KICKSTART 2021 WITH A SIDE HUSTLE

Have you thought about a side hustle as a supplement to your main hustle? Do you think about startup capital and get discouraged at the mere thought of it? Have you tried to come up with ideas for your business but are conflicted? Well, look no further.

A side hustle is basically an activity, away from your eight-to-five job, that brings you more income. You could create a side hustle based on what you are passionate about. Be it a love for food, you could start baking and polish those cooking skills. Be it a love for beauty, you could always start those YouTube make-up tutorials and perfect your skills or you could do a side hustle that will allow you to work remotely from home such as freelance writing. Let your side hustle be as a result of something that you would enjoy to do even on a difficult day. As billionaire investor Mark Cuban would say that your business will succeed if, “it is something you love to do and something you are good at.” Make a list of ideas that is based on your skills and interests, remember you will need lots of energy and to be highly motivated to execute these ideas. Your side hustle can also allow you to do something that you are passionate about especially if you don’t get that satisfaction from your full-time job. Make sure your idea has a market need. You really do not want your business to create a solution to a problem that does not exist or an idea that most people do not find value in. I can imagine a scenario where you have invested your energy and resources into your hustle only to find not enough people are interested to buy. This could be really frustrating.

Great ideas but no capital? Capital is very necessary to start your business BUT is not the only thing that guarantees success of your business. There is so much you could be doing about your business idea as you search for capital. When you have zero capital you could start by looking for ways to engage in an income generating activity and start saving small. In this time and age it is very difficult to depend on someone to lend you money. Plan your spending and start by saving small, say over a period of twelve months you could keep aside a certain amount of money. Locked savings account can actually come in handy here. Meanwhile do research about the target market for your business venture, products or services that you will be providing, where to source your products, the best prices in town, risks involved and how to curb those risks. I mean load yourself with much information as possible. Creating a social media page for your side hustle is absolutely free of charge.

Please learn to manage your time. Make a serious self-evaluation about whether you would like to make sacrifices in order to achieve the goals of your business. You would not expect to run your business at the same time with your eight to five job since that would spell disaster for you. You can only serve one master at a time. A side hustle takes time out of your schedule daily, so ensure that you have outlined actionable goals that can be performed during this time. For example if you have a day job you could set aside some hours on evenings and the weekend dedicated to your hustle. This activities may include learning from a tutorial, executing an order, updating your business social media pages including many other activities that may arise. If you are willing, develop a routine that will support your discipline and put all extra effort to grow your business. Do not forget about your day job since you can still rely on it as a source of income plus to cover some of the bills that might need be sorted. Make it a point to consistently deliver good performance at your day job as well even as your side hustle picks.

However, not all businesses will pick. Majority of businesses are doomed to fail unfortunately so, but do not let that discourage you from exploring more ways to add to that monthly income. The best way to start a side hustle is when you have a job that can manage your expenses. Be willing to start small and grow with your clients. Even as your business kicks off you will still need to continue to source more ideas and be willing to be creative to keep it growing. Client tastes and preferences change all the time and thanks to the internet and social media we can actually keep afloat on trending ideas. Commitment and consistency is key!