In this episode of the Impostor Syndrome Files, we talk about side hustles. Side hustles are a popular experiment these days but, for those of us who struggle with impostor syndrome and other fears, the process can be daunting. My guest this week, Jen Lewi, is an executive coach with a specialty in career strategy. Here she shares how she started her coaching business as a side hustle before officially making it her full-time role. Jen and I chat about how to come up with an idea for a side hustle, how to manage your mindset and how to take baby steps to achieve your goals.
About My Guest
Jen Lewi, MBA, CAE, ACC, is the Founder and CEO of Design Your Next Step, a boutique Executive Coaching and Career Strategy firm, helping professionals maximize their strengths and design fulfilling career paths. Jen’s clients have:
Transitioned smoothly into a new role or industry.
Overcome workplace challenges.
Advanced their leadership skills.
Grown their professional brands.
Job-crafted to design more fulfilling jobs.
Explored and pursued new career paths.
Navigated parenthood with a rewarding career.
Throughout her career, Jen mastered the art of job-crafting to build fulfilling roles. She applies that learning when clients want to build a new career path, navigate a new position, or make the most of their current jobs. At the School Nutrition Association, she held a variety of senior roles in marketing, membership, professional development, and conferences. She started her career in the corporate world with leadership roles in marketing at BBC America and in advertising at Saatchi & Saatchi. These experiences allow her to link corporate and non-profit best practices and provide an international perspective to coaching engagements, as needed. Jen holds multiple coaching certifications, a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University and a Masters in Management, from HEC Paris.
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Connect with Jen:
Website: www.designyournextstep.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenlewi/
Article links:
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Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:
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Websites: https://kimmeninger.com
Transcript
Kim Meninger
Hi, Jen. I'm so excited to talk to you again. You and I have had several conversations leading up to this one, and I can't wait to now have a conversation that we share publicly. So as we're getting started, I would love to invite you to introduce yourself.
Jen Lewi
Absolutely. Kim, thanks so much for having me in and I really love the spirit of your podcast. I'm an executive coach, and I specialize in career strategy, and I definitely hear a lot from my clients about the issue of imposter syndrome. So well done for having this podcast. My journey has been not necessarily linear career-wise. So I started out as an advertising executive, then I moved into marketing, then I moved into the nonprofit world. Long story short, I realized I was on the CEO path, and did just didn't want to become a CEO. Didn't really like the idea of running a big company, so I built a career coaching practice as a side hustle. So I'm super excited that we're going to be talking about that concept. I built it as a side hustle, and then I turned it into my main hustle, and it's going really well.
Kim Meninger
Congratulations, and congratulations on making that decision too. Because I think a lot of times we feel pressure. There's this, whether it's societal pressure or pressure that we put upon ourselves because we're ambitious and high achieving to want to get to the top right. And so for you to be able to walk away from that and say, This is not what I want, I think takes a lot of courage.
Jen Lewi
Thanks for saying that, and yes, and I think that we need to honor who we thought we were and the path we were on. So I think at one point I thought, yeah, I do want to be a CEO. I do want to go to that next level. But we evolve over time. Our priorities change. So it's really important to take the time to reflect on whether what you thought you wanted is still what you want. And I think that was an important time for reflection for me.
Kim Meninger
Yeah, I like the way you put that because it is possible for two things to be true at the same time, right? It is possible that our, you know, younger self or former self wanted that and that our efforts to achieve it were well-intentioned and worthwhile, and that we've reached a point where our values or our priorities have changed, and so to not beat ourselves up in either direction, but to accept that our careers are a changing arc, right?
Jen Lewi
Absolutely, and not to put you on the spot, but I feel like that's what you did too, right? You were in a very sort of linear potential path, and then you decided to go on your own.
Kim Meninger
That’s exactly right, too, yeah. And I think that my priorities definitely shifted similarly. When I was really hard-charging in my corporate life, I was primarily single, you know, had no other responsibilities than myself. And then I got married and had a baby, and all of a sudden I was like, Is this what I still want? And you know, I think that there was a part of me that felt like, oh, no, am I? Am I selling out, or am I taking the easy way? But no, I really believe that I the work I do now is far more meaningful and far more aligned with my strengths and the impact I want to make on the world, and so I think that's a big part of the calculation, as well as to say if this is something like if I had been getting all kinds of feelings of meaning and fulfillment from my corporate job and the, the path that I was on at the time, I absolutely would have made the sacrifices or made the decisions necessary to keep that going, but that wasn't, it wasn't what I wanted, and it's sometimes we just don't stop long enough to ask ourselves that question, right? We're just kind of plowing through, getting through the day. We don't necessarily take that, that pause and say, Hmm, is this really where I want to be right now or in the future?
