If you’ve been itching to convert your craft into a career, your side-hustle into a start-up, or just want to think about work-life balance in a new way, then The Multi-Hyphen Life is for you. In The Multi-Hyphen Life, award-winning British author-podcaster Emma Gannon explains that it doesn’t matter if you’re a part-time PA with a blog, or an accountant who runs an online store in the … who runs an online store in the evenings–whatever your ratio, whatever your mixture, we can all channel our own entrepreneurial spirit to live more fulfilled and financially healthy lives.
Technology allows us to work wherever, whenever, and enables us to design our own working lives. Forget the outdated stigma of “jack of all trades, master of none,” because having many strings to your bow is essential to get ahead in the modern working world. We all have the skills necessary to work less and create more, and The Multi-Hyphen Life is the source of inspiration you need to help you navigate your way toward your own definition of success.
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Embrace the Multi-Faceted You
Audiobook Review:
This was a surprisingly eye-opening listen that got me thinking and appreciating what the author calls the multi-hyphen life. I had been living one for a long time but never had a name for it. Simply naming something sometimes actually helps you appreciate a complex idea. I’ll admit that at times I haven’t known quite how to explain myself to new friends or on job interviews because everything seems to be so niched down these days. (I even had a mentor tell me that I needed to focus on one thing.) How could I explain being a nonfiction author, a registered nurse, a freelance editor, a former specialty food owner, a former medical transcriptionist, a pianist, a harp player, and even a top reviewer on Amazon when people I talk with try to pigeonhole me to one category? How do you come up with that elevator pitch? Even when I write nonfiction, I don’t stick to one topic, having several cookbooks published as well as one on the possibilities for operations and marketing during the pandemic.
While the author certainly comes across as one of her millennial generation—and I did appreciate the look into the millennial mind—she does discuss how the current workplace has four generations: baby boomers, Gen Xers (me), Millennials, and Gen Z. She spends the most time talking about boomers, her generation, and Gen Z, giving Gen Xers the short shrift—as has happened all our lives! This chapter on generations, though, got me thinking and provided insight into something that happened to me recently. I’ve been trying to get another nursing job after side hustling for a while and have found that job interviewers can react very differently when I answer that boilerplate question, “What do you do besides nursing?” Interestingly, this often falls along generational lines, with younger interviewers (millennials) being intrigued by all of my different and varied jobs and interests. A baby boomer gave me a blank stare when I mentioned the reviewer status, while the millennial thought this could translate into good communication, persuasion, and computer skills. After reading this book, I’ve decided to update my resume to show side hustle jobs (which I had never considered doing)–like freelance editing—so that it more accurately reflects my varied experience and skills.
The author herself narrates the audiobook, and you can tell her passion and enthusiasm for the subject. The keyword for this book is flexibility. What does success mean to you, and how can you make your life (both personal and professional) reflect that, especially at a time where business structures have not been able to react quickly to this important value shift for younger (and some older) workers. I think the pandemic has forced the issue in some ways, and when it’s all over, work will not look the same for many of us—and that could be a very good thing if businesses will allow it or if we find a separate, viable path. While the author could not have known about the pandemic when she started writing this book, it is certainly well suited to the current times where everything is in flux. It’s a great time to re-evaluate what you want and need both in terms of your job or career and personally. Sometimes these personal and professional ideas can dovetail, but it’s also completely okay to pursue a passion just for your own joy—even if you don’t make money at it. The author reiterates this point several times, which I appreciated, as other books along this vein don’t seem to understand that some things we want to do are just for ourselves, not for the world or money. Rather, they have meaning for us and nourish our souls. I’m so glad that I picked up this book at this particular point in my career, as I now feel that it is a strength to have had so many types of jobs and interests. Now I will know how to incorporate them not only in my job search but in my career and side hustles going forward and hobbies as well. Highly recommended.
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.