At the end of 2022, I started thinking about how I can grow further and take my experience in marketing and social impact beyond the work I do at Google and in my volunteer efforts. I read a great book, The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future, that helped me think through how I can package up my interests and experience into a fun side hustle. I knew I wanted something small and manageable (I don’t have any intention of growing this significantly), but rewarding via the impact I could have in different industries.
So I got to brainstorming and actually followed the exercises in the book to help me determine what I could do. It ultimately culminated into a consulting business, bseratg LLC, that, at a higher level, would focus on social impact, and at a deeper level, would focus on brand and marketing strategy for values-aligned clients.
It’s officially been one year 🎉 and honestly the best thing I did was just get started and figure things out along the way. From supporting a founder in edtech to addressing poverty to powering movements, it’s been really great to do some deep thinking into verticals and topic areas I’m only somewhat familiar with, and come up with solutions personalized for the business or nonprofit at hand. It was also a great reminder that I’m a lot more capable than I think I am, and that the skills I’ve built at Google and beyond are indeed transferrable (albeit, potentially adapted). Getting my first payment was also pretty stellar, particularly for a person who would usually provide support for free.
As I reflect on the past year and think about this new year ahead, I came up with 10 lessons learned that I hope support you if you’re considering creating your own side hustle. Let’s begin.
Lessons learned
Carve out deep focus time. Managing a full time job, volunteering activities and a side hustle can be a lot, on top of other social and personal obligations. Time management becomes key. I primarily relied on weekends and plane rides to get things done. During weekends in NY, I had to be in a coffee shop with my phone on do not disturb to limit distractions and keep me in my zone. I also set personal milestones as to when I would get certain aspects of the work done.
Be clear on what you’re solving for. Initially I announced I would focus on social impact consulting, but looking back, it wasn’t really clear on what I’d actually be doing. I included a ton of different bucket areas of work and social impact topics I could support but honestly it just got confusing and I realized this as I was talking to people about it. Once I jumped into the work and had some clients, I recognized I consistently did one thing for each of them: supported in their marketing and brand strategies. Simply by doing, I narrowed in my focus areas and got to learn what I was passionate about. These days, the social impact piece comes into play in the visions and values of the founders and nonprofit leaders I work with or more deeply in the work itself.
Continue refining your pricing strategy. At the beginning, I did some research into how much I should charge based on other consultants in this specialty area and definitely recognized I’m undercharging. I kept it as is for a while, mostly because I felt like this first year was all trial and error and I was assessing my own capabilities, but honestly I shouldn’t have doubted myself. I could’ve easily increased. As I step into year two, I’ll continue to refine to get paid what I deserve, but also considers the audience I’m supporting.
Adapt to the working styles of those you’re supporting. Working at Google has definitely defined collaboration in a certain way and the more I get out of this bubble, the more I recognize I need to find compromise. Some folks are fast, utilizing the latest tools and platforms, while others prefer phone calls as their main communication methods and are not using google docs (screams in microsoft word 🤭). Just gotta adapt and bring others along in your journey.
The way you introduce yourself in new spaces matters. When I meet new people and we chat about work, I mostly tell them about my work at Google. I was nervous at first to switch it up and share more about my side hustle first, but once I started doing it, it’s been wild to see how new doors open up. Context matters of course, so I’m definitely selective on when I bring it up, but I’ve realized that by not sharing, you’re missing out on potential opportunities or, at the very least, a fun conversation about your interests. This brings me to my next point…
Put yourself out there and maximize the opportunity from your network. Getting clients this past year has come from a range of things—me reaching out, people reaching out to me, and introducing myself as a consultant in new spaces. It’s scary putting yourself out there and asking for help, especially as someone who typically provides the help. But again, closed mouths don’t get fed. I got over the fear by feeling comfortable asking myself, what’s the worst that could happen?
Set financial goals. I didn’t have any at first because I didn’t know what I could achieve (again, the self-doubt) but having a goal and sticking to it earlier on would have been a stronger driver. When you’re motivated to hit X in revenue per quarter or by the end of the year, you move different. Also, keep track of expenses and income along the way.
Learn from others. I’m so grateful to the folks who shared guidance and/or extended their networks to me. Some were consultants and others were just in the process of building their own side hustles. Being around these folks and learning from them was helpful, and insanely energizing. Surrounding yourself with other builders is motivating in and of itself.
Stay up to date with any necessary business documentation. A majority of it happens upfront in setting up the LLC, in my instance, but there are a few things that arise throughout the year. Keep updated and look into local laws. Outsource only if necessary.
Take a moment to feel proud of your work and what you built. Between the side hustle, the day job and other responsibilities, I de-valued the impact of my consulting work because I didn’t really have the time to pause and reflect. But as I look back, I can’t help but think — I did that.
Now we’re onto year two and I have three things mostly top of mind: (1) highlighting the impact (and potentially the research conducted) more, (2) finding a better system to get clients vs right now which is at random and (3) determining what I want this new income to go towards—holistically, as I’m on the road to building wealth, what other financial goals can this help?
Cheers to a fun first year 🥂 If you or others you know are looking for support in brand and/or marketing strategy, let’s connect :)
