oday we’re talking about side hustles. I’m going to talk about what they are, how they work and how you can start one.
Since I can remember, I’ve always loved making money. Not for the reasons you may think, the sheer ability to do something that people found important enough to pay for was extremely fulfilling.
Get this! I moved to the U.S when I was in the 6th grade from a country called Zimbabwe, I can remember knocking on peoples door in our apartment complex and offering to take out their trash. I was quite literally valet trash before valet trash was a thing.
I started charging people $1.50 and then I started charging $3.00 per bag and eventually I was making $5 per door taking out multiple bags. This was my side hustle.
What is a side hustle?
So what is a side hustle? Well, generally people break work into two groups. Normally you’re an employee or an entrepreneur meaning you own a business. But what about the people that fit somewhere in the middle.
So a side hustle is just another way to make money outside of your primary job
Should you start one?
When you’re thinking about whether you should start one, there’s two things you should ask yourself
- Why do you want to start a side hustle? Are you hoping to do something you enjoy doing? Maybe by day you’re in a technical role but you’re looking for a side hustle that will allow you to have a creative expression.
- Clarify you goals (do you want more money or more efficient time.)
How Do you Start one?
The first thing you want to do is think about what type of side hustle you would like to start! There’s a few ways to do this, here are some of the elements I think will help you decide - Right down 3 things
These are just a few examples of people that have figured out how to find a link between their skills and things they naturally enjoy. But it may not always be this easy and straight forward
Sometimes it takes a lot of time actively trying new things to find out if you actually like them. Don’t feel any pressure to pick the right side hustle the first time. I’ll be creating another video next week sharing top side hustle ideas for 2021 so stay tuned.
How to grow a side hustle
OK! So you’ve finally got a side hustle idea, you think you’ve found the one you want to start.
You now want to start doing some research to evaluate what’s missing in the market. Take a glimpse at your future competitors.
Next You want to identify your ideal customer, this is sometimes known as your target persona.
How to manage your side hustle
Lastly and most importably managing your side hustle can be a challenge. Especially because you’re having to manage your day job, personal commitments, family, self care and your side hustle.
You have to have systems in place to accommodate all of the things you’re juggling. There’s two things I’d like to share that may help with this.
The first is Boundaries - You have to set boundaries. You want to have clear lines of what happens when.
For instance, you don’t want to spend time on your side hustle during the day when you should be doing your day Job and you also don’t want to be working on your day job in the evening when you should be working on your side hustle.
This is an example but that applies to everything, you need to have dedicated time for your family, friends, self care, job and side hustle.
Number 2, be forgiving - its better to have lower expectations for yourself and over deliver than to feel stressed because you’ve set the bar high.
There’s this toxic hustle culture that helps absolutely no one.
It’s really all about balance, having no side hustle or passion project isn’t ideal because you don’t make extra money and you don’t get to find another medium to express yourself.
So having a side hustle is great but the moment your side hustle starts to run you instead of you running it, you no longer have a side hustle. You now have a second job.
Just Start!
In Summary, I’ve had side hustles that suck. I mean the level of stress I was experiencing was not worth the money I was making.
But I’ve also had side hustles that I would have done for free. That’s how much I enjoyed what I was doing, getting paid to do something like that can be extremely fulfilling.
Not everyone may be passionate about their day job so I understand why it can be important to work on other things you care about while making a little cash on the side.
I really hope this video will help you continue with your side hustle or encourage you to start one. It can be such a blessing.
Next week I’ll be posting a video with 9 top side hustle ideas, hit the subscribe button so you can be the first to know when that video is ready.
Until Next Time,
