Are you scared to put your side hustle on LinkedIn?

By

Scott D. Parker

Do you have a side hustle? A passion project you do in addition to a day job? The kind of activity that, given a perfect set of circumstances you’d happily make your main vocation? 

Is it on LinkedIn? Why not?

Now, I admit, up until recently, my side hustle was not on LinkedIn either. In fact, when my current boss at the day job interviewed me two years ago this month, he actually brought up my author business. It was the first time anything like that had happened. It surprised me, but it also should have served as all the incentive I needed to update my LinkedIn profile.

Yet I didn’t. In fact, it was actually a conversation with a co-worker last week in combination with my inaugural advertising of my latest book--Have Yourself a Merry Christmas Murder--on LinkedIn that got me to rethink how I view my LinkedIn profile

A Side Hustle is Legit Experience

My co-worker used to run a cookie baking business. It was her creative outlet that soothed the other side of her brain that spent forty hours a week as a technical writer. Her baking and decorating cookies was her creative outlet. 

But her business wasn’t all sugar and flour and fondant. She had expenses, accounting software to deal with inventory and pricing, the physical act of selling the cookies, and the time to dream up new ideas. In short, she ran a small business.

And so do I. 

As an independent author, the fun part of the job is the creative process to come up with a story and write it. Yes, this part can be challenging, but isn’t that part of being creative? So after the book or story is done, then what? Well, I have to format it, package it, distribute it, and tell folks where to find it. 

It’s a small business. There are tools and resources to help get the work completed, but it’s still on me to make sure it all gets done. I manage everything, constantly learning new things and expanding my experience and my skills. It makes me a better author entrepreneur when I sell my books, but that experience can absolutely be channeled into my responsibilities at my day job to make me a better corporate marketing writer.

So why did I hesitate to put it on LinkedIn?

My co-worker said she thought the creative side of people was the thing you were supposed to keep “hush-hush.” Yet the creative side of folks is often the thing talked about at parties or in break rooms. It’s one thing if you, for example, sculpt with clay and adorn your home with your creations, but if you sell your wares, then you have zero excuse to update your LinkedIn profile.

So, if you have a side hustle, leave a comment and let me know what it is. And then go update your LinkedIn profile.

Give Small Businesses a Chance

By
Scott D. Parker

Do you absolutely, positively have to have a brand-new book the day it is published?

Okay, for some, yes you do. I remember the Harry Potter years when folks would line up to buy a book at midnight. Ditto for many of the best-selling authors I’ve read over the decades.

But for many of us, our To Be Read pile is so huge that even if we did rush out to a bookstore on publication day, that new book might first find a place on the TBR stack vs. in our hands (even if its place is in the prime position of Next Book.

Note that so far in this example, I’ve been talking about going to a physical bookstore. What about ordering a book and having it delivered?

Well, there’s the obvious option: Amazon. If you really wanted to pre-order and book and have it delivered on publication day, Amazon would most likely make that happen for you. The other online book sellers could also fulfill your request and you’d have that brand-new book in your hands the day of release.

You can have whatever opinion you want on the omnivorous nature of Amazon. I think it’s a great service, and I use it as a writer and a consumer. But as an indie author, I’m aware that there are other options.

So when, Discipline is Destiny, the latest book from Ryan Holiday was announced, I was all in. Even though I’ve not read them all, I plan to read all of Holiday’s books. They are really good and chock full of great, thought-provoking advice.

In the days leading up to the book’s publication, Holiday went on social media and let folks know that if they per-ordered the book—from any vendor—you would receive some bonus content. It was in that moment I opted to order direct from Holiday’s website, The Daily Stoic. Why not? I would be supporting a small business. 

When I placed my order, I received a confirmation email with the following.

"PS: We appreciate your order and want to remind you that we're a small shop. We use local manufacturers and family-run businesses as our partners here in America. While this means we can feel good about everything we make, it sometimes means that products take a bit longer than expected and creates the occasional logistical issue. We don't have a massive supply chain or a massive team of people working 24/7. It's just us...doing our best...just like you. Thank you and enjoy!"

I have enjoyed the book. It’s the new book so there was high demand. Ultimately it took about ten days, but those days were spent finishing another book I was already reading (Back to School Murder) so I didn’t mind at all. And I helped a small business.

So, as our attention turns to Christmas shopping, I would like to encourage everyone to support as many small businesses as possible.