How To Have A Happy Hustle
I had the great pleasure of interviewing Bec Evans for our latest community event. Bec Evans is a writer, startup founder, and former Head of Innovation with over 25 years of experience working in publishing and with writers. Her first book, "How to Have a Happy Hustle: The Complete Guide to Making Your Ideas Happen" won the Startup Inspiration category at the 2020 Business Book Awards. It was selected for The Financial Times books of the month and has been featured in newspapers, magazines, and podcasts, including The Lean Startup and at The RSA. Her second book, "Written: How to Keep Writing and Build a Habit That Lasts," is out now.
Bec shared amazing insights from her first book 'How to Have a Happy Hustle', and while the term "side hustle" has become quite common nowadays, its meaning has evolved over time. It used to refer to a dance in the 1970s and shady business in the 1980s, it now generally represents work, often hard work. The combination of "happy" and "hustle" intrigued Bec as they seem contradictory but also present an interesting dynamic. The title "Happy Hustle" was not the original title for the book, but it was chosen after extensive user research and testing which Bec strongly advocates for when researching any startup idea.
Overcoming founder bias:
During research on how to launch a business, Bec shared her thoughts on the concept of founder bias. There is a tendency for founders to be overly attached to their ideas and blind to feedback. Instead founders should:
Fall in love with the people who the idea is for
Be customer-led and customer-first
Learn to trust their opinions rather than becoming too attached to the idea itself
This approach helps to counteract biases and increase the likelihood of success.
Power of feedback:
Often, when people receive feedback, they resist and fight back, saying things like "It's not like that". As a founder, it can be difficult to step back and listen, but it's important to realise that feedback from others can help you build a better idea.
Learning how to fail:
Bec shared her insights about learning how to fail as a founder: "Failing is not something anyone sets out to do, but it's a fact of life." There are various statistics on how many businesses fail, including a sobering 90% of startups who will not make it. This can be daunting and put people off before they even start.
However, Bec encourages people to get comfortable with the idea of failure. When you have a business idea, you need to treat it like an experiment, a hypothesis that can go either way - success or failure. You want to test it early on so that when your hypothesis is proved wrong, it's not devastating, and you can quickly learn from the feedback and build on it.
Getting comfortable with failure is hard, and it can be challenging to pick yourself up. The more comfortable you are with small failures, the better you can keep going for the long run, whether you're running a side business or your main business.
Avoid perfectionism:
One common mistake that many founders make is having ambitious plans for their businesses, which is great, but this level of perfectionism can prevent them from getting feedback in the early stages. They think they need the full plan, product, marketing, and brand, and they've spent a lot of money, but suddenly it launches, and it doesn't do what they expected. Bec encourages people to take a more iterative approach, validate in small steps, and use those successes to build a better idea.
Share early:
Bec does not advocate for stealth mode, where nobody talks about their products or gets it out there, and then they launch. Bec is a bigger fan of sharing their idea as early as possible.
Persistence & mastery:
Bec discusses the principle of ten thousand hours, which refers to persistence and mastery, as well as the importance of habits and confidence in achieving success. It's important to start with small, achievable goals instead of being overwhelmed by big goals. Observe how you spend your time and what gives you energy. Instead of looking for a magic tool or solution, focus on finding the quickest and most effective way to validate your products or services. Experimentation, iteration, and adaptation are essential and by building habits that support your goals and continuously learning and adapting you can achieve success.
Bec was wonderfully insightful and gave generously of her experience and insights.
Have a listen to a sample of the recording to hear more.
