REPOST: A zero cost investment strategy for your side hustle

Invest 5 minutes of your time now and it will be time well spent.

While some of us have some down time to plan the year ahead, I’ll be re-sharing a “Best Of” compendium each day this week, most relevant to this time of year.

This one is from January 2024.

Has it ever occurred to you that time and money have an inverse relationship?

I’ll tell you what I mean:

Now that I’m older I have good money habits and a higher earning capacity, but I don’t have much time.

When I was younger, I had a lot more time but zero dollars and no financial sense.

Over the years I’ve had to learn how to save money, how to budget and invest wisely and not be afraid of saying “I can’t afford it”.

And it got me thinking:

We are always very cognisant of when our money habits are bad, but we are not the same with our time.

Good money practices see people building a budget, tracking spending and making smart investments.

But how many times do we budget money for a night out but not account for the loss of time and productivity the day after?

Or when we opt to stay in to save money but end up wasting time binge watching TV or doom scrolling social media?

James Clear says every action we take is a vote towards the person we want to become.

When I decided I wanted to try comedy, I knew that it would take time to build the skill and hone the craft.

From taking classes, to writing material, to spending time on stage. (I talk more about skill gap analysis in my last newsletter here).

But like most people, I felt I was always busy and had no time.

I would come home exhausted after a long day at work, spend my nights on my phone and my weekends decompressing with friends or in front of TV.

But I didn’t want to scroll or stream my way to mediocrity. I knew I had to find the time somewhere.

Unlike money, you only have so much time. The old saying is “you can’t manage time, you can only manage the time you have”.

The key was learning how to manage the time I had.

There are 168 hours in every week.

I used this number to start budgeting my time.

Just like line items for rent, electricity, food, I listed out my non-negotiables:

• The day job that funds my life.

• Gym training that keeps me fit and healthy.

• Time for the important relationships and friendships that I have.

• Mandatory things like sleeping, cooking, housework etc.

Then I make sure my creative goals get the time and attention they deserve.

For me, the non-negotiables add up to ~130 hours.

Therefore, I knew it would be easy to invest 10 hours per week to dedicate to learning, writing, performing - all skills that will compound over time.

I put it all in the diary so I would know when I’m supposed to be doing what. This is how I track how I am spending my time.

I can’t rely on presuming that I’ll get it done because otherwise I will get pulled towards the immediate gratification items.

If I notice this happening, I don’t beat myself up too much. I am kind to myself but I also remind myself that I have bigger fish to fry.

Nobody likes wasting money.

But you can replenish a bank account. You can’t replenish a calendar.

Just like money and your financial goals, you need to budget time to put towards your creative goals, invest it in the right skills and track how you’re spending it.

Otherwise you will end up wasting the time you have.

And can you afford to do that?