Becoming the Master of the Side Hustle

Since graduating from UNC, I have had my focus on building up my sources of income to keep myself stable while Pages Custom Journals is in its early stages. I’m happy to say that the new business has already gotten its first order, but I know that really making solid income from it will take time, work, and patience.

Because of this I have been working hard to keep my Etsy shop, Digital Redesign, running strong. I’ve actually had one of the best months I’ve had in a while on the shop for August, which isn’t uncommon with back to school season. I’ve loved building up this shop, and it’s been one of my proudest accomplishments of my college experience to build that up from nothing a couple years ago.

I’m also starting to work on building up my presence as a freelance video editor and graphic designer. I’ve got my first gig postgrad lined up already, but I’m not going to talk much about that until the project is over. I was so excited to be contacted for this project, and I will be working on that at the end of the month.

Balancing all of this is an adjustment for sure, but having to learn to balance all of my classes, organizations, and work throughout college has helped to prepare me. I love that all of my jobs give me a level of flexibility in when I work, and it has allowed me to really be there for my family in the past few months in ways that we would have struggled without.

Some of my friends have joked with me that I’m becoming the “master of the side hustle,” and to some extent they’re right. I’ve enjoyed the process of developing all three of these revenue streams for myself, and eventually I want Pages Custom Journals to become the main focus, but for now to me they are all full time jobs in their own right.

While I might not work a traditional 9 to 5, I’m working every day to build up my businesses and to give each of them the best chance of success that I can. I owe it to myself to give each of them the best chance I can, I’m so proud of how far I’ve come and can’t wait to see what the future has in store for me.