Company Employee Lv999 and Side Hustle Lv1: A Story of How Lowering My Level Helped Me Move Forward

For a long time, I didn't realize that
the level I had built up as a company employee was hindering the success of my side hustle.

At my main job,
before I knew it, I had accumulated quite a few years of experience,
and now I am in a leadership position.

I listened to what my boss said,
learned from my seniors,
and I believe that is how I became who I am today.

Even though I was just an employee,
without realizing it,
I was studying every single day.

Doing a side hustle is the same, isn't it?
Regarding the way of earning you choose,
someone running ahead of you, a "teacher,"
tells you, "Do it like this."
Moreover, that teacher

even prepares a "manual"
that my seniors at the company never had.

For a company employee who is good at learning,
following a manual is
a piece of cake.

But in reality, it was different.

No matter how many times I tried, I stumbled.
It just takes so much time
to see results.

The cause of that
was very simple.

I wasn't following the manual.

・It's not that I dislike manuals
・It's not that I want to argue with the content
・If anything, I am trying to understand it properly

And yet,
for some reason, I was changing the method on my own.

Is what's written in the manual wrong?
That is not the case.

Using the same manual,
there were actually people
who achieved results at an early stage.

What is this difference?
After that, I had the opportunity to attend an online seminar.

At that time, the teacher of the community I belonged to was the lecturer.

He was about 20 years younger than me.
He had a sense of humor,
and although he seemed kind,
his eyes were sharp.

At that moment, I thought that I
was listening with a somewhat condescending attitude
.

"Oh."

I realized something.

The reason I couldn't proceed according to the manual.

It was,

that I am a company employee

.

And I felt that the more years a company employee has worked, the more likely they are to fall into this trap.

For example, do any of these sound familiar to you?

These are all
sensibilities that come naturally to those who have done well in a corporate environment.

right?

However, many side hustles are different.

The shortcut to success is provided as a manual from the very beginning.

This is because it is a method that cannot be reached by extending the way of thinking that we, as company employees, have acquired.

That is precisely why we pay money to learn those methods.

If you try to apply your corporate mindset to it,

thinking things like "this seems faster" or "it's probably okay to skip this part,"

you will end up moving in a direction the instructor didn't intend, and you will end up taking a long detour.

Why not,

set aside your Company Employee Lv.999 status for a moment and start from Side Hustle Lv.1?

What I mean by "returning to Lv.1" here is not about discarding your skills or stopping your thinking.

It is about noticing that split second when you are about to deviate from the manual. First, that is a good place to start.

In other words,
you just need to notice the moment you are about to derail from the manual.

Derailing from the manual happens in an "instant."

Derailing from the manual doesn't happen when you make a big decision.

In most cases, it is
a split-second judgment made while working.

For example, suppose the manual says something like this.

An example of the amount of work to be done in a day

When I couldn't reach this "quantity",
I would unconsciously think like this.

"But I thought about each one carefully today, so"
"The quality should be high, so it's basically the same, right?"

This is it.

Let me give you just one more example.

When the theme is decided during product selection or research

This was also
a moment where I made a completely self-directed judgment.

What I was conscious of

To be honest,
you don't need todo everythingI'm about to write.

You, who are doing a side hustle after work,
are already working hard enough.

So from here on,
instead of the "premise of doing everything",
I will write exactly what I was actually conscious of.

In order not to deviate from the manual,
I was conscious of the following three things.

If you only do one thing,
please try doing just ③.

After you finish your work,
just look back for a split second, asking, "Did I follow the manual today?"

"Oh, I did it again"

is perfectly fine.

You don't need to worry about it,
and you don't need to blame yourself.

The fact that you noticed it is already progress.

This awareness is enough for the first few times.
Once you get used to it, you will be able to do it naturally.

I think your experience as a company employee is inherently a very powerful weapon.

However, the order in which you use things is just different for a side hustle.

Once you are prepared to go back to Lv.1, that experience will truly help you.

There is no need to rush.
What you need to do is already written down (laughs).

All that is left is to do it one by one,
just as it is written.

Instead of blaming yourself for what you couldn't do,
please consider what you realized today
as one step forward.

Thank you for reading this far.
If you think this article might be helpful to you, I would be happy if you could press the "Like" or "High Rating" button.

Also, I have published the incidents I encountered while running my online shop and what I learned from them, so please feel free to read that as well.

I think you can get a feel for it even from the free section (laughs).

I also share information on X, so
if you would like,
please check that out as well.

Takuchi's X