Hustle VS. Job: Discuss!

[niftyg]

As you know know there are a variety of ways to generate money to fund your startup and your livelihood but discussion on this forum generally breaks down to

1. Working an hourly job
2. "Hustle" Use all skills at your disposal to pull in cash

Although there is lots of information present on both of these topics and although the comparison will be different for every single person I think it would be a cool discussion to have to see what everybody here is doing.

Are you working or are you hustling?

What kind of skills do you have at your disposal?

Are you using job-like skills (programming, video editing) or are you down to the bare bones basics (garage sale ebaying)

For those hustling: Do you find you are able to find more time to focus on your business or not? Was it worth it?

For those working: Do you find the daily routine of an hourly job consistently derails you or does it work out great? Are you making a lot or a little?

These questions are just some ideas: What are your thoughts of this comparison?

It may seem like an odd discussion but I am very interested to know how the forum in general thinks of these, although it is hard to compare as everyone's situation is different.

 

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[RogueInnovation]

I vote for hustling. There is a point where you really just HAVE to hustle no matter what. Sure you can be a guy that jumps ship from one thing to another but there is nothing quite like the confidence to scrape together what you need for when you need it.

Eventually, after you've hustle long enough, and enough ideas have failed, you find a balance and you streamline all those hustle skills into your biz.
Instead of hiring a sales guy to talk to major clients, you do it yourself.
Instead of outsourcing that thing you need off another guys cash, you pull it from no where, and find a better way to outsource that task.
Instead of letting that one situation get out of control you chase it up with an unconventional fix.

My point is, don't be shy about biz. You don't have to be crude and a loudmouth to hustle, you just need to do things people don't expect can be done (and you do that by not going the route of convention).

Do what everyone else does, and you'll get what everyone else gets.
Go off the beaten track.

 

[Daniel A]

This is EXACTLY what I have been thinking about for the past few weeks maybe.

I will tune in to see what others have to say

 

[throttleforward]

I work a day job as a speechwriter/strategic communication advisor for a military organization. I've found that:
-my communication skills are critical for cold calling/closing deals, sales, emails, ad copy, etc. so exercising those at work everyday definitely helps
-being on the younger side (everyone is 15-40 years old than me), doing my job gives me a lot of confidence to do what I need to do for my business. If I can talk to a 4-star general who is also a member of the joint chiefs of staff and advisor to the secretary of defense/President, I'm pretty sure I can talk to a business owner who I'm trying to help
-my workload/environment is usually flexible enough for me to do most of what I need to do for my business at my day job. I usually bring an iPad and run it through my phone's hotspot so I can separate my business stuff from my government computer. Plus I have a newborn baby, so sometimes my lunch break is the only time I can get away from the family and have some quiet time to work/call folks.
-my coworkers, almost all senior military officers, have provided me great connections and advice that have furthered my business. One is considering investing and getting his family/friends to invest. At my old job I sat next to a Harvard MBA, so I bounced stuff off of him all the time (we still keep in touch). I try to squeeze as much advice/guidance out of my coworkers as possible (especially because you never know who they know. For instance I have an immediate, sit-down-have-lunch connection with the member of congress representing my primary market through a coworker.
-I've quit my day job before to hustle for another business that semi-failed. I learned a lot and don't regret it, but I do hesitate to quit my day job again unless I'm starting to generate substantial revenue.

 

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[Oven]

What would you rather do:
1.Spend years working your job saving up until you have enough to really focus on your business
2.Hustle for a few months and find an investor who can give you the money to grow your business that same year.

I'd rather the second option, many businesses don't even need that much money to start so you can get by without an investor just gotta be willing to put in the work. Not having enough capital to start your business is an excuse. @zen******* bought over 200 apartments with no money so don't tell me it's impossible.

 

[throttleforward]

I know this is an unpopular opinion here, but I don't think it's a binary choice. There are plenty of success stories where people started a hobby or on-the-side business while working a day job, then quit their day job and focused full time when the business had demonstrated some acceptable level of promise (my friend is one of those people, and in 2 years has a 7 figure business that he cultivated while working a day job). While having your back against the wall and no backup plan can drive success (and clearly has for people here), I don't think that's the right option for everyone in every situation, nor do I think it's necessary.

 

[Oven]

I know this is an unpopular opinion here, but I don't think it's a binary choice. There are plenty of success stories where people started a hobby or on-the-side business while working a day job, then quit their day job and focused full time when the business had demonstrated some acceptable level of promise

I think that we're kind of seeing the question in different ways. I totally agree that you shouldn't drop your day job and try to start a business until you've proven the concept or have at least some sort of way to pay the bills. The original questions was about generating money to fund your startup. I would never suggest someone to save up money from a day job to fund their business. If you need a lot of capital find an investor, otherwise use the money you have.

 

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[Darius]

I think while you're getting over the learning curve for your first business that you should have a job (freelancing or being an employee).

 

[SBS.95]

It doesn't seem like everyone here is answering his question. He said hustle in the sense of generating cashflow, i.e. flipping items, freelancing, plowing driveways, helping people move, etc. Some people are taking hustle to just mean "work hard on your fastlane business"... which should really be a given.

I feel this question is very subjective. If you are 20 years old, don't have a wife/kids, mortgage, etc. and have a crappy $11/hour job, then it's easy to say hustling is the right answer. I am in a situation similar to that, and for me quitting the job was undoubtedly the best choice.

Now if you are on the other end of the spectrum, let's say 37 years old and have a family to take care of, a comfortable job with reasonable pay, and some debt to work off, then leaving your job right away just doesn't make sense. Assuming your job is the typical 40 hours a week, there is no reason to quit right away, you can just keep working for yourself after 5 pm.

It seems on this forum there are people on both sides of this equation, and therefore doesn't seem fair to say there is a right answer.

 

[Mike Kavanagh]

I'm going to go the opposite way on this one.
Job.

Saying job or hustle might be an easy way to cop out of actually doing work. "I'm just going to say I'm hustling/bootstrapping to start my business"
Then never move forward. Don't get me wrong, it can happen the other way too.

Instead take work as a learning experience. You can learn a ton from any job. I know more about margins now on products when I took an inventory control job. You also get to see who the 99% is. These people are your target demographics 95% of the time.

Also who says you can't do fastlane work/hustling and regular work at the same time?

The job way keeps you with a steady income for your bills and you wont have to rely on quick flips and stuff not working or getting robbed.
All things that can likely happen. Especially with bigger ticket items, like game consoles.

 

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