Are you looking to start a side hustle?
For many people, settling into a corporate nine to five job means no longer having the time and energy to focus on their passions. Then there are others like myself, that a nine to five job is a means to an end while we take our spare time to build a side hustle business which we have dreamed about for years.
Those of us who are seeking to build a side hustle
outside of their day to day jobs do so in order to pursue dreams of being a successful entrepreneur
all the while we are earning a steady paycheck. While there are challenges along the path of doing both, the dedication, time, and patience required can actually help you develop the skills needed to be successful.
Why have a side hustle business?
Whether your goal is just to make some extra money to pay off debt or to start a college fund or to eventually open up a small business, your nine to five job and your side hustle need to learn to co-exist. Here are some ways to make that work in order for you to be successful:
Set real goals. Goals are the lifeblood of any business. Goals are meant to keep you on pace, keep you focused by challenging you, goals help to keep you motivated and to give you the momentum to achieve your ultimate goal.
But before you set any goals you must first sit down and decide what are your short term and long term goals are going to look like. Then you need to decide if they are achievable and reasonable. Once you have decided that the goals you have come up with are achievable then you need to create an action plan, goals are nothing more than words on paper unless they are written down and put into action. There is plenty of app’s that can assist you with the setting, and tracking of your goals.
Related article: How do you define the word “success” for yourself?
Develop a routine, and sticking to it.
Time management is one of the most important life skills you can learn. Knowing what you’re spending your time on — and how much time you’re spending on it — is a key component of successfully managing a side hustle.
One effective way to map out your day is to start a journal
. It can be scary at first but once you start to make it a daily habit, it gets easier. Consider using some sort of task manager
method to outline exactly when you’ll complete which tasks. This will give you a realistic idea of how many tasks you can fit into each day and allow you to make the most of your time.
To stay on track and spend only the amount of time you’ve allotted to each task on your task management software
.
Make the most of your spare time.
In each day of our lives, we have pockets of time that present themselves to us. This could be between production stops, meetings, tasks or anything else that opens up time throughout your day. The idea is to maximize this precious time by taking advantage of these moments throughout your day.
So when these times pop-up throughout your day you need to have task categorized which will allow you to take care of them in these windows of time. A person could use GoogleCalendar to help you organize these task in order to keep your day productive.
In your day you will also have downtimes like breaks or lunch that give you opportunities to schedule your day and your tasks for your side hustle. Even on weekends or in the evenings don’t be wasting time watching television or playing games but use these times to put in a few hours of work on your side hustle. To be a successful entrepreneur you need to make sacrifices.
Related article: Is Direct Selling For Me?
Automate as much as possible.
Since you will be spending much of your day on your first job using automation software is the way to go. When you can automate many of your side hustle tasks as possible this will allow more pockets of time to open up.
There are various software programs like Hootsuite
that can make your day much more productive. Tools like clinchshare.com make scheduling and automation of your social media post much easier. Almost every aspect of your side hustle can be automated some way or another. From daily email marketing to social media post to accounting can be automated today with technology.
