Ep. 64: Increase Your Income Through a Side Hustle (Guest Kris McPeak from The Got Side Hustle Show)
Have you been thinking about starting a side hustle?
What about getting a part time job?
Perhaps, your adventures in entrepreneurism IS your side hustle…
Whether you're wanting some extra cash, paying off debt or just looking for something fun to do, having a side hustle can be the best answer. To discuss this topic, we are joined by Kris McPeak, the podcast host of The Got Side Hustle Show.
Kris McPeak is an employee by day, she holds a regular 9 to 5 job. She has decided to make money on the side through a “hustle.” As a productivity nerd, Kris helps people find time for their side hustles. She is the founder of the online community, Smart Side Hustle Society.
In this episode, you will learn the key considerations, you should address, before starting a side hustle. We also discuss the importance of time management, defining a side hustle and the sisterhood of pink hair.
SHOW NOTES:
Contact and Follow Kris McPeak: Instagram - Website - Blog - Freebies
The Smart Side Hustle Society
The Got Side Hustle Show: Website
IRS: Trade or Business Definition
The Power of Pink
CONTACT HEATHER:
Contact Heather: Instagram - LinkedIn - Clubhouse @zeitzwolfe
Get the Balance Right Coaching: Website
Book a Discovery Call (via Zoom) - Click Here
Heather & Get the Balance Right - Link Tree
Zeitzwolfe Accounting: Website - Facebook
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Five Key Considerations Before Starting Your Side Hustle
Whether you’re thinking about having a side hustle or have one, there are some questions and considerations you should explore before diving in too deep. Of course, as an accountant I’m concerned about the financial and tax implications of the side hustle, but there are more things to reflect on regarding the business and the emotional impact. I could have written an exhaustive list, but here are five to consider.
1. What is the purpose of your side hustle?
Is it to make a little extra spending cash? Are you looking to pay off debt? Are you doing it for fun? Are you following your passion? Are you wanting to transition into this new business over time? What is your motivation? Do you need to earn this money quickly?
2. Do you want to be an employee or your own boss?
Perhaps you already have your own business, and you’re looking for an excuse to get out of the house, meet new people and make a few extra bucks. Then working for someone else is a great option, because the income can be more predictable and you don’t have to get another venture off the ground.
Or perhaps you have a regular J.O.B and you want the luxury of making your own hours, using your talents, and reaching new goals. Just remember, if you decide to be your own boss, you now have a business. If you drive for Uber, as a contractor, you have a business by default. As such, you have an obligation to comply with the rules, such as reporting the income to the IRS and paying taxes. Depending on the type of business and the complexity you may require bookkeeping and legal assistance. Also, promise me you will get a separate bank account for this business. If it’s a business, treat it like a business. If you don’t want all that extra responsibility, then get a job.
3. How will your life be impacted?
Whether you take on a part time job or start a true side hustle aka be your own boss, how will your life be impacted? Will there be travel involved? Will you have enough time to spend with your family and friends? Will this bring you joy or stress?
For those trying to pay down debt, bringing in more cash can help alleviate stress. However, if it takes a long time to get clients, then it could elevate your stress.
4. How much do you want to invest?
I’m talking about both time and money. Getting a new business off the ground can often take a lot of time. Depending on your side hustle, you may have to attend networking events, research your market, have sales calls, post on social media, etc. the list goes on and on. These are all activities that take up time but no money is generated. If you’re looking to get money right away, you should consider a side hustle where the barrier of entry is low and generating new sales is high. A side hustle occurs in your spare time; therefore, you must decide on how much of that you want to invest.
Then there’s money. Depending on the type of business, the initial funds to get it started may be minimal. Whereas others might be quite spendy, especially with businesses that require insurance, software, shipping, employees, professional fees and rent. Being that it may take time to recuperate your investment, go into this endeavor with a well thought out plan and budget.
5. Is this a business or a hobby?
Are you trying to make a few bucks off of your passion? That’s great, it can feed your soul. But hobbies can cost a lot of money. Therefore, if you’re not treating your endeavor like a business, neither will the IRS. Just because you call yourself an artist, spent $2500 on paint supplies and paid $7,000 for a studio, doesn’t mean you can deduct these costs on your tax return. Whether it is a hobby or a business, in the eyes of the IRS is determined by facts and circumstances. The key word in their definition is profit.
If you have questions about the Five Key Considerations Before Starting Your Side Hustle or any other burning business and finance related questions, I urge you to join my Facebook group called Get the Balance Right. I would love for you to join the community, if you are female and you’re an entrepreneur or one in the making. You can post questions in the group and I will answer them.