Jen Lewi
Yeah, and I think you said something interesting, which is you're focusing on your strengths and the areas that you really love. And I think when you're in a corporate job, you often have parts of the job where you're focusing on your strengths, and you're doing the stuff that you love, and it's really when you're in that state of flow, and it's exciting, but sometimes we find that the time we spend on that is minimal or not as much as we'd like, and we're doing other stuff that we do well, but isn't necessarily fulfilling us. And I think that's a big sign for a potential change.
Kim Meninger
Yes, I agree. I agree because it is, it is disheartening, or there are all kinds of adjectives we could use to describe that feeling of there's so much more that I could give, or so much more that I'd like to give, but I'm not given the opportunity or the, the, the flexibility to be able to do that.
Jen Lewi
Yeah, a lot of roles don't allow you to just focus on one thing, especially as you grow in a leadership position, you often have so many areas that you oversee, and so that that, to me, is a signal that maybe you need to focus on the stuff you love somewhere else or, or build your own company, which, whatever it is. I mean, I know it's, it's sort of so monumental to think of building your own company. But there are other options for people who want to focus on something rather than spread themselves over different facets of the organization.
Kim Meninger
Yes, yes. And I want to shift us into this conversation because I think this is really important. You mentioned starting with a side hustle, right? That became your new career. Can you talk a little bit about how you thought about doing that? Like was, did you stumble into it? Was it a master plan? Like, how did you think about I'm going to start this thing on the side, right? Did you have vision for it? What did it look like?
Jen Lewi
So, I'm obviously a big planner. Um, so I, it wasn't just stumbling there. It was very intentional. However, what I, I think it first started with things that you have talked about on your podcast before, that, that gut feeling that something is off, and the feeling that you're not doing exactly what you want to be doing, but you're not sure what you want to do next. So not to promote ourselves, but having a coach help me sort of unpack what I wanted to do next, and just having somebody objective sort of pull all the mess that was my thoughts into some coherence, and helped me see there was coherence in what I wanted to do next, and it was really around this idea of executive coaching. So the first thing I did was I got the certifications and realized that helped me see if, oh, is this something I'm actually interested in? And I was so it's all about taking these baby steps. And another baby step was, well, maybe coaching could be part of my job in the way future, like when I retire, or something like that. So I, I decided to just experiment with that. And I didn't have, like, a formal name for my company or anything, I just started a tiny little way of coaching other people and seeing if it worked, and charging a little bit of money for it. And then, over time, it grew. But I will say, an important factor in all of this is, while it was done on the side, it was done with full transparency with my employer. So I think it's really important to, if you're looking into building a side hustle, to be very clear with your boss and your HR team that, hey, this is something I'm looking at.
Kim Meninger
Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up, too because I think there's obviously an important ethical and practical element to what you're describing, but I also think it affects our mindset because if you feel like you're hiding something, you're not going to bring your best self to it, right? You're not going to be confident about it, you're not going to be putting your voice out into the world around it. You're going to feel like you're playing really small, and that's already a risk when you are taking this kind of a, you know, I would say, chance on yourself. And so I think the more that you can sort that out with your employer, the more free you will feel to be out there, like actually investing in this.
Jen Lewi
Absolutely. And I wrote a couple of articles for Fast Company about this. And as I did that, I interviewed people who had some side hustles too. And the other component is it makes you a stronger professional in many ways. So if you can show your employer the value you'll bring by building the side hustle, maybe you'll gain new skills. Maybe, you know, for me, coaching is part of leadership, so I became a better leader through that. I learned a lot, and I brought it back to the team as well. So I think that's another way to, to help with that transparency.
Kim Meninger
Yeah, and I think to your point, if you are, if you're motivated to do more of what you're doing, partially in the role that you're in, then there is strategic benefit to continuing to hone those skills, and maybe that even opens up the possibility of doing more of it within the role that you're in right like maybe you're, you're using it as the basis for making a business case to your manager or to your leadership team that you should be able to do more or you have more value to all. Offer by doing more of this particular work, right? So the side hustle could become its own thing, or it could be a pathway to more of that work within the existing organization.
