Welcome to this special report!

You've got the skills - writing, design, strategy.

And you've got the vision - big portfolio, client success, maybe an agency one day.

But you've still got a career. Which means you DON'T have a lot of extra time.

So you've got to be smart about how you spend it.

Time Managment For Freelancers

Many successful careers start as side hustles.

And many successful side hustles fit nicely beside a career.

But how do you manage both without burning out?

This is how I do it:

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My Story

I’ve got a great career.

I’m SVP of Operations at a marine consulting and engineering firm.

It pays well, the work is engaging, there is international travel involved.

And most importantly, it has given me a skillset that I can leverage anywhere.

After years of writing technical reports, consulting, managing projects, and problem solving complex issues I’m able to use those skills to do my favorite thing.

Writing.

My side hustle is writing in the maritime space. Feature articles for print magazines mostly, and I also help some select private clients with brand strategy and B2B marketing.

The two fit together perfectly, but because my day job really takes all day I need to be mindful with how I spend the time I’ve carved out for writing.

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Side Hustle Vs. Hobby

A side hustle is a business and needs to be treated as such.

A business means clients, and a transaction of money for value.

Kyri wrote this post last week:

Kyri @kyrinahlis Why do people struggle to fulfil on their promise? They go through all of the trouble to get a new client... 1) Marketing. 2) Sales. 3) Closing! ...and then fail... thoughts? 4:5 AM • Feb 16, 2024 0 Retweets 42 Likes Read 27 replies

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I believe people fail because they’ve built a hobby, not a business.

They are playing at “audience building” and “marketing” without realizing that your success only comes when the client has success.

Your side hustle is either a business or a hobby. The level of seriousness that you approach it with depends on which.

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Building At Work

There is a lot of advice about building on the side while on the clock.

“Get your boss to fund your startup”.

This is totally wrong. It lacks integrity, and that lack of integrity will shine through in your own business (if it ever gets off the ground).

Instead, do this:

Build COMPLIMENTARY skills while on the clock, that benefit both you and your employer.

I write stuff for work all the time:

• Web copy
• Social posts
• Case studies
• Presentations
• Press releases

I even got my boss featured in a magazine.

Its not an official part of my job, but it provides big value to the company while keeping my skills sharp.

It’s a win-win.

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One Deliverable. One Process.

A successful side hustle needs boundaries. Strict limits on what it is that you do.

Because you can quickly become overwhelmed when you take on projects that you don’t fully know how to fulfill.

Since 2020 I’ve focused primarily on one thing:

Feature articles in the 1,500 - 2,000 word range.

And because I’ve done so many I’ve been able to turn this into an actual, written process.

With the process in place I understand how long these will take, what steps are needed, and am confident that I can deliver the value when I say I will.

My man @thechrisbaumann is a great example.

Chris 🃏 The Brand Jester @thechrisbaumann I’ve made Banners for 21+ Creators on X. Everyone was completely different… • a Mindfulness Coach • a Travel Email Marketer • a Hypnotic Business Coach But. I asked the same 3 questions to create an effective design for each & everyone. Answer them for yourself & create… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1737545776987877643 12:49 PM • Dec 20, 2023 2 Retweets 33 Likes Read 7 replies

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He’s a branding expert, who helps creators on the side. And because of that restriction he focuses primarily on ONE deliverable –> high converting banners.

Because of that focus he’s able to knock it out of the park, every time.

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Making Time

The first thing you need if you are serious about your side hustle is time to do it in.

Because everything that you do is a task, and all tasks take time.

For me that time is early in the morning, before the kids wake up.

(if you don’t know, I’m fanatical about time blocking. So much that I wrote and published a book about it last year)

One hour every day, Monday to Friday. 90 minutes on Saturday and Sunday. Eight hours a week. One working day.

That’s my baseline. And most weeks I do more than that.

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Choosing What To Do

You’ve made the time. But what will you do with it?

