How to Upskill Sustainably: A Guide for Entrepreneurs with Day Jobs

At the end of a long day at work, you often find yourself exhausted. You’ve been replying to emails, attending meetings, and performing endless daily tasks. All you want to do is just turn your mind off, but this isn’t an option if you’re running a business on the side.  

You gather your remaining energy and try to get productive. You pull on your thinking cap to brainstorm ideas to improve your business. You also try to boost your own skills. However, your business still isn’t going where it should. 

You’ll be happy to know that you’re not alone, and that there are solutions. Read on to learn all the tips and tricks you need to run a business while maintaining a day job. 

Plan out your days with a diary

One of the biggest reasons businesses don’t ever leave the planning stage is that founders don’t have enough time to commit to the business. Besides work, there are other matters that require your attention, including your family, friends, and well-being. This is why you need to plan your days efficiently. With a 2025 diary, you can do just that.

A diary is often diminished as merely being an outlet to express thoughts and feelings, but it is more than that. Diaries are time management tools that let you lay out your schedule and see what you have to do in the next few days and weeks. They also allow you to compartmentalise tasks. When you use a diary or a planner, you’ll realise that you actually have more time than you think you do. 

Simply relying on your memory can cause scheduling problems, especially if you’re juggling a job and a business. This is because the human mind is imperfect. Not only are we prone to forgetfulness, but factors such as stress and anxiety can cause us to misremember dates and details, increasing the likelihood of mistakes. 

If you want to plan in a more efficient manner, invest in a diary. 

Take care of your energy levels

There is this phrase that’s often thrown around to motivate people to push themselves to the limit, which goes ‘the grind never stops.’ In reality, this is an impossible, and unhealthy, standard. 

Going until you’re physically exhausted also isn’t very helpful. For instance, brainstorming or conducting research for your business won’t yield too many results if you’re tired and burnt out. Even if you insist on pushing yourself, the quality of your ideas and output will be lacking. 

This is when you should choose not to overwork yourself and find ways to relax and recharge. Recovering from exhaustion can happen in many ways. The first is to take some time for yourself. This allows your brain to breathe after being forced to perform in high-stress situations. Another is to do what makes you happy. Spending time with friends and family and treating yourself to a good meal are just two examples. 

Entrepreneurship isn’t just about the grind. Find time to kick back and regain the energy to throw yourself back into the fray. 

Keep learning

You might think that you know enough, but there are always new things to learn that can help you during your entrepreneurial journey. No matter how smart you are, there are always areas to improve. 

Here’s how to be more knowledgeable: 

• Read books and news articles about your industry to give yourself greater insight into the business environment. Self-help books can help you foster a better mindset for achieving success.
• Take courses and join seminars taught by academics and field experts. This takes learning outside the textbook. 
• Network, network, network. This not only gives you connections with established individuals in the industry, but it also lets you pick their brains to gain insights and personalised advice.

Adopt the right mindset

The world of business is tough. This is especially true for startups, which have incredibly high failure rates. Surviving your first year is a massive achievement that should be celebrated, but don’t get complacent. Running a new company in 2024 is extremely challenging, and you’ll need to put in the hours to succeed. This is why adopting the right mindset is essential to managing a small business. 

Just like in your personal life, not everything in business will go according to plan. Success is not linear. Setbacks and problems will inevitably occur. Often, you will find that an outcome you were expecting doesn’t occur. However, you should never allow these to send you into a downward spiral of self-doubt. As an entrepreneur, you should learn to manage your expectations, be more realistic, and find ways to process feelings of failure in a healthy way.

You should also learn to see constructive criticism as an opportunity for growth. While we all love hearing good things about ourselves, ‘negative’ feedback can be extremely valuable if you know how to implement it. 

Mindset is everything if you’re trying to balance a day job with a business. By finding coping strategies for when things don’t go your way and accepting criticism with grace, you’ll give yourself the best possible chance of success on your entrepreneurial journey. 

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Starting and growing a business takes time, effort, and plenty of organisation. It’s not going to be easy, especially if you also have a day job. However, by being organised, consistent, and resilient, you are sure to find success.

Use the tips we’ve gone over in this article to grow your business, no matter how busy you are.