When a Side Hustle Yarn Business Meets Your Full-Time Job | Podcast Episode #112

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Are you trying to balance your full-time job and your side hustle business?

This is no easy task. Finding a balance usually involves is a ton of trial and error, lots of help from your friends and family and a little inspiration from others trying to balance it all too. Today I’m joined by, Melissa, side hustle maker behind the website and Instagram, Woods and Wool. Melissa has a full time job that she loves and chooses to balance that with her passion project and side hustle.

Special Guest

In this episode of The BHooked Podcast, you’ll hear some of the strategies Melissa uses to juggle these areas of her life while still maintaining happiness as well as a few stories I’m sure you’ll relate to as someone working full time while building a side hustle yarn business.

Episode Transcript

Brittany:
Hey there, and thank you for joining me in episode 112 of the BHooked podcast. I know you could be tuning into so many other podcasts, and you’ve chosen to spend some time with me, and that makes me so happy.

All right, in today’s episode, I have a really special guest, somebody I always really love talking to, about a topic that I feel is very relatable to those of you who are trying to start a side hustle, or maybe you have a side hustle business, and you’re doing that in conjunction with your full-time job, or maintaining your household full-time, or in some cases, all three.

So today I’m joined by Melissa from Woods and Wool and she shares her story about how she’s able to maintain and grow her side hustle business as well as her full-time job. She loves both and she’s great at both and she shares just how she accomplishes that today.

Now, before we get to it, one of the big things you’ll take away from today’s show is that community is a really big aspect of being successful and just enjoying what you do. So after listening to today’s episode, I would encourage you to head over to the show notes page, bhooked.com/112, to connect with other listeners.

A lot of you are in the same situation and you have a side hustle, you have a full-time job, you’re trying to juggle all of these things, you’re trying to meet goals. Well, having somebody that you can share in those experiences with is a little secret ingredient to maybe not necessarily success, but certainly happiness, especially if you’re trying to juggle a side hustle or build a side hustle in conjunction with your full-time job and your regular responsibilities.

Well, at the bottom of the show notes page for this episode and for all episodes, you’ll find a comment section and all you have to do is introduce yourself. Maybe share a little bit about your side hustle, what you’re doing, and perhaps some of the things that you’re struggling with. And perhaps somebody in the community is in a similar situation and you can connect and help one another.

Now, this is one of those episodes that has lots of little golden nuggets within, so let’s just get right to it. Melissa, hey, welcome back to the show. It’s such a pleasure to chat with you again today.

Melissa: 3:37
Thank you. I’m so excited to be back on the podcast and excited to share with your listeners today.

Brittany: 3:43
So I have to start with this question that I personally don’t love to answer because the answer is pretty complicated for somebody like us. So when somebody asks you what you do, how do you respond?

Melissa: 4:00
I have the same problem that you do, and I have such a hard time answering that question. And like a lot of people, I think I downplay it a little bit. But normally I just tell people I’m a crochet designer and kind of a blogger and influencer in the maker community, which is basically the online space for knit and crocheters.

Brittany: 4:19
Yes. And do you tell them then that you sort of do it on the side or do you tell them about your full-time job too? I feel like you’ve got this extra element of confusion there, you know? Yeah.

Melissa: 4:31
Yeah, so most people already know, like if I’m meeting people in person, family and friends already have a good idea of what my full-time job looks like. But they’re always really surprised and intrigued by my side hustle. So I kind of have to explain a little bit of what that looks like. And as soon as they see, you know, your Instagram or your blog, it kind of clicks a little bit and they start to really get the picture of what it is that you do.

Brittany: 4:56
Now, for somebody who is brand new, they haven’t heard of you before, tell them a little bit about your side hustle, kind of what you do and how that started, and then we’ll sort of dive into how it blends with your full-time job and your regular life. Sure.

Melissa: 5:12
So my side hustle, Woods and Wool, is my handle or where you’ll find me online. But it started about a year and a half ago, and I just wanted to be someone that could maybe sell crochet items at craft shows or on Etsy. I’ve always been a crocheter, and I just really enjoyed it and thought that I would share what I did with the world by selling handmade products.

Little did I know that that would really grow into a love for crochet design. And now I really, really love doing collaborations with companies and brands and really just continuing to design and also help other makers educate themselves and start their own businesses.