This is the $10k MRR question.

As a singularly-focused side hustle you have 3 main tasks:

1. Client work (fulfilment)
2. Getting clients (marketing)
3. System building (operations)
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Do you currently have a paying client?

Work on that NOW.

Do a great job. Exceed expectations by an order of magnitude. Your goal is complete customer satisfaction.

The highest value client is a repeat client. Aim for that.

No active clients?

Work on getting some.

Its easy to get bogged down in this step. There are lots of ways to get clients but the best way is the simplest. Build a portfolio then have 1:1 conversations and point people there.

Don’t have a portfolio?

Start building your exact deliverable as an example. Then build another.

I’m writing a pro bono article now for a non-profit I admire. It doesn’t pay in cash, but will pay in reputation and exposure. That’s just as valuable.

Warning - beware the rabbit hole of social media. Even these words that I’m typing right now for you is taking time that I could be using to work on that article. But the interaction here is important to me, and the side mission of my side hustle is to give other professionals the tools to build something fulfilling outside of office hours.

Portfolio in place?

Start systematizing the operation.

The FIRST thing to do is get your process on paper. How you deliver your deliverable.

I have a 7-step process for completing a client project from kickoff to completion. This lets me know exactly where I’m at currently and makes sure I don’t miss anything.

After that you’ll want a proposal template, a simple way of tracking contracts, an easy to use project management system.

I call these Business Infrastructure items. Build these out early, because once you get busy you’ll always be playing catch up.

Once you get the systems and portfolio in place you’ll be able to dedicate more time to client work and marketing.

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Manage Capacity Using The Client Block Method

How do you make sure to not overbook your limited time?

You’ve carved the time, an hour a day all week.

If you think of each of those hours as a single block of work, and you have your process for delivering a project in place, you can start to accurately manage your capacity to deliver.

You can go crazy on marketing and get all the clients on the internet, but if you can’t get it all done in the time you have allotted then the whole thing will fail. Remember, this is a side hustle. Make sure it doesn’t creep into your day job.

My 7-step process looks like this:

1. Kickoff meeting
2. Outline
3. Research
4. Interviews
5. First draft (2 blocks)
6. Revision
7. Final delivery

For a feature length deliverable each step takes about an hour, or one block. Interviews take a block each so there is a variable.

With a baseline of 8-hours of work this means 8-blocks to complete.

Obviously I won’t do all 8 blocks back to back. There are delays, scheduling issues, and soak time.

In practice, I’ve found that I’ll average about two blocks per week per project.

That means this project will take about 4-weeks to complete.

Your writing speed is another key variable in this. With an outline I do about 900wph. Without one I do between 500-600.

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The Key To Capacity Planning

The key to successfully managing side-hustle capacity is this:

Remember, you also need to be marketing, building infrastructure, writing your newsletter, etc. If you think you’ll be doing 7-days a week on client work you are mistaken.

So how many client blocks do you choose?

Four. The number is four. And here is why.

You need one block a week to write ongoing marketing content. An article, blog post, newsletter.

You’ll be tempted to spend a lot more time on this. I fall into this often. The key is to really be smart about what you write, and make sure that each piece does a LOT of work.

I use this top-down method

Sean Hogue | The Captain⚓️ @SeanPHogue Creating content while working 9-5 is hard. You tweet daily, post threads weekly, AND have to get out a newsletter. Plus trying to make progress on your book or course. There is a better way. I call it the "Top Down Writing System" and it works like this: 7:1 AM • Jun 13, 2023 3 Retweets 20 Likes Read 9 replies

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You need one block a week dedicated to distribution.

Writing that content is one thing. Scheduling it on @Convertkit, posting on Medium, reformatting for LinkedIn is another. It all takes time, but an hour each week will get it done.

You need one block a week as free space.

Maybe you missed a milestone and need some extra time to get a project out on deadline.

