How To Grow Your Side Hustle Into A Full-Time Business

How To Grow Your Side Hustle Into A Full-Time Business

Welcome to the 5th FLA Guest Blog Post! Today, we explore how to grow your side hustle into a full-time business. Thank you to Kathryn from Cash for Kat for sharing this helpful article.

Kathryn Rucker is a business consultant and personal finance blogger who is passionate about helping individuals and businesses scale by improving their online presence. Kat started traveling the world in 2019 and currently runs her blog and business out of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Cash for Kat will show you how to make cash, save cash, and invest cash. Join her on her journey to financial independence. Every month, she shares her latest articles on a range of money topics, such as: starting a business, budget travel, my investments, creating side-hustles, and more!

Your side hustle is more than just an extra income stream. It’s a business that can help you reach financial freedom so that you can live a happy life!

The problem is, if you’re not ready to take the plunge, your side hustle might not grow as big and as fast as you would hope. Unfortunately, that’s what happened to me when I first started my side hustles.

Eventually, I was able to grow my side hustle into a full-time business… And I want to help you do the same. From psychological tips to practical methods you can implement, this article has it all.

Without further ado, here is everything I learned about how to grow your side hustle into a full-time business!

An Overview of How to Grow Your Side Hustle into a Full-time Business

Of course, there are many things that can help you grow your business. If you ask 100 people what worked best for them, I’m sure you’d get 100 different answers!

That being said, you will also find some similarities in those responses. There are some aspects of business that just make sense, and you will hear them coming up time and time again.

Here are 5 key areas you can focus on to grow your side hustle:

1. Find Your Motivation

It is not a secret that running a business is hard. The only thing harder than running a business is starting one in the first place! To help keep you going during the hard times, you will need to examine your motives.

Common sources of external motivation:

  • Family
  • Money
  • Work Flexibility

While these are excellent sources of inspiration, they are still what we would consider external motivators. You might be wondering, what other kinds of motivation are there?

The answer is this: intrinsic motivation. And it is even more powerful than external motivation! Intrinsic motivation is doing an activity for inherent satisfaction.

So not only should you identify what aspects of the business motivate you the most, but you should also try to minimize the activities you dislike.

Image Source: Gerd Altmann via Pexels

Common sources of intrinsic motivation:

  • The joy of learning a new skill
  • The feeling of accomplishment when you exceed your own expectations
  • The satisfaction of helping accomplish something

For intrinsic motivation, you will notice that what brings you joy is the feeling you get from doing the action itself. The focus is more on your own satisfaction and growth, rather than receiving external recognition (an award/money/etc.).

2. Implement the 80-20 Rule

The 80-20 rule is based on a simple premise: 80% of your results come from only 20% of your actions. 

To put it a different way… we waste a lot of time on other tasks when it is really only a few of our actions that truly move the needle. 

So how can you use the 80-20 rule to maximize your productivity? Identify the 20% that is driving the needle for you! Then do more of that and less of anything else.

For side hustles, you will often find that the 20% is related to gaining more business. In fact, this is true for most start-ups in general. The reason is that before you can have a perfect product or service… you need feedback! And the best way to get relevant feedback is from people who have used your product or service. 

While it seems counterintuitive, I would actually focus more on doing outreach and perfecting your “concept” of what you are selling. This is actually one of the key differences between entrepreneurship and freelancing. When you focus on selling, you will eventually have more business than you can fulfill yourself and will need to build a team.

3. Sign Up for Freelancing Platforms

Though it is possible to make money online without experience, you will still need a way to pay your bills. To help you make ends meet, you will likely need to spend some time doing one-off projects.

Beginner-friendly freelancing platforms are fantastic for helping you go from a side hustle to a full-time business. Some people you meet on freelancing platforms might become long-term clients for you! At the very least, it will help you build a portfolio and gain plenty of references.

You will also gain experience managing the expectations of your clients. This can be important because there are many moving parts in a business. Using a freelancing platform helps you focus less on obtaining new clients and more on fulfilling projects in an organized way.

4. Standardize Your Offerings

As you work on various projects, you will notice that there are certain vital things that people want time and time again. This is great because you can create a standardized offering that takes much guesswork about what kind of project you will be working on. 

