Imagine waking up every day to work on something you truly love – and getting paid for it. For many aspiring entrepreneurs, this dream starts as a side hustle. As your side gig grows, you can earn some passive income even in your sleep.
Many struggle to feed themselves or live the life they want, therefore they start testing their business ideas, building skills, and trying to earn extra cash. However, here’s the thing – not all side hustles are created equal. Some have the potential to grow into thriving full-time businesses, while others might be better left as passion projects.
So, how do you know if your side hustle has what it takes to become your main gig? In this article, we will go through everything you need to know about turning your side hustle into a business. From assessing the potential of your side hustle, common pitfalls to avoid, and how many successful entrepreneurs created a successful business that replaced their 9-5 jobs.
Assessing Your Side Hustle’s Potential
As mentioned, not every side hustle will become the next big thing. It’s not impossible, but some side hustles lack the potential to grow. That’s why we need to figure out if it actually has the potential to grow from the start.
Evaluating market demand and scalability
Is there a real need for what you’re offering? I’m not talking about whether your friends will buy the product, but looking at actual market trends and customer behavior. Use tools like Google Trends or industry reports to get a sense of whether your product or service is in demand.
Also, think about scalability. Can your side hustle grow beyond just you? For example, you can scale your cleaning service business because you can hire more cleaners to do the job, but if you are selling handicrafts with your unique style and design, you will have to clone yourself to grow your business.
Think about your passion and long-term goal
Running a business is hard work. There will be days when you want to quit and go back to your 9-to-5. Therefore when you are assessing your side hustle’s potential, you should not only think about the scalability of the side hustle but the core drivers about the side hustle that can keep you going for years, such as passion. However, if money turns out to be the only driver, your goals will eventually be delegating and automating your business.
Setting Clear Goals and Milestones
In order to turn your side hustles into a successful business, you need to define your business objectives. What do you actually want to achieve with your business? They should not be vague dreams like “make lots of money” or “be my own boss.” You need to set objectives to transition your side hustle into a full-time gig.
They can be something like this:
- Reach $5,000 in monthly revenue within the first year
- Hire 5 people in my team
- Secure long-term partnerships with at least 3 brands
They should be specific, measurable, and aligned with your overall vision for your business.
Creating a timeline for transition
You should also create a timeline and be realistic about how long it will take to reach your goals.
For an 18-month timeline to transition from side hustle to full-time business, it can look something like this:
Example: Blogging
- Months 1-3: Building foundation – Niche selection, creating the website and content and
- Months 4-6: Link building and social marketing
- Months 7-12: Monetization – ads, affiliate programs, sponsored content
- Months 13-18: Hire writers and gradually reduce hours at the day job and prepare for full-time transition
Your timeline might be shorter or longer, depending on your situation. The key is to break it down into small chunks so you can take actionable steps.
Establishing key performance indicators (KPIs)
“How do I know if I’m actually making progress?” KPIs are the metrics you’ll use to track your success.
Some of the KPIs for your business can be:
- Monthly Revenue
- Number of orders
- Website Traffic
- Social media engagement
- Customer retention rate
Choose KPIs that are relevant to your business and align with your objectives. Track regularly and adjust them as you need to. The important thing is that you have clear direction and a way to measure progress so you know what to do if you don’t meet your targets.
Reinvesting profits for growth
It’s tempting to pocket all the money you make from your side hustle, but there are better ways to use that profit you make. If you want to turn this into a real business, you’ve got to think long-term and reinvest all the money back into the side hustle in the early stage.
Reinvest as much as possible back into the business for:
- Upgrading your tools and equipment
- Better marketing
- Taking courses, talks, and seminars to improve your skills
- Building up inventory
- Hire more employees
Delayed gratification can significantly shorten the time it takes to transition your side gig into your time business. Reinvest everything if you can and aim to quit your 9-5 job first before thinking about spending the extra income you make.
Making the Leap
When you have done everything we discussed and you feel like it’s time to exit from your day job, be faithful and take the leap. However, the most important you have to make sure is that you don’t quit your day job prematurely.
Some signs you might be ready:
- Your side hustle is generating consistent income to cover your living expenses
- You’ve got a healthy emergency fund (I’d recommend at least 6 months of expenses)
- You’ve got a solid business plan and growth strategy in place
- Your side hustle is growing to the stage where you need more time to run it
It can feel like a natural process, you just feel like everything is at the right place and you know that you are ready. However, you might also be afraid of the risks you are taking and what happens if you fail. If you do, remember this, you can always get another 9-5 job if things go south.
Conclusion
Remember, success doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, patience, and a whole lot of perseverance. There will be ups and downs, moments of doubt, and times when you wonder if you made the right choice. But keep pushing forward. Keep learning, keep adapting, and keep believing in yourself and your vision. And don’t be afraid of failure, it’s not the end, you can always start over until you succeed.
