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I’ve written before about working on your side hustle at work, and how your side hustle is really helping your career. Yet a friend of mine and I were discussing the other day how much, and even if, you should talk about your side hustle while working at your 9-to-5. After all in tho new economy, there are ways to balance your day job with a side hustle, and there is really no need to share it with co-workers, colleagues or even your boss. Yet should you?
My $0.05: Proceed with caution here! While you don’t want to make it a secret, revealing your side hustle to people who may not understand it (or may not want to see you succeed) can be risky business. Present it as a hobby at first, and unless there is a need to speak about it, such as a work project which could use your side skills, or an open position of the same nature, limit exposing it more than necessary. If asked, you don’t have to lie about it, just tread carefully! And as always, when at work, your work comes first!
What are your thoughts?
The Corporate Sis.
For someone who will be getting into work later this year and has long-term plans apart from her current job – i’m curious to hear about any other views on this.
I’m assuming the obvious answer is to not exactly advertise that you plan on leaving right away – but could sharing your long term goals be that damaging?
Hi, and thanks for the comment. You raise an excellent point, as I’ve seen some friends share long term goals and current side hustles with their peers and managers, who’ve actually helped by pointing them in the right direction, connecting them with influential people and provided references for them. There also are instances when showcasing your side hustle and the skills it’s helped you acquire can help in your current job. In that sense, sharing long term goals can actually be a good thing. In my past experience though, I’ve had to be cautious a as I’ve gotten in the past a few suspicious looks/questions as to how much my side hustle/long-term plans could negatively impact my current job at the time. So it could really go both ways, but in any case, I believe it’s wise to tread carefully and always put it out there that your side hustle/long term plans are not in the way of your current job. Thanks for raising this point!