If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that nothing is guaranteed. The pandemic has been a testing time for some and eye-opening for others.

Whether you have worked from home, been furloughed or made redundant, you have likely had more time than usual to sit back and reconsider your life and career. When you think about it, maybe your nine-to-five job isn’t your true calling?

You might already know the type of job or business you want to begin based on your skills or passion. But, if you are looking for some inspiration, some of the most popular side hustles include:

• Managing social media for small businesses,
• Selling art and craft work on Etsy,
• Teaching your native language over Skype or other digital means 
• Taking your baking or cooking passion to the next level
• Becoming a house sitter
• Putting hair and make-up skills to use

Beginning a new venture can open an exciting new realm of opportunities.  From a personal standpoint, a side hustle can go a long way in building your self-confidence and improving transferable skills.

The Lizi’s philosophy is ‘a whole lot better’ and that refers to body, mind and soul. If beginning a side hustle is going to enrich your life, become a creative outlet or provide financial freedom, this will improve your mental wellbeing, making you feel a whole lot better. Whatever your reason is for starting a side hustle, we have some advice for getting started.

Be patient

While your new adventure could be an overnight success, it is more realistic that it will slow but steady progress. We seem to live in an ‘instant society’ right now, in which overnight success is the expectation – but often not the reality.

It’s ok to feel discouraged, as long as you take stock of what you have learned and bounce back.

Outline your ‘why?’

Why do you want to start a business on the side? You might have some savings goals, want more financial freedom or want to learn new skills. Or, is your new side venture more altruistic?

You probably have more than one reason for starting something new, and to remain true to your mission and vision, be honest about the reasons.

Define your idea and goals

Business success happens when skills, experience, passion and interests are aligned.

When you find your ‘why?’, you will be able to shape your idea around the goal. If your dream is to eventually grow your side hustle into a scalable business that means you can work for yourself, you will need to make some short- AND long-term plans. Smaller, incremental goals, will help you to stay on track

What do you want to have achieved in your first year?

These plans will help cement the first steps in your roadmap, as well as the people and platforms you will need to leverage.

A useful exercise is to compile a list of your skills that mean you will excel in your side hustle and highlight where you to do some learning or outsource the task to someone else.

Understand the numbers

Once you’ve started, and seen some money rolling in, it’s a good idea to keep track of the numbers, or even use a separate bank account altogether.

The last thing you want is for your side hustle to become something that ends up COSTING you money, so make a habit of tracking your expenses. Factor in the things you need to run your hustle like WiFi and petrol for accuracy.

Commit to learning

This is going to be a learning curve, so you need to open your mind and begin learning as much as you can about your chosen industry and the possible paths to success.

Fortunately, with social media, the internet and healthy communities within sectors, there are plenty of ways to educate yourself.

Soak up all the content using a variety of media channels. Books, webinars, video content, social media, podcasts, signing up for email newsletters – absorb all that you can. Not only will you learn tips, tricks and find inspiration for your own strategy but you will pick up information such as frequency of posting, the places to be online, and other relevant individuals that can inspire you.

Scope out the competition and differentiate yourself

Use social media for ‘competition analysis’. Identify the competition to see how they are going about things. Is there anything you can draw inspiration from?

Another useful outcome of this exercise is that now you understand how and what they are doing, you can highlight the factors that make you stand out from your competition – and leverage them to your advantage.

Always seek feedback

It makes good sense to seek feedback from your customers. These views mean you can continue to improve and adapt your model and processes to meet and exceed the expectations of your audience.

Take control of the feedback by sending out emails as part of your business processes asking for reviews on Facebook, Google or TrustPilot.

It would help if you were open to constructive feedback from your customers.  It can be tricky, but constructively receiving criticism is a great skill. Be sure to always respond in an empathetic way and offer to take the conversation offline to come to a resolution.

It might be a long road to success, but it helps if you love what you are doing. If you still have a nine to five taking up most of your time, be realistic with your timeframes and goals, and practice being patient and resilient – you’ve got this! Have you successfully grown a side hustle into something you are proud? Share your story with us; we’d love to hear from you!