Our mission
In Shoe Dog, the autobiography of Phil Knight - the founder of Nike - Knight is reflecting about his shoe-making side project. He says: “I wanted what everyone wants. To be me, full-time.”
Isn’t that what everyone wants? To be their whole, authentic self all the time? We believe everyone can be themselves full time. But to do so, you need to embrace your multidimensionality. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to leave your job, or retrain in something new, to feel yourself full time. But you do need to be brave, and honest with yourself. You do need to experiment with the things you want to try. You can both craft your job around your skills and interests, and you can run projects on the side to fulfil the sides your job can’t fulfill. It’s no longer a dirty word to have multiple interests. The sooner you admit you have more than one side, and it’s up to you to find ways to fulfil yourself, the better.
Plus, it’s easier than ever before to create. You can now create a website without coding it. You can create a bank account in less time than it takes to walk the dog, and you can build an audience from your smart phone.
Creating feels good, too!
By exploring things that are intrinsically interesting to us, we become more creative, more motivated, and more empowered in our daily lives. We develop more initiative, we feel more purpose driven, we learn to trust our gut and we become more comfortable taking risks at work. If more people worked on their own ideas, the world would probably be a better place.
But calling it a ‘creator economy’ doesn’t make the actual creating part easy. It’s still personal. It’s still messy. It’s still unpredictable. Starting and progressing an idea you are passionate about is possible: but it’s still surprisingly difficult.
We set up Out of Hours to tell the stories of those who have been there, done that. Who have beaten imposter syndrome, found the time, and made an impact - out of hours. We do it through our podcast, our newsletter and through in person events. Come join.
👋If you want to say hello, email: hello[at]outofhours.org.
About ME
Hello! My name is Georgia and I run Out of Hours. You can say hello on Twitter here ✨
I currently work at a climate fund, and run Out of Hours on the side. I started my career in advertising, and then worked for a few years in start-ups, venture funds and incubators. I decided to start Out of Hours to create space for the small ideas, started on the side. I believe everyone can be entrepreneurial, and creative, and there should be more opportunities to start projects in all their forms, without the pressure that is so often there.
As mindfulness teacher Daron Larson says, “Noticing that we're alive is a taste that adults have to reacquire”. Doing something new can help feel alive, and sometimes we all need a nudge to do it.
Since setting up Out of Hours, we’ve been featured in Esquire’s best podcasts and I also do talks on creativity, time management and side projects - most recently at Leeds Arts University, General Assembly, and D&AD.
