Artin Nazarian has quite a story.
As a refugee from war-torn Iran, he and his family moved to the USA. Artin discovered his entrepreneurial spirit after selling hand-drawn art to other students in elementary school.
After moving to Los Angeles, Artin was inspired to pursue filmmaking, which led to a job at Walt Disney Studios. He rose through the ranks, becoming an executive before the age of 30.
Since then, he has contributed to the launch of Disney+, assisted the integration of the $71 billion acquisition of Twentieth Century Fox, and worked on legendary brands, including Star Wars, Marvel, and Pixar.
On the “side,” Artin has raised over $4 million to build software products and launch tech startups.
Today, Artin is a senior executive at Disney, and the author of Side Adventure, a self-published book about how to start a side hustle while you keep your day job.
Many of us strive to be the best version of ourselves and realize our full potential, but end up settling for a job that earns enough money to be comfortable yet doesn’t fulfill our aspirations. By reflecting on both failures and successes, Side Adventure offers experience-rooted guidance.
Artin believes there are five steps to start a side hustle.
1. Get Inspired
The “inspire” section is his story. He doesn’t believe his story is totally unique, but he hopes that his story and finding what drives him (his parents) inspires others to believe that they can do it too.
He didn’t have to have a family that could give him a hundred thousand dollars. He didn’t need to go to Harvard or a super prestigious school. He didn’t need to have high-up connections.
He could do it, as long as he was resourceful.
2. Leverage
Step number two, leverage, comes from using whatever you have as an opportunity to learn. If you are working at a job, whether it’s the corporate world, a small company, or a small business, there’s a huge opportunity there to learn. Instead of being stuck in whatever role HR has told you to do, you need to play whatever role you’ve been given, step outside of that role, and take initiative to learn other disciplines through the organization.
3. Add Value
Once you start learning other areas, you’re able to identify problems that you might not have seen before, which is where adding value comes in. Solving problems is the easiest way to get promoted, especially in a larger organization, because senior-level management is always looking for more people who can solve big problems and add value to the company.
Whether it’s at the bottom line, whether it’s adding revenue, whatever the problem is, it’s adding value. Once you understand how a broader organization works, it’s easier to identify problems. Find the problem, solve it, and then make sure you put a spotlight on that problem to market yourself.
4. Identify it
Identifying problems that you can solve is part of that, but it’s also important to personally identify if you actually have the right puzzle pieces in place to pursue the venture. Artin discusses how to understand if you’re ready financially to take the step.
Once you have those pieces in place, you’re in a very good place to start a side hustle and your percentage of success goes up.
5. Move
The last step is to move. Whether it’s growing something from a side adventure to a main adventure, or moving it from inside your head into the real world, you need to always be looking for the next step.
Before you actually go down the path of spending money and building that product to start a side hustle, validate the idea. Artin gives his steps and reveals how to put this idea into action in the book.
Finally, don’t be scared to pursue your idea. Fear holds people back. As long as you take one step forward, and think about it as a marathon and not a sprint, you’ll build the momentum you need.
The book Side Adventure is on Amazon, and you can buy it in a range of formats from print to Kindle.