Jen Lewi
Absolutely. And as, as I was thinking about this too, there's somebody I interviewed who was a systems administrator, but he built a wonderful company called Potomac Chocolate, and that the chocolate making really brought him the joy, whereas the job brought him the stable income. And I think the way that so he obviously couldn't say making chocolate would make his job a better thing, but having more joy on his in his life made him a better employee. And then, as he said, bringing in chocolate, you know, for the team is never sort of somebody returns, turns their nose on. So it definitely helped with that. So I think another element is, if your job isn't giving you that joy, maybe you can do something on the side that will bring you that joy in life, and then you'll become happier on the job because you have something on the side that really fulfills you.
Kim Meninger
That's right, that's right. And I think we tend to think in all-or-nothing terms, right? It's either I follow my passion and do something that I feel meant to do cosmically, right? Or I just, you know, go, go through the days, go through the motions in this job because it gives me the financial security, the benefits, etc, as opposed to looking at it in a more nuanced way, and being able to say, like, what am I not getting for my current role, and how might I be able to fill some of those gaps in a creative way?
Jen Lewi
Absolutely, yeah. So I think when looking at a side hustle, I know one thing that you talk about is mindset and sort of that fear of trying that out. And I think that sometimes we have this image, like, I'll the person who created the chocolate brand, right? Like, how would I even do that? How can I start that? And that's where I think a side hustle is helpful because you can take a baby step towards conquering that fear, not giving everything up for this dream you may have, and knowing that those small steps add up over time.
Kim Meninger
Yeah, and I think the ability to, and you said something along these lines when you were talking about even doing coach training and right it's like to test drive because a lot of times we don't know until we're in it whether this is might seem really exciting from the outside, but until you have a chance to actually experience it right, you don't know if this is something you want to give up your day job for.
Jen Lewi
Absolutely, I think Dorie Clark, who I'm sure we've talked about before. Talks about this in one of her books, about how she had a client who really wanted to work in a flower shop, and then the client sort of shadowed somebody in a flower shop, and was, she was just like overwhelmed by the sense and being around flowers all the time she's and she said, There's no way I could do this. So it's like this idea of being around flowers, and then the reality of smelling those flowers and the dizziness that can come with that.
Kim Meninger
That is true. Gosh, it's better that you learn that sooner. Well. And I also want to ask your thoughts on if we can take a like a half-step back. Sometimes people say they and you, you actually used the expression too of I know I don't know what I want, but I know it's not this is there are people out there who have this, this drive to do something else, and they know they want more than they're getting from their careers today, but they, they will tell themselves, I don't have anything that I could build a side hustle around, right? Like they, they that could be coming from a place of self-doubt. It could be coming from a place of just, you know, sort of unexamined strengths. Maybe they haven't spent the time thinking about it in this way. Like, do you have suggestions on how to even connect to what could be the possibility of a side hustle?
Jen Lewi
I mean, I love the word that you use, which is connect right? It's really about connecting dots. And if somebody has that feeling of, I know I want to be doing something, I know I have something in me, but I don't know what it is. It's exploring what you like to do in your current job, and I'm a Design Your Life certified trainer, which is, there's this great book, and we could definitely put it in the show notes around it's called design your life, and it really is around tracking your time and seeing when you are in those. States of flow where you're super happy. So for me, it was when I was coaching and managing my team, or brainstorming with a colleague as a thought partner around sort of an issue maybe they were having. And so you track your time, and you see when you're just not happy, and then you can see those areas where you're shining and you're happy. So that's one way. So that's if, in your current job, really finding those areas where you're shining and you're happy and you're feeling good, and then the other area is looking at what you're curious about and what you're interested in. And, you know, there's, I can't remember who suggested this, but I think it's an amazing idea. When you're in a bookstore, where do you automatically go find books? Where do you kind of like, for me, it was always the leadership in the career books, whereas, you know, my husband would always end up in the war and nonfiction books. I don't know what that means about him, but, um, but you know, that's another element. Like, what podcasts Do you listen to? How do you choose to spend your time? That's another indication of what you might want to do next.
Kim Meninger
That's a very good point because I think sometimes we become really compartmentalized in our thinking. We think, well, the only skills I have are the ones that I use in my day job, right? As opposed to thinking of that as just a very narrow slice of what you enjoy or can do, especially if you're feeling if you're feeling unmotivated or feeling like you're not getting what you need out of your current job. Looking to your current job might be actually too limiting, because it may not be an accurate reflection of who you are and what you want to do more of so I love this combination of really thinking about, when am I in a flow state, or what do I really enjoy doing, because they're usually aspects of our job, even if we don't love the work we're doing, that bring us some sense of satisfaction, and then combine that with what about in the rest of our lives, right? Like, how are we choosing to focus our attention? What are the questions that we like to answer? What are the problems that we like to help our loved ones solve or friends solve? Right? And I think that was definitely something that was true for me too, when I finally had the time to slow down and say, when was the last time I was happy, right? Like I've been just going through the motions in my career for so long I don't even remember what I enjoy doing. And to be able to look back and say, Oh, I loved helping people solve problems. I loved helping people figure out what they wanted to do next, right? Things like that, and, and then you can start to think about, what does that translate into, more exactly?
