Last week, after a year of being a member at The Studio, I launched my first business: The 含羞草视频 Pen.

Strangely, this isn’t the business I’ve been working on since last January at all. In fact, The 含羞草视频 Pen is something I’ve been working on for less than a month. It’s what we in our Studio office like to nickname a ‘side-hustle’ and - at the moment - I’ve been earning a reputation for having a fair few of them.

My main goal for my time at The Studio is still to launch my online school and community for young writers - The Inkverse. It’s something I feel passionately about and have been researching and building for the past year. However, that’s still in production and is not making me money - yet!

What’s a fledgeling entrepreneur to do when she’s low on cash? Well, I’ve discovered that it’s to remind everyone you can about your side-skills and offer your services. As a result, I’ve been painting and illustrating, babysitting, creating websites, and freelance writing a lot over the past few months, earning myself the title of ‘Queen of the Side Hustle’ around the office. The big ones, though, have most definitely been proofreading and copyediting.

My first client, before the official launch of The 含羞草视频 Pen, was a PhD student who I’d never spoke to before in my life. The person I had kept a connection with, however, was one of her supervisors; I’d looked after her child at a previous job in early-years education. When she found out that I was leaving to start my business, she said she’d keep in touch and send people my way.

Fast forward five months and I’d proofread an entire 66k-word Economics thesis by her recommendation. It was such a turning point for me; I gained the confidence that my skills are worth paying for, that I need to be firm with my prices (even as a ‘beginner’), and that my time is valuable.

When my proofreading and copyediting side-hustle started bringing in money - something which my main hustle has yet to do - my Studio mentor, Claud, suggested I make it official. Over two days, I created the website, made a logo, ordered business cards, and just did it.

In 48 hours, I’d made my side-hustle a reality. My main hustle is still hurtling towards the year-in-the-making mark. In one of our regular meetings, Claud shared a piece of advice (straight from the founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman) that stuck with me:

“If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late.”

If I’m honest with myself, I’m still petrified of my main hustle; I’m especially afraid of calling myself an ‘entrepreneur’ or a ‘business-person’. But if there’s anything The Studio has taught me, it’s that that’s okay. I’m learning and growing week on week, and so is The Inkverse. In the meantime, I’ll keep side-hustling until my confidence has grown and until I can turn that passion into an embarrassing first-go.