Turning a side hustle into a glorified business looks easy and simple from the outside, not to mention one that is highly successful and generating a lot of revenue to help contribute to your household income. However, that is not the case. It needs a good strategy, perseverance, systems, and to be perfectly executed.
If you want to turn your side hustle into a fully pledged business with consistent revenue, it isn’t just discipline that you need. You also need a realistic roadmap.
The First Phase: Validate Before You Scale
A lot of entrepreneurs make a common mistake very early, and that is scaling the business before the success is there. Don’t worry about the branding, website, or automation before you know there is potential in it.
- Are people paying for this already?
- Is there a consistent revenue being generated?
- Do customers recommend your product/service, and/or do they return?
Once you validate your business, you can then start to think about scaling it. Before you have validated, keep your costs to a minimum and don’t spend any additional money if you don’t need it. Plus, you need to ensure that there is longevity in this, and it’s not just a short-term gain.
Phase 2: Build a Profitable Foundation
As soon as you start generating a consistent income, you need to focus more on your profits. Having a six-figure business generating $100,000 per year, but you’re spending $80,000, isn’t exactly making you a multi-millionaire, and it can be very stressful. You need to understand your numbers for revenue, expenses and net profit.
As a business owner, whether it is small or large, you need to ensure you are tracking all costs. Additionally, you can start looking at ways to increase your profits.
- Can you increase the price without losing your customers?
- Are there areas to reduce recurring expenses?
- Can you create a bundle to increase the average order value?
Phase 3: Systemize What Works
If you are giving up time for more money, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have a scalable business. You need a good system in place to acquire customers, deliver your product/service, onboard new clients and even deal with payments and follow-ups.
Automation can be very beneficial as your business grows and will save you a lot of time. This includes invoicing systems, customer relationship management software, and even using virtual receptionist services.
Phase 4: Focus on Revenue Drivers
Not all tasks generate revenue; some of them just make you busy. Others will be key revenue drivers for your business. Identify the ones that generate your revenue, and focus on these. This tends to be customer retention, marketing visibility and sales conversations.
Phase 5: Transition from Side Hustle to CEO
Changing your mindset is something else that you will need to do. Start to recognise that you have a business rather than just a side hustle. Don’t do everything yourself, and instead consider what type of people can help you with your job. Put your time into stuff that is more valuable and get someone else to do the other parts for you.
Phase 6: Create Predictable Growth Channels
Consistent revenue is far more important than spikes in revenue. Consistency is easy to predict, whereas spikes are much harder to measure.
Choose one or two channels to market your business. Organic social media, email marketing, SEO and content marketing, paid advertising and strategic partnerships. In the early phase of your business, you only need one or two that you can manage for your business.
Be really good at perfecting those before expanding into other channels.
Phase 7: Protect Your Momentum
Growth will introduce you to new challenges, which will be cash flow, burnout, and decision fatigue. However, to ensure you keep the momentum, you need a cash reserve, be able to review your financials regularly (monthly), have scheduled breaks and refine your offer. Improve your overall conversion rates, along with improving the lifetime value of a customer, and then you are securing the revenue.
The Real Secret: Longevity
The difference between a side hustle and a successful business is far between. One is something you invest your spare time in, and the other is where you have the systems in place to drive your business’s success. Persistence is key to building a business, and many people who have side hustles quit along the way because the business has started to slow down and the revenue doesn’t reflect the time and effort.
Something important to remember is that business compounds over time because your skills sharpen, the brand reputation improves and more referrals flood. If you ensure that you focus on profitability and build systems that make your operations more efficient, you start building a successful business. Furthermore, there are many side hustles to choose from, which can help generate substantial revenue.