You will also gain valuable business skills that are related to more specific aspects of your niche. This will help show your clients that you are an expert in this field, and they will trust your recommendations more.

An example of how standardizing your offerings helps you grow your side hustle into a full-time business:

When I first started side hustling, I would do freelance blog post writing. Over time I got better at this, and now I choose to sell blog content packages to my clients.

This is great because people usually pay me to write ten or more instead of writing one blog post. Another plus is that most people who want blog posts written will also need them promoted on social media. So I started to bundle this into my offerings too!

By paying attention to what people kept asking for, I created organized packages that would appeal to more than one client. This also made it easier for me to create a system to fulfill their orders faster.

5. Reflect and Improve

Every business goes through an ugly duckling phase. It is essential to focus on progress and not perfection when you are first starting your business. You do not want to face analysis paralysis that stops you from taking action.

With this in mind, create everything with the knowledge you will have to improve it at some point. Even things I thought I had done very well at the beginning of my business ultimately needed to be redone by year two.

This is because your brand identity might change, your products might change, or you get a better idea of your ideal client’s wants. In general, the business will most likely evolve from what you initially thought it was. You will also have more budget to hire professionals to help you with your logo, website, or social content.

Chances are you will not change everything in your business overnight. That is why it is important to reflect regularly and improve your various business processes.

How to Reflect and Improve to Grow Your Side Hustle into a Full-Time Business

I like to set a Focus for the month that change based on business needs. Of course, you will still have other tasks to focus on and accomplish aside from your focus task. That being said, setting the intention to knock out one big project can help prevent it from lingering in the background all year.

For example, for one month, I might focus on trying to knock out most of the social media content for the year and automating it. In another month, I plan on updating as much of the website as possible.

Keep laser-focused on the main projects that will actually help you move the needle when it comes to growth!

Final Thoughts

If you have side hustles and side projects running in the background, it can be quite easy to lose focus on what you’re actually trying to achieve. It becomes hard to tell where you want to go.

So, when you’re trying to decide whether to quit your job or stay and scale your business, I want to help you to see the bigger picture by following the tips above.

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Disclosure: Fresh Life Advice is an opinion-based website. I am not a financial advisor, and the opinions on this site should not be considered financial advice.

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October Side Income Report | 2022

October Side Income 2022

Welcome to the 2022 October Side Income Report.

Let’s start this post with the obligatory caveat:

FLA’s side hustle income reports are not for the purpose of bragging. This side income amount of money is by no means impressive. The sole purpose of this series is to inspire you to create diversified income streams in order to help you achieve your financial goals faster.

I began this tumultuous F.I.R.E. (Financial Independence – Retire Early) journey almost immediately after graduating from college and shortly realizing it is never ideal to work for someone other than yourself.

After withdrawing from the corporate world, I plan to fully indulge in my mission of helping 10 million people with their own path to financial freedom. I’ve discovered a wonderful community of people with shared mindsets. So I’m currently on a journey to see if we can turn FLA into a little business that supports the mission.

The reason I’ve decided to publish these income reports is because I want you to be a part of the journey.

After aggressively saving 60%+ of my annual income year after year, I’m approximately 32% of the way to retirement with 8 years to go. I’m aware that side hustles may never fully support one’s expenses, but I’m willing to try.

At the very minimum of making $1/month (what one may consider failure), I am ecstatic as I realize this can be considered supplemental income that will be able to be reinvested into this blog to enhance your reading experience on FLA.

Through my arduous journey, I’ve learned to focus on the future value of money. One dollar to you may look like a standard George Washington-faced bill, but to me, I see its potential.  Accounting for 3% inflation, investing that dollar could return 5 times its original value in 25 years. Yes, that’s like putting $1 into an ATM and having it return a $5 bill back to you. How amazing is compound interest?! Hypothetically, you can increase that principal amount, and you’ve got yourself some unbelievable returns.

My hope with these income reports is ultimately to present some transparency for you. By showing it doesn’t take much effort to earn and save, I may motivate you to chase one of your biggest dreams. Dreams may originally sound outlandish, but they all need to start somewhere, right? Without further ado, here is FLA’s October 2022 Side Income Report.

 

OCTOBER SIDE INCOME REPORT

The best way to make money is to have various streams of revenue. The best way to protect yourself in the course of ill-fated events stripping you of some of your main sources of income is to diversify.

