Own Your Career

Chapter 7Increasing Your Income

You've officially reached my favorite part of this book: the side hustle–to-business pipeline. It's pretty safe to say that I would not be writing this if I had never taken the leap and started a side hustle. My side hustle changed my life and yours can, too. In 2019, I started Break Your Budget on Instagram. I spent the first few months of this new endeavor sharing my best personal finance tips, largely consisting of lessons and takeaways I was learning from my corporate job and in real life. I was working in the investment and finance industry so I learned a lot about the stock market, investing, and how to manage your money.

It was also the same time that I was working the job where I took a pay cut, so I was navigating the challenge of allocating my income, optimizing my budget, and saving, which I was candidly sharing on my Instagram as well. I wasn't necessarily struggling financially, but I was in a position where I was itching to make more money. I recognized Break Your Budget as a potential avenue to do so, and I began taking one-on-one budgeting clients where I'd help them build a budget and learn the basics of personal finance.

My social media journey was a slow roll—after about one year, I reached 1,000 followers on Instagram. This was at the height of the pandemic, so everyone was still at home, the economy was in turmoil, and the need for financial education and awareness was at its peak. I decided to take advantage of this time ...