Brittany: 5:52
That’s so cool. So how long has this been going on?

Melissa: 5:56
I would say I started Woods and Wool in December of… 2016. I really had to think about that for a second. So I guess it’s actually been a little over two years. And it was probably about six months in that I designed my first pattern. And from there, I feel like it’s just kind of been like a steady growth of continuing to expand what I do and start to try different things, take on new opportunities.

But it was really that six-month mark, I think, where my brain kind of changed and my mindset changed and started to see what else I could do and what else I could grow and do with my business.

Brittany: 6:36
Yeah. What do you think it was that sort of led to that? Was it just a need that you saw or just a new direction that you wanted to go in?

Melissa: 6:47
It was a few things. For one, I started getting bored of making the same thing over and over and over again. And then I also found that whenever I was following a pattern, I liked to do it my way. I always wanted to change something and I never could just follow a pattern for what it was. I always had to make it my own.

And then I started designing things kind of from scratch. And what I really, really loved and what really changed my mind from selling physical products was I wanted to do something that was scalable. So something that I could put all the work into and that could continue to kind of grow and be prosperous on its own without me having to start over and start the process over again, like with a physical product. Once you sell it, you have to make another one from square one. And with a digital product or something else that’s scalable, you put all the work in and then it’s just evergreen and can always be there.

Brittany: 7:43
Yeah. So from day one, did you know that you were doing this to make extra income, like for it to actually be a side hustle? Or did you just start out for fun first?

Melissa: 7:57
I think both. Ever since I was a kid, when I think back to when I was like, honestly, like five or six or seven years old, I’ve always had this kind of like entrepreneur bug in me. Like whether I was trying to start a babysitting business or in college, I started a photography business. I always liked the challenge of figuring out how to make a business work.

But it was also for fun and because I had some friends that had maker businesses and I thought it was so cool. So it was kind of like twofold. It was something that I really enjoyed, but I loved the challenge of the business aspect.

Brittany: 8:34
Yeah, I totally agree. There’s something that’s just really exciting about it and challenging. It’s almost like just working on a puzzle constantly, but you can tweak and change things and see results almost instantly in some cases.

But now, one thing that I feel like you’ve done really, really well is to be consistent. And I feel like that’s why you have seen so much growth. Now, typically bloggers or designers, it’s like a slow process where you start and there’s kind of crickets on the other end. And then there’s usually something that happens along the way where something catches hold and then people know about you and they see your designs. And I feel like that ticket is consistency. Do you feel like that’s something that you have always put a lot of emphasis on?

Melissa: 9:25
Absolutely. I think once you create consistent habits, then things start to run a little bit more smoothly and like clockwork. I don’t know if you’ve ever read the book. It’s called Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin. And she also wrote The Happiness Project. But the book really dives into different habit types that people have.

And one of the things that it talks about is you brush your teeth every single day and you don’t have to think about it. You don’t have to choose to brush your teeth. You just do it every single day. You don’t think about it. You don’t waste mental energy on it. It’s just something that you do, right?

Brittany: 10:16
Yeah.

Melissa: 10:16
So if you can create those same type of habits in your business or whatever it is that you’re trying to do on the side, then you’re not wasting mental energy. You don’t have to decide to get up and post to Instagram today or decide to get up and crochet today. It’s just part of what you do.

Brittany: 10:16
I love that. And I feel like when it is just something you do, you don’t have to think about it so much. And it doesn’t feel like additional work. I feel like somebody who has a full-time job and who has a side hustle — I know for me when I was doing both it was just exhausting. I felt like I was constantly working.

But because my side hustle was something that I would do naturally or do anyways, it wasn’t as much like work. And I feel like that’s how I was able to be consistent with it.

Melissa: 10:46
I totally agree.

Brittany: 10:48
Yeah, that’s cool. I’ll have to check out that book. I have heard of Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project. Is that what it’s called?

Melissa: 10:54
Yeah, I think so.

Brittany: 10:56
Okay. I’ve heard of that and I’ve heard really great things about her work. I’m going to have to check out that book for sure. So when you think of a side hustle and a full-time job, I know a lot of people think, well, their side hustle is like their project that will be their full-time gig someday.

