If you’ve followed me for any amount of time, you know how much I believe in the side hustle. My own side hustle started out for fun. But within a few years, it was earning more than I was at my day job. I was then able to start helping others build successful side hustles, and it has since become my full-time job and a six-figure business.

Needless to say, a side hustle can change your life.

And, supporting others in finding that secret sauce behind a truly effective side hustle is one of the most rewarding parts of my business. I LOVE seeing them find happiness and fulfillment around their day jobs.

In working with so many, I have the unique blessing of having a front-row seat into the side hustles of so many, including what skyrockets their success, and what holds them back.

Today, I want to share one of the things that I believe to hold side hustlers back the most.

It seems harmless. But trust me, it’s not harmless.

And that is when people talk about their side hustles (or even their full-time hustles!) as a means to get out of their 9-5 jobs.

That usually shows up in phrasing like this:

“I need to make more money than I am right now, or else I won’t be able to quit my 9-5 job”

“I need to grow my audience and sales, or else I might have to get another 9-5 job”

“If I don’t succeed at this launch, I could have to stay an extra few months at my 9-5 job”

See this pattern?

Now, I don’t mean to say that your side hustle can’t get you out of your 9-5 job. Of course it can! And I’m the first to admit that working toward the freedom of self-employment was a huge part of my “why” and I was SO excited to hand in my resignation.

Helping people leave their 9-5s is hugely exciting!

But here’s where this logic becomes problematic. When you focus on building a business because you want to get out of, or stay out of, a 9-5 job, you’re building an escape from a situation more than a business.

Being motivated by an escape is the same thing as being motivated by fear.

As you can imagine, building a business on the foundation of fear and escaping is not a solid structure on which to grow. It’s true that fear can be a powerful motivator. It may even boost your income or drive you enough to get out of your 9-5 job. But then you’ll be left with a business based on your fears, and that’s not a healthy place from which to grow.

Generally speaking, you don’t want to make any decisions from a place of fear. I call these “band-aid” decisions. All they’re doing is covering up a wound, not actually healing it.

So, how can you make sure you’re not building a side hustle based in fear?

Here’s how:

1. Focus on your motivators that stem from love, generosity and excitement rather than fear. Think of all the GOOD that can come from your success, not that potential bad that could come with your “failure.”

1. Switch your phrasing to instead say you want your side hustle to grow so you can spread your wings and help others, not to get out of your 9-5 job.

1. Cut out your fears and stop even toying with the possibility of going back into a day job (if you’re already self-employed). When you mention that possibility, that implies you haven’t actually decided on your future yet. And that decision needs to come from you, not your business.

I’d love to know if this resonates with you. Email me back and let me know if this was helpful for you today. And, if you think this would help a friend, I’d love it if you’d forward it to them.