A Black Executive Perspective now presents Need to Know with the award winning hyphenated Dr.. Nsenga Burton. Dr.. Burton. What do we need to know?

Good afternoon And welcome to need to know with Dr.. Nsenga Burton. I am happy to be here. I hope that you are as well Today I want to talk about something that is related to what was called The Great Resignation Uh, you may or may not have heard of that. But uh at a time there were lots of people who were Leaving work who said they were not gonna Be part of the workplace anymore, corporate culture, or any other culture. Of course, this was during the covert pandemic and people were just really tired of being made to work in conditions that were just really difficult and dangerous, quite frankly. But people were expected to continue right to behave as if nothing was happening. And so you had what was called The Great Resignation. Other reasons for The Great Resignation included burnout, any culture wasn't what they wanted it to be, um, low pay, lack of advancement, opportunity, feeling disrespected, right? You know, yeah, I'm sorry you have COVID, you have three days to get in here, your job is gone. Um, and lack of flexibility and of course, crazy hours, right? This, um, electronic leech that we're all on and still on and we're on prior to COVID. So, uh, one of the things that I wanted to discuss is how to transition from a corporate job or a job as a black executive or any type of executive, in fact, and becoming an entrepreneur. Unless you are fortunate enough to be able to live off of investments, you have been able to save a ton of money. Uh, You know, despite some of the challenges that we've had based on coming out of the pandemic, based on the cost of living, things of that nature, unless you have that, you can't just leave. Well, you can, but it's just not very smart to just leave corporate America and say, Oh, I'm going to be an entrepreneur. Uh, you know, to be an entrepreneur, it's not for the faint of heart. Um, as an entrepreneur, as someone who's been the head of a national entrepreneurship initiative and a regional entrepreneurship initiative, 1 of the things that we have to coach people about is, you know, just biding your time and leaving your corporate job with your benefits and your retirement and all of those things at the right time. So, what I wanted to talk about today is. Something that you can do to help you transition into entrepreneurship. And that is what we, um, call in slang, uh, the hustle. All right. The side hustle and having a side hustle and what that looks like and how that can kind of help you transition into entrepreneurship side hustles are basically anything that you do outside of work that do not provide, uh, the bulk of your financial security. Right? So you might have a freelance job. You might be a consultant. You might do some type of coaching. You might have a 2nd, part time job that does not have benefits. But side hustles are types of jobs that you can do usually, you know, 5 to 10 hours a week. That will give you additional income to help you cover bills. Now, when you think about side hustles, you know. And people talk about side hustles as it relates to the gig economy and things of that nature. But when you think about side hustles, some of the key statistics about side hustles include 45% of working Americans currently have a side hustle, you know, salaries are not matching the cost of living. That's just. Facts, so people have to go out and get extra money to meet the need, meet their needs and some people, they just want to be able to do extra things. Right? They may want to be able to take vacation each year. They may want to have their children in private school, things of that nature. So they pick up these extra jobs to help make ends meet in that way. 30% of those with the side hustle say they need extra money to cover basic costs. Now that's scary. Um, because if you are going to work every day and you're working 8 to 10 hours a day, like most people are, and you're on call, like most people are because of this electronic leash, and you don't make enough money to meet your needs, like your basic, you know, food, shelter, clothing, utilities, and in most places, car note, you know, and even if not, Transportation, uh, public transportation is very expensive now. Um, then you're in the wrong job, but we can talk about that on another podcast. Um, so you really want to, um, think about the type of job that you're in and when you're doing your side hustle, um, you want to think about which you can feasibly do how you can leverage what you already have skills that you already have. Um, so that is not another heavy lift for you. Um, ultimately, you'll have to. You know, deal with something else. Maybe it's additional stress, um, you know, or things of that nature. Maybe there's a large learning curve things of that nature. So we have that. So then we have 19. 1 percent of side hustlers report that they make more than $1,000 a month. So that's pretty good. Right? That's $12,000 a year. That's before taxes. Of course, you got to take out your. They say 33%, I always say, take out 40, because you just never know what's coming. Um, but you want to take out your 33%. Um, so that's pretty, pretty good money. Um, at the end of the year, you know, if you need extra money, and then, of course, you want to keep your side hustle 10 hours a week. You don't want to necessarily have another full time job, because it's just even if you do it, and we all know people who do it, um. Eventually, you're going to burn out. Eventually, you're gonna have health issues. Eventually, you know, things are going to go bad in other ways. Your relationships are going to suffer. So we're not talking about that. But the benefits of the side hustle as it relates to being an executive, or as it relates to being in corporate America, because, you know, corporate America, those jobs, a lot of them are heavy lifts. Like, they are all encompassing. And you do, um, have to give so much of yourself to this job in a lot of of ways, mentally, physically, you have to definitely be there intellectually. You have to be present. So, when you are thinking about transitioning out of that job, a side hustle is a good kind of midpoint or halfway point to entrepreneurship. You know, A, it's going to allow you to see what the market is. B, it's going to give you an opportunity to really, uh, try out something new without going all in and losing everything in the process. Like some people are built for that where they're just like, I'm out. I'm going, I'm doing this. We'll see what