I know that that was really the case for me when I—well, originally when I started it, it really was just a hobby and occupying my hands and my mind and filling that creative void that I had. But once I started proving that you could potentially earn some income with it, that’s when it became like my go-to, my site. This is what I want to do. This is what I’m working towards. So in my mind, I knew that my side hustle would be my full-time job. Do you feel like that’s the case for you? Are you really happy with both?

Melissa: 11:53
That is such a good question. And I feel like I’m in a very unique position because I’m fortunate enough to say that I love my full-time job. I know not everyone is in that type of situation or some people are trying to almost escape their full-time job or their career.

I really feel like I am one of the lucky few that loves their full-time job and loves their side hustle. What I kind of envisioned my side hustle to be when I started out was — yes, I want to make money with this — but my goal was to make money to buy nicer yarns and do maker-related trips, like going to Our Maker Life and just to be able to experience my hobby in a new way and not have to worry about the financial side of it.

Now that it’s kind of growing and growing and growing… yeah. Yeah. That costs a lot of money. If you’re trying to save up to buy a property, I’m sure people can relate, or buying a home, things like that. It’s a huge investment. I love that I’m able to do both right now. And I love that Woods and Wool can kind of help fund and fuel that dream as well and know that we can be saving up extra money to achieve those dreams in our life. And whether or not it becomes my full-time career one day, that’s to be determined. But I’m loving where I’m at right now. And I couldn’t ask for a better job and side hustle.

Brittany: 13:34
Yeah, I think that’s a really healthy perspective to have on it, to have a goal in mind and know why you’re doing what you’re doing. Because then, like I said before, it feels less like work if you’re doing it for the right reasons.

Also, having a reason, I think, is another aspect of it that we might take for granted. If you didn’t have this vision — you know, you and your husband having this farm — it would be really easy to sort of let go of some of those commitments. Like maybe you have committed to releasing one new pattern every single month. If you didn’t have that goal or that vision for yourself and for the future, it would be so much easier to say, “Well, I don’t have to do this pattern this month. I can just maybe do it next month.”

When somebody is first setting out figuring out what their side hustle is or just setting it up, that’s probably the first step, I would say — creating a goal or something like that. Would you agree?

Melissa: 14:38
I would definitely say that. And I would also say just figuring out something that you actually love doing — not something that you sort of like or something that you don’t mind, but something that you truly love doing.

Brittany: 14:51
Yes, completely. If you can’t imagine sitting and doing whatever you are trying to do all day long, you should maybe brainstorm. I feel like every one of us has something that we just love doing so much that we couldn’t imagine life without it. I feel like that’s your thing.

So another aspect of having a side hustle and having a full-time job — I know one thing that I experienced was… it’s just busyness. I just remember feeling so busy. There’s a country song basically about — and the name escapes me at the moment — but “I’m in a hurry to get things done. I rush and rush until life’s no fun.” You know the song I’m talking about?

Melissa: 15:37
I don’t, but I love what you’re getting at.

Brittany: 15:40
Oh man. So this song is all about just rushing for no reason. And that was my mantra for so many years. I just felt like I was rushing around for no reason at all. I was serving everybody else’s agenda but my own. And it was tough to not feel some serious burnout from that.

Have you ever been in that position where you’re just giving so much to your side hustle and to your business that you just feel drained?

Melissa: 16:09
I definitely have. And I am fully aware I have a huge tendency to overcommit myself. It’s really, really easy — anytime you have an opportunity or a new idea or a project that you want to do — to say yes a thousand times. Then all of a sudden, you sit and look at all the things that you have to do, and it’s so overwhelming.

And that’s kind of where that fun and energy starts to be drained from what it is that you’re doing. So I try to be really, really mindful with what I’m committing to, and I kind of run it through like a checklist of questions in my brain. I know this sounds really exciting, but is it something that is really going to bring me joy? Is it going to bring me closer to my long-term goals?

I just kind of run it through questions like that to make sure before I commit to anything that it’s something that I’m going to be happy that I did a week from now, a month from now, a year from now — and look back and say, that was a great decision. I’m glad that I did that.

Brittany: 17:07
That’s a really great way to look at it too. I’m curious because I sort of geek out on this topic a little bit — with just time management — and I’m so interested in how people manage their time, especially really busy people like you.

