February 7, 2020
When asked about the “why” of my side hustle – aside from the financial perks of a little extra income – one of the biggest reasons I point to is this:
“I love the chance to learn new skills that I don’t always have the opportunity or freedom to explore at the day job.”
One such skill that I’ve always admired in others is the ability to not just make something happen solo, but do so with others – especially others oustide of your organization. To just be able to rally a troop and make something happen.
This month, that skill is one I wanted to practice.
So I took a marketing idea I’d been noodling on for a while, scoured the interwebs for a couple of potential folks to work with, sent them cold emails about a week ago, hopped on the phone, pitched my idea, balanced the needs of everyone at the table, and after a few more emails and a quick wireframe, we’ve got a really exciting thing rolling.
I’ll talk more about what it is in the coming weeks, but it’s just a fun, simple reminder why that’s become my favorite part of having a side project. Whether it’s:
- Learning to write to an API
- Practicing UI design
- Experimenting with a new marketing medium (like video)
- Writing a new type of sales page
- Designing ads
- Scaling a MySQL database
- Setting up partnerships
- Doing demos
Or a dozen other things, if it weren’t for side projects like SendView, I wouldn’t have had the chance to develop these skills.
