Expanding Your Side Hustle

When it comes to working out how to expand your side hustle, you have to accept there’s a fair amount of push and pull going on.

How much can you realistically handle? Will it affect other parts of your work and life? Is it sustainable?

These are all questions I’ve asked myself at some point or another, and I’m not the only one. Anyone with a smart head on their shoulders didn’t quit the day job to immediately start a freelance business (if you know someone that has, fair play to them!). When you’re looking to build a business but also know the importance of keeping bread on the table, then the key to building something is consistency.

When I still lived in Birmingham and worked at a social media agency - the owners side hustle was entrepreneurialism, she wrote self help books, children’s books, paid to be featured on Forbes 30 under 30, spoke on podcasts, and even had one herself. Her tip for building a successful business on the side? Work your 9-5 then immediately start on the 5-9.

If I’m being totally honest, she wasn’t my vision of the perfect entrepreneur, but she was onto something. Consistency is key to building something viable and successful - if you can’t build it through routine and consistency then it’s probably not going to work for you.

In the same vein, if you’re looking to add to the load when you’re already pushed for time, then it’s probably not a good idea to start adding to the work load.If it’s just your income you’re looking to increase, then look to your existing clients. If you’re looking to try something new (like me) then you need to work out a few things for you’re self

How to expand your side hustle

First you need to sit down and work out exactly what you want to do?

You know already that building a side hustle isn’t a case of clicking your fingers. It takes time, thought, and knowing your exact plan of attack.

Identify your niche

If you’re planning on doing something different to your existing hustle, what makes your business idea so special? Really, what is so special that makes it stand out among the rest.

Once you work that out you can start doing the basic research, finding your target audience, and building a marketing approach.

Marketing/growth

It’s one thing starting, it’s another to scale it. Are you utilising Facebook ads? Word of mouth? Organic social, or finding someone else to do the ground work for you?

Once you’ve worked that out I’d recommend setting yourself KPIs to keep track of growth.

Organise your approach

This is the most important part of it all, not the 9-5 but the 5-9. When exactly are you going to put the time in to grow this thing? I always recommend starting small, an hour a day maybe. Then as you get into the flow of things you can start to add your side hustle into your presence a little more.

After a while you can look to find your own version of the 5-9 and work out whether or not it’s scalable.