10 Tips For Properly Time Managing a Side Hustle and 8-5 Job
I’ve been working an 8-5 while managing my freelance business since 2019. This means I was managing it pre-pandemic, amidst a pandemic, and now post pandemic. With all of these adaptations, I’ve created a rock solid routine to “find the time” to grow my career while taking care of myself and doing things I enjoy each day. I’m sharing some of these tips with you today!
It does take time to find your rhythm. The tips below have helped me actually take on four jobs at once. I currently work 8-5 for a health care company in marketing, manage 7 freelance clients on the side, have fully taken on building my personal brand, and do Lyft driving on the weekends. If I can do it, you can too!
Tip 1. Time Boxing.
Time boxing, time blocking, time batching — they all really mean the same thing. Time boxing is essentially a to-do list placed on your calendar. You allocate a certain amount of time to certain activities. For example, from 9am - 11am you’re going to write blogs and from 11am - 1pm you clean the house. When those time boxes are up, you can’t run over into the next time box. You have to be done and move on.
To successfully time box, at the close of each day or start of each day, write out your entire to-do list. Then look at your meetings/commitments and figure out how to slot in “appointments” or time boxes on your calendar for each to-do. Set a timer on your phone while you work.
Tip 2. Everyone loves a theme.
When working both a full-time job with a successful side hustle, theme-ing your days for your side hustle is a great way to stay on track. It’s harder to do this for a full-time job since you’re at the will of your employer. But for your side hustle, perhaps Saturday’s you create all your content for the week and Sunday is your editing day. Then Monday is admin day (reply to emails, comments, update documents, etc.), Tuesday is a sales day so you’re submitting proposals and looking for prospects, Wednesday is a reporting day (analyzing your analytics + recording insights) and on and on.
Tip 3. Repeatable Processes.
On average, we spend about two days a week on admin tasks. Imagine all you could accomplish if you got that time back. If you can’t spare the expense to hire a Virtual Assistant to take care of your admin for your side hustle, I recommend implementing repeatable processes. It will take much more admin time upfront, but save you literal days of work in the long run.
To do this, I recommend finding a project management tool you enjoy and listing out all of your admin tasks. For example, some of my admin tasks include:
Reading and replying to emails
Calendar management (finding time slots, sending meeting agenda + documents ahead of time)
Posting on social media and responding to comments
Bookkeeping (expense reports, invoicing, balancing books, etc.)
Sending meeting recaps
Putting together custom proposals
Updating client database information
Updating SOPs or process documents
Research
Responding to client Teams messages, texts, and phone calls
For each of these, I list out my step-by-step process and figure out areas I’m wasting time. For example, I get an email from a client with a question, sends me down a research rabbit hole, then I need to prep up a doc to present research findings and respond to the email. I use ClickUp and I would create the process:
Check Emails (I also time box this onto my calendar for 1-2x a day)
Create a 30min research time box
Brain dump all research into Google Doc in Client folder (I would have all of this linked in the ClickUp task for speed)
Create a 15min prep time box
Take research and put into a pre-made brand template
Send during my email timebox
This is a practice I apply to my 8-5 and my side hustle.
Tip 4. Monitor Scope Creep at Your Full-Time Job
I am so grateful for my 8-5. However, I have many times been victim of “role creep” or “scope creep”. This is when you keep getting tasks added to your plate without receiving any compensation. There is a boundary to be drawn between being a team player and being taken advantage of. My tip is: you give your full-time job the 8-5 hours you were hired and contracted for and that’s it. You do your job, provide immense value, take on new and exciting projects, be a team player — but also be willing to have the hard conversations when you start to feel burned out and taken advantage of. They can either pay you more or take some responsibilities off your plate.
