Build Your Dream Business Without Quitting Your Day Job (My 4-Step System to Start)
Time Is Your Currency...
Welcome to The Digital Creator, helping creators turn their skills into consistent income by building a clear offer, a content system that grows their audience, and a lean business using AI.
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Dreaming Beyond the 9-to-5
You’re smart. You’re skilled. And let’s be honest…you’re not here to spend the next 30 years trading hours for someone else’s dream.
Maybe your job pays the bills...but deep down, you’re craving more:
More freedom.
More fun.
More fulfillment.
You’ve seen creators and solopreneurs build thriving businesses online. You’ve imagined yourself doing the same.
But then reality hits:
“Where the hell do I find the time?”
I get it. I built The Digital Creator while leading a demanding role inside a national institution. I’ve also studied creators who built multi-figure businesses while working full-time.
And what they all had in common?
They didn’t wait for more time.
They made time.
In today’s issue, I’ll walk you through a 4-step system that helps full-time employees find hidden hours, build a focused business strategy, and finally start turning their skills into income.
Step 1: The Reality Check
Before you even think about digital products, content, or building an audience, you need to face this truth:
You don’t have a time problem. You have a time clarity problem.
Everyone has 168 hours in a week. But unless you know exactly where your time is going, you’ll keep saying, “I’m too busy,” while your dream business sits on pause.
Here’s how to get clear fast:
1. Block Out the Non-Negotiables
Use a calendar (Google Calendar, Notion Calendar, or even pen and paper) and block out the essentials:
Sleep: 8 hours per night = 56 hours/week
Full-Time Job: 40 hours/week
Commute: 1 hour each way, 5 days/week = 10 hours/week
Daily Life Tasks: 3 hours/day (cooking, cleaning, etc.) = 21 hours/week
That’s 127 hours accounted for.
Which leaves you with 41 hours of flexible time.
(Adjust based on your lifestyle, of course…parenting, caregiving, and health needs all count.)
2. Find Your “Golden Hours”
These are your highest-quality time blocks…when you’re most alert, creative, and distraction-free.
Some people crush it early in the morning before work. Others hit their stride after dinner.
📌 Pro tip: Your chronotype matters. Morning lark? Use mornings. Night owl? Block late evenings. The key is consistency, not perfection.
3. Lock In a Non-Negotiable Weekly Schedule
You don’t need to use all 41 hours.
What matters is consistency with just 10–15 focused hours a week.
Even 4 high-quality hours can move the needle… if they’re protected like gold.
Example:
“Every Tuesday and Thursday from 7–9 PM, I’m building my business. No negotiations.”
These simple boundaries are how you make side hustles real.
4. Keep the Day Job (for Now)
It’s tempting to fantasize about quitting your job and going all in. But that’s rarely the smart first move.
In fact, staying employed while building your business has massive advantages:
Financial security: reduces desperate decisions.
Constraints breed creativity: with less time, you focus on what matters.
Test and iterate without betting your livelihood.
Avoid Parkinson’s Law: More time doesn’t guarantee more output. Time expands to fit what you give it.
Step 2: The Want Factor
Let’s be real: if discipline alone worked, you’d already have built the business.
What you need instead? Desire. Enjoyment. Pull energy.
The truth is, no one builds a business just because they “should.”
They build it because they want to…badly enough to show up when it’s inconvenient.
Discipline Is a Band-Aid. Joy Is the Fuel.
You can grind for a few weeks on pure discipline. But if you’re not enjoying the game, burnout is inevitable.
So instead of asking
“How many hours should I work on my business?”
Ask:
“How many hours do I want to work this week?”
Even if that answer is 3–5 hours…that’s enough to start.
When you enjoy the process…learning, building, experimenting…you’ll naturally do more of it.
Start Small. Build Momentum.
You don’t need a 20-hour-a-week plan to make progress.
You need 1 focused hour. Then 2. Then 4.
As you start seeing results…an engaged subscriber, a lead magnet downloaded, a content post that resonates….momentum builds.
And with momentum comes motivation.
Don’t Build Another Prison
You didn’t come here to swap your job for another cage.
Yet many creators accidentally turn their side hustle into a second 9-to-5…filled with pressure, perfectionism, and stress.
Remember:
A business that drains you is just another job.
Instead, build a business around your energy, not just your ambition.
And here’s a truth no one tells you:
Even if you decide entrepreneurship isn’t for you…
That’s a powerful, freeing insight — not a failure
Step 3: The Time Creation Formula.
Here is how I find hidden hours.
Let’s assume you’ve now:
Identified your available hours
Decided how much time you want to spend
Chosen when you’ll work on your business
But you’re still thinking:
“I feel like I have no time…”
That’s where the Time Creation Formula comes in.
