I frustrate my mother, as I’m sure all of us do for a million different reasons. My particular reason is because I do too much. Always trying another projector side hustle. Always biting off more than I can chew. Well, we all have our flaws, and that is one (among many) of mine.
So if you are worried because you just don’t know what side hustle will work for you, I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to choose just one. Different side hustles are right not only for different people, but also for the same person at different times in their life.
My first side hustle (after the age of 10) was a multi-level marketing company. If you have found or are hoping to find success in MLM, I wish you all the luck. With that said, it wasn’t for me. I did all the things one was supposed to do, but some companies just aren’t quality companies, and I finally cut my losses.
However, my MLM experience probably taught me the #1 most important lesson for success in money AND in life: feed your mind and control your mind. As most MLM companies, mine offered extensive ‘professional development’ in the form of conferences, CDs, books, and seminars. Eager to succeed, I dived right in. I read and listened to some of the top names in personal development: Earl Nightingale, Zig Ziglar, Dale Carnegie. They led me to other motivational thinkers like Marie Forleo, Tony Robbins, Jack Canfield.
I don’t pretend to have things 100% figured out. I get in funks like everyone else. But most of the big things that I have accomplished in life have been possible because I kept going. And how did I keep going? By feeding my mind a constant diet of encouragement and focus.
Almost 15 years ago, I broke off an engagement and gave up on the idea of getting married. But I knew with 100% clarity that I wanted to be a mom. With an adopted sister who has taught me more things than I can tell, adoption was an easy choice for me.
What wasn’t easy was the adoption process. I spent 19 months assembling documents, reading about adoption, assembling the necessary funds on a teacher’s salary, and a hundred other things. Oh, and doing them all as a single woman.
Through all the headaches and heartbreaks, I had tremendous support from family and friends. But I also made a conscious choice to keep my mind right. I listened to leftover tapes and CDs from the MLM. I continued to read books.
Ten years later, my husband (so much for giving up on marriage) and I decided to move to Norway. Again, it took focus over time. Over two years after starting the process, we finally settled in Stavanger, Norway. (For more info on life in Norway, you can check out my lifestyle blog here.)
This time, keeping my mind right was a little different. It involved looking daily at housing, checking facts, reading the posts in Facebook groups, and changing my password to NORWAY2018, so I would remember several times a day where I was headed.
Even though I didn’t make millions (or even hundreds) in the MLM, in a very real way, that first side hustle made it possible for me to follow my dream all the way to motherhood and Norway. Life isn’t perfect, but I am loving my life in so many ways. And I don’t really think I would be here if I hadn’t had that lesson from my MLM experience.
If you have big dreams, especially big dreams that are going to take a long time to realize, get your mind right. Find a podcast or two that wlll continually point you where you want to go. Watch Youtube videos, read books. Whatever works for you. But you need to find a way to keep that dream front and center.
Why? Because you’ve got to find a hundred different ways to remember what I am always telling you: You’ve got this.