Tongayi Choto
In this day and age, your regular 9-to-5 may not be cutting it for you in more ways than one. You may need more streams of revenue to live the life you want. Also, your job may not be fulfilling you as a unique human being with interests outside of your occupation. You may have considered starting a side hustle to supplement your finances and desires. You weren’t wrong. Though it will be more work, a profitable side hustle is attainable and could lead you to more satisfaction in life even with your current occupation.
When deciding on a side hustle, you should first identify things that make you happy. What are you passionate about? Are you an artist looking to get your work out there more? Do you spend all your free time on HGTV or Zillow looking at homes? Do you like to write and want to do it more often? Find what you love, then do your due diligence to learn your market and see how you can profit off of it. After that, it’s time to put a plan into motion.
Once you figure out what your side hustle is, it’s better to build slowly rather than go for the grand prize right away. In a football game, a team rarely ever scores a touchdown on the first play. Most of the time, they must move down the field incrementally until they reach the other team’s end zone. Think of your side hustle the same way. Do the small things first. Whatever is beyond your realm of ability should be outsourced.
When the foundation is established, you should focus on getting ONE customer, not a thousand. You only need one satisfied customer at first to validate your side hustle. After the first, get a second, then a third, and so on. If your foundation is solid and you focus, the customers will come. After your customers are served, have them give honest reviews that you can share to entice others to patronize you.
It is essential to do all of this without getting fired from your day job until, of course, you build a customer base that can replace your day job. If you keep building with hard work and quality work, you will one day be able to quit your job and make your side hustle your main hustle. Don’t be fooled. You won’t be able to do this overnight. You must be in it for the long haul. It may be years before your side hustle becomes something that can sustain you, but it can, and when it does, you will appreciate the work you put in and the patience you maintained.
