How to Build Your Business While Working a Day Job

Hello, hi and welcome, or welcome back to the Strategic Magic podcast. I'm your host Blu, and I'm a business astrologer here to help you use astrology to grow and scale your online business.

Today's episode is a special one because it is a topic that has been heavy on my mind since starting the podcast. And I knew that this was the time to finally pull back the curtain and share it with you all. And that is what my journey has been like building a successful sustainable business as a business astrologer while having a day job.

So whether you're in the same boat, you are also growing your business while still working a day job, or just curious about what the process has been like, this episode is going to speak to all the highs and lows, and most importantly, how you can use it to your advantage. So buckle up, this is going to be a really great episode.

When it comes to the topic of building your business with the day job, the online community has been so divided on this for so long. And I can definitely see why for a really long time. I was very much in the camp of building your business is the way to go. Having a nine to five. We don't like that.

But as time has gone on, my situation has changed. And just my experiences has evolved over time. I realized that actually this thought process was hurting me a lot more than it was helping me.

And if you're familiar with me and my work, you already know that this is not my first rodeo. I've actually had two online businesses prior to this. So definitely been around the block and have had plenty of time to flex those entrepreneurial muscles, so to speak. But building my business while doing a day job was a very intentional decision and one that I am truly grateful that I am in a place to even make, to have it continue to support me.

And quite honestly, I'm going to keep my day job for as long as possible. So, let's rewind and talk a little bit about how we got here.

So my decision to create a business while working a day job came very intuitively. I was in a very low place when I created my business. And it started when I essentially had nothing but my own astrology chart, I had to move back home.

There was just a lot of things that were happening. And so my mindset was not "let me go out and create this brand new thing". It was quite literally, "how do I get out of survival mode? How do I get out of this place of feeling not only sorry for myself, but getting into a space where I can believe that I can feel abundant and successful again?"

So for me, that was very much intentional. I had, you know, a random retail part-time job that I was using to begin to build up those pieces again. It was helping me to get out the house regularly, get out of the very funky depressive episode that I was in. It gave me somewhere to be .

And then also just quite literally just a little bit of money that I could use to invest in my learnings; to even just invest in getting a little treat after work. Just the little things that help to remind me that I'm a person and that I can do all those things. And again, build that belief again, that this was possible for me. And that was really the state where I was able to quite literally fall into my day job.

I actually don't talk that much about it because I have very strong boundaries around my day job and around the work that I do for that job. But I do work in aviation. I'm a flight attendant. Which is very, very cool.

And it's actually quite unique in the space. Right? So even with having a day job that is unique in a sense, gives me a lot of flexibility, but let's rewind, right? How did I even stumble into this? Because unlike other folks, I never really had this huge aspiration to be into this, in this field. It quite literally just fell into my lap.

rewind right back to February: 2023

So for those of you that aren't familiar, aviation and flight attendant jobs specifically, they don't fall into typical like hiring cycles. . Companies tend to open the doors sporadically. And you have a very short window of time to be able to submit your application to get in. And it's quite an intense process.

And so it was really so beneficial to me that I was able to kind of bypass that whole process and do this. So instead of me going through the traditional process, this hiring event would be about six hours, but I would go through all of the entire process in just a matter of hours, saving me a lot of time and back and forth.

And I figured, what do I have to lose? Like, I'm going to go to my part-time job in the morning, go to this and then continue on my way. It's not going to take any skin off my back. So I did that. And to my surprise, after a full day of having a group interview and individual interview, and quite honestly, a lot of waiting, they got back to me and I actually got that conditional job offer for my company saying, "Hey, we would love to bring you on."

And what's cool about the aviation industry is that you get training to do this job. And so that conditional job offer was them extending the invitation for me to then go through the training process.

So I did that quit my part-time retail job, and quite literally just fell off the grid. The training was quite intensive. I'm talking like 12 plus hour days. It like a lot of very rigorous things in order for me to learn what I need to learn to do this job. So I did all that, passed, got my wings. And after taking two final flights were actually worked on an aircraft.