Maybe you partied all night, overslept, and missed your block.

Or maybe you are crazy inspired and just HAVE to write a huge article on how to manage your side-hustle outside of work hours.

Either way, build in some free space.

Which is how we arrive at four blocks.

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Four Block Planning

Now its simple math.

• Four client blocks a week.
• Eight blocks in the process.
• Two blocks per project, per week.
• Four weeks total to complete.
• Capacity = Two projects.

If I’m dedicating two blocks a week to a single project, and have four available project blocks per week, then I can handle two active clients at one time.

When the next project comes in I just schedule the kickoff meeting into the next open block.

This is how you fill your pipeline with work, while making sure that you can actually deliver.

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Isn’t two projects kind of not a lot?

Sure, if you are trying to feed your family and keep the lights on.

But remember, this is freelancing outside of your regular day job. You aren’t working on this full time.

What you are doing though, is developing the systems, habits, and mindset that you’ll need if you ever do make the leap to full time.

And the most important thing at this stage is a relentless focus on each and every client.

The project must go well and the quality needs to be professional grade.

Give each client your full attention. This is how you’ll make repeat and referral business.

By keeping the number of obligations low you keep the quality high, while also making sure to have some buffer for life’s emergencies.

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Client Focus - With Boundaries

A client-centric focus doesn’t mean they get to walk all over you.

They hired you. So you get to dictate the terms of this agreement.

Remember the process you developed earlier? The one that shows how you do the thing you do?

Baked into that are stopping points, milestones, and payments.

There are rights to your work, privacy terms, and a bunch of other things to consider.

Use your process to guide your proposal template.

This is how you set and enforce healthy client boundaries.

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Projects –> Clients

All client relationships start with a single project. So be sure to do a great job.

Single projects are great for the part-time freelancer. You get some diverse experience, build your portfolio, and build relationships.

Single projects are a hard way to make a full-time living though.

You spend time prospecting, sending quotes, having kickoff meetings. Wouldn’t it be easier if they just handed you the next piece of work?

That’s what a good client relationship looks like.

And this is the reason you need to focus on every project as if they are your only client.

Because when they DO turn into a recurring client your whole life gets easier.

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Final Advice on Specialization

I’ve been freelance writing on and off since 2009.

Its always been in the marine and energy industries. Because that’s where I work.

I know the companies. I know the players. I know the technology, and the lingo.

ALL fields need content. Bby specializing in a narrow vertical I’ve been able to stay busy while commanding rates far higher than you’ll find on Fiverr.

Plus, because the writing work compliments my industry work it acts as an authority multiplier.

Who are you going to hire? The guy who has been in industry for 20 years?

Or the guy who has been in industry for 20 years who you also see writing for the top industry magazines every month?

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My top advice is this:

If you work in a professional field, write in that field.

You’ll need to do this in such a way that it doesn’t create a conflict with your day job, but that’s easy to do with some forethought and integrity.

This isn’t a perfect science but is a great starting point.

1. Be professional
2. Build your process
3. Consider your capacity
4. Turn projects into clients
5. Freelance within your industry

This has worked for me and is a solid roadmap for starting a successful freelance writing side gig.

And if you decide one day that you are going full time?

You’ll have build the foundation to do that successfully.

Creating B2B content is the best side hustle going for industry professionals.

The market is huge and you speak the language.

This translates to (much) higher rates, and the exposure also boosts your existing career.

I’m setting up a waitlist for a B2B Bootcamp, where I’ll show you how to get started.

We’ll cover things like:

• Creating a streamlined process
• Creating bulletproof proposals
• Figuring out what to charge
• Identifying your market
• Managing your time

And much more.

If you are ready to change the trajectory of your career while building something for yourself, sign up for the waitlist.

​Join the B2B Bootcamp Waitlist​

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Thanks for reading today.

I know it was a big one and I truly appreciate you if you made it all the way through!

Talk soon,

Sean

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