happens. Most people are not built for that. Most people are not built for that. So, unless you are built for that, um, you do want to kind of like transitional phase on your journey to entrepreneurship, um, you know, gives you an opportunity to have a passion pursuit. Maybe there's something that you always wanted to do. Um, that is, uh, related to or tangential to what you're already doing. So maybe it's owning your own company. Maybe you work in travel, you want to be a travel agent, you know? So there's things that you can do with that. Then you can diversification of income is always good. You know, I always tell or told my students, um, that you need to have multiple streams of income because you just never know what's going to happen. You know, especially if you don't own your business, you are somebody else's business. And if you don't have a plan for your life, somebody else has a plan for your life. So, sometimes that plan does not include you at the end of the day. And so you want to have a diversification of income or multiple income streams for that reason, you know, because of technology and connectivity, you are able, even though it can be an electronic leash in certain certain ways. It can also be, um, Okay. Create great opportunities for you to build businesses and to be able to manage that side hustle or that side gig because the technology is available for you to do that. And then supplemental income. There's nothing wrong with supplemental income. That's always a good thing. It's hard to get approved for things with supplemental income, but it doesn't negate the fact that it's there and that it can help you to achieve some of your other financial goals and it can lessen stress. Um, if finances, um, and economics can be stressful for you, which they are for a lot of people, uh, side hustles also allow you to, um, develop whatever skill set it is that you've determined that you want to use, um, in your entrepreneurial endeavors. You know, maybe, you know, for me, I'm a writer, editor, curator, I do production, all these things, but whenever I'm doing a side gig. Or a freelance job. I'm honing those skills. I'm improving those skills. I'm improving and increasing my network. And ultimately, if you increase your network, there's always the potential to increase your net worth. So you want to keep that in mind. And then, of course, you get the entrepreneurial experience, right? You get to kind of see what it's like to be in business for yourself. But the requirements are like, you know, I know people who were like, I'm going to be entrepreneur. And six months later, they are working for a corporation because they're like, I have to. Pay for all those lunches. Yes, you do. I have to pay for all that travel. Yes, you do. I have to meet these deadlines. And if I don't meet these deadlines, I don't eat. No, you don't things of that nature. So, when you are doing your side hustle or transitioning from your executive or your corporate job into your entrepreneurial space, if you are doing a side gig or side hustle, that gives you an opportunity to kind of see what it will take. Uh, in order to be successful in that endeavor, you know, your side hustle or your early entrepreneurial experience can function as a pilot. If you will, you know, if you're in television or film, how they do it to pilot 1st, test it out, see if it's good. And then they order the episodes, right? Same idea here. You pilot through your entrepreneurial endeavors. You pilot through your side hustle, you'd spend the time doing the research. You know, you always want to get a. A business plan, um, you always want to work on a business plan, uh, lots of templates for those. But then, you know, you try it and you see how it works. You see if you like it. A lot of times we think we're going to like, uh, a job of some sort or some type of work or some type of, um, endeavor and we don't, you know, you're getting it and you find out you're like, yeah, that's cool. I can do it, but it's not for me. So, you know, when you do a side gig or a side hustle, particularly if it's freelancing, particularly if it's consulting, then you get an opportunity to really see what it takes to build that type of business. And if you are actually in fact built for it. Um, one of the great things about being an entrepreneur, um, that ultimately you want to get to, uh, is that work life balance. Now, when you're an entrepreneur, I always tell people you won't work harder. Anywhere than you will when you work for yourself, that's just what it is. So the whole idea is I'm going to work for myself and I'm, it's going to be chill. That's not it. You're going to be unemployed. You'll be on the street. Like, that's not how it works. You have to work hard. You just get to choose the 60 hours, the 80 hours that you get to work. Um, you get to choose the 60 or the 80 hours that you work. You get to, um. You know, decide which days, uh, you want to put in the 10 to 12 hours versus, you know, someone else deciding that for you, you make your own schedule. You can work around your children's schedule, your partner's schedule. You can do all of that. When, um. You are in charge of your own destiny. So I just wanted to bring that to you. Um, because there's a lot of talk about it. You look on LinkedIn. Everybody is talking about toxic workplaces and, you know, how do you leave or transition out of corporate America and the gig economy and all those things. And so in thinking about all of those things together, I just wanted to give you. A little insight into what it would take to transition out of corporate America, like some very specific steps, right? So do not quit unless you are in the position to pay bills or have someone else pay bills for you Don't do that. Um, you need to plan and transition out but one of the ways in which you can try out Other careers, um, while you have that extra income or bring in that extra income, um, is through a side hustle. And the reason that you want to do a side hustle is because you get to see what it would be like in order to. Run that business if you endeavor or if you decide to pursue entrepreneurship full time So don't just go get any gig. Don't just go get any side hustle. Try to find something That is related to what you do that will build on your skill set and that will allow you to then build on That skill set and build your network so that you can be an entrepreneur and be done with corporate America Um, if that is in fact your desire, this is Dr.. Nissinga Burton with your need to know moment. I wish you a wonderful day.

A black executive perspective.