Raise your hand if you’re dealing with an overwhelming workload.
Yup, just what I expected. Unanimous yes's all around!
“I feel like every time I get my crap together something bad happens and I get thrown back. Often I don't pick it up again afterward, which I know isn't good, but I have so many interests it's easy to forget something.”
This was an email I received from a subscriber, Maria, and I want to talk about how you can fix this and then get back on track to a productive side hustle.
I was once there, too, dealing with an overwhelming workload and feeling like I just couldn’t get traction. I’ll tell you about it a little later, but for now, just realize that this is a very common feeling when you’re starting your side hustle.
Does any of that sound familiar? Do you connect to what Maria is saying? When I received this email, she was looking for some support and really struggling with #allthethings. She had so much on her plate, so many side hustles on the go, that she was getting nowhere. She wasn't succeeding and was on main street in Struggle Town (which is like my favorite term at the moment!).
So how do you fix this? How do you fix this feeling that you're not succeeding?
You feel like you're doing a whole bunch of stuff but by the time you make a step forward you get pushed two steps back. And I get it. It's shitty when stuff happens that you hadn’t planned for, couldn’t plan for. Which is why you need to work out what your overall goal is. What is it that you're actually trying to achieve? What is your why?
Table of Contents
Dealing With Overwhelming Workload
Step #1: Why
I have talked about how to figure out your why in a previous post.
Just know that for you to move forward and be successful you need to have a really strong why. You need to know why you're doing what you're doing. And once you’ve got that nailed, it then filters through into your actual business.
Think about these questions:
- Why are you doing the business that you're doing?
- Why are you thinking about starting a side hustle?
- Why?
- What does that look like?
Then the second part is all about who you are serving.
I’m going to back up just a little bit here because there’s a mini step in between these two pieces.
And that is you need to make sure that you only focus on one side hustle at a time. Yes, you can have multiple side hustles. But you should only start one at a time and get that one to a point where you're happy with it—whatever success looks like for you—before you start the next side hustle.
Otherwise, it looks like a whole bunch of unfinished bridges leading nowhere.
Make sure you just pick one. And it doesn't matter which one, but just pick one and follow it through.
Step #2: Who
What I mean by who is who are you trying to serve?
- Who is your customer and how do you think you can help them?
- How are you solving their pain point?
- What does that look like?
Be clear on that otherwise why how will you know you’re actually helping if you don’t know who you're serving?
Step #3: What
After you know who, you need to focus on what.
- What is it that you're going to give them?
- What service(s) can you offer to solve their pain point?
- What do they get out of working with you?
- What are you actually doing to solve their problem?
I know that’s a lot of questions, but they are important and you should be able to answer them easily if you know why and who.
What is really about two things:
- The type of side hustle you’re wanting to start, and
- The product or service you need to create/offer to meet the needs of your customer (your who).
Let's Sum it Up
So your why, your who and your what are the three Ws. You need to be super clear on all three pieces to be successful in your side hustle.
You will be successful in any side hustle endeavor. You just need to know what these three pieces are.
Your goal isn't to focus on how. It's to focus on the end result.
- What is it that you're trying to get your audience to achieve?
- What does the end result look like for your client or audience after they've worked with you, used your product, read your book, whatever that may be?
Figure out what that is and then work backward. It's then a lot easier to do a side hustle and deal with an overwhelming workload when you thoroughly grasp this concept.
If you've been hanging around my YouTube channel or blog for any length of time, you know how much I'm a huge fan of planning. I truly believe anything can be accomplished using a well thought out plan. If you haven't created your own 90-day plan, go ahead and do that now.
Planning is what keeps you on track and allows you to focus and pivot as needed.
A little story…
When I was first starting my online business, this is what I went through.
To have success today, I had to do the same things… dealing with overwhelming workloads… It wasn’t easy.
In fact, it took me 6-12 months to get really clear on my why. That was one of the hardest parts for me. I wasn’t used to thinking about my goals or my dreams because I’d been so used to working for someone else… it had never occurred to me that I could actually do something I enjoyed!
I spent a lot of time journaling and questioning until I got clearer on what my why was. And it’s evolved over the years, and yours should too.
Figuring out my who and my what’s were a little easier. I was very clear on who I wanted to help, other women, like me, who thought that this was as good as it gets! I wanted to open her eyes and let her know that there is another way.
And the ‘what’ piece has been a natural progression from identifying the who. Starting my own side hustle gave me insight into all the nitty-gritty things that go into doing this while still working a full-time job and balancing #allthethings.
I knew that helping my sisters figure out what side hustle to start and helping them navigate that process was exactly what I was meant to be doing.
Action Step
Being successful and fixing things when you feel like you've got too many balls in the air starts with clarity.
Get control of that negative inner voice that insists you’re struggling.
Figure out your why, who, and your what.
Write that down where you can reference it often. Honestly, you may have to remind yourself on occasion, especially when you’re stumbling and need clarity and are dealing with overwhelming workloads.
Then set a reminder in your phone, create a screensaver, or print out your goal card and pin it in your workspace.
Make success easy to achieve with these frequent reminders.
Dealing with an overwhelming workload is possible when you have your 3-Ws in place. Struggling can be a thing of the past. Your priorities become super clear when your purpose, your why is super clear.
Remember, I’m cheering you on. You can do this!
