How to Take Your Side Hustle Full Time? Best Tips to Become a Successful Self-employed Entrepreneur

Have you been thinking about changing jobs for some time?

Your job has stopped making you happy, you do not feel fulfilled in your job, or the income it provides is insufficient and does not fit the number of daily hours you work. Do you have a hobby that you have been passionate about for years, but do you know how to turn it into a job and your primary source of income? Suppose you find yourself in any of these cases or any other similar circumstances. In that case, we have good news for you: you are not alone, because there are millions of people who every year decide to bet on their ideas and leave their boring jobs to become entrepreneurs.

And although we live in turbulent times, where the pandemic of the coronavirus monopolizes everything and causes millions of people to lose their jobs every day or the world’s large companies to go bankrupt for lack of liquidity and for not having defined expectations for the future, there is still a small group of dreamers who do not give up: they are the entrepreneurs, the engine of the industry that continues to grow and that every year adds more and more followers who believe that being your boss is also an alternative for success.

However, is any entrepreneurial formula valid to achieve success? Unfortunately, no. Being our boss is satisfying as it is complicated, and on more than one occasion, we will think about giving up and opting to look for a job similar to the one we had. The truth is that few people achieve the expected results when they decide to create their own company or at least in the desired time frame, which does not mean that it is impossible or that it is only available to more economically privileged people. Still, we need to follow a proper plan and advice from experts in the sector.

According to several studies conducted by The Academy of Management Journal, those entrepreneurs who decide to create their own company in parallel to their current job are almost 40% more likely to succeed than those who decide to drop everything and bet on their project without any other additional income to support them. Why does this happen? Possibly the reduction of short and long-term risks.

When a person has a steady job that provides a stable monthly salary, he/she will be gaining peace of mind and time to invest in other projects. However, if he loses that livelihood and bets everything he has on something that he does not know will go well, not only will he feel much more frustrated, but he will have much less time to react. The result of such bets is usually a pile of debt, along with the disappointment of not having been able to realize your dream as you had planned.

Steve Jobs’ work partners, Ebay’s creator Pierre Omidyar and Henry Ford are some of the most significant examples of this type of entrepreneurship, starting their careers in the business world within a large and successful company that provided them with security and a promising working future. At the same time, they ventured to take their first steps in their projects slowly but surely. The only disadvantage of this type of project? Time. When you combine two work activities, the time is reduced by half, and therefore, the results you will get from each of your projects will be longer in time.

To help all those who are thinking about starting a business and guiding them in their first steps towards solo business success, we are going to explain the five best tricks that, according to experts in the business world, any person who decides to start a business should always take into account.

Are you ready to know the five keys to success in business entrepreneurship?

Let’s get started!

The five best tips to become a successful self-employed entrepreneur

Tip 1: Ask yourself what you want.

One of the most important things anyone should do at least once in their life is to ask themselves what they want: What do I want for my life? What do I need to feel happy and satisfied with what I do and what I have achieved at work?

These questions are helpful for those who are thinking about starting a business and those who have been working in a place for a long time and do not know if they feel satisfied with what they do, since only we know what we need. By asking ourselves this kind of question, we will be a little closer to finding out what we want to pursue in life.

Change jobs or move up?

This is an essential question to know what success means to you. It is essential to be clear that the idea of success is not something standard that works the same for everyone, since becoming the chief executive of a company may be the dream of one person. In contrast, for another, the real success lies in living on a beautiful family farm surrounded by nature and peace. There are many types of success, and the important thing is to find out what is ours.

For example, some women have been running their bakery for years and are doing well, but family and friends keep telling them that they should seize the moment and expand, try new cakes and hire more cooks to help them move forward. These people are probably right, and if they tell her that it is because they want the best for her, have they asked her what she needs? They often don’t, which generates unnecessary conflicts that prevent us from moving forward as entrepreneurs and people.

Do we want to move up in our careers, or do we want to change our paths completely? The answer to that question is vital to find out what is our path to success, beyond what the people around us may think. The future is yours, and the only person who should decide how it will be is you and not the rest, so before you start anything or change anything, ask yourself that question. It will help you a lot.

Imagine your life in a different way and evaluate if you are delighted with this new version.

Is it worth leaving behind everything I have achieved during all these years of hard work and sacrifice for a dream that I don’t know if will succeed? Are my dreams feasible, or are they dreams? Will I regret after two months of leaving my executive position in a company because I want to create my own ecological clothing company? The answer to this question is up to us, and depending on what our next step will be, it will be in one direction or another.