I was officially ready to be a flight attendant and by the end of spring,. So it all happened quite fast and even recording this now. I've been doing this day job for over a year now. And I'm just, again, really grateful that I got in at the time that I did.

So, what are the benefits to having a day job? Doesn't even need to be highly unique, like the one that I have; but to have any day job that is supplemental to your business?

First of all, I really really recommend this, especially for folks who are in the beginning stages of starting or growing your business because it takes the pressure off of you to monetize your gifts right away.

For me, it was very, very important that I take my time that I give my business, the breathing space and it needed in order to be as successful as possible. I didn't want to make the same mistakes of rushing to monetization, rushing growth, and just pushing my business to be at a stage of the quite literally was not ready for. So getting a day job that would allow me to receive and come to be able to invest back into my business, to do a lot of things that freed up space for my business to just be. It could exist at the stage that it was at, and that was more than okay. And I just found that to be so freeing, so necessary, and exactly what I needed as a business owner to allow my business to take the shape that it just needed to be.

. Another benefit of having a day job is that it supports you in so many other ways.

So your business is going to be built from your passions. It's built from the things that you truly want to do. It's a space where you can put all your creativity into. Your day job does not have to be that, which was quite freeing. There's also a lot of other benefits to being a flight attendant and working in the aviation industry, like the pay stability.

Okay. I'm not even going to lie. Getting a paycheck twice a month, it's pretty nice. It's really stabilizing for the nervous system. Especially being in a space where that was not always the case for me, or struggling to just pay for the basics for myself. It was so liberating that first paycheck, which was not a lot mind you that, but that's a whole different conversation.

But getting that first paycheck and being able to do things like getting a drink at a coffee shop or paying for a movie or just getting groceries without being so stressed out that like, oh, is my card like going to be declined today? Is this going to like, get me an overdraft? Like that was so, so freeing and it allowed for more space for me to create, to bring creativity, to bring the problem solving that was necessary to build a successful, sustainable business over time.

There's also, you know, other things like health insurance, and just like the boring mundane six house stuff that is so important. Again, just stabilizing the nervous system and reminding me that I am a person that is worthy of support.

But getting back to the benefits. I think for me, the biggest thing is being very intentional about getting a job where I'm able to use it for what it is that I want to do. And for me, the travel benefits are definitely the biggest draw. Being able to consider different ways. I can leverage that for my business. Like that is truly unmatched to me.

There's also just in general, something that's really supportive about having a day job, because it helps you to build a discipline that is required in order for you to have a successful, sustainable business.

So especially early on, right in my day job journey, there is actually a lot of downtime and in-between time and times where you're just like waiting for stuff to happen. As a flight attendant, it's not all like very glamorous. So for me, right. I use that time wisely and that allowed for a lot of the growth that I have in my business.

Like if I had shifts where I would quite literally just be sitting in the airport waiting to potentially be called to work a flight. I would bring my laptop because guess what? There's a podcast episode that needs editing, or a blog post that I could schedule out, or just like some kind of background in between work that I could be working on. And I would get a lot of that work done.

I would get some of my best batching done at the beginning of my business in these times. And I would have like the most random shifts - like middle of the night, nobody is awake. I'm in the airport and I'm just working on my business, getting paid by my day job to work on my business. Truly, the best feeling. So there is something really nice and supportive about having a day job and opening yourself up to that option.

If you are somebody that is in this process, whether you are just starting your business, or you're just, you know, in a space where your business is in a state of growth, but it's just not in a place where it can fully support you at this time. Here's some things that I would consider when it comes to building a successful, sustainable business, especially one on part-time hours while having a day job.

The first thing is to be strategic. So considering the benefits of your day job, and then using it to your advantage. I actually like my job. It's still very much a job. There's a lot of aspects I don't like, I don't agree with. I'm not here for.

But to me, a lot of the benefits are the biggest draw, and that I can leverage those benefits for not only my business, but my personal life as well. So something for you to consider is what are the skillsets that you have that are easy for you to do. Bringing it back to astrology, really tapping into that second house area for you. What are your most monetizable skills? They don't just have to be extended into your business. They can also live out in your day job and the literal occupation of what it is that you do.

