How to Grow Your Side Hustle Into a Successful Business

Decades ago, launching a business meant risking your life savings to rent a storefront or to buy inventory – but today, technology enables many new ways to ease into a startup lifestyle without the chance of losing your shirt.

Ambitious people can use the gig economy to tackle opportunities in their free time, and developing a side hustle outside of your day job is a way to get a taste of entrepreneurship, as well.

Grow Your Side Hustle

But for some, a side hustle isn’t enough. Instead, they want to take that side hustle – their true passion – and grow it into a real career or business.

Today’s infographic from Quid Corner gives 10 steps on how to make that transition a reality.

Taking your passion and converting it into a successful venture is not an easy move – otherwise everyone would do it.

Instead, it takes hard work, knowledge, tenacity, and patience. Here are some key points worth considering as you grow your side hustle into something bigger.

10 Steps to Consider

1. Cover Monthly Expenses
It’s hard to replace your full monthly salary at the start, so aim to have your side hustle replace a set of monthly expenses at first. This will take some of the pressure off, and allow you to grow things organically.

2. Network
Meet with other side hustlers and learn from them. Develop strong relationships with the people that inspire you.

3. Find a Mentor
Studies show that small businesses with a mentor are twice as likely to succeed over a five year period.

4. Register
Eventually, register your business officially. This separates your personal and business assets, and it makes your side hustle more legit in the eyes of customers.

5. Pareto’s Law
With a new venture, there will be plenty of tasks to do. Pareto’s Law states that concentrating on 20% of these tasks (the most important) will generate most of your outputs (80%), so prioritize accordingly. See more on this mental model in a previous infographic.

6. Delegate
Delegate daily tasks outside of your core skillset. This will allow you to focus on your passion and what you uniquely bring to the table.

7. Automate
Use apps to automate repetitive tasks. You can schedule social media posts, track leads and conversions, run payroll, and manage inventory with apps – and much more.

8. Focus on Cash Flow
A whopping 82% of small businesses fail from cash flow problems. Therefore, this should be an important focus for any business owner.

9. Set Goals
Set long-term goals, and short-term objectives to achieve them. Use the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely) framework to set near-term objectives.

10. Stop, Collaborate, and Listen
Collaborate with businesses that share your values, and learn from them at the same time.