This step is about squeezing more quality time from the life you already have…without sacrificing your job, family, or sanity.
Audit Your Entertainment
We all need downtime. But be honest…how often does “rest” turn into mindless scrolling or binging shows you don’t even love?
Do this:
Track your entertainment for 3 days.
Look for the low-quality time blocks (e.g., 45 minutes of YouTube rabbit holes).
Decide which of those you can swap for a business task you enjoy.
Even reclaiming 1 hour/day = 7 hours/week = 30 hours/month.
That’s enough time to create and build something meaningful.
Leverage Weekends Intentionally
Weekends aren’t just for “catching up.” They’re high-leverage containers of time.
Example:
Wake up 2 hours earlier on Saturday = Deep work session.
Sunday afternoon = Weekly planning + content prep.
You don’t need to sacrifice your weekend. You just need to claim a slice of it.
Use Micro-Moments Like a Pro
Throughout the day, you encounter “dead time”:
Waiting in line
Commuting
Between meetings
Kids’ nap time
Use these moments to:
Brainstorm content ideas.
Record voice notes (with an app like Voice Memos or Otter).
Jot outlines for newsletters, threads, etc.
Have a “micro-task menu” ready so you’re never staring at your phone wondering what to do.
Master the Transition
A hidden productivity killer?
The time it takes to switch from one activity to another.
If you only have 90 minutes to work on your business, but 30 minutes are spent getting into the zone, you’ve lost a third of your power window.
Solution:
Set up your environment before the work session.
Use rituals: music, workspace setup, lighting.
Keep a rolling task list so you don’t waste time figuring out what to do.
You don’t need more hours.
You need to capture and convert the hours already around you.
Step 4: Time Stacking
Now that you’ve blocked, reclaimed, and optimized your time, it’s time to unlock the final lever:
Time stacking: using one activity to move your business forward while doing another.
⚠️ Important: This is not about doing “deep work” while distracted.
This is about intentional overlap, especially with routine or physical tasks that don’t require full mental focus.
Here’s how to do it:
1. Turn Commutes into Classrooms
If you drive, ride, or walk to work, that’s prime real estate.
Try:
Business podcasts
Audiobooks on marketing, creativity, or productivity
Recorded courses or voice notes from your own ideas
Over 5 days, a 30-minute commute becomes 2.5 hours of learning time.
2. Stack Chores with Learning
Doing laundry? Washing dishes? Cleaning the house?
Pair these with:
YouTube videos on personal branding, monetization, or AI tools
Re-listening to your recorded brainstorms
Voice note reminders for content ideas or to-do items
These “chore sessions” now become business momentum blocks.
3. Use Walks & Workouts as Creative Time
Physical movement boosts brain function.
So the next time you go for a walk, try this:
Use Voice Memos or tools like Otter, AudioPen, or VoicePal to:
Brain-dump newsletter ideas.
Talk through product outlines.
Draft content you’ll later refine.
Many creators I work with build their entire weekly content strategy during 20-minute walks.
But Don’t Over-Optimize Everything
This isn’t about squeezing productivity from every waking second.
You’re not a robot…and your relationships and rest matter more than reach.
Time stacking works best in moderation… and always in service of freedom, not hustle.
Challenge: Your First Overlap
This week, choose one activity where you can overlap your business progress.
Here are a few ideas to start:
Swap Netflix for a business podcast during laundry.
Record 3 newsletter ideas while walking.
Wake up 1 hour earlier on Sunday for a solo content sprint.
Small shifts = Massive returns over time.
Want Help Building Your Business on Your Terms?
If you’re ready to go from scattered effort to a focused, repeatable system, here are your next steps:
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Want Hands-On Help?
→ The Digital Creator Blueprint
A 1:1 strategy and systems offer where we clarify your niche, craft a lean product, and build your content engine….all customized for your lifestyle and energy.
Building a business part-time is not only possible…it's how the smartest solopreneurs do it.
You don’t need more hours.
You need more clarity, consistency, and a system that works for you…not against you.
3 Tools that Help You as a Creator:
Swell AI: AI that transforms audio or video into transcripts, clips, show notes, articles, summaries, titles, newsletters, social posts, midroll ads, intro scripts, and so much more.
LowFruits: Bulk analyze SERPs to reveal weak spots and discover the actual weak keywords.
Undetectable AI: Paste your text into our AI Detector to check if it will be flagged as AI-generated content.
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Until next time - Sharyph | Founder of The Digital Creator.
When I realised by 4pm my body started shutting down was the moment I started waking up by 4 am at one point, still wake up really early, my body loves the morning sun, at I got to make up for lost/less productive times when it gets dark