The onset of the coronavirus has had a huge impact on the worldwide economy. The threat of a recession is looming over the UK economy with many saying that there could very well be a worldwide recession this year. Many industries have been hit hard by the virus with the aviation and hospitality industries losing thousands of jobs over the last few months.
Unsurprisingly , many people are thinking about what the future holds for their jobs and careers. The corona virus has perhaps highlighted the fact that the ‘job for life’ era has gone.Having 2 or 3 careers over a lifetime is no longer seen as unusual. Many people are now thinking about ‘side hustle‘ to supplement their income with the hope of it one day becoming their main source of income. Let’s take a look at how to start a side hustle.
Find The Right Hustle For You
What are you passionate about?
Do you have a passion for baking? Perhaps you bake for friends and family and are excited about trying new recipes. Are you a keen cook or website designer? Working out what you are passionate about is a good start in your side hustle journey. Building a side hustle alongside working full or even part time is hard work. Working on something you are passionate about will make that increase in workload alot easier to handle. Think about perhaps formalising your skills in that area. Can you take a small design course? Complete a hygiene course? Upgrading your skills in these areas will help with developing your side hustle.
Manage Your Time
Make sure you can manage the side hustle alongside your main job. Your side hustle must not interfere with your main source of income. Your main job should not be impacted by you side hustle which could take several months or even years to start making a profit. Make sure you can balance the workload as well as your other responsibilities , whether that means carving out some time at the weekends or evenings.
Think About Your Skills
Think about your transferable skills. These are skills you have that may not be used within your current role. Perhaps you are skilled in social media management, website design or public speaking. Once you have identified your transferable skills, you can think about how to build those into a side hustle. Are there any courses you can take? Perhaps you could start designing websites for small , local companies for example. If you are a good writer, you could take on freelance writing work.
Define Your Goals
What is your goal? Are you aiming to reach a certain amount of customers? Sell x number of units? Starting small and working on small incremental goals is the best way to start. Defining daily, weekly or monthly goals is a great way of keeping you motivated and accountable. When setting your goals , try using the SMART methodology to ensure the goals you set help you achieve your objectives.
Manage Your Money
As tempting as it is , when you are fired up with a new idea, do not put ypurself to make it a reality. Use your savings to start your side hustle. A side hustle that you don’t have to fund at all would be ideal. Use the tools you currently own if you can. The idea is that you want to prove that their is a market for your product or service before incuring an debt. Take a look at the Lean Method for more detail.
Hopefully you have a better idea of what a side hustle is and more importantly , some ideas on where to start. Drop a comment below on your side hustle journey!
