Everything You Should Keep In Mind While Building Your Side Hustle If You Want To Go Full Time
Is side hustling in your DNA? Do you dream of the day you can officially turn in your two-week notice and leave the world of board room meetings behind to chase your own dreams? If so, I know full-time entrepreneurship is at the top of your wish list! Turning your side hustle into a full time gig may require some extra elbow work but it’s far from impossible. By applying a few tools and strategies to your side hustle now, full time status could be closer than you think!
Becoming A Full Time Business Owner
Taking your business from part-time to full-time is a giant leap! And the most important gap you want to close is your cash flow. When the time comes to work for yourself full time, you want to ensure that cash flow has a plan to increase without first dipping down.
Working for yourself full-time is a ton of responsibility. And while there may be no question if the excitement and drive are in your corner, you also need to ensure your business can support a full-time income. Luckily there are some tips you can begin implementing into your side hustle now to help! By applying these tips, you’re setting your side hustle up to be successful and scale into full-time status easily from part-time status today.
01. Be Sure Your Side Hustle Can Stand The Test Of Time
If you’re creating your side hustle in hopes that it delivers you to be a full time business owner one day, perhaps the most important step you can take is this! Be sure your side hustle can stand the test of time. This means the side hustle you create today, should still interest you one year from now. And then two or three years from now.
Sometimes it’s easy for us to get caught up in the moment or the idea of a business. And it’s even harder to tell if that business idea is something we truly enjoy until we’re in the weeds. A tip I have found with this is to develop a business plan around your side hustle idea. If after working through all of the potential hurdles, marketing plan, and more, you find that you still enjoy your idea, go for it! Need help creating a business plan? Check out my 30-page Business Plan template in the shop for only $14!
Another tip is to simply sit on your idea for a couple of weeks. Sometimes this helps the newness wear off a bit for us to examine our idea with a clear vision. It’s important that the idea of your business doesn’t become boring easily or tiring. If you plan to scale your side hustle into a full time career, the business should be something you would be happy doing 40+ hours each week.
02. Build Your Business So That It Doesn’t 100% Need You
This may sound a little backward. However, believe me, if you’re scaling your side hustle into becoming your full time career, you’ll want something I like to call passive insurance. When 100% of your income needs you to be present or to directly work; then you are putting yourself at risk. And as a full time business owner, that type of risk should be mitigated as much as possible.
Creating passive income channels inside your business can provide income even when you’re not directly working. This way, if a medical issue comes up or a vacation is on the calendar, you know income will still be coming into the office, even if you’re not. This isn’t just a great insurance policy as a business owner, but a great way to increase your income.
Here are my favorite avenues to passive income:
- Digital sales
- Affiliate income
Creating a digital product shop that compliments your business is a wonderful way to build in passive income. And if you begin doing this while you side hustle, you are only setting yourself up for success when you go full time. Check out my Digital Product Shop Mega Bundle for only $27 if this sounds like something you want to add to the top of your to-do list!
Affiliate income can be even more passive. When you implement affiliate marketing into your emails, blogging or other resources, you are setting yourself up to earn a commission anytime someone follows your suggestion. Affiliate marketing can be an easy way to serve your audience as well without having to create a product or service. If you’re interested in affiliate marketing, there is no one better than the expert herself Michelle Schroeder-Gardner. Grab Michelle’s free 36-page e-book to get you started!
03. Build With Efficient Systems And Workflows
Another step in building your side hustle so that one day it can become a full-time, well-oiled business is to build with efficient systems and workflows. When your side hustle starts out organized and has systems in place, you’re only setting yourself up for more success as your business grows. And if you turn your side hustle into a full-time career, these systems and workflows can save you a ton of time during your work week.
Systems To Consider Implementing Inside Your Side Hustle:
- Automating invoicing
- Email templates, ready to tweak and send
- Client onboarding process
- Client workflow from inquiry to delivery
- Admin & financial records
A CRM or client relationship management software is a great way to begin implementing systems and workflows into your side hustle at any stage. Dubsado is my CRM platform of choice because of its simple, easy-to-use dashboard and workflow features. With Dubsado, I can store email templates, create proposals that automatically take my clients from inquiry to payment, and can manage all workflows that happen inside my business.
This is great for the weeks when things get just a little too busy. If you’re ready to gift a CRM platform to your side hustle, check out Dubsado here for 20% off your first month or year! Your side hustle will continue to thank you as it grows!
04. Know Your Numbers
Perhaps one of the key methods for taking your side hustle to full-time is knowing your numbers. I know numbers can feel intimidating and at times down right depressing. But until we get real with our numbers, we won’t truly know where we’re at. And like anything in life, it’s hard to know where we need to go if we don’t know where we currently are.
Understanding how much your side hustle is making, how much it costs to run and how you can increase your net revenue is key. When you’re a full time business owner, these decisions will be completely yours. And only you are responsible for truly providing yourself an income. And I know you aren’t aspiring to be a full time entrepreneur just to end up paycheck to paycheck again.
Key Numbers To Know Inside Your Side Hustle:
- How much income you’re generating per month
- Your net income after taxes, retirement, overhead, etc.
- How much does it cost to run your business
- What do you need to earn in order to give yourself a full time net paycheck
If you’re interested in taking your side hustle full time, begin by diving into your numbers. Track your numbers in one place. This helps keep everything organized and allows you to see the entire picture. You can do this inside your CRM like Dubsado or using my free Side Hustle Trello Board. And if you’re ready to truly understand your numbers and prepare your side hustle to be a lean, mean, money-making machine, check out my $14 Side Hustler Financial Planner. This will walk you through everything from saving, income, taxes, financial goals, and more.
05. Establish A Proven Marketing Plan
Before taking the leap into full-time entrepreneurship, it’s important that your side hustle has a proven marketing plan. This means your side hustle has put a marketing plan into action that has successfully proven to directly impact revenue growth. A marketing plan like this to increase sales or new leads is critical to growing your business. However, it’s also great to refine before leaping into full time.
If you feel unsure just how your business is generating income or where those new leads are coming from, be sure to ask your clients or customers. You want proof of concept for your business growth before you rely on it for your full-time paycheck. Plus by doing this, you can begin leveraging and refining methods that work with even more time to devote as a full-time business owner.
Working Your Way To Full Time
If you’re starting your side hustle to one day blossom into your full-time career, understand that it’s totally possible! It may not happen overnight. However, it will happen sooner if you apply these five tips, strategy, and consistency! Taking your side hustle full time is a moment worth waiting for!
If you’re ready to take your side hustle to the next level, consider scaling your business to help you reach those goals. Download my free 7 Strategies For Scaling Your Side Hustle To The Next Level to get started! Scaling your side hustle can be the perfect next move for your business to help reach your goal of full-time entrepreneurship.
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