Clever Girl Finance: The Side Hustle Guide. Bola Sokunbi

her photographer arrived, which I did. I loved the photos, and more importantly, so did she. This got me thinking that perhaps there was an opportunity to make some money with my photography!

      I advertised (on Craigslist back then) to get my first few wedding photography gigs, and shot them for free. Yup, free! I did this because I didn’t have any experience photographing a wedding outside of the pre-wedding shots for my friend, and I felt that if people accepted my services for free, it would minimize the risk if for whatever reason the photos didn’t come out as expected. I had so much to learn, and I also needed to build a portfolio of images to showcase on my photography website, so this approach made sense for me—and it worked. Because I didn’t set any expectations and I put in my best effort, my clients loved their photographs. I bought books, watched videos, practiced on my family and friends, paid for workshops, and essentially became a self-taught photographer. Once I built a solid portfolio, I was able to confidently charge for my work and invest in better equipment.

      It definitely wasn’t a walk in the park, though. On the weekends, I was busy photographing weddings and other events. I remember incredibly crazy summers doing back-to-back weddings on Friday evening, Saturday, and then on Sunday. On weekdays, after working at my day job (where I put in 60 hours a week on average), I went straight home and got on my computer to sort and edit photos late into the night. Many times, I’d also wake up to do the same thing early in the morning before I went to work—rinse and repeat.

I was exhausted, but I was happy to be making all that extra money on the side. I charged $3,000 to $5,000 a wedding and $300 to $450 for my lifestyle photography sessions (e.g., baby sessions, engagement sessions, family sessions, etc.). The year I made almost $70,000 with this side hustle, I photographed 19 weddings and several lifestyle sessions. I transitioned out of this business after having my twins, but I had another side hustle idea brewing: Clever Girl Finance.

      Yup, Clever Girl Finance started as a simple side hustle that I created to share my financial journey and what I had learned with other women. I was always being asked questions about things like budgeting and investing, and I enjoyed talking about money with my family, girlfriends, co-workers, and acquaintances. At times, the conversations could be uncomfortable and uneasy—because for many, money is still very much a taboo topic. I wanted to use my side hustle as a way to change that.

      As I slowly transitioned out of my photography business, I would spend late nights and weekends creating content, doing one-on-one coaching sessions, and slowly but surely building an audience. As a result of the time and effort spent on building this business and applying what I learned from my side hustles over the years, Clever Girl Finance is now my full-time job, we have an incredible team, it has grown to become one of the largest personal finance platforms for women in America, and, you are here, reading this book!

      Having multiple side hustles has contributed to my life immensely, both personally, from a growth and experience perspective, and financially, allowing me to achieve many of the financial goals I’ve set for myself over the years. All the hard work has been completely worth it. I went from the girl selling lollipops to her friends to the woman who built a successful business that provides jobs and positively impacts the lives of women everywhere.

      The best part of you reading the highlights of my entrepreneurial journey is that you, too, can be successful and leverage your side hustle to have an incredibly positive impact on your life. Your goals, aspirations, and ideas might be completely different from mine, but as long as you are committed to the process, intentional about your time, and ready to put in the work, you can achieve whatever goals you’ve laid out for yourself.

Yes, starting and growing a side hustle takes time and effort, and you’ll be doing some hard work to get your business off its feet. But through all those challenges, you’ll have the upper hand, because I’ll be here to guide you with key tips, insights, and lessons learned from my own experiences. If you stick with me, you’ll build a solid runway to help you take off smoothly on your journey to building the business of your dreams.

      As mentioned earlier, throughout this book you’ll be reading about and learning from the stories of some amazing women from all walks of life and with all kinds of incredible businesses. Despite their varying backgrounds, they have all achieved success in business, and their stories will keep you inspired and motivated as you read this book.

      So, let’s keep going; we’ve got work to do!

      Take Action

      Challenge yourself to dream!

      1 Think big. Write down what you imagine your side hustle could become. You don’t need to have all the answers of how you’ll get there or have all the money to make it happen right now; you just need to know that you can get there.

      2 Spend time reviewing your dreams. Spend some time to really take in what you’ve written down. If any new fear crops up, go back to the list of fears you created earlier, add it on, and then brainstorm the potential actions you can take to counter that fear.

      If you currently own or have attempted a side hustle in the past, now is a great time to reflect on your experience and answer the following questions to help you as you work toward creating fresh success in your business:

      1 What went well and what didn’t?

      2 What are the key lessons you learned from the business experiences you had?

      3 How can you apply them going forward to avoid the mistakes and/or amplify your success in business?

WHAT NOT TO EXPECT FROM YOUR SIDE HUSTLE

      Before we dive further into this book, I want to make sure you are really clear about the realities of what side hustles are and aren’t, so you set the right expectations as you go on this journey. It’s easy to get caught up in the glitz and glam showcased on social media that can make building a business seem completely effortless. You might see ads and photos of people working from beaches and think that all you have to do is put up a website and a nice logo and you’ll be instantly profitable. However, that is rarely the case, and for the vast majority of side business owners, it couldn’t be further from the truth.

      There are tons of successful entrepreneurs, and it’s easy to look at their success lightly without considering all the time, effort, sweat, and even tears that were put into making their success seem effortless—especially if they only show a limited view of how it all really happens behind the scenes.

      There are also many who are simply faking it for the ‘gram and distorting the reality of having a successful business because they haven’t actually achieved it themselves. This can, unfortunately, sway your perception of what it really takes. (By the way, you won’t need to fake anything, because you’ll be making it happen!)

      So, let’s talk about some things you want to be really clear on as you embark on this journey.

      Juggling Your Side Hustle and Your Full-Time Job

Once you get into the flow of building your business, things can get really exciting. But if you are also employed full-time, you only have a limited amount of time each day between work and your other responsibilities. You may find that as your side hustle efforts start ramping up and consuming more of your time and energy, it can impact your focus and quality of work at your full-time job.

      If you find yourself using your side hustle as an excuse for diminishing performance at work, that’s a red flag. After all, you likely still rely on your full-time job to cover your bills and sustain your lifestyle while you get your side hustle off the ground. It’s important to make sure you are meeting (and even exceeding) expectations to avoid being called out or even let go for performance reasons, which could put you in a bad financial situation.

      When you get to the point where your side hustle is pulling in the big bucks, you can decide to work part-time or leave your full-time job altogether. In the meantime, you want to ensure that you’re minimizing any negative impacts to your job