We have all heard the pragmatic advice of “Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.” Well, put this theory into practice. The following is my best attempt to develop additional sources of income. Below are the six ways I attempted to make money from my side hustles in the month of October.

 

 

Stocks are my absolute favorite money-making assets. Your money can make money for you with the click of a ‘buy’ button! Sure, there are ups and downs in the stock market, but if you look historically at the S&P 500 Index or the Dow Jones Industrial Average, your investment generally grows over the long term. Remember, investing and gambling are not the same thing.

“If you aren’t willing to own a stock for ten years, don’t even think about owning it for ten minutes.”

-Warren Buffett, American Investor/Business Tycoon/Philanthropist/Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

Investors and analysts contend that conducting research on which stock to buy may be active work, but it is a generally held credence that dividends are passive income.

What are dividends?

Simply, they are distribution of some of a company’s earnings to a class of its shareholders. In this case, you are the shareholder. Yes, I know it’s hard to believe, but the company you invest in will reward you with bonus money!

Let’s take a look at the aftermath of the stocks that paid out dividends this month:

Which stocks have I invested in? I have a few individual stock picks, but the finance community knows this is a loser’s game. I mainly hold VTI, the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund, which allows you to be diversified and capture 3,525 different stocks with a minimal expense ratio, or annual fee, of 0.03%. Index funds will often take you to the promised land in the long run.

Typically, you have 2 choices with dividends. You can either accept the dividend as cold hard cash or you can choose to reinvest the money back into the same stock automatically. It’s as simple as clicking the ‘yes’ button when prompted with the question on whether or not to re-invest dividends.

I strongly recommend you to reinvest your dividends and capital gains. Why? Well, look at this way: you didn’t have the earned dividend money to begin with. Do you really need it at this moment? Why not let your additional money grow even more? Open up an investment account and enjoy the magic of compounding interest by increasing your principal investment.

October Side Income – Stock Dividends / Interest Total: $0.02

 

In my free time, I participate in paid surveys. It’s one of my other sources of income. The surveys are mindless and allow you to temporarily escape from life’s struggles and reality. Oftentimes, you have a chance to play your part in society and provide meaningful feedback on hot topics that may be decided by top companies and government officials.

The 3 survey programs I use daily are:

  1. Prolific
  2. Pinecone Research
  3. YouGov

I strongly recommend any of these three survey websites because of the higher payouts. Our time on this planet is valuable. Always consider how much time you are trading for money.

Prolific

Prolific seems to have the highest quantity of surveys available. Each survey also previews an hourly rate to the user. This significantly helps in determining if the survey is worth your time. I’ve seen them range from $3/hour all the way up to $30/hour, but on average are $8/hour.

Pinecone Research

Pinecone Research surveys always reward you with $3 for every survey. Since each survey is typically around 10 minutes long, the site has a pretty standard hourly rate of $12/hour. However, the frequency of surveys is much less than Prolific.

YouGov

Finally, YouGov’s typical survey lasts for 10 minutes and will pay out $1.50, translating to an hourly rate of $6/hr. Even though it is the lowest payout, it still helps to have supplemental income. Again, always consider the balance between time and money.

YouGov is an eclectic group of the media, nonprofits and companies that congregate to find out what the world thinks. YouGov happens to be one of the most-quoted data sources in the US and across the world.

Prolific, Pinecone Research, and YouGov offer all kinds of rewards, but I normally recommend cash payout via PayPal. The transfer is usually instantaneous. Prolific does pay out in GBP, but the money is translated to USD when conducting a bank transfer in PayPal.

In fact, Prolific does not have a minimum payout, Pinecone’s minimum payout is $5, and YouGov’s minimum cash payout is $50, albeit YouGov offers the option of a $15 Amazon gift card.

October Side Income 2022 Survey Earnings

October 2022 Side Income Pinecone Research Cash Out

October Side Income 2022 Prolific Earnings

October Side Income 2022 Prolific Earnings Conversion

October Side Income 2022 YouGov Cash Reward

October Side Income – Surveys Total: $280.86

 

An additional passive income stream is selling your old goods or unused consumer products. Simply list your items with competitive pricing on Amazon and/or eBay, sit back, and let the buyers make you offers.

