I turned my side hustle into my full hustle and you can do it too

Yup. No boss. No mandatory meetings. No coworkers next to me eating the wild smelly food. None of it. Just tons of work, focus, coffee, stress and happiness.

I used to have a 9–5 before I quit that and went to 24–7 (kinda) I still gets my sleeps. My old 9–5 was more like a 8:30am to 8pm. Whew it was crazy hours. I had the coworkers, the directors, the bosses, the email, my God the emails and a low salary. My experience was good though. Can’t act like I didn’t build great relationships, increase speeds, learn to multitask, learn to brainstorm all sorts of meaningful skills. I’m thankful. It’s those skills learned, that I still use today, that help me in my own business.

It was all a dream to work for myself while at my 9–5. I would just wonder how it would feel. How would I do it. But then I had to send some proposals and answer some emails before going to a meeting and then do some more proposals.

During my stint working in the office, I crafted some practices to help escape.

I wrote a list. I wrote a list that explained what I wanted to do, who I wanted to work with, when I wanted it to happen, how I would make it happen and I took action. I kept that list up all day long. I’d look at it between emails, I’d look at it while my files saved. I’d look at it on the train ride home. I’d look at it before I went to sleep. I was obsessed.

I built my client list. I told people I was ready to design their site, their clothing, their flyers, whatever. I even had my director slide me freelance work while I was still working in the office. I did good work. I met with friends, clients, colleagues in person. I networked. The work started coming in at a steady pace. I was even declining some projects that I felt weren’t a good fit. I repeated this process, found out what was working, found out what didn’t work, found out WHO wasn’t a good fit for me. Some projects didn’t go so well, some relationships didn’t pan out, some payments didn’t come in. I kept going.

Designing on the side turned into designing for myself. It is a great feeling. It is hard but it is rewarding and if working for yourself is something you’d like to do or something you’d like to do more of I gots detailed tips for you!

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I’m Eric Jordan but go by EJordanill (Eric Jordan Illustration) I’m a designer and consultant. Check my works both written and designed on my site www.ejordanill.co. My aim is to share relevant apps and resources to help the entrepreneur get it done themselves.