How to be all in at your 9-to-5 career and have a side hustle
Two best friends started a business together while each kept her corporate career going. This week, they tell Coach Tish how they did it .
Believe it or not, not everyone is burned out and tired of their jobs. There are some who are simply content where they are. But being content doesn’t always mean you don’t want more out of your career, and that’s where the founders of HYVE Eyewear found themselves before they created their business. There was no work crisis or burnout driving them to start a side hustle; they were just two friends who wanted more out of their careers and decided to go after it—together.
“We’re in the corporate world, but we have a very creative mind. And I think that our corporate jobs have pretty much helped shape us into really developing our entrepreneurial spirit. That’s already embedded in us because we’ve always known that we wanted to elevate our purpose and do something on our own,” said Ahsh Murphy, co-founder of HYVE.
So they set out to develop a business that would elevate people’s eyewear style and give them a boost of confidence. There weren’t any bold moves at their corporate jobs while this was happening. If anything, each became even sharper in her career because of the entrepreneurial spirit they brought into the office every day.
“Your senses are more keen. So when you take that back into your corporate job, you still elevate that whole aura of, I gotta make this happen, I’ve got to make sure that I’m on top of my game. So I think it keeps you on your toes. I think it actually makes you better and more fulfilled in what you’re doing,” said Murphy.
Mika Bright, the Co-founder of HYVE, believes you’re more strategic in your approach to your day-to-day career when you have an entrepreneurial mindset.
“You perform better. And I think we do better when we know this is not the end, right? Sometimes we can feel like ‘this is the end, I have no way out.’ This is not your end. This is just a means to an end. So you can go, you can be happy and your whole perspective is totally different because you have something else going on,” she said.
Bright and Murphy each handle the separation of their business and careers differently. Bright prefers to keep her side hustle private (though she says her co-workers would be thrilled to hear she is the founder of an eyewear line) while Murphy is open about HYVE.
“My corporate job is sales so I’m out in front of people all day talking and doing different things. And so the culture at my job is very welcoming and very open and so I shared it with them, and I I felt comfortable doing it,” she shared, noting the support she gained by doing so. “Pretty much everyone on my team has bought a pair of sunglasses, a couple. They’re repeat buyers,” Murphy added.
The founders of HYVE talk more about what they have done differently at the onset of their business and how you can take your idea and make it a reality on this week’s episode of “The Reset with Coach Tish”. Watch the full interview above.
Letisha Bereola is a life coach who helps ambitious women overcome burnout and reach their career goals so they feel great at work and happy at home. She’s a former EMMY nominated TV news anchor, Podcast host of AUDACITY and speaker. Learn more: www.coachtish.co
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