By Cristiano Winckler, Somebody Digital
If your side hustle is thriving, you might consider giving up your day job and turning it into a full time venture. Being your own boss, setting your own hours, and doing what you really love is a dream for many people – but there are common mistakes that can trip you up as you take the leap to scale up your side hustle.
The TikTok search term “working side hustles full time” has 40.7 million posts, and according to Google trend data, searches for “side hustle business” have risen by 2500% in the last month. Below are the five most common mistakes people make when taking their side hustle full time and how to avoid them, to turn your passion into a thriving business.
NOT HAVING A SOLID BUSINESS PLAN
One of the biggest mistakes aspiring entrepreneurs make when transitioning from side hustle to full time is thinking that they don’t need a proper business plan. While your side hustle can often survive on improvisation and passion alone, you need a more detailed plan to turn it into a full time business.
A solid business plan should detail your goals, target audience, marketing strategy, and financial projections – illustrating a road map to profitability. If you continue as you start, without a real business plan in place, you’ll struggle to manage business growth, and ultimately, finances and success that comes with expansion.
SCALING UP TOO QUICKLY
The excitement of growing can often lead to expanding too quickly. Rapid expansion will require additional resources like inventory and staff, as well as your own time, effort, and money – and if you grow too fast, you might struggle to keep up with demand. This can lead to delayed deliveries, reduced efficiency, and unhappy customers who can quickly lose trust in a new brand.
It’s important to only scale up to a level that you are confident you can manage and aim to grow steadily, rather than all at once. Make sure your current operation is solid and well-equipped to meet increased demand, so you can build a stable business that is sustainable in the long term.
NOT BEING IN LOVE WITH THE BRAND
Running a business is hard, and a big reason that it can fail is if you’re not truly passionate about what you’re doing. Perhaps your side hustle started as a way to make extra money during the pandemic, and it’s been successful enough to grow. But if you’re not excited about what you’re doing, you might find yourself looking for other things – a side hustle from your side hustle. It can cause your attention to slip, you won’t be putting in the necessary work in, and this can be the downfall of your business.
Love for your business will keep you going through setbacks and tough times, so it’s important to do choose something that you really believe in, rather than choosing something purely because it’s a money maker – and if you believe in the brand, your customers and clients will, too.
NEGLECTING MARKET RESEARCH
Passion and creativity are important, but having a real understanding of your market and target audience is essential. We see this often with the clients we work with in the digital space. Without thorough market research, you might have overestimated the demand for your product and struggle to make ends meet, or not have identified your target audience correctly and be marketing and branding in the wrong way; your carefully crafted Instagram ads might not be reaching the target audience, with the right message at the right time to drive purchases.
From online surveys to data analysis and focus groups, there are lots of ways to gather insights into your chosen industry, target audience, and competitors. It’s essential to keep an eye on trends and customer behaviours as the business progresses so you can adapt your strategies accordingly, to make sure you’re always targeting the right people.
FORGETTING ABOUT YOUR OWN WELLBEING
Work-life boundaries can blur quickly when you officially become your own boss, and it can be very easy to let self-care and wellbeing take a back seat. But being in hustle mode 24/7 can be exhausting, and the challenges of starting a business can lead to burnout very quickly.
Learn to schedule time for rest and do your best to separate your work from your personal life. This is an essential step in preventing burnout. Self-care isn’t a luxury, it’s an investment in yourself, your business, and your future success. Making your wellbeing an equal priority to your business means you’ll be better equipped to bounce back from setbacks, seize more opportunities that come your way, and grow a successful and thriving business.
