I still remember those crack-of-dawn early mornings at my day job, with steaming coffee in hand at my computer, with one tab open on my work and the other tab open reading the blog of a designer I admired who was doing exactly what I wanted to do: branding and website design while working from home. Yawning, I would think, “I can do this.” But how?

Before we dive in, I think it’s important to address that success is different for everyone. No two people have the same definition of success and it’s really important to get clear on what success is to you. 

When I started my business, I thought I had it all figured out. I had soaked up all the free content that was out there like a sponge. I just knew my business would take off so I could quit my day job and live the dream of working at home in my sweat pants.

This past week I felt like a failure. Back in February I set a goal for myself that I would quit my day job on a certain day, do or die! Well, that day came and went this past Friday and here I am at work today, Monday morning with coffee in hand, just like normal.

There's a lot of pros and cons to being a side-hustler. Some days I'm super thankful I have my day job and other days I'm like "WHY?!" It's an emotional roller-coaster to say the least. But have you ever thought about the great advantages there are to being a side-hustler? Let me break down a few things I'm grateful for in reference to taking on projects with my side-hustle.

We are all given the same amount of time in a day and in order to get ahead, especially as a side-hustler, you need a plan to use your time to be the MOST productive when you are working on your business.

As a side-hustler, I feel like I look over the fence to my friends who work for themselves full-time and I sigh and say, ahh that would be nice. You get to work from home, work in your pjs, get to spend all day working on projects you love… the list of wonderful-ness goes on and on.

One of the biggest mistakes I see new business owners making is they think they need a logo when they're just starting out. Heck, that's what I thought when I started out too. And having a logo is important but what you really need is a game plan. A strategy.

Not all businesses have a brand. Some businesses just have a logo, like some gas stations or hardware stores. Maybe even some restaurants. Businesses can survive and do well without branding.