Is this something that you keep track of just in your mind when those commitments come about? Or do you have some kind of system in place that helps you keep your commitments in check so you can say, well, I’m here this many hours of the day or this many hours of the week, and I only have, you know, this small block of time available. Do you have any system like that in place, or do you just sort of know your schedule and you know what you can commit to?

Melissa: 17:53
It’s a mixture of both. I love pen and paper and notebooks and lists. And my biggest way that I manage my time — for Woods and Wool at least — is just a regular wall calendar. And I write everything on it in erasable pen because I think it’s nice. I can color code everything. I can also erase and reschedule things if they get bumped around.

But what I love about the wall calendar — I have it right next to me right now — and I can just look over and see my key deadlines this month. I can see how it’s spaced apart, and I can get an idea of where I’m at, if I’m meeting those commitments. And it just really helps me visualize it at a glance.

Other than that though, I just have lists everywhere, and I try and always pick out the top three things — my top three priorities. Sometimes we get caught up in 20 different things that we wanna do. And if you just focus on like two or three, it’s a lot easier to actually get things done.

Brittany: 18:52
I love that. Just good old-fashioned, like pen to paper. I love that. I still have a planner. I use multiple calendars, but I just love — I don’t know, there’s something that just clicks when you’re writing your commitments down. It feels a little more real, you know? It’s not like you’re just putting something into a time block on your digital calendar that can be easily removed. It’s when you’re writing it down, there’s something a little more permanent — we’ll say — about that. And I feel like for me, it’s easier to keep those commitments in check.

Melissa: 19:26
It is. And I’m so weird, but I love color coding it. I love putting exclamation points and smiley faces by things. I just — again — I just like to be able to look at it and be excited about what I’m doing.

Brittany: 19:38
Yeah, I feel like that’s a pretty good tip there just in itself — to maintaining a balance between your side hustle and your full-time job and your other responsibilities too. I mean, a lot of us are managing a household. We have kids, we have pets, we have tons of things going on. And I feel like you just have to make things a little more fun just to get through it all.

I definitely agree. Aside from that, do you feel like there is a good secret to maintaining a balance just in your specific case?

Melissa: 20:11
Thank you so much. I try and focus only on work. And when I’m at home, I’m free to focus on my side hustle. And I try very hard to keep both of those as separate as possible. Because if I’m trying to do all the things at one time — or trying to think about something for Woods and Wool while I’m at work — well, I’m not going to be very good at my job at that point if I’m being distracted by something else.

So one of the tricks that I have is I have a notebook that I carry around everywhere. It’s like a leather-bound notebook, and inside there’s two smaller notebooks. The first one is all of my regular day job work notes. And again, everything in there is color-coded — it’s all organized.

And the second notebook is Woods and Wool notes. So that way, if I’m, let’s say, going to a meeting or something at work — and this has happened to me before — where I’ve been in a meeting and I’ve seen someone wearing this beautiful knit cowl wrap thing, and I looked at it and was like, “Oh my gosh, I want to design something just like that.” I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

So I took out that other notebook for Woods and Wool. I quickly wrote down what I thought the measurements might be, the overall idea, closed the notebook, and went back to the work meeting that I was in. And it kind of just allows me to put down any thoughts or ideas on paper so I can come back to it later.

Instead of trying to — again — just doing both things at once is a recipe for disaster. You’re going to be overwhelmed. You’re not going to be focused. So create space in between the two things and just give yourself time for both. And also don’t ever forget about time for your health and your relationships and other things that you’ve got going on in your life that I know we all have to work on and dedicate time to.

Brittany: 22:17
So let’s touch on that a little bit. I know that you have a ton of stuff going on and you seem to balance it all very well. So can you let us in a little bit on what a typical week looks like for you?

Melissa: 22:31
Yeah. So my job would kind of fall under the nine-to-five category where I work Monday through Friday. And just to get really nitty gritty here, I get up at 5:30 every day, get ready for work, go to work, and I usually get home around 5:30.

So at that point, there’s a 12-hour chunk of my day that’s gone. And then I usually will work on Woods and Wool stuff from 5:30 to 9 or thereabouts — and rinse and repeat every single day. So basically, the time I’m working with is three to four hours in the evening where I’m not only doing Woods and Wool stuff, but I love to exercise, I love to run, I like to eat healthy — so all of those things obviously take up time in that.