Jen Lewi
And I think what you talked about is exactly the issue, which is we get so caught up in the day-to-day, maybe our job isn't fulfilling, and then we have the other stuff that we need to do, you know, laundry, dry cleaning, whatever it is, groceries, if you have kids that takes over your life, and you don't have the time to pause, to reflect, and so you're in this situation where you're like, I don't like what I'm doing, but I don't know what I want to do next, and you haven't reflected enough, you haven't spent that time to slow down, as you said, and think, and when you slow down, you will discover areas that you loved, or you'll learn more about yourself. But you need to take that time. It's not just going to come to you.
Kim Meninger
Yes, that, that is something that I think about a lot is that we make excuses for time, right? It's like, Oh, this isn't a good time. I'm super busy. Well, it's always going to be busy. Your time is always going to be filled up, right? So do you have any suggestions on, like, practical ways of carving out time for this? Because I think everybody thinks like, oh, there's no way I'm going to be able to between my, my busy job and my kids and everything else that I'm doing, there's no way I'm gonna be able to think about this, like, how do you, uh, combat that limiting belief?
Jen Lewi
Well, I think it's around these baby steps, like we talked about. So the first area is, if you decide that you want to explore a potential career, getting a certification or learning more, and often that is in your free time. Like it's very hard to convince your employer that you deserve a bazillion days off to go explore this, right? But if it's something you're passionate about, you will find the energy and you will make the time to do it, if it's realistic, right? Like, if you decide I'm gonna you're not gonna have a ton of time. But maybe it's one night a week, maybe it's waking up a little bit early in the morning to just spend 30 minutes doing something related to this area that you're interested or discovering your interest. Maybe it's a morning, a weekend. It adds up over time if you do that consistently. For me, what worked was saying, Okay, three nights a week would be focused on the coaching piece, and maybe one day a weekend. I know that sounds like a lot, but that was really important for me, and it re-energized me to do that. The other area is to kind of understand that there are going to be weeks where you're not going to have the time, you're just not going to have the time. But maybe there's something small you can do related to this area you're passionate about, read an article like listen to a podcast when you're going for a walk or on your commute to work that's related to this area of interest, again, that builds up over time.
Kim Meninger
Yes, I love that cumulative effect that you're describing, because we tend to think that if it's not some big time-consuming investment, right then it's not worthwhile, as opposed to looking at it, at it as small chunks that over time really do add up.
Jen Lewi
Absolutely. Yeah. And what happens is, if you take stock after, let's say, a year or six months, you see that you've done a lot, and that's important. I think it's important to celebrate the success as you go to just sort of pat yourself on the back and be like, Wow, I did all these things. I know how five clients, you know, I had none six months ago.
Kim Meninger
Yes, yeah, yeah. And the other thing I want to mention here too and get your thoughts on is engaging other people because this is a potentially daunting path, right? I mean, we are creatures of habit. We don't like unpredictability and the unknown, and so there's a lot of ways in which fear shows up. And I think just being able to reach out to other people is so important, especially to the information-gathering piece of what you're describing. And so I wonder if you have suggestions on, like, how to access the support of other people, or even just to just to reach out. I know I did this when I was first thinking about coaching. I'm like, What is coaching? And I reached out to people in my alumni community who had in the alumni directory listed themselves as coaches, and just said, Hey, can you just talk to me for a few minutes about what you do and how you got there, right? Like, I wonder what your thoughts are on bringing other people into the mix.
Jen Lewi
I'm so glad you brought that up because I've forgotten about how many people I spoke to as I built this it is critical to talk to other people about especially if they're successful in this area that you're interested in pursuing, asking them questions around, how did you do it? Is it a viable idea like, how do you make it a viable potential career path for yourself? I think that's a really big question. What training did they get? What tips do they have? I think that's super important. And then how to find them. I love the fact that you went to your alumni group. That's a possibility, definitely looking in your network. And if there's no one in your network. LinkedIn is the best place on earth for that you can really like. Look for people who are doing what you want to be doing, and most people will take the time to spend, you know, 20 minutes with you, to walk you through different options, how they built their careers. Provide any tips I'd recommend not asking for too much time, like, 20 minutes, I think is a good amount.
