In the previous article we touched on validating the business idea against personal circumstances. We now should review work factors to be considered in the validation of our hustle ideas.
And as is customary we shall use flag them.
Flag #1: How committed are you at work?
How committed are you at work?
Do your work responsibilities run into the time earmarked for a side business?
Between April 2009 and August 2013, I was so committed at work in that most of the time I knocked off as late as 8 PM. In September 2010, I reluctantly closed my grocery store as it was now near impossible to run.
I had allowed my work commitments to overflow into the hustle space.
Starting your business to fail is not good and failing at both your work and the side hustle is a disaster that shouldn’t be allowed to happen.
Make an informed and honest assessment of work commitment to help you succeed at work and on your selected side hustle.
Flag #2: Do your employment contract allow you to pursue business in the area you are interested area?
As we may know, some employers don’t like their employees to engage in side businesses similar to theirs. Some employers would add a clause in the employment contract prohibiting their employee from pursuing businesses similar to theirs. At times they do it by obligating their employees to sign a separate non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that prohibiting them from uttering (or even copying) details of the company’s intellectual property.
This is what the would-be side hustler needs to seriously consider.
Personally I would recommend you don’t pick a business similar to that of your employer because it is a potential conflict of interest you would rather avoid.
Flag #3: Are you deployable to other stations?
Employers have significant control over the lives of their employees. It doesn’t matter if one lives in the country well known for protecting employee rights – employers are always be on top. Therefore it is not unthinkable that an employee may be transferred or re-deployed to another work station many hundreds of miles away.
I am merely raising this aspect because it happened to me but it shouldn’t stop you from the beginning but do think about it.
This is how it happened to me.
I started my grocer side-hustle in March 2004. Then the thought of being deployed to another station never hit my mind until it happened to me real time until in June 2008, I got deployed from the school where I taught to HQ. I spent 3 months at HQ on a high priority project. After the end of the project, I was told by the boss;
“You are no longer going to the unit where you were initially deployed. I have taken the decision to re-direct your redeployment to Ghanzi. We thank you for good work you did on the priority project”.
Ghanzi is a town in western Botswana closer to the Namibian border. It is 700km from HQ. My grocer side-hustle was still running. I was faced with two scenarios; close shop or let employees run it. I let employees run it and left town. Fortunately, my re-deployment to the border outpost was reversed six months later. But the hustle suffered a lot due to bad management and pilfering. At least I am grateful employees didn’t run it down completely. I found the hustle still limping and took it from there.
Are you transferrable or permanently employed in your current station? Consider the prospect of transfer or at the least think about it as you validate your side hustle.
Flag #4: Will the side hustle get in the way of your employment or vice versa?
Your employment shall come before your side hustle as long it is within the agreed employment terms.
If you do 9-5 job, it then follows that any time from 9 am to 5 pm, you are at the disposal of your employer, and therefore, you can’t be at your side hustle. You then need to ask yourself if the intended business idea will fit in the remaining time- and at least if it can be automated to run independent of the hustler’s time.
As we know, going against the agreed employment terms may lead to potential conflicts with your employer.
Side Hustle Mania 