Shaved ice was her dream. Since she was 15 years old, hairstylist Maureen Blount told her client in March 2015, she’d imagined opening her own business selling summertime treats. “I was eavesdropping,” admits fellow stylist Ellen Purvis, “and said I was game to go in on it with her.”
Blount showed Purvis a Craigslist treasure less than an hour later. A trailer, formerly a shaved ice business, was for sale. That was fate, decided the co-workers at Blonde & Company Salon, which Blount co-owns in Leawood, Kansas. They bought the trailer within days and opened a mobile shop called Sweet Caroline’s Ice Box.
Like many entrepreneurs balancing day jobs and side gigs, these self-described “shaved ice-slinging queens” are building a business on their terms without traditional outside motivation: deadlines from a manager, set hours, office peer pressure. For these entrepreneurs and others like them, the key to long-term success is getting – and staying – focused.
Focus tip 1: hustling is working, so act like it
Like the owners of Sweet Caroline’s Ice Box, Chicago-based Adam Hanson is his own source of motivation. An art director at a communications marketing firm by day, Hanson is also a designer, illustrator and printmaker for his own shop, The Adam Hanson Co.
Hanson started designing in earnest after a local promoter saw one of his class projects and hired him to make a gig poster for The XX – which sold out. Since then, Hanson has created screen-printed posters and merchandise for bands like The Kills and The Get Up Kids and shown work in national galleries.
Hanson’s self-motivation rules? Dress like you’re at work – shower, no sweats, wear shoes – and sit in a real chair. “Working on the couch is a slippery slope to relaxing and turning the TV on for background noise,” he says. “Next thing you know, you’ve watched four episodes of The Simpsons and you’re staring at a blank document.”
Focus tip 2: create the right vibe with music
For the Kansas City ice queens, upbeat music keeps busy days moving. Their trailer is conveniently named like the Neil Diamond song Sweet Caroline, so Blount notes: “We can turn any event into a full-blown karaoke session just by pulling up.” She, Purvis and their solo employee listen to music by the Alabama Shakes, A Tribe Called Quest and James Brown to boost energy.
When he’s working on gig posters, Hanson digs into the discography of the featured band. But he also has a list of songs that can keep him focused on day-to-day tasks. They include:
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Norf Norf, by Vince Staples
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Between Us and Them, by Moving Units
- Plaster Casts of Everything, by Liars
Focus tip 3: use doubters to your advantage
Blount and Purvis went big for their first event: they agreed to serve shaved ice to 650 children at Blount’s kids’ school. “You know that scene in Fantasia called The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, where the brooms are carrying buckets and buckets of water?” asks Purvis. “That’s how I felt when we had to make enough blocks of ice to make 650 cups of shaved ice.”
But they pulled it off, and then continued through a big summer, showing up for food truck fests, charity events and farmers’ markets. “We stay focused by thinking about how excited we were on the day we bought the trailer,” Blount says. “It was impulsive and out-of-the-blue. I think both of us were so determined to make it work because we had a lot of people tell us they thought we had gone insane.”
Focus tip 4: manage your time
Stacy Yamaoka Anderson, a customer service manager from the San Francisco Bay area who founded the Lil Leona Bath + Body line, is especially focused on balancing her side gig schedule with work and family time. Her family – specifically, her grandmother-in-law Leona – inspired her to create her collection of all-natural, personal care products, and now she’s juggling her project with a family of her own.
“Each minute that you have to yourself is a minute that you treasure to accomplish your goals very efficiently and effectively,” says Anderson, who has two young children with her husband, Chris. Besides managing deadlines on her iPhone calendar, she uses the Evernote app to jot down ideas and upcoming goals. “I can review my goals wherever I am since I use it on my phone and my laptop,” she adds.
Focus tip 5: tap into a support system
“Raising kids while working and having a side hustle is a delicate balance,” Anderson says. “It’s a constant shuffle to prioritize what gets done each day, while also being OK with things falling through the cracks.” Anderson says her husband is a “huge support” and also notes she wouldn’t survive without her assistant, who handles production and fulfillment tasks while Anderson focuses on growing her business.
Last but not least, Anderson relies on a friend who’s her “accountability partner” to keep her focused. “We check in with each other weekly to make sure that each of us is taking action,” Anderson says. “It’s easy to slip, but when you have someone who is going to ask you whether you accomplished what you said you would do, it helps to keep you on track.”
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