A whopping 50% of Americans have reported having a side-hustle in surveys throughout the past few years, but why are so many people only pursuing their passion on the side? Some people feel there’s risk that they don’t have the appetite for, but others feel they just lack some of the basic skills they’d need. If you’re an expert in your side hustle, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re as skilled at turning it into a business, which is essentially what you need to do if you want to make your side hustle your main hustle. Starting a business is difficult, but it is by no means impossible; all it takes is dedication, as well as a little know-how. Since you are already working on your side hustle, you have a firm head start!
Setting Up The Company
Depending on the type of hustle that you’ve been hustling, setting up the business might take some different forms.
This is clear when looking at two of our these top five side hustles:
- E-commerce – if you have a fully digital hustle like e-commerce, all you will need to set up a business is a domain name, a product or a service to sell and a good WiFi connection.
- Care centers – this requires a physical space as well as care precautions and licensing depending on your state.
- Coordination roles – another hustle that you can do with just a computer and a phone.
- Photography – this popular side-hustle might require a hefty investment in cameras, as well as the requisite insurance for your expensive equipment.
- Real estate businesses – you will need an office that people can visit, as well as a computer, a phone and licensing/insurance when required by the state. You can set up a virtual office and you can find real estate insurance online and fill in much of the necessary paperwork remotely too.
Here is a list of considerations to bear in mind for formally transforming your side hustle into a business:
- Register your business name with the government and IRS. This means you can legally operate.
- Employer Identification Number – not required for sole proprietorships with no employees, but needed for a business bank account.
- Federal, state and/or local licenses and permits – use the SBA website to find out if you will need a license or permit to operate your business legally.
- An insurance policy.
- A business bank account.
Strategize and Focus
You should seek to work smart – don’t throw yourself at it more than you can cope or you will burn out. You need to look at your responsibilities from a macro perspective and see how you can grow your responsibilities in a healthy way. Trust that working hard and committing yourself to learning and improving will achieve great results.
Having a side hustle is particularly beneficial as you can work on it while you have the security of a main job. You don’t have the risk of having to make it a success straight away in order to get paid. Take this time to really strategize, as well as to do your market research and make a business plan so you have a very clear idea of the market you are operating in and how your business is going to succeed.
Taking this time to focus and strategize means you are able to pivot to running a business full-time when you have the security of knowing if your side hustle will succeed as a business.
