Living a double life

Noooo, I’m not talking as in mild mannered PA by day and working for the secret intelligence service by night (although if you look on the MI6 website it does sound very interesting)!!  I mean in relation to my side hustle as a hardcore ass kicking fitness instructor.  We’ve all done lots of thinking and reflecting over the last 12 months and some of you may have thought about starting a new business or, like me, simply earning a few extra bob from a hobby that you are passionate about.


I absolutely love my other job as a PA so this blog is purely going to focus on the side hustle rather than setting up a full blown business.  The reason I started my side hustle was simply as an outlet to pass on my passion and enthusiasm for fitness to other people and show them a less conventional route than spending hours in the gym. 



How a side hustle can help your day job

  • Increase your confidence. Not only am I now perfectly happy standing in front of 20 people yelling “drop it like a squat”, fitness has made me feel more empowered at 'work work'.
  • Improve your problem solving. As a fitness instructor, I have to think on my feet, quite literally!  I may need to adapt an exercise and offer an alternative mid-session, I may need to re-think my whole session plan due to changes in the weather.  This is a transferable skill leading to me making more suggestions and putting ideas forward at 'work work'.
  • Make you a more well rounded person.  I support people in both my jobs and I see them at their most vulnerable.  Over the years I've honed my skills in hopefully inspiring confidence, motivation and helping their day go that little bit better.
  • Give you new transferable skills.  Be completely transparent with your employer from the start because the skills you have acquired for your side hustle may well lead to you being given new projects to work for your day job.  Your employers will see a different side to you and realise what an asset you can be in other areas.
  • Time management.  My two jobs don’t leave me with much spare time so I have to be super organised!!  Most of my days are run with military precision, they have to be in order for me to get through all that I need to do but I wouldn't have it any other way.  I'm just one of those people who need to be busy.


What obstacles might you come up against?

  • Other people!  The majority of the people you come across will be amazing and say “go for it”, others may not be as complimentary. Learn to ignore the naysayers and follow your heart. 
  • Cash!  Will you need any cash up front?  Where will that come from?  I saved up initially to have enough money for all the qualifications I needed to take but I’m lucky in that my side hustle has very few overheads.  I don’t work from a gym, I use minimum equipment, my clients mainly come via recommendation so I don't have any marketing costs as such, so there’s really just my car maintenance (back in the days when I could travel to see my clients!) and CPD courses.


What else?

  • Think about what it is you are trying to create and who you are trying to help.  Your side hustle must have purpose or you’ll quickly lose interest.  In my case, it’s about helping other people discover their enjoyment for fitness.
  • Don’t wait to get all your ducks in a row, just do it.  I literally just begged a few friends to turn up in the park one day and it went from there.
  • Be professional.  Although my side hustle is very low key in business terms and more of a passion project, I care deeply about my clients so it’s important that I still go about things in the right way and keep up to date with my fitness knowledge.
  • Think outside the box.  My slogan is ‘Dare to be different’.  I started my side hustle when outdoor fitness sessions and boot camps weren’t even a thing over here but I’d seen them being run very successfully when I’d visited Australia.  Of course, everyone jumped on the bandwagon quickly afterwards when they started becoming more popular.  What made me different was focusing on good technique and nailing the basics as well as having fun, whereas some of the military style boot camps quickly earned themselves a not so great reputation due to pushing people too hard, too soon and having way too many people in their sessions.  

Having a side hustle has helped me in so many different ways, I've developed more as a person thanks to meeting some incredible, inspiring people along the way.  The other great thing is that there are so many similarities between my PA and fitness career.  They're both about supporting people, getting the best out of people and showing you can still have fun along the way.  I love both my careers and wouldn't change a thing.  I think I've proved that you can indeed live a 'double life' very successfully!


Key: 

'Work Work' = my PA job

'Side Hustle' = my fitness instructor job



#2021

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