How to Build Your Side Business While Working Full-Time

Building a business is hard. But what about building a business on the side while working full-time?

I built a freelancing business while studying dentistry, and I'm just 20 years old. And my GPA was 3.92 during my first two years.

It seems impossible to a lot of people, but I did it. The secret is rather simple. I know what I need to do, and I do it.

But there's a bit more to it than that.

In this post, you will discover the three-tier planning method I used to know what I needed to do, and how I carried out focused actions to get more done in less time.

The result? You can build your business, even if you don't have a lot of spare time.

If you’re a freelancer or business owner, save precious time with tools such as 9Spokes, a dashboard that allows you to centralize all your apps and business solutions.*

Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.

- Zig Ziglar

The "3-tier planning" method

Your time is limited. That's why planning is very important.

Because planning can be complicated and because of specific problems I've faced from time to time, I've developed a simple process to help me plan things out and keep moving in the right direction. I call it the "3-tier planning" method.

The three tiers are:

• The 100,000-foot view
• The 10,000-foot view
• The 100-foot view

Let's go into more detail about each of these.

1. The 100,000-foot view

Here you look at the big picture. I like to make it for every quarter or every 100 days. You set a goal that you want to achieve in the next quarter, and write out a detailed plan about how you want to achieve it.

Let's take an example:

Goal: Create a product and start selling it in 90 days

Steps:

1. Brainstorm product ideas
2. Validate the idea by interacting with people on a FB group
3. Outline the course
4. Record every module
5. Setup a membership site
6. Setup an order form
7. Create a sales page
8. Offer a discount for my email list and get the first ten customers

Now we have the 100,000-foot view. This will give you a clear big picture and ensure that you're going to finish on time.

2. The 10,000-foot view

After you have the big picture, you need to know what tasks you need to accomplish in the next two weeks. I like this time frame because it's not so long as to cause you to lose focus yet it leaves enough time for you to iterate as you go.

So you set the tasks you need to accomplish in the next two weeks so that you're not overwhelmed by the big picture plan.

Continuing the example above, here is a simple 10,000-foot view plan:

1. Brainstorm product ideas
2. Validate the idea
3. Have a simple outline for the first two modules

The reason I added this tier is that it ensures that you don't take too much time completing the first set of tasks, which would result in a situation where the deadline would be approaching but you'd still be a long way from your main goal, causing you to take a lot more time to achieve that goal.

3. The 100-foot view

Now you set your daily tasks. You see what you need to do from the 10,000-foot view and plan your day around it.

For the example above:

1. Brainstorm product ideas
2. Start interacting with a group to know what they want

Now you know what you need to accomplish by the end of the day, so that when you return home from your job, you know the tasks you need to accomplish. Your job now is to do them.

You've seen what the planning method consists of. Now, I'd like to share a tip about how to actually finish your daily tasks. This is how I get more done in less time:

The "Up Pomodoro" technique to getting more done

Now, after you know the exact tasks you need to work on, your job now is to actually do them.

The Pomodoro technique is a great way to help you get more done in less time with greater focus. If you're not familiar with the Pomodoro technique, it's a technique where you spend 25 minutes focusing on a task and then take a 5 minute rest, and then repeat this cycle four times and then take a bigger rest. This enables you to eliminate distraction, which is the most important element to getting more done.

But what does the "Up" in "Up Pomodoro" mean?

The people at The Muse discovered something they call the rule of 52 and 17. They found that the people who work for 52 minutes and then take a break of 17 minutes are the most productive people.

So I started applying it, and the results are astonishing. For simplicity's sake I now work for 50 minutes and take a break for 10-15 minutes. The thing is that you combine two cycles of the Pomodoro technique.

By using the 3-tier planning process and the Up Pomodoro technique, I've been able to know what I need to do and work on it without getting distracted. This is the simple process that helped me build my business while studying dentistry.

To help you accomplish the same results, I've create a simple checklist for you to help you apply the techniques I've shared in today's post and to increase your productivity by 300%. Grab your checklist here.

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