Thinking about starting something on the side? Check out FindSpark’s latest side hustle, Sidehustle.me, for all the tips and tricks you need to pull off a successful side project.
Featured Side Hustler: Evann Clingan
Connect with Evann: Twitter // Instagram // LinkedIn
Side Hustle: EvannClingan.com – NYC Fitness & Lifestyle Blog (Twitter // Instagram)
Full-Time Job: I am a Senior Analyst in a digital agency company – 360i. I am fascinated by the intersection between curiosity and creativity. As a Senior Analyst, I blend the traditional market research with digital media analysis to help brands understand consumer perception. My clients include Toyota, Oxygen, Ben & Jerry’s, Canon, and Target.
Tell us about your hustle:
As a 20-something professional living in New York City, Evann knows how difficult it can be to maintain a consistently healthy lifestyle while living in one of the fastest-paced cities in the world. Evann believes it’s all about finding the right balance, so she’s learned to incorporate her workouts into her adventurous lifestyle, reminding herself to eat healthier and stay more positive every day. She uses her blog as a creative outlet to share fitness experiences, trends, and brands through highly visual content.
What motivated you to start it?
My longterm career goal is to be the leader of a marketing team at a major fitness brand. Many people have a similar goal and might simply claim to be passionate about fitness. To prepare for this point in my career, I created my blog to act as a portfolio of my writing, photography, design, and social media skills. My blog is proof of my passion for fitness and has become a means of connecting with fitness enthusiasts, trainers, studio owners, and brands.
While building your side hustle, who has helped/supported you the most?
My family and friends were my first readers. A secondary reason why I started my blog was to share the exciting fitness experiences I have with loved ones in other cities. For the first few months, receiving their support and feedback was more than enough. Slowly, my readership started to grow. Now, I have strangers come up to me during fitness classes to tell me that they love my blog. That’s the coolest feeling. However, I’ll always appreciate my original readers most.
Who is your biggest side hustle role model?
I’m constantly inspired by different entrepreneurial men and women. Right now, I’m reading #GIRLBOSS by Nasty Gal Founder Sophia Amoruso. She had an untraditional and unapologetic path to success that side hustlers of all ages can learn from.
How much time on average do you spend on your side hustle per week?
Between researching trends, drafting blog posts, posting to social media, answering emails, and actually having fitness experiences, I spend about 15 hours per week on my blog.
What was the biggest element holding you back from starting and how did you overcome it?
Before starting my blog, my biggest hesitation was fearing what other people might think. I am passionate and knowledgable about fitness, but I’m not a certified personal trainer. I was afraid that people might not take me seriously as a blogger. I decided to make this hesitation my niche. I blog from the perspective of the average person who is having new fitness experiences. My voice is accessible to readers and gives them confidence to try similar activities. Once I owned what I thought was a weakness, readers appreciated my reliability.
What is an example of a time you hit a rough patch? How did you handle the situation?
I hit mini rough patches all the time. Since I have a full-time job and my blog is based on my active experiences, sometimes I feel too tired to write a post. If a feature post was promised to someone, I will go ahead and write it. However, if I’m lacking inspiration, I skip a post. No one is making me write. If I don’t feel inspired to write about a topic, you won’t be inspired by reading it.
What has been the biggest benefit of having a side project?
While I started my blog as a portfolio of sorts to benefit my longterm career, the biggest benefit of EvannClingan.com has been the connections I’ve made with others. I have the opportunity to meet fitness enthusiasts, trainers, studio owners, and brands both online and offline each week. Some of these professional connections have even turned into close friends. Writing about fitness has also pushed me outside my athletic comfort zone. I ran my first half marathon in April and am training for my first Spartan Race in September. These training experiences give me new topics to write about but have also helped me grow as a person.
What are your favorite apps/books/productivity hacks?
Mobile Applications – Twitter, Instagram, Kindle, Songza, Nike Running, Nike FuelBand
Books – Anything by Malcolm Gladwell, especially Outliers Productivity Hacks – Multitask in a smart way (draft emails on the subway or run commute home from work) and schedule social media posts ahead of time if you’re unable to live post throughout the day
For someone starting out, what is your biggest piece of advice?
Don’t wait until your side hustle idea is 100% ironed out to share it. Take action with a strong idea, even if it’s before you think you’re ready. If you wait for every detail to be perfect, you’ll never actually get started.
Thinking about starting something on the side? Check out FindSpark’s latest side hustle, Sidehustle.me, for all the tips and tricks you need to pull of a successful side project.
Do you have a side hustle? Want it to be featured on our blog? Get in touch!
