Making Side Projects Work for You
In his book, My Startup Life, Ben Casnocha offers a 30-day plan for becoming a better entrepreneur. I’m not going to rehash Ben’s plan – you’re better off reading the book than hearing about it from me. But I am going to elaborate on the task he assigns for Day 28:
Have multiple side projects going. Diversify your portfolio of interests and activities.
This begs the question: What is a side project?
I like to define them as projects that we usually aren’t paid for and are done in our non-work hours. Here are three examples:
- You’ve been playing the piano since you were seven years old. So, on weekends, you perform with a jazz ensemble. You got this, your first paid gig, through a casual conversation with your neighbors.
- You and your children are crazy about sports. Baseball, football, basketball, you name it. This has led you into several volunteer coaching positions.
- One of your friends decides to run for a seat on the city council. So, being the good friend that you are, you volunteer for the campaign. Over the course of six months, you organize campaign rallies, walk precincts, make phone calls, and distribute yard signs.
Funny thing about side projects: they have a way of finding you when you least expect it.
Recently, my portfolio of side projects has included:
1. Volunteering for a local environmental organization. This has honed my skills in digging holes, picking up rocks over here and putting them down over there, and planting drought-tolerant trees and shrubs. Not exactly what I’d call glamorous work, but when we’re finished, our water harvesting projects look nice.
2. Doing photography for Habitat for Humanity and other community organizations. I’m in the process of turning pro as a photographer, and doing these shoots have been a great way to build my portfolio and skills. And the organizations have appreciated the photos.
3. Attending various meetings on neighborhood and community affairs.
4. Helping my engineer/inventor father with his latest project. He is seeking a patent on technology that emerged from the university class where he serves as a volunteer consultant. (Yes, this is a side project for Dad.) The co-inventors of this technology are three students that solved an engineering design problem that my father posed in the class, and two of their instructors. So far, my work has included:
- Setting up a meeting with Dad’s Congressman. We think that the federal government may be interested in this technology, and the Congressman’s aide encouraged Dad’s team to stay in touch. This has led to a lot of Martha-provided coaching on how to stay in touch with politicians. And I’ve met more than a few politicians while attending all those meetings mentioned in Item #3.
- Identifying private firms that may be interested in licensing the technology. Since leads identification is the lifeblood of my own business, applying this skill to Dad’s project was quite easy.
- Drafting a one-page overview of the technology. The template for this overview came via a onetime client and longtime friend who does public relations for high-tech startups.
- Creating a filing system for the blizzard of papers that this project is generating. Dad is like me in that he has the attention span of a gnat. Which means that his desk can get hopelessly cluttered in nothing flat. To help him be better able to focus, we cleared everything off the desk, gave it a good cleaning, then put his project papers into an expandable pocket file. I heard very few complaints about missing papers after that job was done.
Dad’s side project at the university draws on the skills he already has. So does my involvement in his technology patent project.
In addition to being a great place to show what you can do, side projects also provide many opportunities to learn new things. So, be open to them. You just never know where they’ll take you.
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Martha, Truthfully I’m not completely agree with Ben’s Idea of side project as It’s Like to create extra work for yourself. Instead of so called “side project” thing i rather like to take my family outside for picnic or stay at home all together so i can spent some time with them.
But on other hand i fairly somehow like the idea of Helping our loved once in their work.
Anyway… Nice Thoughtful Writing… Thanks for sharing !!
DKumar M.
I’ve always thought of side projects as projects along the same lines of our work to create extra revenue streams- I website I work on with the potential to make some extra cash, for example.
However, in school I was always really involved and enjoyed doing that sort of stuff- it was a good break from freelancing, but I didn’t feel lazy either (which I tend to do when I have a lot of time on my hands).
Take a look at your local SBIR group (http://www.sbir.gov/) for more info on presenting technology to the government, and winning funding to develop technology.
I tend to think of side projects as work, related to what you to for business, that you do for fun rather than revenue. For example, I design websites for people but design some for myself (as a hobby) on the side. But, when all is done, these side projects increase your knowledge and can even lead to some cash.
I would also think side projects would be in the same line as the business you are in. I have some of those, but I guess I have other side projects, more like hobbies.
I like to sew. I have a sewing machine and I collect design patterns online.
I like collecting stamps. I have stamps from all around the world.
Playing guitar and piano are always on the back burner for me. I know how to play, just never have the time.
I also make home movies of vacations.
And I’m involved in my community by my husband being the vice president on the board of directors.
Side projects have led me to more paying, pro projects than just about anything else I’ve done (networking included, though the side projects usually lead to a lot of networking connections and leads, so maybe they just go well hand-in-hand).
I had a project that lasted for 10 months where I would create a drawing, a creative writing and a photograph every day, no matter what. Each piece would be related, and it was kind of an exercise in getting inspired (I’d usually shoot a photo, then find a creative way to write and draw about the same thing in a different way, or start with a doodle and move on the from, etc etc etc). I ended up posting this all up on a blog that became pretty popular, and the illustration style that developed as a result of this project landed me several t-shirt graphic design gigs, fleshed out my illustration portfolio in a crazy way (that’s about 300 pieces!), a eventually led to some of my work being available through online galleries and stock imagery sites.
I’ve had several projects that started out as a just for fun, helping somebody out kind of thing, but that either turned into a full-fledged paying gig (or gigs), or later (sometimes days, sometimes months) turned into increased work in another area with that same person or someone they know. Karma points, people. It really does pay to help someone else out.
Great article! Keep ‘em coming!
Thanks for the great tips! I work in photography and filmmaking so I’m much more inclined to have several side projects going on at once just by the nature of my business. But reinforcing the concept, especially to try something only slightly related (or not all) works so I can get a break from the everyday, plus good motivation to keep up my work on projects already started.
Wasn’t there a post like this already posted? I’m pretty sure I commented on that saying what a great idea and that I’ll definitely do that when I get my office set up?
If not, this is a great idea and my office is now set up. I am emailing a charity right now.
Side projects are good for practising on skills you need to improve, for example; project management. Or trying out different work flows etc.
Martha here with an update on the project involving my engineer/inventor father:
I mentioned the meeting with the aide of Congressman Joe Sestak (Pennsylvania District 7). Since that meeting, I’ve gotten a call from Mr. Sestak’s office. Seems that the office is interested in setting up a meeting with Dad’s team and the congressman.
So, I’m working on facilitating that meeting.
Also on Martha’s plate is a lecture here in Tucson on Thursday evening. Former US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator William Reilly will be speaking at the University of Arizona’s business school. I’ve attended other lectures at the b-school, and they’re very big on encouraging lecture attendees to network with the speaker after the presentation. I plan on asking Mr. Reilly for some EPA contacts.
I dont do much anything besides school, work and draw.
if I have ‘free time’ I just draw some more
Very helpful. Thank you.
Great post, but I have to agree with Joe and others about what a “side-project” is. I would consider it something else you do to make money; perhaps something that is a little more fun for you or lets you do something a little different from your normal job. The things listed I would call “living life” or “volunteering”.