In the mood of a great story?

Many years ago, I read a short story by Hanoch Teller that stuck with me.

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A businessman is rushing to through a subway station, trying to catch a train. Someone shoves a cup under his nose, and the man dumps in a dollar and keeps running.

A moment later, he hears someone calling after him.

“Sir! Hey, sir!”

What now? he thinks. I gave him a dollar. Does he want more? Leave me alone, I’m going to miss my train!

The business man ignores him, but the stranger runs after him and catches up just as the train doors are closing.

He hands the businessman a pencil.

“You paid for it,” the stranger says. “Here’s your pencil.”

The businessman is taken aback.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he says. “I didn’t realise you were a merchant.”

The doors close, and the train pulls away.

A few months later, the same businessman is walking through another station, this time with no rush. He stops to buy a newspaper. The vendor looks at him, freezes, and blurts out:

“It’s you!”

“Me?” the man asks. “Do I know you?”

“I used to sell pencils at subway stations,” the vendor says. “You’re the one who told me, ‘I didn’t realise you were a merchant’. Well, I hadn’t either. But once you said that, I saw myself in a whole new light. I started selling more items, hired other people, and I now own newspaper stands in subway stations across the city. And it’s all because of you!”

He pauses, then smiles.

“Please, take anything you want. It’s on me.”

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It’s a beautiful story. And a powerful one.

The pencil seller didn’t suddenly develop new abilities, or receive an unexpected windfall. Nothing external changed.

He simply gained a new perspective on what he was doing already.

He wasn’t just a loser who sold pencils for a dollar, he was a merchant! This mindset changed his behaviour, which changed his results.

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The same idea applies to you.

When you call what you’re doing a ‘side hustle’, you’re subconsciously telling yourself it’s just a little project, something to work on when you have spare time.

This attitude pretty much guarantees limited results.

Whether you do graphics, catering, photography, therapy or copywriting, it’s not just a side hustle. You’re not just trying to freelance in your spare time.

You’re running a business.

This shift matters more than most people realise.

Business have systems. They track what works and what doesn’t. They make decisions based on growth, not convenience. They’re treated seriously, by the owner and by everyone else.

Don’t downgrade what you’re building by calling it a side hustle.

It’s a business.

And once you start treating it like one, the results tend to follow.