I'm a hustler...





This is what I need.



I'm broke.  Yep, I'm flat out broke; just like a majority of folks in the U.S.  I got bills that are past due, I have to pay for gas that I can't afford, and I have a household to maintain on my tiny budget.  I have been looking for jobs and it's hard out there (especially since I am in between professions right now).  So, in order to seriously supplement my income, I had to get a side hustle.

Part of my NLS plan is to fix my financial situation.  Or at least start on getting it comfortable.  So that means not only do I have to spend less and save more; I also have to make more.  And my current employer ain't making that happen so I have to make it happen.  Getting a side hustle was the only feasible thing to do.

And I was a little apprehensive about doing so.  I had started to do taxes during the season, but the time I had to devote to that was a bit too much. I was spending even less time with MIB and I wasn't able to concentrate on my personal project (that will hopefully eliminate the need for a side hustle) like I wanted to.  So that idea was 86'ed real quick.  But I still need extra money. 

So after taking care of a bill for my mom, I was on my way home, see an Avon store, and I go in with the intentions of getting some bath paint for MIB.  But five minutes later I'm sitting down at a table filling out paperwork to become a salesperson for Avon.  $10.  My driver's license. A few other small pieces of information and I'm a rep.  And then I got to feeling nervous about it.

Why?  Well, while I was talking to the ladies and filling out my forms, I was thinking about how I would be able to Tweet and Facebook my side hustle in order to promote it.  Then I thought: what if I'm ignored?  And I don't make any money?  I mean what's the point of having a side hustle, using the internet to promote it, and then not make any money off of it?  Then I got embarrassed.

Embarrassed because I have to take on a side hustle.  Embarrassed because my friends and family will see that I have to do the hustle.  Embarrassed because I'm not selling my own brand of things (like folks on my Twitter line do).  Embarrassed to not have any responses to what I sell based on what effort I put into promoting it. 

Then I got real.  I realized that I'm not the only broke individual on my Facebook page or in my Twitter timeline.  I'm not the only one with a side hustle (self branded or not).  I'm not the only one selling Avon.  But I AM the only one responsible for MIB and whatever it is that I have to do in order to take care of her and her needs, I will.  I want to be able to send her to college and I shouldn't be embarrassed by making that happen by any means necessary. 

If folks buy they buy, if they don't they don't. But I know that I'll be able to go to sleep at night knowing that I did and am doing everything that I can in order to take care of MIB. 

By the way: buy.