The internet is full of side hustle success stories. In my experience, there are two ways to react to these stories of amazing success: curiosity and skepticism.
I’ve seen a number of incredible success stories in the headlines this month:
- Araceli Ledesma went from freelance makeup artist to CEO of a multi-million-dollar company.
- Olivia Landau started an educational resource that transformed into a fine jewelry business.
- Nicole Tocci launched a side hustle that now brings in $39,000 a month while she works just 20 hours a week.
What’s your reaction to these stories? Are you curious about how they accomplished their success? Or are you skeptical that you could glean insights from their stories that could help your business?
The Curious Response
The curious response means looking for key moments in an entrepreneur’s journey that led to great success.
It means learning from any mistakes that the entrepreneur made along the way.
It means seeing the hard work that they put in — not just the ultimate result.
Also, find time to celebrate successful entrepreneurs. We’re not in competition with one another. There’s plenty of success to go around. Celebrate them now, and learn from what they’re sharing as part of these success stories.
The Skeptical Response
The skeptical response means assuming that these entrepreneurs had some advantage that you don’t have.
It means looking for ways that they got lucky along the way.
It means looking at your own life and thinking through the ways that you could not do what they have done.
And, finally, the skeptical response means feeling envious of their success rather than celebrating what they’ve accomplished.
Why Choose Curiosity Over Skepticism?
I’ve been following Ramit Sethi’s content for years, and I’ve even taken a few of his courses. He has a philosophy that everything is figure-out-able. I agree with him. And I think that side hustle success stories can be used as roadmaps for you to figure out anything in the business space.
Side hustle success stories are really a gift to the rest of us. Successful entrepreneurs are sharing how they went from zero to amazing results, often sharing the mistakes they made along the way.
If you approach these stories with curiosity, you can mine them for learnings that can help you on your journey.
But, if you approach them with skepticism, you dismiss out of hand the possibility that you can learn anything from others who are a few steps ahead of you.
And what a shame.
So, next time you’re reading a side hustle success story and you find yourself with a tinge of jealousy or skepticism, choose curiosity instead — and use those success stories to your advantage.
