John le Carré once wrote, "A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world." I’ve taken that to heart. My office is often a seat on a Cathay Pacific flight, a guest house in Asia, or a hotel room with a view of the Hong Kong skyline at 2 a.m.
Most people think of a side hustle as just a way to make extra cash—driving for Uber, delivering food, or picking up a few freelance gigs. But what if that’s the wrong way to look at it? A true side hustle business isn't about getting a second job; it's about building an asset that can eventually replace your first job. The key isn't just working more, but building something that can grow without you.
Sometimes the most profound insights come from the most unexpected places. A few years ago, I was in an Uber in Orange County when my driver, Charlie Clark, mentioned he had been Gwen Stefani’s high school voice coach. As a music expert, a couple of things he said really resonated with me. “An artist will create in a way that conveys how they feel about something as well as how they think about it,” he explained. He added, “Words and notes are not music, the stuff on the page is abstract, you have to turn them into life.”