Turning Your Side Hustle To Full Time
Do you have a side hustle? Have you every wanted to start one? No matter where you are we have provided some information to help take your side hustle to a full time activity.
- What Is Your Goal?
- Vet Your Idea
- Plan
- Work Smart
- Grow Steady
- Take The Leap
What Is Your Goal?
What exactly are you looking to accomplish? Depending on what exactly for goal is, will determine how long or how much effort it will take to turn your side hustle into a full time endeavor. Are you trying to create a business that will be offering a product to the masses? Are you just selling some art projects you made in your free time? Are you somewhere in between?
Is there are financial requirement you will have to meet before you can go full-time? Taking the leap into full-time without understanding how much you will need from a financial perspective can cause many rough times later down the road. You don’t want to have to be worrying about paying the bills while working full-time on your business.
The key here is to ask some questions that will help you paint a better picture of what exactly it will take to go full-time. Questions like:
1. What exactly do I want to achieve with my side hustle?
2. If I didn’t make any money for 12–18 months, how much would I need saved up?
3. How many hours am I currently working on my side hustle?
4. How many hours will I be able to work on the side hustle if it became full time?
5. What challenges will I encounter if I work on this full time?
Vet Your Idea
After you define what you want from your side hustle it’s time to put your business on paper to see if it is a viable option as a full time business. One way to do this is by using a Business Model Canvas:
There are nine segments of a business model canvas that need to be answered:
1. Customer segments
These are simple users and paying customers for which you are creating value for.
2. Value proposition
These are the bundle of products and/or services that create value for each customer segment.
3. Channels
This Describe through which touch points you’re interacting with customers and delivering value to them.
4. Customer relationships
This outlines the type of relationship you’re establishing with your customers.
5. Revenue streams
These describe how and through with pricing mechanisms your business model is capturing value.
6. Key resources
Describe the infrastructure to create, deliver, and capture value. Key resources show which assists are especially important in your business model.
7. Key activities
Show which things you really need to perform really well in order to create value.
8. Key partnerships
Show you what key partners can help you leverage your business model.
9. Cost structure
Shows you where and what costs will be associated with your business model.
Take time to go through this exercise to take the abstract idea of your business from your head and put it down on some paper. This will make it more concrete and give you a document that you can always reference later down the road.
Plan
Now that you have everything laid out it’s time to plan. Planning may take a while but it will save you so much more time in the future. How you plan really depends on personal preference (planners, paper, whiteboards, spreadsheets, etc). But no matter what you choose be sure it is a plan you will be able to stick with. Your goal is to create your plan on everything listed above.
Work Smart
By the time you get out of work, commute, eat, etc there will only be a few hours left in the day (or night) to get things done. That’s why it’s critically important to work smarter. You don’t need to do things like sneak off work early, sleep less, or eat quicker meals. That will only give you a little increase in time but over time can be much worse to your career and health. So, your goal is to work smart. Here are are few things you can do to work smarter:
1 - Plan Your Days In Advance
Planning your days before they come will help block of time to grow your side hustle. If you have weekends off then block out the whole week for task related to that. If you don’t take this time to plan it out then other less productive activities will take the place of your side hustle activities. It is also easier to say no to other less productive activities if you already have it planned. You can plan to work somewhere interesting so you will look forward to getting things done.
2 - Turn Off The Phone
Notifications can interrupt you schedule for a few minute and even sometimes for a few hours. By turning off your phone you won’t be able to see a distracting notification. If you really need to check your phone. Use the Pomodoro technique of working. In short, the technique involves working undisturbed for a set amount of time and then taking a break. Using this method you can put your phone away for a while and work, but your mind will be at ease because you will know that at the end of that time you will be able to check your phone.
3 - Hire A Virtual Assistant
Someone who can help you with basically any task is a great way to be more productive and work smart. If you plan to hire a virtual assistant, be sure to look for a reputable company, test out your assistant, and be specific about what you ask. At the end of the day virtual assistants are people so they will need some time to figure out how to work with you.
4 - Automate Tasks
Do you spend lots of time cleaning, doing laundry, or grocery shopping? Try automating these tasks. You can found tons of companies that will do the chores that take up so much valuable time. Since you can’t do these activities while you are working, having them done for you by the time you get home frees up hours of time.
Grow Steady
Don’t worry if your side hustle is taking a while to grow. It’s your side hustle so it taking time is totally natural. It does take time to grow but make sure you are constantly focusing on ways that you can have steady growth. Even it is just one more user or purchase a week. By concentrating on slow and steady growth it will allow you to identify what you are doing well and what you can improve on.
Take The Leap
Knowing when to take the leap is depends on how risk averse a person is. Maybe you grow your side hustle to the point where you are making twice as much as your current full time job. Or maybe you grow your side hustle to the point that just you make enough to just cover bills. It depends on how much risk someone is willing to take before they go full time. Only you will know when to take the leap. But when you decided it is time, leap. Don’t look back. You are on a completely different path once you take this leap, so best of luck!