We mustn’t be afraid to dive into our deepest desires, into the most surreal thoughts that we all keep tucked away in the back of our minds, and let them all make sense little by little. The only way to make a dream stop being a dream is to give it credibility, stop talking about it as something idyllic and start giving it a time and space in our lives.

Do you want to be the boss of your life and would like to create a small handmade pottery business? Have you always dreamed of opening your painting studio? Those dreams can stop being dreams if you want them to be, but first, you must believe in them and shape them into an actual long-term business project. There is also the possibility that when you set out a dream in a natural way, it may not work out, that is, as a hobby or side activity, it could still be in your life but not to the point where you can make a living from it and quit your current job. However, if you don’t do this self-reflection exercise, you will never know.

Ask yourself critical questions so that what has been living inside you for years becomes a reality. If we are not able to look inside our dreams, who else will do it? You are the owner of your destiny, so you must act accordingly.

Tip 2: Work on your side hustle in such a way that it feels like you have two full-time jobs

Have you been swamped for a while and feel like you’re working at two different things full-time? Seven days a week, you have work, whether it’s your main job or your side hustle, and you feel like you always have something to do and can’t get as much rest as you’d like. If you find yourself in a similar situation, congratulations because that will mean that your project is already underway and what’s better, it’s working!

Many people want to start their own business at the same time they continue with their job; however, due to a lack of interest or lack of perseverance, they end up always giving more importance to their primary work activity and do not dedicate the necessary hours to their project to get it off the ground. The result of this? The venture never takes place and all the ideas that revolved around that project fade away over time, opting to continue with their everyday work life and not risk anything else. This is a real shame, but it happens more often than we think.

Investing time in your future project is investing in success.

To make it easier for you to understand how you should distribute your time when you are thinking about starting your own business, but still have to dedicate a lot of working hours to your main job, we are going to explain an example of dual entrepreneurship where the person starts dedicating more time to his regular job and progressively divides that number of hours between both activities.

The example we will explain below is about a Wall Street employee who wants to create his brand of handmade ceramics. Of course, this person will have to dedicate an average of 6 or 7 hours a day to his job as an economist in the stock market, having to take advantage of all his free time or stop sleeping some hours at night to start creating his ceramic brand: logo, parts, buying supplies, etc.

After a while and with the brand already fully established on the Internet, the next thing he will have to do is to start the production of material that he will later sell on his website. That will mean an increase in working hours in your second job, and you can do it during the weekends or during all the free hours you have every day after leaving Wall Street.

Finally, when he has already started selling all his handcrafted products online, and if the brand he has created has been successful with the public, this stock market employee can start to consider reducing his working hours on Wall Street to be able to dedicate the same amount of hours to his second job. In this way, he will distribute his efforts every week and will not feel so exhausted at the end of the day, since being 100% at two jobs at the same time is exhausting.

Later on and progressively, you will be presented with the opportunity to quit your main job altogether to devote yourself entirely to your passion, ceramics. However, this will not be something immediate that will happen from one day to the next. Still, you will have to evaluate the evolution of your project in the short and long term, the salary that you can earn regularly being your boss, and whether or not it is worth leaving your current job to bet on what until now was only your side hustle.

With this example, we wanted to show you the other side of entrepreneurship, the mental exhaustion that can be generated by having two jobs, and the risks that have to be assumed to a lesser or greater extent. At the same time, our project progresses, and the fear of not knowing if you are investing so much money and effort will be successful. In short, if you feel that right now you are a person with two full-time jobs, do not worry because there will come a time when that will end, and you will be able to enjoy 100% of your time, and you will be the owner of your future.

Tip 3: Evaluate if the income your second job provides you with is enough for you

At this point, we will talk about the aspect that nobody likes to talk about when it comes to dreaming: money. And is that although having a hobby is something amiable and want to live from it is an excellent idea, in the end, everything will always come down to the same thing: if the income that gives you that business is enough to survive or not. Because as parents say, you can’t live on your dreams, no matter how beautiful or satisfying they may be.

Therefore, after evaluating everything that your new possible job can give you personally, you should think carefully if it will be economically profitable for you. For those people who live alone and do not have a partner or who do not yet share expenses with their partner, going into the adventure of being their boss may be much more complex, and taking economic risks may not be as feasible as for those people who do have a person to support them and who could make up for the lack of income temporarily.

