Gone are the days when a family of 4 could live on one person’s full-time income. Most families are struggling to survive with both parents working full-time. In the last decade alone, housing prices have soared 30% while the average income has only risen 11%. With the rising costs of housing, food, education, and more it’s no longer a guarantee that you’ll be financially stable with a single full-time job.
Most people try to keep up with the ever-increasing cost of living by getting a second job. But that doesn’t leave much room for a work/life balance and so more people are turning to working for themselves. Getting a side hustle has become more popular than ever since the coronavirus pandemic and many people that start a side hustle do so with the intention of supplementing their income or achieving enough success to feel secure in quitting their full-time jobs entirely.
Your side hustle needs to be extremely successful in order to provide you with the financial security necessary to quit your day job. So, how can you achieve that success?
Choosing The Right Side Hustle
There’s a plethora of advice online about how to start a successful side hustle. All it takes is a quick internet search and you’ll be bombarded with articles and blog posts suggesting lockdown-proof side hustles that can you do at home to achieve financial security.
Finding the right side hustle for you takes time. You may end up trying a few different things before finding a job that you enjoy, are good at, and can be successful with. If you’re the creative type then content creation is probably the way to go. But content creation can look like a lot of different things so you’ll need to narrow that down.
Perhaps you have a way with words and enjoy writing. You could try content writing, copywriting, or blogging. Fiction writing can bring in a good income through certain online platforms like Dreame. Or, if you’d rather self-publish, then you may be able to make a good income through Kindle Direct Publishing or using Patreon to post stories and receive donations from fans.
Don’t worry if writing isn’t your forte because there are still plenty of options. You could use the knowledge you learned in your regular 9-5 to do consulting work online through LinkedIn or Upwork. You could also make and sell online courses through SkillShare and other platforms.
Starting a side hustle doesn’t mean you have to make videos on Youtube anymore- although that’s still a valid option! You need to determine what your skillset is, who your target audience or customer is, and figure out the best way to reach them.
Understanding Finances
Once you’ve determined what it is you want to do it’s time to focus on the financial aspect of things. Several side hustles don’t require any money to get started. All you need is your skills and a laptop.
Even if you don’t need an investment to get started you’re still going to want to set up a budget for yourself. For example, if you’re going to be selling a course, book, or artwork then you may want to pay for advertisements to help you start generating traffic.
You can network with others in the same niche to begin getting your name and brand out there. Once you get your first few customers don’t become complacent. You constantly need to be marketing yourself and advertising can be an effective way to do this.
Depending on where you live you’re also going to want to take taxes into account. Working for yourself means that you can’t rely on an employer to take the necessary taxes out of your check every week. You’re going to be responsible for setting aside some of your income to cover your taxes every year.
Create a spreadsheet to track how much you’re spending on your side hustle and how much you’re making. It will help you to keep your finances on track and show you which aspects of your side hustle are the most profitable.
Set Realistic Goals
Many side-hustlers dream about being able to quit their day job one day and work for themselves full time. While this isn’t an unrealistic goal, it’s probably not going to happen as quickly as you’d hope.
It can take a lot of time to build your audience or customer base up, especially when you’re starting from scratch. After all, how can your Etsy store compare against the well-established wholesale fashion jewelry suppliers out there?
That’s why setting realistic goals is so important. It will help you to keep things in perspective and prevent you from putting too much pressure on yourself and burning out before your store has the chance to succeed.
Set your goals in increments; the first month, second month, third month, etc. Some goals you may want to set include how much content or how many products you want to produce, how much revenue you want to obtain, how many other creators you want to network or collaborate with, and how much engagement you want to see across various platforms.
Once you have a defined side hustle, financial plan, and goals set you’ll be well on your way to making your side hustle a profitable venture.
