5 tips to turn your side hustle into a full-time business
Britain is slowly turning into a nation of side hustlers. A study by Henley Business School found that 1 in 4 UK adults have a “side hustle”, with people aged between 25 to 34 most likely to have one. 2 out of 5 people in the UK workforce manage a side hustle on their own this contributes £72 billion a year to the UK’s GDP. Women are leading the way in this as 8 million women in the UK want to turn their side hustle into a full-time job. But how can you do this? What skill sets do you need to get on top of finances? How do you know when the right time is? How do you look more professional?
With increases in costs of living recently, we all need more money, but why not turn your side hustle into a full-time job.
What is a side hustle and is it worth it?
By definition, a side hustle is “a job or occupation that brings in extra money beyond one’s regular job and main source of income”. So you might already have a side hustle and not even know it! Generally speaking, a side hustle normally is doing some freelance work on the side or doing something you are passionate about. Some common ones are freelance copywriters, candle-making, online tutoring or personal training, but it can really be anything you like.
A side hustle isn’t a part-time job, it’s generally something that you do for a little extra money that isn’t employment. Turning your side hustle into a full-time job isn’t for everyone as you might just want to keep it as a hobby. But if you have a real passion and want to make something of your own, then you are in the right place. Reboot coaching is here to help you and your business take off. Get in touch if you are interested in business coaching.
If you are looking for some stats and real figures on side hustle have a look at this White Paper by Henley Business School. Click here to download it.
A side hustle can be anything!
Have a plan | How to grow your side hustle
When working on your side hustle it’s easy to get excited and jump the gun too quick. You need to make sure you have a plan in place to minimise the risks of stepping into the unknown of running your own business. The good thing about a side hustle is that it allows you to test your business idea without the risk of doing it without a backup plan.
Before you take the leap and start working on your business full time, assess the numbers and how much money you need to make before you can quit your main job. Ask yourself the following questions:
How much money do I need to make to replace my full-time job income?
How many/much of my product or service do I need to sell in order to get to that magic number?
Where do you want to be in 5 years’ time with your business?
What is your best and worst-case scenario when it comes to your business?
At what point can this side hustle be a full-time job?
Once you have an answer to these questions you’ll be in a better position to turn your side hustle into a full-time job. At Reboot Coaching we have a lot of testimonials from real customers, you can read them here.
Don’t wait for the “right time”
You’ll hear from a lot of business owners that “it’s never the right time” when it comes to starting a business. It doesn’t matter how prepared you are, there will never be the perfect time to start, you just have to take the leap and do it. Just make sure you are ready!
When it comes to leaving your full-time job, it’s always going to be scary which stops a lot of people from doing it. If your idea is showing promise and you are reaching your goals financially, the small details will sort themselves out. Remember you can always change pricing, logos, websites and anything else at a later point, running a business is often about adapting.
We have all heard stories about someone starting a business from a dead-end full-time job and going to run a massively successful business. But these stories, in reality, are very rare and these entrepreneurs often carefully calculate every aspect of their business.
There is never a right time to fully commit!
Build your business the right way from the start
Starting off slow is often the best way to grow your side hustle. You don’t need to raise millions from investors, you can scale your business without throwing lots of money at it. The reality of it is that your business could fail, but if it is going to fail, make sure it does quickly so that you don’t waste your time and money!
A few examples where businesses started off small and grew massively:
Mailchimp started off with one guy who wanted to design some email templates for his clients but hated doing it. He found a way to automate the whole email newsletter system and now his business is worth over £400 million.
Cards Against Humanity was just a small team that raised $15,000 from Kickstarter, now they are looking at possibly selling the business for $500 million.
Under Armour, started off as a side hustle, the founder Kevin Plank was tired of wearing heavy, sweaty shirts while playing football so he made his own. He started off going up and down the country selling his shirts, now his business is worth around $4 billion.
A good exercise is to think about where you want your business to be in 10 years’ time. Do you want to be doing everything yourself, or do you want to hire employees so you can scale? You don’t want a business that relies solely on you, because if you get sick and can’t work, then your business will grind to a halt. You also want a business that works for you, and not you for it! Thinking about scaling your business from day one will pay off in the long run!
Understand your customers
To make a good business you almost always need to solve a problem. Most businesses start because there was a problem they needed to fix, in order to understand this you need know what your customers look like. To make a company that connects with customers, you need to know the market. Doing market research is a huge part of starting the business, make sure you; Do extensive research into your business, how it been done before? If not, why? If it’s been done before, is it successful? How can you be better and how are you unique?
If you get a loyal customer base then you are almost certainly going to get a successful business. Find a way to reach more customers via social media, ads, referrals, once you establish who your customers are, find out what they need!
Make sure your side hustle looks professional
Like many side hustles, you might be a one-man (or woman) band, but it’s important to look professional, 88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a site after a bad experience and 75% of website credibility comes from design. Similar statistics go for branding, when the customer sees you have professional branding they are much more likely to buy from you or use your service. So it will be worth investing some time or money into making your business look professional.
Make sure you collect testimonials from your happy customers from the beginning. 72% of customers say they use Google reviews to find businesses (Bright Local). You’ll be surprised at how many already established businesses don’t have many Google reviews, this is an easy way of getting on top of Google results quickly! Make sure your reviews are legitimate and don’t use a fake review service as you don’t want to get blacklisted by Google!
Make sure your business looks professional
Conclusion
Turning your side hustle into a full-time income is tough! But with time and dedication, it’s possible to make it work for you. There are tonnes of resources out there to help you, make sure you use everything you can. Don’t be afraid to ask friends and family to shout out the business on their social media. You might also find a lot of help from your local council for small business grants and courses!
If you have hit a roadblock in your business or if you are stuck and frustrated, at Reboot Coaching, we help businesses grow with 1-on-1 coaching. You will have the opportunity to slow down and look at your business and life objectively. You will assess your business and life situation empowering you to clear the barriers and move forwards. So you can stop procrastinating and begin to make fast progress. Get in touch for a free 30 min taster session here.