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Entrepreneurial Spirit | Guiding others to build empires after hours
21 Plays9 days ago
🔥 How to Build Your Passion Project Without Quitting Your Job! Meet Sergio—a corporate professional by day and a thriving entrepreneur by night. In this episode, he reveals how he’s turning his side hustle into something bigger without sacrificing financial stability. If you’ve ever dreamed of starting your own venture but can’t afford to walk away from your paycheck, this conversation is your roadmap.
📌 Key Takeaways You’ll Learn:
✅ The #1 mindset shift that makes side hustles sustainable
✅ How to validate your business idea before going all-in
✅ Sergio’s time-management secrets for building after hours
✅ Why your day job can be an asset (not an obstacle)
✅ How to stay motivated when progress feels slow
💡 Who Is This For? • 9-to-5ers with entrepreneurial dreams • Side hustlers ready to level up • Anyone afraid to take the "leap" before they’re ready
#EntrepreneurialSpirit #SideHustle #CareerPivot #StartupMindset #PassionProject
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Transcript
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome back to to Z jobs podcast, where we help you take control of your career, one real conversation at a time. I'm Nate, your host and career coach. And today I'm pumped to have Sergio here.
00:00:12
Speaker
He's living that dual life we all think about, holding down his day job while building his dream on the side. If you ever wanted to chase your passion, but can't afford to walk away from that paycheck, Sergio's got the real unfiltered playbook you need to hear.
00:00:29
Speaker
Sergio, thanks for joining us on a to Z Jobs podcast. Great to have you. Thanks, Nathan, for inviting me. No problem. So let's jump right in so to me tell me about yourself. Tell me about your career and what inspired you to pursue it.
00:00:47
Speaker
Well, you know, to me, a career is just a starting point of a much larger journey. So I'm currently working in HR, HR consultant. And also I'm an and um'm an academic for the University of Sydney and Macquarie University.
00:01:03
Speaker
the discipline of innovation, entrepreneurship and interpretship of strategy for the business school and also doing that things and also pursuing my own business in consultancy, helping small and medium businesses.
00:01:19
Speaker
Fantastic. So, yeah. So what inspired, I guess I understood recently that what inspired was actually my parents.
00:01:30
Speaker
They didn't have any level of education, you know, like they, and they managed to give us education and give us all the tools that we needed to survive, you know, in a, in a competitive world. So they did that through, you know, building their own businesses and that stick with me during my whole life.
00:01:49
Speaker
And then i went and I did, you know, i studied engineering and then after that, I studied English as well and then I decided to run my own businesses. So they equipped me with all the skills that I needed but ah more than that they inspired me you to have this entrepreneurial mindset that I have.
00:02:11
Speaker
That's fantastic. So okay you have an accent. Tell me your personal story. Where are you from? Where are you living? Tell me a bit more about you. Sure. So I live in Sydney. I've been here 15 years.
00:02:26
Speaker
I'm from Venezuela, South America. Yes, I came in 2011, came here, studied a master's degree in commerce, major marketing and strategic management.
00:02:38
Speaker
And then I set up my own business here. Like so most of the people in the Latin community will know me because of that business. It was in Newtown for 10 years. And then we recently closed and then I decided in 2019 to move into a different career path, which is the university, ah coming back to the workforce through the university. Fantastic.
00:03:03
Speaker
Okay. There's lots happening here. So let's break it down a little bit more. So yeah so me so what is your career? How do you elevate a pitch? You've got a minute to tell the audience who you are and what you do. so Give me your best elevator pitch.
00:03:22
Speaker
Okay.
00:03:24
Speaker
All right. So I'm a business consultant. i work for the University of Sydney and Macquarie University. I'm academic as well. And I help small and medium businesses to put together the business ideas.
00:03:41
Speaker
Okay. So it's really helping get that clarity. Okay. yeah what um Tell me about your education. ah it's bit of ah It's a bit of a different journey for you. So did you you came to do your master's and what education or training got you to where you are?
00:04:02
Speaker
I think, well, when I did a bachelor's engineering back home um and then also a master's degree in management. ah From there, I realized that I really like anything related with project.
00:04:16
Speaker
ah projects, anything related with business, because you sort of like study some of those subjects in there. And then my first experience was more in consultancy. So then that's when I started realizing, okay, this is something I like. This is something I'm passionate about. But then always at the back of my head, I wanted to set up my own business and have that firsthand experience.
