• Stroke of Genius - Finding the right inspiration for your side hustle

• Three things you must prepare to face as an entrepreneur

  • Loneliness

  • Rejection

  • Stress

Stroke of Genius - Finding the right inspiration for your side hustle and how to make it work

A mathematician named Archimedes displayed one of the earliest known “Stroke of Genius” moments. Contracted by the King to solve a rather impossible problem at the time, the mathematician initially puzzled, suddenly had an idea leap into his mind out of nowhere. Excitedly, Archimedes jumped out of the bathtub running across the street and shouting Eureka, meaning “I’ve found it”.

Not everyone may be as brilliant as Archimedes or many other “Geniuses”, and the good news is that regardless of the name, you don’t need to be a Genius to have a Eureka moment. Of course, the same goes for becoming a successful entrepreneur. That being said, what then can be done to find the inspiration for a good side hustle? In my opinion, the first catalyst for a good side hustle is a Challenge.

When asked what gave her the idea for her side hustle, Blake Geffen, founder of Vivrelle said it all happened while she was planning her wedding. Geffen wanted a luxurious wedding without having to spend so much on acquiring the luxury items she needed to make her dream wedding a reality. The problem is that she couldn’t afford luxury without breaking the bank. This challenge led to her Eureka moment.

She may not be able to buy the luxury accessories for her wedding, but there should be a way she could borrow them for a fraction of the money it would cost to buy. As great as that idea was, Geffen realized that nobody had thought of doing that, at least not anybody she knew. With that, she decided to pick the baton of entrepreneurship.

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It is safe to say that great ideas are born of challenges. You may be tempted to believe that the challenge you are facing is peculiar to you, but don’t. Venture out and you’d be surprised to see just how many people face a similar challenge but do nothing about it. Are you going to be one of them?

After challenges, the next catalyst for a good side hustle is Passion. If you think passion should have come first, you are not alone, most people think so too. But hear me out, while passion is great to keep you going, challenges ensure there is a market for your idea. You may be passionate about a lot of things, but that doesn’t mean you can turn that into a business. Without a market, your passion is just a hobby and not a side hustle.

Geffen, like most women, had a passion for luxury. Again, like most women, she wasn’t able to afford it, but her passion fused with the challenge of not having enough money meant that there were many women in her shoes. So if she figured out a way to deal with the problem, then she could sell that solution to every woman out there who struggled with the same problem. That is exactly what she did.

Finally, the third catalyst for a great side hustle is Hard work. Yes, no matter how great your idea may be, its success still depends heavily on hard work. Your side hustle would demand more of your time and you’d have to sacrifice other activities and invest that time into the idea.

So if you have been struggling with finding inspiration for a side hustle, here are three things you need to figure it out; Challenge, Passion, and Hard work.

Read more about Blake Geffen in her interview with Entrepreneur here.

Three things you must prepare to face as an entrepreneur

Loneliness - There is a common saying “It is lonely at the top”. That is true for anybody who aspires to greatness in all works of life, more so as an entrepreneur. Elon Musk puts it more directly when he said - entrepreneurship is like eating glass and staring into the abyss. For a man who founded more than 4 companies, you bet he knows what he is saying. Looking around, you may have seen entrepreneurs as individuals who are constantly surrounded by people doing their bidding and who may seem to be having the best time of their lives.

Perhaps this might inspire you to be like one of them. But you would be grossly misled if you believed that is all there is to being an entrepreneur. Everything might seem all rosy on the surface but underneath that are layers of difficult decisions and pressure that rest solely on the entrepreneur alone and no one else. The weight of this responsibility creates a feeling of loneliness, despite being surrounded by people.

Next to loneliness is the feeling of Rejection. This happens because not everyone will buy into your idea, at first. Most people need to see results before jumping on the bandwagon. This is true for investors as it is for your family members. So don’t be surprised if a spouse or close relative is not as excited about your business idea as you thought they should be. This doesn’t mean they are unsupportive. It is only normal to have this reaction especially if you have never owned a business.

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Loneliness and rejection often culminate in Stress. Apart from the need to physically exert yourself when starting a business, there is also the risk of emotional stress. Stress, in general, can lead to burnout which would not only impact your performance and decision-making but could also negatively affect your personal life and relationships. Talk about a spillover.

Considering all these, one question you may have is, what can be done? Well, here are three things you can do;

Have a confidant - someone you can talk to about the challenges you face. They don’t necessarily need to have the right answers to your questions. But just having someone you can freely share with and who listens will go a long way.

Accept and acknowledge rejection as a part of the process - knowing that you can’t get everyone to see eye to eye with you doesn’t mean you are not right. Perhaps all you need to do is prove to them you were right all along.

Meditation and Yoga - can be an effective way to destress and get back in the game. This is no secret. However, the fast-paced world of entrepreneurship makes it seem as though you have no time for anything else but work.

Don’t fall into that trap. Make out time to meditate whether in the morning or before bedtime. You can also have intermittent periods of meditation within the day depending on how you feel.