17 Aug Turning a Side Hustle Into a Business
It seems like what we earn nowadays is never enough. A lot of people now have side hustles to keep up with expenses. And if main job is enough to take care of the regular bills, a side hustle will help you enjoy luxury expenses like a vacation, traveling, hobbies and other luxury items. But what about turning a side hustle into a business? That’s a possibility.
But how do you know it’s time to turn that side hustle into a full-time money-maker? Here are five signs that will indicate that you should turn that sideline into a regular business.
1. When your work is gaining attention
When your side hustle is getting a lot of attention, then it might be time to consider earning more from this. Of course, you already hope to get clients doing your side job. But if you notice that you are spending more and more time doing your side hustle, making so much more effort working on it, getting so much more clients, then perhaps it would be more practical to make it your regular income-earner.
2. Financial stability
It doesn’t matter what business you are starting, but every startup should expect financial struggle at the start. For one, the public is yet to hear about you. So you can’t expect business to pick up right away. You have to be prepared not to earn for at least three to six months. Of course, you have to work hard to earn a profit from Day 1, but you need to be prepared, not to earn anyway. Have months’ worth of buffer fund to be safe.
3. Motivated
When it comes to starting a business, the biggest ingredient is YOU. You have to ask yourself if you are motivated enough to invest a lot of yourself in the business. When you make a decision to turn a side hustle into a business, it means that you have to give more of yourself to the business physically, emotionally, mentally and even financially. You need to do something to keep yourself motivated in the long haul. Talent and skills will get you through the door, but for how long you will stay inside will depend on your motivation.
4. Know how to do self-promotion
If you are not the type to brag about yourself and your work, then it’s time to learn about it—at least if you are interested in turning a side hustle into a business. It is very important that you market yourself when you start a business. It’s very easy nowadays. You don’t actually need to pay much in order to promote your work. You can just do social media—Facebook and Instagram are the top social media sites for promoting work. Study how you can intelligently use social media in order to promote your work. Once you’ve mastered that, then you’re ready to transform that side hustle into a business.
5. When you’ve learned the basics in starting a business
You can’t think about turning a side hustle into a business if you don’t know the basics of starting a business. This is very important or your startup will be easily mismanaged by you. You don’t need a degree from a fancy business school to learn more about business—a lot of the information is available online. All you need is the willingness to learn and the effort to research.
Now, if you have ticked the five signs that you are ready to turn a side hustle into a full-time business, it’s time to look at how you can do it. Here are five ways to turn that side job into a full-time money-maker.
6. Manage your time
It’s all about time management. When you are used to doing a side hustle, transforming this into a full-time business will mean more time spent on it. If you were used to just working a few hours a day, having a full-time business means working more than 12 hours a day. This is why it is very important that you know how to budget your time in order to get maximum work at the least possible time you can manage.
7. Spend time planning every day
A good business starts with a good plan. But make this a daily habit. According to Entrepreneur magazine, you may spend at least an hour a day planning your business. Take the first hour of the morning to do so, suggested the same financial publication. Without any distraction, write down everything you want from your business. The reason you do is every day is so that you can make changes and make improvements, according to how your business is moving.
8. Use other successful businesses as models
Yours is not the first side hustle that is going to transition into a full-time business. Many have come before you, which is just as well. This way, you can look at those businesses that successfully transformed from a side hustle and study their best practices. Learn from these businesses and make them your model in doing the transition.
9. Maximize the use of social media
Social media is this generation’s Tamagotchi—people are hooked. The great thing about it is that it’s free. So maximize the benefits of the free social media to your business. As soon as you’ve mastered the basics of social media self-promotion, implement it immediately.
10. Avoid burnout
There will be changes in the transition, of course. Imagine being used to running 10 miles a day and then one day, someone will ask you to run 20 miles. Your body is not used to that so expect to get worn out. It’s the same when you turn a side hustle into a business. So make sure you scale your growth. You don’t need to take a leap just because you are making a transition. Baby steps are enough. Of course, you are expected to clock in lots of hours. But the important thing is that you know how to pace yourself in order to avoid a burnout.
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