Wednesday nights, I do Instagram Lives. So like if you caught me on a Wednesday, my day is literally: get up, go to work, come home, prepare notes for Instagram Live, do the Instagram Live, and then sometimes I’ll write up a quick blog post after that. And then that’s my entire day.

But what I like to think about is: if you don’t do the things that you want to do, they’re just not going to get done. No one’s going to come along and do it for you. So unless you carve out that time and use it for what’s important to you, it doesn’t get done.

And then luckily enough, on weekends, I just try and carve out like hour or multiple-hour blocks of time that I can sit down and sit at my computer and do something. So let’s say I have a pattern that I have all written out in handwritten notes, but I need to put it into a document, send it to my tech editor, send it to my testers — those types of things. I’ll carve out time on a weekend where I can have like four hours uninterrupted and just focus and get that done instead of trying to squeeze it in after work or something like that.

Brittany: 24:27
What about the crochet time? Does that sort of blend in or does that change? Or do you like to do that in a set time as well?

Melissa: 24:36
That is usually… a big part of my evenings. I try and spend like an hour of that evening time crocheting. The other time in those evenings is posting on Instagram, responding to any DMs that I’ve gotten, responding to emails, just kind of like that day-to-day keeping the train on the tracks type of thing.

I do, I didn’t mention this, but I do take all of my pictures for Instagram on the weekends. So I’ve got that pretty much prepared and ready to go going into the week. So I don’t have to spend too much time on that. But during the week, it’s mostly like keeping the train on the tracks. And then on the weekends, I take a little bit more time to really work on bigger projects.

Brittany: 25:16
Do you find that your husband, like, does he sort of in on this with you? Or does he sort of keep himself occupied? I know for me, like, I really do try to separate work and my family. Like for me personally, I just have to have that like checkout moment.

So like right now I’m in work mode. I’m in my office. My door is shut. And yeah, I’m laser focused. But when I leave the office, I really want to be in a different mind frame to just be present with my husband. And I try not to incorporate too much business into our evening time and our weekends too.

And so that means I have to be even more efficient with my time while he’s at work so that I’m not sort of overlapping the two. Do you find that you have sort of the same dynamic or is he more involved and and doesn’t mind?

Melissa: 26:10
I’m very lucky. My husband, Austin, is super supportive of everything that I do. But there is always that kind of guilt in the back of your mind. Anytime I go to work on something at my computer for hours at a time, like you said, I’m so laser focused. I don’t know anything that’s going on around me.

So most evenings, like that time that I spend crocheting, we might be watching Netflix together and I’m crocheting and can talk to him at the same time. So it’s different than when I’m completely zoned in at my computer, ignoring the world around me.

But I also find you have to set expectations and always check in with them too. So let’s say it’s a Saturday morning. I might say, hey, I’m going to go work on my computer for a few hours. Let’s go get groceries this afternoon or something. And he’ll say, all right, I’m going to go out in the garage.

And he really enjoys woodworking. So sometimes that’s a good time for him to go and work on something that he wants to do. And then it also makes me feel a lot better and less guilty, like I’m ignoring him or something like that.

So I think, one, it really helps that he’s super supportive. And it also helps that he has kind of some of his own crafts and hobbies. So it’s not like he’s just waiting for me so we can go do something.

Brittany: 27:35
Yeah, I completely agree. For me, it’s the same thing. The support is there, but it’s really the guilt on my part where I just keep the two a little bit separate. But like you, I do enjoy just sitting and crocheting with him.

And I think that’s one of the great things about our hobby is that we’re able to do that and still, for the most part, be present and participate with our family unless we’re working on a complicated pattern or that sort of thing. But that’s what really drew me to crochet in the first place — that I was able to do that in the same room with him versus some of the other crafts that I was playing around with at the time that required me to have either a separate room or maybe bigger pieces of equipment.

Melissa: 28:19
Yeah, and it even goes beyond just with your spouse. I think about family gatherings and stuff, and my family fully expects that I’m going to bring a crochet project with me — that’s just the way it goes. But it’s nice that we can really just pick up our stuff in a little bag and take it anywhere we want to go.

You can do it on a plane. Some people can do it in the car. I get really car sick, so I can’t. Oh, I—

Brittany: 28:42
Do too. Yeah.

