From Amazon to Entrepreneur: How Tejal Rives Built a Safety Net Before She Needed It
When Tejal Rives was laid off from her product marketing role at Amazon in October 2025, she didn't panic. While many corporate professionals find themselves adrift after a sudden job loss, Rives simply pivoted to a plan she and her husband had been crafting since 2024: their own career-coaching and résumé-writing business, Do My Resume LLC.
Rives’s story is a masterclass in professional preparation and disciplined time management. Here is how she successfully juggled a demanding corporate career with a side hustle without hitting a breaking point.
The Power of a "Plan B"
Rives began building her side hustle not out of immediate necessity, but as a proactive response to the shifting corporate landscape. After witnessing previous rounds of layoffs at Amazon, she and her husband decided that their business would serve as their ultimate safety net.
They agreed that if her role were ever eliminated, she would transition into the lead role at their company while also becoming the primary parent for their child. When the layoff finally happened, the transition was seamless. Today, she uses her recruitment background to provide expert tips for job seekers, simultaneously growing her brand and her confidence.
Mastering the "Time Block" Hack
The biggest hurdle for any side-hustler is burnout. Rives managed this by being militantly protective of her schedule. Her strategy relied on three main pillars:
Strict Boundary Setting: Rives blocked out specific, one-hour slots in the evenings and on weekends dedicated solely to her business.
The "Hard Stop" Rule: When the timer went off, work ended. By walking away immediately, she ensured she still had time for family and personal joy, preventing the side hustle from feeling like a burden.
Segmented Communication: To maintain her integrity at Amazon, she only took client calls during her off-hours. Having a small inherited team to handle emails and day-to-day tasks further allowed her to scale without being tethered to her phone 24/7.
Advice for Aspiring Side-Hustlers
Rives acknowledges that a side hustle isn’t a requirement for everyone, but for those who are the primary breadwinners or single, it offers an invaluable secondary income stream and emotional security.
Her advice for those starting out is to start small. "Commit small chunks of time each week," she suggests, and scale up only as your lifestyle—and family obligations—allow. For Rives, the business initially provided "fun money," but ultimately, it provided something much more valuable: the freedom to navigate a layoff on her own terms.