Author: Sonja Dumas

Right, so you have your side hustle idea all set up, and you’ve even managed to snag your first few customers. Money isn’t flowing in as yet, but you’re only spending a little bit of time on it. With everything you have to do in a day, you can only dedicate so much time to your side hustle. At a certain point, however, your side hustle will want to grow. As you start to deliver value to people, demand for your product or services will see an increase. When you hit that point, you begin to realize that you’ve got to start expanding. How do you do that?
  • Step 1: Effective Time Management – You remember how your granny used to tell you to “stop waste time” when you wuz small? Well, that is a crucial part of making your side hustle into something profitable. Ideally, make a list of your goals to accomplish, see how much time you spend in each, and compare them to how vital that particular task is. It’ll help you be better at managing your time. 
 
  • Step 2: Plan Each Day – At the start, you might be limited in the amount of time you have available for that side hustle. Yet spending an hour a day working on something without a plan is like making a callaloo without a recipe. You might have something that looks appetizing but tastes terrible.
 
  • Step 3: Look at Other Businesses – There are no new ideas under the sun, and there are probably similar ideas to yours worldwide. Take a look at how those businesses develop and what they did to grow, and pattern your growth after them.
 
  • Step 4: Remember the 80-20 Rule – Also known as the “Pareto Principle“, 80% of your success comes from 20% of your actions. Your time management can come in handy to pinpoint where that 20% is so that you can dedicate more time to it.
Side hustles can take on a life of their own. Most entrepreneurs realize that the thing they grew from a small idea could become something massive and profitable. But you don’t want a situation where the candle costs more than the funeral. Don’t make problems for yourself when you expand. Manage your business’s money better, which is what we’ll cover in the next article in the series.

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