Side Jobs

So I recently started a formal side job.

After more than a year of being full-time startup founder.

And I must say, it’s kinda nice, kinda weird.

Here’s the jist:

A good friend of mine runs a company that does free, virtual Lean Startup Classes for early-stage entrepreneurs in the Upper Midwest. I love that it exists, and I went through the program myself before starting Uptrends. It taught me a lot

Recently my friend said they were looking for a new part-time instructor, and he asked if I’d be interested. TBH I hadn’t ever considered it, but I liked the concept and was open to earning some extra income while we figured out our next move with Uptrends — so I thought about it.

After a few days, I accepted.

And now 3 weeks into working it, I have a very different perspective. It’s interesting how the dynamic shifts once you go from full-time salaried job → starting a business → raising money → not making enough money to pay yourself → getting a side gig.

For one, it’s been really cool to join another startup team and see how things work; how they do meetings, how they communicate throughout the day, how they prioritize, how they get sh*t done. It’s been like a little work study program.

I’ve already learned a bunch of things that I want to take back to my own startup (sales funnels, L10 weekly meetings, slack communication protocol, etc.)

It’s funny because you really don’t realize how set in your ways you become and how productive your team is until you step away and see first-hand how another team does things.

It’s hard to see the forest from the trees.

Second, it’s forced me to prioritize things within Uptrends. Now that I have other real-world commitments to balance and accountability outside my own self-constructed organization, I simply have less time to spent on Uptrends.

Of what used to be a 50-60 hour work week dedicated solely to Uptrends, I now have more like 30-40 hours to spend. So basically cut in half. And with have the time to spend, I’ve really had to triage which things are worth focusing on and which things aren’t.

For one, now I worry a lot less about the little things, and am more focused on the big picture. A bit of a Pareto effect - focus on the most important things and get those done first. Worry about the rest later. The down side is I spend less time making content and talking to customers than I maybe used to.

Overall, it’s all about the journey. And I am happy to be where I’m at.

I’ve always been passionate about cultivating entrepreneurship and building community, so if I am going to do something outside of Uptrends, this has been a great opportunity to contribute meaningfully in that realm.

It also still enables me the time and freedom to be ‘default founder mode’ without feeling like I need to hide my startup from my day job like I did back before going full-time.

Ultimately, I’m excited for what’s to come, will post another update once I’m a big deeper into this new adventure.

Peace,
Ramsey