How Getting Kicked by a Cow Helped Me Start a Sustainable Side Hustle
Three surprising lessons from a hard knock
My husband and I had a dream of one day owning a farm in the mountains.
We were serious about the idea so before saving up for a farm, we decided to test the waters first.
Our plan to determine if our enthusiasm met our capabilities resulted in us deciding to volunteer as farm workers in Italy.
The first red flag was the evident language barrier.
Our proficiency was based on how well we completed tasks autonomously rather than what we communicated we were capable of doing.
We passed the first test of shoveling dung like champions, so when it came to milking the cows, the farmer signaled confidently to me that I should go ahead and warm up the udders of the cows for him to come through and milk.
I had seen how he massaged a cow’s udders before, it looked simple enough, so off I went.
I made my way to Bimba, my favorite cow.
I approached her space with a song, “Bimba-a-limba”.
I stroked her head. She opened her mouth and her sandpaper tongue grated my hand. To me, this was her showing affection.
The energy between her and I felt friendly.
As I walked behind her, about to kneel down, out of nowhere, she kicked me.
To say that I was blindsided was an understatement.
Here I was first-hand living in my dream only to get a giant knock into the reality that I don’t have a cooking clue about what was going on around me.
Oh, and it also hurt. A lot.
At that moment I hated her. I swore I would never show her any kind of love again.
It’s really not that far a stretch to say that I have had similar hurt with startups.
Starting any business or side hustle requires an enormous amount of bravery.
Facing failure and rejection is painful- especially when it comes out of nowhere.
I learned three lessons from Bimba that I have carried into my life as an entrepreneur. These points have guided me in identifying a side hustle that has proved to be sustainable as well as have scaling power.
If you’ve experienced a setback in your business, then maybe you too will find value from the experience.
1. Master Technique
In The War of Art, Steven Pressfield writes, “ The professional dedicates himself to mastering technique not because he believes technique is a substitute for inspiration but because he wants to be in possession of the full arsenal of skills when inspiration does come.”
In business, I have lost money on FaceBook Ad Campaigns, email marketing campaigns, and PPC campaigns thinking I’ll learn on the job.
The testing phases and scaling phases come with giant learning curves that are incredibly pricy if you’re winging it.
I’ll tell you what, those moments, which really felt like gambling, hurt far more than a Bimba boot.
For all I know, the cow was protesting my singing or trying to give me a foot-five, but the point is that I had no idea what I was doing. I threw myself all into a situation where I possessed no skill.
I wish I could say my enthusiasm has not got me into trouble before, but I’ve considered myself superior far too many times.
Here’s another example.
My husband and I thought we could watch a 2 minute YouTube clip and learn how to ski.
We ate snow the whole day.
The point here is to pause and get educated, and in our case, humble ourselves to the point where we would have paid for a ski instructor.
We live in a digital age where finding a qualified teacher is a click away.
I feel that people give online courses such a hard time, but there is often wisdom in learning from others as opposed to making the mistakes yourself.
Even better is to find a mentor.
On the farm, maybe we could have started with a local farmer who speaks English and could have guided us with how to act.
Finding a coach, a guide or even an accountability buddy is a great way to prioritize mastering a technique.
Knowing how to act when the knocks come, empowers you with how to handle situations like a professional.
But like Pressfield indicates, possessing a full arsenal of skills could see you harness opportunities. And I don’t know about you, but I would rather be proficient in areas of concern, level up, and make the most of a moment, than blindly walking into danger.
However, this is still a definite work-in-progress area for me.
Actionable takeaway: Take a course, hire a mentor/ coach/ instructor, or pause briefly before you act and read up on someone else's learnings.
2. Admit You’re In Too Deep
I struggled to ask for help for a large portion of my life, I never wanted to be perceived as weak.
I wanted to show the farmer that I wasn’t afraid. I wanted to prove that I didn’t belong in the kitchen and that I could hold my own in the barn.
Similarly, when it came to businesses I started, I wanted to prove to people that I did have it in me to succeed. I was so desperate for things to work in the past that I would go down with a ship, instead of realizing it was sinking and take the rescue boat.
With the farm story, I should have perhaps gestured a polite no and stick to what I was capable of. If the downside risk is large, there’s very little point in trying to be a hero.
Learning to admit that you don’t know what’s potting, and not stepping into tasks simply to win approval, could guard your heart against some unnecessary failures.
Actionable takeaway: Push your pride to the side and ask for help.
3. Persevere
This is the third point because without mastering technique and admitting where you’re at, it’s a little silly to do the same thing over again without expecting a different result.
In the past, I’ve gone cold turkey and started businesses living off savings. For the past year and a half, I have started a side hustle and given myself space for it to evolve into a full-time business while creating the capacity for learning curves.
This slow-growth strategy of watering my entrepreneurial side in me has sprouted a side hustle that has almost given me the freedom to bid farewell to what I’ve considered my main job.
I’m also wiser now, and instead of throwing money into startups, I now have a rule where sweat equity is the only expense I am willing to invest to fund a business.
Only once the business brings in money, then I allow myself to introduce necessary expenses for growth.
I’m not running away from being an entrepreneur just because I’ve experienced a couple of setbacks, I’ve merely changed my outlook into moving forward responsibly.
With Bimba, I decided to leave the udder massaging to the farmer and rather perfect cleaning up her crap.
Accepting that showing up, adjusting my attitude, and embracing the task I was qualified for seemed to reignite our friendship.
What was adorable is that she started moving over to the side when I came, exposing a big lump of dung for me to clean up, without needing to do extravagant movements with the spade.
Most cows just stand on their mess and you have to get creative, so from a farming perspective, Bimba was incredibly generous shifting over.
It’s like she was aware she hurt me, and she wanted to show that this is a relationship she was comfortable with. Well, at least that is how I perceived it.
I’m glad I never quit on our friendship because she continued to smother me with sandpaper kisses until the day I left.
Actionable takeaway: Even though quitting may feel right, you could be so close to a breakthrough. Challenge your motivation behind your actions and if it’s fear holding you back, practice resilience and try again.
Or, visit point number one and educate yourself on what you could do better.
Final Thoughts
The dream of fully working for myself comes with the same adversity as the fantasy of owning a farm.
It’s romantic, but sometimes it hurts, and sometimes I regret moving in the direction of my goals.
Just because you’re passionate and in love with the idea of something, doesn’t mean it will love you back.
I’ve learned that being overambitious or showing off leaves bruises.
But, I’ve also learned that there is beauty in being small and admitting I’m not really ready.
Ultimately, I’ve learned that recognizing reality, and moving forward in a manageable manner, allows for a greater chance of not getting hurt, but also experiencing some level of success.
Also, it’s beyond refreshing to have what has proved itself as a sustainable startup.
