Have you ever wanted to be an entrepreneur and start your own business? Do you want to make money from your own home? If Covid-19 taught us anything, taking a break from the daily grind of the office cubicle and finding innovative ways to fill your bank account helped many get through the pandemic. In the process, many discovered some fulfilling side hustles. But what if you want to make your side hustle full-time and not return to that office?
Expanding on Delivery Services
One of the biggest side hustles during the pandemic (as well as before and after), was working for a delivery service providing meals in people’s homes. It’s hard to make a full-time living running from place to place for delivery service but think beyond simply delivering food.
Have you always been a good cook? Does everyone comment how your cupcakes are the prettiest and tastiest at the bake sale? Consider delivering food you’ve made yourself. Plug into trends such as keto diets or vegetarian. Deliver specialty baked goods such as gourmet cookies and cupcakes.
Each state has its own rules for the cottage food industry, which means cooking and selling food from your home. From kitchen inspections to the labeling of goods, they regulate how you do business. Many people have sold their products at farmers’ markets, but offering a delivery service or even shipping baked goods by mail can create a whole market hungry (pun intended) to keep getting food delivered.
People love the convenience of staying home for services. You can expand this idea to things such as pet grooming, haircuts (great for the elderly and disabled), personal training, and running errands.
If you want to start this kind of business, you’ll need a lot of tools to help you track potential client leads, respond to inquiries, schedule, and inventory management in addition to the basic business setup. Bookkeeping and invoicing are also mandatory elements.
Content Creation as a Side Hustle
The younger generation already knows this, but content creation is big business. From blogging to creating live streaming content on YouTube, business-minded entertainers are making big money. For example, streaming with live commentary was a huge boom recently for YouTubers commenting on pop culture and the law.
One lawyer commenting on the recent televised defamation case of two celebrities reached over 400,000 subscribers. Those subscribers often give what are called “super chats” to tip the commentators, usually $5 to $10 each. That starts adding up when you have over 200,000 people on a live feed. And some people tipped on a much grander scale — one super chat was $500! If you have a skill or a passion, consider creating your own YouTube channel or blog.
This may seem like an easy business to set up, but managing it can be complex. Scheduling is crucial — set up and keep a consistent schedule. Building a community is also key, so you want to respond to and track followers. YouTubers and bloggers often sell products or courses, so you’ll want inventory management for products and a bookkeeping and invoicing system. And those who grow professionally often hire staff to moderate chatrooms and for technical help, so payroll becomes a challenge.
Freelancing Full-Time
If you are a writer, graphic designer, or another creative professional who has been working part-time for individual projects, it may finally be time to turn that side hustle into a full-time profession. Maybe you’ve already set up a business on the side from your day-to-day job, but you haven’t devoted enough time or energy to make it grow. It’s hard to balance a full-time job with your part-time passions, but maybe it’s time to treat that side hustle with the respect it deserves.
If you want to spend more time creating than managing, invest in some tools to manage your freelancing business, such as scheduling consultations, responding to leads, and invoicing. There are many tools to assist you in all aspects of freelancing so you can focus on your creativity.
I Want to Make My Side Hustle Full-Time, But How?
Even though you consider it a side hustle, you’ll need to take several steps and treat it like a professional business if you want that side hustle to become full-time. This is particularly hard because you are often trying to do all of this by yourself, at least initially. Here are some common steps to get started that may vary depending on your location.
- Choose a business name
- Make a business plan
- Establish any licenses needed
- Create a separate business bank account
- Research your market
These are only the initial steps and then the real work begins. If you dream of sitting by the pool while the checks roll in, just like they advertise in all those late-night infomercials, keep on dreaming. When you start your own business you will work harder than you ever worked before, but the good news is you’ll be working for yourself.
Don’t Let Yourself Get Overwhelmed
Once you’ve established your business, you’ll begin advertising and marketing your goods or services. Then you’ll need to respond to inquiries, build a website (or hire a designer), manage the books, do inventory…
Whoa! How will you manage all of that? It can be done, you just have to work smarter not harder. You may not be able to afford to hire an assistant at first, but the good news is there are many tools available to help solo entrepreneurs with their startup businesses.
Need to manage leads? Schedule appointments? Create invoices? Software to help manage all of this can be surprisingly affordable and help even after you can afford to hire employees
ServiceWorks software is your “silent partner.” With prices starting at less than $40 a month, the software can be an entire back office for a one-person business, freeing you up to do what you do best. It’s also poised to grow with you if you add staff. There is even a free trial with no credit card needed.
Starting a business is hard work. There will be times when you are tired and want to quit, but many successful entrepreneurs say the one thing that kept them going when times were tough was their reason for creating their business, or their “why?”
Your “why” is important, but so is your “how.” Try our software today for free.
