Words: Amrita Hapuarachchi and Photographs: Siyath Govin Associates
With the rising costs of living, extra income is always welcome. Many young people appease their parents by doing a ‘respectable’ job and find their passions doing a side hustle. Unlike a part-time job, a person who does a side hustle has more freedom and control over what they do, when they do it and how many hours they devote to it. Individuals can typically pursue a side hustle that involves their passions and talents, and some may eventually make their side hustle their primary career. These three millenials – Pawani Neligama, Aindri Morahela and Zuleyha Markar realised they could balance their 9-5 jobs and pursue their dreams.
Pawani works at the Cinnamon group of companies in Sales and Digital Marketing and runs Popo Bakes (Instagram @popos_bakes) – a bakery specialising in artisan cakes and cupcakes. Baking since she was 9 years old, Pawani would watch her mother make cakes and fancy desserts and help her out. At the age of 10, she even tried to host her own cooking show and her family continued to support her.
Zuleyha proudly says she is a fourth generation lawyer and runs The Tutory (Instagram @thetutory) where she offers one-to-one and online group tutoring for O/L and A/L subjects from the Cambridge, Edexcel, and local Sri Lankan syllabus in English, Sinhala, and Tamil medium. She also offers courses relevant to Business Management, Economics, Accounting, Finance and more recently Social Sciences and English Literature University degrees. The Tutory also offers classes for future law professionals to secure internationally recognised British LLB qualifications including the University of London LLB program conducted by a qualified faculty of experienced tutors and practising lawyers.
Aindri handles Tipsy Da Vinci (Instagram @tipsydavincis). She says “Every great artist had a brush in one hand and wine in the other. Having friends over and bonding over wine and painting is a wonderful way to destress after a long day.” She started her business by hosting the first sip and paint event at her 23rd birthday. She says, “When I did some research, sip and paint is a popular concept in other countries like UK and Australia where they have sip and paint studios and have daily events and I thought I could do the same here on a smaller scale to see if it works.”
All three make balancing a full time career and side hustle seem easy but it obviously isn’t. Zuleyha wakes up at 5am and gets her son ready for school before she heads to Asian International School where she teaches A/Level Law. Pawani also wakes up early, as she usually has 2-3 orders a day. She recently started a new business called “The Juice Collection” where she makes freshly pressed juices daily for order. All this needs to be done before she heads to work. She also started her MBA this year so she usually heads to bed after her assignments past midnight. Aindri also has a 9-5 job but most of her events happen after work hours. “I would prep the day before when it comes to getting everything together but there is a lot of coordination that happens through Whatsapp with the venues, clients, artists and that happens weeks prior to the event. After work, I would rush home, get dressed and head to the event. It was a case of constantly juggling tasks”.
Balancing a full time job and a side hustle is not easy. Aindri does this and more – she is currently studying for her bachelor’s degree. She finds her work-life balance in scuba diving and travelling when she has time off.
Being organised is also key to balancing various parts of your life. Pawani says “I usually make a weekly schedule and plan out what tasks I have to do throughout the week. I ensure I make time for myself by playing a sport twice a week and also make some quality time with my friends and family by going out for dinner and drinks or go for a movie.”
Clearly, having a strong work ethic and endurance is important in balancing your full time work and a side job. Zuleyha quotes Oprah Winfrey who once said “On my own I will just create, and if it works, it works, if it doesn’t, I’ll create something else. I don’t have any limitations on what I think or what I could be”. Healthy competition is also important to succeed according to Aindri “Competitors keep you going”. However, according to Pawani, her hobby which has now become her side hustle is therapeutic – “Even if I’m having a bad day, cooking something really calms me.
