There are so many ways to make money in the modern economy. While things are certainly bad in some sectors and most currency is shriveling up in what it can purchase, at the same time there are a myriad of ways presented to us where we can make money aside from our “normal” job.
So many in fact that it can often get confusing wading through the mess of sheer options presented to us. We all get ads for quick ways to make money through this course or that. For the low price of 99$, or even 299$ anymore, we can learn all we ever wanted to know about working from home and “being our own bosses” and all of that.
Obviously reality works out a little differently. While I certainly thing that being your own boss and having some sort of passive income should be most people’s end goal, at least to some extent, at the same time it’s near impossible to just start out doing that, especially as your first or second job.
There is a way to turn a side hustle into a business though and I want to talk about that today. How to take all these cool jobs that you hear about and replace your “normal” job with them or if that’s something that you should even be pursuing. Again, different things are going to work for different people.
And there are many cases where a “normal” job are much better choices than a entrepreneurial job. But let’s get into that.
Some Preliminary Questions Before We Start
However there are some things we have to get out of the way before diving into before attempting to turn a side hustle into an honest to goodness business. First off, is the side hustle viable? Secondly, is it viable long term? Thirdly, is it viable for the goals that you have, whatever they may be? There are many side hustles that can make you a decent income.
I know people that make money from woodworking, affiliate marketing, doing taxes, drop shipping, selling informational products, and a whole lot more. However not all of these people can change these side hustles into full time jobs that replace their own.
Why?
First off you have to make sure there is a long term viable market for what you’re doing. Is this a flash in the pan, here today, gone tomorrow type of thing? Obviously there is no way to know this for certain but it’s something to think about. Has anyone been in this business for ten plus years? Can you do what they do? Why or why not?
Also what are your goals? To have a six figure income? To just get in enough to live somewhere where the cost of living is low? To be able to flash your money around and impress your friends? Certain jobs have the ability to provide for certain goals while others do not.
Just give this some though before deciding to take your side hustle “big time”.
Inertia, The First Enemy Of The Side Hustle
Does the best product or the best service get paid the most? No, actually hell no. If anything it seems to be the opposite. Whenever starting with the majority of side hustles the biggest problem you have is that no one knows who the hell you are and therefore are reluctant to spend money with you.
Business have this weird place in the start where they’re working against inertia, things are stacked against you and it takes a hell of a lot of work to get the ball up the hill so you can roll it down the other side. Many a successful businessman has told me that the first 10,000 is twice as hard as the next 100,000 as far as profits are concerned.
So in the beginning you’re working against inertia. And there are many ways to fight this inertia. Offers deals that you otherwise wouldn’t, do work for free in exchange for an honest review, make sure to broadcast all the testimonials that you get, and so on and so forth.
However these things take time and effort, time and effort that are often hard to come by when working your “normal” job full time and having a regular life, or even if you don’t have a regular life. You need to get people to hear about you and consider in you. And in the beginning before you’ve built a reputation you’ll need a lot of people to hear about you and consider you before you start getting clients.
You Have To Have Money To Make Money
Which brings me to what can be seen as the great equalizer, effective and efficient marketing. However here’s the thing, this cost money and often decent money. Remember you’re fighting against inertia and in the beginning of getting your side hustle to a full time job you’re going to have to put in more than you’ll get back. Perhaps for awhile. And this is something that can’t be done without a decent normal job.
Hence the phrase “Don’t quit your day job.” it’s not just used to discourage people from things they don’t have talent in but can be seen as prudent financial advice. You have to spend not just time but also money on the side hustle to give it a chance to grow and the best way to do this is through effective and efficient advertising and marketing.
I don’t have time to go over what exactly effective advertising and marketing is here, so I’d recommend you look a man by the name of Dan Kennedy as well as look at my own books and articles on the subject, of which there are many. But the best way to take your business from a side hustle to prime time is saving money from your normal job and spending it on advertising (effective and efficient advertising) for your side hustle.
That or toil away at it for a decade. But even then you’ll need money to break in. Don’t underestimate the power of good advertising and marketing. Its the difference makers for brands that aren’t Stephen King, McDonalds, and Wal-Mart. Good advertising will beat out twenty years in service, better quality product or service, and a whole lot of other things.
It’s the difference maker. And like most difference makers it requires money. This might sound obvious but I hear so many gurus talk about “At first you have to use your time then later money.” the reason being you start out with having more time than money. But I feel that’s backwards.
Obviously you’ll have to start out with time but find money too. Do whatever you have too. Pick up a second job, switch to a sales job, so on and so forth. Because time is limited and your most precious resource. Find ways to leverage it for money, again something I’ve talked a lot about.
You want to get to that spending money stage as fast as possible because used properly, properly being the key word. With effective marketing and ad spend you can take a company to success in a years’ time. Where just putting time and hard work who knows how long it could take. A decade, two, or more than you have left.
Transforming From Side Hustle To Full Time Business
The way to do this is spend money on effective and efficient advertising as fast as possible. Find money wherever you can and learn how to direct that into your business. Yes, you should spend time on your business but as we’ve discussed money is the path to success. So focus on that and don’t go the route of “Oh if I just keep putting time in then the money will come.”
It’s just one of the ironies of life, you have to have money to make money. Hence why I recommend sales jobs so much. They provide you with decent capital so you can create viable passive income opportunities. Don’t try to go passive income from the start. Go decent money at the start and then use that to build passive income.
And you don’t have to be rich to do this. Car lots hire people of all backgrounds, granted that you know how to sell yourself. Even being a waiter, especially at a big restaurant, can net you way more cash than the majority of jobs and you could’ve dropped out of high school and still do it.
Leverage your time to the best of your ability for capital that you can then spend in assets that will produce income for you down the line. Don’t go for passive income at the start when you have no money. Look for income, including trading dollars for hours at the start, and then go from there.
If anything I said here interests you I’d highly recommend you check out The Ultimate Alpha Collection which is a compilation of 16 of my books for the price of 5. It covers everything from being a man to making money to getting the right mindset to getting girls to fighting and more and is a resource no man should be without. Pick up your copy today!
-Charles Sledge
