Starting and growing a business for anyone looking to get into entrepreneurship or even just building additional revenue streams is a top priority. When I started my side hustle blogging about digital marketing, I knew this was a topic I was incredibly passionate about. Secondary to that, I definitely wanted to make money with my blog.
So what did I do?
One of the first things I did was begin building a brand for myself. At the time that I started my career in the world of marketing, the transition to digital was just really starting to make a stronger move. This means I saw how SEO went from keyword stuffing with really crappy websites to developing legit content marketing strategies that provided tons of value.
Surely, timing played a big role in helping me make my move into really building out my side hustle but the bigger attributes — hands down — were: discipline, a vision with tangible goals, persistence, and pure belief in myself.
At the time, I didn’t really want to spend much money kick starting my side hustle so instead of an insanely grand vision, I just pursued everything in bite-sized chunks that pushed for progress more than anything.
In today’s blog post, I’ll highlight specific growth hacks I used to build a six figure side hustle. Don’t worry, there won’t be any overnight success stories here, but just hard work and dedication.
Let’s get to it!
1. Just start doing now and stop waiting
A big mistake I see people make is that they are using excuses to cover up why they haven’t started their side hustle yet. Instead of doing that, just get started. Seriously. If you wait, you may find yourself waiting your entire life.
Now more than ever is the best time to get a side hustle going. The amount of resources at your fingertips by just doing a simple Google search is insanely vast, more so than it was even when I started my side hustle.
Here are some simple steps you can take today:
- Research other individuals who are doing what you want to be doing and learn from them.
- Start small but more importantly, start. In other words, eat your excuses every single day for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
- Create a flexible schedule that will enable you to make time to work on growing your side hustle.
- Stop worrying about other people’s opinions. When I started my side hustle, I did it for me, not because my friends thought it’d be cool.
2. Get a personal website up and running
As I highlighted in detail from this blog post, create a website so you have a place to host all of your content and direct people to. Having a place where you can direct traffic is going to be an important part of your side hustle. Your website is going to serve as a way for potential and existing customers to get in touch with you. You’ll also be able to use it to funnel in visitors who may be interested in what you are selling and provide a clear call-to-action (CTA) that will generate revenue.
Here’s why having a website is imperative to your success:
- The average revenue for a small business is $3.6 million, but the average revenue for a small business with a website is $5.03 million.
- 46% of consumers in the study based their decisions on the credibility of websites on their visual appeal and aesthetics.
- Nearly 8 in 10 customers would stop engaging with content that doesn’t display well on their device.
- 62% of companies that designed a site specifically for mobile experienced an increase in sales.
So where do you start with your website?
The top elements I recommend for your website are a homepage, about page, contact page, and a blog. Of course, if you are looking to sell actual products, then you would want an e-commerce functionality (i.e. a shop page) as well. Here are the steps to consider when creating your website:
Step 1. Register Your Domain
Figure out what domain name you want to buy and register. In other words, you need a place to actually host your website before you can start developing it. I recommend checking either BlueHost or DreamHost. I’ve used both and love their customer service, as well as the ease of getting your website up and running.
For BlueHost, you will see that their cheapest plan starts at $3.95/month and includes a free domain name. Simply go to www.bluehost.com and click the “Get Started” button. From there, you can choose the basic plan to start.
As for DreamHost, you can see that their basic plan is priced at $2.59/month. Once you click on the “Get Started” button, you’ll be able to get your domain registered.
Step 2. Design Your Website
This part is probably the most daunting, especially if you don’t have any web design experience. However, you’re in luck because there are a ton of awesome drag-n-drop tools available. You just have to decide which one is the right one for you. I’ll walk you through the options that I believe are worth it and make it easy to get started.
- Option 1. Consider Instapage. With templates ready to go, you don’t even have to think twice about HTML and CSS. You can choose one of their templates, set it up to live under the domain you registered, and go from there. Pricing for Instapage starts at $149/month.
- Option 2. Check out Unbounce. Similar to Instapage, you can do the same things, but at a cheaper price. Unbounce pricing starts at $80/month and is easy-to-use as well as intuitive. Plus, you can sign on now and get 20% off your first three months.
- Option 3. Should you decide to build your site using WordPress, you definitely need to consider Elementor. It has been a life-saver for me and has made making changes to my website super easy. The starting price is free, but I’d recommend you upgrade to at least the “personal” plan which is $49/month. It’ll be worth the money, especially because your website is going to be used so much to drive quality traffic and sales for your side hustle.
3. Be crystal clear on what you have to offer
Of course the idea of reaching the masses and making a shit ton of money sounds incredible. However, be realistic here. Know exactly what it is you bring to the table how it will add value to other people’s lives.
The reason why I grew my side hustle into a six figure business was because I was blogging about real challenges CEOs and CMOs were facing when it came to their marketing strategies. More specifically, they weren’t yielding the positive results and wasting a ton of money on strategies and tactics that they thought would.
With a clear offering you will be able to also instill a sense of trust and confidence that you are a subject matter expert. From there, developing content that showcases your expertise will help tremendously. So keep reading…
4. Develop a ton of valuable content
Create a content schedule that includes all of the topics and content types that your target market cares to consume. This would range from blog posts, checklists, webinars, virtual events, and videos. Point is, developing content with value means that you are doing the following:
- Addressing the pain points your target market faces.
- Diversify where it makes sense. This means that you’re in tune with what works. For example, if micro content delivered via Instagram Reels might push people to engage with you more over a detailed 3,000 word blog post.
- Stop trying to go viral with content. Put value above everything you do. (I know I sound like a broken record).
- Have fun with the content you produce. Be authentic and show your personality.
- Get over the idea of making everything ‘perfect’ before you publish.
- Commit to a publishing schedule every single month. Fresh content is going to be a big advantage.
5. Have a legit content distribution strategy
Once you produce and publish your content on your website, the next steps are to look at both organic and paid routes you can go about distributing that content. This means you’re going off your website so you can drive that traffic back to your website.
There are a multitude of ways you can go about doing this. Here are some I recommend:
- LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
- Create YouTube videos off of popular blog posts.
- Promote and boost blog posts.
- Push for a strong CTA with each of your content posts.
- Connect and partner with like-minded people to expand your reach.
Over to you
As you navigate the world of a side hustler, know that the steps are not much different than being a small business owner or entrepreneur who’s ready to create solutions to the problems they want to solve. Take your time when it comes to enjoying the process because going from zero to six figures won’t happen overnight. Be patient with yourself and as you push for growth.
