From freelance design work to affiliated marketing or simply putting in a cleaning shift to make some extra cash, it seems like almost everyone has a side hustle these days. According to a 2017 survey, “in a bid to boost their cash or chase a long-held passion”, approximately half of all Millennials have some type of side hustle. Identifying a motivator to start your side hustle, being financially ready and a motivated self-starter, and having your personal work gain attention are all factors that turn a side hustle into a full time gig. Do you have a side hustle you’re considering as a potential career? If so, here are a few signs it’s time to turn your side hustle full-time. Find a Motivator From experience, a key motivator behind starting a side hustle is the desire to eventually leave the 9-5 grind behind and work for yourself. What is your motivator? Do you want flexible hours? Are you living a life where you need to be home (or near home) most of the time? Once you solidify and understand your motivation, focus on it and it’ll be a huge push towards working for yourself full-time. You’re Financially Stable Whatever your side hustle may be, chances are you won’t be making a ton of money right from the get-go. Keep in mind that many entrepreneurs or small business owners need loans or investments to start growing their business—and that requires good credit. Working Not Working founder Adam Tompkins advises in an interview that you need a cash buffer during the transition period of your side hustle. You need to have a couple months’ rent in the bank to stay afloat, especially in the first few months. For Tompkins and Gignac, they didn’t see profit until they were a few years into running their business! A strong credit score, healthy savings, and proper accounting can make all the difference during those early stages. With the Kashoo app, you can easily enter all your income and expenses at home or on-the-go, and even create and send out branded invoices to your clients—keeping your bookkeeping in check while you work on building your side hustle. You’re a Motivated Self-Starter Once you start working for yourself, you’ll soon realize that there’s only one person responsible for your results: you. That means you need to discover and identify your strengths (possibly time management) and weaknesses (the fear of saying no to others), and the most reliable ways for keeping yourself motivated for the long haul. This could be plastering your long term goals on a vision board around your workspace, rewarding yourself at the end of a work week (or day because why not!), or even seeing the results of a happy client. Either way, you will need a sustained sense of motivation in order to turn your side hustle into a full time business. At the end of the day, talent and great ideas without discipline won’t help you achieve success. Stephanie Joanne, fellow entrepreneur and podcast guest who currently works as an online business coach says, “At the end of the day, if you don’t have discipline or you’re not a self-starter, you will not be successful with your side hustle. You have to develop these entrepreneurial skills before you try and take it full-time.” Your Personal Work is Gaining Attention While many traditional freelancers try to gain attention for their work through projects completed for smaller clients or by putting up spec work through a portfolio, one way to know your side hustle is ready to expand is when your passion projects are starting to gain attention. What does that mean? People want to hire passion. If your side hustle happens to be a passion project, others will notice. And if these projects start turning into job offers and building your online following, then that’s when you know your business is ready to expand. What are you waiting for? Once you’ve taken a hard look at your books and your life, and you’ve decided it’s worth taking that next step with your side hustle—then actually make the leap! For most entrepreneurs, if you’re already making a couple bucks on the side, then you are most likely much closer to having a real business than you may realize. Make sure to keep track of all your income, expenses, invoices, and more—directly in Kashoo! Kashoo makes it easy to know at-a-glance how your business is doing financially. Keep track of your cash flow, unpaid invoices, and even unpaid bills easily and on-the-go. Not ready to commit to a plan? Try Kashoo for free today!