00:04:40
Speaker
So even if I got all these different qualifications, came here to Australia, studied a master's degree in commerce, for me, it has been more about experience, that it goes hand in hand with, you know, like, what do you want to do? And like, help you also to discover what you want to be as well.
00:04:59
Speaker
So um education wise, i have done a lot of things. i have studied lot of things. I'm an academic. So i'm I'm all about, you know, the books, trainings and like passionate about knowledge.
00:05:10
Speaker
But I guess you did you sort of discover your own journey as well. I believe you discover what you like and you discover what you want to explore more. And I think I believe that's how it should be anyway, because universities give you just, you know, like fundamentals to be professional, to have critical thinking.
00:05:30
Speaker
And then from there, you use that and then you pivot into whatever you want. You make it your own. So many guests just say, you don't find you don't find your niche, your niche finds you.
00:05:44
Speaker
You're not necessarily looking for it, but it's a calling. You get that calling and that's the that's the situation where you find yourself and it feels right. And quite often you'll do different journeys, different jobs until you get the one that feels right.
00:05:59
Speaker
Very true. Like for me, it has been always, my whole life has been, I feel like life has this way of presenting opportunities that are meant to be for you, right? So to be honest, I never pursued teaching, which is an interesting thing. I never did.
00:06:16
Speaker
Like I literally taught my sister, my little sister, how to read. And that's how I knew that I like it. And I knew i was good at it. And then when I was doing my bachelor's degree, i was teaching as well. I was teaching math and teaching physics and doing a job while I was studying. And then again, someone say, oh, this university is looking for a staff. And then I leave my resume and next thing they call me.
00:06:44
Speaker
i never really have to work so hard. So it's interesting how life, I think you have to sort of switch off sometimes the noise of what you know, what is out there and what is what is the expectation for you and all of that and just listen because sometimes and just be more aware of what's happening, you know.
00:07:01
Speaker
So that has been my own experience as well. I agree 100%. Like I never pursued teaching. Like now I do and then I train and then because I start listening,
00:07:12
Speaker
to the signs you know like sometimes you get frustrated because you you try to pursue you know a certain journey or certain things that you have in your mind but it's not working out for you now maybe what you've got to do is just observe observe the world observe what the people are telling you as well one of one of my clients he lives in taiwan and she She studied journalism. She wanted to be a journalist, got her dream job. She's a financial journalist.
00:07:42
Speaker
She's done it for a year and she goes, actually, this isn't what I thought it would be, but she made that pivot early. The core of it is that she knew the transferable skills. similar to yourself that you taught your sister to read and go, actually, I enjoy this.
00:07:56
Speaker
She's the same. She enjoyed the teaching aspect of being a journalist, to share stories, to help people. So she's actually now become a teacher. So even though you may have visualized a career, it's recognizing those transferable skills and how they overlap with many other industries.
00:08:16
Speaker
Very true. Same thing happened to me when I went to the first interview and i landed on this job for the business school. you know like I managed to get that job because I had business, real business experience. You know, I was running my business. So I was able to use that transferable skills to showcase this is a value i can offer.
00:08:40
Speaker
sometimes you've got to think about how you can offer that. And teaching, for example, like is a transferable skills that I have used. I use the whole time for in my consultancy practice with my clients. It sort of makes sense.
00:08:53
Speaker
for a consultant to be an academic as well because you're always exposed to ways of teaching people to current information to understand the trends and what's happening out there absolutely so this next question i'm going to leave it quite broad for you so you can choose to answer it academic or consultant but what's the best thing about your job the best thing about my job i'm always teaching and i think it can apply for both events to be honest. like Teaching is like a passion for me, it's a passion of mine. It feels like nurturing an idea into a full-flesh project. you know like It's just something that is
00:09:34
Speaker
an idea that it doesn't have any sort of form. So it's it's incredible fulfilling, you know, that feeling of someone just pitched me something and then you see the results of that. It's great. I've seen it, you know, like people just quit this.
00:09:52
Speaker
different ideas and when i ask the right questions, like you see them in the right direction, in the right track. like It's something that there are no words to explain that. you know um And then, as I said, the best part it as an academic is that I could always use that in my practice. I can always use that in my consultancy exercises. Because what is consultancy at all? It's just like asking questions. It's just really having these conversations.