From the Episode
Heather: “Kris, for the people in the audience that don't know you; they don't follow your podcast. Tell us a about yourself. Who are you?”
Kris McPeak: “I am Kris McPeak I am a 25 year veteran of higher education. I've basically worked at colleges and universities, my entire adult life. about six years ago now my husband decided he wanted to start a United States master. Swim team. He had been a swimmer his whole youth life and was just now getting back into it and wanted to make it a family affair.
So he says, okay, let's start this team. We'll make it a nonprofit. I said, that sounds great. And we did that for about a year. Then for some reason I got a calling like, you know what? Running this business is really fun. But , I want something that's my own and still as part of the Silver Peak brand.
I started what I thought was going to be a career coaching business because I had found a lot of, comfort in having changed from a college housing person for 20 years into getting a gig for which I had zero practical experience. I'm in fundraising now, and I'd never been a fundraiser before, but I still got this job and I've been in this job now for a little over eight years. And so I thought you know, if I can switch careers that easily, easily, in air quotes, I can help other people do the same thing. So I kinda jumped on that bandwagon for a while. But then what I decided that I really liked was talking about having a side hustle and talking to people that wanted to do this and thought
I have no time to do anything. So how am I going to have a full-time job and a small business? And again, same thing. Like I thought if I can do it and my hubby can do it, anybody can do it. My first entry into the podcasting world was in a time management and productivity mindset; the show was called Elevate Your Eight back then, because my theory was, and still is if you're honoring your work-life balance and you're only working eight hours a day, if you're honoring your wellness and sleeping eight hours every night, then the real key to time management is how you manage those other eight hours. And hence Elevate Your Eight. But the side hustle thing started really speaking to me and I thought, okay. I think what my call in life really outside of my day job is to help career professionals like myself, create time to build the side hustle, small business of their dreams so they can supplement their income, but not like totally jack-up their lifestyle. There's still time for movies on the weekends, soccer games with the kids, happy hour with the colleagues and all all the rest. And then just shout out to our podcasting mentor, Adam Schaeuble (Podcasting Business School), which is how you and I connected through the Monthly Pod Pals chats. thus here, you and I are today on a fine Labor Day weekend talking about side hustle.”
Heather: “We are going to be talking about side hustles and the word side hustle, it's tossed around so much. if somebody starts some sort of business and they're calling it a side hustle because maybe they're not making money. But to me, a side hustle is something you do on the side. Either you have a business and you have a side hustle or you have a job, then you have a side hustle. That's your understanding of it?”
Kris McPeak: “Yes. Ma'am yeah, you hit the nail right on the head and you set it exactly the way that I would do it. They call it a side hustle because it's on the side. And if you're like channeling your inner Sally Albright it's, the salad dressing goes on the side, meaning the main thing is here other thing is here and it's on the side. So yes, that is absolutely my approach to side hustles.”
Heather: Awesome. Side hustles can turn into full-time gigs. A lot of times entrepreneurs, they're not really sure about this business. They've got a normal nine to five job and they start the side hustle and then it builds into something else. But until it is that big thing or main thing, the entree, it is a side hustle.”
Kris McPeak: “The way I see it is, there's three kinds of people in this side hustle world. There's people that are not aligned with their career as it is right now. And they see that they could be more successful and happier if they had their own business.
So they start a small business on the side until that side hustle income can replace their full-time day job income. And then they're going to transition to be self-employed as you will. And then the second type is the person who maybe like me takes on additional form of income because they want to supplement their income, they want to retire earlier. They want to save up for some kind of vacation or to buy a house or something like that. And then they realize, oh, I really like this thing I'm doing on the side. And so now I'm going to choose for it to replace my. full-time career. And so they do that. And then the third type are the people like me who are completely and totally in love with what they do from nine to five, but they have this calling and, or a desire to make extra money or what I do with my husband, with the swim team, it's the passion that was originally his, that I jumped on top of, and now I really like my role in it. But I have no intention of leaving my day job. I just want to do extra and I want to contribute to the world we live in, in extra ways. The side hustle world consists of those three kinds of people.”
Heather: “I help people with, money coaching and I help people with their budgets. I hate that word, but we'll call it budgets. I just don't like that word, but. Often times, we look at all of their expenses and their debt that they have. And my suggestion is you need a side hustle. If you want to pay down this debt quicker. Side hustles though don't have to be starting your own business. It could be just getting a part-time job and having an employer.
What do you think attracts people to maybe one versus the other?”
