July 25, 2022

How to Grow Your Side Hustle Into a Full-Time Business (While Working for Someone Else)

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If you’re an ambitious, creative, or innovative person with a side hustle that you love, there’s a good chance you never fully stop thinking about it. If it’s not yet a full-time gig, it’s definitely a full-time love affair.


Whether your side hustle is creating knitwear for an Etsy shop, performing at parties, or providing writing services, you can grow your business into a full-time job with patience, persistence, and passion. Of course, it’s crucial to be able to support yourself with stable work in the interim; it’s common for most entrepreneurs to work full time for an established business while getting their own off the ground. 


Today, we’re sharing our top 3 tips to help you strike a healthy work-life balance as an aspiring business owner -- because we know from experience that it is possible to work a 40-hour week for an employer, develop your business, and still find time to stop and smell the roses!


1. Make a schedule (and stick to it)


Whether you secretly live for schedules or lowkey resent them, we highly recommend building (and sticking to) a schedule that works for you. Basically, you’re sitting down and making a commitment to your future self that you’ll put in the time to grow your side hustle. There’s no right or wrong way to schedule that time -- it could be at midnight if you’re a night owl, or for half an hour in the morning before your full-time job. Either way, decide to make time and stick to those plans. A schedule will help hold you accountable.


Similarly, carve out time to rest. We’re fully aware that you might be reading this thinking, “That’s so not a priority right now,” but seriously. Your car has to be stopped in order to put gas in the tank, doesn’t it? You can only be productive if you have the energy to be productive, so schedule time each day to relax, unwind, and recharge.  


2. Invest in marketing 


You can’t grow your side hustle if no one knows about it! Get your business out from under a bushel basket by investing in marketing and publicity. 


Fortunately, the word “invest” doesn’t have to refer to money if you’re strapped for cash. You might choose to financially invest in marketing services (i.e. social media ads), or you can put some time into building a free, well-managed social media page. In this case, “well-managed” refers to:


  • Posting quality content
  • Having genuine interactions with your audience
  • Organically building a following, and following those who inspire you.


Your marketing efforts continually sell your services while you handle the back end of your business. If you’re on the clock at your full time job, or even indulging in a bit of much-needed “me” time, people will continue to notice your business even when you’re not actively promoting it.


3. Create an e-commerce storefront


Someone once said that we get by with a little help from our friends! An online service like SamCart could be a huge help with selling digital products, or even a single SKU physical product. Take advantage of time-saving tools like customized sales page design, revenue optimization, and business management features so that you’re not juggling too many moving parts on your own. Think of SamCart as VP of your company (for a fraction of the cost).


There’s a lot that goes into growing your side hustle to full-time business status, but it’s been done millions of times before by talented people like yourself. All you need is the drive, organization, and proper tools to make the transition. Before you know it, you’ll be sitting in the boss’s seat wondering how you ever lived any other way! 


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