For example, if right now in your current job as an office worker you have an annual income of around $35,000 that allows you to live alone in your own home, pay your taxes, pay for your health and possible leisure trips, and your second job in which you are not yet working full time is generating an income of $25,000 per year, would it be possible for you to leave your first job and live with $10,000 less each year? Can you adjust your finances to your dream, or will your dream cause your life and stability to falter?

There is a false belief that the more hours and money you invest in a project, the more economic benefits it will give you. Which is wrong and often only generates losses and frustration, not to mention the amount of time wasted on something that ultimately will not allow you to live comfortably or at least calmly. And more is not always more and much less when it comes to entrepreneurship, since any successful entrepreneur can explain that his company did not work better because he slept less or invested more of his money in it, but by making better decisions reconfiguring his entire life budget.

Would the new job that you have been dreaming about for years allow you to live well? Does your partner (if you have one) think it is feasible for you to earn a little less in exchange for working on what you are passionate about? Is living your dream much more critical than being filthy rich and having twice as much income every year? The answers to all these questions are ours alone, and no one can decide what our future will be, nor what kind of life will make us truly happy.

Evaluate the long-term income of your project and check if it fits your annual expenses

As we have been indicating during the whole point, to know if your new job, your dream, is feasible and would allow you to lead a life away from the office in which you have been locked up for so many years, the first thing you should do is to analyze the earnings that it could give you and the number of fixed expenses that you have as a citizen annually.

An adult citizen with no dependent children and single has these expenses by default:

• Medical insurance if you live in a country where there is no social security plan for your citizenship.
• Food
• Housing expenses
• National taxes

Of course, these expenses are generalized, and each person will have them to a greater or lesser extent, in addition to the rest of the expenses that an adult person may have every month: child support, clothing expenses, hygiene, and beauty accessories, furniture, transportation, gasoline, etc. Each person should carefully analyze these data and then evaluate if the income that our second job provides us at that moment would be enough to cover them completely, or if, on the contrary, we would fall short. We should adjust our current life budget in order not to have losses.

In the case of verifying that the income from your project is insufficient and that living only from that job would mean having to adjust your economy too much, you would have no choice but to give up your dream and continue with your current job until you find a new formula for success that would bring you the benefits you need to live. However, if the income generated by our project is insufficient at present, but we believe that we have a chance that shortly these benefits will double, we could risk investing a little more of our time in that second job and wait to see the results.

This point is very personal since each person’s economy is different, and so are his or her needs. It is not the same for a married woman who decides to start a business with a stable partner and no children as for a single man who has to pay for everything without anyone’s help. Depending on the circumstances and how brave we are, we will have to decide whether to go ahead with our project or to be realistic and give it up.

Tip 4: Try having a savings account

Are you excited about starting your own business, and you’ve been saving money for years in a savings account that no one knows about? Maybe investing all those savings in your life’s dream is a good idea. Savings is the money you have decided to save over the years to have security, an economical alternative to help you in case of emergency, or to allow you to start something without having to wait too long, as is the case of a side business.

The only drawback of investing your savings in a business? The risk, of course. You never know if the money you will spend on creating your own business will be profitable or if, over time, that small initial investment will double or triple. Often, this does not happen, and all those savings are lost, causing us great sadness and the feeling that we should have used all that money on something safer, such as a car or the entrance of a new apartment. It cannot be predicted, so the decision to take those savings or not will always be something very personal that we will have to live with forever, no matter what happens afterward.

On the other hand, there is also the possibility of having safety savings account in case our second business does not work as we want, and for a few months, it only generates losses. If we are parents or have other debts to pay, having a good amount of savings to fall back on in emergency cases will be of great help and will prevent us from spending many sleepless nights thinking about how to pay for everything we owe.

Be that as it may, having a savings account is always a good option, either to use that money as initial capital for our new business or as life insurance to resort to in case of extreme need. If you can and have the opportunity to start allocating some of your money monthly to a parallel account, do it. You will not regret it.

Tip 5: Look for ways to work more intelligently

As we have explained throughout the article, investing more time in a business does not always mean that it will work better, often causing us to run out of energy to manage it properly and frustrating us quickly when we have to face a problem. Less is more. In the times in which we live, even more, thanks to the introduction of the Internet and social networks in the world of work, millions of small entrepreneurs have doubled their productivity and saved many hours of work.

Do not hesitate to computerize your entire business and make your online presence very important because thanks to the tools that social networks like Instagram or Facebook provide to entrepreneurs today, you can reach many people worldwide with just one click. Bet on new technologies, and you will always win, do not hesitate.