Kris McPeak: “I love that you asked that question because I did something in a masterclass recently where I broke it down in terms of there's side hustles and there's second jobs. if you're taking a second job, you're once again working for somebody else.; you're going to the retail store or you're going to the restaurant or the Starbucks something like that. Then the side hustle is you're going to work for yourself, but you're going to develop something, whether it's that small business that you want, whether it's things like Uber driving or Postmates, that kind of stuff, the gig economy.
It's already set up for you, but you're still working for yourself. You're just following that corporations set of policies. And also if you're in a second job, it's, they set your schedule and you go to work. When they ask you to tell you to in the side hustle, small business, you set your own schedule. I think it's a mindset thing. And if you'll let me go back for a second. For me, side hustles, and second jobs were just all about needing to make extra money for whatever reason to pay down debt, to save up for something important. realized that, okay, I already go to a nine to five that I like where somebody else dictates my schedule and the nature of my job. When I can go on vacation and I'm blessed that I'm in a position to where I'm very happy in that space. So for making a little extra money on the side and the other realm, I needed it to be a side hustle because I needed to set my own hours and plan the business that I always wanted.
And I had to dip my toe in the water for a while to figure out what it was. I was going to be my thing. So I've done the Mary Kay. I've done the Body Shop at home, which doesn't exist anymore. Charles and I did Amway when we first got married for like 15 minutes. I've done the Postmates thing. So all of those things were great, but they weren't feeding my soul. They weren't using my talents. And so I thought yeah, I need to create my own. My own shape of what this should look like and how I want to help people. So that's where they went, but yeah, absolutely a second job; if that makes you feel comfortable and puts you in a place where you need to be, then, you're good to go.
But I think now because of online businesses and how. Easy it is to develop something. That's your niche and the fact that people want that now. I think it's very easy to come up with a business that's your own or even something that's very similar to what other people are doing. Certainly you're not the only CPA who's trying to help people with their finances, but you do it in a unique way that suits your personality and your talents and your hair color.
So that, I think is the combination That makes things different. And so I can say emphatically, like I have a side hustle, I don't have a second job and I have a side hustle that feeds my soul and utilizes my talents.”
Heather: “Totally. You were talking about like Uber drivers and Postmates, when people think of side hustles, they often think of those kinds of things, but side hustles, you've alluded to this. It can be all kinds of things. What are some side hustles that you see out there over and over again, or maybe might be the, low hanging fruit, if you wanted to get into side hustling.”
Kris McPeak: “I’m glad that you asked that question. Cause I think there's four kinds of side hustles and again, an effort and investment type of thing. The low hanging fruit. Exactly. If you want to call it the gig economy, you can call it that.
All of those delivery, driving all of those Taskrabbit, those things where you're going to fill out an application in a service corporation that already exists, become an independent contractor and do that thing. So if it's Uber, you're, driving people. From point a to point B, if it's Postmates, you're going to the restaurant and getting the person, their food and dropping it off.
So those types of things and then I think the second level of side hustles is, I guess what you would call affiliate marketing. But I also, lumped things like Mary Kay and know body shop doesn't exist anymore. There's so many of them, I can't think of what they are, but that level where someone is going to get you into it and you're become under their line, and you want to recruit other people to get in. You're making products available to people that want to buy them. The person above you gets a piece of the action. And as you recruit people to be in your cohort, if you will, you get a piece of their action or there's people that just become obsessed with a product or a service, they really liked.
They tell other people about it and they get a piece of the action. That would be level two because that's going to require a little bit more of an investment that you're going to decide this is the product I want to market, and then you actually have to market it as opposed to Uber. You just get in your car and you go. Then on the third tier is what I would call a content or product creators. So you're creating something, whether that's an Etsy store where you sell printables or you happen to be an exceptional knitter. Or seamstress, like when COVID hit anybody that could, so is making a killing on Etsy because they were making all these face masks because people suddenly wanted face masks and they didn't want to just look like, George Clooney from ER, like walking down the hall in his mask. They wanted to have, Hannibal Lector’s face on it, or they wanted little fishies or polka dots or whatever. So having an Etsy store things like online courses, like I really know a lot about income taxes, so I'm going to create a course on how to file your income taxes in less than, 10 days or something like that.
So now you've got your creators on that level and then top level to me of side hustles. Service providers. So whether you're a money coach, a side hustle coach, a podcast coach, a personal trainer, a yoga instructor. this is the highest level of investment because you're learning a trade.
If you will, marketing something in a different way that you already know how to do so there's skill level involved. And there's a higher level of having to get your message out there because now. When you're a service provider, unique clients and that's how you're going to make your money.
