Starting a Side Hustle as a Mom Without Losing Your Sanity (E52)

Mom's Guide to Finding Herself
Written By Mom Identity Project

You know that tug. The quiet whisper that says, “I want something of my own.”

It usually hits around 10 p.m.—baby monitor humming, house finally quiet—and you’re scrolling past other moms launching Etsy shops, writing eBooks, or running entire businesses during nap time. And there you are, feeling inspired but stuck.

If that’s you, this post is your permission slip to start messy, small, and smart. Because you can build a fulfilling side hustle in the margins of mom life—without burning out, spiraling, or sacrificing what little time and sanity you have left.

The Bedtime Scroll Spiral Is Real

I’ve been there—lights off, phone glowing, brain buzzing with “What ifs?” I saw moms launching planners, selling sensory kits, running memberships—and immediately questioned my own ideas.

Do I even have a good one? Where would I start? Am I even allowed to care about this right now when I haven’t washed my hair in three days?

And then I’d open a notes app, type “side hustle ideas,” and stare at the blinking cursor.

Sound familiar?

Why the Hustle Playbook Doesn’t Work for Moms

Traditional hustle advice expects you to have:

  • Quiet mornings

  • Uninterrupted time

  • A clear brain

  • Maybe even a nanny

Let’s laugh together.

Your reality? You’re squeezing creativity between snack prep, sibling fights, and Bluey episodes. You’re building during nap windows, screen time, and the sacred 15 minutes of silence after bedtime. And trying to apply the old playbook in this season? It’s not just frustrating—it’s defeating.

That’s not a you problem. That’s a system problem.

The 3-Step System That Changes Everything

If you’ve got a notebook full of half-baked ideas or a voice note titled “maybe someday,” here’s how to get out of your own head and into action:

1. Pick Something Small (Not Perfect)

You don’t need your forever business. You just need a spark. Pick one thing that lights you up a little. Something you’d enjoy learning about. You can pivot later. No commitment required.

2. Break It Into Micro-Tasks

“Start a business” is not a task. “Pick a product name” is. Reduce your idea to 15-minute actions. Write a bio. Pick a font. Sketch a logo on a napkin. Keep it doable. Keep moving.

3. Work With Your Real Life

Notice when and how you get things done. Is it 10 minutes after bedtime? While folding laundry? During preschool pickup? Build around your real rhythms, not some idealized version of productivity.

Tools to Help You Start Smarter

You don’t have to do this alone—or from scratch. I created these tools specifically for moms in this season:

💡 Try the Naptime Business Coach GPT

It’s like having me in your pocket. Whether you’re brainstorming ideas or building a plan that fits into your messy day, this tool is your coach, planner, and clarity partner all in one.

👉 nbc.momidentityproject.com/waitlist

📋 Download 75 Naptime Side Hustles for Moms (Free)

Need inspiration to get started? Grab this curated list of mom-friendly side hustle ideas. These are bite-sized, realistic, and perfect for your nap window hustle.

👉 nbc.momidentityproject.com/side-hustle-ideas-for-moms

🧭 Want personal support building your idea from scratch?

Apply for 1:1 coaching with me and get personalized strategy and accountability tailored to your real life.

👉 www.momidentityproject.com/businesscoaching

Let’s Normalize Starting Small

You’re not too late. You’re not behind. And you’re absolutely allowed to want more than just survival mode.

Whether it’s a sticker shop, a coaching idea, or something you haven’t even discovered yet—you get to build it your way. In your timing. With your limited, magical, deeply human bandwidth.

Let’s do it differently.

Let’s do it your way.

Need someone to talk it through with?

Book a free discovery call to see if my services are a good fit for this season: Book Here

Support the show: http://momidentityproject.com/support

Have a question or story to share? Leave a voice message: http://momidentityproject.com/mip/podcast

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Help Us Grow

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All donations go directly to supporting the production of the Mom's Guide to Finding Herself podcast

For Your Binging Enjoyment…

Copy of Starting a Side Hustle Without Losing Your Sanity

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[00:00:00] Do you have that tug? The one that whispers, I want something of my own. Maybe it hits you while you're scrolling Instagram at night, seeing other moms turn ideas into action.

Or maybe you've got a million ideas and zero clue where to start. Either way, if the idea of starting a side hustle feels exciting, but also completely overwhelming, this episode is for you because today we're going to talk about how to create something real without burning out, spiraling an indecision or needing a whole weekend to make progress.

This is for the moms building something in the pockets of their day.

Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time I was laying in bed with the lights off, the baby monitor buzzing my phone screen dimmed. My body was toast, but my brain was [00:01:00] buzzing. I was doing the classic mom scroll, you know, the one half decompressing, half spiraling. And this is what I saw post after post of Moms doing really cool things.

One had just launched a digital planner. Another had opened an Etsy shop for sensory kits. Someone else was running a book club with paid memberships, and I thought, where do they get these ideas? Then I immediately thought, I wish I had one and two seconds after that I thought.

Well, actually I have like five, but I don't know which one is good or where to start or if I'm even allowed to care about this right now when I haven't even washed my hair in three days. And then I opened my notes app and typed side hustle ideas and stared at it, nothing.

Closed it again. I went to sleep feeling that familiar mix of inspiration. But stuck. That's the feeling I wanna talk about today, because moms are out here trying to [00:02:00] create in the middle of chaos, but we need a better way. So let's talk about that bedtime scroll in the invisible spiral. You know the one I'm talking about, right?

You see the moms doing their things, creating, launching, selling, sharing, and you think. I could do something like that, but two seconds later you are tangled up in your own head. Either you feel like you have no ideas or you have too many ideas and they all feel half baked or too big or too vague.