Melissa: 28:43
It’s the worst, but it is really cool that we have a hobby that if you plan accordingly, you can really maximize your time and take it different places. I take my yarn with me everywhere I go, everywhere. I take it to work every day and just knowing that it’s with me gives me like a comfort, I guess.

Yeah. If we’re having a really long day or a rough day, we might meet up for lunch and knit and crochet together for 20 minutes. And just always being prepared and having it with me makes me feel so much better.

Brittany: 29:26
Yeah, and you can really just enjoy the craft and enjoy what you’re getting as a benefit of it. Definitely. So rest is a big part of being able to just spread yourself pretty thin.

We can argue that our craft really does offer us a lot of rest and relaxation, and there’s no doubt about that. But I think there’s something to be said about carving out pockets of time for rest in other ways, rest in health and just quiet times.

Is there anything that you do to make sure — you said that you love eating healthy and that’s really important to you — how do you incorporate that into your schedule, but still be on top of everything else?

Melissa: 30:13
It’s very tempting for us to kind of cheat ourselves and say, well, I don’t have time to eat healthy today or I don’t have time to take a minute to myself today. I need to get this done.

But what I find is that when you actually give yourself time to sleep and exercise and do things like that, you’re going to be more productive, more efficient, and you’re going to maximize the rest of your time much better, and you’re probably going to get more done than if you’re cheating yourself and saying, well, I better stay up extra late tonight, or I don’t have time to go for a walk.

No, absolutely. Take 15 minutes if it’s a sunny day and you haven’t seen the sun in a while. I live in Michigan, so the winter gets really kind of cold and gross. But if it’s a beautiful day, take time to go for a walk.

Or even a few months ago, I started using the Headspace app, which is like a meditation app. I’d never tried meditating before, but I just heard it was really good for you. So I thought I’d give it a try. And it was really cool.

And then I ran out of the, like, they give you like a free trial period. And I ran out of that. So I stopped. But yesterday, I actually went to like a meditation class for the first time. And it was 15 minutes long.

And, again, I was telling myself all of those things, like, oh, my gosh, I really don’t have time for this right now. Like, I don’t want to slow down right now. I want to, like, ride out my adrenaline and get as much done as I can.

But after that 15-minute — actually, I think it was 10 minutes, a 10-minute meditation — I felt so good, so focused. Like, the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders, and I just felt so much more calm about the things that I had left to do in my day.

And the point is, I think, don’t brush off those things. They are important. And it’s not just people saying like, oh, you should get eight hours of sleep. You actually should.

And it makes a huge difference in your overall mindset, well-being, and attitude about the things that you’re doing. Because if you’re constantly missing out on other things in your life because of your business, then you’re going to start resenting your business.

Brittany: 32:26
Exactly. And I think all of that stuff will catch up to you eventually. Let’s look at it from this example. How often do you skip your morning coffee? Like pretty much never, right?

Because we know that, at least for me, the caffeine addict that I am, if I skip my morning coffee, I’m gonna feel like crap the whole rest of the day. And that motivates me because it’s almost like an instant response or almost instant response.

I have been dabbling a little bit with meditation too, and it’s a practice that I really see the value in, but I struggle to be consistent with it because the results aren’t quite as instant as the lack of caffeine to my system.

Melissa: 33:13
I can definitely agree with that. And one thing that did really surprise me just about meditation specifically was how hard it was to literally sit in a seat with your eyes closed for 10 minutes.

That was hard. It sounds so weird to say that, but I think we’re so go, go, go, go, go as like a culture and a society that it’s actually become kind of difficult to carve out that time and do things like that.

Brittany: 33:41
Yes. And recognizing when you like to do those things too. For me, I know that I need to exercise. I don’t necessarily love doing it, but I will do it.

And I’ve noticed that I don’t love doing it in the morning. A lot of people recommend that you should exercise shortly after you wake up. And for me, I just don’t love doing that.

But I also know that if I go to my office and start working, there is zero chance that I’m leaving to go exercise. So I think making some realizations about just your habits and what you like to do and what you don’t are good ways to position those times throughout your day.

It’s easy to put something on the calendar or say that you’re going to do it. But if it’s not in a pocket of time that’s realistic for you to do that thing, I know for me personally, it just doesn’t get done.