That's the side hustle pyramid, , and I think there's, probably. Aspects of those different levels that I couldn't even begin to touch on. Cause there's probably a million of all of it. But that's exciting too, because if you feel like, I'm not very creative, so maybe I'll, play around on this level of a pyramid for a while, but then either that becomes tiresome like, I did the Postmates thing and I realized, I don't know. Driving other people's food around. This is not fun for me, even though I can listen to music or audio books or podcasts or whatever, I'm just outright bored. But if I can sit in front of a microphone and talk about something that's passionate to me or interview or be interviewed by cool people like that's rad and I could do that all day long. So yeah. Put me in the content creator service provider niche and I'm good to go.”
Heather: “Yeah, totally. Now you are a productivity nerd. I think I can call you that.”
Kris McPeak: “You can. Yes!”
Heather: “Now, if you're going to have a side hustle, if you've got an nine to five job, that's already taken up eight hours of your day, or maybe plus you have to drive there. If well, not during COVID, but it takes up a lot of time. You got to get ready for this job. You got to transport yourself to this job, come home, make dinner, whatever. You're just got a normal job. Okay. The rest of the day, people probably have some dinner watch Netflix and then go to bed. How do you fit in this side hustle? And is this on the weekends? Is it in the evening? Do you just not watch Netflix? Like how do you do this?”
Kris McPeak: “First, I think it's all about finding routine. So when is the time of day that is working really well for you to do other stuff? So me. Because we swim, we get up super early in the morning and we both need to be up and mobile and conscious before, he jumps on the motorcycle or I jumped in the car to go to the pool. For me, that consists of a part of a morning routine, which some of it. Very personal and it's spiritual. If you will, where I, check my planner, write in my journal, do my meditation, but then I also may spend 45 minutes okay, I'm going to carve out all of my social media work for the week, or I need to email my list.
There's a lot that you can get done in 45 minutes. If you know how long it takes you to do stuff. And you're really focused on that stuff. A morning routine is fantastic. That helps lunch routine. So I work in an office. That happens to have a fantastic break room, just down the hallway. So when I have my lunch, I pick up my iPad and my knitting bag and my food. And I head on down to the break room, where I can knit for a little bit and watch a piece of a show on Amazon Prime.
And then maybe again, check my business, email. I'm going to look at my course one more time before launch it and make sure that's okay. Or I'm going to email my coach and say, Hey, I've got these questions, blah, blah, blah I have an hour lunch.
I always assume that everybody else has an hour lunch. So if you're taking your leisurely time eating in 20 minutes and then maybe working on something or doing something that's. Pleasant for you to participate in. So it's watching the TV and knitting, which is actually something you can multitask. I learned in this set of conference, that knitting is the one task on this planet. You can truly multitask because of the way that you're using your hands. And that part of your brain that knitting connects with would allow you to knit and watch TV at the same time and not be confused. That's why I'm very glad that I happen to land in enjoying knitting.
And then that other 20 minutes is something where I can, do something business related. I can call my husband and I can check in what do you need for me related to the pool or the team how can I help with that today? So now you've got your lunch routine and then evening routine is what I would guess most people are probably doing.
If they have a side hustle or a small business is they're coming home, they're having their dinner, they're kicking it with their kids or their spouse, significant other, whatever that is. And then I'm going to hang for an hour before I go to bed or two hours or however long it takes, not everybody gets up at four in the morning. I know that. But some people get up at six so they can go to bed at 10 or, whatever works for them. And then you figure in the weekends on top of that. I do very set tasks at set times. Sunday mornings from nine to 11, unless we're at a swim meet is when I'm always doing social media for the swim team. Wednesday night, from six to seven is when I'm doing all of the finance related to the swim team. Tuesday night, from six to seven, is when I'm preparing my email to go out for email list. And sometimes it's when I'm finishing up the last touches of the podcast episode. There's certain things I do on certain days.
So I think developing a routine, developing a regularity and. Allowing yourself to feel comfort in the fact that you can get stuff done in short periods of time. So you don't have to have five free hours to work on a small business. You can do little things and, you know, biz bursts 10 minutes more. Or even just saying, like I'm in a carve one hour, every single day to work on my business. And then, I'm going to call it a day and that’s the way that you can still hang out with your family, go to the movies, do the things that you really like to do.”
Heather: “Besides scheduling, which seems like that's one of the things that's going to be key. If you want to have a side hustle, what are some other pitfalls that side hustlers might get into, once they start the side hustle?”
