Side Hustle
On an average Friday evening in the average South African household a wearied working-class hero will return home to a family that is already half-way through a spaghetti bolognaise dinner. His portion, set between two plates in the microwave is a small trophy for surviving the weekly war on work. The lack of cheese and mince in the dish a grim reminder that there is too much month left at the end of the money.
News of the day is largely ignored, it only dampers the feeling of success from lasting the entire week without prescription medication or copious amounts of alcohol. Watching Independence Day on E-TV’s – Friday Action Night for the 11th time, where the President (Bill Pullman) delivers the epic speech the line “We will not go quietly into the night..” provides sudden inspires from the most unlikely source. There is perhaps something to be done about the cheese and mince.
Working at night or over weekends in, usually a different line of work from the regular slave ship style job you keep on Monday’s to Fridays, 9 to 5, would be called moonlighting or referred to as having a side–hustle, i.e. additional work done outside the regular work day to earn more income. It’s been said that time is money, and, in this instance, it is true. Using extra time to invent, create, sell or offer a service is more rewarding than just the extra cash it brings. You can restore a sense of purpose, open new doors to endless possibilities, obtain new skills or sharpen existing ones. Whether the mission is to start your own business and be the boss or just make some cash on the side, it is certainly worth a try.
What would one need to start?
A crippling anxiety that your financial crisis is solely your fault and responsibility to steer back on course is also yours. Rough, I know. This might jump-start you to take the plunge but will not keep you going. As another E-Tv Friday Action Night regular (Liam Neeson – Taken) would say “I do have a very particular set of skills, I will find you, and bake you an emasculatingly beautiful cake and deliver it on time and make profit from it.” I think that is what he said. Having a skill set for baking, beauty treatments, mechanical work, electronics, or anything that can be serviced after slavery hours can be turned into profit. Pick something you are either particularly good at or do not mind doing while others are relaxing.
Clients will usually start popping up from family and friends who will enlist your assistance, and that, in turn, will cause a bit of word of mouth marketing. You will need to be either better than your competitors or be cheaper in the beginning as clients will not give you a chance because of a good back story but from a good referral. Make sure the customer service levels are remarkably high to keep new clients and get new ones from them as referrals. Obviously, bank accounts, invoicing and quoting systems are needed to effectively service clients while you are at job #1.
Time. Time is the most important thing you need. Do not get started with new work if you are already bringing work home, or if you are already neglecting your loved ones because of work. Balancing the work and family time is important for your own sanity. Either schedule times to work on projects late at night or early morning, when it is only yourself being inconvenienced.
That should do it – you have a product or service – and a client in need of a skilfully executed item or service – and you have time available to execute it. Simple. Too simple.
There are some major pitfalls that can end your practice as quick as it started.
What about Job #1? If this is your only source of income, do not jeopardise it for making a few Rands on the side. Most of the time you are employed using your particular skill set in your main vocation and could easily cause a dismissible conflict of interest with current employer. Do not service their clients or sell their products if a restraint of trade agreement is in place try honouring that. Do not take too much of your working time to side-hustle, someone is bound to find out where you are spending their time. Remember that this job is enabling you to do side work by giving you time off.
What about new clients? You need to be patient, it takes a new business at least a year to start turning profit, and that is when working on it full time. Be selective of the jobs you do take on, only experience will teach you difference between a good, bad, and ugly deal. Calculate the profit to be made per deal and focus on the ones that are worthwhile. If you are working in the same line as Job #1, do not advertise yourself all over the internet, rely on the slow process of word of mouth to get you there.
Join community clubs or groups like churches, schools, and sports clubs. Focusing on local community has several advantages. Geographically you can assist them at nights or weekends as travelling time will be less. Socially your local community knows you and the word of mouth of your services and products will spread quicker around your neck of the woods.
How to grow my side business? Do not say NO… yet. I always say that anything is possible if you do not know what you are talking about. It is true that until you know, you do not know. Try expanding by being creative and inventive with your already impressive skill set. There are many quips and tricks of the trade to learn along your journey, you might find that from your side hustle experiments you improve yourself in Job #1. Expand your service and product line to bring a uniqueness to your offering, soon this will lead to new clients.
Slowly start putting yourself on the map by having an identity for the business. Logo’s, website, and email on a private domain (not Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo – please), contact numbers that are not only your mobile phone. Get some help if the money is coming in, get a partner or employ someone to help your side business. Trying to do everything by yourself won’t lead to growth, share the income and workload.
How to turn side hustle into Job #1? So, things are looking up, extra money is coming in, time management is not a problem anymore and clients are returning due to excellent service levels. Can this be your chance to jump the slave ship and bang your own drum? Probably not. Keeping in mind you are earning 50%-100% on top of another salary and have gotten use to the budget. Look at your options, rather employ someone else to expand in the meantime or try and find a big contract to replace the current salary. You will by now have enough deal making savvy to see the opportunity when it is presented.
Do not put all your effort into one big corporate client. It could be better to have a lot of small fish than one big one weighing the net down – all of them might escape. The effort you will have to put into a big corporation might cause all your other customers to get displeased. Make sure that you have the staff compliment and skills to service the client effectively and be profitable. Have the right systems in place for invoicing, compliance to standards of said corporate client. Also know the signs of when it is time to get out as you, as a service provider, will be last to be paid if it starts going downhill.
There are more pros than cons with working at your side-hustle. Take it slowly and look out for new opportunities along the way, the line that indicates growth on a fancy chart is never completely straight. Take the ups and downs in your stride and know you will come out better at the end of it.