Side Hustle | Janvi Ghatalia

Side Hustle

Location

New York City

Team

Damian Ashton, Janvi Ghatalia

Big Thanks

To Damian, for being a wonderful teammate and for inspiring me to be a good listener!

To Miya and Emily, for giving us the platform to explore ourselves and learn so much.

How might we identify the challenges of completing side projects and help each other while we are at it?

Background

As creative enthusiastic individuals ourselves, Damian and I have had numerous ideas for starting side projects. But due to some or the other reason- either our inability to stick to our plans or lack of discipline, we were having trouble in successfully continuing any side project. After speaking with multiple students and professionals, we found out that we were not alone on this boat. Like the name suggests, side hustles are not the main focus of one's work but if a concrete plan is made, challenges are addressed and factors like time, priorities and commitment are kept in check, a great idea can take one to places.

Results

We conducted a 20 minute workshop session, where 50 students planned their side hustle ideas, discussed and received feedback from others and made a pledge to work on small tasks to reach their big goal!

Designing the workshop

The success of a side project largely depends on 3 things:

Intention - A clear understanding of one’s internal motivations to sustain the vision
Milestones - Detailed tasks and resources to develop a clear plan
Accountability - Discipline and consistency to chart your progress and keep moving forward

Planning the Side hustle

We asked the students to think about an idea they always wanted to start or an unfinished project and fill in the plan sheet. Then, they chose a partner to share their ideas with and discussed the plausible challenges that they predicted in their process. Having a fresh set of eyes discussing their plans with them, was extremely helpful in pointing out issues that otherwise might have been missed.