A side hustle is a phrase that is becoming increasingly prevalent in our modern lexicon. The idea that you have a ‘day job’ but that you have something earning you an income on eth side was once a real taboo. Employment contracts strictly forbade this type of activity and those who dabbled in projects outside of office-hours were considered mavericks or fools. But the drive to earn more and to be independent and to not be a wage slave, has slowly taken hold, and these days there are lots of people who have angles or hustles on the side. But how do you go about hustling? Where do you start and how do you equip yourself? Here are a few ideas to help you get started.
Information is power
The more you know the better you will do. Luck and ignorance can only take you so far and then it will all come crashing down around you. So, look to study and upskill yourself. Not necessarily in the specific field that you intend to hustle in, but rather in something more generic like sales or management. There are plenty of excellent courses, either online or at colleges, where you can study for things like a diploma in business management. With the skills that you will acquire from a course like this, you will be better placed to move forward in making your dreams a reality. In short, if you don’t know what you are doing you will encounter obstacles at every step along the way.
Use your contacts
Almost anyone who has ever succeeded in business has done so off the back of leveraging their contacts and connections. Do not be ashamed to do so. If you cannot reach out to friends, family, and associates for support and help with your own project, then you are going to struggle to get support from strangers. The bigger your network is, the more likely you are to gain traction and support.
Go with what you know
If you have spent ten years working in the fashion industry, then it makes sense that your side hustle will be something in that space. You obviously cannot do something that is in direct competition with the company that pays your regular salary, but, you should look to use your industry knowledge to assess where there is a gap in the market and then exploit it. It goes without saying that it will be very hard to identify gaps in the market in industries with which you are not familiar.
Have a plan
If you don’t know what the goal is then you are never going to be able to score. That maxim holds true for business as much as it does for sport. So, make sure that you have a plan. Are you intending to build your hustle into a full-time gig? Is it just a short-term plan to earn some extra cash to pay for a holiday or to get you out of debt? Are you prepared to hire somebody to work with you? There are lots of things to consider. The key here is, don’t bury your head in the sand and hope for the best. Plan and be intentional with where your business goes. Half of getting to where you want to go is knowing about where you want to be!
Daryl Green