Your side hustle is the small business you run alongside your day job, and it’s how most people turn their passion into something productive and profitable. As you make a significant emotional and financial investment into your side hustle, it’s important to plan so you can kickstart it effectively. But where exactly are you supposed to begin? What can you do to ensure your efforts aren’t wasted? Don’t worry. We’ve written this article to answer these exact questions. Read on if you want to see your small business not just grow, but flourish. You never know – it might end up taking off, turning your passion into your main source of income. So, without further ado, here’s our guide to kickstarting your side hustle.
Acquiring Funding
First things first, you need money to run your side hustle. This funding goes towards your resources, marketing, and website. For instance, how can you expect to run a small business for upcycling furniture if you don’t have any paint, equipment, or actual furniture to restore? It can be much more difficult to acquire funding for a side hustle than it is for a business. They appear less promising to potential investors and wouldn’t qualify for government grants. So how does one acquire funding for their side hustle? Here are some popular methods.
Stock and Shares ISA
You can use a stock and shares ISA, also known as an individual savings account, to generate funding for your side hustle, too. These can provide tax-free income and gains, allowing you to gradually accumulate money. There is an element of risk involved with this method, but companies like Willis Owen can help you make the most of your investment.
Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding allows you to gain the funds that you need for your business venture. Crowdfunding is typically done online through special websites that have been set-up to facilitate this. Links to these websites can be shared across social media channels to build momentum. Often, small businesses or side businesses that are crowdfunded will offer something to those who invest such as a discount or a product once the project is complete. Crowdfunding has helped some of the largest businesses to grow from nothing to where they are now.
Marketing
You need business to kickstart your side hustle, but how are you supposed to attract customers if nobody knows it exists? As such, marketing is an important part of any business venture, no matter how big or small. You need to promote your product or service so it looks original and appealing because this will attract more customers. For those who are uncertain of how to market their side hustle, these are our top suggestions.
Content Marketing
You need to create content that sells your product. This will increase the public’s engagement with your marketing campaign, which later translates into more customers for your side hustle. Popular examples of content marketing include creating videos, taking pictures, or writing blogs on a relevant subject matter. For example, someone who creates handmade jewellery might make a video showing what their behind-the-scenes process is.
Social Media
We mentioned social media briefly before. It’s an incredibly powerful and useful tool for those wanting to kickstart their side hustle. Social media is also completely free, and through it, you can reach a massive audience. Platforms like Instagram are helpful with content marketing because they’re all about uploading pictures and videos, so you can simply take an attractive picture of your product and share it on your personal account and your small business account. What’s also great about social media is you can easily track what is and isn’t successful by simply looking at how many likes you receive for each post. You can then adjust your side hustle’s products accordingly.
Brand Building
Side hustlers need to build a good reputation within the community if they want any sort of success as loyal customers and word of mouth are what helps them to thrive without the bigger budgets of official businesses. This is why it’s important to start building your brand before kickstarting your side hustle. There are several ways of going about this.
Boosting Your Profile
You are the heart of your small business, so you need to promote yourself and give people an idea of your personality. If people feel connected to the face behind the name, then they’re more likely to become invested in what you’re selling, turning them into loyal customers.
Networking
Build a relationship with your customers by messaging them if they buy something from you or customize your product to their taste. This personal touch is essential to a side hustle’s success and will also help people want to spread the word about your business.
Website and Logo
If you can afford it, create an attractive website and logo which ties into the product or service you’re selling. This is a great way to further establish your brand.
We hope this guide has been useful in helping you plan to kickstart your side hustle. If you’re passionate and persistent enough, you’re bound to have success.
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