Kickstart your side hustle

So you wanna know how to start a side hustle? I’m not going to lie to you and tell you it’s easy because the reality is it’s not. It takes time, focus, belief, and discipline and, the chances are, you may not have a lot of these things to spare. 

There are no shortcuts, no magic tricks you can do to make it work, but there are a few steps you should take to get you from thinking about it to actually making it happen. 

The two biggest reasons I hear from people not starting their side hustle are: not having enough time/money or not having enough knowledge/experience to start. In the vast majority of these cases, both excuses are just that, excuses. 

1. Block out a time daily to work on it!

The first secret to having a successful side hustle is deciding to commit to it. It sounds too simple to be true but simple doesn’t mean easy and the harsh truth is that most people just don’t try hard enough. 

Time is crucial, but consistency is key. Smaller, regular chunks of time that you can maintain over a long period will be far more effective for your success. Especially when you are starting out, it’s important for it to feel achievable and, for that to happen, less is often more.

Block out anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours (depending on your current schedule) a day to set aside for your side hustle.

2. Set actionable goals 

Now that you have a scheduled time for it it’s important you use this time efficiently. It’s easy to get caught up in research and this can be a bottomless pit and leave you feeling you are even further from your goal.

Dedicate no more than two weeks solely to research, then you need to set small, actionable weekly goals. For example, if my side hustle is selling clothes, I might set my goal to create three sketches by the end of the week. 

3. Take time to celebrate along the way! 

As you may know, I’m a huge believer in celebrating your wins. I think it’s super important to take a moment after each win to acknowledge that you’ve taken a step in the right direction. This sets you up for success because you’re tricking yourself into enjoying the process and feeling like you’re actually doing a good job. 

It’s very easy to forget how far you’ve come if you don’t take moments to acknowledge it. In human psychology, we learn that we are more invested in continuing something we’ve already invested in. This is known as the principle of sunk costs. We can use this knowledge to help us stay committed to a project by constantly reminding ourselves of how much we’ve already put into it and how far we’ve already come! 

4. Put yourself out there from the beginning 

I don’t want to keep you here too long because I know there is a chance you’re just procrastinating right now. Yeah, I see you because let’s be honest, I was you! The last piece of advice I’ll give you is to put yourself out there. It’s so much easier to give up if you aren’t accountable to keep going.

Start by speaking about it whenever you get the chance, (just don’t take the feedback too personally as this can be dangerous!). The thing that I did which felt like a huge and important step was to create social media accounts and follow all my friends and family as well as other people in my industry for inspiration. 

Starting a side hustle or a business should feel scary, that just means you care! Remember that you have more support available to you than you realise and that, more than likely, if you keep an open heart and an open mind and keep moving forward, success will come eventually. Expect failures and learn from them, expect it to be a long process, and enjoy it!