Kim Meninger
Yeah, I think that's a really good point because that's everybody's most precious resource, is time. But yeah, and I think that is under the broader umbrella of test driving too, is you get to ask people about, you know, what's a day in the life look like? Or some of the, some of the more behind-the-scenes questions that you can't get at through research, online kinds of research.
Jen Lewi
Yeah, absolutely.
Kim Meninger
Yeah. So then I want to ask you a question, since obviously you have done this? You've got your side hustle. It's going well, what is the thought process around, okay, am I ready to make this my, my actual new career, right? Like, what were some of the thoughts that you considered as you were thinking about moving out of your previous career and doing this full-time?
Jen Lewi
Well, I could talk about this all day, so I'll try to be short and sweet. I think the first thing is, even when I built this, I did not think I'd want to do it as quickly as I did, but what was happening was it was really taking off. Enough, and at some point, you know, I definitely recommend that when you build a side hustle, you have to prioritize your main hustle. That is, those are the folks who are paying your salary. So you've got to prioritize that. And then at some point, one indication is it becomes overwhelming to have both because you have demand in the side hustle. So that's a first clue that maybe this is working. Then I think there's an element of, okay, what would this look like if I took it full-time? So, one of my, one of the people that I talked to for the article, he built a learning program on the side while he was working at SpaceX, and he realized that the income he was getting from the side hustle was more than he was making at SpaceX. So he was like, that was a no-brainer. But for most people, that's not how it happens, right? For most people, they need the time to fully commit to whatever this is before knowing if it'll be financially viable. I mean, honestly, there's a huge risk with that, which is, if I do this, I am probably not going to make as much money as I did at first. So you need to think about your finances, and you need to think about how much you need to bring in. You need to be really realistic about that in order to make it work full-time. The other piece is, if you think that there's a real demand for it, and you've test-driven it, enough, understand that you probably need a bit of a cushion, a bit of a financial cushion, because when you have a paycheck, it comes when it's expected, but when you have clients like people pay really weirdly. So you might have, you might think things should be coming consistently, but they don't, so you need a little bit of cushion for those times when there's not enough income coming in. So I definitely recommend maybe putting away six months of expenses, something like that. The more the better. Honestly. The other piece is, what can you tighten up your budget a little bit? Like, do you need all those streaming services? Do you need? You know, there's so much that we spend on this we sometimes forget about, like, during covid, I went for this. All you can use car wash because that's basically how we spent our time. We'd be in the car wash, my daughters and I put the music on and have a great time in the car wash. But then post-covid, I did not need the car wash as much, and I did not need to be paying for that subscription service so, but I'd forgotten about it. You know, was so, so little things like that at a, you know, if you're somebody who goes to the gym a lot and you have like, three memberships, do you need all three? So cutting really, looking at tightening your budget, and being honest with your family too, about the fact that the budget might get tighter and the things that they got before they might not get for a while. So I think that's another element. The other piece is, is there a target audience? Is there a need for what you have? Are you sure that the people that you've been meeting with for your side hustle aren't just like friends and then they'll disappear? Is there really, have you test-driven the need? I think that's a big one.
Kim Meninger
Yeah, yeah, you're right. I think that is a really important practical side of this conversation. Is there a market for what you're doing?
Jen Lewi
Absolutely, and what are you going to do to make it unique, like, if it's something a bit generic, what is it that you deliver that's particularly unique in the crowded market, or is there a target audience that is a bit untapped that you can tap into?
Kim Meninger
Yeah. Well, the other thing that you're making me think about, too, and I don't want to scare anybody away here, but is we sort of live in this world where it feels really easy to be out there because of all the social media tools, and there's so few barriers to entry when it comes to quote, unquote marketing. But because of that, there are also it's often very crowded. And so, you know, one of the things that I've seen a lot in coaching, and you probably have too Jen, is people have really great intentions and enthusiasm, but then when it comes to actually putting themselves out there, they resist, and I've seen so many people give up within the first year because they're not able to make the transition to actually being a business developer, right to being a salesperson, to being somebody who's willing to be out there being the voice of the service or the product that you are offering, and it is not the case. And, you know, hopefully, again, I don't want to scare people away, but I also want to be realistic, because it is not the case that if you build it, they will come.