Tip 5. Habit Stacking
Habit stacking has truly changed the game for me. It’s how I manage to have a life outside of work while working (currently) four jobs. Here are some of my favorite examples:
Walk the dog + listen to podcast
Walk the dog + call a friend/family member
Drink morning coffee + read marketing email newsletters
Gua shua while watching TV at night
Work on easier admin tasks while hanging out with friends or watching TV or sitting outside with the dog
TikTok time while I brush my teeth
Clean house while on an all-staff meeting
Tip 6. A weekly workout plan
There have been many weeks lately where I simply don’t have time to workout. By creating a workout plan and slotting at least some type of movement into the early mornings, I can maintain my fitness goals. I plug a 30min Pilates workout + 2 mile walk into my morning routine. Then, if I can get away during lunch or right after work, I’ll squeeze in a run or a lift. By having a plan going into the week, I’m much more likely to get it done.
Tip 7. Meal Plan + Meal Prep
This is both a budget saver and time saver. I plan out all my meals on Friday evenings for the following week: breakfast, two rotating meals for lunch and dinners, two snacks, and a sweet treat. Then I hit Aldi on the weekend and use my Sunday evenings to prep the two rotating meals, cut up any veggies, and prep myself as much as possible. This saves me so much time in the afternoons and evenings.
However, baking and cooking are two of my favorite hobbies. So one night a week, I reserve for myself to cook a really nice dinner. I’ll usually factor this into my grocery list so I don’t have to go back out (but inevitably, I always forget or run out of something!). I take the time to pour myself a glass of red wine or an Olipop, listen to music, and be mindless for awhile. This routine helps me keep grocery spending in check, saves hours of time each day, and preserves my love for cooking and baking.
Tip 8. Daily Chores + Daily Deep Clean Task
If my environment isn’t clean, I crumble. I can’t sleep in a dirty home. Yet working four jobs has me busting at every seam. And my apartment cleanliness is usually the first to go. To mitigate this, I’ve developed a daily “closing shift” checklist and a daily deep clean task I complete in the mornings when I need a quick 10 - 15 minute break from the desk.
My daily closing shift checklist:
Dog toys put in basket under table
Couch pillows straightened up
Clutter back in its proper home
Dishes in dishwasher, start dishwasher
Counters cleared of clutter + wiped
Hardwood floor swept
Litter box cleaned
Clothes off bathroom and bedroom floor and into hamper
Bed “made” for bed (it’s made up but I untuck the covers on the side I get in)
Quick body shower, lotion, body splash, skincare
I make myself a cup of peppermint tea and in the time it takes to steep (10min), I am able to do all of the above.
As for deep cleaning tasks, I complete them in the morning because as the day goes on it becomes less and less likely I’ll do it. Here is an example of a deep cleaning tasks:
Monday: Break down boxes and walk them to recycling bin in complex
Tuesday: Laundry Day, Go through unopened mail, sort, organize, throw away
Wednesday: Fold Clothes Day, Dust shelves in kitchen
Thursday: Wipe down fan blades in bedroom + Lint roll couch
Friday: Scrub toilet
Saturday: Clean shower, sink, bathroom mirror
Sunday: Clean oven, Vacuum + Lint roll couch
These will change week-to-week.
Tip 9. Weekly Finance Check-In Process
As someone who is pursuing the ability to full-time freelance, I need to keep a close (and stern) eye on my finances. I set aside Saturday mornings as a “finance” check-in. And once a month, I go to a coffee shop and treat myself to a fancy latte where I do month over month tallies. But on a weekly basis, I set aside 25 minutes to review all card statements and all income statements and determine whether I am ahead, on track, or behind. This determines my spending ability for the next week and helps keep my financial goals top of mind.
Tip 10. The 12 Hour Rule.
If you don’t balance you’ll burnout. You need at least six hours of fun per week and six hours to rot per week. Your six hours of fun doesn’t have to be partying - it could be walks in the park, grabbing coffee with a friend, exploring a new boutique in your city, or doing one of your hobbies. Six hours of rotting could be doom scrolling TikTok, taking a blanket outside and reading, watching true crime documentaries, watching reality TV…anything where you can “chill”. I don’t count anything work related or fitness related into this category.
