At this point in my transition, my mind is wide open. I’m starting to see the world of possibilities out there but it runs contrary to everything I grew up to believe. I struggled with my traditional, old fashioned view of working for money and this new, money mindset of collecting assets.
I was comfortable in the Army. I was comfortable working for the government and transitioning to the civilian equivalent of my job in the military. Even though I was used and abused by the Army, found less fulfillment in the work and was constantly stressed – here I was still running back to it.
I looked at my money. Instead of just focusing on getting a job, how much did I truly need to make to maintain the lifestyle I was currently living? I had a strong handle on my finances at this point and I knew exactly what our current lifestyle cost each month. Looking forward to retirement, I estimated what I may be making in disability plus my pension. The difference wasn’t as much as I thought. As a matter of fact, I could work part time as a manager at McDonald’s and still maintain the same lifestyle as long as we kept our expenses low.
What was important to me now was my time. I wanted it back. I wanted to enjoy what I was doing and I needed to make sure I was still contributing to the household. Now that I knew my numbers pretty well, my next question was – how can I make the most amount of money doing the least amount of work?
I listened to more money podcasts, I kept reading voraciously and the patterns that arose were side hustles and entrepreneurship. Both topics that were completely foreign to me. I learned about people who turned their passions into businesses, and continued to foster their passions during all their free time.
As people gained control of their finances, they realized that they could only cut their expenses so far. It was far easier to increase your income instead of living as spartan as possible. The 9-5 job was one source of income, but the side hustle was an entirely different animal. Side hustles were scalable and many worked them during the free hours that they had on the nights and weekends. Before you knew it, that income wasn’t just paying bills, it was actually paying more than their 9-5 jobs.
Side hustles vary from complex to stupidly easy. Selling cheap items on Amazon, secret shoppers, wholesale real estate, mobile car detailing, dog walking, house sitting, uber eats delivery, Lyft drivers etc. There were websites dedicated to the side hustle with scores of people trying each and every one of them to help make ends meet. This was such a new world to me, I was blown away.
I was never a good multitasker. I always focused my energy on one thing. For the past 20+ years, that one thing was the Army. I didn’t know anything else. The military is a job like no other – it is selfless service, sacrifice, teamwork, etc. All in the name of freedom and our American ideals. You give and give and the Army continually takes and takes until it can take no more.
I was incredibly unbalanced in my life. I was a professional Army Officer and my life revolved around it. I gave everything I had, and when it asked for more, I dug down and gave more – even if it meant breaking myself off. Any leftovers went to my family, and if there was anything left after that – I took it.
So here I am looking at side hustles and asking myself – what is my passion? What do I like to do? What can I thoroughly enjoy doing that could make money on the side? What are my hobbies? Do I even have time for this? Some of you are reading this and can probably rattle off all kinds of hobbies off the top of your head. I couldn’t.
I sat there and really thought about it – but the only hobbies I could think of were working out, watching movies, eating and spending time with my family. How do I make those things a side hustle? How pathetic. Do I really have no hobbies? Have I lost touch of who I am outside of the Army?
I was so used to giving and sacrificing for the sake of the team, that I truly didn’t know what I enjoyed anymore. Maybe I could be a real estate agent, wholesaler or a loan signing agent? I listened to a podcast about a loan signing agent who made $100-150 for every 30 min – 1 hour job he did signing loan documents. Multiply that by 5 signings a day and you’re looking at over $500 a day x 5 days a week x 4 weeks a month = $10,000 a month. Pretty good for a side hustle.
Since I like to eat out with my family, maybe we could be secret shoppers and eat at restaurants in return for grading their service? This would help cut down on our monthly restaurant and entertainment costs in exchange for some work.
The possibilities were endless and they were overwhelming. I was hopeful, but I was so overwhelmed – I talked myself out of it. I kept telling myself I didn’t have time. If I was to be truly honest with myself, that was a lie.
I did a time audit and looked at what I was doing with myself during the week. A week consists of 168 hours. if I worked the standard 0600-1800, that equated to 60 hours Monday to Friday, leaving me with 108 left. If I slept 8 hours a night x 7 days a week that was minus another 56 hours = 52 hours. How about the gym 1.5 hours a day 4 days a week? 52 hours – 6 hours = 46 hours left. What about getting ready in the morning for an hour and the 45 minute commute time each way to work? 45 – 12.5 = 32.5 hours. Don’t forget family time from 6-9 pm after work. That’s 3 hours x 5 days a week = 32.5 – 15 = 17.5 hours. What exactly was I doing with that time? Binge watching something on Netflix, playing on social media, etc? The truth is, I was wasting my time.
Time to change that. I was slowly coming to grips with the fact that the Army was fading away. For all the time and all the sacrifice I gave to it, I realized it wasn’t giving it back in return. I couldn’t keep giving to a relationship that wasn’t reciprocating the favor. It isn’t fair, and frankly – it isn’t healthy.
I wrestled with this like I was debating on leaving an abusive relationship. In a way I was. I’ve been with her (The Army) for 20+ years, and she’s all I’ve ever known. She’s led me to believe that there wasn’t life outside of our relationship and I felt stuck. I tried to make her happy, I gave more and more. Ultimately, she left me for a younger and better looking man.
It’s okay. I’m not too bad looking myself….Its time to move on.