We presently live in the gig economy. Many people have to juggle various sources of income. From selling things like leg warmers for chairs on Etsy to teaching hip-hop dance, people have to engage in many side hustles for upkeep. Although quantifying the exact number of contingent workers can be difficult, we estimate millions of Americans participate in the gig economy. Besides availing extra cash, a person can use it to pay off debts or keep it as future savings. These gigs also help people achieve their long-term occupational objectives.

According to Emma Madison, a coach and career strategist at CrucialConstructs, besides financially helping a person, side hustles also can avail you the chance to try other things of your interest. Perhaps you may have always wanted to be a driver, writer, seller of vintage clothing, or photographer, but you took a desk job. Pursuing an interest like hairdressing or selling clothes on the weekend can help you decide whether to shift careers or be a hairdresser without leaving the job you already have. If you choose the latter, you have to be an excellent time manager. Otherwise, you may concentrate on one side more than the other, especially the one giving you more income.

Through the side gig, you can get some skills that can be of benefit to your employer. Thus, your value as an employee increases. It can be a great feeling to make extra income while also improving the skills you use in your regular day job. According to Ashley Wells, who did some freelance spreadsheet jobs for small entrepreneurs, you get to meet various classes of people through your side gig. Through such interactions, there is a potential that better opportunities may arise. It is among the benefits of side hustles besides earning you extra cash. The people may also give you ideas and techniques that you can use to expand your side gig.

The options for potential side gigs are unlimited. You can be a marketing consultant, part-time hairdresser, weekend fast-food seller, or night-time waitress in a local restaurant. A majority of side hustles do not require a lot of capital to set up too. Only acting will create a change in your life. If you do not do things differently tomorrow than you did today, nothing will change. It takes courage, perseverance, and persistence to make a change in one’s life.

5 Questions that can help you Identify the Right Side Gig

However, before settling on a new side gig, it is vital that you carefully think to ensure that you choose the right side hustle that aligns with your needs. Below are the five questions that can help you in identifying the right side gig.

1.   What is your motivation?

People choose side gigs for various reasons. It may be to get quick cash for paying off your debt, boost your skills, or start a business. Do you need extra money as soon as possible? Then you will have to pursue a thing that will give you income quickly, according to Carlson. For instance, you may have to sell unused electronics or find a weekend tutoring gig for quick cash. Carlson also says that party planning and starting a blog are among the “long-tail” side gigs. Though it might take longer to get paid, working for yourself can be satisfying, as well as the prospects for work that is more lucrative down the line.

2.   Does your day job impose any restrictions?

Some job contracts prohibit the workers from taking any part-time job or moonlighting. It happens especially if the part-time gig is in the same industry. For instance, if you work in a software development firm, the employer may prohibit you from developing applications from outside clients. The employer may see this as a competition. Does your employer restrict you from taking side gigs, or is career development your primary motivation? Madison suggests you offer to take on more additional projects at your regular day job. Although you might not earn extra money, these projects may end up paying more earnings later in the future when you become more marketable. You may also become passionate about your work.

3.   What is the time that you can devote to your side hustle?

Some side hustles require a significant investment in time every week. However, others are more manageable. It is likely that you already have a demanding day job, so choose wisely and pace yourself. You have limited time and energy, and; you do not want to burn out. Estimate the time that you have after commuting, working, and attending to your family duties. Then choose a side gig that fits your schedule. Remember that some gigs like personal training, nursing, and teaching Pilates require certifications before you can start earning. Therefore, before getting too deep into the process, you must consider if you have the money and time to invest in these certifications.

4.   Do you prefer non-scheduled or scheduled work?

According to Carlson, non-scheduled side gigs are exciting because you can do them whenever you have the energy and time to do them. It can be late at night, before work, or during the lunch break. Non-scheduled work includes transcribing, content writing, music production, and reselling items for profit on uBid, eBay, or Bonanza. Although they have delivery lines, you have the freedom to set your timelines to meet them. Yoga teaching and weekly tutoring gigs are examples of scheduled work. They are great if you prefer a predictable and structured paycheck. Thus, contemplate the side hustle of preference before settling on one.

5.   Do you like location-independent gigs?

Programming, content writing, photo, and video editing are examples of location-independent writing because you can do them anywhere. Many side hustlers prefer these side gigs. While these gigs are popular, they are too populated. Therefore, the competition is high. You can find more opportunities in location-dependent gigs like helping the students prepare for entrance exams, personal training, and teaching music lessons. Carlson says there is high demand for location-dependent gigs.