Melissa: 34:35
Right. And I’ve also heard that you can kind of create environmental triggers to help you do those things. So you could say, you know, every day when I make my coffee, I read a book for 10 minutes.

Or maybe before you go into your office, you dress in workout clothes. So you kind of already have these like triggers around you to remind you and keep you accountable to do those things that you want to do.

It’s really just setting yourself up for success. Exactly. And I love that.

Brittany: 35:05
So let’s, let’s shift gears a little bit. I could go down a serious rabbit hole with that one because I just love routines and time management and that sort of thing.

And I know it’s a big aspect of having a side hustle, having a business or just being human in general, but I would love to talk a little bit to the person who wants to start a side hustle and they just don’t know what to do next.

What would your advice be to them? What’s that first thing they need to do to just dive in, just get it done?

Melissa: 35:38
I think the first step is that you need to know that no one’s going to give you permission to. And no one’s going to hold your hand. So just know that it’s all on you. Whatever it is that you want to do, you really have to take full ownership and responsibility of doing that.

And I think the first step, like I said earlier, is just figuring out what it is that you actually love doing and then start fine tuning that. Figure out what it’s worth. And by what it’s worth, I actually mean like the value and the price that you would put on it in your time for creating that thing.

Then you can figure out who your audience is and how to sell it. And sometimes these things happen in a different order. But really just kind of be mindful if you have that business mindset of your end goal and all the different pieces that need to be into place for it to work out.

Brittany: 36:33
And what about advice for them to stay focused and consistent? I know we’ve touched on both of those and they’re very important in the success of the side hustle and the other things that you have going on. So first of all, how do you stay focused?

Melissa: 36:52
I find, again… like we talked about, just locking yourself in a room and having dedicated time to something really, really helps just knock out a big project or something that you’ve been meaning to do for a long time but just haven’t gotten done. So if it’s something big, just carve out the time for it.

And for all of those daily things, create habits and create routines so it doesn’t feel like work. Thank you so much. I try and just shift my mindset to saying, wow, I’m so excited. I’m almost done with this pattern. I can’t wait until it gets into people’s hands. I’m so grateful that people are looking forward to this pattern.

And I just try and like feed myself those positive little pieces of inspiration. And I think that helps me stay focused on my goal and not getting distracted and trying to do other things or just avoiding it altogether.

Brittany: 38:03
Yeah, it’s so easy to put things on the back burner if it’s not your number one source of income or if it’s not something that you fully committed to. If you’re not in it and you’re feeding yourself maybe negative thoughts, then you’ll never follow through with any of it.

And your side hustle will never be the thing that you designed it to be, whether that’s earning additional income so that you can buy better yarn or even more. Maybe it’s the idea to do that full time.

Melissa: 38:34
Yeah, and I think whatever it is that you want to do, trying to stay focused on two or three things at a time is so much better than trying to do 10 or 20 things where you just get overwhelmed and distracted.

I just try and focus on two or three things at a time and I can plan things out farther in the future. But for the present time, I don’t do more than two or three things at once. And anything else that’s coming up, if it’s not those two or three things, it doesn’t get my attention until those two or three things are done.

Brittany: 39:08
Yes. There’s a lot of discipline there. Do you feel like this is something that you just have naturally or that you’ve worked towards as a result of just having a side hustle and a full-time job?

Melissa: 39:23
I think I’ve learned the hard way and I found that I’m just a lot happier when I can stay focused and not be overwhelmed. And this is what works for me. So someone else might be really happy with, you know, 10 projects to switch out between.

But for me, it just becomes really overwhelming really quickly. So I think I’ve just learned the hard way that when there’s too much going on, I’m not enjoying it and just starting to resent what I’m doing. That makes—

Brittany: 39:50
Sense. Now, I’m curious, what is one thing that you wish you knew before you started?

Melissa: 39:57
There’s a lot of things. You can give me a few things. Well, for one, I wish I knew that not everyone was going to get it. And when I mean get it, they’re not going to understand your side hustle or why they might think that you’re wasting your time on it.

And I wish I would have known not to spend my time trying to explain myself or waiting for people, again, to give me that permission or their approval to what I was doing. It’s totally okay if not everyone understands what you’re doing.