00:10:23
Speaker
It's just giving a strategy to people. It's just giving direction to people with a lot of questions that they don't know how to start that. and just making the job easier for that person because you have gone through your own journey and you have like find out your own answers.
00:10:38
Speaker
So yeah, and I guess that's something that i can apply in my own journey as well, which is great. You know, like when you are learning so much and you can apply it to yourself first of all, and then you can apply it for others, it's great. So I don't know, I guess learning and teaching It's the best, the best part of my job.
00:11:03
Speaker
But in terms of the career then, so what's the negatives? What's hard about your job or what's something that you find challenging?
00:11:13
Speaker
Well, we were talking just before this, right, off off offline, we were saying like how challenging it is to deal with ah customer service. It's really like it could be very draining.
00:11:26
Speaker
It could become, if you take it personally, if you don't have a way of, you know, just... taken on board or just not taken personally. it could be, you know, people are specific, I believe. People are deep into attention nowadays because we have a world where there's a lot of knowledge. There's a lot of understanding of a lot of topics. So that's um difficult, you know, to highlight your value in a world that is full of competition.
00:11:58
Speaker
and in a world that is full of questions, that is full of challenges. So I would say that. And I think as well, people don't necessarily think creatively and enough, um like you used to thinking in the problem solving way.
00:12:14
Speaker
We relied a lot on technology and that could be also very challenging, you know, like in both of my my roles as a consultant and in my teaching or academic role, I find that people relied a lot on technology and and just get them out of that, ah which is a comfort zone. It could be quite...
00:12:33
Speaker
um It could be quite hectic, taxing, really. But once they're out of that, there's a lot of ways how they can learn that, which is the good news.
00:12:45
Speaker
Yeah. It's one of those things like AI is obviously a part of life now. It's going to be here forever, but it's interesting how soft skills are now becoming more prominent and how you need to use those soft skills to sell yourself in interviews now because everyone can use AI.
00:13:02
Speaker
Everyone's using the same descriptions. Everyone's got the same cover letter these days. So it's that personalization and using your soft skills is actually now how you stand out and how you challenge how you challenge the the the system.
00:13:19
Speaker
And I believe Nathan is also like understanding that you need to acknowledge that, you know, like you need to acknowledge that, yes, there is AI, there is chat GPT. Let's not pretend that it doesn't exist. It is a thing, you know, you can use it to be more creative though. So it's just how you use those tools or those resources out there.
00:13:39
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. Look, I fully support AI. I love it. It it makes life a lot easier. but But your unique selling point is going to come from your soft skills and your personality more so that's right more so than ever.
00:13:52
Speaker
So in terms of either academic or consultancy, if you were to start again, and you had your clear vision of I want to do this, is there a faster process you would take? Or is there, would you perhaps have studied something different?
00:14:09
Speaker
As I said earlier, like career is just a journey and you've got to be aware of, you know, I think when you're younger, you're probably more arrogant. You're probably more close off.
00:14:21
Speaker
And something that helps to grow as an entrepreneur or as a professional is just to be open to people, to build, um,
00:14:33
Speaker
to build a network, to be able to listen as well, that the issues are there, to listen to people who have gone through that journey as well, to have a mentor. If you can invest in yourself, you can invest in a mentor or a coach or a consultant, it's the best investment that you can do because that clarity, it helps a lot, you know, working on yourself.
00:14:56
Speaker
Look, what I will do, and as you said earlier, working on myself, working on my software skills. Nowadays, I have this these different journals. So I got like a gratitude journal.
00:15:08
Speaker
i got like this other the journal that is all about thoughts. And so I will have never done that 10 ago. But now I've seen how those exercises, even if it sounds cliche, helps a lot for clarity, for perspective, for sort of manifesting or focus or whatever you want to call it.
00:15:31
Speaker
It helps a lot. That I will change. I would have worked earlier in my career in that, you know, ensuring that I take that on board, that I'm not that close off or I'm more self-aware.
00:15:46
Speaker
that you build yourself and you're you're more open to people. I love that. So for career clarity, for you, it's more self-reflection, working more on yourself than it is working on looking at the industry, trying to climb a corporate ladder.
