6 Rules for a Successful Side Hustle

Side Hustles are in trend for quite some time now. An estimated 44 million people in the U.S. alone have as side hustle. However, it popularity is incongruent with the success rate. More than three-fourth of the people who engage themselves in some sort of side hustle eventually fail. There are not many successful side hustlers, but why is this so?

Well, a side hustle can pay you handsomely, both professionally and personally. But there are certain rules which are to be followed in order to be successful at your side hustle.

This answers our question, why there are so less successful side hustlers? Because not all of them know these essential commandments required to take your side hustle to the next level.

So, if you are planning on beginning your very own side hustle, this guide of 6 rules is just for you.

What is a Side Hustle? (Meaning of Side Hustle)

A Side Hustle simply means a job that you can do on top of your routine job. It might be freelancing or starting a small business which you can manage in your free time.

What is side hustle

Side hustles are often things a person is passionate about, rather day a typical day job worked in order to make ends meet. 

A side hustle is not the same as a part-time job. While a part-time job still entails someone else (your employer) calling most of the shots (including hours worked and what you’ll be paid), a side hustle gives you the freedom to decide how much you want to work and earn.

With financial security a problem for nearly half of Americans, side hustles prove to be a viable option for many people working to get out of debt or testing the entrepreneurial waters.

Read: Must read tips to Start your Freelancing Career

6 Rules for a Successful Side Hustle –

1. The ‘Me Time’ Hustling

When choosing your side hustle, pick something you want to do, be or achieve, and actively work towards it. Not only will you enjoy the sense of accomplishment that comes with progressing towards a goal but you will also feel better about yourself and your life.

See your side hustle as ‘Me Time.’ The best way to have a feeling of leisure while hustling is to do something which you actually enjoy.

6 Rules for a Successful Side Hustle- Me time hustling

Your interest might be in drawing and painting, so you may try yourself in graphic designing. You may be good in sports and so you can start a part-time academy for teaching people what you know. Similarly, explore the options which align with your interests.

Once you start feeling your hustling time as your ‘Me Time’, it won’t be hard for you to put efforts in your side hustle because that would be more of a fun than a burden.

Read: 7 Proven Methods to Boost Your Productivity 10x Times

2. Aim Big, But Go Small

Dreaming big is not a problem, instead it is great if your vision is large and wide but don’t be unreasonable. Rather than finding a way to make a million dollars, find a way to serve a million customers. Start small and prospect where yu have a reasonable chance of success.

Plan which way you would want your hustle to progress, which most probably would be to go from a side hustle to a full time sustainable business, and take small steps in that direction instead of pondering and dreaming of making it big at the very beginning of your hustle.

Along with time, you would learn skills and would be able to build a loyal customer base. Remember, one loyal customer is thousand times better than 10 one time customers.

3. Plan Your Side Hustle

The importance and benefits of having a plan for doing any task is immense. If you are really serious about your side then your first step should be to prepare a time schedule for your side hustle.

6 Rules for a Successful Side Hustle- Plan your hustle

Decide how many hours you can devote for your side hustle, and be realistic, remember you can’t compromise your job and neither can you cut on your hustling time.

Once you have a schedule in hand, don’t think much, just dedicate yourself completely to this schedule. You must see this schedule with the same sanctity you see your job schedule, non-negotiable. Otherwise you won’t see any progress and you will soon be discouraged.

Read: 7 Master Time Management Tips which Everyone Should Know

4. Only Do What Generates Revenue

While starting a side hustle and getting it on track, you would have various incidental spending situations. Strictly avoid such spending which will in no way add to your revenue in the future.

Successful side hustlers focus on buying and selling which is what actually matters, because this only generates revenue.

You may need to spend time on admin and infrastructure. But you don’t need fancy spreadsheets, comprehensive reports, a catchy brand or a mission statement.

5. Think Less, Do More

Thinking and Planning is important. Afterall, you need to be clear with what you are doing and where you aim to be. But what is more important is actually doing thinks.

A common feature among most people who started a side hustle but eventually failed is the time they spent on thinking what to do and the time they spent on actually doing things.

People plan they would first do this and then do that and there after so and so but finally end up doing nothing. Why? Because they either procrastinated or thought something to be easy but later found it to be difficult and effort seeking.

So make it a point to plan properly but work harder. The time you spend on planning things out and the time you spend on doing things must have a difference of five times.

6. Set up Processes and Automate

It can be tempting to do everything yourself: we sometimes make the mistake of valuing money over time. But time is also a limited commodity.

6 Rules for a Successful Side Hustle- automate processes

And a side hustle in particular means limited time. Your focus should be on the activities that fulfill you and generate revenue. 

Take stock of all your processes to figure out what you might be able to automate. Once you’ve automated your tedious tasks, you’ll have a better understanding of your actual capacity. You’ll be able to more clearly set expectations for clients—and for yourself.

The Bottom Line

Working for your side hustle might seem very tough at the beginning. You may even think to quit. But remember why you started. If your side is just another excuse for buying something you so wanted then failure is the destiny for you. But if you are really dedicated, then you can make your side hustle a full time job with revenue at par with your current job if not more and ofcourse much more freedom. If you sincerely follow the rules mentioned above, believe me your side hustle would soon take off.

6 Rules for a Successful Side Hustle

Prashant Tiwari


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