Meet the 39-year-old Money Coach Earning $23K Monthly with Side Hustles

Bernadette Joy's journey from running a successful business to becoming a thriving money coach embodies the essence of entrepreneurial resilience and adaptability. Despite facing challenges and setbacks, she transformed her experiences into valuable lessons, leading to significant success in her current endeavors. Let's delve into Joy's story and explore the insights she offers on starting a side hustle and pursuing one's passion.

Joy's entrepreneurial journey began with Dressed, her bridesmaid dress rental business based in Charlotte, North Carolina. What started as a promising side hustle eventually became less fulfilling and more time-consuming as the business scaled. Despite its initial success, Joy made the courageous decision to shut down Dressed after three years. This pivotal moment sparked what she describes as an "existential midlife crisis," forcing her to reevaluate her path and priorities.

During this period of introspection, Joy discovered a crucial lesson that would shape her future endeavors, monetize what comes naturally to you. Instead of merely chasing profit, she advises aspiring entrepreneurs to leverage their innate strengths and passions when starting a side hustle. For Joy, this realization led her to focus on her other side hustle, a podcast documenting her journey to financial freedom with her husband.

From this podcast emerged Crush Your Money Goals, Joy's thriving money-coaching business. Combining her passion for personal finance with her natural talent for communication, she found a fulfilling avenue to empower others on their financial journeys. Last year, Joy's coaching business yielded an impressive income of $279,000, averaging around $23,250 per month, a testament to her entrepreneurial acumen and dedication.

Joy's journey highlights the importance of aligning passion with profit when pursuing entrepreneurial ventures. While she initially ventured into the fashion industry with Dressed, the challenges she encountered underscored the necessity of pursuing endeavors that feel natural and fulfilling. Her shift to financial coaching exemplifies the power of resilience and adaptability in navigating career transitions.

In her pursuit of financial coaching, Joy draws inspiration from billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, who emphasizes the significance of focusing on one's strengths rather than mere passion. Cuban's advice resonates with Joy's experience, as she acknowledges that genuine talent and dedication often lead to success, regardless of initial interests.

“The things I ended up being really good at were the things I found myself putting effort into,” said Cuban. “When you look at where you put in your time, where you put in your effort, that tends to be the things that you are good at.”

For Cuban, identifying where one invests their time and effort serves as a compass for discovering their true strengths and potential career paths. This pragmatic approach contrasts the conventional wisdom of following one's passion, emphasizing instead the value of introspection and self-assessment.

“A lot of people talk about passion, but that’s really not what you need to focus on,” said Cuban, who’s now a co-owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks. “You really need to evaluate and say, ‘OK, where am I putting in my time?’”