00:16:03
Speaker
It's more about introspection and looking at what it is that youre your core values are and what direction that's leading you. Definitely, definitely, definitely it's more about you you. know, your career and the focus and like just putting together the resume it and preparing for that interview is just the result of working on yourself.
00:16:22
Speaker
Because a lot of things is you being your worst enemy as well. Sometimes it's you, a lot of fears. So not being able to overcome that that you want to do, not following your passion because you're following someone else's dream.
00:16:36
Speaker
You're not true to yourself. So it has to do a lot with you. And that's for anything. To become an entrepreneur, to become a professional that is happy in what you're doing and and passionate about what you're doing.
00:16:48
Speaker
Look, Nathan, I believe that when you have passion for something, the chances that you're most successful are higher. Absolutely. So when you're more in connection to that, you're making your life so much easier.
00:17:03
Speaker
So you mentioned mentors, which is, I've always relied quite heavily on my mentors. So in terms of mentorship, did you have a structured program or was it more of a ah casual, you sort of met someone who gave you some good advice? How did you find your mentorship and how did you use it?
00:17:19
Speaker
Yeah. It's interesting because, as I said before, like 10 years ago, I couldn't have done that, you know, but now I'm more pro mental health. So even psychologists, you know, if you've got like internal things, you you feel like you need to speak with someone about it, do it, you know, and do it with a professional because they've been trained to do that.
00:17:39
Speaker
When it comes to career, um it helps a lot. it Again, you know, it's a conversation. So that conversation that you kind of have with, know, It's not the same that having that conversation with a family member or having that conversation with your partner or a friend.
00:17:54
Speaker
It's a conversation that um someone will ask you the right questions. They see it from an objective perspective because sometimes you can get that people telling your problem.
00:18:04
Speaker
it will be biased about giving you that the answers you want to listen. While you do it with a professional, they ask you those challenging and uncomfortable questions. So last year, I went into this mentorship program that was part of the university.
00:18:21
Speaker
and And I was coached by this matt finance manager, um really she's in a really high-end position and she asked me interesting questions. So like questions like, how do you feel like what you're doing now is going to take you to what you want to be? you know unlike And that's ah deep such a deep question to answer that I think I feel like you've got to ask yourself that question not once, but many times, right? so I think having these conversations definitely help you give you more clarity. And to be fair and to be honest, like I went there with a different purpose, with a different idea in mind. And I got, you know, so then from then I decided, no, I have to pursue what makes me happy.
00:19:04
Speaker
what makes sense for me, you know what I have done, what I feel comfortable with. And then probably look for and also be aware of your weaknesses as well. Those exercises are also make you more aware of your weaknesses and understand that, you know, I like you're not good at that.
00:19:20
Speaker
You probably need to look for someone else to do that job for you, you know, or to help you in that in that a specific area that you're not good at.
00:19:31
Speaker
And I think, like you mentioned, like with your career journey, you're looking at a few different paths, you've got a few different things happening. And I think it's good to highlight that you've found your purpose, you've got your direction, and you've been quite resourceful, really, in terms of trying to make that transition.
00:19:50
Speaker
ah You said a few times that a career is like a living thing. It's not necessarily a straight path anymore. So you've got your academic work, but... That helps with some of the core values, but you've also got your consultancy work, which is, I'm guessing, is where your true passion is.
00:20:06
Speaker
But being able to overlap those and have a transition period and using mentors to help that. But it's also something that is worth mentioning for the fact of people think career changes.
00:20:17
Speaker
I quit a job. I start a new job in a new industry, but very rarely is that how it actually works. It really is that transition. Period. That's right. I guess it's just like thinking outside the box and thinking, how can you use what you already have?
00:20:33
Speaker
And how can you go even like if you need to start from a junior position, how can they be useful for your next career or for your final goal? Because sometimes it's a financial decision, right? So you've got to do what you've got to do.
00:20:48
Speaker
you can also do certain career movements that can help you. So for me, academia is like a great way to learn about things that I'm not comfortable with or I'm not familiar with.
00:21:00
Speaker
So that's why I decided to go that path. And to be fair and to be honest, my current role, which is in HR, I have like bits and pieces about HR in my career, but not really like a full on role. So I learned a lot from that. And it makes sense for me to know about HR because a business consultant needs to know about marketing, needs to know about business development and HR because HR is such an important, it's such a key part of your, any business really.
