I turned my side job into a $20,000 a month business

Jean Kang never thought she would be an entrepreneur. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, she always envisioned herself working for a big tech company.

“I grew up watching a lot of ‘Shark Tank’ [and] I always thought it was fascinating. I never thought it could be me,” Kang told CNBC Make It.

Having witnessed the growth of Silicon Valley from her backyard, she worked hard to land her first job in technology. “I felt like I was in a bubble, that was all I knew [and] I wanted to be part of this wonderful children’s club,” she said.

After graduating from university in 2014, Kang went on to embark on a decade-long career in technology – but things didn’t go as planned.

Kang’s corporate career eventually led her to start her own business, which has given her 9-to-5 freedom. and now brings in about $20,000 a month, according to documents seen by CNBC Make It.

Kang’s career in technology was not linear. From 2014 to 2024, she was fired twice, worked at six different companies and in multiple roles such as sales, operations and strategy.

Then in 2020, she won her first role as a program manager and realized she had a real knack for it, so she put those skills to work. Two years later, Kang saw people start approaching her with mentoring requests and questions about her role.

“I noticed a need in the market … I wanted to help people who were aspiring program managers navigate this career path,” she said.

“Then, I decided [announce] with a post: ‘Hey, I’m starting a coaching business, if you want to find a program manager job, I’m open for a session [and] you can book a call with me,” Kang said.

After she made her initial LinkedIn post in October of 2022, Kang began creating career content on the job-focused social media platform and coaching clients online — and thus, her side hustle Road to PM was born. By the end of 2023, she says she brought in a total of about $30,000 in revenue and was able to help 10 clients find jobs.

“I was so shocked that I could supplement my take-home pay from my tech job, [adding] Another $30,000 all by myself,” Kang said. “It was such a foreign thought that popped into my head.”

During this time, Kang worked an extra 15 to 20 hours a week at her business on top of her full-time corporate job.

It wasn’t until early 2024 that she started experiencing burnout. “[I was] doing two full-time jobs because I had a nine-to-five, and then I had a five-to-nine — I literally just had no vacations, my vacations didn’t exist,” Kang said. “It was really hard for me to be able to pull the trigger because I have this good paying job. [If] I can do both, why not do both as long as I can.”

That’s also when she started asking herself, “If I can make this much using just the few hours I have outside of work each day and on weekends, how much can I bring [if I doubled down on this]?”

After all, the stars aligned for Kang when in early 2024, the startup she worked for reportedly offered its employees an opportunity to voluntarily leave the company in exchange for three- monthly.

After reviewing her finances and talking with her husband, Kang decided this was her chance to bet on herself.

“I didn’t want to wait… to reach a certain revenue target [or] for things to be in perfect condition for me to do it. I’d just rather do it now and figure things out,” she said.

Since leaving her corporate job in February, Kang is on track to replace the $180,000 annual salary she earned from her previous role. Over the course of about eight months, it has brought in about $160,000, according to documents seen by CNBC Make It.

Today, Kang has expanded her business by finding new ways to make money, such as getting brand deals for her content and earning royalties from her LinkedIn Learning course. She has built a following of around 100,000 on the platform through her content creation.

She has also expanded her business by moving from doing mostly one-on-one coaching to running 5-week group programs.

Here are the biggest tips Kang shared:

1. Identify a need that you are equipped to help solve.
2. Create a minimum viable product (MVP) rooted in what would help meet this need.
3. Constantly iterate and expand your product or service so you can market less time for more money.
4. Be disciplined and focus on execution.

Instead of building a product you want to build, you’re more likely to find success building something the world needs, Kang says.

In addition to examining the problem space, aspiring entrepreneurs must take a hard look at themselves to understand what they are uniquely positioned to help solve. It is this combination that can help someone succeed in starting their own business.

After that, you can create a minimum viable product (MVP) of some kind, which for Kang was one-on-one coaching. It could be something “very simple,” Kang said.

“I send things even when it’s not perfect,” she said. “I’m very focused on execution… I know what I have to do and how to do it. Not just how to do it, but I just do it.”

Kang focused on execution without worrying about perfection. Over time, she has been able to iterate, refine and scale her business accordingly.

Today, she spends about 35 to 45 hours a week working on her business. “I work the same hours [as I was] in corporations, but this time I actually have my evenings and weekends free,” she said.

“I feel very energetic… and now I have freedom,” Kang said. “I’ve learned a lot and I’m continuing to reinvest in myself and serve as a good example that when you do things for yourself and when you’re intentional about it, things work out,” Kang said.

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