6 Tips to Help You Turn Your Side Hustle into a Thriving Business

Over the years, more people have started their own businesses or side hustles. This can be for various reasons, such as wanting to leave their full-time job and become an entrepreneur, needing additional money to sustain them or helping them pay off their debts. For most, side hustles have proven to be a valuable second income in a costly economy. However, as much as there are benefits of having a side hustle, most people have realised that it isn’t a walk in the park, and it requires discipline, among other things, to ensure that it can become a lucrative business.

For side hustle success tips and tricks, read the article below.

Create a solid plan

Starting a business isn’t easy; it can be challenging to manage when you’re still working a nine to five. This is why you need to put together a solid business plan. It will help you plan accordingly, know what your end goal is, consider various obstacles that may potentially come your way, and more. Right now, you can use your side hustle as a way of seeing whether what you have to offer can become profitable enough to be a business. And if not, what you can do to turn things around and make it lucrative. It’s important for you not to see your side hustle as the finished project; instead, see it as the foundation of your future business. By having this mindset, you can adjust, redefine and continue to work on improving your side hustle so that it can become a profitable business.

Sacrifice your time

When it comes down to how you can make your side hustle profitable, you need to be aware of what you will need to sacrifice, which will mainly be your time. Apart from money, the most important resource is time, so use it wisely. This means finding a routine that can help you stay focused, consistent and ensures that you are always putting in the time to grow your business. A timely routine can mean scheduling time every evening to work on orders for your product, improve your services, or research anything that ensures you become better at what you do.

Invest in your dream

To make your side hustle profitable in South Africa, you need to invest in your dream. This means that you need to stay on top of your game and have the latest technology and equipment to make it easier for you to do your business. Using older, outdated technology can mean you will deliver slower than your competitors, which won’t help grow your side hustle. It is key to remember that you are competing against businesses that may have a wider audience or more loyalty, so you need to make sure that you have something to make your life easier and help you bring in more business. If you are wondering how you can get finances to start a business, you can apply for business asset finance. Business asset finance in South Africa is a tailored financial plan for business owners to help you afford the asset you need for your business. When considering getting a business asset, you need to ask yourself the following questions:

• Will this asset simplify my life? 
• Will I have more time because of this asset?
• How can I make this asset bring in more money?
• Does my business need this asset? 

From there, you will begin to see how this asset can benefit your life and business. Remember that you want to add an asset that will simplify things for you, especially if you still work a full-time job. It will give you more time to work on growing your business or time to relax and recuperate. Working a full-time job and running a business is a lot to take on and can have health implications if untreated, so always remember that when you invest in your dream, you invest in yourself too.

Avoid burning out

Burnout is a huge issue for people who have a side hustle while juggling a full-time job and families. You must take care of yourself to ensure that you can take care of your business. Burning yourself out simply because you want to grow your side hustle won’t help you in the long run. Instead, find things that can help you, like purchasing updated equipment and assets for your business, asking for help or building a team that can handle the workload. This team does not need to be many people, even a team of two to three people is enough. That way, everything doesn’t fall on your shoulders.

Treat it like a lucrative business

Manifesting the life you want is what many people do in their personal lives; however, that should be applied to your business too. While it isn’t a business yet, you should treat it like one. This means not doing anything for free, even when it’s for friends and family. Medium to large corporations don’t give away their product or service for free unless they get something in return. Well, the same should apply to your side hustle. You want people to take your side hustle seriously, so you need to show them how serious you are. This way, you are teaching yourself and those around you that this is your side hustle and should be treated like any other business.

Leap of faith

While it may be scary, sooner or later, you will need to take a leap of faith in your side hustle. If you can see a promising future and you have a solid plan in place, then there will come a time to quit your day job and focus on your business. As mentioned previously, the greatest resource to your business is your time. If you give all your attention and time to your side hustle, there is a higher chance of success. Of course, when you do plan to take this leap, make sure you have a plan in place, such as:

• Having an emergency saving account for your business.
• Having a savings account that you can use to pay your personal bills while you work on your business.
• Speaking to your family or spouse about your plans and letting them know what you plan to do, and ensuring those who may be affected financially by the change are aware.
• A substantial amount of money coming from your side hustle.
• A plan on how you plan on bringing in more money.
• Reducing your personal expenses so that you can adjust your lifestyle until your business starts growing.

Final thoughts

Starting a business and making your side business profitable in South Africa isn’t easy and will be challenging. However, when you have a good idea, put in the work and do what needs to be done to ensure its success. Your side hustle can succeed and become a business. You need to make sure you are consistent and have people who support you and your side hustle while it still grows. And remember, it won’t grow within a day or month, but you will continue to see progress. We hope that these tips help you grow your side hustle and turn it into a business that allows you to leave your day job, pay off bills, go on vacation and work on your own schedule.