Kris McPeak: “Wow. That is a really good question. I think. There's this need to have all of the things that everybody else has when you're starting side hustle. So maybe you decide like part of your side hustle is going to be a podcast. So you're going to start a podcast and you think oh, well I need to have every bit of fancy equipment that exists and that's going to be a lot of money to put it in my business. And the answer to that would be no. So I think first of all, like . You don't have to gather all of the things. And just because one person that you know is doing their side hustle one way doesn't mean that you have to do your side hustle, the exact same way. I can recall being in a mastermind and hearing from my colleagues in the mastermind that they were starting to do this thing or that thing, or the other thing, and thinking oh they're having such great success with that.
Surely, I can do that too. I don't need to do that because it's not part of my niche or it's not included in, the work that I'm trying to do. And I guess I think the other thing would be not having community around you to learn and to grow and to, Jump ideas back and forth. So whether that's finding a Facebook group or, you know, we're very lucky because there's an amazing man out there named Adam Shively, who has built a community for us to participate in. , however you need to do that, whether it's finding defining a mastermind or finding a Facebook group or joining a membership that again, maybe an investment, but it's having a group around you that you can talk to and connect with and learn stuff from is super, super helpful. So I would say, yeah, the two main pitfalls would be trying to do all of the things. And the second one would be trying to go it alone. Find your tribe that you can hang with and learn from and connect with those people.”
Heather: “That's awesome. Chris, we got to hear about your podcast, where you talk to side hustlers. So tell us a little bit about your podcast and what was the spark that made you actually start a podcast.”
Kris McPeak: “Yeah, sure. That goes back a bit to the elevate, your eight philosophy. I was in a mastermind group at that time with Alison Melody who hosts the Food Heals Podcast we were all at her house and everybody had a chance to be on a hot seat. And I was sharing with everybody that I have this philosophy that I was writing this book everybody's mouth is pretty much open at the same time and said, you need to have a podcast, that's a must. So I was like, okay, well that sounds fun. elevate your aid. That's, you know, a title I can play with, so I launched that show in October of 2018. And I did what I would consider like my first season and shy of 70 episodes, I think. And then I thought let's cut that off and let's have season break and then let's try to. Have a show that's tiered a little bit. So I wanted to do free coaching on the show with people that were having time management issues or career change desires.
And so I did some major outreach through Facebook groups and stuff like that. I started raising the bar on the type of guests that That I wanted to have, I wanted to have people that were side hustle people that were bestselling authors that were career change specialists. I wanted to talk to folks that were in, my niche essentially. So I reached out to different folks and when you ask people to be on your show, I would say eight times out of 10, they're honored that you're asking them. even if their show is in the top 10 of whatever section that they're in you're like having cracked to 200, yet, most people are very honored to be asked and happy to be on your show. And then even like some of the bestselling authors that I've had on my show, I just reached out to them on LinkedIn and found them and they were like, yeah, sure. This sounds great. I did that for probably about another 40 episodes. And then I hit a wall cause I was like, I don't know who I'm helping anymore.
And I got to the realization like this is really, it's not just about productivity for everybody. It's about productivity for people that are like me that want to run a small business on the side and need to figure out how to make time to do. So completely rebranded my show. And I liked the Got Side Hustle off of the whole Got Milk campaign.
I even went out and found the font that the got milk people used and I was like, that'll be my show. And I want to talk to people who. Have side hustles while working full-time job, people that, that have side hustles that may have transitioned into full-time work, but that have something to talk about where the side hustle thing is. Cause, like Adam is a great guest, even though he's a full-time podcaster, but because for several years he ran a show and ran a gym at the same time, father of two kids. So he's got that whole balance piece, to figure out and then people that are well-versed in their trade and their craft that could help coach somebody on starting a side hustle in that arena.
So those are the kinds of people that I wanted to talk to. And would like to get back to, live coaching the audits . Are you wanting to start a side hustle, but you need coaching come beyond my show and be a guest, but meanwhile, the Got Side Hustle is a title that stuck.
I can do a good balance between solo shows and having guests on the show to talk about things that I would want to teach, make those episodes a little bit shorter . And because the whole thing behind my deal is like anyone can have time to run a small business.
I do have a short show. It's usually not longer than 30 minutes. I want them to be. Easily digestible, something that you could listen to on your commute or when you're out, w a L and your dog, I can't say the word cause he's in here and he'll wanna go. I have a blog, but it's not the same as like all the content goes on this show and then everything else comes out from there.”
Heather: “And having a podcast can be almost a full-time job in itself. you have to be really good at time management to have a podcast on the side and have a side hustle besides that.”
