What to Think About Before Starting a Side Hustle
Any other multi-passionate people out there?! I have always been spread myself in a million directions because I fall in love with a lot of things.
I enjoy being busy and I have a very artistic side, but also a data freak, and I enjoy working with people, but also love being alone. Through it all, I knew I always wanted to teach but since I was able to work, I’ve been all over the board and most of the time have had more than one job with school.
I would say I started my first ‘side business’ when I was in college and fell in love with writing blogs. I started my blog when I was a freshman and it was just random things that I thought to write about because everyone at that time had a blog. I wish I would have kept it going along with the instagram I had, because it probably would’ve flourished by the extra 3 years I had into it, but whatever, hindsights always 20 / 20.
Even though that didn’t make me any money, at the time it was a lot of extra work alongside my school work that freshman year.
Years later, I found this coaching business and my platform now, as Lauren Taylors Lifestyle. It’s still my little baby and only a year old, but I never would’ve imagined how much work goes into small things like making an instagram post. So, if you’ve been thinking about creating or growing your own side business, here are the things to think about before full in!
- Is it a passion or is it a business? Before you tell me, ‘it can be both’, yes it for sure can. But your mindset has to be SO different if it’s a business vs it simply being something you just love to do and can do in your free time. If it’s a business, you need to make time for creating content, reaching out to people, finding new customers, and being super consistent. If it’s a passion (which I also think is great and we all need them), there’s no pressure on you to do or be anything.
- How much time do you have to dedicate to it? Side hustles are A LOT of work. Especially if you’re looking to grow it quickly or to a big audience. I’m not kidding you when I say it takes me a full hour to make ONE Instagram post. By the time I take & edit the photo, write my caption, post it, and then spend time on the app afterwards connecting with my community, an hour squeezes by.
- How are you going to promote it? There’s a bajillion course & podcasts & gurus out there who can teach you the ins and outs of finding your ideal customer, talking to them, and creating things for them that I won’t go into depth on this post. But, I would choose 1 avenue to market to. Whether it’s e-mail, Instagram, TikTok, or something else, find that one thing and get really good at it. Once you feel really comfortable and you’ve gotten traction there, then add in something else. When I first started out I made the mistake that I thought I had to do it all. But what ends up happening, is you do it all just okay vs going all in and blowing up on one of them.
- Who’s in your support system? Like I’ve mentioned, there’s a lot of time and money that goes into these side hustles. You need to be living with people who support these goals of yours. If you don’t, there’s going to be a lot of tension. This also goes back to you and making sure you’re sharing your vision and being excited about it yourself, so they buy into it too! You’re going to need those people in your corner on all the best and worst days of your adventure!
- Last, but not least, what would make these sacrifices worth it? What’s your why behind this? Is it because you enjoy making art? Is it because you want to help people? Is it because you need more money? There’s a bunch of reasons on why you could be doing something, but I want to go deeper than that. If you looked back in a year, what would you consider it to be a win? What would make all the long hours and headaches worth it? If you can commit to that and focus on that. You will win.
I’m sure as you’re reading up on all the blogs and clicking on every Pinterest link, that you’ve been trying to find the answer you already know is in your heart. You wouldn’t be looking, if you didn’t know what you were looking for. After reading through it, I want to challenge you right here and right now. Commit or don’t. But put it on the line. Make the decision you already know is in your heart. If you’re going to go for it – go all in. You have a purpose in this life and a gift I’m sure I wish I had. So use it. For business or just for a passion of yours. This life is way too short to not be doing what you love.
I’m always so curious about what peoples side hustles are. Drop me a comment on this blog or over on my Instagram on what your side hustle is!
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