"Passion, where are you?" - or How to Find Your Ideal Job / Side Hustle

Dear Corporate Friend,

I’m having a strange feeling. Something changed recently. Weather it was the pressure of the past few “pandemic” years or the buzzing sound of the war in Ukraine…or any other number of factors…I’m not sure. What I do know is that the change is real and that others perceive it as well. People became more distant, more divided, everything became strange and unusual. I can’t put my finger on it and I believe it’s not just one thing but probably all the complexities of living in today’s world.

While in the past people were working for their whole life in the same job and that was the goal; in recent years the norm shifted to job hopping: a new “style” of the modern employee to exchange jobs every 2-3 years and therefore achieve progress.

The odd novelty though is that, more often than not, in the past few years, I keep hearing more and more people saying they would like to change their job, but they don’t know what they would like to do or, a variation of this, they would like to have a side gig or a hobby, but they don’t know what.

So, today, in an effort to support the people who feel confused or estranged, I would like to dispute this indecisiveness. Let’s split this into categories:

1. I would like to change my job but I don’t know what would I prefer to do

Cool! You decided that your current job is not for you anymore. Congrats! That’s a bold statement! You should always be following your dreams, no doubt…however…before you make a decision, have you really thought this through?

Quite frequently, people end up throwing away a perfectly good job just because of a whim. I’m not saying you should never resign but, before you do so, have you taken the time to analyze what is actually bothering you? You could make a pro’s and con’s list, that always helps me! You could also highlight the aspects that are crucial to you vs. the ones that are just “nice to have”. This is one simplistic way of painting a more accurate picture.

Then, please be realistic. No company is Heaven. There will always be ups and downs but you need to stay focused.

If the answer is still “yes”, then move to the second step as you already identified the aspects that are most important to you as well as what you are trying to achieve. What is your instinct telling you? Is there a passion that you would like to follow? A long lost dream that you never got around to experience? If there is, that’s awesome! See where that road takes you! But be prepared to start over. Don’t expect to have the same salary, the same benefits or even working hours. This is a new road. It’s unwalked, unpaved. You need to start building it, brick by brick.

However, if you don’t have any ideas but you just need a fresh start, my suggestion is to think about the things that bring you joy. What do you enjoy doing, smelling, feeling, eating, reading, etc? Choose what resonates with you most and find a creative way to turn this into a full time job. But please…please be persistent. If you start walking on this new road, please don’t turn back when you see the first puddle. It might get muddy, but you already made a choice. The worst that you can do is to start new things constantly and quickly give up. Things will not be easy for sure but consistency is one of the most important skills we must learn to be successful in any area of our lives. If every spouse would give up at the first argument, there would be no marriages. If every doctor would give up at their first wrong diagnosis, there would be no doctors to cure us. And so on…

2. I would like to have a side hustle but I don’t know what I would enjoy doing

This point is more tricky as it is usually connected to a need for additional funding. So before you start a side gig, please really think this through as you should be certain that you can’t get the same results by advancing in your current role. If you are sure there is no way to grow your revenue by obtaining a promotion or focusing your efforts on a course to specialize further in the area you are in, then yes, you can start thinking of ways to add more revenue streams. However, as mentioned above, consistency is the best choice so please only do this is you’ve already tried to invest more in yourself but you are unable to get any further.

As time is a limited resource, we can only do so much. If we try to focus on 100 things, changes are we will be terrible at most of them.

It would be amazing if you had a hobby that you can turn into a side hustle but unfortunately not many people do. Therefore, I suggest you brainstorm and get creative. Ask your friends for suggestions. Ask your mentors. Ask YouTube! Follow dedicated groups of influencers in the respective fields for tips and tricks.

When you identify one or more options, be very mindful of the resources you’ll need. Some side hustles require little to no funding but others are quite expensive. For me, the most important traits for success are automation and recurring revenue streams.

Next, understand your risk profile. Are you risk averse…medium…or an adventurer? Would you be willing to sell your house and go all in with Bitcoin or are you cautious and looking for safe investments and guaranteed returns? Pick your side gig also based on this factor.

And last but not least, please stay legal! The fines for not paying taxes will always be bigger than the taxes so it’s just not worth it.

3. I would like to have a hobby but I don’t know what I want to spend my time on

This last one is challenging as you either have a hobby or you don’t. Nobody can tell you what your hobby is. Even if your friends try to give you ideas, they’ll probably not work. If they would have been your hobby of choice, you would have known by now and thought of it yourself.

Therefore, my suggestion here is to think about this from a different perspective: why exactly do I feel the need to have a hobby in the first place? What is the root cause that I am trying to fix?

Is it that I feel blamed by society? Maybe I see other people having many hobbies and I just feel like I should too.

Is it that I am afraid of loneliness, so I am trying to fill that gap in my life?

Is it that I feel bored and I would just like to have more activities in my daily routine?

Identifying the actual trigger will lead you to the solution. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you!!!

From my cubicle to yours,

The D.