Happy Monday! One of y’all asked about how I generate revenue, diversify my income streams and how to find a side hustle you enjoy. I am going to share my experience with this all and my mindset around financial abundance.
I grew up in a household with a stay-at-home mom and a dad in medical device sales. Anyone who knows my dad knows he was living his purpose within his career. He was the number one sales rep for 20+ years, one of the hardest working people I know, a legend in his field, and yet he still experienced being laid off. My dad was the first person to break $250M in sales and the next year he was laid off. That event changed the course of my entire life in relation to financial stability and the corporate world. What did my dad’s experience teach me? That you can do everything right and still be dealt a bad hand. I made a commitment to myself that I would NEVER depend on working for someone else as my main source of income. I knew that I needed to be in control of my own destiny if I wanted to build true wealth, and that was not solely working for someone else.
The emergence of social media marketing during my high school years showed me that there was a way to create true financial stability outside of the traditional corporate way. I was going to figure out how that would look for me. At the age of 15 I was put to work. I started working in a child care facility inside of a country club, which taught me at a young age the importance of working hard. Watching children made me grow up real fast and showed me I had the ability to manage and do multiple things at once. If you have ever babysat you get what I am saying lol. I built relationships with the parents in childcare which led me to watching their kids on nights/weekends, and ultimately leading to nanny positions. My first real life example of having two income streams. While continuing to nanny, I found a serving job through a close friend of mine around the age of 19. This was my first true experience in sales and also proved I had the ability to get thrown into the deep end and figure it out. I always knew I had the work ethic and I recognized that skill came from just doing the work. My serving job led me to bartending once I turned 21, which led me to believe sales was going to be my career. I love talking with people, hearing their stories, building relationships and working in a fast-paced environment. I thrived under pressure and never shied away from a challenge.
I did what I thought I should do out of college. I accepted a full time tech sales job, moved to Dallas to get away from my hometown and decided to start over. I knew leaving the town I grew up in was always part of the plan. Deep down there was more for me to experience and I was eager to grow. My corporate career started in January of 2019 and by February I had found myself a side hustle, becoming a yoga instructor. Teaching yoga was something I had talked about for years and the opportunity presented itself at the studio I joined in Dallas. There was an upcoming training and I had saved enough to embark on the journey. I knew this would offer me the opportunity to make a little bit of side income, while learning a new skill, and developing a community around me in a new city. Yoga training was the first step on my spiritual journey and the path to the awakening I very much needed.
Fast forward to COVID, the yoga studio was closed down and I moved home to my parents house, extremely unhappy with my corporate job and began my deep dive into the spiritual realm. Insert, the start of the podcast. Podcasts were something I listened to for hours each day, an outlet that gave me knowledge in areas I was interested in and an escape from the unhappiness I was experiencing in my work. My best friend at the time called me and said “Erin, you are always giving people good advice and you have always dreamed of being a sports broadcaster, so why don’t we start a podcast”. Boom, the podcast started. We launched January of 2021, and it really was a passion project. I would be lying if I said I didn’t want it to eventually generate revenue, but at the time, it was truly a creative outlet.
Ultimately, the podcast never generated any money, in fact, it cost me a lot of money. I wouldn’t take back a second of that. The relationships, joy, and opportunities that came because of the podcast far exceeded the money I spent. The podcast was ultimately the catalyst for my desire to become an entrepreneur and my move to Austin.
The podcast went on for a total of two years and within that timeframe a lot happened in my professional career. I left my first tech sales job for a more intense, high risk, high reward sales job in April of 2021. At the time I was driven by money and that was exactly the job I received. I realized quickly this was not the job for me, the environment was full of fear based motivation and unrealistic expectations. I found myself for the first time in my career so miserable it was manifesting in chronic fatigue, bad acne and sickness. I knew after 14 months it was time for me to move on, and because of the podcast I knew I wanted to work with/around entrepreneurs. Insert, my first startup job! I fell in love right away. The culture, the people, the environment was exactly what I needed in my life.. Except the universe had a different plan.
I was laid off after a short 3 months on the job due to a complete company restructuring with 30% of the employees being laid off. I was devastated. I had no idea what I wanted to do next, and at the time the podcast was still not generating revenue. My goal of leaving the corporate world for the podcast was not coming to fruition. I used the time being laid off to get clear on what I wanted my life to look like. I went to Mexico for a yoga retreat, I applied to jobs and I knew deep down entrepreneurship was the direction I needed to go. I found a job based in Austin, which was where I was moving already, and knew it was fate. I was working with another startup who was helping founders, a perfect match. I met my boyfriend at this company and a short 6 months later the company went bankrupt. Two layoffs, within 8 months. I was extremely unsure of the path I was on.
I have struggled to find a job since the May bankruptcy and ultimately that has led me to founding ENRGI. I always dreamed of owning my own business but had no idea what that “thing” was I would start. I used what I had at the time which was a brand name, a website, and an inspiration to put my brand name on a hat. So that is exactly what I did. The layoffs have challenged me in ways I never thought were possible. My “doing” nature brought me to stillness and my constant desire to “build” was faced with a period of extensive rest.
My road to becoming financially stable has been tumultuous, but there are so many things I’ve learned along the way and I am continuing to learn. You never know what is around the corner, all you can do is your best. Stay optimistic and full of faith when life gets tough, because on the other side is your breakthrough. Lastly, your idea for your life could be far different than what happens, but it is always better than you had imagined. My lifestyle has completely changed, and it has 1000% been difficult. There are some days where I question why all of this happened, but I know deep down there is always a purpose. One day soon I will know why, but until then I am going to do what I love to do and that is to create, serve, and help people overcome the same challenges I have had in my life.
Now, I encourage you to reflect on your professional journey. Is there something you have always wanted to try? Maybe it’s a blog, newsletter, UGC content, tik tok? Start to research how people make money! That is the first step.
Step 2, is there something you would like to start that maybe doesn’t generate money but can help you develop skills? Oftentimes we are looking for side hustles for the purpose of generating new income streams, but what if it teaches you the skills you need for what you ultimately end up doing? Sometimes a side hustle may take some time before you make money but you will learn a lot about yourself, what you don’t like and what you do along the way.
Step 3, take action! Build the website, reach out to a mentor, post on linkedin. Take steps even when you don’t see the full picture. It is all part of the journey.