Bottom line

With so many side gigs, choosing the right one can be overwhelming. A side gig is vital, especially if you need to earn extra income for upkeep. Asking yourself the questions above can help you narrow down the choices that fit your financial needs and passion.

3 Key Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Side Gig

It’s inevitable.

You’ll have a job that doesn’t pay enough for your lifestyle at some point in your life. Or maybe you’re looking to timeline out your future and get a sense of what you’d like to do next. In either case, taking on a side gig is an easy solution that provides extra income while still allowing you the freedom to continue pursuing your main career path.

Take a moment to think about the extra money you could make from a side gig.

But before picking a new project or venture, there are three key questions every person should ask themselves before choosing a side gig:

1. How much money do I need?
2. What can I offer the labor market?
3. Can this side job help me get to where I want to be in the long run?

Asking yourself these key questions will help you decide whether or not starting a business or taking on freelance gigs is suitable for your current situation.

How much money do I need?

The median cost of living for an adult in the United States is about $50,000 per year. If you’re single with no dependents and have high self-discipline, it can be possible to live off less than that amount, especially if your rent or mortgage payments are low or nonexistent. But for most people, it’s nearly impossible to survive on just one income alone without experiencing some financial stress.

If you’re not in a desperate situation, then determining your financial needs for the near future will help you figure out how quickly you need to earn extra money. Here are some questions to help you get started:

How much debt do I have? Decide what percentage of your income is reasonable to allocate toward your monthly debt (5-10% seems typical). This amount can be subtracted from your monthly earnings, creating room for side income.

What about savings? Do you have enough stashed away that you don’t need any immediate boost in earnings? If so, set this amount aside and use it only when an emergency arises.

Next, calculate how many hours you’re able to work each week. Working 10 hours per week on a side gig will get you just around $200 extra dollars per month if you have a full-time job. A pittance compared with what some people earn in a day or even an hour.

What can I offer the labor market?

Are there tasks associated with your job that you could do for someone else on nights and weekends? Can you babysit after school, walk dogs, cut lawns, wait tables after your shift ends at the restaurant, deliver flowers when it’s convenient for customers (not necessarily for yourself), drive carpools, or act as an Uber driver during rush hour traffic?

Doing any of these things can be much more lucrative than working a typical 9-to-5. If you can find more than one high-paying side gig, then you’ll be able to double, triple, or even quadruple your earning potential.

Even if you have a low hourly rate, the numbers can quickly add up. If you work on weekends and save on transportation costs by walking dogs in the neighborhood where you live, it’s possible to earn enough money on weekends to cover monthly expenses.

Can this side job help me get to where I want to be in the long run?

Consider how your current responsibilities at work will play into your future plans. If you’re looking for advancement within your company or are interested in starting a business of your own eventually, then moonlighting might not make sense.

Another consideration is how this side gig will interact with your current career. If you spend long hours on weekends babysitting or running other errands for additional money, can you still keep up with your job responsibilities? Will the extra stress of working two jobs affect your performance at work?

If any of these factors are deal-breakers, then it’s possible that earning extra money on the side won’t help bring you closer to realizing your long-term plans, and that’s perfectly fine.

Earning extra income isn’t always about advancing toward a goal. Sometimes, it’s about getting by until times are better. Just know your limits before making this decision, so you don’t get in over your head down the road.

Key facts to include:

1. The median cost of living in the United States is around $50,000 per year for an adult with no dependents, and self-discipline can be done on less than that (5% – 10% of income should go towards paying off debts).
2. Having enough savings also helps determine how much money you will need purely for spending.
3. Consider your current responsibilities at work and how this side gig will interact with them; long weekends working may hinder future plans.
4. Earnings from side gigs may not always be enough to keep up with living expenses, and stress or exhaustion can hinder performance.
5. Side gigs should empower you to achieve future goals such as advancing your job, starting a business, etc.
6. If money is needed immediately for living expenses, it’s best to plan accordingly and earn that amount by working more hours or getting another side gig.
7. Having savings and survival skills helps in figuring out how much extra income one will need.
8. It can help you to survive until better opportunities come along and help achieve long-term goals if done right. Choosing the right side gig can make all the difference.

Conclusion

It’s usually easy to recognize if you’re satisfied with what you do because you’ll feel energized and excited to explore new opportunities that help take advantage of your natural talents and abilities.

However, if it takes months or even years before you feel like there’s progress in your career (however small), then a side gig can provide an excellent way of testing different avenues until you find the right fit.

Remember that everyone has their own preferences regarding working conditions, responsibilities, benefits, etc. Therefore, it may take some time before you discover where you truly shine.

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