Instead of writing an in-depth analytical breakdown, of the Chronology in Part 1, I’m going to simplify everything into a list of DO’s and DON’Ts. Consider these general guidelines that will need to be adapted for your particular business venture.
DO
Do – know your territory. Because of where I live almost any craft item can be sold. If you live in a major tourist destination and have the least bit of creativity, consider doing some type of craft work.
Do– use the internet to help you find ideas that can be used in your area. If no one is doing what you plan to do or doing something similar, consider that a bad sign.
Do – research your niche to the best of your abilities but don’t believe that you need to know everything before you begin.
Do– try to get into your customers’ heads. What do they want? What do they need? What do they think they need? In my customers case, they want an unique souvenir to commemorate their visit to The Bahamas.
Do – join (or form) a mastermind group. The encouragement and support will help you expand your side hustle a thousand times faster than if you tried to do it on your own.
Do – believe in LUCK but don’t depend on it.
Do – Put your foot to the ground. Often. Like right after you finish reading this post. Once you get an entrepreneurial mindset, take it out and walk it around. You will form new ideas about what is possible and new niches will open up as if by magic.
Don’t
Don’t – Invest lots of money initially. A budget of $1000 is too much. You want to investigate a market, create a product or a service and begin to turn a profit. The more money invested the longer it will take to become profitable. The longer it takes to become profitable, the more likely you are to quit. I was only able to continue with woodturning because it was already a hobby that I enjoyed. Profit was secondary. If this is not the case for your side hustle, invest little, plan and act plenty.
Don’t – target your friends, family or co-workers as your customers unless they are beating down your door to buy. Especially, don’t target them if they expect a discount of some sort. Also be wary of having them as advisors, since they won’t be brutally honest when you need them to be. Those that are brutally honest, you’ll think of as “Haters”.
Don’t – be afraid to fail. Better yet, fail quickly, fail intelligently. From my Chronology you see it takes me three years to make sales. Definitely do not do this. Set a time limit to failure. If you are not profitable within three months, quit and develop another idea.
Don’t – get attached to an idea so much so that you can’t move on. Avoid the “Its my idea, so it has to be good. I jneed to stick with it a little more” mentality.
Don’t – get hooked on entrepreneurial porn. There are more pages on the web on how to start a business, than there are of actual porn. You don’t need to read them all. Definitely do not buy into the belief that you need the toys of the entrepreneurial porn industry. These would be:
A Facebook presence (and the attendant experts on Facebook marketing)
A Twitter account (and the attendant babbling)
A blog to document your efforts (It’s already too late for me! Save yourselves!)
At most get a business card with your e-mail and phone number. Cheap and efficient.
Every effort should be made to identify and get hired by paying clients. Entrepreneurial porn directs your energies to busy work not paying work.
Finally,
Don’t let another day pass without taking some kind of action towards starting a side hustle.
Thanks for reading. I’m interested in answering your questions, so leave them in the comment box and I’ll get back to you.
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Resources:
The Bootstrapper’s Bible Not that you really need it after reading this.