Jen Lewi
Oh, absolutely. And, you know, you see a lot of people who get certified in coaching, and they're like, I don't know, I have no clients. And so there's this element of building a real business, so in many ways. And there, and I mentioned this in one of the articles. There's this great book called The E-Myth, why most businesses fail. And in that, the author says, if you like to make pie, don't open a pie shop. Just make pie. It's very different. When you become a business owner, you've gotta look at your taxes, you gotta check your expenses. You sure you're doing what you love, but there's a lot of business development, business maintenance that comes with it. And so if what you love is only the thing that you produce, then maybe you're better off not going into business on that, but maybe you're better off just focusing on that role as an individual contributor somewhere, as part of a larger organization that will take care of the infrastructure. [Right.] But you're absolutely right. There's a huge level of marketing and getting out of your comfort zone because you've got to promote yourself and your company. And if that's uncomfortable for you, it's going to be tough.
Kim Meninger
Yes, yes, absolutely. And so that's all the more reason to focus on the mindset stuff too because usually it's our own inner critic that's getting in the way there.
Jen Lewi
Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's important to the way that I think about it as I think about promoting the value that I bring. So it might be sharing some ideas, rather than just saying, Oh, I'm so great. Come work with me as a coach. It's really about promoting value, like in the same way that I think this podcast adds so much value for you, you are promoting yourself, but you're promoting yourself through a service for people that is extremely beneficial.
Kim Meninger
Thank you. And I think that that is the way that I think about self-promotion, whether you work in a company or you are your company, is if you focus on being of service, right? It's like, it's not about my ego. It's not about, oh, look at how great I am, right? It's more about, how can I help? How can I be of greatest service to the people that I want to help? And if we can adopt that mindset, it frees us up to engage in conversations, or, you know, sort of marketing activities, so to speak, that don't feel icky or self-serving, right? It's more about like, Oh, I'm just going to put this out there because hopefully people will benefit from it, and if they want more, great, and if they don't, then you know what? There will be others out there who will.
Jen Lewi
Absolutely and I also think just building off of, if you're looking at something like coaching or consulting. I think it's important to think of the people in that space as your community, rather than your competitors. [Yes.] Because the pie is really big, and if you've really honed in on your target audience, you're probably not playing in exactly the same area. So and when you're on your own, you need that community, because you no longer have this big team of people in your company that you're working with. So helping provide service for that community as well is important.
Kim Meninger
Yes, I'm glad you said that too because I think when I meet other people who do what I do more, more closely, my first thought is, oh, potential collaborators, right? It's like, oh, we can do it something together, as opposed to it being a competitor. And that just changes the vibe when you're when you're interacting in this ecosystem, because, like you said, you can't do it alone, and these are the people who become your, your virtual colleagues as you move forward.
Jen Lewi
Absolutely. it's very different from an organization where you the organization might have these major competitors you're playing in a different space when you're on your own.
Kim Meninger
Yes. Yeah, absolutely, yeah, yeah. Oh my gosh, Jen, you've given us so much to think about. I could spend all day talking with you about this. Do you have any final thoughts before we wrap up?
Jen Lewi
I would say if you are interested in exploring. Something. Start small, build it over time. Know that it's an experiment. Learn as you go. And then, if there's something you really want to do, you can do it. You can do it. And when you're on the other side of that fear, once you've taken that leap, I believe this, like, leap and the net will appear like, honestly, the people have your back, like you are going to be so surprised by how many people have your back and how much, how much of a benefit comes from taking that leap. But it’s scary.
Kim Meninger
Yes, oh my gosh. And that just reinforces the whole idea of everything we want is on the other side of fear.
Jen Lewi
Absolutely. Yeah, yeah.
Kim Meninger
So if people are listening and they want your, you know, to learn more about you want to pursue your support, where can they find you?
Jen Lewi
Definitely connect with me on LinkedIn. I'm at Jen j-e-n-l-e-w-i so Jen Lewi, you can have a website design your next step dot com, and then there's a couple of those articles I've written that I'm sure you'll put in the show notes. So that's if they want to learn more about the side hustle piece. But I love expanding my network. I love, my word of the year is community. So I'm happy to talk to people who just want to brainstorm. Feel free to reach out.
Kim Meninger
Fantastic. Yes, those links, everything will be in the show notes for anybody who's interested. And thank you again, Jen for being here. I really appreciate it.
Jen Lewi
Thank you, and thank you for doing this podcast.
Kim Meninger
Thank you.