If it’s important to you, then it’s worth doing. So I wish I would have known that going into it because, again, there’s that guilt that sets in. There’s imposter syndrome. There’s just feeling like you’re not good enough.

And I just wish I could go back and tell myself, like, hey, you’re on to something really great. There’s still going to be people that give you a weird look when you tell them what it is that you do. But it’s okay because there’s still plenty of people out there that love it.

And if you love it, that’s most important. Definitely. Another thing that I actually still think about a lot is when you’re in the side hustle space, you’re also in the same space with—you’re on the same playing field with people that do it full time.

And it’s very, very, very easy to feel like you need to keep up with or even compete with people who are doing it full time. And sometimes you might even get jealous or you might feel bad about yourself because they’re doing so much more than you or, you know, they got a really cool collaboration and you didn’t.

But that’s OK. And I have to tell myself and remind myself that they should be doing more because they have more time to do it. And I try and just let it inspire me and say, wow, if, you know, such and such a maker can do these projects, that means it’s possible for someone like me, too.

Whether it’s as a side hustle or if it goes full-time someday, that’s up to me. But trying to not look at things as comparison and more just letting other people inspire you with their work and knowing that everyone’s journey is a little bit different.

Brittany: 42:15
That is so true. I know that that’s something that a lot of people struggle with. It’s so easy to play that comparison game. And one of the ways I found to get around that is just to be friends with people in the community.

It’s so hard to feel jealous about somebody who is your friend because you’re happy for them.

Melissa: 42:37
Absolutely. And that was a huge game changer for me that thankfully happened pretty early on. But I have a few really close maker friends. And I feel like I’ve made a lot of friends in general, but there’s just a handful of people that I talk to every single day.

And it’s so cool that these people have become real life friends, even though some of them I’ve never met and some of them I’ve only met a couple of times. But having people to cheer you on and to support them in return and you can give each other advice, that also is huge.

And just staying focused and balancing everything. And it kind of just also helps you see things that you may not have seen before, like opportunities that you may not have known about or different things like that.

It kind of gives you a little bit of an insider view of what’s going on in the community and a perspective that’s different from where you’re standing. Exactly.

Brittany: 43:36
And I think that that’s a great note to end on. I feel like that is a really big tip here that we could both agree with. When you have a side hustle that you’re trying to build, when you have a full time job, or even if you have none of those, but maybe you have a full time business, that is really the heart of success, I believe, is community and rallying around each other, being supportive of one another.

When we can do that, our industry does better as a whole. And as a result, we all do better. And I love the way you put that.

Melissa: 44:11
Thank you. There’s so many good quotes around that too. Like a rising tide lifts all boats. And there’s another one that’s something like, you know, a candle loses nothing by lighting another candle. Yes. I’ve heard that one as well.

Yeah. Just having that mindset again, it’s just going to make you happier and healthier and it’s going to make the entire community so much better. Exactly.

Brittany: 44:35
Now, on that note, I know there are probably a lot of people who are listening who would love to connect with you online. So where is the best place to send them to just see what you have going on and be a part of your community?

Melissa: 44:51
Sure. So woodsandwool.com is my website. And my favorite place to hang out on the internet is Instagram, of course. And my handle is woodsandwool.

Brittany: 45:01
Wonderful. I will have links to that in the show notes so you can have easy access to that. And Melissa, thank you so much. This was so much fun. It was a great conversation and I feel like we could talk for hours about it.

Melissa: 45:13
Thank you so much for having me. I’m always so excited to chat with you. And anytime I get the opportunity, it’s just the best. So thank you.

Brittany: 45:20
Alright. That was Melissa from Woods and Wool. You can find her on Instagram @WoodsandWool. And I will also have a link to her website on the show notes page. This week, you can find that at bhooked.com/112.

Don’t forget when you’re on the show notes page to scroll down to the comment section and introduce yourself. Tell us a little bit about you and what you do in your side hustle and perhaps even a struggle that you’re going with right now. I’m sure there’s somebody in the community who is going through a similar situation who might be able to help.

That wraps up another episode of the BHooked podcast. Thank you once again for joining me today and week after week you know I love the podcast and I love doing what I do here and the fact that you show up each and every week well that motivates me and drives me forward so thank you for that.

Thank you for tuning in and I will see you next week my friend. Bye for now.