So you talk to your friend, you pitch the idea, they smile politely. Maybe they say, that's cool. But they don't get it, not the way you are hoping they will because they're not up at 1:00 AM wondering if they're wasting their creative potential like you are right now. And honestly, there's only so many times you can talk about your maybe side hustle before you start to feel like a broken record.

You've probably tried a few things already. Things like saving that 12 easy side hustle, blog post, or downloading a course [00:03:00] that's just sitting in your inbox gathering dust. And maybe you've asked chat GPT, what you could do, but you got a wall of vague suggestions that you didn't know how to apply.

None of it worked because none of it was designed for a mom. In this season of life, it's hard. You're not failing. You're trying to hustle In a world that expects you to have uninterrupted time, a full night's sleep, the ability to think straight for more than six minutes at a time, that's not your reality.

Your reality is you are building something in the margins, in the nap windows or the evening hours or the random bursts of time between snack prep and the sibling fights. You can't use the old hustle playbook anymore. We need something that fits our actual lives.

So that night where I was laying in bed, scrolling and spiraling, that was a few years ago, but I didn't stay stuck there. I started trying things. I launched a kids activity business. I created coloring books and listed them on Etsy and sold them at coffee shops. I [00:04:00] built this podcast. Every single thing I've tried has helped me reconnect with parts of myself that I had lost, and honestly, I'm really proud of all of them.

But here's what you don't see in my highlight reel. Every time I've started something new, it's felt like I was rebuilding from zero. There's no roadmap. There's no repeatable process. There's just me a new idea and the question, okay, now what? It was so exhausting.

I didn't wanna keep spending my limited energy reinventing the wheel. I wanted something that I could help me start smarter. So I challenged myself. What if I could create a simple, repeatable system, something that I could use every time I have a new idea, whether I have a full nap window, which I don't anymore, or just 15 minutes while the kids are playing quietly or semi quietly, let's be honest, that's when I launched my 30 day, 15 minute a day challenge. One tiny [00:05:00] action per day. No perfection, just steady progress. And during that challenge, the idea hit me.

This system shouldn't just live in my notebook or in my head. I could actually build a tool. Something that I wish I had back when I started every one of those projects.

So I started building it as part of that challenge.

So you've heard my story and where I've been and what I started creating, but maybe you're listening right now thinking, okay, but I wanna start something too. How do I begin without burning out? So here's what I have to say to you. Start with these three steps. One, choose something small, not perfect.

Don't look for your forever business. Just pick one idea that lights a tiny spark, something you're curious about, something you'd enjoy learning more about. You can pivot later. You are not locked in. Number two, break it into micro tasks. This is key. Don't just write, start a blog or [00:06:00] make an Etsy shop.

That's not a task. That's a whole project. Break it down into 15 minute actions. Write your bio. Write your bio. Pick a font, make one product title. Keep it small so you can build real momentum. Okay. Number three, track what works for your real life Notice when and how you actually get things done. Is it 10 minutes after bedtime?

Is it during screen time? Can you voice note ideas while folding laundry? Build your workflow around your actual rhythms, not some idealized version of productivity.

Now, if you're sitting there like I was and you want something to help you think through your idea or organize your thoughts and give you structure, that's what I created in my challenge.

I created the Naptime Business Coach GPT, I built it because I needed it. I designed this to sound like me. It's like having me in your pocket. It helps you brainstorm, prioritize, and build an idea in a way that fits the life you actually [00:07:00] have.

I built it specifically for moms in this season. If you're someone who gets stuck in your head or overwhelmed by all the steps, it might be the thing that keeps you moving. It helps you come up with an idea, clarify your idea pressure, test it against your real life to see if it will actually fit in what you have available, and then build a realistic plan and you can talk to it anytime of day.

But even if you don't use that tool, the strategy still stands. Start small. Keep it simple. Honor your bandwidth.

Or like the three modules I have in the GPT match your season Outline your plan, make it happen. A nice little mom acronym, don't you like that? That's how we build without burning out. So if you're sitting there still spinning, here's what I would do.

If you're feeling stuck, like maybe you've tried all of this, or you just need to talk things out with someone who gets it. Here's what I would suggest. Phone a friend, but pick the right one. Don't go to the friend who gives you the polite.

That's cute feedback. Talk to the one who's walked [00:08:00] through reinvention, the one who will ask follow-up questions and push you gently out of your own head. Write down your energy patterns for one week. Jot down when you feel mentally clear and when you feel fried. Don't plan your business around your ideal self.

Plan it around your real self, your real day, your real life. That clarity alone can change everything for you. Ask, what does success look like right now? Not in five years, not for someone else, for you. Maybe it's finishing something, maybe it's making $200 a month. Maybe it's just proving to yourself that you still can.

And yes, if you want someone to walk alongside you and co-create a plan with you. That's where working one-on-one with me can come in.

It is a space to say things out loud, to clarify and to build something that fits your life instead of fighting against it. Whether you use a tool or journal it out or talk to someone who gets this tension. The point [00:09:00] is don't stay spinning alone. You don't have to wait until the kids are older or until you feel perfectly ready.

You just need to start where you are with what you have. If this episode has made you feel seen, send it to a friend who's been stuck in that idea.

Spiral too. If you haven't yet, follow the show. Leave a review. Hit those stars. It helps more moms find their way back to themselves. One episode at a time. In the next episode, we're talking about something.

I know so many of us are wrestling with what it means to dream again after becoming a mom. If fear has gotten louder than your hopes, if your ambition feels buried under laundry piles and nap schedules. We're going to talk about how to shift that, how to start dreaming again, not by going back to who you were, but by becoming someone even more grounded and bold.

Until then, take a moment for yourself and remember, you are an amazing mom just as you are.

Mom Identity Project https://momidentityproject.com
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How to Handle the Whiplash of Mom Life (E51)