needed to build it, so I closed it down, and sought full time employment again, I needed a break. This is where I am today, knowing that it has been beneficial having a full time job, but now I am ready to get back on the entrepreneurial bandwagon once more.
5. What’s your favourite thing about your side hustle?
It’s all me, and I get to help others do what they didn’t think was possible, and that’s pretty cool. The bit about it all being me, sounds kinda selfish, but the effort and energy I put in, is the exact results I get out of it, so if I do a little, I get a little, but if I do a lot, sometimes I still only get a little, but other times I get a lot. I get to decide what I write about, how I help people, and that I can just be me, without needing to present a version of myself that my boss wants to see, or to behave how I need to for customers. I can write and say what I am feeling, which would lose me my day job if I did that at work. It is pretty exciting when you get results for your clients and see them come from a place of struggle, or being challenged, to getting results, and their lives taking off, because of how I was able to help them, or help them realise what they already had inside of themselves, they just didn’t know it.
6. What’s your favourite thing about your day job?
I met my partner in my current day job, so that is def a favourite part of my day job, and getting to work with her is a highlight. In working for myself in the past, it can get lonely. As an introvert, technically that should be our perfect day, but you actually need to have human interaction, it is healthy for you, introvert or not. I enjoy being able to share the lighter side of life with others who tend to take it way too seriously and I get to do that in my day job. My job also has me helping older people maintain their independence, and help 17 year olds in gaining theirs. Plus it gives me ideas for articles to write on a regular basis, and its 10 minutes from home, so if I can’t be working from home, living in Sydney, being 10 minutes from home is relatively rare. And it is honestly the only job I have had where I don’t wake up in the middle of the night thinking about clients, or work I need to have done. While it’s not 100% what I want to be doing, I try and take the positives out of it.
7. What’s the most challenging aspect about balancing the two?
Giving my side hustle the time it deserves, and spending way too much energy and hours at my day job, rather than on building my side hustle. I love writing, creating, and helping others achieve what they didn’t think they could, and there are periods during my day job where I have moments of inspiration, or feel the flow, but I am unable to do much about it until after I have finished work, when the flow is gone. Plus I will often wake up during the middle of the night with ideas an inspiration, and then stay awake. If I didn’t have my day job, it would be ok as I could fit in a nanna nap, rather than yawning my way through the day.
8. How do you stay motivated to do both?
That is the side hustlers challenge, finding the time to put your best energy into what you really love, when you need to give a large portion of your time every day to your day job. I find that possible death in one job acts as a pretty strong motivator to get out of it. In my day job, it can be quite risky, depending on the driver, and accidents and near misses are frequent in this profession, this in itself gives me the motivation to keep going with my side hustle.
9. What’s your end goal? Do you want the side hustle to become your full time job or are you content to straddle the two?
Absolutely, it will become my full time job. In the short term, I want to build a strong side hustle, showing others that it is possible to do while you have a full time job, and allowing me to step out of my day job without the stress of knowing where my next $$ are coming from.
10. Who is your inspiration when it comes to your side hustle?
I have had many who I follow over the years, from the likes of Tony Robins, Robin Sharma, Gary Vee, then I get over all of it, and unsubscribe from their emails or stop following them on social media. Now I tend to get inspiration from people who are super successful, but do it slightly differently, Angela Lauria, Kevin Nations, Katrina Ruth, Frank Kern, Brooke Castillo and Taki Moore, apparently I need a lot of inspiration. And just in case I needed any more inspiration, every day I get a reminder from two little ones at home. They inspire me to live life on purpose, and follow my passion, because if I don’t, how I can I expect both of them to follow theirs.
11. What’s one thing that would help you the most to create the working life you want?
Money. Lots of people will try and say it is not about the money, and they want to help change the world, which is great, and while part of it is true, in that if you don’t focus on the money, and instead start helping people, or start doing what you love, then the money will follow, but you also need money to not only survive, but allow you to create the working life you want.
12. What’s the #1 thing you do for your well-being while you run your side business and a job?
I need my time in nature, be it in the bush or being by the ocean, and I generally know when I haven’t had either of those two. Thankfully I live by the ocean and the bush is only minutes away, so it’s pretty easy to reconnect. In the past I always needed to do loads of exercise to keep on top of things, but now, while the exercise is important, I find other ways to get out of my head, and nature helps.
