THE BIGGEST MYTH IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Myth: Successful Entrepreneurship = Quitting Your Day Job to Go 'All In'

Over the course of the past year as I've gotten more serious about operating the Home 2.0 Project as a business endeavor, I've done a lot of observing and research on the origins of other entrepreneurial efforts that have been successful and one of the biggest takeaways that goes against a lot of the rhetoric you hear is that the vast majority of the founders who have launched successful businesses did so as a 'side hustle', keeping their day jobs even after their businesses took off. Still, I keep coming across misadvice from various online 'gurus' that entrepreneurs need to go 'all in' and quit their job to do great things, but that simply isn't true. In fact, the one recommendation that Jonathan Segal (arguably the most successful architect-developer in the country) gave me when I met him briefly at an AIA event in Cincinnati a few years ago and told him about my first development project underway, was to make sure I kept my day job when starting out. This is the entire premise of the Side Hustle School started by author, entrepreneur, and host of the World Domination Summit, Chris Guillebeau. That encourages entrepreneurship on a part-time basis as the launch pad to long-term success.

So why is the Side Hustle route the more effective way to find success as an architect-developer or any kind of entrepreneur? Below are my Top 3 reasons from personal experience with the Home 2.0 Project and many more can be found on the SideHustleSchool.com website.

Top 3 Reasons Why a 'Side Hustle' is Better than Going 'All In'

1. Easier to Borrow Money: No matter how solid a pro forma for a project might look, my experience is that banks always like to see that the people they lend money to have a steady, predictable stream of income that can be plugged into their personal financial statements they require borrowers fill out. The type of income that often only comes with a full-time job.
2. More Opportunities to Experiment: Entrepreneurship almost always involves a lot of trial and error. Ideas often need to be tweaked, re-worked or scrapped all together on the way to the ultimate solution. The key is being able to buy the time and survive the small failures on the front end, to achieve larger successes on the back end. As a result, having gains from another job to offset these initial losses is key. 
3. Complimentary Skill Development: One of the keys to being a high achiever in any pursuit is a continual building of the Talent Stack and relationships. I have found that having a full time job in addition to a side hustle has a multiplier effect on my skill and relationship development, which carries over from one pursuit to another, not only making me a better entrepreneur, but employee as well.

Left Image = Full Time Project | Right Image = Side Hustle Project