00:21:29
Speaker
You don't run a business by yourself. you You need to hire people. You need to recruit people and you need to be able to encourage, you know, and mentor these people who work for you if possible.
00:21:43
Speaker
So what resources then? So youre you're from what you've said, you're a continuous learner. You're always reading. You're always learning. Is there any particular book or podcast or website? Is there something that you rely on to help with resources?
00:22:01
Speaker
Myself, well, as I said, I work with these gratitude diaries and all. And from that, you know, I got into more the in-depth resources, you know, like I ask questions about like practices in the industry or like I connect to, I go to, nowadays I go to a lot of events.
00:22:23
Speaker
those events that it makes sense for me to attend. Like last year, last week, I went to Tech Talk because it makes sense for me who pretty much my business is about education and I work in education. It makes sense for me to go to an educational event, right? So I went there and it was great. It was the best investment and great network as well. So, and there's a lot of free stuff out there as well that you can go.
00:22:48
Speaker
So any entrepreneurial... I go to that, you know, because it is always learning in that. And having those conversations, you know, sometimes just a simple, um when you go to a gathering and you're full of, in a room full of strangers, you can ask those questions like, oh, what do you do for work? And that's how like relationships, that's how like you can build on your social capital.
00:23:12
Speaker
It's such an important key. You don't build yourself or you don't build a career on your own. You just, you need people around that can help you. And Builders is great, you know, it's a great, best resource, the best advice I could probably give to someone is that.
00:23:28
Speaker
I agree completely. Look, I think networking is one of those things that people love or hate, but I encourage everyone to get out there and get networking. And I challenge the mindset. Like people think, oh, networking, I've got talk about myself.
00:23:44
Speaker
I hate it. But it's not that. Networking to me is an opportunity to hear other people talk. I'm an introvert. I'm one of those people who who doesn't love just getting out there and talking about myself. But what I do love is hearing people's stories.
00:23:59
Speaker
So I see networking as an opportunity to hear people's stories and I get inspiration from that. And
00:24:07
Speaker
It's interesting how people have their journeys like and you get those conversations that happen at the right time. ah the end of the day, you make the decision and you just have to do it. And it's very basic advice, but there's moments in time where you have have the advice you need at the right time. And I find networking is one of those opportunities to get that advice that you didn't realize you needed it until you're there and you' and you're meeting people.
00:24:33
Speaker
that's That's very true what you're saying there. It's like that networking can lead you to steps, action steps to to do what you want to do. You won't find that if you stay at home.
00:24:46
Speaker
But action, some little action will always help. You just need to start. You just need to start and then the journey takes you. So to wrap up, is there any mantra, any quotes, any inspiration that you would like to share?
00:25:06
Speaker
I guess I made a commitment to choose happiness and I stay true to myself, true to my convictions because it's fundamental to my success.
00:25:21
Speaker
You don't follow someone else's dream, follow your dream, follow what feels right. You know, like you're gonna live are driven by, gotta pay a mortgage.
00:25:36
Speaker
So you're gonna say in that role, won't make you happy. Won't make you happy, unfortunately. So choose happiness and it stay true to myself. That's, you know, my motto.
00:25:49
Speaker
ah love it. Choose happiness. Yeah. That is something I'm taking. Yeah, it's a choice. It is a choice to be happy. you know like It's something that you've got to say, ah I'm deciding to be happy today, regardless of what's happening around there, regardless of how difficult it is. And I know that myself, you know like I have to struggle so much being here an immigrant.
00:26:16
Speaker
English is my second language. It felt at times that I have to work harder for everything. But that's okay. As long as I do it with happiness, with optimism, and it feels right to me, then ah will try. i got the no already.
00:26:35
Speaker
Perfect. Try everything. or say It will be the second mantra. yeah try ah try Yeah. Choose happiness and try everything. And that's it. You just got to get out there, see where the journey takes you, and do it do it with a smile.
00:26:50
Speaker
That's right. Perfect. Thank you, Sergio. It's been great having you. And thank you for sharing your journey. Thank you, Nathan.
00:27:04
Speaker
If you'd like more information about this podcast or our other guests, please check out coachingbynate.com for more resources and learn how coaching and mentoring can help develop your career.