You can also think about what are the benefits you want your day job to provide, outside of a regular paycheck ? Which is very attractive to entrepreneurs, to people who are used to working for themselves.

What are some other things that you value again? Really tapping into the second house to get inspiration on what those things could be. But this can also help you to consider and think about what the possibilities are for you to get a day job.

I also want to say here that your day jobs does not have to be full time. It could be a part-time job. It could be something that you do in between your business. It can be anything you want. Right. That's the beauty of it.

I would highly highly recommend if this is the path for you to consider a day job in something that feels quite easy, quite natural, and that does not overlap with the work that you're doing. I want to save all that creative juiciness for your business, and putting that into the work that you're doing for your clients and for yourself.

So your day job, not necessarily the place for you to be fulfilled by your deepest passions. But perhaps leaning into the skillsets that you already have based on your experience, your background, and just being able to do that, making it a very even exchange of time for money.

Another thing to consider is to be mindful of your energy. Oh my goodness. This is huge. And this goes back to what I was saying about, I personally have such strong boundaries when it comes to my business and my day job. In fact, very rarely do the two intersect.

First of all, I rarely talk about my day job online. I do not post the company I work for. I do not post myself in uniform. I do not post flight attendant content. That is just a boundary than I personally have in order to be able to separate the two and to do my best work.

Quite literally I show up, I work my flights, I go home. That's it. I'm not really hanging out. I'm not really sucked into the flight attendant world. And that's okay for me. Because very early on, I had to sacrifice the idea of being the best at my day job in order to create space to be really good at my business.

So quite literally, what does that look like? Again, setting those boundaries of what do I want to pour my energy and attention into what's why do you want to use my creativity for. I made the intention, even during training, that I was always going to prioritize my business over my day job. And while yes, I'm going to show up and do what is required for my day job. I am still not going to put a hundred percent into that job.

So again, it's taking those steps. It is bringing my laptop with me on trips so that perhaps I'm doing client calls or working on background work. We're batching content, doing things that will allow for my business to grow sustainably, while I am quite literally in the air and I'm unable to do those things while I'm actively working in my day job.

So all of that really goes into being mindful of your energy and what you're being intentional to, and making a decision: are you going to be the best at your job or are you going to invest in your craft?

Another thing to consider is what is the minimum output you can give to your day job that still provides you with what you need? While also giving you the space to better your craft as a service provider, a coach, a consultant, an online business owner. Really thinking about what is required for that.

This is also something as well that having a day job really taught me to be intentional with my time in what I was investing into. To be very intentional about what was necessary in my business versus what is a nice to have.

So I spent a lot of time on blog posts on my podcasts, writing emails, things that would allow me to get that ROI return over perhaps batching social media content, which really wouldn't live beyond the few days that I posted it. I really took the time again and getting better at my craft that also required me to be very intentional with what I was investing my time in and what assets I was building for my business. Perhaps during the downtime that I had for my day job, that allowed me to become a better astrologer and a better business owner. While still working this day job.

Ultimately the decisions that I made with my day job, we're very intentionally set up in order to allow me the space to become a better business owner. So for you, you have to make those decisions. What's important to you? What matters to you? And what will allow you to grow as a business owner while still getting what you need out of your day job?

Doing all these things really allowed me to grow my business as fast as I did. And most importantly, to have a business that I'm so proud of. That is truly successful and sustainable for me to run, to maintain. And to give myself options for the future. So, if you're curious about how you can find better balance between. Your business and your day job, I would love to support you with this inside of my one-on-one program, Private Astrologer. This is a private program where we work together to really integrate and use your astrological gifts inside your birth chart, in order to support you in becoming a better business owner.

So, head to the description show notes of this episode. That will have a link to the Private Astrologer application, where you can go and apply as well as links to other things that I've mentioned in this episode for you to check out.

Alright, thank you so much for listening to this episode and I'll see you in the next one. Bye!

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