Jean Kang, 32, earns about $20,000 a month.
Provided by Kangrang
Jean Kang never thought she would become an entrepreneur. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, she always dreamed of working at a major tech company.
“I watched a lot of Shark Tank growing up and thought it was always funny. But I never thought it would be me,” Kang told CNBC Make It.
After witnessing the rise of Silicon Valley in her own backyard, she worked hard to land her first tech job. “I felt like I was in a bubble, this was all I knew (and) I wanted to be part of this cool kids' club,” she said.
After graduating from college in 2014, Kang began 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 allowed her to escape the 9-to-5 life. Now earning about $20,000 a month, according to documents seen by CNBC Make It.
Start a business
Kang's technology career has not been smooth sailing. From 2014 to 2024, she was laid off twice and worked at six different companies across multiple functions including sales, operations and strategy.
Then in 2020, she landed her first case manager position and realized she actually had a talent for it, so she focused on those skills. Two years later, Kang found that people were starting to contact her, asking for guidance and asking about her role.
“I noticed a need in the market … and I wanted to help aspiring project managers transition to this career path,” she said.
“Then I decided to (announce) a post: 'Hey, I'm starting a coaching business and if you… want to get a job as a case manager, I'm willing to do a session and you can book in and give me a call,'” Kang said.
After publishing her first post on LinkedIn in October 2022, Kang began creating professional content on the work-focused social media platform and coaching clients online—hence, her The side business “PM Road” was born. By the end of 2023, she said she had brought in a total of about $30,000 in revenue and helped 10 clients find jobs.
“I was shocked that I could supplement my take-home pay with another $30,000 through my own technical job,” Kang said. “The idea was so foreign that it took my breath away.”
From side business to main business
During this time, Kang worked an additional 15 to 20 hours per week on top of his full-time corporate job.
It wasn't until early 2024 that she began to experience burnout. “(I'm) working two jobs full time because I have a 9-to-5 job and then I have a 5-to-9 job — literally no breaks, my vacation time is non-existent,” Kang said. “It's really hard for me to be able to pull the trigger because I have this high-paying job. (If) I can do both, why not do both for as long as possible.”
It was also around this time that she started asking herself: “If I could do so much in just a few hours every day outside of work and on weekends, how much money could I make (if I worked twice as hard)?”
Kang's fate finally came true in early 2024, when the startup she worked for reportedly offered employees the chance to voluntarily leave the company in exchange for three months' salary.
After examining her finances and talking it over with her husband, Kang decided this was her chance to gamble on herself.
“I don't want to wait … to hit a certain revenue goal (or) get things in perfect shape before doing it. I'd rather do it now and fix the problem,” she said.
Kang is expected to replace the $180,000 annual salary he earned in his previous position since resigning from the company in February. In about eight months, she made about $160,000, according to documents seen by CNBC Make It.
Today, Kang has expanded his business by finding new ways to monetize, such as getting brand deals for his content and earning royalties from LinkedIn Learning courses. She already has about 100,000 followers online platform through her content creation.
She also expanded her practice by moving from primarily one-on-one coaching to a five-week group program.
4 Tips for Building a Thriving Side Hustle
Here are the top tips Kang shared:
- Identify a need you have the ability to help solve.
- Create a minimum viable product (MVP) rooted in helping to meet that need.
- Continuously iterate and expand your product or service so you can spend less time for more money.
- Strictly observe discipline and focus on execution.
Rather than building a product you want to build, you're more likely to succeed by building something the world needs, Kang said.
In addition to considering the problem space, aspiring entrepreneurs should take a hard look at themselves to figure out what problem they are uniquely positioned to help solve. It’s this combination that helps people start a successful business.
After that, you can create some form of minimum viable product (MVP), which Kang has one-on-one coaching for. It can be something “very simple,” Kang said.
“Even if it's not perfect, I'll send it out,” she said. “I'm very focused on executing… I know what I need to do and how to get it done. Not just how to get it done, but I just get it done.”
Kang focuses on execution without worrying about perfection. Over time, she has been able to iterate, refine, and expand her business accordingly.
Today, she spends about 35 to 45 hours a week working on her business. “I work the same hours as I did at the company, but this time I actually have evenings and weekends free,” she said.
“I feel really energized… now I have freedom,” Kang said. “I've learned a lot and I will continue to reinvest in myself and be a living example that when you do things for yourself, when you do it intentionally, things work,” Kang said.
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