Why You Should Start a Side Hustle

More than ever, now is the best time to start a side hustle. Whether your dream is to become your own boss or to have multiple streams of income, a side hustle is a great way for you to explore turning your ideas into something profitable.

If you haven’t already had the chance to read, I previously wrote a blog post on How to Build a Six-Figure Income with Your Side Hustle in which I highlighted the following:

• The average side hustler spends 11 hours per week on their secondary work and earns $12,609 per year — an average of about $25 per hour.
• 76% percent of side hustlers love their hustle, but only half like their job.
• 50% of people haven’t even started their side hustle yet.
• The 2 most popular side hustles are blogging and freelance work.

One of the stats that jumps out is the fact that 50% haven’t even started a side hustle yet. If you’re a part of this 50%, then this blog post is for you. There could be a plethora of reasons why you haven’t taken the leap, but in this blog post, I’ll walk you through the following:

• Quick stats and facts on why starting a side hustle isn’t just a fad
• How to get started before you’re ready
• How to develop a simple roadmap for the next 60 days

Side Hustle Stats You Can’t Ignore

With over 44 million Americans now claiming to have a side hustle and to be making an average of $686 per month, you have to admit that that amount could pay for several bills — allowing you to save for other business ventures and even put it into cash reserves.

More specifically, here are other stats and facts to know:

• More 1-person businesses are now breaking $1M in revenue. See more here.
• 33% are using the extra funds to make ends meet.
• 45% use it for extra spending money.
• Side hustles are cost-effective. You don’t need a ton of capital to start one.
• Profit margins are high.
• You’ll learn a ton and be able to improve quickly.
• You can also outsource as you grow so that you aren’t always trading time for dollars.
• You can dive into hobbies you’re really passionate about without risking a lot.

How to Get Started Before You’re Ready

I’ve always believed that if you wait until you’re ready, then you’ll be waiting forever. Truth be told, not everyone knows everything. The path to success is perfectly depicted here:

There is no silver bullet to succeeding. What will ensure that you get there is the following:

• You don’t give up.
• You have a clear vision for what you’re trying to achieve.
• You develop habits and routines that foster that vision.
• You surround yourself with people who will support you.
• You also surround yourself with people who have already “done it.”
• You aren’t afraid to bet on yourself.
• You’re realistic.
• You’re disciplined and committed.
• You push the “get shit done” approach.

It all comes down to timing

Here’s the thing: if you don’t attach any sort of timeframe to your goals and what you want to achieve with your side hustle, you will feel lost and unfulfilled. Make sure you have tangible goals for yourself, your side hustle, and how it will impact your life.

Don’t focus on just making money

I’m sure you’ve heard this before: “Do what you love and the money will follow.” Of course this makes sense to a degree, but it doesn’t mean that hard work isn’t a part of it. You’ll have to make sure that you focus on what’s going to make you happy too. Money shouldn’t be the only goal.

Starve your distractions

It can be easy to put off work because you want to just Netflix and chill. In this case, if you’re truly serious about starting a side hustle and generating income, you need to make time for setting up as well as scaling your craft. Doing so will position you to best understand the time commitment needed to get you to where you want to be.

Don’t be afraid to test the market

One of the best ways to see if there’s any demand for what you want to do is to:

• Research others who are already doing what you want to do.
• Figure out if they are successfully generating income and happy doing it.
• Spend some money on ads pushing a webinar or giveaway to see if you get interest.
• Push lead magnets to see if you get engagement.
• Direct cold outreach to survey those you want to target.

Develop Your 60-Day Roadmap

Holding yourself accountable for getting started and staying motivated means that you have to start small. I think of the most daunting tasks when getting started is all of the setup that needs to take place — feeling overwhelmed and feeling as if there are too many steps before a milestone is accomplished.

In a previous blog post, I highlighted a 60-day roadmap that includes the following steps:

First 30 days

• Get focused and refine your idea into something that’s actionable.
• Know “who” you’re going to target and “how” you will reach them.
• Develop a simple financial model to show how you’ll make money and how much money you’ll need to spend to kick-start your side hustle.
• Launch a website that highlights your expertise.
• Launch a blog and write at least 5 blog posts to give it life within this first month.
• Make sure you install Google Analytics on your website, so you can collect data on who’s visiting your site, from where, and the top-performing pages and content.
• Research different ways to organically promote your side hustle.
• Research different ways you can cost-effectively pay to promote your side hustle.
• Start planning for the next month as well, especially around the content and executions you want to take charge of.

Next 30 days

• Make sure you have a solid content strategy. Positioning good content along with everything you do will help build trust and credibility.
• Build out your social profiles so you can share your content there.
• Look to repurpose your content where it makes the most sense (e.g., Medium, Pulse, etc.).
• Look at niche sites where your target audience hangs out, and make sure you have a presence there as well.
• Test social ads and Google Ads with a small budget.
• Build an email list so you have people you can nurture into paying customers.
• Look at who you can build strategic partnerships and working relationships with. As I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts, look at people who are already doing what you want to do and learn from them.
• Are there affiliate products that are complementary to what you’re doing? If so, look at how you can sign up to become a partner.

Wrapping It Up

As you begin, plan in incremental chunks so that you don’t feel bogged down by larger tasks. Breaking everything out by task and even tactic will help you stay focused. So instead of feeling like you have to dedicate 8 hours, you narrow it down to roughly 1.5 hours so you’ll know you have to dedicate that much time to your side hustle 5 days a week.

Finally, always be sure that as you decide on a side hustle, you’re doing something you really enjoy doing. Doing so will keep you moving forward and making progress, with results to show.