I often notice friends, family, and even co-workers constantly looking to throw out items that are still in perfectly good condition; it drives me nuts! Why not let someone bid on the product? Worst case will be that it doesn’t sell, and then you can throw out the item. No harm, no foul.

At the very least, donate your stuff. I typically enjoy donating old apparel to the Salvation Army and other charities. It always feels good to know your treasured clothing is not going to waste.

This month, there was one stranger that bought an item of my personal inventory I was looking to discard. After fees and small shipping costs, I usually still walk away with a hefty profit.

October Side Income 2022 Seller Earnings

October Side Income 2022 eBay October 11

October Side Income – Selling Total: $36.03

 

As a blogger, I would like to keep the user experience as clean as possible. Therefore, I have chosen to keep all Google AdSense ads from my website. I am an avid reader of many other blogs, and I can truthfully admit it retracts from the reading experience. I am very proud of this decision and will continue with this route.

October Side Income – Google AdSense Revenue: $0.00

 

I published my first eBook titled How I Launched, Marketed, and Promoted a High-Traffic Blog in Under 15 Days last year. I only promoted the book as part of the launch, but several people found their way to the sales page. Again, this is a learning process to convert the views into actual sales. As Robert Kiyosaki alludes to in his book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, it’s all about being a best-selling author, not a best-writing author. There is a subtle yet significant difference.

October Side Income – eBook Blog Startup Manual Sales: $0.00

 

Who would’ve ever thought that spending money would actually earn you money? Well, with cash-back credit cards, now it’s certainly possible. With my Capital One Venture Card, I can now make this dream a reality.

Depending on the card you have, you’ll score 1-2 miles with every dollar you spend. Capital One Miles can be used in a variety of ways and are generally worth between half a cent and one cent apiece.

Earn 50,000 bonus miles (equivalent to $500) once you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening.

Although I’m still trying my best to limit opportunities to throw away those hard-earned paychecks, the positive result is that I earn more in cash back from the credit card rewards.

October Side Income 2022 Capital One Credit Card Cash Reward Cash Back

After looking at my monthly expense report, I saw that I earned 3,481 miles, which is equivalent to $34.81.

I now have a Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card.

Earn 80,000 bonus miles (equivalent to $1,000) once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening.

June Side Income 2022 Chase Sapphire Credit Card Bonus

When you use points to redeem for cash, each point is worth $.01 (one cent), which means that 100 points equals $1 in redemption value. Each point you redeem for travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards is worth $.0125 (one and a quarter cents), which means that 100 points equals $1.25 in redemption value, and points are worth 25% more than if redeemed for cash. For example, 20,000 points are worth $250 when redeemed for travel purchases, or $200 when redeemed for cash. The cost of travel is based on the rates and fares available through the Ultimate Rewards website and travel center, and may not reflect all rates and fares that are available through other sales channels.

If you choose to use points and your Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card to pay for your purchase, each point will be worth $.0125, but your credit card will be charged the full remaining dollar amount.October Side Income 2022 Chase Sapphire Credit Card Cash Back

After this month, I was able to earn $90.42 this month from the Chase card.

October Side Income – Capital One & Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card Cash-Back Rewards – $125.23

 

Well, that’s it for this month’s side income report! Hope your 2022 is going well.

In 2021, I was able to max out my Roth IRA and 401k – I highly recommend you do the same in 2022 if you have the option! In January, I immediately transferred the maximum $6,000 limit from my taxable brokerage account to the tax-deferred Roth IRA for the 2022 year, with most of it invested during a market correction at the end of January. The sooner, the better since time in the market often beats timing the market.

Investing in 2022 is a great time because we are in a bear market (down over 20% from the highs) so stocks are on sale!

Thank you for taking the time to read through my latest October income report and thank you for contributing if you have previously purchased something through one of my affiliate links!

If you wish to support this site, but don’t have a need for any of FLA’s affiliate products, you could simply do your regular Amazon shopping through any of the links on this site that lead to Amazon.com. You won’t pay any extra and FLA will receive a small commission. Thanks so much if you do so!

That’s a wrap for this income report! I am looking forward to earning more money on the side in the future. Stay hustlin’, my friends!

October Side Income 2022 Summary

Total October Side Income: $442.14

 

How was your October 2022 side hustling? Let me know in the comments below.

 

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